Mexico Partnership Update!

Partnership is defined by Webster as "joint principles in business activity." It is a term that has been worn out in Christianity and even though I use the term frequently, I find myself drawn to visions of televangelists! We have an emerging partnership in Mexico, and last week I was reminded of what that should really mean. For too many ministries, partnership means foreign entities providing funds and national Christian leaders doing the ministry work. Last week, I was reminded that real partnership means working together; giving our hearts to see Mexican boys and girls know Christ and the new life He has for them. Last week, two of our American staff members were in Mexico attending important meetings geared towards major ministry expansion in 2012. In two separate meetings, an offering was taken and Mexican Christians made a significant financial contribution to the Mexico ministry. Apparently, they believe that partnership means we are all giving of our material resources. Little did they know that their gift of $250 qualified for our matching grant in Latin America and will be matched and become a gift of $500. That’s the kind of partnership that I know pleases God. Please join me in praying for the additional $20,000 that we still need to meet our matching goal of $60,000. We are $250 closer!

Mexico Partnership

We are very excited about the gracious manner in which God is giving us the opportunity to move our ministries forward in Latin America. We have a received a gracious $60,000 challenge grant for our emerging ministries in Argentina, Mexico and Peru. Every gift designated for these ministries will be matched 1-1, up to $60,000. We are well over half way as of December 6, 2011. One of these three countries is particularly significant to Every Generation Ministries; Mexico.

Certain countries around the world stand out as keys to entire regions. In the Middle East, Egypt occupies that position. In Eastern Europe, Ukraine is a gateway to impacting the former Soviet Union. Looking to the Spanish speaking countries in Central and South America, one can argue that Mexico is the key to impacting all of Latin America. With the largest Spanish speaking population in the world, a growing economy, the world’s largest city, close ties to the United States and significant growth in the Evangelical Church, Mexico is clearly a strategic key to the Latin American world. While Mexico seems to be a key to Latin America, certainly children are the key to impacting Mexico.

Over the last several years, amidst the widely publicized narcotics related violence, Mexico has experienced a widespread spiritual awakening leading to significant growth in the Evangelical Church. While the U.S. media has focused on the raging drug wars in border towns such as Juarez City, little attention has been given to the spiritual awakening in Mexico. In the southern part of the country there has been exciting evangelical church growth particularly among the indigenous peoples. In Mexico City and the north, thousands of people have confessed Jesus Christ as their LORD and Savior. In an evolving world of mass media, internet communication, consumerism and the pressures of secular humanism, parents and families are looking for help in living a life of meaning and significance. As fear and frustration have gripped many in Mexico, people are searching for security, peace and hope. The cultural religiosity of traditional churches such as the Roman Catholic Church has left people searching. Most importantly, the Spirit of God seems to be stirring the hearts of people. Nowhere is this more evident than among children in Mexico.

In 2007, Every Generation Ministries met with church leaders from Mexico for the first time and we were invited to come and serve with them in ministry. We are now faced with the exciting opportunity to bring EGM’s unique children’s ministry model to Mexico. Nearly 30% of Mexico’s 107.5 million people are under the age of 14, and church leaders there are eagerly inviting us to partner with them to evangelize and disciple the children in their communities. We have established a growing network of contacts with pastors, children’s workers and teachers who fervently desire leadership development training and Bible teaching resources. Our friends in Mexico want EGM to partner with them and provide churches with innovative leadership development programs and creative, high-quality Bible teaching materials.

2012 will be a monumental year in our Mexico ministry! Thanks for praying, giving and joining us to see Mexican children transformed in Christ through His church!

You cannot sit on a two legged stool; it is very unstable. Just a few years ago, EGM realized that we needed a third leg for our ministry stool. Since our founding, we have believed in establishing national ministries that are staffed and governed by national Christian leaders. Those were the two legs. God has led us through a spiritual journey bringing us to the understanding that a genuine national ministry should also be funded by national Christians. This is not some economic plan, but rather a desire to establish a genuine culturally relevant ministry that can be even more fruitful in transforming children in Christ through His church.

Last week, we took a significant step forward in launching the Titus Project, a ministry initiative that will lead to fully funded national ministries in Hungary and Romania. Our EGM team led five days of training and now our Hungary and Romania ministries are launching new fund development work in their own countries with the goal of becoming self-funded by 2015. Other countries are soon to follow.

I believe this to be one of the most significant developments in Every Generation Ministries' history. Please join me in praying for this important effort. Find out more about the Titus Project at www.egmworld.org.

Volunteer or Called

At a recent three day conference in Peru, Daniel Watts president of EGM, finished the conference a little differently. It might look like your normal altar call, but this was nothing like that. After articulating the amazing task and challenge of ministering to children, Daniel gave a call to respond. This call was not like any other. He challenged all of the children’s workers in the room to not serve because of guilt, not because the children need someone to care for them, not because the pastor asked, but Daniel asked the group of children’s workers to come forward and be prayed for if they felt GOD was CALLING them to serve children. The response was remarkable. Ninety-five percent of the people were out of their seats and standing to be prayed for. God is moving in the lives of His people to bring children into His presence. This past weekend almost 200 teachers stood to say that God’s call on their lives was to do just that.

Agents of Change in DR Congo

The pastor of the church rose to his feet and said, “I have never expressed love to children, even in my own home.  I never saw the children as anything but a problem to solve.  Through these brothers, I have seen the heart of God for the children and want to commit publicly to welcome them in my church.”

Not often are we given the privilege of being part of a seminal moment, one that influences the development of future events, but this was definitely such a moment.  And these moments were repeated many times over.

Joe Cox and David Overstreet were the agents who gave the message of God’s heart and the Holy Spirit did the rest in this troubled northeastern region of the Democratic Republic of the Congo.  There are still Tutus and Hutsis killing each other. There is still profound poverty and illiteracy, but now the children no longer will only get to peep through the windowless frames in church walls.   Now the children will hear Bible stories and learn of the God who transforms lives, forgives sin and gives hope for their future.  Now the children will no longer be marginalized but included.   Now teachers have learned how to teach the children instead of only singing for two hours.  They have learned the Biblical model for working with the children from Deut. 6:4-9. Perhaps more will come to work with these leaders who often have hundreds of children with little or no help at all.  In any case, the children now will know that God has a heart for them!  That is a seminal change!

Romania Children's camp videos-2010

July, 2010 - An American missions team partners with Every Generation Ministries (Part1)

Cross-Cultural Ministry Bliss…

takes place when all participants have mutual respect for one another, share openly and honestly, and desire to learn from each other as they work together towards a common goal. This is exactly what was realized this weekend in Mexico and it was amazing!

The EGM-Mexico team has discovered a unique way to teach EGM’s biblical teaching model to children’s leaders. On January 13-15 the team of trainers in Mexico walked Francie Overstreet and Krysten Nortkaitis through their 3 day training course, explaining each step along the way. Francie and Krysten were like sponges trying to soak in every word because since they had observed many teachers who have completed their course and wanted to learn from their experience.

In turn, Francie and Krysten had the opportunity to share the new materials that EGM has recently developed with the Mexican leaders. They were more than receptive.  Francie and Krysten shared the ideas, led them through hands-on activities and engaged in meaningful conversations.

When the weekend was over it was clear to see that God had orchestrated the time together.  Both teams had enjoyed wonderful fellowship, gained an incredible amount of knowledge, and are anxiously looking forward to what God will do in the days ahead as a result.

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!

Mission Accomplished!

Rick finished strong. He ran it just under his goal time. Now we are enjoying breakfast with him and his family.