• Neighborhood Lighthouse
The Good News Club: The Lighthouse in My Neighborhood
Just as the Lighthouse is a focused beacon of light to warn seafarers of impending danger of land, rocks and hidden underwater hazards, the Good News Club is a neighborhood lighthouse warning families of the dangers of neglecting the spiritual influence of their children. It’s always the children who pay the price of this spiritual neglect. This is the true story of how one neighbor made a difference by deciding to let her light shine.
My family moved to Encinitas, CA while Dad was stationed in Sand Diego on the Naval Base there. We moved our trailer home on a vacant lot, which my father bought on San Dieguito Drive, until we were ready to build our new home. My father had never built a home before and he needed some help. That’s when we discovered the “good neighbor policy” of the Fulton’s, a Christian family that lived down the street. Harold, who had built several homes in the area, offered to help my father with his house. Actually, we were one of several families Harold silently helped during those days. He seemed to know all the neighbors on our developing street.
His wife, Kay, was also active in the neighborhood. She focused her attention on children by starting a neighborhood Bible Club for the children. She accepted the Lord as an adult and regretted not having come to know the Lord as a child. It became her passion to influence the children. I was one of many neighborhood kids that were invited to come every Thursday after school to her Good News Club. I knew nothing of the Bible and my family knew nothing of the Church. For five years coming to her home became the “bright spot” in my week. Mrs. Fulton faithfully focused the Light of the Gospel to shine on me.
At first, I was attracted to the club by the great refreshments and the fact that all my friends were there. I was aware that the Fulton’s just liked me. Then after months of Kay’s creative and enthusiastic Bible Teaching, the gospel message in her lessons began to affect me. One day, she taught the visual story called Barney’s Barrel. By her using my name, I just knew she was talking to me, and she was! During the invitation I raised my hand for prayer. She further instructed us, “All those interested in receiving Jesus as your Savior, remain after class.” That day, I remember humbling myself on a little homemade stool in her living room. There, I accepted God’s forgiveness and I received the Lord Jesus into my life as my own Savior and Lord. That was the day that God shined His light into my darkness. My new life in Christ began.
Beginning that day the neighborhood Good News Club became my “light source” for five years. The Fulton’s introduced me to the Savior, the Bible, and then to their Church. God was using them to shine a witness that God loved me and had a purpose for my life. The impact of this Christian witness in my neighborhood is now history. Many of that original group of kids became Christians and are now serving the Lord today. Mr. and Mrs. Harold Fulton were good neighbors who prayed, cared and shared the love of God to their neighbors.
Harold Fulton and Kay both have graduated to heaven now. Today, just over fifty years later, I am still overwhelmed with the bright demonstration of God’s love in my childhood. I have their example of “how to reach the children.” I am sure that God wants others, like us, to commit ourselves to being a “lighthouse in our neighborhood” just like the Fulton’s, so successfully did, in mine.
Leave a Comment