Clubs—8

Enrollment—149

Salvations—11

As of the end of February

Here we are at the final month of Good News Club^® ministry. It’s hard to believe that we are now on the home stretch and a lot of our Good News Club opportunities will be ending the end of March. It doesn’t seem long ago that we were getting things together to get started. I am very thankful for all the people who have been involved this year in the clubs. We have seen the Lord do some great things throughout the clubs and seen children come to know Christ as Savior. Many of our clubs will have an end of year rally where they invite all the kids and their parents to a special day to share what they covered and give the opportunity for children to share what they’ve learned this year. I am hoping to be able to attend as many of them as I can. During the month of February, the clubs have been pretty consistent for the most part. Some of the clubs have shown a decline in weekly attendance because of the time of year and other things that are pulling them away. However, we did have one new child that started attending club during the month. There were three children that prayed to receive Christ as Savior. PRAISE THE LORD!! This brings our total salvations to 11 for the year.

We did have the opportunity to meet with the assistant principal at Grant Elementary School to talk to him about possibly having a six-week club before the school year ends. Overall, it was a great meeting and we’re praying and hoping that we will be able to start a club there.

Several of our clubs will be ending at the end of this month. Pray for each one of these clubs that they will have a strong finish.

Valentine Party

On February 15, we had a Valentine Party Club at the Ladder Community Center. This club was very small with only one child and one parent coming to the club. Even though only one child came, we went ahead and did the party club with him. While we were doing craft time, a reporter from the local media came, took pictures, and interviewed us on who we are and why we do activities like this. This was a great opportunity to be able to share about Shoreline CEF and why we do Party Club™ ministry at the Ladder. The reporter stayed for half of our program. The one child that came really enjoyed the craft, the lesson and the snacks. We have plans to have at least one more Party Club in April which will be our Resurrection party.

According to the calendar, spring starts March 20. That means that summer is almost here and we are getting so excited about our 5-Day Club^® ministries. Our goal this summer is to have 18 clubs. We have already started planning and working towards this goal. In the box are dates and times that we will be scheduling clubs. Check to see if any of them work for you. If there is not a time that works well for you, please contact our office and we will work with you to get a time that will best fit. Please be praying to see what your part will be at reaching the boys and girls this summer through our 5-Day Club ministries.

 

Weeks we are scheduling
5-Day Club:

• June 23-27
• July 7-11
• July 14-18
• July 21-25
• July 28-Aug. 1
• Aug. 4-8
• Aug. 11-15 

Times for 5-Day Clubs

• 10:00–11:30 a.m.
• 1:00–2:30 p.m.
• 3:30–5:00 p.m.
• 6:00–7:30 p.m.

Training

The Teaching Children Effectively™ 2 Zoom class that we have been involved with has now concluded. It was an awesome opportunity to be able to work with coworkers from Ohio to teach these students. All the students did well on their Bible lessons. There are plans for us to be involved in Teaching Children Effectively 1 sometime in the near future. We will either be doing one in our chapter or possibly helping another chapter.

On February 8, Wendy and I had the opportunity to go to First Baptist of Newaygo to do an in-church training. This was the first time we’ve had the opportunity to do this in quite a while. In past experiences, when we have done in-church training, we usually have anywhere between 5 to 12 people attend. That day, we had 53 people come to the training. This is the biggest in-church training I have ever been a part of. Wendy did a training session on preparing a Christian growth Bible lesson. I (Sean) did a session on getting to know the children in your class. Both sessions went very well and several people came to us afterwards to talk to us about our Teaching Children Effectively class. We were told afterwards that they plan to do more training like this in the future and may ask us back. We hope that a Teaching Children Effectively class may come out of this.

We are so looking forward to the International Conference coming up on May 19-24 at Ridgecrest Conference Center in North Carolina. We are looking forward to seeing co-workers from around the world who are reaching the children in the countries and areas to which God has called them. We are also looking forward to the speakers who will be challenging us to reach Every Child, Every Nation, Every Day. We are thankful that the Lord has provided $2,716 so far to help cover the cost for the conference. This is 68percent of what we need to cover all the conference costs. We’ve been able to cover the registration and now we are praying that the Lord will provide the rest to cover room, board, and travel. This comes to about $1,284 more needed. Praise the Lord for what He has provided and what He’s going to provide. If you  would desire to give to this, you can use the QR code, PayPal, or send a check to the office. If you PayPal or check put “conference” on the memo line.

Wendy and I will be guides again this year like we were at the last conference we were able to go to two years ago. This experience helped us to see the conference from a completely different angle and it gave us an opportunity to serve coworkers that attended. This year it will be a much bigger task because there will be anywhere between 1,500 to 2,000 people there as it is the International Conference. Pray for Wendy and me as we prepare for this great opportunity.

 

 

It is so exciting to see a young person that you have been training and working with for the past five years willing to make another step forward in serving the Lord as an intern in the chapter. Tamra Rumble has decided to do that. Currently, Tamra is at Bob Jones University finishing up her freshman year as a missions major. I have been able to talk to her a few times since she has been back for her second semester and she has told me some of the things that she has learned from her classes and advice that she has received from the mission faculty at BJU. We are so looking forward to having her serve as our intern this summer. So far, Tamra has been able to raise $1,050 of the $9,000 that she needs to be fully supported this summer. That is 12 percent of what she needs. So pray with us that God will provide the rest so she can be fully supported. Also, be praying for Tamra that she finishes up her spring semester strong. If you would like to give to Tamra you can use this QR code, PayPal, or send a check to the office. If you use PayPal or write a check put inter on the memo line. 

Here is a message from Tamra:

Hello, from South Carolina! Thank you for all your prayers and support. I am looking forward to this summer of ministry and service. In the meantime, my experience at Bob Jones University so far has been one God is using in my life. I have made good, godly connections with peers and staff. I am learning a lot from my classes, not only ministry classes like Global Ministries and Counseling but also core classes like Speech and Digital Literacy. Besides classes and social life, I enjoy participating in my local church here in the kids Sunday school and engaging in different Gospel-centered outreaches to the community around BJU. All this keeps me very busy, but my CEF^® family back home is often on my mind. I constantly look forward to summer internship and seeing all the ways God will move in the hearts and lives of children, families, and churches. Thank you for coming alongside me and CEF to further the Gospel. Your support is a very great encouragement.

 

 

This past week, I attended the first week of Instructors of Teachers Level one (IOT 1). This class is training me how to train teachers to teach the Gospel to kids. It is a two-week course. This first week has been very time consuming and hard due to the homework load being larger than other weeks. However, it has also been so interesting. I have needed to shift my focus from teaching kids to teaching adults to teach kids. So while I’m observing classes, I am trying to pay more attention to how they teach and the methods and illustrations they use. It’s been hard to shift my outlook but I have really enjoyed learning the background of how and why we teach things the way we do. I am very excited for this next week because it is going to be more focused on the background aspects than the information itself. Sean and Wendy Southwell teach this class that I will be able to help instruct in. I’m nervous to eventually teach adults but I am excited to let God use me to help more people develop the ability and passion to do children’s ministries!

I will still be primarily working with children. Children are still where I’m the most passionate but I am going to enjoy seeing how I can use the things I learn to help inform and train other adults and teens. Overall this is a very good experience! I’m about halfway through and I can’t wait to see what else God will show me while I’m here. Thank you all so much for your prayers and support!   Lizzie-Kate Potter

Banquets

This year, we have decided to do something a little different. Instead of having a big banquet, we have decided to have a soup and chili social. This will be very similar to the banquets that we’ve had in the past, but on a little lighter scale. We will be giving reports on what the Lord has done in Shoreline during the 24/25 ministry year. Be watching in future newsletters for date, place, and time. We are looking to have this event in September or October.

With March here means in just three short months we will be at Christian Youth in Action^® (CYIA™). As leadership staff, we are looking forward to this great opportunity to train teens from all over the state of Michigan to serve the Lord in their home areas. Since the last CYIA ended, the leadership staff has been meeting to plan for the summer. We are hoping to see 50 to 60 teens from all over the state attend. For more information, you can look at the box that gives the dates and place for CYIA. Continue to pray for the staff as we will be meeting some more between now and the start of the training. Also, pray that more teens will send in their applications, and that we will have new teens this summer.

Three young ladies from our chapter have already turned in their applications and are going through the application process. Rebekah Rumble and Skylar Crothers are returning students from our chapter. This will be Rebekah’s sixth year at training and she will be a student leader. Skylar’s will be her second year and she will be in level two. Paige Gitchel is our first-year student and she will be a level one. To cover all of the expenses for the summer which includes training, materials, travel, and other ministry the need is $12,000. We are very thankful that $3,100 has already come in for our summer missionaries. PRAISE THE LORD!! This is 26 percent of what the teens need for this summer. Be praying with us and for the teens as they are already preparing for this summer and also that the Lord will provide the rest of the funds needed.

If you would like to give to the teens you can use this QR code, PayPal, or send a check to the office. If use PayPal or write a check put “Summer Ministries” on the memo line.