November Newsletter--Bible Belt?

Pictures: Kids at an outreach to military children listen to a puppet skit presented by me and a CEF volunteer.

God provided this studio apartment (view from the front door) I am enjoying during my internship.

The CEF of Kentucky team includes Kari and Randy Ash, Audrey and Nathan Hamilton, and temporarily me.

The day after I arrived in Elizabethtown, Kentucky, the amn changing my oil assumed my Kansas license plate meant I was one of many soldiers overflowing the towns surrounding Fort Knox. When I told him I was actually here to intern with Child Evangelism Fellowship, he asked if I was Mormon. He said his mother was Mormon but that he was pagan. Not exactly what I expected from one of the first people I'd conversed with in the Bible Belt.

Nor did I expect the mindset exhibited by neighbors who, after discovering I was a missionary and telling me they'd been Christians all their lives, informed me they hadn't been to church in twenty years and offered me a beer and a cigarette. (After I declined, their next offer was Kool-Aid).

While the area phone book does list almost 150 churches, I'm surprised by how small their congregations are, and the area is filled with children who have never heard the message of salvation. Twenty-seven Good News Clubs are currently reaching children in Kentucky with this message. But we want every child in the state to have the opportunity to hear, a goal that reminds me of Jesus' statement about the ready harvest and the few workers. CEF of Kentucky has a team of just five people. That includes me, a person here only temporarily, with the goal of learning an idea of what I'm doing.

But through all this, I see glimpses of God's kingdom: I've listened to several children pray for salvation, I've helped teach the biggest Good News Club I've ever been a part of (with 60 children), I've witnessed the joy on children's faces after correctly looking up a Bible reference, and I've seen the dedication of our team who moved from other states to reach these children.

In addition to teaching at Good News Clubs, I've also taught at several teacher trainings. I've participated in my first committee meetings, learned the answers to many of the questions people ask about CEF, and learned how to use details like the filing system that keep the ministry working. I will be in Kentucky for about seven more months, continuing to gain experience and continuing to pray for more and bigger and farther-reaching glimpses of God's kingdom.

Praise God That:

There are 27 Good News Clubs reaching children in Kentucky.

I can work at this internship, seeing how to build up new ministry and learning from such a talented team.

Before I even arrived, He provided a studio apartment with wonderful Christian landlords, despite the high demand for housing near a military base.

Please Pray That:

I can learn and gain good expereince during my internship, as well as being helpful to the ministry in Kentucky.

God will provide more staff for CEF of Kentucky.

Children in Good News Clubs will believe in Jesus as their Savior.

August Newsletter--I Should Have Worn A Helmet

Pictures: Children play with a parachute during a 5-Day Club in Boston; a teenage student counsels a child for salvation during a 5-Day Club.

Never before have I been asked by over 70 people per day about the welfare of my nose. I'd taken a break with the teenagers who were attending a two-week training in which I was participating as a teacher, dorm mom, and guest missionary. After hours of learning how to teach Bible lessons, counsel children for salvation, and teach all the components of a 5-Day Club, the teens were ready for an active game. They had picked a game best described as team tag. Someone from the other team was about to make it across our line, so I sprinted full force to tag him, failing to notice that another teammate was coming from the other direction with the same gaol. We definitely gout our opponent out, but in the process the side of my head collided with my teammate's shoulder, toppling us both. The most visible result was a nose bleed that persisted off and on for acouple days. Of course the black eye and swelling that followed also attracted a lot fo attention. Someone said the changing colors of my eye reminded him of a blooming flower; I was reminded more of a rotting vegetable.

I didn't realize until six weeks later that my cheek bone had been fractured in two places. My body had already healed enough on its own to prevent the doctors from doing anything else. The sides of my face are no longer completely symmetrical, but the injury helped me appreciate God's family. The concern that these youths showed at an age when the normal teenager is self-consumed reminded me that the good I see in other Christians is always a sampling of the God who is living in them. I was also able to see God's power working in their lives as teens who had never taught children before learned how to use a Bible story to present the Gospel message and make applications for saved children. At one club, a student was teaching children the sotry of Naaman, who was told that the only way he could be healed of his leprosy was to bathe in the Jordan River. As he was explaining that similarly there is only one way to Heaven, one of the kids exclaimed, "So Jesus is like our Jordan!?"

In addition to the training I helped with in Kansas, I stayed busy over the summer working at at training in Michigan and acting as a team leader and teacher in a 5-Day Club ministry in Boston designed to connect 30 churches with children and families in their neighborhoods and provide them with training to begin weekly Good News Club in their neighborhood schools. This week I moved to Elizabethtown, Kentucky where I will be interning with the Child Evangelism Fellowship state director, Kari Ash, for about nine months.

Praise God That:

Over 2,000 children heard the Gospel and over 200 children were saved during the initial week of ministry in Boston.

70 teenagers and young adults in Kansas and 70 in Michigan have been equipped to teach children, along with other youth all around the world.

Please Pray That:

God will grant wisdom as I learn and work in many new areas in my internship.

God will continue to provide opportunities and workers for the pioneering work that CEF is doing in Kentucky.

A Few of My Favorite Things

pictures: I help raise the flag of Burkina Faso at the CEF headquarters prayer plaza.

Some of the CMI students take a study break.

"A room full of strangers coming together

Trying to live with this Missouri weather

Learning to teach about Jesus our King

These are a few of my favorite things.

When there're practicums

When the words don't come

When I'm sleep deprived

I simply remember God's promise to me

I can do all things through Christ."

These words, just part of a song set to a The Sound of Music tune and performed by many students, pretty accurately describe my experience at the Children's Ministries Institute(R). In March I returned to Child Evangelism Fellowship (R) headquarters in Warrenton, Missouri to complete the last five weeks of the institute and graduated in April. Each morning at the institute we gathered for devotions and prayer, followed by five classes on a variety of subjects such as ministry strategy and leadership essentials.

We also taught weekly Good News Clubs in area schools, and some of us were able to help with the children's programs at area churches. Since CMI students are housed in dorms in the headquarters building, the fellowship did not end when classes did. Although it was hard to go our separate ways after connecting with people from all over the U.S. and other countries who shared a love for God and a passion to bring His love to children, I am excited to be one step closer to ministering to the children in Burkina Faso.

While I was at CEF headquarters, I also received exciting news that brought me even closer to the goal. A budget correction and some new donors had vaulted my support level over the 90% mark. I now need to raise just $250 per month.

Thank you so much for your partnership!

Chelsey

Praise God For:

• All of the partners in ministry, like you, who pray and give!
  

• My graduation from CMI.
  
  

Please Pray That:

• God will give me wisdom as I help train youth to teach 5-Day Clubs for children. The training will take place May 31-June 12.
  

• God will provide workers and church partners for a pioneering ministry event in which I will be participating in Boston July 19-31. CEF workers from around the country will gather to teach 5-Day Clubs and train church partners to continue children's ministry thoughout the year.
  

• God would provide the remaining 7% of my support.

Teacher?

The founder of CEF, Mr. Overholtzer, wanted to be saved at age 12, but was told he was too young. When he accepted Christ as an adult, he accepted his predecessors' views on child conversion. Until one day he read a sermon by Charles Spurgeon that said, "A child of five, if properly instructed, can as truly believe and be regenerated as an adult." Skeptical, he tested the theory on two neighborhood girls, who readily received Christ. Shocked, he told them not to tell anyone and waited to see what would happen. Some time later, the girls' mother visited him, saying that even though her daughters had not told her anything, she had seen a big change in their lives. The ministry of CEF was born.

Over 70 years later, I joined CEF for a missions trip, ignorant of the statistics that 85% of today's Christians accepted Christ by age 14 and clueless of the importance of reaching the age group most successsful at adopting faith like a child. It wasn't long before I saw how eager children are for God and heard many more stories about how the changed lives of children can be the strongest witness for adults. Still, I had forgotten that the children I teach could also touch my spirit.

In December as I concluded a weekly Good News Club lesson on Elisha, I told the children that he died and went to be with God. One child raised her hand and siad, "So he didn't really die, right? He just moved." The next day my grandmother died, and this girl's words came immediately to mind. These children are not just students, but are my brothers and sisters in the Lord, my comrades in battle, and my encouragement to trust God and His promises.

Praises and Prayer Requests:
I will raise support and teach a Good News Club in Indians for the next few weeks.

March 15-April 16, I will complete the Children's Ministries Institute at CEF headquarters in Missouri.

On April 18, I will return to Kansas to continue raising support.

We are working on my possible role in summer ministry, including the chance to serve as a guest missionary at Kansas' CYIA (a ministry in which teens receive training and then teach 5-Day Clubs for children) and to participate in Boston 2010 (a ministry in which CEF workers from all over the country will gather to ignite long-term CEF ministry in Boston by partnering with local churches to teach 5-Day Clubs). We are also working to set up my U.S. internship (the next step toward beginning my ministry in Burkina Faso), which will likely be in Kentucky.

Please join with me in praising God for these opportunites and praying for His guidance.