Northland Area – North Dakota, South Dakota and northern Minnesota A part of the North Central Region – ND, SD, MN, IA, NE
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		Biographies of Arlyn and Marcy Nies
Growing Up: Arlyn grew up in Reeder and Mott, ND. His parents were believers, and the churches they attended were evangelical. Marcy grew up in Iowa and Nebraska in an evangelical pastor’s home. Salvation Experiences: When Arlyn was about five, he trusted Christ as Savior during family devotions. He confirmed that decision and committed himself to what God wanted him to do at a Bible camp when he was about 12. Marcy trusted Christ as Savior when she was about five after some special meetings at her dad’s church which were about the end times. At a camp, she, too, surrendered herself to whatever God would have her do. College: Marcy graduated from Grace University in Omaha, NE with a bachelors degree in Christian Education. Arlyn graduated from Grace University with a bachelors degree in Music and Christian Education. It was at Grace that we met and started dating. Family: Marcy and Arlyn have been married since 1975. We have two children. Heidi is married to Brian Gordon. They and their daughter, Charli, live in Blaine, MN. Heidi works in the Anoka school system and Brian works for Medtronic. Jeremy, and his wife, Rachel, and their children, JJ, Ben and Autumn, live near Cooperstown, ND where Jeremy is maintenance manager at Cooperstown Bible Camp and Rachel is a stay-at-home mom. Ministry Experiences: For 18 months we were the area director for Child Evangelism Fellowship in Topeka, KS. Eight years were spent as the pastor of Bethel Baptist Church, an independent church in Topeka, KS. During that time, we worked in almost every area of the Awana ministry. We have currently served as the Awana missionary for North Dakota, South Dakota, and northern Minnesota since 1985. Ministry Duties: We present Awana to churches thinking about starting it, training new churches, follow up churches through club visits and leaders meetings, plan three Leadership Training Conferences each fall. We also oversee volunteers who help plan seven Quizzes for grades three through twelve each winter, and four Sparks-a-Ramas and four T&T AwanaGames each spring. We also direct one week of Awana Scholarship Camp each summer, and keep leaders informed through newsletters, club visits and Sunday presentations. Hobbies: Marcy enjoys making cards by rubber stamping pictures and designs on them, reading, needlework, and putting pictures into scrap books. Arlyn likes to try to make computer programs do what he wants them to do, and read. We also enjoy riding our horses, but not as often as we would like!