Prayer Update - 10/27/06

Hello, praying friends.

I'm in Budapest, Hungary today, participating in a training course for those who lead our children's ministry training conferences here in Hungary. This morning 9 Hungarian children's ministry leaders will gather in the EGM Hungary office for the 2 day training event. I just completed my time in Romania where I participated in a conference for children's workers. I can't begin to tell you in words what it meant to hear their hearts to reach the children and learn the incredible difficulty under which some of them are doing ministry.

I thought I'd share a few photos with you so you can see what it is you're praying for. You are all so precious to me. I wish I could have had you along. The pictures are:


1. Some of the precious children's ministry leaders enjoying a workshop I led 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.




2. My translator, Alex, and I sharing in the first large group session about foundations of effective children's ministry work.



3. They loved the crafts I brought over for them so another workshop leader could show the teachers how to use crafts to teach the truths of God's Word.

4. The required group picture - all participants and conference speakers.

5. The team that led the conference - a mixture 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!


Thanks so much for sending me here to these faithful children's ministry leaders! I return to the States on October 29/30 and will leave again for Chile on November 1. This is a fruitful but heavy time of ministry and Julie and I are both feeling the wear and tear! Thanks for lifting us up in prayer!!

Appreciating you as never before,

Joe Cox

Prayer Update - 10/13/06

Hello, faithful prayer partners!

If you’re in a big hurry, here are a few specific prayer needs. If you have time, check out the letter below to get more info. We appreciate you so much!

-Joe, Julie and Jon


Abbreviated Prayer Requests (more info below)

1. Pray for the three dinners in November where EGM friends will be introduced to the International Curriculum Project.

2. Pray for the whole family as Joe travels October 16-November 5 to Romania,Hungary and Chile.

3. Pray for us to find a church home in the Murrieta area.

We have new California cell phone numbers! Please make a note of them and give us a call at…

Joe 951-795-1279

Julie 951-795-1579

Jon 951-795-1318

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Dear Praying Friends,

Thank you so much for your faithful prayers for our family and the ministry of Every Generation Ministries! Do you know that your prayer ministry makes a difference? It does! It encourages us so much to know you will receive this prayer email and immediately talk to the Lord on our behalf. God bless you for your part in seeing churches around the world equipped to effectively ministry to children.

Special thanks to those who so faithfully lifted us before the Lord during our “wedding season.” We’re thankful to see both of our daughters married to neat, Christian guys and feel the weddings brought honor to the Lord. Immediately following Elisabeth’s wedding September 23, we headed back to California for our first-ever EGM International Ministries Staff Summit, held at the “Cox Conference Center!” Our regional leaders and ministry reps met together for 8 days – what a sweet gathering! God really bonded our hearts together and gave us all an increased vision for His work among children around the world. Joe led the meetings while Julie participated between playing hostess and preparing meals for the gang.

On Saturday, October 7, Julie and I headed south of the border to Ensenada, a Mexican city just about 3 hours south of Murrieta, to meet Mexican Christian leaders who are excited about EGM’s plans for expansion to Mexico. It was great to hear one pastor’s heart for the children. During a tour of his humble church facility, he got down on his knee and said (in Spanish), “This is how I tell our children’s ministry leaders to meet the children. It’s our first step in saying we are here for them.” It reminded me of Matthew 18:4,5 where Jesus reminds us to humbly receive the children. Thank you, Lord for this visual reminder!

One need that comes up again and again is the need for curriculum resources. EGM has begun the process of addressing this need with an international curriculum initiative which will be introduced to donors and friends of EGM at three dinners November 2, 17 and 30. Please pray for God to stir the hearts of those will give the over $100,000.00 needed to make the project a reality for children’s workers around the world who have no curriculum to use as they seek to have excellent children’s ministry in their churches.

I’m on the road again starting Monday. Please remember to pray for Julie and Jon while I’m away and follow me with your prayers!

10/16 - Depart for Budapest, Hungary

10/17 - Drive to Cluj, Romania

10/18-21 - Romania Children’s Worker’s Conference

10/22-24 - Meet with Romanian EGM Staff

10/25 - Travel back to Budapest

10/26-29 - Training event for those who lead the training conferences

10/30 - Travel to US

11/1 - Travel to Santiago, Chile

11/2-3 - Chile EGM Board Training

11/4 - Pastor’s Conference

11/5 - Travel to US

As I journey, please know that I take you with me in my heart and often describe you to those I’m reaching. It always touches them to know I have a team of faithful prayer warriors like you behind me.

Joe (for the Cox Family)


PS: Please feel free to forward this information to those you think will appreciate having it. If you need to be removed from our list at any time, we understand and will do so – no questions asked and no hard feelings.