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06/27/2013

CEF Week

The National Board decided to have a CEF week to celebrate our one year anniversary (of having an established office). They wanted to flood the island with CEF promotion and we believe they definitely accomplished their goal!

Monday: Mavis was on ZIZ (the St. Kitts TV station) and both Sean and Mavis had a 30 minute interview on Dominion Radio, one of the Christian radio stations.

Tuesday: Sean and Mavis had an hour long interview on the main secular radio station Winn FM! They spoke about Good News Clubs and that our goal is to have churches teach these clubs inside the public schools. Winn FM is one of the most popular radio stations here and we had a lot of great feedback!

radio interview

Sean and Mavis at Winn FM

We were supposed to have a booth set up at Independence Square in downtown showcasing our curriculum. Unfortunately, the event was rained out.

Wednesday: “Open House Day” for the office. ZIZ, the local TV station, came out to do an on-camera interview. You can watch Sean and Mavis on “national” television below!

 

Thursday: Sean and Mavis traveled to the other side of the island, St. Paul’s and Dieppe Bay, and taught a Bible lesson in the morning assemblies to 190 kids. All the kids also got a “Gospel Turn Around” tract to have or hand out to someone else!

dieppe bay

Students at Dieppe Bay Primary School

Friday: Concert night! In the evening the National Board hosted a CEF concert at a Girl’s Guides (English equivalent to Girl Scouts) building complete with a full spread of BBQ and sides! A group of kids performed a dance, another did a drama skit and we had a few singers. About 150 people came out to show their support for CEF!

concert1

Before the concert began… it was dark so this is the best shot we could get.

I think one of the biggest things about the CEF Week was how little work we actually put into it! Not that we are lazy! But Mavis and the National Board took care of the majority of the details. Although we are still busy with much work, it’s awesome to watch ourselves become less and less needed!

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06/10/2013

Teacher Training Testimony

This is why we are here…

Sean and Mavis were able to teach a small training seminar for a local church (Beacon of Hope). We want the people here in St. Kitts and Nevis to have a burden to reach their nation’s children. We want them to become on fire to share the Gospel with every single child and we want them to be equipped to do so!

We were blown away when we received the following email (it is long but worth the read) from one of the seminar participants:

Dear Mavis

I want to thank you and Shawn for the very fruitful sessions which you conducted for the teachers/volunteers/mentors of Beacon of Hope. It was quite refreshing for me personally as I was reminded of methods of dealing with children which I had learnt long ago and had somehow forgotten and it also brought me into a new consciousness of how Jesus loves children and of His redemptive nature and that I should treat them with kindness and love no matter their background or attitude.

All of the reports from the participants were very positive.  The teaching has greatly impacted how they view children and their need to be saved at an early age. It has brought them into the awareness that there are different methods which they can use to get the attention of children without bullying or mistreating them.  It also has been helpful in revealing how children can be evangelized and how they too can carry the message to their peers.  This is very exciting when we look at the potential for the expansion of the kingdom of God and for the ability of children to walk in their God given purpose from a tender age.  One of the teachers said “what a joy, the command of God to evangelize can also be fulfilled by children if we prepare them!”

Many of the teachers used expressions such as “eye opener, innovative techniques, effective implementation, systematic progression, responsive, compassionate, change in mentality, patience is key, engaging God, passing the baton accurately, preparation is vital” in describing the sessions. They spoke about the material being simple but effective and marvelled at how much we were able to cover in three hours.  We just attribute all of this success to the Lord being with us in that training session and caused us to use time effectively so that three days work was done in three hours, for He truly was present.

It also brought out the importance of preparation, of how we need to give our best, for our God deserves the best and His children whom He has placed in our care deserve the best.  It showed us that good preparation would yield better results. How can we teach what we don’t know or tell children to do what we do not practise? Wouldn’t it be hypocrisy? These are some questions that we have been asking ourselves.  One of the things that stuck with me was how Shawn described the end result of just teaching children Bible stories without leading them to salvation.  He said that we would be raising Pharisees.  That was so powerful as an eye opener.  We do not want a set of Pharisees as our seed and so we will endeavour to ensure that the Gospel is included in every session.  I also remember your mention of the fact that we are co-labourers and as such we are not on our own and we are not working for ourselves we are accountable and this requires a certain level of responsibility knowing that we are partnering with God.

Many also found that the methods can be used with their own children as several are single mothers who are also in the process evangelizing their own children.

On behalf of Pastor Gaston Harris and the participants I wish to say thank you for sharing such powerful and transforming methods and not only that but also showing us what the Word of God says to susbstantiate the teachings.

May God continue to increase you more and more in His love and wisdom as you persevere to accomplish His purpose.

Janet Harris
For Beacon of Hope.


Just as with most things, we go through many ups and downs in ministry. There are times when we wonder about the effectiveness of what we are doing. Discouragement seems to veer it’s ugly head ever so often. But receiving emails like this just makes us praise God! He is doing something on this tiny island!

We are so grateful to witness His work!

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06/03/2013

Birmingham Mission Trip Team

Well, our first mission trip team has come and gone. It was such a joy to have these girls work with us last week! They reached a lot of children, loved on Maddy and were a huge encouragement to us!

At the airport

They were here from Saturday to Saturday.

On Sunday they attended one of our favorite churches in St. Kitts, Cayon Church of God. Our board chairman, Nigel, attends this church and the pastor helped us get our visas last year.

At Cayon Church of God

At Cayon Church of God

During the week the girls taught a 5 Day Club at Beach Allen Primary School. They were able to reach 127 children!

Beach Allen

Beach Allen

Beach Allen

Beach Allen

Beach Allen

Beach Allen

Beach Allen

Every team seems to have “something” that goes wrong, or doesn’t turn out as planned. Their “thing” happened after eating dinner on Tuesday evening. Everyone who ate the Mahi Mahi at this restaurant got a mild case of food poisoning! Thankfully they seemed to recoup well the next day!

Birmingham Team6

This team was a little different in that it was a mission trip/senior trip. So the girls had a lot of time to just enjoy the island. They were able to do the rainforest zip lines, go horseback riding, snorkel, relax by the pool and even took a sailboat on Friday! Because they were staying at the Marriott we were able to swim at the pool a few times too!

They even had Maddy stay the night with them on Thursday so Sean and I could have an evening alone! Maddy was so excited! She talked about it ALL DAY. She really thought she was one of the “big girls” for sure!

We just loved having them here and we were sad to see them go. Maddy kept saying she wanted to get on the “AA plane” and go back to Alabama. But we are looking forward to getting up with them when we come home next year!

Birmingham Team12

Our next team arrives in July… from Ireland!

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