I possess a brand new appreciation for the critical place and time the Lord has placed me in ministry. The crucial need for children in West Virginian communities to find Christ Jesus as their Savior at a young age is both compelling and immediate!

Recently I read a book called Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis by JD Vance.  It had been suggested by a friend; actually my former 4th-6th grade Sunday School Teacher who was instrumental in my growing-up years.  I was a bit stunned by the familiar descriptions of his childhood and the effects on his life.  Not familiar because it was anything like mine. It was not.  But familiar to effects of childhood examples in another book I had been reading and studying in order to share with my Good News Club^® workers.

Over the last 18 months I had been introduced to what I believe is essential in helping our clubs be better managed and diffusing challenging situations with children from "hard places." These key thoughts are clearly communicated through the book The Connected Child by Karyn B. Purvis, PhD and others.  Initially this book was written for people welcoming foster children or adopting children. It's self-description states:

      "For parents who have welcomed children: from other countries and cultures, from troubled 

      backgrounds, and with special behavioral or emotional needs."

Through twice attending the annual Empowered to Connect Conference and reading The Connected Child, I was finally understanding why the traditional classroom management and discipline methods were not working well in our Good News Clubs. We welcome children from troubled backgrounds, special behavioral needs, and special emotional needs into our clubs every day. 

The initial key to grasp from these books is that what a child experiences daily in many families have put them into a high alert mode in which the child remains all day, every day. These children are constantly monitoring their surroundings for danger. When confronted about his or her behavior in a traditional way, the child's survival mode immediately immerses the child into a fight, flight, or freeze reaction.

A second key thought that I took from Hillbilly Elegy is that there are regions of our country in which higher numbers of children are exposed to an increased number of these difficult lifestyles than others. The Appalachian areas of West Virginia and other states are some of these places. One measure used to assess how negatively a child is affected, is ACEs: Adverse Childhood Experiences. Here are some "ACEs" we know are common in children who are in our clubs:

      Separation or Divorce

      Family Member in Prison

      Household Mental Illness (Depression, Bi-polar, ect.)

      Household Substance Abuse (Alcohol, prescription drug abuse, illegal drug abuse)

      Children removed from their home

      All kinds of neglect (emotional, physical)

      All types of abuse (emotional, physical, sexual)

      Parent deployed with the military, especially in dangerous areas

The Lord has brought forward this knowledge, though not new to others, I believe it can transform our clubs and have an even greater bearing on ministering to the children. I look forward to being able to share it with our volunteers -- and anyone else who will listen.

Pray that all of us will put into practice what the Lord teaches us through new understanding of the individual children in our clubs. 

"Even so it is not the will of your Father which is in 

heaven, that one of these little ones should perish."

--Matthew 18:14 (KJV)