Ingredients For a Fun and Spiritually Powerful Winter Retreat

Ingredients For a Fun and Spiritually

Powerful Winter Retreat

● 12 incredible staff and volunteers 
●   1 super Bible camp 
● 30 amazing teenagers 
●   1 awesome Bible teacher
●   5 fantastic meals, 

●   hours of laughter and silly games.

Serve with generous scoops of personal testimony and heartfelt prayer for children. Mix well over 2 ½ days, adding 10 inches of fresh snow,

This was exactly what we experienced at our Wisconsin Christian Youth in Action^® Winter Retreat, February 1-3 at Camp Fairwood in Westfield.  Four local teens journeyed with me, joining teens from around the state.  Many of these teens were reunited with friends they hadn't seen since summer training camp.  More than a third though were new and through the course of the weekend were wrapped into this extraordinary, welcoming "family". 

Laughter abounded over indoor games, outdoor fun, and around tables at meals. You would be hard-pressed to come away from this weekend unaffected by the living God.  Solid Bible teaching both challenged and encouraged all of us in our personal relationship with Christ as well as our ministry to children.  Five youth and several adults gave powerful, personal testimony of their own experience in CYIA™ summer ministry. The twelve teens not previously involved in CYIA heard clearly how, through their own involvement, God could change their own lives and impact children for eternity. 

If you are a teen 12 years or older, it’s not too late to join us this summer!  Contact our office for more information.

Bill Stirrat
CEF St. Croix Valley 

Good News Club Growth in Madison Chapter

     On behalf of the Greater Madison Chapter of CEF, I am pleased to report that this has been a year of growth and blessings. While we are only half way through the academic school year, we have added three new clubs to our program and a new church partnership. The church partnership is with Word of Life Church. Their program is being implemented in the form of a children’s church called the Breakfast Club. The program is open to the children in their community on Sunday mornings. They provide a well-balanced meal, starting with a heaping plate of the Gospel served alongside a nutritional breakfast meal. We also have a club at Mt. Zion Church through their Academic Learning Center. These are just two examples of how we are looking to share the Gospel using the Good News Club® model in creative ways, such as a children’s church, community centers and alternative academic learning centers.
     We hosted our first annual Good News Club Christmas Celebration at the Boys and Girls Club of Greater Madison. The event was open to all of the clubs in the Greater Madison area. While each club had their own Christmas celebration, the collaborative event was an opportunity to reach the families and friends of the children that attend Good News Club. The Gospel message was presented by Joan Wheeler, who has been battling health problems all year that have kept her from being involved in a club this year. She presented a powerful Gospel Message. Two children, whose mother had stopped into our Good News Club and asked us to pray for, received Christ that night. They came to club after winter break and they were still on fire for God. A wonderful friend name Donna who works at Walmart, made a special donation of gifts so that each child who attended the event left with a gift.
   We thank God that the first half of our year has been blessed and that He continues to work in and through us. Please pray for the health of all of our Good News Club workers; particularly those workers in wheel chairs, or those who rely on walkers and scooters. We are going into the time of year when the weather can make it very challenging for these individuals to continue to serve.
    If you or someone you know would be interested in volunteering on a part time or full time basis through the end of the academic school year please contact our local CEF office.

Cheryl Knox
Good News Club Coordinator
Madison CEF

A Pastor finds another Jerusalem outside the walls of the church!

As a pastor, I appreciate CEF’s commitment to the multi-faceted foundations of salvation in Jesus Christ.  Through well-written songs and actions, creative crafts with the purpose of the lesson, and much interaction time with believers who know how to share the Good News, CEF is able to impact children’s lives forever. My son went through some of the training and helped at one of the Good News Clubs® and, while I’m sure the kids at the club benefited by his love and word from the Lord for them, my son was changed forever too.  He is now leading Bible studies and able to share his faith with friends and co-workers more succinctly.  Bringing the members of our church to CEF training for Good News Club’s or any of the other teaching is a high priority for me.  As I attend these sessions, I appreciate how well they are taught, how practical they are, and how memorable too.  It is a priority for believers in Christ, if not priority number one, to be able to handle the Word of God and explain salvation to those who have not yet heard or accepted the free gift God offers. For too long most believers, including myself, have floundered in this most-important area in our life as a child of God.  With CEF, we don’t have to flounder anymore.  They have the resources for the church to be the church! One final note, each Good News Club is an extension of the church that sponsors it. What a great outreach for any church.  Let’s fund and staff more Good News Club’s from our local churches! Pastor Dan Hummel  Hartford Bible Church

St Croix Verse-a-thon

December, 2018

We held our Sixth Annual Verse-A-Thon on November 10, 2018 at Alliance Church of the Valley. There were 10 participants who recited 362 verses in all! What a tremendous blessing spiritually to be a listener at one of the recitation stations. My heart swelled as the participants quoted God’s Word.

In the photo from left to right are: Wendy Bachman, Bill Stirrat, Makaila Brown, Shannon Hoppe, Renee Iverson, Karen Schnell and Paul Wagner (not shown: Isaiah, Julia and Natalie Milner). Our top three finishers were Wendy, Bill and Shannon. Wendy was our winner, reciting 45 verses in under 17 minutes and 10 verses in our bonus round.

These ten participants raised around $5,000 to enable us to get the Gospel to the children in our six-county chapter.  These funds will help us run our 5-Day Club® ministry in the summer, train teens at Christian Youth In Action® camp, teach adults at area churches how to reach children for Jesus, run after-school Good News Clubs and other outreaches throughout the year.

Thank you to all who participated, listened to verses at our recitation stations and helped make the event successful by your financial gifts and prayers .  ~Lisa Inlow

Past Volunteers return to CEF

Louise Meske

October is the start up month for most Good News Clubs in the Greater Madison Area. We are excited to see God’s plan unfold this year. We have experienced an increase in new volunteers who are on fire for Christ. God has also brought back two dynamic returning veterans, Alice Howard and Louise Meske. The combined experience of these two ladies’ spans over 30 years. Alice and Louise bring a wealth of experience. Both have taught GNC’s and 5DC’s with CEF in the past. They also served God as missionaries and teacher trainers. Louise received her training in Cypress and went on to India, and New Delhi where she served as a teacher trainer and a missionary. Alice received her training at CMI and was sent by CEF on a 4-month missions’ trip to evangelize and minister to children in Macomb, Mississippi and New Orleans after those areas were devastated by Hurricane Katrina in 2005. Alice also taught Good News clubs in several Madison schools during her years with CEF. When I look at the spiritual gifts of the volunteers and returning veterans God has blessed us with this year it lets me know He plans to do great things in the Greater Madison Area in 2018-2019.

Alice Howard teaching club

Cheryl Knox Ministry Coordinator
Greater Madison Chapter.

Little Kids Can Know God

Natalie Powers

At age 13 I was trained to teach older children whole 5 Day Club, but I remember being at a loss with how to translate that to little ones. When anyone younger than 5 or 6 came along it turned into play time, with no more emphasis on God or the Word. Then in my third year at CYIA training, we focused in on Little Kids and how to teach on their level. I had previously been helping/teaching at a weekday morning “Sunday school” type program for preschoolers, so the con-cept was not new to me. But as I gained information and techniques, I became confident and eventually became the full-time teacher at the program. Now I work with young children constantly, and am going for my associates degree in Early Childhood Education. I know Little Kids can know God. I led a 3 year old to the Lord just this last summer. Many young children are too egocentric to understand their need for a Savior, but knowing the gospel as they get old enough to truly understand God’s gift gives them the chance to respond as soon as they can comprehend it.

CEF Western WI
Anne Weibel

A Walk in the Park..One Summer Night

In early May, the idea of having a ministry walk-a-thon to raise funds and have a summer picnic was barely a blip on the radar. We had never done an event like this. The thought of doing a walk-a-thon prompted many questions, such as: who would come, where would we walk, could we raise awareness and raise funds for the ministry by doing a walk-a-thon, and most importantly, how could we possibly put this together before the summer was over?
   
This project would be a challenge for any team, no matter how many months you had to plan. As the wheels started to turn, we committed the idea to prayer and a plan started to formulate. God was our guide. He led us to the perfect location, inspired us through research and opened many doors to make this a reality. We received confirmation each step of the way that a walk-a-thon was in our future.

Fast forward to August 23, 2018…. God provided a perfect evening for our first annual ‘Step-Up’ for the Gospel Walk-a-thon. We chose this theme because we wanted to encourage people to take action and be intentional when giving towards this event because eternity matters. Nothing in this world is more important than when a person, or a child chooses to follow Christ and those who supported our efforts chose to be a part of God’s plan to spread His Word.

God’s abundance was evident in every aspect of the walk-a-thon.
More than 80 people joined us for the walk and picnic at Hoyt Park in Wauwatosa; several summer missionaries made us laugh and brought us to a better understanding of how God used them to reach children for Christ and how they had grown in their own faith through the process. We also enjoyed a wonderful evening of food and fellowship, one of the few times many who serve and support the ministry could gather together. The BIG NEWS though, is how God used people all over the country to help CEF of Southeast WI meet our financial goal, which we thought was unrealistic when we started this journey. Our goal was $10,000 and we are amazed how God provided above and beyond that amount!

Because of your generosity we can continue to build new relationships with children, schools, church partners and our volunteers. Our God is so BIG, so strong and so mighty, there’s nothing my God cannot do! We rejoice together and celebrate the abundance of His gifts on this humble ministry because the children we serve cannot support the work of CEF, but you can. Thank You!

CEF Southeast WI Chapter