The ILC gets a visit from the queen!

By Anna Zach

What? The queen? Yes, that is Miss Pre-Teen Queen of Nebraska. This week our kids had a visit from Hannah Duncan- who is Miss Pre-Teen of Nebraska. The kids were so excited to meet her – and to see that crown. After an introduction everyone had the chance to ask her questions and the girls even got to try her crown on! They were really precious as they each had a special smile come over them when the crown was placed on their heads. The biggest blessing of all came as Hannah explained to them that part of her responsibility as the queen was to find a good home for some books that had been donated by all the pageant contestants – and that home would be at our very own ILC. The kids took some time to look over the many books she donated and spent some time reading and investigating their new treasures. Thank you Hannah for being such a blessing to the ILC!!!

Students Zodell, Ian, and Sophia take a peek at their new books which include stories of funny characters, books with interesting animal facts, and chapter books for the older kids.
Sophia smiles like a queen while trying on Hannah's crown and sash.

The Lord has BIG plans for the kids at Bible Club

By Anna Zach

Over the past few months we have been planning and planning for the new Bible Club year. There has been this deep desire in me to help make Bible Club a really amazing place; a place where these kids know that we see how amazing they are, how much they are capable of, how talented they are, and how much potential is inside of them just waiting to be unleashed. I just know these kids are wonderful and I want them to know it too.

In October I went to St. Louis for the Annual CCDA conference. As a first timer I didn’t really know what to expect, but I was expectant. I found myself encouraged and affirmed in all the planning and thought that we have been taking for Bible Club. I was encouraged to sit in on speakers who passionately shared about God’s expectation for our young people. God has been in the habit of using young people to do amazing things- David, Josiah, Esther, Jeremiah – they were all teenagers when the Lord called them to insanely huge tasks for His kingdom. Does God still have amazing and huge things for teenagers to do? Does He have heroic works for our teenagers at Teen Bible Club? Do I believe it? Absolutely, one hundred percent, you bet your bibby He does!!! I am incredibly excited and expectant to be a part of what He intends to do as He reaches into the lives of our young people. These kids and teens have so much in them that God has wonderfully placed there. They have a power that He has given them, and we, if we allow it, have the chance to see it come to life. I am so excited for Bible Club to be a place where young people have a place to learn and use all that God has gifted them with.

Appreciative Inquiry

By Anna Zach

This past spring was when I first heard the words “Appreciative Inquiry.” Intrigued and curious I began searching out what this concept was all about. As spring became summer and the ILC began to wind down and the summer programs were gearing up, we began to wonder about using this “Appreciative Inquiry” concept for the development of a summer project with our Teen Job Club. After a successful debut utilizing AI, the hunger to know more began to rumble.

The opportunity to dig deep came in the form of the International Appreciative Inquiry Conference. So this past week, I found myself in Orlando, Florida exploring a wide range of workshops about AI. One of my favorite breakout sessions was about Appreciative Intelligence. As I considered things like the ability to perceive the positive potential in situations, reframe stories, and appreciating the positive, I realized that many fellow saints of old have been experts so to speak in Appreciative Intelligence. Paul was able to see the good in the thorn the Lord had allowed in his flesh. It was God’s gift to him. 1 Peter 1:6-7 says, “In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that your faith–of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire-may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed." Corrie ten Boom, a survivor of a Nazi concentration camp, was able to see the good even in the fleas that occupied the straw mats they slept on (these fleas were the reason the guards would not come in their bunk houses). So, even though I was interested in all that was shared in the conference about Appreciative Intelligence, I have become even more encouraged by it as I have seen the spiritual side of it. I find myself now challenged to look for the good and hidden treasures in all the circumstances that the Lord allows in my life. I am learning to appreciate even the shadow.

Teen Job Club Community Project at Hartley

By Anna Zach



It is finished! With great joy the final touches were completed on Hartley Elementary’s playground, ending a summer long journey. Looking back to the first weeks of June when our process of creating a community project began, it really is amazing and wonderful to see possibilities become reality. It is encouraging to me as a facilitator of the process to know experientially that what I have always believed is in fact true; young people have amazing potential and fantastic ideas. They are capable of far more than I suspect most adults believe they are. Though this may sound silly to some, I am honored that I was a part of what Teen Job Club did this summer.

On a recent trip to a conference on service learning I was struck in the realization that what our young people did this summer was a truly unique experience. I realized that most service learning projects, while desiring to create youth voice, seem to fall short in genuinely allowing it. I realize that this is partially a byproduct of working within curriculums and schedules, but I believe our approach, one modeled on appreciative inquiry, truly gave opportunity for not only a voice to be heard, but gave the voice authority. These young people searched themselves for an idea, decided which idea they liked the most, and pursued the idea into a tangible and doable project. When it came right down to putting paint on the cement (and removing it when necessary), it was all them.

I am very excited that our young people, while greatly benefiting from the experience, were able to provide a greater blessing than they themselves received. Ultimately, the recipients of service learning projects should benefit the most from the experience and I feel certain that their labors did just that. There are many, many children and teachers who will, through this coming year and into the next, enjoy the beauty that the teens in Job Club created for them.

Opening Up

It has been about five months since we opened ILC’s doors. We welcomed Lincoln youth varying in age, race, gender, home life, school, strengths etc. It has been exciting learning more about the students, who they are and what they like to do.

Some students were very easy to get to know, and welcomed others to get to know them. Other students were reserved and shy making it difficult for teachers and peers in. But as the semester goes on, it has been rewarding in seeing these student flourish and participate in class with their teachers and peers.

Miss Anna, the Read room teacher for Grades 1-5, shares her exciting story of one boy in her room that opened up:

He has come to let me work with him during independent reading time and in the last week has raised his hand every time I ask a question, and I should add he always has the right answer. But, with that said, when it comes to sharing something that he has written or drawn he is very cautious, protective and unwilling to share. It’s almost like he just hasn’t wanted to be exposed in that manner. His work is different to him than just answering a question verbally.

Although I always give him the opportunity, not a single time this year has he been willing to share, until Monday, that is. I asked the others to share first and then asked him if he would like to share. He hesitated, and I’ll admit I wasn’t expecting him to answer. But then he picked up his paper off the floor, and very, very nervously and hesitantly began to read what he had written. I wanted to jump out of my chair and hug him like crazy because I was so proud of him for being so brave.

This may not seem like such a big deal, but it is just huge to me. For the first time this boy felt safe enough to allow himself to be exposed and vulnerable to those around him. I should add that what he shared was simple, but precise and different from what the others had shared. It was a moment that may have made my whole spring.

Chaos Uncovering Secrets

by Anna Zach

If the average person had moseyed into the Relax Room on this seemingly normal day in April, I would expect to have seen expressions of perhaps cringing maybe even disdain on their faces. Why you ask? It may have been the mess of paper on the floor – an aftermath of a handful of students using construction paper to fashion mustaches, beards, teeth and uni-brows to tape to their faces. It may have been the sight of these very children dancing around the room with purple goatees and orange mustaches. Or it may have been the distinctive sounds coming from our newly founded percussion section, born from the crafting of tinker toys into drumsticks and mallets, and using a variety of surfaces to create some beats. Actually, to an innocent bystander, I’m sure it would have sound a lot like racket, a precursor to a headache perhaps. But amidst the chaos, something wonderful was happening. The often hidden and unseen personalities and interests of our children were coming into full view.

I feel it necessary to note that I am normally one for order. In my class I insist on straight lines and raised hands. So as things seemed to get a little crazy in the Relax Room my initial inclination was to reign in what seemed to have the potential for disorder. But, as I watched Madison, who initiated the facial accessories, put on a paper crown, beard, and mustache, I genuinely mused at her transformation into the character she had created. She marched around with her crown and gave little orders in a deepened voice to no one in particular. She was “king”. It was funny, really funny to watch her. And what was before my eyes was a little girl I had not seen before. It was then that I made a decision, I was not going to squelch what was happening. I wanted to see what other fun things would come of this. Well, interestingly enough a small of band of musicians got together in another corner of the room. These children had made themselves some drumsticks out of tinker toys and were using buckets, lids, stools and the wall as their drumheads. It was a racket. At the center of this group was Quincy. This is worth noting because as others came and went with varying degrees of interest, Quincy was focused. I watched him with his expression of concentration and I realized this was an open door. I made my move. I went over to him, picked up an abandoned drumstick and decided on a beat and then asked Quincy to pick a beat too. The look of concentration deepened. He was into it. I was so excited for this moment. Quincy doesn’t give out much information, that is to say he is generally very guarded. The beauty of that chaotic day was the unexpected peak into a secret place. I was let in on a little piece of who Quincy is, and I feel like that is a great beginning.

Strengths Exposed

by Anna Zach

A month ago there was a big buzz in the Read Room, Miss Anna was going to have a baby. The children were so excited and eager to share their own experiences with new babies. One little girl even told me, “Miss Anna, my mom had a baby and let me tell you, it was not pretty.”

A week or so later the Lord decided to take that little baby home. I was gone for a week and when I returned several of the children came rushing up to me asking me how the baby was and how big it was now and if I knew if it was a boy or a girl yet. I explained to them the baby had died. One of the girls, Tabitha, immediately became very concerned for me. She took me aside and explained to me that my baby was in heaven with God and that he could see me and that he knew that I was his mom. Then she paused a minute and assured me that I could always have another baby. Later that day in class she quietly asked me if we should all talk about what happened together.

Each day that week she did that same thing if there was a child, who had not been there earlier in the week, she wanted to make sure everyone knew. She did this in such a manner as if to insure everyone would be sensitive toward me. Every day that week she asked how I was doing, hugged me and continued to reassure me that my baby was in heaven. At the end of the week she sent me a Stamp letting me know she was sorry that the baby had died.

It should be no surprise to know that one of Tabitha’s strengths is caring. Perhaps in a strange way I was thankful to get to be a part of her having the opportunity to be a blessing by utilizing the very strength God created her with. The traditional relationship between a child and an adult was no obstacle for her, she saw the need for comfort and she was compelled to be a comforter. I was genuinely blessed and comforted by this little girl. I was equally as amazed by her effort to gently lead her peers to have the same attitude of compassion. God has given strengths to each of us, and I have no doubt that He fully intended them to be used as tools of blessing --- regardless of age.

Open Doors

by Anna Zach

My continual prayer is that the Lord would give me opportunities to really engage in these children’s lives for His glory and the furtherance of His kingdom and that He would grant open doors. That day I read Psalm 23 illustrated by Tim Ladwig to my 3rd – 5th graders. I really had such a good time with them digging through this modern interpretation of a profound Psalm. As I read to them I stopped and asked them if they knew what it meant to want – as in the Lord is my shepherd I shall not be in want. An interesting discussion ensued and we came to a consensus as to its intended meaning. This began a wonderful process. Every time we came to word or phrase that someone didn’t understand a hand popped up. Open doors. I really am so impressed by what was happening. My emphasis to them has been that good readers think and read at the same time. And while this was obviously happening, I was even more tickled by it because they were really thinking about the Word of God, and engaging in the pictures and wondering how the verse and the picture related. I think of myself as I have learned to read the Word, of how thoughtless I have been at times, how unengaged I have been and then I think of the special time I had with these children I am genuinely impressed and encouraged. I love the question “what does it mean that He makes me lie down in green pastures?” Imagine for a minute how naturally the phrase, “He makes me” would sound to a 4th grader. Even more I loved the question, “what does it mean that He restores our soul?” What a fantastic question. Open doors.

Meet Miss Anna

My name is Anna Zach. I am a native of Long Beach, California, although I grew up and have lived in a variety of locations since. After graduating from UCLA with a Bachelor’s degree in biogeography I substitute taught in the Los Angeles Unified School District and eventually settled into my own 4^th grade class at Culver City Christian School. I was transplanted to Lincoln in 2003 when I married the most wonderful man in the world, my husband Daniel. The previous few years have found me traveling nationally on a full-time basis with my husband and his ministry. After an exhausting 3 years of travel, I now enjoy being exhausted by my pup Ringo.

I joined the Impact Learning Center in January 2007 and will be serving as the Reading with Meaning Coordinator for grades 1-5. My primary responsibility will be to teach reading labs.