Jermaine: a Club Tornado
“Parents aren’t keeping their best kids at home;
they are sending us the best they have.”
In a Good News Club®, all the children are not sweet and quiet. Right now, I know many GNC teachers are smiling and nodding their heads. They know they have 'tornadoes' in the Club as well as teachers having 'tornadoes' in the classroom. Children enter our clubs happy, sad, scared, and with the problems in their daily lives. One young man, “Jermaine”, came to club with deep problems. His home life is beyond what most of us could ever believe. No one in Jermaine’s life wants him. He is passed from one parent to another and one relative to another. From my understanding he is supposed to visit his mother this summer in another state but she has indicated she will not even pick him up at the airport. His father has formed a new attachment and does not want him to be part of his new life. Is there any wonder, Jermaine acts up during club? Could he possibly be a child who struggles with understanding the love of a Heavenly Father when he has never experienced love here on earth?
Jermaine would enter club causing disruptions and twisting up trouble from the time he entered the door seeking attention -- even negative attention. The main teacher found herself becoming very flustered and powerless to deal with Jermaine. Many of you knowing of Jermaine’s situation have been praying for him and God has been answering your prayers. Sheri, a visiting GNC teacher who had been trained in Love and Logic techniques began attending Club to see if she could help Jermaine and the main teacher.
Shortly after Sheri began helping in the Club it was time for a school break. Knowing that one of the first steps to obtaining cooperation from a child with problems is to find ways for that child to fall in love with you, Sheri and the main teacher made a point to mail Jermaine several postcards of encouragement and care. They used “I noticed…” statements such as “I noticed you like skateboarding.”
Upon returning to club after the break, Jermaine showed some improvement in his behavior but still tried to be a ring leader and spur others to act out inappropriately. Sheri continued to show care but she also introduced a technique called the ‘enforceable statement’, which is a statement of what you will do. We can’t control others but we can control ourselves. Here is Sheri’s telling of what happened next:
"I went 5 weeks in a row to share Love and Logic techniques and work with 'Jermaine'. I always said the same thing, “I will continue ‘whatever’ when everyone treats me with respect." At first, Jermaine would have two other boys involved in his shenanigans and we actually waited several minutes the first day before I could continue. We then only had 3 minutes to play a super cool review game (planned that way on purpose). The second week the other two boys quit acting out seconds after I vocalized an enforceable statement. It took Jermaine a few minutes and I had to do it twice more during the club time. The third week I barely got the words out of my mouth and two girls and one boy both told him to knock it off because he was messing up their game time. He sputtered a bit but then calmed down. With a combination of peer pressure and the enforceable statement along with showing consistent care, everything went great the last 2 weeks with no problems at all."
Jermaine is struggling with the reality of God’s love toward him but he is doing better. He has accepted Jesus as his Savior and the teachers are working with him trying to help him understand that Jesus loves him and will be there when he has to go through hard times. Please pray for "Jermaine". Lift this little one up to our Father in Heaven: that he will receive God’s love, learn to trust God, and find Christian support, love and understanding wherever he ends up.
There is a question that keeps haunting us: “What happens if we fail?” What happens if we as Christians fail to lift up the children like Jermaine? What happens if we fail to stand in the gap for them? Their lives on earth are affected, their eternity is affected, and the future of ‘the church’ is affected.
Contact Information:
CEF of Idaho Top 10 Counties Chapter
PO Box 965
Kamiah, ID 83536
Beverly Wisdom, local director
[email protected]
208.935.7996
Providing Living Water for the Children of northern Idaho.
Reaching the unchurched children for Jesus Christ through after school Good News Clubs (GNC), Jesus-You Connection (JYC), and Christian Youth in Actiion (CYIA).
CEF Top Ten
PO Box 965
Kamiah, ID 83536
Beverly Wisdom, local director
[email protected]
208.935.7996
Providing Living Water for the Children of northern Idaho.
Reaching the unchurched children for Jesus Christ through after school Good News Clubs (GNC), Jesus-You Connection (JYC), and Christian Youth in Actiion (CYIA).
CEF Top Ten