AWANA began in 1950 as a youth program at the North Side Gospel Center in Chicago, Illinois. Lance Latham, the church pastor, worked with Art Rorheim to develop a program that would appeal to young people, reach them with the gospel and train them in the Lord’s work. Other churches heard about the success of the AWANA program and asked if they could use it. By 1960, AWANA had registered 900 churches to start AWANA. 
    Today, nearly 12,000 U.S. churches, in all 50 states, have the AWANA program. AWANA can also be found in over 4,300 churches in 109 other countries in six continents. Jack Eggar is the President/CEO. Art Rorheim serves as the Co-Founder.
    AWANA missionaries assist the program through outreach, discipleship and volunteer training. The missionary family for Riverdale Baptist Church is David and Patti Stone. They serve as the AWANA Missionaries for Louisiana. As the regional missionaries, they have enlisted the support of a ministry team to serve the Lord through the ministry of AWANA to "reach boys and girls with the gospel of Christ and train them to serve Him." AWANA missionaries share local churches’ zeal to turn their communities upside down for Christ — starting with young people, the most open age group to the Gospel. Our missionaries’ calling is to support churches in their assigned region in the task of impacting the lives of kids and families … both inside and outside the congregation.

More information about AWANA can be found at www.awana.org.

Message
    The heart of AWANA is the gospel message- that Jesus Christ died for our sins and rose again.
    Everyone is a sinner and deserves eternal punishment. Jesus Christ, God’s Son, paid the penalty for our sin when He was crucified on the cross and rose from the dead. If we trust Jesus Christ as our Savior, we receive God’s gift of eternal life in heaven. Once we trust Jesus Christ as our Savior, we can never lose our salvation.

Memorization
    AWANA believes that memorizing and understanding the Bible is vital. Studying and memorizing God’s Word are keys to winning the battle against sin.

Motivation

Game Time- Each night of club includes an exciting Game Time that attracts clubbers and keeps them coming back.
Awards- AWANA offers a two-level award system that motivates clubbers and leaders to achieve.
1. Individual awards through handbook achievements and attendance.
2. Individual and team awards through Game Time and proper behavior throughout the club meeting.

Leadership

Volunteers - The leadership for AWANA at Riverdale Baptist Church are volunteers who have been trained through the AWANA program and are have been approved through the RBC Children’s Ministry. The club’s effectiveness depends on the preparation and spiritual depth of the leaders.

To become an effective leader, there are several keys to success:

1. To love the souls of young people

2. Maintaining a prayer life

3. Studying the Word of God

4. Knowledgeable in the AWANA program and its methods.