List Your TCE Courses on the Web!

We now have the capability to list your upcoming TCE courses on the CMI website. To be most effective send in the information as soon as you plan to have a course. Even if you have not decided on the exact dates, you can send in the month or season you will begin the course—such as September 2008 or Fall 2008. Then when you know your exact dates let us know and we will make the change.

The course information you send in will also be placed in the Teach Kids! Essentials publication every other month beginning with the August issue. (Check the side bar for deadline dates for sending in the information.)

Following is the information we need:

* Location of course (city, state)
* Course dates, Beginning—End (or beginning month or season)
* Name of the contact person
* Contact telephone number

Send the information to Cheryl Oetting at Cheryl.Oetting@cefonline.com, or fax to 636-456-4435 or mail to CEF, Cheryl Oetting, PO Box 348, Warrenton MO 63383.

To view courses listed, go to the website, http://www.cefcmi.com/ and the “Our Training” page should come up. Click on "Browse Programs of Study"; then click on Teaching Children Effectively (either Level 1 or Level 2). Click on the icon with the two people (like the icon pictured above).

Register your TCE course with the Department of Education at least one week in advance of its start by sending in the TCE Course Registration Form along with the course schedule. If you do not have a Course Registration Form email Cheryl Oetting for one. Email, fax or mail the completed form with the schedule to Cheryl.

We have about 16 different schedules for TCE Level 1 for your use. How do you get them? Ask Cheryl.

Send in all Student Registration Forms as soon as your course begins. Please do not wait until you send in Request for Certificates to send in the Registration Forms. All certificates—TCE Level 1, Level 2 and CEUs are $5.00 each.

We look forward to assisting you in promoting your TCE courses by listing them on our favorite Website!

Happy Memorial Day

Memorial Day, originally called Decoration Day, is an American holiday of remembrance and traditions for soldiers who have died in our nation’s service. There are many legendary stories as to its actual beginnings.

Memorial Day was officially proclaimed on May 5, 1868 by General John Logan, national commander of the Grand Army of the Republic, and was first observed on May 30, 1868, when flowers were placed on the graves of Union and Confederate soliders at Arlington National Cemetery.

Today, Memorial Day is celebrated as a day to remember those who have sacrificed their lives for our liberty. We pause as a nation and give thanks for their heroic service to our country.

To all of our servicemen and women we say thank you and may God continue to bless our nation with freedom.

Culture Changers!

Have you ever heard of Rev. Dr. Michael E. Haynes? He is a retired pastor from Boston, now in his 80s. He pastored the same historic church for over 50 years. His ministry in the tough Roxbury section of Boston served a neighborhood overwhelmed with drugs, gangs, violence and racism. Dr. Haynes said of his ministry, “Those three or four city blocks are what I’ve given my whole life to. It’s been my world.”

Some would be discontented with such a “small” ministry. But Dr. Haynes knew how to make the most of what God entrusted to him. He sought to reach the youth of his neighborhood and be a culture changer one child at a time.

Many experts believed the youth of that neighborhood were beyond hope and destined to lives of violence, addiction and crime. But Dr. Haynes believed those kids could be reached and changed. In an article referring to the young people Dr. Haynes has influenced in 50 years of ministry, the Boston Globe wrote, “They are now surgeons, presidents of school boards, high school principals, journalists, policemen, lawyers, political aides, FBI agents, former UN officials and bankers." Many have also gone into vocational ministry.

Dr. Haynes believed the future good of those four city blocks depended on raising up a generation of leaders. So he expanded his ministry to begin a leadership training program. His program drew the attention of a local seminary, and soon his church became an extension campus of the seminary. Today, his church is one of the leading urban training centers in the USA, training people in six languages for leadership in urban ministry.

Though retired, Dr. Haynes is still intent on affecting the culture of his city and the country. And he still lives in the same four-block neighborhood of Roxbury.

Have you ever considered how your ministry as an IOT is affecting the culture where you live? Maybe others have given up hope for the kids in your area. But, as you faithfully train teachers and send them into your local neighborhoods and schools, you are making an impact on a generation! You are a culture changer!

Some people aspire to greatness. They want to have worldwide fame and influence. But God’s idea of greatness is all about faithfulness and servanthood. Maybe you minister in a small town or rural county. Maybe you will never move beyond the “four blocks” of your home area. Be faithful to the task God has given to you. The children whose lives your ministry touches may go on to have great impact in the world, further influencing the culture for Christ for generations to come.

We're Ba-a-a-a-a-a-c-k!

No, these are not refugees from some female Mafia group! It's our own Lynne and Lisa disguised as...um...Deal or No Deal, case carriers. Actually, this was Tim and Dave's job, but the girls took over! This is just some of the fun we had at the IOT Adv anced Training at Ridgecrest. Check our this brief video montage to see some of the happenings!



You can view these and more pictures in the special slideshow in the sidebar on the right.

About 70 IOTs attened the two-day event which preceeded the International Conference. We had folks there from various regions including Africa, Asia, Latin America and North America. It was fun to see old friends and make some new ones! All of the class sessions were interactive and interspersed with fun give-aways. Everyone went home with a heavier suitcase!

Our Instructors' Cafe Live on Tuesday evening was great fun, too. We had good eats and special mugs to enjoy the coffee and tea. Six tables were set up for chats about various subjects of interest to instructors such as, illustrations, intros and conclusions, making classes exciting, etc. Everyone chose a table to start with, then rotated to different tables every 15 minutes. There were lots of good ideas shared and most everyone came away encouraged and inspired to try some new things in their next training opportunity.

One of the things we did at the training was to plug the blog! We really, really encouraged all IOTs to come and visit us here at the Cafe. Hopefully, we will see some new faces popping in here from time to time!

Those of you who were at the advanced training remember, we don't want to let the discussions and idea swapping stop now that we're home. Let's keep the conversation going!

Thanks to all of you who took time to attend. Please click on the comment link below to leave a testimony of what the advanced training meant to you.

Closed for Conference!

The Café is closed this week, as many of our staff and readers are at the CEF International Conference in Ridgecrest, NC. We hope that those IOTs attending the pre-conference will enjoy the Instructors’ Café Live! on Tuesday night.

Please pray for the conference—for safe travel for attendees from all over the world, for the Bible teachers and workshop leaders and for a good spirit of fellowship with our CEF family.

We will re-open the Café next week when we return here to Warrenton. See you soon!

Retraction!

This just in from the "Don't Believe Everything You Read" department! The inspiring story that was posted this week, Robby's Night" turned out to be untrue. Sharp-eyed Cafe visitor, Cora Johnson, tracked it on snopes.com and found it to be one of those annoying fake stories circulating on the Internet that sounds so good, but is not true. Our thanks to Cora for her kind and tactful e-mail to let us know.

We have removed the post and apologize to our Cafe visitors. We try hard to make sure we are not passing along urban legends, but this one escaped notice. We would also take this moment to caution all our IOTs to use illustrations with care. Some fake stories take on a life of their own and get circulated for many years as true accounts. Using such stories can hurt our credibility over time. If you have any doubts about a story's origins, go to http://www.snopes.com/. You can put the story title or key words into their search engine and see if they have any data on it.

Now, to make up for our error, we present an illustration you can use with confidence! The following poem, penned by Barbara Ryberg, has been around for a long time. Barbara's words are a challenging reminder to teachers about preparation and taking our ministry to children seriously. She had a Sunday school class in mind, but it certainly applies to a Good News Club as well. You could use this poem as an illustration in TCE classes such as Importance of the Teacher, Managing Your Classroom or Bible Lesson P&P, session 1 (teacher's preparation). Enjoy!

Defeated (by Barbara Ryberg)

I meant to study all the week
And very carefully prepare.
I meant to kneel—yes, every day
And bear each child up in prayer.
But I was weary and I found
So many things that I must do—
Important things that could not wait;
The week was gone before I knew.

I meant to visit several homes
And mail some cards to absentees
To let them know that they were missed,
For such a word is sure to please,
And often brings them quickly back.
But, somehow every day went by,
And not a single card I sent.
And now I ask, “Why didn’t I?”

So this morning when I rose
I tried to study while I ate.
I briefly read my lesson,
And hurried out, five minutes late.
I found them singing, and I dropped
Breathless, ashamed, into my seat,
For I intended to be there
That I the earliest child might greet.

Time for the lesson, and a group
Of eager voices beg their turn
To quote by heart the memory verse
Which I, alas, forgot to learn.
And so I stumbled through the hour,
And built with stubble, hay and wood
Instead of gold and precious stones
And silver, as His servants should.

“Go feed My lambs,” was His command
And shall I hope for them to live
On little morsels such as this,
When mighty feasts are mine to give?
Forgive me, Lord, that I should treat
Thy Word in such a shameful way,
And may I never stand again
Defeated, as I’ve done today.

Becoming the Sycamore Tree

Youth pastor, David Skidmore, tells about trying a role play to make the story of Zacchaeus more interesting for the children. He assigned various kids to each part, and had an adult helper play the part of the sycamore tree. After the drama (“with a few giggles as ‘Zacchaeus’ made his way up the ‘tree,’ hitting a few ticklish spots on the journey”), they all sang the familiar song about Zacchaeus. Then he asked the children, “What would have happened if Zacchaeus had not climbed the tree that day?”

One eight-year-old girl responded, “His song wouldn’t be as much fun to sing! “

The pastor imagined this new version of the song:

Zacchaeus was a wee little man
A wee little man was he
He started to climb in a sycamore tree
But he didn’t...
And then...he went home.

The little girl was right--not much fun to sing. Her response made the pastor think of all the children he was ministering to whose songs weren’t much fun to sing because “their faith was so small...and the crowd was too tall...and they had no sycamore tree to climb.”

Then he realized the truth. For many years he had been trying to BE Jesus to the kids. He tried to save them and heal their hurts. But that wasn’t his job. He was called to be the sycamore tree! He says, “Like the sycamore tree, my job is to lift the (children) above the crowd so they might see the approaching Savior."

This is what TCE is all about. We train teachers to be sycamore trees. It is not their responsibility to save the children in their clubs, but to give them a new perspective and an opportunity to meet the Savior.

Pastor Skidmore concludes with these powerful thoughts:

“Luke eventually tells the story of another tree.
The first tree holds a man living a lie.
On the other tree hangs a Man dying for truth.
Zacchaeus climbs a tree to get the attention of Jesus.
Jesus climbs a tree and dies to get ours.
Being a tree is easy.
Being a Savior is not.”

Your TCE students will have many children in their clubs whose songs are not much fun to sing. But as you train your teachers and listen to their practicum lessons on Zacchaeus, you can remind them that they have the awesome privilege of being the sycamore tree to those kids God entrusts to them!