Silence fills the halls of Crooked Creek Elementary School on the northwest side of Indianapolis, Ind. Children’s brightly colored artwork adorns the walls. Paper cutouts dance on the ceiling.

Moments later, doors swing open. Sunshine darts through frosted windows and joins the flood of kids bound for after-school adventures. Excited chatter rises above the thud of gym shoes on carpet. Several young scholars race down the corridor.

These children come from diverse family backgrounds. Many have stable middle-class families, but some come from at-risk families and single-parent homes. Suddenly, two of the children break away from the group. “Where are you going?” curious friends ask them.

“We’re going to Good News Club!” comes the cheerful reply.

Through Child Evangelism Fellowship (CEF), the Good News Club offers a positive environment where kids strengthen friendships, build values, and apply the gospel message to their lives. Each week, club volunteers from the nearby Second (Indianapolis, Ind.) RPC teach lessons, lead group discussions, and offer memory verse drills. Kids also have the opportunity to learn songs and earn devotional books, through the team of volunteers led by Debby Long.

Crooked Creek Principal Marsha Reynolds is one of the club’s key advocates. Last fall, she added the Good News Club to the diverse lineup of after-school programs.

“In the course of the day children have so many classes, but we can’t teach everything in that small amount of time. After-school clubs help enrich the children’s lives and provide opportunities that they don’t receive during the typical school day,” says Reynolds.

This Good News Club is a product of seeds sown more than 30 years ago. In the late 1960s, Mrs. Reynolds (then Marsha Phillips) attended an Indianapolis public school, where she took language arts classes taught by Margie Blackwood.

In addition to teaching language arts classes, Margie was helping her husband, Dr. Roy Blackwood, lead home Bible studies in their Indianapolis neighborhood. Eventually, the couple’s ministry grew and became Second RPC. Margie’s faith and passion for learning bore fruit in the lives of her students.

Teachers like Mrs. Blackwood helped inspire Marsha Reynolds’ decision to become a teacher and principal. “Part of my desire to teach was due to Mrs. Blackwood’s love of teaching and learning,” says Reynolds. “She built excellence in the lives of her students.”

Mrs. Reynolds recalls the class “writing and editing until we had done the best job we could.” Mrs. Blackwood was a strict disciplinarian and a fine role model. “She didn’t allow distractions. Her class fostered learning because it was free of distractions,” says Mrs. Reynolds.

Now an educator, Mrs. Reynolds strives to build excellence in the lives of her students as well. She has helped the well-regarded Crooked Creek School earn five consecutive Four-Star School awards. The Indiana Four Star Awards program annually recognizes schools that have demonstrated academic excellence during the past year. Schools that are eligible to receive a Four-Star Award must place in the state’s top 25 percent for student attendance rates, mathematics proficiency scores, language arts proficiency scores, and the percent of students passing both language arts and mathematics.

Mrs. Reynolds believes that the Good News Club will promote further excellence in the student body by encouraging community involvement, helping children develop self-worth, and teaching kids to look outside themselves by following the Golden Rule.

Reynolds has received positive feedback from families of children who attend Good News Club. “The parents are pleased that the school has an after-school class on values and religion.”

“I’m grateful for the Good News Club,” says Reynolds. “It takes a village to raise a child. Good News Club is part of that village.” Optimistic about the club’s future, Mrs. Reynolds says, “As long as the children and families want to participate, I hope to continue having it.”