A Winning Testimony from Michigan

Two of the winning entries in our contest came from Michigan. This one was sent in by Kari Ash, of the South Central chapter. We were so excited to see what God has done with one TCE student named Julie Pelmear. Here's her story as told by Kari:

Mid-way through our Teaching Children Effectively Level 1 Course in the fall of 1995, a young woman came to me with tears in her eyes. I’ll never forget what she said, “I just realized I’ve been teaching many Bible stories to children without sharing the truths of the gospel…. I just pray that God will forgive me and give me more opportunities to serve Him!” God answered Julie’s prayer with a resounding, “YES!”

Since that time, God has multiplied her ministry one thousand fold! Julie has taught multiple Good News Clubs each year, in addition to helping with 5-Day Clubs, party clubs, and in the CEF county fair ministry! She continued on with her training, attending TCE Level 2 and then an Instructor of Teachers Course in 1997!

Since that time, she has instructed in 14 TCE Level 1 Courses in the South Central Michigan chapter, as well as in several courses in two neighboring chapters! Imagine the impact of not only teaching thousands of children, but training hundreds of teachers! Julie has been a tremendous blessing to me personally and to our local work! God has graciously provided many, many opportunites for Julie Pelmear to continue to serve Him! Praise Him!

Don't you wish you had a whole bunch of Julie's in your area? Just goes to show what a great impact one TCE student can have on a CEF chapter! Of course, it also shows the fruit that can come from a dedicated IOT like Kari!

We congratulate Julie and Kari, and we hope they enjoy those colorful soccer balls coming their way! May God continue to use both of these ladies to bless and grow the ministry to the children and teachers of Michigan's South Central chapter!

A Soldier's Sacrifice

"Behind a church in the small town of Flint Hill, Virginia, you will find the grave of a young seminary student named Albert Gallatin Willis who died on October 14, 1864. Albert Willis' story is unusual.

Albert Willis served with the famed command of Mosby's Raiders during the Civil War. Because of Mosby's harassment of Federal supply trains, wagons, and stores, General Phil Sheridan ordered that Mosby and any of his men be hung on capture.

In October 1864, Willis and an unnamed comrade were captured by the 2nd U. S. Cavalry and sentenced to die by hanging. However, Willis was offered a Chaplain's exemption as a ministerial student. But because his companion was married, young Willis offered himself as a substitute for the comrade and died in his place so that the other might go free. Willis professed his 'Christian Readiness To Die,' prayed for his executioners, and was hanged." (Larry Vaughn, SermonCentral.com)

On Memorial Day, we remember the many sacrifices made by those in the military and their families. We give thanks for our country and the freedoms we enjoy that were obtained and are maintained for us at such great cost.

Memorial Day is all about remembering those stories of sacrifice. It is with grateful hearts we remember those who died and those who gave up sons and daughters on behalf of our country.

But there was one Father whose sacrifice was greatest of all. God the Father watched from Heaven’s portal as His only Son went to a far off place to serve. Jesus, God’s Son, left His home to come and dwell in enemy territory. He showed us how to live a life of integrity, courage and honor. Then He gave up His life so we could be free. There is no greater love. There is no greater sacrifice.

As you pause to remember sacrifices made on our behalf this Memorial Day weekend, be sure to thank our God for His greatest sacrifice.

If you would like, add a comment at the end of this post to express your thanks for all our military men and women or for a veteran in your own family.

Winning Testimony from Michigan

We've been inspired reading the testimonies sent in by those who entered our blog contest.

Our first testimony comes from Karen Rumley, CEF of Muskegon, MI, and her TCE student, Hazel Priest. As you read about Hazel, praise God with us for this wonderful--and busy--lady!

"Hazel Priest has taught children for many years, including Sunday School, AWANA classes, Christian school chapels, and almost any other class you can think of! However, it was not until 2002 that Hazel attended Teaching Children Effectively Level 1. That spring, she learned how to link the gospel into any Bible lesson and how to present it in a language that even children can understand. Hazel says that TCE 1 changed her life. Before TCE, she was afraid to give an invitation. But, once she learned how, God took over, and it just happens. After receiving this training, Hazel asked the Lord for another 20 years to use it!

The first time she taught AWANA after learning how to present the gospel and give an invitation, she realized that she would need to warn the other AWANA staff about what God was going to do. She knew they needed to know how to talk with the children that responded…so she held her own miniature instructional course for the other AWANA workers on how to help a child receive Christ, based on Scripture. When she began teaching, using the new methods, 22 children chose to accept Christ as Savior!

She also began a ministry teaching Good News Clubs in the local public schools. Hazel has taught multiple school clubs, chapel services, and anywhere else the Lord led her since taking TCE. One memorable school Good News Club had 53 children enrolled, and 17 of them accepted Christ during that season of club!

Since seeing what God could do through her, Hazel wanted others to see God at work in the lives of children. She committed to taking the training necessary to serve as an instructor for Teaching Children Effectively Level 1. Since taking the training, Hazel has overcome health challenges to teach two other classes of children’s workers how to share the gospel with children. The blessing of seeing children come to know the Lord is worth every bit of effort in preparing the lessons and teaching effectively."

Way to go, Hazel! May God continue to bless and use you to reach those kids in Muskegon! And way to go, Karen! Keep up the good work in training such great people in your area! Both Karen and Hazel have a Ball of Many Colors coming their way shortly! Stay tuned to the Cafe for more testimonies to come!

Contest Winners!

We have a winner! In fact, we have five winners! We challenged you to send in a testimony and picture about one of your TCE students. Responses were slow in coming and not very plentiful, but five of you did an outstanding job in sending some inspiring testimonies. Our five winners are:

Kari Ash, Michigan
Karen Rumley, Michigan
Kay Taylor, Louisiana
Janet Walker, Washington
Joyce James, Washington.

Congratulations to each of you! These five individuals will receive a wonderful Ball of Many Colors for themselves and one for the teacher whose testimony they shared. In addition, we will be posting the winning testimonies and pictures in the weeks to come.

Our thanks to all who entered the contest. We will be having more contests in the future, so keep visiting the Cafe and watching for your chance to win!

Good News for You!

We had a great time at the CEF National Conference, Good News Across America! It was fun seeing so many of our CEF family, including lots and lots of our IOTs! We enjoyed the wonderful Bible messages from Dr. Woodrow Kroll of Back to the Bible. There were also loads of great workshops on all kinds of subjects.

We had a special meeting for our IOTs. We were expecting maybe 50 or so to attend. Imagine our surprise when about 150 showed up! Yikes! I know those of you who were there enjoyed the "close" fellowship. It was good to see so many and to be able to update you on what's happening in the educational aspect of CEF ministry.

We talked about keeping up the quality of our TCE courses and giving attention to the paperwork that helps keep our records current. We talked about our new TCE Program Director, Lynne Herlein. She will be working with you as you set up courses, develop schedules and assign staff. She is your "go-to" person when you need advice or have questions.

We talked about our blog--and invited those who haven't been to the Cafe to drop in for a visit. I see in our guestbook that some have done that! We also talked about the exciting upcoming launch of CMI online! Starting in September, some audio/PowerPoint classes will be offered. Later in the fall there will be a demo course that will involve assignments. All of this will help us get the bugs out of the system before we launch TCE Level 1 in January 2008. You'll be hearing lots more about all of this in coming days, so stay tuned!

Undoubtedly, the biggest excitement for our instructors was the new training CD called Good News for Children's Spiritual Formation. This CD contains 14 brand new training subjects you can use in a variety of ways. There are timely topics like teaching apologetics to kids, helping children live biblical lives in an unbiblical world, answering kids' tough questions and lots more. Each session has instructor notes, student notes and variety of visual aids, including PowerPoint and transparency masters. In addition, there are schedules for setting up your own training conference, promotional materials and slip sheets for notebook binders.

Besides presenting these subjects in a conference setting, you could use individual subjects in you teacher training classes or other training events. This will make a helpful supplement to your Super Seminars, as these are all new subjects.

We took 100 CDs to the conference and they went fast! Now here's the good news for you--you can get your very own copy of this CD for $50.00. Just request an order form from Pat Johann by e-mailing her at, Pat.Johann@cefonline.com.

In your blog administrator's humble opinion, this is the sharpest-looking CD we've ever done in the department of education. The notes are filled with practical and helpful ideas and the visuals are amazing! Our thanks to Pat for an outstanding job on those PowerPoints! We hope you enjoy teaching these subjects as much as we enjoyed developing them.

Vitamin Bs for IOTs!

Are you planning to attend the CEF National Conference, April 30- May 4, 2007 at Ridgecrest? It's going to be great! Besides the excellent Bible messages, inspiring workshops and wonderful fellowship, we're also going to celebrate our 70th birthday! (That's CEF's 70th birthday, not the blog administrators!)

This is going to be a conference that keeps on giving. The department of education has been working hard on a series of 14 special workshops that you'll be able to purchase on a CD so you can present your very own Good News Across America conference.

You're going to love the new workshops we've developed on subjects like Child-Size Apologetics, Transforming Children through the Spiritual Disciplines, Developing Biblically Focused Kids in an Unbiblical World and Using Images to Convey Truth -- just to name a few! The CD will have all you need--instructor notes, student notes, PowerPoint and transparency visuals and lots more.

But the most special feature of the conference (in our humble opinion) will be on Thursday afternoon from 1:00-2:00. That's when we're having our special IOT session called Vitamin Bs for IOTs! What in the world does that mean? You'll have to come and find out! Let's just say it will be a time for encouragement, information and...well...surprises! You won't want to miss it! So make sure when you get to the conference to block out Thursday from 1:00-2:00!

We appreciate each one of you and all you do to train others in this important work of reaching children for Christ. We can't wait to greet you at the conference and hear first-hand what God is doing in your area! See you at Ridgecrest!

PS: There's still time to get your entry in for the big blog contest! Send in your TCE testimony and picture by next Monday, April 30. See the March 26th post below for complete details!

Tragedy

Our thoughts and prayers go out to those on the Virginia Tech campus, the families of the slain and the survivors. We were all astounded as we watched and listened to the cold, enraged words of mass killer, Cho Seung-Hui. Our minds struggle to wrap themselves around such senseless horror. What in the world happened in this young man's life that triggered the downward spiral leading to such a vengeful act?

He wrote violent, obscene stories that all had a similar theme. They were about young people--mostly young men--being exploited by adults and then seeking astounding vengeance.

Was this young man a victim of childhood sexual abuse? Many signs seem to point in that direction--his hiding behind dark glasses, hats and fake names, his obsession with sexual depravity, his sense of victimization and rage--it all speaks of the shame and frustration typical of many who have been sexually abused. Was he a target of bullying or physical abuse? Many of his writings point to that possibility.

Undoubtedly his life will be studied from every possible angle. We may learn about some terrible abuse that set him on this path. Nothing we learn will ever excuse or fully explain his actions, but it may shed light on some of it.

This whole tragedy should remind each of us that we labor in the most important and determinative ministry field in the world! It should give you new motivation for the work you do as an instructor of teachers. Just think of the children those teachers you train are going to reach. What terrible events will never happen because a child is reached with the Gospel before sin takes hold in his or her life?

What if someone had invited little eight-year-old Seung-Hui to a Good News Club when he first came to this country? What if he had responded to the Gospel and become a child of God? Perhaps 32 people on the VT campus would still be alive today. Perhaps those families, that campus and our nation would not be in mourning.

This event should prompt us, as never before, to pray for our nation's children. The enemy of our souls is out to kill and destroy. He knows the value of a child's soul. He knows he can so damage a child that the effects can last a lifetime--and even spill over into the lives of others.

Unfortunately, we know that many in the Body of Christ have yet to get that message. Too many churches continue to entertain children on Sunday morning instead of actively seeking the salvation of every child God brings their way. Too many teachers hesitate to speak of sin and the blood of Christ or to give a salvation invitation. Too Christians are unconcerned about the unreached children in their community.

IOTs, this is a living illustration! Use this terrible tragedy to challenge your TCE students to the urgent need before us. Were there churches or believers in the neighborhood where Cho Seung-Hui grew up? Did anyone ever attempt to reach him with the Gospel? Was there a Good News Club in his area? He is one child we missed--and the ramifications of that fact are stunning.