Celebrating Generation after Generation of Lasting Faith in

Awana History Press Room
Document 11-8-10
Celebrating Generation after Generation
of Lasting Faith in Christ
For 60 years, Awana has been a leader in children’s ministry,
helping churches and parents worldwide raise kids and youth to
know, love and serve Christ.
Though Awana was officially founded in 1950, many events led to
its creation. Or to be more accurate, many people who were led
by God.
One of them was a man named Art Rorheim.
Art’s story
Art was born in 1918 to Norwegian immigrant parents in Chicago.
Although raised in a Christian home, Art wasn’t convinced of his
need for Christ until his brother, Roy, died of spinal meningitis
in 1928.
The turning point for him was overhearing his brother plead with
his parents to lead Art to Christ the night before Roy would pass
away. Art had heard the gospel message repeatedly as a child
but had never embraced Christ’s offer of forgiveness and eternal
life, preferring to live on his own somewhat rebellious terms. With
Roy’s words to their parents seared into his memory, Art received
Christ as his Savior the next day.
As a new Christian, Art got involved with a weekly club program at
the Chicago Gospel Tabernacle that was a forerunner to Awana.
There he met Lance Latham, who would be instrumental in
founding Awana and in Art’s life as his mentor and pastor.
In the 1930s, Art volunteered as a club leader at a new Chicago
church that Lance established, the North Side Gospel Center.
During World War II, he joined the Gospel Center staff as full-time
youth director.
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Commitment to God’s unexpected call
When Lance offered him the position of youth director, Art didn’t
even ask what the salary was. By faith, he left a lucrative factory job
to pursue God’s call.
“When I got that first paycheck, I almost flipped,” Art admitted. “It
was $40 a week. I had been making $150 a week at the plant.”
Lance and Art were pioneers in creating the youth director post.
Few churches in the 1930s and ’40s prioritized ministry to children
and teens. The establishment of Awana as a program to kids was
also unheard of. In those days the only programming most U.S.
churches extended to young people was Sunday school.
Art didn’t sport a college or seminary degree or receive special
training to lead Awana. He learned from experience, hard work and
the mentoring of his pastor. He moved ahead step by step through
his conviction that God would direct him in meeting the ministry’s
every need.
“I’ve told people many, many times, I had no idea what God had
in store for me when I became youth director of the North Side
Gospel Center,” Art explained. “My mission field was strictly the
mission field of the church and the neighborhoods. In fact, I always
say that if I had known what was in store, I probably would have
been scared. I would have run away.”
Ministry innovator
As youth director, Art implemented many of the features that
distinguish Awana today. Some were carried over or reshaped
from the weekly clubs that Lance Latham helped direct and
Art participated in at the old Chicago Gospel Tabernacle in the
1920s. The trademark features included Bible-centered curriculum
handbooks that evangelized and discipled kids through Scripture
memorization, outreach events, a system of awards and badges,
uniforms and a game circle to capture the interest of
non-churched children.
Art Rorheim leads 1950s
Awana Game Time
“If you’re to win kids to the Lord, they’ve got to have fun!” Art said.
“We developed Awana to draw kids from the community through
our church doors by providing games, prizes, awards, special
events, excitement and a sense of belonging. Church should be a
place that gets kids excited to come!
“We also were intentional about then getting the kids plugged into
the church – attending Sunday school, inviting their moms and
dads to join them for Sunday service, getting them involved in
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serving the church so that they would get connected to the
church body.”
Art Rorheim (back left) and Lance
Latham (front center)
Art and Lance eventually named the new program Awana based
on the Bible verse 2 Timothy 2:15. Awana soon blossomed,
attracting over 500 kids and teens to meetings each week. Other
churches in Chicago and around the Midwest learned about the
success of the program and inquired about its availability. Art
and Lance founded Awana as a youth and children’s ministry for
churches in 1950.
And so it all began … the groundbreaking 1950s
Art’s alarm would go off at 5:30 a.m. Saturday mornings in
Chicago in 1950. He worked all week, but that didn’t stop him
from joining his Awana clubbers at the North Side Gospel Center
for the weekly paper drive to raise money for the ministry. The
boys were organized into teams to scour the neighborhoods
for newspaper.
In 1951, with the money they collected from the paper drives,
Awana was able to purchase a second-hand printing press to print
handbooks for the children. Art and Truman Robertson developed
their basic structure. Scripture Press Founder Victor Corey loaned
them a staff artist to create a professional appearance.
Later that year, they acquired a higher-quality press, and the first
leaders’ manuals were produced. Clubbers volunteered to collate
the books, and approximately 1,000 leader manuals were printed.
1951 was also the year that Awana hired its first paid employee.
Rich Wager had grown up through the club ranks and shared the
same vision for youth ministry that Art did. He helped publish the
first Awana handbooks, supervised clubs and later served as the
first editor of Signal magazine, a publication to encourage leaders.
By the end of that year, 15 churches were interested in
starting Awana.
In 1952, Midwest Bible Church became the second church
to start Awana. It was also the year that Lance’s wife, Virginia,
adapted the boys’ program for the girls’ handbooks.
“Every night of the week, except Wednesday, there was an Awana
club in action,” Art recalled. “Many a parent would often say, ‘My
son practically lives at the church.’ Parents appreciated the positive
spiritual influence the program had on their children.”
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Leaders had to demonstrate an extraordinarily high level of
commitment. Awana leaders were required to dedicate two
nights a week to the ministry, as well as Sundays, to qualify
for leadership.
By 1954, a camping ministry, Camp Awana, was up and running
in Fredonia, Wisconsin. Art and Lance were firm believers in the
benefits of camp.
“When young people come to camp, they often temporarily leave
behind difficult home situations,” Art said. “The camp environment
is refreshingly different. Kids are exposed to God’s Word and to
caring, godly leadership around the clock. I’m overwhelmed when
I think back over the decades and recall the countless campers
whose lives have been changed by our camping ministry.”
One such camper was Bill Hybels, pastor of Willow Creek
Community Church in South Barrington, Illinois. He credits Camp
Awana with helping him develop a heart for the unsaved and
influencing his decision to go into full-time ministry.
1955 proved to be a landmark year. Awana launched its first-ever
leadership training conference. It soon exploded into a soughtafter annual event for Awana leaders.
God also revealed His plan to Art to take Awana abroad. Art
traveled to Venezuela with New Tribes Missions Founder Paul
Fleming. He saw children aimlessly roaming the village while he
helped Paul shoot a film. He decided to draw an Awana game
circle into the dirt along a riverbank. Then, through an interpreter,
he invited children to join him for a game. The kids responded
with unbridled enthusiasm.
“The Lord called us to
reach out to a world
of boys and girls who
desperately need to hear
God’s offer of salvation.”
“It was there on that riverbank that God gave Awana a mandate,”
Art noted. “The Lord called us to reach out to a world of boys and
girls who desperately need to hear God’s offer of salvation. At that
moment, He showed me that children the world over have the
same needs. They need Christ’s redemption, and they need adults
to love them. And He showed me that He could use Awana in a
powerful way to meet the needs of their heart.”
During the same year, Rich Wager suggested an inter-church
competition between Awana clubs. This marked the start of the
first Awana Olympics (now AwanaGames™). Like the leadership
conference, the Olympics became an eagerly anticipated annual
event. Art consistently took the games to the next level and made
sure the event had an evangelistic focus.
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By 1956, the first Awana Olympics for girls was organized.
“I felt that if there was one ability God gave me, it was inventing
new games,” Art said.
By this time, Awana clubs had sprung up in 15 states. Many of
them were started by former clubbers who saw the need for
Awana at their new churches.
“I was getting frustrated because people were calling from out of
state and saying, ‘Please come and help us,’ but we had no one
to send them,” Art said. “I thought maybe we could come up with
a film that might help them, but how do you produce a
motion picture?”
Art received an unexpected call from Robert Ford, an Awana
leader in Chicago. Ford made science films and was willing to help
produce a promotional movie for Awana. The film, Hitting the Mark,
debuted in 1957. It would be shown to churches across the U.S.
The year also marked the start of the first Bible Quizzing
competition, an event that would one day take place worldwide.
One of the contestants at the first quiz meet was John Ankerberg,
the noted Christian apologist, author and TV show host.
One of the first Bible Quizzing meets
By this time, word was spreading about Awana around the
country. In 1958, Art received a call from a man in New York
named Leo Spencer. He had just seen the Hitting the Mark
film and was so impressed he wanted to promote Awana in
the eastern U.S. He and his wife, Edna, became the first lay
missionaries for Awana.
By 1959, Awana had grown to 900 clubs. It was on its way to
becoming a national ministry. Six employees worked for Awana,
but they were quickly running out of room at the North Side
Gospel Center. Art knew that reaching full potential would require
a move.
The 1960s
In 1960, Awana purchased a storefront property on Belmont
Avenue in Chicago.
“Awana started out simply as our outreach to the neighborhood
as our mission field,” Art said. “God showed us we couldn’t be
satisfied with that.”
In one decade Awana had grown from one church to 220, from
60 leaders to 3,250 and from 460 attendees to 21,340.
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1965 dawned with over 800 volunteers attending the Midwest
Awana Leadership Conference. Leaders were traveling as far as
700 miles to attend the Chicago event.
During that year, a member of the Awana board of directors
began praying that a full-time missionary would join Awana. Two
weeks later, Art was at a Sunday school conference in Des Moines
when a man almost seven feet tall walked up to him.
“Do you think Awana might ever need anything like a missionary?”
he asked.
The man, Don Bunge, had been a football lineman for the
Washington Redskins. Now that his playing days were over, he
felt called to a new playing field. In 1966, Don and his wife,
Mary, were assigned to develop new Awana clubs west of the
Mississippi River. They would log over one million miles on the
road for Awana over the next two decades.
Don Bunge becomes
the first Awana missionary.
In 1968, Windsor Bible Baptist church became the 500th church
to start the Awana ministry.
The sense of urgency about sharing Christ with children gave rise
to a new type of leader – the Awana missionary. 1969 marked
the advent of the first missionary training conference.
At the end of the 1960s, the number of churches operating
Awana ministries had increased to 2,200. Olympic meets
quadrupled from 10 regional events to 40. The Leadership
Training Conferences grew from one to eight annual
regional meetings.
The 1970s
The cornerstone for the new building was laid June 7, 1970.
In that same year, a young pastor named Gene Goertzen was
asked to consider becoming the third Awana missionary for every
state west of Denver. He accepted the call and found himself
driving over 6,000 miles a month and conducting three meetings
a day from Montana to Arizona.
It was also the year that Awana missionary Ken Starett pioneered
the idea of a model-car race for boys and girls in his region. The
event would later be called the Awana Grand Prix™.
In 1971, Awana started ministering to children with special needs.
The Awana board of directors granted Marjorie Loomis permission
to rewrite handbooks for her mentally challenged daughter.
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By 1972, the ministry had greatly expanded. One thousand
churches in 46 states operated Awana. The first international
Awana club began in Bolivia, followed by Canada.
The camping ministry was still going strong. Rich Wager proposed
the free use of Silver Birch Ranch in northern Wisconsin as a
scholarship camp for Awana award winners. The camps united
leaders committed to the Lord with youth whose hearts were
being prepared for the same eternity-minded purpose.
In 1973, the ministry employed 24 staff and 10 missionaries.
In 1975, Art met a woman with a deep love for younger children.
Her name was Nora Whiteside. Awana had received many
requests to develop a program for early elementary-school
age kids. Art asked Nora to develop a curriculum for children
in kindergarten through second grade. The name Sparks®
was the winning entry in a “name the club” contest at Awana
headquarters. The Sparks club launched in 1976 when Awana
had grown to 2,000 churches. By 1978, Sparks clubbers had their
own competitive games called Sparks-a-Rama™.
1979 was another landmark year with over 3,000 churches now
operating Awana.
Early Sparky
The 1980s
1980 saw the official introduction of the Pinewood Derby-style
outreach event, Awana Grand Prix™.
In 1981, churches’ demand to the Sparks program had prompted
Awana to consider forming a program for preschool-age children.
Art met with Dr. Shelley Roden, who had helped develop a
special nutrition program for preschoolers for the American Dairy
Association. He asked her to design a program for 3- to 4-year-old
children that would feature a home teaching guide for parents.
Parental involvement would be key. Art chose the name Cubbies
for the program, and a bear was selected as the club mascot.
Interest in Cubbies was meteoric. More than 700 new clubs were
in operation in its first year of existence.
“When God has put these little ones under our care,” Art said,
“how can we not teach them His Word?”
In 1982, Awana celebrated the establishment of its 250th
international Awana club.
In 1983, the Friends program, originally started by Marjorie
Loomis, debuted. The Friends curriculum helped to integrate
special-needs kids into existing Awana clubs.
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By this time, 5,000 U.S. churches ran Awana programs. Due to
the growth of clubs internationally, Awana launched Adopt-a-Club®
to provide support for needy children overseas to attend
Awana clubs.
Adopt-a-Club provides support for
needy children overseas to attend
Awana clubs.
In 1984, Awana introduced the Junior Varsity (JV) program for
seventh- and eighth-grade youth. Missionary Larry Fowler, now
executive director of Global Training, spearheaded the effort to
rewrite the handbook materials and make the new program a
transitional stage between the younger Awana clubs and the
high-school ministry.
“I’ve learned that we’ve got to reach kids before high school,” said
JV leader Phil Zilinski. “If you don’t reach them by high school, it
could be too late.”
On January 15, 1985, Awana Co-Founder Lance Latham passed
away at age 90. He and his wife, Virginia, had served the Lord
together faithfully throughout nearly 60 years of marriage.
By 1986, Awana was ready for its first National Bible Bowl and
Olympics competitions. It was also due for a name change from
the Awana Youth Association to Awana® Clubs International™ to
reflect its worldwide focus.
1989 brought many new developments for Awana. The ministry
had again outgrown its facilities and built a 117,000-square-foot
headquarters on nine acres of land in suburban Streamwood,
Illinois.
It was also the year that Dr. Jerry Falwell, chancellor of Liberty
University, awarded Art Rorheim an honorary Doctorate of
Theology degree. Art felt completely undeserving of all the
attention. He still didn’t understand why God chose an average
person like himself to influence and shape an entire generation of
youth. He didn’t know that God had even bigger plans in store for
Awana in the years ahead.
The 1990s
By 1991, Awana had translated materials into 17 languages. It
was also the year the Soviet Union fell. Awana wasted no time
getting a team to the former USSR to lay the groundwork for
Awana to begin clubs there.
In 1992, a new leader came into the picture. David Genn
participated in Awana as a child in the 1950s. Years later, he
became an Awana missionary and from there was called to
succeed Art Rorheim as executive director of Awana. Art moved
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into the role of Awana President.
1994 became another landmark year as Awana added its
10,000th registered church. Awana was also ministering through
1,172 churches in 66 countries outside of the U.S.
In 1995, over 40,000 Awana leaders attended 140 leadership
training conferences in the U.S. and Canada. By 1997, the
number had grown to 50,000 leaders.
AwanaGames™ competitions were going strong, attracting more
than 150,000 boys and girls across the U.S. and Canada. Awana
also launched its first Web site (www.awana.org).
1998 saw the passing of Virginia Latham, Awana Co-Founder
Lance Latham’s wife.
AwanaGames competition
During that same year, five Christian colleges began giving
scholarships to achievers of the Citation Award. This is the highest
accomplishment in Awana; award winners learn over 700 Bible
verses.
After David Genn’s resignation, Awana appointed a new President/
CEO to lead the ministry into the 21st century. Jack Eggar
became a wholehearted supporter of Awana through unusual
circumstances. After he and his wife, Dona, had been expelled
as missionaries from Fiji in 1987 due to political tensions, Jack
became the senior pastor of a church in Oak View, California.
When he evaluated his new church’s Awana program, it looked
like a colossal failure until Dona suggested they begin following
the Awana Basic Training Manual. Clubber attendance doubled
within a few weeks, and Awana was soon overrun with kids. The
church had to start additional Sunday services to accommodate all
the new families.
Jack was a firm believer in the Awana ministry and started
speaking at Awana leadership training conferences. He also played
a key role in establishing Awana in Russia. In 1997, he began
serving as international missions director for Awana.
In 1999 Jack became the third man to guide Awana. Art Rorheim
was named Co-Founder/President Emeritus. Jack promised that
Awana would stay faithful to its roots under his leadership.
“My first words to our Awana family are quite simple,” Jack said.
“Let us be true to the mission and values of Awana.”
Jack Eggar and Art Rorheim
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By this time, the numbers of people Awana was reaching far
exceeded Art’s wildest dreams:
• One million kids attended at least one club meeting in
a given week.
• 900,000 youth participated in Awana regularly.
• 32 different denominations were served.
• More than 10,000 churches operated 57,000 clubs globally.
• Awana materials had been translated into 20 languages.
• Over 100,000 leaders served in the U.S. alone.
• 340 missionaries were spreading the word about Awana.
Awana going strong in the new millennium
By 2002, the Truth & Training® (T&T®) program debuted for thirdthrough sixth-grade students. Awana also unveiled its new youth
ministry, 24-7 Ministries™.
In 2003, more than 13,000 churches were running Awana
globally. The Journey™ high-school program began.
2004 saw the launch of the Awana® Lifeline™ prison ministry at
maximum-security Louisiana State Penitentiary in Angola with the
first Returning Hearts Celebration™. This annual one-day event
reunites Christian inmates with their children.
Awana Lifeline helps prevent children of inmates from following
their fathers to prison by encouraging an ongoing connection with
their incarcerated dads who have become Christians.
Besides Returning Hearts Celebration, Awana Lifeline also
spawned Malachi Dads™, a yearlong program that trains and
equips inmates to become better fathers and spiritual leaders to
their children.
Inmate father shares God’s Word with
son at Returning Hearts Celebration.
2006 was a breakthrough year for Awana. Its international ministry
attained a new milestone by eclipsing 4,000 churches for the
first time and translating materials into 30 languages. Awana also
began its ministry in China. In the U.S., the Trek® middle-school
program debuted.
In 2007, Awana shared the love of Christ with boys and girls and
their families in more than 100 countries. This was in addition to
the hundreds of thousands of kids who participated in Awana in
over 12,000 U.S. churches.
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Awana introduced the Puggles® program for 2- and 3-year-old
children, becoming the first ministry with integrated weekly
programs for ages 2 to 18.
Internationally, Awana developed a new approach to ministry
called the Leader-Based Strategy that equips leaders to start
and maintain clubs. Using this program, the Awana international
ministry grew by 27 percent in 2008, allowing Awana to reach
more than 269,000 children overseas.
Puggles introduced
India started its 1,000th Awana club in 2007, making it the largest
Awana national ministry outside of the U.S.
Awana also announced the results of the Awana Alumni Study. An
independent agency surveyed Awana alumni across the U.S. The
results indicated that Awana alumni who participated in Awana
for six or more years continue to attend church weekly (92.7
percent) and maintain a healthy relationship with Christ as adults.
Awana also recognized the crisis that the majority of Christian
youth leave the church after high school. In response, it launched
the Modern-Day Joseph® initiative, which established Joseph from
the Old Testament as a target for their young people’s spiritual
development because of his faithful devotion to God.
Leader-Based Strategy is
developed internationally.
Parental involvement is key
to raising children and teens
into committed Christians.
Also in 2008, Commander College debuted, offering specialized
training for local-church Awana leaders across the country. Art
Rorheim also celebrated his 90th birthday with a gala affair at
headquarters. He has traveled to more than 50 countries on
behalf of Awana!
In 2009, Awana debuted the Awana at Home® family ministry
to help parents partner with churches to spiritually train their
children. Awana at Home recognizes that parental involvement is
key to raising children and teens into committed Christians.
In 2010, Awana celebrated its 60th year of ministry with a special
celebration at Summit, an annual youth ministry convention,
and with its first-ever nationwide simulcast. Awana had much to
celebrate. Its impact on the lives of kids and families is stronger
than ever. Each week, nearly 1.5 million children and youth
worldwide participate in weekly programs in more than 20,000
churches representing 100 Christian denominations and
109 countries.
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