AWANA devotional pastor, Joel Henderson, shows Tyler Houseknecht from Moreland Baptist Church in Muncy and Shenoa Brown from Covington Baptist Church in Tioga County on how to spread the good news about God by illustrating the concept through the use of a game.

HUGHESVILLE – Youth from three churches were competing at Ashkar Elementary School a few weeks ago in the gymnasium during a Sparks A Rama event that concluded with awards and a closing prayer.

Beginning at 11:00 a.m. Sparks groups covering ages Kindergarten through second grade came together for a time of spiritual growth, recollection, friendship and devotion.

The local competition is an annual event based around knowledge of the Bible and its scriptures. According to Cheryl Warner from Greenview Alliance Church and a volunteer at the event, the AWANA group meets once a week from mid September to mid April. The culminating event is the Sparks A Rama, an international event held in local communities to award the youth for their merit and completion of the AWANA program.

Three teams comprised of roughly 120 youth competed on March 26 at Ashkar Elementary School in Hughesville following a brief welcome from Awana missionary, Bob Bennett who serves the local area. The participating churches were Grace Baptist and Moreland Baptist Churches from Muncy, Grace Baptist Church from Covington, and Greenview Alliance Church from Montoursville.

Each team was color lined for a round of activities in red, blue, green and yellow during the morning activities followed by lunch. There was a segment of devotion and then another round of activities in the afternoon. This included the Truth and Training group with third through sixth grades. There were also activities planned for the younger grades K through 2nd known as the First Level Sparks.

The program included an opening flag ceremony with breaks of counsel time between the Sparkle Time activities and songs. Sparky award earners were recognized at the end before a closing prayer. The youth enjoyed balloon relays, marathon races, four-way tugs, and three-legged races among other motivating games.

The entire event concluded around 2:00 p.m. This is the second time the event was held in Hughesville. According to the members, there are 25 churches within a one hour radius of Hughesville that have AWANA programs making it an ideal location. Covington Baptist Church won first place in the Sparks-A-Rama games and the Truth and Training games. AWANA stands for Approved Workmen Are Not Ashamed from 2 Timothy 2:15. For more information on the Awana Missionary visit their website at www.awanaypenn.org.