Red Shirt Day
When their older son was invited by a friend to Awana, it started an amazing spiritual journey for an unchurched mom, her atheist husband, their children and the countless lives they've since influenced as Awana leaders.

Do you know someone we could feature who is an Awana success story? E-mail us!

Back to Awana success stories main page

Getting dressed on Tuesdays is easy for Jodi Ward—it’s always red shirt day. As a Sparks group leader at Plano Bible Church in Plano, Illinois, Jodi wears her red Sparks leader shirt each week, and people notice.

“I wear my red Sparks shirt all day every Tuesday, and sometimes when I’m out doing errands around town, people will come up to me and say, ‘I was in Awana,’” says Jodi, who has served as an Awana leader for 15 years in the Chicago area and St. Louis and taught Large Group Time in Awana programs in the Chicago suburbs. “Awana is such a mainstay in so many communities and such a blessing.”

Growing up, Jodi was allowed to participate in Awana even though her parents were not Christians. She had a hard time memorizing her Bible verses and didn’t do too well at Game Time, but she always wanted to go back. She heard the gospel but did not understand her personal need for a savior at that time.

It wasn’t until years later that Awana once again became a part of her life.

‘Want to go to Awana with me?’

In 1990, Jodi and her husband, Brad, lived in Naperville, Illinois. One day, their 4-year-old son, Steve, was invited by a friend to attend Awana. From the start, Steve flourished in Awana.

“He loved it,” Jodi said. “He would memorize and say as much as the leaders would let him. At one point, Steve had his own listener. That year in Cubbies he passed both regular books plus the extra books multiple times. Steve couldn’t wait to be a Sparkie.”

The next year, the Wards moved to the St. Louis area. Steve’s Cubbies leader in Naperville sent a letter encouraging him to attend Sparks. Steve also convinced his younger brother, Aaron, to become a Cubbie.

Jodi didn’t have a choice. “I had to find an Awana club,” she laughed.

Softball and dinosaurs

Attracted by Heritage Baptist Church’s Yellow Pages™ ad for Awana, Jodi took Steve and Aaron to the Awana clubs there. Church members also reached out to Jodi and Brad, inviting them to services and into their homes for visits and dinners.

“This wonderful little church had a passion for souls,” Jodi said. “They don’t just reach children but parents, too.”

That spring, Heritage Pastor Ed Neimann invited Brad to play on the church softball team. At the time, Brad was a professing atheist but agreed to go to service every Sunday to be eligible for the team. It started a season of investigating the possible existence of God and examining the claims of Christianity.

Brad’s parents were Christians, and he was raised in church, attending regularly until junior high. But unfortunately he heard some wrong presentations of what it takes to get to heaven and eventually quit attending church. By the end of college, he had completely denied the existence of God.

As Brad researched the Christian faith, he began asking Jodi questions that she was not equipped to answer. To help her husband, she called the Awana commander’s wife or the pastor’s wife for help.

One of Brad’s big questions—“What about the dinosaurs? How do they fit into the Bible?”—prompted a member of Heritage Baptist to pay for Brad and Pastor Neimann to attend a weekend of seminars by the Institute for Creation Research. Eventually, Brad was convinced that a Creator existed and the Bible was the inspired Word of God. He trusted Christ as the only way to heaven.

“Jodi was really a saint through the process of my evaluation of and conversion to Christianity,” Brad recalled.

Through Brad’s search for faith, Jodi was also spending more time thinking about the claims of Jesus. She, too, accepted Christ, and she and Brad were baptized together in November 1992. By the next fall, Brad and Jodi accepted an offer to serve as Awana commanders at Heritage, and Jodi taught Large Group Time to the third- through sixth-grade clubs. 

Their new faith greatly influenced their family life and how they raised their sons. Christ was now at the center of their lives. Both Steve, now 22, and Aaron, 20, went through Cubbies, Sparks and T&T, and Steve earned the Timothy Award. They both came to Christ as young boys and have served as Awana leaders. The whole family attends Plano Bible Church, where Brad currently serves as a T&T group leader along with Jodi in Sparks.

“Awana is a very dear ministry to the entire Ward family,” said Jodi, who taught five workshops at last fall’s Awana Ministry Conference. “Awana is just a part of us.”

A passion for kids

After Jodi trusted Christ and began serving in Awana, a friend asked her to attend a teacher-training seminar held by Child Evangelism Fellowship® (CEF). The friend provided funding for the 30-hour Teaching Children Effectively® course. The main focus of the course is to learn how to lead children to Christ, help them memorize Bible verses and effectively share the gospel in a Bible lesson with an invitation to receive Christ. As an Awana commander, Jodi was in a perfect position to put into practice all she was learning.

In 1994, Jodi joined the CEF committee of the greater St. Louis area. A growing passion for kids was evident in Jodi’s life.

“I loved teaching and working at Awana,” she said, “but I wanted to reach more children.” In 1998, Jodi started a Good News Club, a neighborhood outreach of CEF.

“The neighborhood children would come to Good News Club on Wednesday, right after school,” Jodi explained. “Some would stay for dinner and go to Awana with us. It was a great combination of ministries.”

In the summer of 1999, Jodi enrolled in more CEF training, this time at the Children Ministry Institute in Warrenton, Missouri, and began praying that God would someday use her in full-time ministry.

Another move, new adventures

In the spring of 2001, a job promotion for Brad brought the Wards back to the Chicago area. Jodi soon contacted the Illinois CEF state director to find out how she could continue to be involved in the CEF ministry. That July, she accepted the position of local CEF director for the Fox Valley. She currently serves as a full-time missionary with CEF.

CEF helps churches run their Vacation Bible School program, conducts the children’s program at several church retreats and holds many one-day and weekend workshops for churches. In addition to her work with CEF, Jodi also makes time to attend three or four Awana Ministry Conferences each year and to make a difference in the lives of kids in her Sparks club.

“I love helping in many different churches and communities,” Jodi said, “making an eternal difference.”

If you’re ever in Plano, Illinois on a Tuesday, be sure to look around town for the lady in the red shirt and thank her for using her gifts and passion to help children know, love and serve Christ for a lifetime.