The Culture of CEF

Every organization has a culture. The dictionary defines culture as “the sum of attitudes, customs, behavior and beliefs that characterize the functioning of a group or organization; transmitted from one generation to the next.”

We, in CEF, have a culture that is unique to us. It incorporates what we believe, what we value and how we function. It has been handed down to us, beginning with our founder, Rev. Jesse Irvin Overholtzer. We, in turn, must protect and pass this culture along to the next generation of CEF workers.

Recently, our leadership determined to put down on paper what it is that defines us as a ministry. They have distilled all of our unique hallmarks into six “culture points.” As you read through these six significant points, think about how you and your ministry as an IOT exemplify each of them:

CEF Culture Points

Importance of Godly Leadership at Every Level - Spiritual leadership is the highest form of authority. The men and women who lead must have a personal heart for God in order to be able to discern the will of God and lead the ministry effectively. Regardless of the skill of a leader, if he or she lacks a heart for God, the work will be eroded at its very foundation.

Importance of the Spiritual Welfare of our Workers - It is vital that we are never satisfied to simply teach our staff the methods of how to reach children and how to train others to do so, but we must purposefully invest in the spiritual lives of our staff. When CEF® staff are men and women who are primarily driven by passion for God and His glory and have a clear call from the Lord, the work will prosper. If we keep our focus on God and on His calling, then we will be sustained in times of challenge.

Importance of Prayer as Our Foundation - It is not the work we do, the meetings we hold or the decisions we make that bring the greatest advances in the work; it is the time spent before the throne of God in prayer, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that brings power, laborers and resources into the ministry.

Importance of Evangelizing Children - There is no limit to the number of organizations that do many good things that are important to boys and girls in need. We are thankful for them and believe that God uses them to help hurting children. CEF, however, has been called by God to exclusively present the Gospel so children may be saved and discipled in God’s Word. We must stay on point.

Importance of a Clear and Biblical Presentation of the Gospel - The fact that a young child can comprehend the simple message of salvation and become a child of God is the foundational principle of CEF. Everything else that we do is based upon this fact. The good news of Jesus Christ is the power of God unto salvation. We must present it clearly and accurately.

Importance of a Commitment to Excellence, for the Glory of God - Every aspect of the work, no matter how big or small, has significance. This includes the training we conduct, the materials we produce, the facilities we use and the way we present ourselves. In every area we must strive for excellence to the glory of God!

In the weeks ahead, we will examine each of these culture points more closely and think about how they affect our ministry as instructors of teachers.

Candace's Story

Our friends from CEF of South Carolina gave us permission to share the following testimony that appears on their Web site. This is another powerful reminder of why we do what we do!

This was her first time to a CEF after-school Good news Club, but Candace really liked the songs, games, and especially the Bible lesson. As the volunteer teacher told the story from God’s Word, Candace listened intently. "...and God has made the promise from Hebrews 13:5, ‘I will never leave you nor forsake you’…"

As the invitation was given at the end of the Bible lesson, Candace responded. "I want to know the God that will never leave you." she said beginning to weep. She wept deeply as she explained why she wanted so desperately to know ‘the God who would never leave her’. Months earlier, her mother decided she would no longer care for little Candace. So, her Grandmother took her in and began to love Candace in a way she had never been loved before.

Months had passed and ‘Grandmomma’ began to get sick—so sick that she could no longer care for the little girl. When Candace’s mother was called upon to begin caring for her once again, her mother refused and signed the child over to the State. Now living in a foster home, Candace was being cared for but she so missed the love and attention she had received from her Grandmother.

"Will God really promise to never leave me? Will He hear me if I talk to Him about my Grandmomma?"

That day, Candace accepted the love and salvation of God. She still hurts and wants to be with her Grandmother but she has found a new relationship that she is growing in - a relationship with the Almighty God.

The volunteer workers at the after-school Good News Club are continuing to help Candace grow in her new found relationship through visits and guiding her through a special discipleship tool called The Wonder Devotional Book. Through this two month devotional and additional volumes to follow, Candace, and all the children who come to Good News Club, are not only learning about God but are learning how to spend time with ‘the God who will never leave them nor forsake them’. That’s really good news, especially for little Candace.

It is amazing how many children come to an after-school Good News Club with such heart-wrenching stories. Children just like Candace are finding hope in a real and everlasting relationship with Jesus Christ.

There are so many hurting children like Candace, who need to know the Father’s love. You might want to share Candace’s story with your TCE students as a reminder of why we need to know how to effectively present the Gospel and lead children to Christ. We’re glad those volunteer teachers in Candace’s club were well trained in how to evangelize the children and then follow them up. Because of them—and the work of the IOTs who trained them—Candace has the opportunity, not only to know God, but to develop deep roots in her relationship with Him.

Thank you to all of you who are faithfully training those teachers and volunteer workers. May God continue to multiply your efforts so that children around the world can come to know the God who will never leave or forsake them!

In the Zone!

This week we have a special guest blogger visiting the Café! Ashley Alden is not only a fellow instructor of teachers, she is also the CEF Wonderzone.com Coordinator! We’ve asked Ashley to tell us a little about Wonderzone.com, how we can use it in our training ministries and how we can be involved ourselves.

Hello there, fellow IOT! I am delighted to be able to share with you this week! My name is Ashley Alden and right now God has me working at CEF International Headquarters as the Wonderzone.com Coordinator in the International Ministries department. I’d like to share with you today about the AMAZING discipleship tool of Wonderzone.com so that you can give this information to your teachers, as well as consider becoming involved yourself!

Wonderzone.com, the online discipleship ministry of CEF, is an interactive, fun, exciting Web site where kids can learn more about God and be discipled in their walk with Him! Wonderzone.com features games, e-cards (called Wonder Cards), daily devotionals from the Wonder Devotional Book, and a series of adventures! These adventures are the “heart” of Wonderzone.com. The adventures can be one-level or multi-level, and each one teaches the child truths about God and His Word through flash graphics, games, and devotionals.

When a child completes an adventure on Wonderzone.com, his answers to the devotionals are sent to the message center, where a very special volunteer, called a “Trail Guide,” will answer that message. The Trail Guide corrects the answers from the child, prays for any requests, and encourages that child in his or her walk with God.

Our Trail Guides get to read all kinds of messages from the children that touch their hearts. Here are just a few:

"Are Jeses and god the same thing? If you ask god for forgiveness and he forgives you before he punishes you will he still punish you? I hope to hear from you soon."

"I fell very embarrassed to ask the question, "How do I know if I'm going to heaven?" ...whenever anybody asks me I say I think I do...but I feel guilty because I'm pretty sure God would like me to know and I'm avoing the fact that I don't. Can you please tell me how to get to heaven and how I know I will go to heaven. Thank you so much for taking time out of your schedual to talk/write to me."

"I just believed in Jesus on this website."

"I want ALL trailguides to know i like it here at wz. there arent very many christian websites for children like this one i totaly appriciate this website."

"I love this place. I think it's the coolest website ever."

"I love these WZ adventures! They are really bringing me closer to Christ!!"

Imagine getting to respond to comments like these! It’s no wonder our Trail Guides love their ministry! Read what some of them have said:

"It has been a real blessing for me to interact with kids through the WZ. I try to get on line every day, if possible."

"It is always a challenge to respond to a student, and I always ask God to guide me. We never know how what we say will impact someone, and everyone needs to be encouraged. I enjoy doing the Adventures, too! They are well written, with good, colorful graphics and fun games."

"Another way Wonderzone has impacted me are the challenging questions. I have always shied away from answering anyone’s challenging spiritual questions because I thought I didn't know the Bible, but now I enjoy answering these challenges. It makes me research the Bible more. In fact, I have begun writing down these questions so I can research and tell future children. "

One advantage to being a Trail Guide is the flexibility of this ministry. Trail Guides can disciple kids online ANYTIME—there is no specific time commitment, no specific place and no specific time to “report for duty!” It’s a perfect fit in today’s busy schedules.

Wonderzone.com is a powerful tool for discipleship of today’s kids! They are online—so that’s where we want to be! There were over 2,400 log-ins to Wonderzone.com in the past week. Since November 2008, over 36,000 lessons were completed online. And Wonderzone.com is not just about discipleship. Since November 2008, there have been 133 professions of faith on the Web site!

Will you tell your TCE students about Wonderzone.com? Will you commit to telling kids you know about this exciting discipleship tool? Will you consider being a Trail Guide—giving some of your time to disciple kids online?

Come visit us at: http://www.wonderzone.com/, and see what all the excitement is about! If you, or one of your teachers, are interested in becoming a Trail Guide, visit http://www.disciplekids.org/. For more resources on promoting Wonderzone.com, please email me at: ashley.alden@cefonline.com.

Thanks Ashley for giving us a glimpse of Wonderzone.com. We are so grateful to Ashley and all of the Trail Guides for the great work they are doing to disciple children online. Be sure to share this information with your TCE students and encourage them to direct the children in their clubs to Wonderzone.com!

Happy Birthday CMI Online!

Recently, we had a very unusual birthday party in the department of education. It was celebrated in the CMI Student Lounge and featured, goodies to eat, balloons...and certain staff members in pajamas! It was the first birthday of CMI Online -- you know, the place where you can "study in your pajamas!"

It's hard to believe that it has been one year since CMI Online went live on the Internet. A lot of work preceeded that launch--and a lot has been going on since then! We've asked Carla Ratcliff, CMI Online Administrator, to give you an update about what's been happening in our Internet training courses and what's ahead.

CMI Online celebrated its one year birthday of being live on April 1, 2009, and we are growing! There are now 433 users from 42 countries, including users from two of our target countries, Afghanistan and Cape Verde.

Additional seminars have been added to the site so that there are now seven seminars available in the Teaching to Transform Seminar Series. These seminars provide basic, introductory teaching and can be used effectively both by individuals and groups. Pastors and other children's ministry leaders can use our individual seminars for training groups.

Romans Road, our three-week demo course, was offered again in March. This course had 13 students including a student from Malaysia and one from the United Kingdom. A new online instructor was trained during this course and will be able to facilitate future online courses on her own.

Romans Road will be held again in May. We are praising the Lord that 43 students have enrolled! This is our largest group yet! We’re excited because there are three students from Japan, two from the Middle East, one from Jamaica, one from Malaysia, one from the Philippines, one from Ghana, one from Indonesia, and one from Kenya. These students represent five regions of the world!

In addition, five students successfully completed our first online offering of Teaching Children Effectively™ Level 1, and this course is proving to be effective online! The following is a testimony from one of our online students.

As a Deacon, Faith Trained Member, Gideon, and Disaster Relief Chaplain, I have had other training in soul winning (presenting the Gospel to others), but none has been as good as the TCE Level 1 online training that I received through CEF. Out of all of the members of our Good News Club team, I felt I was the least qualified to lead a Good News Club meeting.

At a point which was a little over half way through the TCE Level 1 training, I presented the Wordless Book and the memory verse. I prayed for the Holy Spirit to guide the boys and girls in any decision that they might make. Seven of the boys and girls out of the fourteen that were there that day came forward to ask Jesus into their hearts as their Lord and Savior. Our great grandson and great granddaughter were two of those that came. We rejoice and praise God for those that came to believe on Jesus that day and for the other three that came later.

With what I have experienced as a result of the TCE Level 1 online training, I now feel confident enough to help lead children's church, and I am considering starting a Good News Club in our small town of New Haven, Mo. next year. God does not call the qualified, He equips the believer. I pray that you will be one of those that He equips. Yours Truly, Phil Hamby

Encourage someone you know, who cannot attend a course in person, to take TCE Level 1 online today!

Teaching Children Effectively Level 1
ONLINE
June 21 – August 29
Apply Now!
Registration Dates: May 15 – May 28!
To find out more, visit us at:
http://www.online.cefcmi.com

CYIA is Coming!

Many instructors of teachers are called upon to train summer missionaries in CYIA™ programs. Here in the states, CYIA training varies in length and content. Some use the CYIA manual presented by the USA Ministries department in training the teens for summer ministry. Others use TCE™ Level 1. Those of you in other countries probably have a variety of training approaches as well.

This summer’s series in the states, The Wordless Book Visualized, presents a number of challenges for those who use TCE Level 1. There are actually four different types of lessons in this series: topical, Gospel account, evangelistic narrative and spiritual growth. Since TCE Level 1 is designed to be used with evangelistic narrative passages, you will need to help the students understand how to teach the three other types of lessons.

Our TCE Program Director, Lynne Herlein, has put together some helps that can be included in the Bible lesson teaching sessions to clarify how to handle each type of lesson in this series. These notes are designed to supplement either the CYIA manual or TCE Level 1 notes. Worksheets are also provided to give you helpful information. All of the notes are in several documents (both in Microsoft Word and PDF files) on the CEF download site. You can access these documents by clicking Here.

We realize that those of you outside of the states may be on a different cycle of summer lessons. You may want to access this material anyway and keep it on file for future use. If you have questions regarding these notes or how to incorporate them into the training at CYIA, contact lynne.herlein@cefonline.com.

CYIA training is a wonderful opportunity to disciple Christian teens and help them develop skills, not only for summer ministry, but for a lifetime of ministry to children! Just to encourage your heart, check out this wonderful testimony from a club hostess about how God used some teens last summer to bless a neighborhood in a 5-Day Club at Ft. Hood:

“The four young men that taught our 5-Day Club were excellent! They worked so well together. They took cues from each other and transitioned from one part to the next without a hitch; their enthusiasm was contagious! It was so evident that they thoroughly enjoyed teaching all parts of the 5-Day Club; even the singing! Because they were guys, they really kept the kids’ attention. I had mostly boys in our club, so they thought it was really cool to have guys teaching. The kids really felt loved, and felt like they could be themselves, just like the leaders. Thank you for all the time and training you’ve invested in these young men. They were a blessing to our whole neighborhood."

May God richly bless all of you who will be working in CYIA training programs around the world this summer!