Turnaround Sunday School

The Landon Altizer Story

Choosing Obedience

Watch the 3 minute video of the Landon Altizer story.

A safety engineer for the Island Creek Coal Company, Landon Altizer’s commitment to excellence was obvious. “On the job, I would try to be the best employee a company had. Or, the best player a ball team had,” he says.

For Landon, that meant working holidays and missing family celebrations. Many weekends it was a tight fit to get to Sunday School on Sunday morning at Raven Assembly of God. He often went from working all night with only his hands and face scrubbed free of coal dust. But, as the Sunday School Superintendent, he was committed to setting the standard of excellence.

In the early 1990s, the coalmines started shutting down. In Raven and the surrounding counties, paychecks and jobs disappeared and thousands of people moved in search of jobs. After a lifetime of excellence on the job, Landon spent his final workdays closing up mines. His retirement came at a good time, but where was the legacy to show his future grandchildren?

The troubles impacted Raven Assembly and Sunday School participation declined. But, thought Landon, what else can we expect?

Considering the economic downturns, Landon was satisfied that the church and Sunday School were doing okay. Until God challenged his heart.

Was he giving his best to leading Raven’s Sunday School? He started looking around the church, through the eyes of someone unfamiliar with Raven Assembly. And, he discovered, he wasn’t giving his best.

“It seems like when the Lord is dealing with me, he doesn’t turn loose until I decide to do something,” Landon says. “The Lord was persistent, ‘Are you satisfied with Sunday School?’”

Expecting Sunday School to increase seemed unrealistic, but Landon obeyed the challenge God gave him. He remembers, “I evaluated Sunday School and was disappointed in what I saw, so I made a strong pledge to the Lord in prayer: I’m not going to ask You to bless our Sunday School until I get a chance to work it out. When I’ve worked on it and Sunday School is worthy of your blessing, then I will come and ask for Your blessing.”

Applying his work experience, he created job descriptions and training for Sunday School positions. He trained greeters to meet visitors at the door and escort them to a hospitality room. He initiated improvements in the facilities, such as installing glass-paned doors on classrooms, so teachers and parents felt more secure.

When Landon presented the re-energized Sunday School to the Lord and sought His blessing, “The Lord has blessed in every way since then,” Landon says. For the last 12 years, Raven Assembly’s Sunday School has grown on average 12 percent each year. Attendance increased over 100 percent. Over 95 teachers have been certified, and Sunday School has gone on-location at several area prisons.

What sense did it make to obey God’s challenge? People were losing jobs and leaving. Businesses were shuttered, and churches felt the impact of mines closing. Excellence, Landon learned, also pleases God.

“If I could use one word to say what we did, I would have to say that it was to bring integrity back to Sunday School,” Landon says. “I am most thankful that the Lord trusted me with this Sunday School.”

Landon’s legacy to future generations is one that a coalmine could never give—the legacy of God-changed lives.

Do you want to make a difference and see no way to do so? Connect to Jesus. He’s real, He’s personal, and He will help you make sense out of confusion.

Adapt Raven’s Sunday School ministry job descriptions, operating policy, staff commitment form, and much more, for use in your Sunday School by downloading one or more of the following PDF files.

Turnaround Sunday School

The Landon Altizer Story

Choosing Obedience

Raven Assembly of God PDF files

Sunday School Ministry Position Descriptions:

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