Firmly AWANA stands . . .

[Tonx]

I never went to AWANA, but I DID participate in this thing called Chattabox. Honestly, it was SO much fun. It was an all-girls thing, but we were never lectured on being submissive or anything. The only thing I didn't like about it was this one leader. She was too stuck-up for me. Everybody else was fun and bubbly.

Did I mention I don't come from a fundamentalist background? I come from an evangelical baptist background, which is much more lenient, but is as close to fundamentalism as you can get up here in Canada. It still screwed me up for life

[boymom]

When I was young, my church did Pioneer Girls. I don't remember much about the program, but they had a summer camp, which was my ultimate favorite camp ever. Girls only! Gave everybody the chickenpox one summer, too. The church we attended during my teen years had Awana. I volunteered for that and really enjoyed it. I liked working with the younger ages, and had a crush on one of my co-helpers. He was sooo cute!

[M Go Blue]

I was in AWANA when I was a youth. At that time, we only had the 3rd-6th grade program. When I was in high school they started up the Sparks program so I as a sophomore in HS began working in that as an assistant game leader and helper during handbook time. They encouraged (no, they didn't force, intimidate, pressure or guilt) us as high schoolers at the church to get involved in the youth clubs (we had no youth group meeting during the midweek service at the time) so a few of us did it. I really liked doing it, too. I did that for quite a while until after I graduated from college (went to a local U other than a semester at BJ) until scheduling and such made it harder to do so. I'll probably start up again this fall.

We still use the KJV material though would jump to NASB material if it's ever available, as that's the version most widely used at my church. Personally, I'd like to see them the stuff in ESV.

[Sophie]

Did anyone else ever have a tiny voice in the back of your head singing "Marijuana" during the "Hail AWANA" song?

Seriously. It's a Weird Al Yankovic song waiting to happen!

[TonyT]

(01-23-2011 10:30 PM)hac84 Wrote:  I was in Awana. Now there is the Baptist Boy's Battalion (aka the Hyles Youth). You get to wear military uniforms. (Like that group the Pope used to be in.)

I thought you were joking. Then I googled it. Good ol' google. The truth always comes out with 10 seconds on google. Which might be why so many young people aren't IFB anymore. But I digress.

[aisforazebra]

I did AWANA from kindergarten through 5th or 6th grade. I taught Sparks for a couple of years at a fundy church as an adult. And my kid attended for half of last year. He wanted to do it again this year, but after we moved I kept forgetting to find a (non-fundy) church that has it and getting him started.

Next year, perhaps. I like AWANA; have really only had good experiences. The only bad one was at the fundy church; a girl started coming who had done it at another church before, and she had a NIV handbook, so they made her switch to KJV. They gave her a KJV Bible, too, even though she had a NIV one. *sigh*

Oh, and we had this ridiculous super-fundy woman who taught and told the kids stuff about how Harry Potter is bad, etc.

[Strangly Warmed]

I now have this freaking song stuck
In my head. I went to "marijuana" in jr. high. I was the Pioneer of the Year in 9th grade.

[Bill]

To this day, I have a soft spot for games played with beanbags.