Dear Prayer Partners:
If you're in a big hurry and are reading LOTS of emails right now, you'll appreciate this abbreviated list of prayer requests. I know you take praying for us seriously and we so appreciate that. If you want to know more, you'll enjoy scrolling down for a report on my recent trip to Chihuahua and a calendar of events for upcoming ministry.
Thanks for praying for:
1. Wisdom concerning balance in our lives as our schedule is very full this fall and we want so much to keep our priorities in line with God's. (See calendar of events below, and PLEASE PRAY!)
2. A decision concerning a church home. We are feeling the very real need to get established in a community of believers, but haven't found a place we feel comfortable calling home yet. This is especially important for Jonathan but we all feel the urgency of this situation.
3. A special time with family as our daughter, Elisabeth, is married September 23.
Report on Chihuahua Discovery Trip
Krysten Norkaitis, our Latin American regional director, had heard there was great interest in Every Generation Ministries in the area surrounding the city of Chihuahua in Mexico. A dear friend of the ministry, Octavio Jimenez (a respected Christian leader from Ensenada) was willing to help us connect with some pastors and church leaders and assisted us in setting up a trip to better understand the children's ministry needs of the churches.
After some initial inquiries, we were told that perhaps 5-10 pastors could meet with us so we could share the possibilities of establishing an EGM ministry presence in Mexico and specifically in Chihuahua. We planned to fly to El Paso and drive the 5 hours to Chihuahua and were excited about the possibilities. The day before we left, we got a call from our key contact in Chihuahua. He said he'd been making some calls and the number of people at the meeting had grown just a little and we were now to expect 95!
When the meeting started, the room was filled with eager pastors, missionaries and children's ministry leaders from a broad range of denominations and churches. After our presentation, we were overwhelmed with the positive response. If you'd been there, you would have overheard comments like this:
"I have been praying specifically for someone to come to help us reach the children in our churches and here you are!"
"After seminary, I looked for a way to serve in the church in children's ministry but was told again and again that children's ministry wasn't valuable. Your message today has reignited that fire to reach the children!"
"Why do we need to wait until January for training? We need help now. Can't you come sooner?"
"We have a vision to reach the children in our churches and in our community, but we don't know how. We need better materials and training if things are going to change."
At the close of the meeting, Krysten and I were asked to come to the front and the whole group laid hands on us and prayed for us. It is impossible to describe the sense of responsibility we felt as these precious people prayed for us in our ministry of assisting them in children's ministry. Over and over since coming to EGM, I have felt the same overwhelming sense that God has me RIGHT where he wants me. Never was that sense clearer than when we stood at the front of that room and felt the power of God's calling to help these godly church leaders in their quest to reach children.
At this point, we plan to conduct a training conference in January. I wonder what else God will do? He certainly exceeds our limited expectations again and again!
Calendar of Events - Please Pray!
September 15 - Julie leaves for Missouri to help with last minute wedding preparations and Joe attends his first EGM board meeting
September 20 - Joe and Jon head for Missouri
September 23 - Elisabeth and Eddie's Wedding Day
September 24 - Joe, Julie and Jon depart for home (that's California now, weird!)
September 25-October 3 - Our first ever International EGM Staff Summit where we'll meet with the regional representatives from each region to get to know one another better, discuss ministry issues and conduct some training. We're hosting the meetings in our home.
October 7 - Joe in Ensenada, Mexico to meet with pastors interested in beginning an EGM ministry in Mexico
October 18-21 - Joe speaks at the EGM Romania Conference
October 22-25 - Joe travels to southern Hungary to meet with EGM team members
October 26-28 - Joe participates in a Master Teacher Workshop in Budapest, Hungary designed for staff and volunteer team members conducting children's ministry training in Eastern Europe
October 29-November 1 - Joe is back in California
November 2-4 - Joe is in Chile to meet with the EGM-Chile board and to speak to an interdenominational group of about 120 pastors who want to know how to build their church's children's ministries.
d on how to really love children through the problems they face and help them share their feelings through the process, this was a completely revolutionary idea to most of them, I later found out.
ture of Romanian national leaders and EGM staff from the USA. By the time the conference was completed, we'd forgotten which was which! Praise the Lord for the opportunity to serve alongside such quality people. The lady in the black on the back row shared so many wonderful stories of serving the Lord under the years of communism - questioning by the police, smuggling Bibles, imprisonment of many friends, etc. We were praising the Lord for the privilege of having this conference in freedom!