Daniel’s Story

Daniel Watts and Steve Delph just returned from a fantastic trip to Belarus and Ukraine. The Belarus ministry is nearly twelve years old and is bearing great fruit. This summer the national leaders in Belarus worked with churches to develop over 450 summer camps, serving over 20,000 children. Approximately 40% of those children were non-Christians. They trained children’s workers for camps and provided them with teaching materials based on the EGM Model Children Workers qualities in Deuteronomy 6:4-10. Nearly 7,000 children gave their life to Christ at the camps and Daniel heard numerous testimonies of the transformational work that God did in the lives of boys and girls.

The fall training programs have been launched with over 2,300 children’s workers involved. These workers are serving in over 1,200 local churches. Daniel and Steve had the opportunity to serve with our EGM-Belarus team last Friday and Saturday as they worked with 280 children’s workers from the Minsk region.

A real highlight was the opportunity to distribute Teacher Tool Kits at the conference. Donated by a children’s worker from a church here in the US, we were able to distribute these resource kits (glue sticks, scissors, colored pencils, pipe cleaners, etc.) to children’s workers in Belarus.  The teachers were overjoyed, encouraged and excited to have a new bag of ministry tools! After passing out the kits, the leaders prayed with the teachers. Daniel said, “In that moment I realized that God had bound the hearts of children’s workers in Belarus and the US together in our common desire to see children transformed in Christ”.

Rancho Agua Viva training

     As we walked into the room where Eric, one of the trainers for EGM-Mexico, was reviewing the Model Children’s Worker elements (Deut.6:1-9), it was clear by the smiles and intensity of the thirty students that they were “getting it.”   October 13-15, we (Krysten Norkaitis, David and Francie Overstreet) had the blessing of watching Mexico’s team in action as they trained students attending Agua Viva’s Biblical Institute.  These students come from all over Mexico, its villages, towns, and cities, to this lovely camp just outside of Ensenada.  They are sent by their churches because they are already young leaders who need more training.  All of the students, no matter what level they were already on, eagerly took the training.  They will go back to their churches understanding God’s priority for children to be transformed in Christ and knowing the Biblical process He mandated in Deuteronomy 6.  They worked in small groups to plan a lesson.  Then presented the lesson to their peers and, after evaluation, refined the lessons that were then presented to groups of children.  The lessons were fantastic!  The students will return to their churches highly motivated to act on God’s behalf for children.

     For those of you who have prayed for EGM Mexico, we want you to know that this is an exceptional group of volunteer trainers who are completely committed to the MCW and training others.  So much so that, Elva, one of the teacher trainers, worked with the others to train 45 of the children’s workers in her church, including the pastor!  After hearing from each of them about how God had transformed them as teachers and as leaders, we also heard their strong call from the Lord to reach all those who work with the children of Mexico.  We were encouraged and blessed. 

     Some of you were involved with the sending of the Teacher Tool Kits and we took many to the Mexico training. (See picture attached) Not only were they excited to receive these, but the team leader, Octavio, the country representative, said, “We can have our churches here in Mexico do this for other more needy churches in our own country.”  That is what national ownership is about as they recognize what God wants done and then do it!