Sunday, March 25, 2007
Prayer Update 3/25/07
Dear Prayer Partners,
This afternoon, I feel so blessed to be able to email you from Oradea, Romania! I really need your prayers at this time, so even though you just got a newsletter from Julie and me, I thought I'd send along this prayer reminder email.
HEALTH ISSUES: Almost 2 weeks ago, I had a minor surgical procedure called "somnoplasty" done on my nasal passages. This was done to help with my chronic sinus infections over the last several years. The simple procedure went well, with the exception of a strange reaction to the anesthetic. However, following the surgery, I immediately got sick with a coughing/fever thing. It was so frustrating because I was trying to prepare for the trip I am now on, but was so ill, I could barely sit up to work at the computer at times. Beginning early this week, I slowly improved and was able to get on the airplane to Bucharest, Romania on Wednesday morning. I am feeling much better than I was, but still am still not 100%, so please pray for me in this area as international travel can be taxing under even the best circumstances.
MINISTRY OPPORTUNITY # 1: Your prayers and gifts have made it possible once again for me to be in Romania for two wonderful events. The first event was completed this weekend - a children's worker's conference in Bucharest. About 45 children's workers gathered for the 2-day training conference. What a blessing to be with them. About 5 of the attendees were teachers I had met when I was in Romania last October, so that was a real blessing to see them "coming back for more" and really IMPLEMENTING what they have learned. For many who attended, it was their first exposure to training on true transformational Bible teaching in children's ministry. Some were discouraged because they had received NO encouragement from their church leaders. Many were looking for curriculum resources - a need we hope to meet in the near future. One pastor who came even said he plans to use some of the principles as he prepares sermons for adults. Imagine that!
MINISTRY OPPORTUNITY #2: My second goal while here in Romania is to host the first ever International Director's Summit - a week long meeting of our directors from around the world. All our Every Generation Ministries countries will be represented and we feel this is a critical time to bring the international team together as we move toward to the future. I believe this time will be a landmark event for us and will positively impact our future growth and development of the ministry. One of the major topics will be the International Curriculum Initiative, EGM's answer to the worldwide call from children's workers for culturally relevant children's ministry curriculum. Please pray for relationships to develop and for God's wisdom to prevail as we work through several thorny issues.
UPCOMING TRAVEL: I will arrive back in California on April 2nd and will be traveling to Cairo and Alexandria, Egypt April 8-15 for board meetings, staff development and a children's worker's conference. Our family enjoyed having all of February and most of March together at home and we were able to host lots of folks in our home during that time. However, it is never easy to say goodbye. In the true Christian spirit of sharing, I gave my cold (or whatever it was) to Julie and Jon so they were sick when I left. We are always counting on your prayers for ALL of us (Joe, Julie and Jonathan) when I am away on ministry trips.
With love and appreciation for your partnership in ministry,
Joe
PS: Our conference is being held in a humble little hotel called Vila Elim. It's very clean and comfortable and perfect for our needs. We meet and eat in the dining room. Amazingly the price is only $26 dollars per room per day (USD) including 3 meals for all who stay! One of the local church members owns it and is giving us a special price because they believe in EGM's ministry. If you're interested in seeing what a Romanian hotel looks like, check this link:
http://www.tourismguide.ro/tgr/pensiunea_vila_elim_baile_1_mai_1004.php
Thursday, March 1, 2007
Sunday, January 21, 2007
Prayer Update - 1/21/07
Dear Praying Friends:
I’m writing to you today from the airport in Amsterdam, on my way to Cairo. It’s hard to believe that I am typing those words to you, but it’s true.
Later today, I will begin three days of meetings with our Every Generation Ministries staff and board in Egypt to conduct board training, do strategic planning and participate in their board meeting. I’m really looking forward to meeting these precious people whom I’ve been praying for and serving (but haven’t met) since joining the EGM team. God is doing some phenomenal things among children’s workers in Egyptian churches. I’m excited to see it first hand! We are looking to expand our ministry significantly in a number of Middle East countries over the course of the next few years. Your prayers make all the difference!
Here are some prayer needs. I’m so thankful I can count on you to REALLY pray for these needs!
Pray for Julie and Jonathan while I am away. Julie will be leaving on Tuesday to represent EGM at the Children’s Pastors Conference in Orlando, Florida. I’ll join her part way through the conference and we’ll return together on the 29th. (Confused? See itinerary below.) Jonathan is staying with his good friend, Todd. Pray for Julie as she represents EGM at the conference. We are focusing to a large extent on the task of recruitment for some key ministry positions. Pray we connect with the people God has called to serve with EGM.
Pray for me as I am exposed to the unique culture of Egypt for the first time. God has been so faithful in this area in the past, I know I can count on Him. Please pray for great relationships to begin as I will be representing EGM on the Egypt board and will travel there quarterly until a Middle East regional director of God's choosing is called.
Pray for safety for the Egyptian EGM team members. Even being seen with us as American Christians opens them up for increased persecution at times.
Pray for my coworker, John Chapman, as he transitions from Middle East regional director to being deployed by EGM to Peru.
Our Itinerary (Please follow us with your prayers each day!)
Sat, January 20 - Joe leaves for Cairo via Amsterdam
Sun, January 21 - Joe conducts Board Orientation for Egypt board members
Mon, January 22 - Joe leads strategic planning training and exercise with Egypt board and staff. Julie departs for Orlando Children’s Pastors Conference
January 23-27 - Children’s Pastors Conference
Thu, January 25 - Joe travels from Cairo to Orlando
Sun, January 28 - Joe and Julie travel from Orlando to California
We love and appreciate each of you!
Joe (for the Coxes)
Friday, October 27, 2006
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 le
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.
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 mix
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!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
Friday, October 13, 2006
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
***************************************************
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.
Thursday, September 14, 2006
Prayer Update - 9/14/06
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.
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