In early April Sean and I made a trip back to Turks and Caicos, the girls stayed at home with their Mimi. Our objective was to re-establish the national board. Since 2011 every English speaking country in the Caribbean now has ongoing CEF ministry… at least every country except Turks and Caicos. And yet, we have poured so much effort into Turks and Caicos… we even lived there for a year. We now know a few things we didn’t know several years ago, the biggest being that Turks and Caicos is extremely transient.
The original board had about six members… one passed away, one had to resign for personal reasons and three moved off island. The lack of a national board is really holding back the ministry from moving forward. We have relationships established with most all of the schools, we have volunteers ready to teach and may even have a few potential staff members who could serve in the near future. But none of this can really happen if Turks and Caicos does not have a national board leading the ministry.
For five days we met with 18 people asking them to prayerfully consider joining the national board. Most of them said yes! There is a sense of urgency to reach the children of Turks and Caicos that we didn’t see when we lived there. The people we with met with were telling US how the church is losing the next generation, how they have to do something or the crime, violence, materialism and negative family situations will only get worse.
We are very encouraged and hopeful that Turks and Caicos will finally have a strong, fruitful CEF ministry and that the Lord will use His church there to make a true and long-lasting difference! In June Sean will go back to conduct a training for all of these potential board members. Knowing how transient the population is, we are praying for at least 14 people to commit to serving on the board. That way, even if people move or life requires them to resign, the board will NOT collapse and the ministry will continue!
Please be in prayer for at least 14 new board members! And please pray for Sean as he prepares to head back to Turks and Caicos to lead the board training. We want to see strong, nationally led ministry taking place in Turks and Caicos by the end of the year!
