[00:00:10 – 00:00:45] Jeff Nichols

Welcome to Fellowship One:Seven, a podcast from Child Evangelism Fellowship® for the Christian Community. On this podcast, we dive into the world of child evangelism and discipleship through interviews and discussions with ministry leaders and thinkers. I’m your host, Jeff Nichols, Vice President of USA Ministries for CEF®. Today we have the Military Children’s Ministry Director Andy Bunn with us and we’ll learn how he is collaborating with military based chaplains and CEF leaders around this country to share the good news with children on military bases. Andy, it’s great to have you here with us today.

[00:00:45 – 00:00:47] Andy Bunn

It is a great opportunity to be with you.

[00:00:47 – 00:00:57] Jeff Nichols

I can’t wait for our audience to hear about the amazing things that God is doing in and through military children’s ministry through CEF. This is going to be fun.

[00:00:57 – 00:01:04] Andy Bunn

Yes, it is. And it is always a privilege to share what God is indeed doing. And he’s been doing quite a bit, quite often. Let’s go.

[00:01:04 – 00:01:20] Jeff Nichols

Instead of starting with mcm, let’s start with Andy first. So you have a unique path to get to where you are today as Military Children’s Ministry Director for CEF. Like, what positioned you? How did God position you to be into this role today?

[00:01:20 – 00:03:32] Andy Bunn

Well, I was in the army in the 80s and 90s and the Lord called me to ministry and I couldn’t be a chaplain because I was too far along in rank. And so my wife and I prayed about it and we got out of the army thinking I was going to be a pastor of a church. I knew that’s what I was supposed to do. I still love preaching and teaching to this day, but he’s never put me in the pulpit. However, he’s given me the opportunity to serve with several different nonprofit evangelical ministries. One of those was Marketplace Chaplains that moved me to Pennsylvania from Texas in 2005. And I thought that’s exactly what he was doing at the time.

But actually what God was doing was having me become a part of the church that Fred Pry attended and meet him and get to know him, become great friends with him, learn a little bit about CEF and fast forward to 15 years almost from that point when a person was needed for this role. Fred calls me and asks me to pray about it. And I want to jump through the phone right then because one of my private prayers, personal prayers, mine and Holly’s, is that in my call to ministry that the Lord would lead me at some point to combine my military service with service to Him. And I had been denied to be a chaplain in the military while I was in active duty, but three more times while I was in the military. So I didn’t even realize I was still had any sights on ever being able to combine the two. And who would have thought that 15 years, much later, I would get a call. And now I’m serving with Military Children’s Ministry of Child Evangelism Fellowship.

And the Lord has combined my service to the military with service to him through sharing the gospel with little children. And whereas I thought I was going to Pennsylvania to serve with Marketplace Chaplains, which I did, the Lord had me there to meet Fred Pry for such a time as this. Just as it shares in Esther, chapter four.

[00:03:32 – 00:04:13] Jeff Nichols

That is awesome. You’ve got Ephesians 2:10 written all over you, Andy. God perfectly prepared you to do the things that he was getting you ready to do, even though you may not have known that you were getting ready to do them. And that’s what he does all the time with us. Right. Fred Pry was the director for CEF of Pennsylvania at that time when you met him. And then later on, he came into actually the position that I serve in now as vice president of USA Ministries.

That’s when he invited you to be a part and to be the director of Military Children’s ministry here. So this is a very unique ministry. There’s a lot of military children’s. There’s a lot of military ministries out there. That is not many military children’s ministries.

[00:04:13 – 00:04:15] Andy Bunn

Though we are the only one.

[00:04:15 – 00:04:17] Jeff Nichols

So how did MCM get started?

[00:04:17 – 00:08:10] Andy Bunn

Well, actually, we have been on military bases, and one of the things that you and I have talked about is I eventually, before the end of this year, I want to write a history so that we have captured everything we possibly can. But unofficially, we’ve been on military bases dating back as, from what I understand, back to the 1970s, where we had local leaders out in the field who just had a desire to serve the children in the military, and so they coordinated on their own to do so. However, in 2006, it became an official Ministry of Child Evangelism Fellowship, Military Children’s Ministry. And it began with Georgine Bandera. She was the first field missionary for Military Children’s Ministry. She had been a local director on the west coast, and she was sharing about Child Evangelism Fellowship with a group of folks in Washington state, I believe. And the chaplain for then Fort Hood, Texas, which is now Fort Cavazos, Texas, was in the audience listening to her speak.

And after it was over, he walked up to Georgine and says, I need what you’re doing at Fort Hood, Texas, and I need it right now. And it was just that emphatic. If you talk to Georgine, she knew nothing about the military. She loved the Lord. She was serving with CEF and had no background whatsoever. She just knew that she had been called to go way outside of her comfort zone. And so my understanding is that she purchased an RV and drove from Washington state to Fort Hood, Texas, which is in kind of Central Texas, and ministered there with the first military children’s ministry officially on a base for a couple of years.

And then she was learned about and Military Children’s Ministry was learned about a little more. And she drove back to the west coast and served joint base Lewis McChord, which is in Washington state, still in her RV on her own.

She was by herself. Unfortunately. Her husband had passed away about 15 years, I think before this, had an effective ministry there. The word grew. She ended up serving in Alaska as well on a military base there. And my understanding from her time there was a few others that I still don’t have exactly the true knowledge of that also assisted with this type of ministry. Georgine had her hands in seven of the original bases that were served in some form or fashion.

And up until Covid hit, we had been on total throughout that time, about 30 bases off and on. Because sometimes we would serve and then it would drop off and then we serve in another Covid hit and we effectively went to zero outside of some zooms that they were trying to do. And we know how, unfortunately that’s not as effective as we like. But we did have some dedicated folks in the field still trying to do that. However, when Covid waned of few years ago, about three years ago, the Lord has seen fit since that time to open the doors to 28 bases that we are serving on now. And I’ve been privileged just this year to already visit two others.

Fort Carson, Colorado, out in Colorado. And I was just with one of our great state directors last week in Maryland, Michelle Russell, getting ready and praying about ministering to a naval base there on the coast of Maryland.

[00:08:10 – 00:08:57] Jeff Nichols

That is amazing because basically going from 30 bases to 0 bases now back to 28, possibly 30 bases again. God is definitely opening the doors for those that are not familiar with our ministry.

Normally we have a chapter. We have local CEF chapters in areas around the country. We have almost 350 of those around the country. Those have staff members who are committed to seeing people, kids come to know Christ and people to be trained to reach those kids for Christ. They’re opening clubs on public schools, daycares, apartment complexes, churches, anywhere they possibly can. And in this case, they are targeting these military bases to do the same thing. So you’re actually using the local staff to help do these bases start this base ministry, Correct?

[00:08:57 – 00:09:48] Andy Bunn

Yes, my role, and I tell folks, when I get the opportunity to talk like I am now that I have the greatest job at Child Evangelism Fellowship. There’s an old military saying, it’s not just a job, it’s an adventure. Well, I can honestly say that my role is just that it’s an adventure because I get to go out into the field, meet our local directors, our state directors. I also get to meet chaplains and I get to link them together, connect them as a liaison, such that the foundation is laid for their partnership to begin and grow, such that they can minister not only in the short term on that base, but it continue for long term as well. And my role is to simply get them together and be able to witness what the Lord does through them with the children there.

[00:09:49 – 00:10:27] Jeff Nichols

That is amazing. You’re the matchmaker. You get the CEF people together with the military chaplain and whoever is there put them together. Both have a desire and it really is amazing to see. But there are some challenges, aren’t there? There’s difficulties. There are challenges.

What are some of the challenges? I say that and I ask that because many of our people are prayer warrior people. And when they hear us talk about challenges in ministry, their mind immediately goes to how can I be praying for them? I’m going to pray specifically for this challenge that military children’s ministry is meeting right now. So what are some of those challenges that you can share with us?

[00:10:27 – 00:12:36] Andy Bunn

Probably the biggest challenge is just convincing the chaplain when I do get the opportunity to talk to someone to let us on the other side of the gate. And the reason for that is you have a lot of regulations, a lot of different rules that the literalist leader will follow to the letter, which make it very difficult for a non federal entity. And that’s what we are classified as to get on base. And they make you go through a lot of bureaucracy in order to do that. And so just doing that piece, if we get through that, then you have to recruit your volunteers, just like we do traditionally, but you have to recruit from a different position. These folks not only have to be called to share the gospel with children, but they’ve got to be willing to go back and forth regularly on a military base. They have to have different background checks done than even Child Evangelism Fellowship requires.

And so just the literal mountain of tasks involved and logistics makes it a challenge. The other thing, like anywhere, it depends on the leadership. And so lots of times when I do make a call, I might get a straight no from a chaplain. We can’t do that here. I respect that. Sometimes I might not get a no, I’ll get a maybe. But it just takes a very long time to get to a yes. And so just going through that is a challenge as well.

The wonderful thing, though, is for every two or three of those, there’s always one, if not just a yes, it’s a very emphatic yes. And the Lord takes care of it. And the local director, state director, meets with the chaplain, and they begin almost immediately at their first meeting planning how they’re going to reach children with the gospel on the base.

[00:12:37 – 00:12:59] Jeff Nichols

That’s amazing. I know there are some people that are hearing this right now, and they live near a base and they have Christ in their hearts and they have a passion to reach kids. We need to give them a next step of how we can. How they can take the next step of even finding out what they need to do to find out more about Military Children’s Ministry with CEF.

So what would be that next step with?

[00:13:00 – 00:14:15] Andy Bunn

The first thing is go to the Child Evangelism Fellowship website and you can click on ministries and go straight to mcm and MCM explains a little bit about it. But there’s also a map on that website that has the dots on it, but underneath it shares the 28 bases that the Lord has opened the doors for us to minister to now. And so if one of those bases are in your area, the next step after that would be to contact your local Child Evangelism Fellowship director and see how you can become a part. I know they’re waiting for your call because they love volunteers, they love sharing the gospel with children, and they would love to have you contact them to help out. And then also on the website, there’s a place where you can send me an email, and it goes to a generic Military Children’s Ministry account, but the email comes directly to me. And as soon as I get that email, I will respond to you. I will ask you how I can assist, and the Lord will take care of it to ensure that we put you where you can serve him best to reach children with the gospel on that base.

[00:14:15 – 00:14:44] Jeff Nichols

That is awesome. I know that we’ve sparked some interest today.

I really know. I know that you’re going to be getting some emails because God wants these boys and girls to hear about him. Tell us about some of the things that God has been doing specifically. I know you got a ton of stories, Andy, but tell us some specifics about. I remember you telling me about one base that is just really said, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. And then all of a sudden God opened up the door there. I think it’s in Kentucky, right?

[00:14:44 – 00:15:52] Andy Bunn

Yes, actually, I have three stories. I’ll do them briefly. The first one is what you just mentioned, Fort Knox, Kentucky. And when I first began my role, I visited out there with the local director and the director of Religious Education on the base. And it was right on the end of COVID And so nothing was really happening anymore. And so they wanted to wait a while, but we’ve been praying about it. Went again the following year.

They were ready to go. And then we got a call from the chaplain. No, we’re not doing this. This past year I get a call from our local director, Jason Hines out there and they want to have a meeting because a new chaplain has come in. And when we went into the meeting, I usually go in prepared with my outline and be sure I’s are dotted, T’s are crossed. That chaplain says, looks at Jason and goes, Jason, the gates of Fort Knox are wide open to Child Evangelism Fellowship. Just tell me what we need to do.

[00:15:52 – 00:15:52] Jeff Nichols

That’s great.

[00:15:52 – 00:15:59] Andy Bunn

And it went from there. And so I’ve got a few other stories, but if you want to hear those as well.

[00:15:59 – 00:16:00] Jeff Nichols

Yeah, let’s hear another one.

[00:16:01 – 00:16:22] Andy Bunn

Another one is joint base Anacostial Bowling, which is near D.C. and one thing I always share with everybody is God wants US in Washington D.C. and I’ve had plenty of opportunities to meet with folks on those bases. And one is Anacostia Bowling. Typically when we go in, I recommend we start with a party club because you don’t need as many resources.

[00:16:22 – 00:16:24] Jeff Nichols

Party club is just a one time club.

[00:16:24 – 00:17:20] Andy Bunn

It’s a one time club that you can get parents and children and the chaplain team really excited about what we do and then build the partnership from there through a 5-Day Club® and Good News Club®. So that’s what we presented to the chaplain at this base. That chaplain goes, that sounds good, but that’s not what I want. I want a Good News Club. And then we have this wonderful servant of the Lord who was just a volunteer. That’s all that was a part of our local chapter in that area, Renee Walker. And without skipping a beat, with no infrastructure, nothing.

But she goes, we’ll figure it out. This was in late July of last year, in the middle of September, a Good News Club began at joint based Anacostia Bowling in Washington, DC.

[00:17:20 – 00:17:37] Jeff Nichols

That is amazing. God wants this. God wants this. He’s been establishing this ministry from a pioneer like Ms. Georgine to now your leadership. Andy. God is using you.

God is using Military Children’s Ministry all around this nation. Thanks for joining us today, Andy.

[00:17:37 – 00:17:38] Andy Bunn

Thank you for having me.

[00:17:38 – 00:18:05] Jeff Nichols

It’s been great having you. If you would like to learn more as Andy was saying about Military Children’s Ministry, visit cefonline.comministries MCM. This will also be linked in the show notes. Be sure to check out our U-Nite platform pwhere we unite kids with the Gospel through adventures and biblical truths. Give us a like and subscribe to keep up to date on both this podcast and our kids programs. Thanks for listening to Fellowship One:Seven.