Summer ministries are just around the Corner! Praise God that we currently have seven 5-Day Clubs^® in the works! These will be God centered times of learning and fun that the children in local neighborhoods can attend to hear the good news of the gospel. These seven clubs are a great start, and I am so excited to see what God does in each one. We would love to see eleven more clubs scheduled to reach our goal of 18 this summer. If you would like to host one of these or have any questions, please contact Lizzie-Kate Potter, the Ministry Coordinator. The updated dates and times available are in the box next to this article. Please join us in praying that we will be able to not only reach but surpass our goal for 5-DC this summer!

 

Hello! I am thrilled to be back in Michigan and working to help prepare for a busy summer. I have been doing and learning a lot since I started my internship, working quite a bit in the office with Lizzie-Kate, doing a little bit of everything. My jobs have varied from laminating visuals and organizing the office to writing a newsletter and calling 5-Day Club hosts. It is great to learn about what goes on behind the scenes and have the opportunity to contribute. Looking ahead, I am very excited for CYIA this year as I will be on staff for the first time. I cannot wait to see how God will use this experience in my life to help me grow and to help others grow. This summer, as God works through the ministry, I am looking forward to seeing how a verse often used in CEF plays out in my own life:  2 Peter 3:18 “But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ…” Please pray this summer that I will keep that verse close to my heart.

If you would like to support Tamra, please send a check to the office with “intern” on the memo line. Or, if you would like to support her through PayPal, also put “intern” on the memo line. If you would like to use Zeffy, please use the QR code in this article.

 

 

Training

We will be offering a Teaching Children Effectively™ (TCE) Level 1 course in the fall. See the attached flyer for the information.

In addition to this, we offer other training. If you want to be a teacher or helper in a Good News Club, but are not quite ready to take TCE, we have the Good News Club Quick Start training. This goes over the different parts of the club and the responsibilities of the teachers and helpers. It also gives some training on teaching and counseling.

 

We also offer Super Seminars. These are great for churches to offer to their teachers and helpers in Sunday School, Jr. Church, and VBS, as well as for anyone interested in getting involved in children’s ministry.

 

On May 19–24, we went to the International Conference held at Ridgecrest Conference Center in Asheville, North Carolina. Wendy and I, because we were guides, had to be there the day before the conference officially started, and the Lord provided great traveling weather. Our early arrival was so we could prepare for the big week of serving others at the conference and also get some last-minute things done before the conference started. The first night we were there, we had several co-workers from other parts of the world also arrive. It was great having a chance to meet them as they were coming in.  The last shuttle that night came at 4:00 a.m. This made for a long night for some of our guides.

 The first official day brought a busy yet fun time of overseeing all these shuttles coming in with a lot of our overseas co-workers, as well as making runs to the airports both in Asheville and Charlotte to pick up coworkers from other parts of the United States. I had the opportunity to make one of the airport runs. It was great meeting up with the people, talking with them and hearing what their expectations were for the  Conference. Most of the day was spent greeting and helping people with their luggage and getting excited for the week ahead. During the time there, we were able to go to General Sessions each day and hear some very good speakers. We were also able to attend different workshops that covered various parts of the CEF ministry and also gave some new ideas that we could use to help improve our local Ministry. All three of the workshops I attended were very instructive.  Lizzie-Kate, Wendy, and Tamra also took part in different workshops and shared that the information they were taught was quite helpful. Another thing that Wendy had the opportunity to do was to drive people around the Conference Center in order to help those who had a hard time walking and those who had their dorm in a very far location. This was one job that took us way into the evening.

The conference this year was not as big as the International Conferences that we have attended in the past. We learned that there were several countries that denied our co-workers their visas to come to the United States. That was sad to hear, and I know that the coworkers who had their visas denied were very disappointed. There was a total of  900 to 1,000 people there.  Overall, it was a great time of relaxing, being challenged, and getting excited for the summer ministry to come. We would like to thank all those who gave financially to help us go to this great conference as well as those who prayed for us.

While at the conference, Wendy and I received our 30-year service award for ministering with CEF for 3 decades. It’s hard to believe that it has been that long, but we are so thankful and privileged that the Lord has allowed us to serve with Child Evangelism Fellowship.® 

Christian Youth in Action™ (CYIA™) will soon be underway. Dates for CYIA are June 14–21. The main part of the training will be held at the Springs Ministries in Gladwin. This is the first time that we have had CYIA at this location, so this year we will be learning to use a new facility. We have 48 students signed up for June. PRAISE THE LORD!! During this first week, the students will be receiving all the training they need to do the summer ministries. In the second week, most of the students will go back to their home areas to do their practice clubs. This is a little different than what we have done in years past. Our Shoreline students are going to join the teens from the Grand Valley Chapter in the second week to do practice clubs. Grand Valley was able to get four clubs scheduled for that week, so the teens will have many opportunities to put what they learned during the first week into practice. The director in Grand Valley was also able to find housing for our teens as well as our staff, enabling them to stay down there during that time. We are all looking forward to the second week of training and working with the Grand Valley teens.

Three teens from Shoreline – Rebecca Rumble,  Skyler Crothers, and Paige Gitchel – have almost accomplished all that they need to do before training. They are extremely excited about the opportunity to serve the Lord this summer in the Shoreline Chapter. They have raised about 64% of the $12,000 needed for the summer. So far, all of their training expenses have been paid. Pray that they are able to raise the rest of the funds needed. If you would like to give to these teens, please send the check to the office with “Summer Ministries” on the memo line. You can also donate through PayPal by putting “Summer Ministries” on that memo line, or you can give using Zeffy by scanning the QR code next to this article.

Shoreline Wish List

I would like to give a huge Thank You to everyone that has so generously donated items from our wish list. The generosity that outpoured has been such a blessing to all at Shoreline CEF.

For June, our last wish list for the year consists of:

• 2 rolls postage stamps or 20 books of stamps
• Candy (not chocolate) for clubs and prize bags
• Prizes for clubs
• Gas Cards
• White and colored cardstock
• Bottled Water for the office