Dear Parents,



We are making a change to our schedule for the JV club in our Awana program at Fairfield Baptist Church.



Starting September 11th, our JV club will only meet for one hour, from 5:00 – 6:00 on Sunday evenings. This time will be used for handbook review and team unit review (“council time”; group Bible study). We will not have Game Time or any other planned activities for your son or daughter in Awana after 6:00pm.



After 6:00pm, your son or daughter will need to either be picked up by a parent, or will need to attend our Free Shipping program. Free Shipping is Fairfield Baptist’s Sunday night program for middle school and high school youth that offers praise & worship time, small group accountability, and opportunities to participate in youth ministries. Free Shipping currently meets from 6:00 to 7:20 in our new Education Building, and your youth may be picked up there after 7:20. If you must, you may take your son or daughter out of Free Shipping sooner than 7:20, but understand that is not ideal, as they will miss out on the full experience we have to offer them.



We will try throughout the year to offer areas of service in Awana for your youth, since that is still a requirement for all JV clubbers (see for example Service Unit 1 on pg 94 of your youth’s Relay book). On those nights your child may be asked to attend early, or stay after 6:00, but these service opportunities are optional, and we will communicate them well in advance.



To summarize: JV will now meet only from 5:00 – 6:00. At 6:00 your child must either be picked up by a parent in their room (portable building 6B) or attend Free Shipping. Your child may be picked up from Free Shipping at 7:20 in the Education Building, or sooner if absolutely necessary. If you need to make other arrangements for picking up your child, you must let me or our JV Director Michael Martin know.



I understand this may not be desirable to you or fit with your family’s schedule, and I apologize for making a change like this after the Awana year has started. If you would like to cancel your children’s registration for this year, I fully understand and we can refund all or part of your registration fees.



If you have any questions or concerns with this change, you are welcome to contact me, Erich Hurst, at 281-304-0104 or our Youth Pastor, Mark Julian at 281-373-5446.





Thank you and God bless!



Erich Hurst

Commander, Fairfield Baptist Church Awana Program





Dear Erich,

I do have concerns about this scheduling change. When Mark was a candidate for the position of Youth Pastor, Fairfield Baptist Church held a question-and-answer session. During that session, I told Mark that the church had a vibrant AWANA program on Sunday evenings. I asked him if he planned to hold youth group activities during AWANA time since that would compete with AWANA. He said that he was not very familiar with AWANA, but he would not compete with it. He is now breaking his word.

The AWANA program has benefited youth for over 50 years. In my opinion, it is an excellent program that would be difficult to improve. It has stood the test of time. Our family started in AWANA 23 years ago. While I have not been a part of Free Shipping, I have been to several of Mark’s Sunday night youth activities. I have been to Transformation several times. I have also been to the program that preceded Transformation, although I can’t remember what Mark called it. In my opinion, those programs are not superior to AWANA.

To end the JV AWANA program early and leave out the time for service and then to say that a students need to participate in all of Free Shipping or “they will miss out on the full experience we have to offer them” is wrong. I conclude that Mark thinks that his program is better and more important than AWANA. He is wrong. I also think his attitude is prideful and self-serving.

A youth pastor should want youth to grow in the knowledge of the Word and to live holy lives. If this end is achieved through AWANA or through any other means, Mark should be thankful.

I also don’t like this sudden change after the AWANA year has begun, and I don’t like the tone in which this change is conveyed. It sounds like an ultimatum: do it Mark’s way or go home.

I don’t see Jesus in any of this.

I am so saddened by this change. My son Collin is in JV. He does not want to go to Free Shipping. Because Joe and I are both involved in AWANA, we cannot take him home at 6 p.m. Therefore, I am resigning as the Varsity leader at Fairfield Baptist Church so I will be free to take Collin home. My daughter Maribeth will move to a Varsity group at another church.

Again, I am so saddened and disappointed that you have forced me to make this decision. I have been so blessed by the Varsity group. I will miss the students so very much. I just can’t believe it has come to this. I don’t think God is pleased.

Vicki Carstens (my Varsity AWANA leader)


And the saga of my church continues....