Secret Angels Kids With A Mission Turn Neighborhood Club Into Gift-Giving Evangelistic Effort

On a beautiful spring day, a dozen or so kids gather around a kitchen table to pray over strawberry baskets.

For the girls and boys, 7 to 12 years old, the baskets - each filled with a flower, a piece of candy, tissue paper and a note - represent a relationship with Jesus Christ. They’ll leave these 49 baskets on neighborhood front porches in hopes that whoever picks them up either knows Jesus or soon will.

“Bless every single basket and every MACI member,” prays Crosby Delaney, 12, co-founder of the informal organization called Master’s Angel Christian Investigators.

“Your power goes with these baskets. Please send protecting angels over us as we go through the neighborhood and let no one be hurt.”

Without a pause, Victoria Nichols picks up the prayer: “Let us have words to say to those we meet.”

Then they’re off in two groups, pulling wagons filled with May baskets around the block. One or two at a time, members approach a porch, leave a basket, ring the doorbell and hide.

Later they’ll return to the houses and talk about Jesus with anyone who will listen.

“We do evangelize, but we don’t pressure,” Crosby says. “If you try to pressure, they want to listen even less.”

MACI began about two years ago when Crosby and Victoria became interested in Nancy Drew mysteries. The initials then stood for Michelle and Angie (monikers the girls picked for themselves) Christian Investigators. But eventually the friends tired of trying to solve neighborhood mysteries, which were few and far between.

They decided instead to turn their energies into something more spiritual.

“M” now stands for “Master’s” (God’s). “A” is for Angel - members who “investigate” the Scriptures to help people.

“Our mission is to let people know about Jesus, to bless them, to teach people in the club to learn to pray for people and help them learn about Jesus and teach about God,” Victoria says.

“One girl in our club just walks up to people and says, ‘Hi. Do you know Jesus?”’

Crosby’s mother, Susan, says adults tend to listen and be receptive to the kids because they are so young. Still, a few aren’t, such as the man on Halloween who defended his scary decorations when the girls told him they didn’t believe in the holiday.

Nicki Bylina, 10, admits: “I’m sometimes nervous if people are really confused about what we’re talking about, or if they’re against us.”

But that doesn’t deter Nicki and her friends from spreading the word.

“I like that we can help people by telling them about Jesus,” she says.

Other MACI doings are more quietly spiritual. Their prayer list now numbers 60.

Initially the only people on it were family members. Then Crosby’s grandmother began asking people at work for prayer requests.

Members pray over the list at monthly meetings. In addition, each person is given a copy to pray over at home.

Requests include those for family peace, God’s protection, God’s will, salvation, wisdom, overcoming weakness, help with finances, sick dogs and fast recovery from surgery.

“We try to make it clear we pray for a lot of things,” Crosby says.

She prayed about this story and asked MACI members to pray, too. She wanted to be sure Jesus, not MACI, got the glory for what they do.

From her MACI office (a closet in her home), Crosby sends a letter to those on the list whose names she knows, reminding them they’re in MACI members’ prayers. And, the group believes, God answers their prayers, though not always in the way they ask.

“One awesome thing was a lady with melanoma,” Crosby says. “The doctor said he didn’t think she’d live much longer.

“We began to pray for her, and she was healed for a while. She ended up dying, though, and that was sad for us.

“We decided the Lord just wanted her to come home.”

They welcome more requests. Included in each basket is a note: “… M.A.C.I. is a group of kids who pray for people with all kinds of problems. If you or someone you know needs prayer, please write,” followed by Crosby’s and Victoria’s phone numbers and addresses.

MACI ideas, from a turkey raffle at Thanksgiving to an Easter egg hunt, are all the kids’ own.

“They have great plans and carry them out,” says Susan Delaney, the mother of four girls. “She and Victoria are gifted in administration. Crosby blows me away.”

The girls’ dream is to establish MACI chapters across the United States. Crosby has friends in several states, and Susan Delaney wouldn’t be surprised if she encouraged them to start their own MACI.

Most group members met at Grace Fellowship Family Church or through home-schooling activities. They live all over the Dallas area, so getting everyone together once a month isn’t always easy.

But, Susan Delaney says, “The Lord spoke to me. He said if they’re trying to do this, we (parents) can’t squelch it because we’re too busy.”

Mary Holmen’s 11-year-old daughter, Elizabeth, and son Orrie, 9, joined MACI in November.

“My initial reaction was like - ‘What?”’ Holmen says. “I hadn’t heard about it. But I like that. They’re secret little angels going around to bless people and be kids at the same time.”

So far, neither boy nor girl angels have dropped out of MACI. Sometimes, though, the boys get a little distracted, Victoria says.

But she’s pleased with how they enjoyed distributing the baskets.

“They loved it,” she says. “They liked going door to door and hiding.”