Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
Santiago and Elke Lange are the proud grandparents of Jessica Maduka, born August 11. Little Jessica, parents Sarah and Charles Maduka, and aunts and grandparents are doing well.
Journey with the Master
From Ted Johnston:
Generations Ministries continues to reach out with God’s love to connect cross-generationally with young adults through Journey with the Master (JWM). JWM is a two-year journey that has three weekend gatherings designed to help young adults identify and explore God’s call on their lives to participate with Jesus in his ministry in our world—including within our church.
To date, more than 200 young adults have begun the journey, and several more are scheduled to begin soon. The most recent JWM weekend event was held in Glendora, California. Greg Williams led the event, partnering with several older adult sponsors and mentors who shared the weekend with 31 young, ministry-minded adults.
Participants were asked for their feedback on the event, and here are typical responses:
Do you feel the event was beneficial to you? Please explain why.
- It helps me to practically examine myself in terms of my relationship with God and his gifts for me, and how to use those gifts towards my goals.
- Very beneficial for me because I feel like I am at an important crossroad in my life clarifying what to do next. A lot of what we learned has practical things I need to do, but really focused on God.
What is your greatest take-away from the event?
- Not to have my life too busy for what God has for me.
- Setting some goals in my life and feeling a little more prepared to go back home and be a leader in my church youth group and my school.
Look for scheduled events at: http://genmin.wcg.org/calendar.htm.
Estonia
From Carl Aas:
I returned home from Estonia last night after our fourth summer school in the town of Kallaste, Estonia. The pupils told us that they had really looked forward to this event, and we have become quite close friends with a number of the older pupils. Several have invited me home to their family. So I am already starting to think about next year’s summer school. I would like to thank the WCG staff of teachers: Timothy Ståhle, Matteusz Kostrzewa (Alhaug), Frederic Clausen, Philip Cifuentes Silbigger and Hendrickje Kehlenbeck, for their service to each other and the pupils.
Among the subjects we taught were: “Keys of success,” “Advanced English,” including active communication and what they should do and not do in a job interview. We also taught American football and badminton.
We had around 40 pupils, the same number as last year. In addition to classes, we visited the largest telescope in northern Europe and a large aviation museum. I also held a public meeting for about 35 people.
This group picture of the staff was taken the day we left Tallinn for Kallaste to start the summer school week.
Italy
From Daniel Boesch:
We held our annual festival July 31-August 3 in the historic town of Ferrara (greater Bologna area). This year we were not able to provide translations in other languages, but we did have about 70 Italian members in attendance. Also in attendance were the pastor of a local protestant church and a couple of their members. This year’s theme was “The Lord Has a Plan for You.”
Besides daily worship services we had several meals together, a praise and worship afternoon, an excursion to a nearby natural park by boat and a guided bicycle tour at night around the walls of Ferrara.
SEP Scotland
From the UK office:
Camp has gone really well with activities including archery, initiative training, sailing, canoeing, netball, football, encaustic art, leatherwork, hill walking, and many more. Campers also learned how to prepare and present their own worship sessions, and participated in interactive classes on practical Christian living. Find out more by checking www.sepuk.org
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Bahamas Mission Trip 2009
From Robert McKinney:
They came from far and wide to attend the Bahamas Summer Vacation Bible School, which was actually a mission trip, a Vacation Bible School and a mini-SEP all rolled into one grand two-week long extravaganza event! Mike and Janet Morrison led a team of 20 from California to run the program. Their hard work and enthusiasm, together with the assistance of local church volunteers, spearheaded by our local VBS coordinator Gillian Curling, helped to make this our best summer program ever.
We plan to follow up with the young persons who attended, and we are hopeful that much lasting fruit will come as a result of our time together. We are thankful to all our members who served this year, especially our brothers and sisters from California, the Naval family from Haiti and our local members as well. We are hoping to send a good number of our young people to SEP SoCal to gain some additional training and experience for the future, and tentative plans are underway to host another trip in 2010.
Jamaica Mission Trip
A ten-member GCI team comprised of two members from Trinidad, one from Florida, five from Ohio, one from Indiana, and one from Scotland, served adults and young people on the WCG campus at Christian Pen in Jamaica July 5-9.
Besides hosting a leadership seminar conducted by team member David Perry, and a Vacation Bible School that served more than 100 children, the team helped with needed repairs to the campus.
Prayer Request
Remember that prayer is the battleground where we fight the good fight of faith. Let’s encourage everyone to join together in prayer, for we belong to Christ, and by the Spirit it is in Christ that we pray. Prayer and other spiritual activities help keep our hearts in tune with God and remind us of who we are in Christ. He is our all in all, and in him we are eternally beloved of the Father and blessed to share his good news with others.
Love from my family to yours,
Joseph Tkach
