The Connection - CEF of Alaska

Child Evangelism Fellowship of Alaska, Inc.
The Connection
Alaskans equipping Alaskan adults to disciple Alaskan teens to evangelize Alaskan children
Fall 2011
A Message from CEF-Alaska Directors
It is great news to hear about
all the activity going on
around the state. Children
are hearing the Word of God
and the teenagers are
growing in their walk with the
Lord. One of the goals of
this ministry is to encourage
and train teenagers to be
useful in ministry.
(Philemon 1:11). It is gratifying to
see the Lord work in these young
adults. Bev and I just visited a
church in a village north of the
Arctic Circle. This church has
been active since 1890, yet today
there are few children or young
people attending the morning
services. They are looking for
help in reaching their children and
training their teens. That is what
we do the best!
“...let the little
children come to me.”
Mark 10:14b
Inside this issue:
Steve & Bev McKinley,
Directors of CEF Alaska
An Alaskan Summer in Rewind and a Fall Playing Out
You haven’t truly experienced
summer until you’ve enjoyed 21
hours of sunlight and the Alaskan
abundance of fish, flowers, and wild
berries. Alaskans are known for
taking full advantage of the sunshine
and long days, and CEF of Alaska is
no different.
Currently, Anchorage is home to 9
Good News Clubs. There are 123
children registered in these clubs
and there have been 11 salvations!
Praise the Lord! There are also new
workers and a new church supporter.
Kenai Peninsula
As always, CYIA was a wonderful time.
Anchorage-Mat-Su Region
We had an amazing group of 92 teens
who were willing to study hard and put
It was a busy summer and it is
shaping up to be a busy school year into practice what they have learned. It
was also a blessing to have so many
in Anchorage. The State Fair
great adults who willingly gave up over
featured a brand new caboose
booth! The booth was well broken in a week to live with, learn with and be
this year as CEF volunteers shared with teenagers. Many of the teens
have gone back to their homes ready
the Story of the Wordless book with
to work in after school Good News
2,157 people. Over 900 mailbox
Clubs (GNC), Sunday School,
mailers were handed out, and the
Children's Church and VBS. The
team ran out of everything they were training they received deepens their
handing out. The Good News is
walk with Christ and gives them the
being proclaimed!
confidence to step up and reach out to
their communities.
Tok
The CEF team was busy with their 3
week Shen Bible Camp. The CEF
trained teens helped with Bible
lessons and presented the missionary stories for nightly cabin devotions. The last week of camp saw 21
The new caboose!
Summer Village Trips
2
Club Corner
2
Meet the Abels
3
Prayer Requests
4
teens passing practicums of the
Wordless Book.
VBS Worship in Unalakleet
Rural Area
Unalakleet is a happening place for
CEF. This summer our teenagers did
VBS with about 60 children in
attendance.
The teens did an excellent job, they
prepared their stories and prepped for
the week of VBS BEFORE CYIA. In
addition to teaching Children’s Church
weekly, the team has also made trips
to Shaktoolik and Koyuk and has plans
to return to both villages and continue
sharing the great love of Christ!
Marshall is another village CEF is
reaching out to, offering CEF training
for adults and teens, further equipping
the church to reach their village.
Club Corner
This school year is a full and
exciting one. Please be praying
for our teens to stay excited about
their ministry and to use the
training they received to the fullest.
Also, please pray for the GNC
team leaders. These adults take
on the responsibility of discipling
teens, keeping them focused on
the reason we do Clubs and
mentoring them when they have
struggles. The following is a list of
the Clubs taking place this school
year:
Soldotna/Kenai Area
Aurora Borealis
K-Beach Elementary
Soldotna Elementary
Mountain View
Cook Inlet Academy
North Star Elementary
Sonshine House Day Care
Tok Area
Tanacross School
Tok School
Faith Chapel
Anchorage Area Clubs
Airport Heights School
Kasuun School
Chugiak School
Russian Jack School
Abbott Loop School
Sand Lake School
Summer Village Trips
This summer in rural Alaska, it was
obvious that God was changing lives.
There is a desire for discipleship
amongst teens in the villages that we
ministered in. What a wonderful door is
open to us, as we minister not only to
children, but also begin to train
teenagers in more villages!
In March a combined team of teens and
adults from Soldotna and Port Alsworth
met in Anchorage for Native Musicale.
This was a huge success with many
people helping as we ministered to over
90 children from all over Alaska. In their
―spare‖ time the team reached out in the
community as well, serving at a local
soup kitchen.
We kicked off our Summer Missions
with VBS in Clarks Point with Violet
Warman and enjoyed getting to know
many adults, teens and children. Pastor
Simon Flynn from Dillingham flew with
Ward Hulbert and helped us lead
church in the school on Sunday.
After the Soldotna CYIA, a team headed
right out for Good News Bay. We had a
great team who ministered to the
children as well as holding teen Bible
studies in the evenings.
Next the Togiak team ventured out. Lela
Lazaros was able to go on this trip and
be introduced to some of the great
people that Scott had met the year
before. They also held teen events in
the evenings.
The Hall’s returned to Aleknagik as a
family missions trip. It is always a
blessing to see families in ministry
together. They took Sky Schlung with
them on his first CEF village trip.
James Hilbish and Danny Nabinger,
experienced CEF ministers, bravely
flew to Togiak to lead a VBS. They
had over 60 children in attendance.
They said next time they may advise
taking a slightly larger team. They also
had teen nights in the evenings.
Ramsey Arneson…now Vega, visited
Unalakleet many times this year
continue to train up youth. The team is
very strong and this summer their
brave leader, Sarah Oyoumick,
arranged two outreaches from
Unalakleet to the villages of Koyuk and
Shaktoolik. Tim Danielson, the father
of two CEF teens, gladly volunteered
to fly the teams out in his Cessna 172.
Thank you, Tim, for your willingness to
serve!
Scott was able to attend Vision, a
Covenant Youth of Alaska camp in
Unalakleet, at the beginning of August.
He enjoyed seeing some of the past
CYIA’ers. It was encouraging to hear
from many there how CEF has been
influential in their spiritual maturity.
Overall, it was a great summer of
serving the body of Christ all over
Alaska! We know that God is preparing
many other teens and adults to be
trained up to minister in their own
villages. We are praying for people to
help us in this effort. We need
volunteers who are CEF trained, or are
interested in being trained, who would
be willing to train others how to
effectively grow their Sunday School
ministry, VBS programs and reach out
to children all over Alaska!
Alppenglow School
Meadow Lakes School
Shaw School
Galena
Galena School
Fairbanks Area
Haystack Mountain Club
Page 2
(right) Violet Warman shares a story in Clark’s Point
(left) the Togiak team makes their way home after a week of ministry
The Connection
Annual Pie Auction
CEF Photo Gallery
God is so good. What an amazing Pie
Auction we had this year in Soldotna.
We had such a turn out that we ran out
of paddles with bidder numbers. We
will definitely be bringing more along
next year!
Through this year’s pie auction God
raised a total of $34,710. This money
will be facilitated through the Kenai
Peninsula chapter of CEF and used
throughout the year for village trips,
local Clubs, CYIA, etc.
We’d like to thank all who made the pie
auction a success. The volunteers
who set up, tore down and helped the
night run smoothly, the people who
brought the yummy pies, and all those
who came and bought those delicious
pies, giving financially to advance the
kingdom. Thank you all so very much!
Kristin Cronin Fund = $4,635
Pie Auction = $30,075
# of bidders = 83
Meet the Abels
Troy & Rita Abel
Up on the Alaskan Highway is the
remote little town of Tok. In that
town is a couple so on fire for God
that the rest of the state is turning
to watch what God is doing
through them. Troy and Rita Abel
have managed to keep themselves very busy these last few
years. With three Good News
Clubs a week, training with their
teen team on Sunday night, and
Awanas immediately after their last
Fall 2011
Caption: clockwise starting top left: Teens at Soldotna CYIA gathering for a message, teens from Unalakleet sharing during worship at CYIA, Soldotna El club
plays ―Captain’s Coming‖, Quinhagak team
Club, they are constantly on the
go. Did I mention Troy is also the
pastor of Faith Chapel?
The Abel’s love seeing God move
through their community and are
more than happy to be His
instrument. Two years ago they
started out with 3 teens helping out
with Clubs. This year, the Abel’s
team has grown to 12-15 teens
helping each week in three clubs,
all held on Wednesday, with the
potential to add another club as
well.
In March, Troy traveled with the
Moody basketball teams to India.
While there, he preached everyday
to over 100 teens, sometimes
twice a day, and shared the Wordless Book. The team then traveled
to the villages where some of
these young people lived. They
loved seeing all the Wordless
Book bracelets being worn proudly
by village kids.
Troy and Rita Abel are embracing
the Great Commission, spreading
the Gospel throughout their
community, discipling the next
generation. We rejoice to see the
Kingdom of God advancing
through the Alaskan Interior.
Troy at Tok School Club
Page 3
Child Evangelism Fellowship
of Alaska, Inc.
43687 Kalifornsky Beach Road
Soldotna, AK 99669
Phone: 907-262-9605
Fax: 907-260-1984
Steve & Bev McKinley– State
Directors
Scott and Lela Lazaros - Alaska
Rural Coordinators
Joyce Widman - Soldotna Local
Coordinator
Cindy Ingraham - State
Secretary
Kim Walker—Anchorage/Matsu
Donna Woerter-Fairbanks Field
Worker
Please pray for CEF:
-Teams as they prepare for Good News Clubs.
-Safe travels as the teams travel to their Clubs.
-Effective training sessions this fall.
-God to raise up workers for Good News Clubs.
-Many un-churched children will come to the 5 Day
Clubs and Good News Clubs.
-Funding for the Adopt-A-Village program.
If you have info for this
newsletter, please drop us a
note: [email protected]
Check out these websites:
Cefalaska.com—Keep updated on what’s happening with CEF in Alaska
and pre-register for CYIA.
Wonderzone.com—Safe, fun place for kids: includes fun games, activities,
and daily devotionals.
Teachkidsforum.com—Great place for those who teach kids to share and
find ideas.
Child Evangelism Fellowship of Alaska
43687 Kalifornsky Beach Road
Soldotna, AK 99669