A Letter from Dan & Karla

5/12/2025

Dear Family,

As was announced at the last Awana night, based on God's clear call to us, we are stepping away from the role of leading Awana at Summit. Additionally, after much prayer and consideration, the Summit leadership team has decided to sunset the Awana program and move forward with a new vision for weeknight kid's ministry, planned to kick-off in January 2026. There will be a lot of Awana elements that will remain the same that will be spearheaded by Summit’s Kids Pastor, Mari. Mari would be happy to discuss if you’d like to learn more about the new program. You can reach out to her at mcallahan@summitnv.org.

We truly are excited about what God is doing at Summit and are very thankful for the commitment of the leadership to continue weeknight kid's ministry. We are confident that God will use it effectively in reaching kids and families with the love of Jesus and Biblical truth.

Summit has a thriving student gathering for 6th-12th graders on Wednesday nights, which Dan has volunteered with for several years. It is well attended and expertly coordinated by the Summit team with applicable Bible-based teaching, which is one of the reasons we know that God will work mightily in the new kid's program.

We also understand and appreciate the love that many of you have for Awana, which we share. It's been a huge part of Karla's life since childhood and our lives together. 

Should you choose to continue to participate in Awana for your kids and/or as a volunteer, there are Awana clubs at several churches in the area, which can be referenced here: Find Awana

Options for Middle & High School students are currently limited to the Sierra Bible Churches in Reno and Truckee. We've connected with the Trek & Journey Directors at both churches and they are excited to welcome families new to their groups.

We know that many are on the track to earning Citation awards and have been working diligently for many years. We are committed to helping your families to achieve that goal, however we can, as are several others in the Awana volunteer family. Please reach out to us so we can discuss!

Lastly and importantly, we recognize that communication about these changes at Awards Night on May 6 could have been handled differently. It's clear that the news was received in a way that came as a surprise that left many of you confused and hurt. This was certainly not our intention at all! We take responsibility for this and we earnestly and humbly apologize from the depths of our hearts.

We love all of you and will continue to watch with anticipation to see what God will do.

Please contact us with any questions.

Serving Him,

Dan & Karla

Dan: 775-771-5954

Karla: 775-745-7023

dkharker@hotmail.com