To be clear, our ministry as international missionaries for the past 9+ years now is serving, training, equipping, and helping national CEF ministries throughout the Caribbean. That mission didn’t change when the lockdowns began in March of 2020, and it hasn’t changed over the past year and a half now either.

Here’s the thing, there are only so many Zoom meetings we can write about on the blog before it starts to sound repetitive! From an overall work flow basis, our daily work doesn’t look that different now than it did before March 2020. We stay engaged with the staff and the boards of the eight nations that we serve, through email, WhatsApp, & phone calls. I also work alongside the regional director and regional team with other needs, projects, and issues throughout the rest of the Caribbean. None of that is different now than it was before.

The overall mission of CEF is to evangelize, disciple, and establish children into local churches. So we ask the question alongside local churches, “how can you best reach the children in your community?” But how do you reach children in a public health lockdown situation? Though a new issue to navigate, the root mission and question hasn’t changed. If anything, it has been a refreshing return to the original vision of CEF! You can’t rely at all on past methodology, and this new reality of the past year and a half requires Holy Spirit-fueled creativity to reach out to children under what is allowed in each country.

What has changed since March 2020 are two major things: travel & Zoom. First, I/we haven’t traveled internationally since the board/staff visit to Jamaica in February 2020. This however is planned to change this month (September 2021)! That will be a future blog post. Second, Zoom has transformed our regional team’s ministry since last year. We have conducted board trainings for hundreds of national and local board members, we have trained thousands of volunteers in children’s ministry throughout the Caribbean, we have had special meetings to deal with issues in individual countries, we have held new staff interviews, and all of this has been done with a plurality of leaders participating.

For example, just recently I was involved in dealing with a staff issue in one of the countries, and on the Zoom call was another fellow area director, my regional director, and all of the board members of that countries. People from four different locations and based in three different nations were on the Zoom call, whereas before 2020 it would have likely required a face-to-face, multiple day trip by just one leader. This way, three different leaders from three different cultural & ministry experience backgrounds were able to weigh in on the issue, in real time.

In conclusion, ministry is thriving in many of the nations of the Caribbean, and many countries are using radio, television, Zoom, Teams, WhatsApp, YouTube, Facebook, and many other technological means of outreach. Many nations by now have been able to return to face-to-face ministry, and though I personally may not have been able to travel to the country, the beauty of CEF’s missionary model is that local ministry is not dependent on me being there in person. The design of CEF ministry since 1937 is that local people in local communities are the ones reaching the local children. All run by national staff and national boards. Only about 2.5%-3% of CEF full-time workers serve cross-culturally like myself. And our purpose as missionary servants to help serve, train, & equip local ministries of CEF throughout the Caribbean hasn’t changed!

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“The Courage To Make The Shift In Children’s Ministry”

Earlier in the year CEF® Bahamas partnered with the government operated Urban Renewal Center. Two of their staff members participated in CEF’s® Quick Start training and we established a Good News Club at the center. It was agreed that club would meet once a month and whenever there was a function at the center for the children in the community, CEF® would be invited. Due to COVID-19 things changed. Social distancing, wearing facial mask in public, no gathering of more than ten persons, constant sanitizing and washing of hands became the new norm. Ministering to children in person became a challenge but we thank God for Zoom and other online platforms.

I had received a message from the Activities Coordinator at the Urban Renewal Center. She informed me that the center took on a project to provide lunch for the children and elderly in the community. The lunch project was going to be a curbside event, while children were at the center for a brief moment to collect their lunch. As this was the last week for the lunch project the plan was to climax with a curbside, Back to school Jamboree. Lunch would be served for one hour curbside, from 12:00 noon to 1:00 p.m. on a first come first serve basis. CEF® was invited to attend and to share a positive word with children. I jumped at the opportunity. I thought, ‘What do I share for two minutes for five days? Well, the Lord revealed the plan, ‘The Message of Salvation’ better known as, ‘The Wordless Book’. This book has five pages, no pictures, no words, just five beautiful colored pages, gold, dark, red, clean and green, they represent the wonderful story of God’s love for us. Each day would represent a color and the message from the book.

Day one, the color was gold to begin the Message of Salvation. Well, that morning showers of blessings came down and continued for the entire day. The plan was adjusted. The next day was Tuesday, under the beautiful blue skies, I wore my gold and went to meet the children. One by one they collected lunch, I shared how the gold reminds me of heaven, where the street is paved with gold, God our Creator lives there and He loves you very much. I gave them a token that says God loves you with the verse John 3:16 on the reverse. For God so loved the world, but instead of saying “loved the world,” I told them to put their name instead of world. The token were given to all the children and the first 25 children received a mini package of skittles with their tokens. There were about 50 children on the first day, along with adults.

We praise the Lord for day one. Wednesday, day two, representing the dark and the red pages, I was dressed in the colors, with a familiar head piece for the children. I shared how the dark color reminds me the verse, “All have sinned…” Romans 3:23, No matter who you are, you have sinned. Sin is anything you think, say or do that displeases God and it cannot enter heaven. We were all born in sin, and sin must be punished. Punishment means separation from God. Thankfully God has a wonderful plan so you and I don’t have to be punished for our sin. This brings me to the red page, it reminds me that God, in His love for us sent His only begotten son, who did no wrong, but willingly took our punishment by dying on the cross for us. He shed His precious blood so that we may be forgiven of our sins. Christ died for our sins…1 Corinthians 15:3-4. Tokens with the message for the day and scripture on the reverse side was given along with treats for the children. I ministered to a total of 35 children that came by.

In attendance were two teen girls who looked forward to the message and tried their best to guess what the message and the verse would be for the day. The first day they were ‘spot on’. There was also a young man who came every day and collected two lunches for his mother and son. My first encounter with him was the first day when I told him what the gold page remind me of ; then I asked him who lives in heaven. Well, he looked at me and said, ’I wont say because the answer will not be what you want to hear’. I said, ‘Well tell me who you believe lives in heaven. He refused to say. He turn to me and said, ’I grew up believing the traditional Bible but has since changed my belief, but you can tell me what you believe’. I looked at him, told Him God lives in heaven and He loves you very much. I was thankful to the Lord that he was still willing to listen. Everyday he came and listen as I shared, amazingly he took the tokens with the messages home to his four year old son.

On day three, I dressed in my clean color, letting the children know, because of what the Lord has done for you, you can have your sins forgiven. The token, a clean heart with the message and verse, “You are forgiven!” The Lord has promised, ’He will be my helper.’ Hebrews 13:5b. The number of children decreased, as some came to collect lunch for six to eight family members, Overall twenty-eight children attended and the message continued.

Friday! And the “Back to School Jamboree’ had begun. There was excitement in the air. Over one hundred children came young and old, and parents there. Lunch was served, raffle tickets were given out for special prizes that could only be collected on that day. After lunch the children spread out on the park and around the Urban Renewal Center waiting patiently for their number to be called. Every child was given a back pack and special birthday gift bags were provided for everyone young and older who celebrated in the month of August. No one was turned away. The Lord provided for the children and parents were happy. So many persons attended and social distancing needed to be enforced. Yes, the father previously mentioned came and brought his little son. The color for the day was green, the last page in the Wordless Book. The message was shared, Now that you have believed on the Lord Jesus Christ you can get to know Him better, by growing in Christ. I encouraged the children to Go to Sunday school, Read and Obey God’s word, and Witness – share the good news of the gospel with others. During Curbside Ministry, it was my prayer that by God’s grace the seeds planted through the message would have fallen on fertile ground. Just before the end of my time at the center three young boys showed up. It was my first time meeting them, they said they came during the first two weeks to get lunch and their first for this week. I asked if they had ever trusted Jesus as their personal Savior. Excitedly the answer was a resounding YES!! It was truly a blessing. The Lord allowed me to encourage them with the message for the day. To continue to Grow in Christ, confess your sin to the Lord and that He will never leave you nor forsake you. To God be the Glory!!!

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This picture was taken January 17, 2020.

Dr Willamae Miller served as national director for CEF Bahamas for over two and a half decades….in her retirement.

She dedicated her entire life to reaching the next generation with years of her career in education.

She started a very popular children’s radio ministry that reached out to thousands of children every week.

She led by example and was someone who was truly faithful.

A friend, someone who was always encouraging.

A person who loved to laugh and often introduced me as her “son, a Miller boy, can’t you see the resemblance?”

A strong and determined woman of God who was fully committed to everything she did.

A person who was a privilege to serve.

She also received the rare title of “national director emeritus” with CEF.

She sadly passed away December 10, 2020 after living a long and full 9+ decades of life, and one can truly say that The Bahamas is a better nation because of all that God has done through her over the countless decades of national service, work in the educational system, and nationwide outreach. Hundreds of people were trained by her.

Thousands of children were taught by her. I am thankful for her. May the Lord give peace and strength to her family, and comfort to all who knew her and were blessed by her.

The post Tribute to Dr. Willamae C. Miller, The Bahamas appeared first on A Moment with the Millers.

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“We thank our sovereign God that He is in control of the coronavirus and nothing surprises Him. Praise God for what He is doing:

1. Schools opening.

With the schools reopening came new challenges. They are still in recovery mode so Good News Club teachers are still waiting to continue teaching the children in person. Children are adjusting to online classes. However, many children still lack access to internet and devices.

• A Preschool testimony:

Teachers record a 6-8 minute video with the Bible lesson, memory verse and Word up. Video is sent weekly to Preschool Parents for their children. The children listen then send back to teachers a video where they say their memory verse. Parents comment they also are learning the memory verse together with their children. Praise God they can hear the gospel!

• Churches:

Because current government regulations allow gatherings of only 10 people,  many churches are now using Zoom. Sunday School teachers are finding creative ways to teach the children using technology. Even CEF training has moved in this direction.

Again, we thank you for supporting CEF with your prayers and financial donations so we can continue evangelizing more children in this country. Together we can reach this generation for Christ.

Finally, November 4, 2020 will be the “World Day of Prayer” for the CEF ministry. This is a worldwide event. Will you take 5 minutes on that day to pray for the following?

1. For God to raise bilingual local directors for the Corozal, Orange Walk and Cayo districts.
2. To raise a bilingual national trainer.
3. For the children that are neglected and face abuse in dysfunctional homes.

For the Children,

Rafael Ku
CEF National Director”

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Praise the Lord for Rafael and like he said, thank you for your prayers and support! Every day we help CEF national leaders like Rafael help reach the children throughout the North Caribbean. We could not serve workers like Rafael without you being a part of our ministry. Thank you!

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I have a full set up with a microphone, microphone boom stand, headphones, and even lighting at times to assist with interviews and presentations! In light of the hundreds of hours I/we have spent on Zoom this year so far in ministry, we felt it would be good to encapsulate this theme of 2020 officially in a blog post so you can be both informed and also hopefully encouraged by what God is doing through this temporary season.

First: The CEF regional family has been more regularly connected than ever before.

In this 2020 season, we have had region-wide zoom calls, area zoom calls, national zoom calls, board zoom calls, and countless other variations of the above categories.

The North Caribbean & Bermuda area that we directly serve as missionaries has been more connected because one of the things that we have been doing through this is staying connected face-to-face via Zoom on a regular basis throughout the month including a WhatsApp area group where we have been praying for one another, engaging in leadership development, and sharing ideas of how to reach children in each of the countries.

Second: There has been a quicker roll out of new training than ever before.

What would have taken likely a full year and 27+ trips by multiple regional workers is now taking less than a few months at the most. Since August, with just national board training alone (the launch of new board training curriculum), over 200 board members from all across the region have been trained! We send via Fedex the new training curriculum to specific countries and have been holding board trainings via Zoom at different times for those various countries.

Third: Training is more enhanced than ever before and prevents duplication of efforts

Trainings that would have normally been done by one person in one country are now being done by multiple teachers on the regional team or multiple national leaders! This has led to less of a teaching load upon one person, the ability to swap teachers if sickness or a family matter arises, and also has led to ultimately a more enhanced educational experience for those taking the training. And of course savings with flights, time, and other related travel costs. Additionally, it has allowed the best trainers from each country to work together at the same time!

Case in point, the above picture was in regards to the Christian Youth In Action training that was done by CEF of St. Kitts & Nevis, our former home. Though the idea of the zoom CYIA training started for St Kitts & Nevis, soon six nations in the Caribbean participated with over 50 teenagers and young adults trained to teach children in 5-Day Clubs.

A 14 year old shared, “CYIA has helped me feel comfortable sharing the Word of God. I hope I will be able to bring others to Christ.” Also, as a part of the commissioning service, two teenagers gave an example of how to share the Gospel and one teenager gave a presentation on CEF. It was very well done!

Fourth: More children, their parents, and people in the various countries are being reached than ever before

Videos teaching Bible lessons are being prepared and sent via text to parents of children in Good News Clubs and parents are watching the lessons with their children

Recorded Good News Clubs are being shown on national television and national radio in nearly every single one of the nations we serve.

Zoom 5-Day Clubs & Good News Clubs are being taught, even with children from multiple nations being reached at the same time. Additionally, just a few weeks ago, 4 children were counseled as they made a profession of faith in a Zoom 5-Day Club!

In conclusion: Ultimately we all know that face-to-face, in-person ministry is the most effective form of ministry. We are fully and completely cognizant of the fact that Zoom and other online ministry methods have its limitations. But due to the fact that many of the Caribbean nations still have quarantine requirements of varying degrees, travel is very much limited for 2020. We are thankful to live in a day and age where we can have the technology to stay engaged with each of the nations we serve as missionaries and long for the day when full travel is restored to see everyone face-to-face again. We rejoice in what God is doing in the Caribbean through Zoom, and know that what is contained in this blog post is simply scratching the surface of all that is happening in each of the nations.

The post “Zooming” Around the Caribbean appeared first on A Moment with the Millers.

The last meeting of Good News Club was held on March 10. All schools were closed as a result of the COVID 19 pandemic. However, as the children were home and doing virtual learning, this opened the much sought-after opportunity for us to relate to them,

Having received some highly creative and engaging materials, these were forwarded to all club leaders, some teachers, parents and children. Some team leaders have established different platforms to keep in touch with the children. These include Whatsapp groups with children and parents, Zoom and Teams GNCs. In these clubs the CEF resources are utilized.

However, some are using the resources quite appropriately and are receiving particularly good results. The following brief reports come from parents, students, and team leaders.

PARENTS  One parent uses them for ‘break time’ activity, from schoolwork, for her self and the children. She calls it “Church Time”. As they go through the school day and arrive at a certain time she would call out “Church Time!” the children shift  from school work and get ready for church. They watch the videos, read and discuss the devotionals and enjoy the hands on activities together. Her children are loving the information they learn and are being encouraged to trust God more. The children are twins. They say they enjoy the videos and would encourage every child to spend some time watching the programs because they are helpful to know more about the Bible. 

Another parent shared with her friends and reported that all the children like the activities and along with parents find them remarkably interesting.

A single mother said that she and her nine year old daughter started watching the videos, which have been of great interest to them. She said as they watched them, they discuss the story which helps them to understand more about Jesus. Her daughter pointed out to her, something very important, that in the story where a father did not believe in the miracles that Jesus did, her daughter asked her, “ Why don’t the father go and see for himself”.

They both say the activities are all so very interactive and full of fun.

TEAM LEADERS I have managed to set up WhatsApp groups for the clubs I co-ordinate so I can make regular contacts with club members. Relevant CEF resources are shared with them. Some children are good at confirming that they receive the materials and watched them by placing a “thumbs up” as requested.

A very crucial milestone has just recently been reached. Virtual GNCs via Teams are being facilitated by a Principal onto the school’s Teams platform. This will enable more club members and other children from other schools to join. The first virtual meeting was a success with 23 children on. The Bible story, Memory verse and songs were all from CEF videos. Zoom club meetings will also be continued using the materials from CEF. Two children in the second virtual club have indicated that they believe in Jesus. Another team leader wrote, “The Lord has been good and has drawn many children to His Son Jesus Christ, at her school. The children are overly excited as they study the series “God cares”. One student was so touched he believed in Jesus as His Savior and asked to be baptized.

 COVID 19 has caused everyone to be home. In spite of this unprecedented situation, the children are still being contacted and are receiving the GNC links and materials. Team leaders have also been sharing the materials with other teachers, who use them as devotionals or as part of their Religious Education lessons. Children are aware that their teachers are available for Zoom conferencing to clarify and support them in their learning and discipling them to trust in Jesus.

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Praise the Lord with us! He gets all the glory. Will you pray for Caris Bramwell and the CEF National Board of the Cayman Islands as they lead the ministry there?

The post Creatively Reaching Children in the Cayman Islands! appeared first on A Moment with the Millers.

Wait, Spanish Fort? What About Pensacola?

When we made the decision to move last Fall we felt it was best to be in a town right outside of Pensacola… specifically Pace or Milton. Moving to the Pensacola area would give us many more flight options for getting to the Caribbean. Plus, it would save us a lot of money on tickets too and we would be within an hour to Sean’s family! It seemed like the Lord was opening doors to move us there so we just kept taking the next step.

And then the Lord shut those doors in a very obvious way.

We listed our house, had multiple showings within 24 hours and received an unbelievable offer! Once we cleared the inspection we decided to find a realtor in Pensacola and make a trip to see some homes… and possibly make an offer. We talked to our lender and were given a verbal pre-approval for an amount that would just get us into a home that would work for our family. So we set up a list of homes to look at and planned to spend the weekend shopping with our realtor.

Right before we left we received the pre-approval letter from our lender but the numbers had dropped considerably. The amount was too low for us to actually move to Pace or Milton. Living within Pensacola didn’t seem like it would work for our family either. So we had to cancel our plans for the weekend. Over the next week we decided to look at Daphne in Alabama.

Daphne is about a 40 minute drive from the Pensacola airport. It was definitely farther than we wanted to be BUT it is in the same area as Sean’s family, has excellent schools and most importantly, homes in our new lower budget. Plus we realized that we would be traveling to the Daphne area several times a month to see family but Sean would only be driving to the airport once every 4 – 6 weeks. The more we thought, prayed and talked about it, the more it seemed like Daphne was a much better option. So maybe God was opening a door in Daphne???

We found another realtor in the Daphne area, made a list of homes we wanted to see and planned a trip down that weekend. Once again, right before we left, we received a call from our lender. This time we were told our budget had gone back up to the original amount he verbally gave us the previous week… and this time we were actually given the pre-approval letter with the higher budget.

We weren’t sure at this point what God was up to but we just took the next step, which was to drive to Daphne and tour homes.

We had 6 homes on our list, one of those homes wasn’t in Daphne… it was in Spanish Fort. We had never considered Spanish Fort because although it is right next to Daphne, it is hard to find a house in our budget.

Extremely hard.

They have some of the best schools in the state and it’s also a 40 minute drive to Pensacola. But this house had been on the market for 30 days, which is VERY LONG for Spanish Fort. They had recently dropped the price putting it within our budget so our realtor really wanted us to see it.

The homes in Daphne didn’t work out… two accepted offers the night before we wanted to see them, another had multiple offers we couldn’t compete with (but it wasn’t a good fit anyway), another needed a lot of work and another was a new build that wasn’t finished.

We were really left with the Spanish Fort house.

And we LOVED it. We were so excited about it! They had no idea why the house hadn’t sold already because it was such a great deal! Maybe God was just holding it for us!

We made an offer, it was accepted, and we closed on Friday June 12th! Buying the house was like a rollercoaster with our lender. There were many times when we worried the entire thing might fall through because of issues with them. So that’s why we were so quiet about the change of plans. We wanted to BE SURE we were really going to buy this house in Spanish Fort before we told everyone about the change of plans. God had already shut the doors for the Pensacola area, we wanted to know He was really opening them for Spanish Fort.

But now that we have signed the papers I hope it’s safe to say that we have officially moved from Montgomery to Spanish Fort! We are very excited about our new home, our girls love it, there are lots of kids in the neighborhood, the elementary school is basically around the corner, Sean’s parents live 5 minutes away and Sean easily gets on I-10 for his 40 minute drive to the airport in Pensacola! We honestly couldn’t have imagined a better set up!

The next step is to move in and get settled. We miss Montgomery so much but we are excited to see what God has for us here in Spanish Fort!

The post We Moved! appeared first on A Moment with the Millers.

First and foremost as of the time of this blog post writing (March 26, 2020), our family is healthy and the many staff we serve across the North Caribbean & Bermuda are healthy. There are thankfully no known cases among the CEF staff in the North Caribbean & Bermuda area at this time.

In most all of the nations we serve, the staff are under lockdown alongside the rest of the population of each of the countries. Most all of the airline and ship borders are closed to the outside world. Due to many countries in the Caribbean being largely economically dependent on North American and European tourism, it is a very dangerous predicament for these relatively small nations to be in. Thankfully, peak season for Caribbean tourism is naturally largely in the wintertime, so this lockdown is coming at the end of the November-March tourism season. But I ask you to pray for God to sustain these nations through this.

The upcoming May international conference for CEF has been postponed to May 2021, and so therefore the April 2021 regional conference that Mandi and I were working behind the scenes on has been postponed until at least 2022.

All Good News Clubs have temporarily ceased as each of the school systems have temporarily ceased. However, some of the various nations are each utilizing technology in different ways (based on their technological ability and context) to engage with the children. They are helping the local church partners continue to reach out to the children they were ministering too.

Some are even using digital versions of Do You Wonder Why? booklet tool to help answer questions the children are asking. I would encourage you to check it out!

Additionally in ministry it is often easy for important but not urgent things to lapse. So I am encouraging each of the workers we serve in the North Caribbean to use this time (like I am!) to catch up on planning, emails, projects and behind the scenes tasks that are important to get done but due to not being urgent haven’t been done. Often in ministry where there are only one or two staff members in an area or even an entire nation the staff feel overwhelmed. This is a chance to breathe, get caught up, and create a new normal for when things open back up.

I also created a guide to working from home that was recently sent out region-wide, and as always I am working daily with each of the staff of the area through this.

This is a great opportunity for each of the nations we serve to relaunch through this afterward and use the time as a springboard for dynamic growth in ministry to children after all this is over! Pray with us as we help these national workers in each of the countries we serve. Pray for the health of the CEF family and pray for God to do mighty things through this!

“The LORD replied, “Look around at the nations; look and be amazed! For I am doing something in your own day, something you wouldn’t believe even if someone told you about it.” -Habakkuk 1:5

And remember, CEF was ultimately started because our founder, Jesse Irvin Overholtzer, was in quarantine! God used the time at his house for “Mr. O” to discover grace and later read Charles Spurgeon. That was when he read the famous quote: “A child of five, if properly instructed, can, as truly believe, and be regenerated, as an adult.”

We are praying for you too! Thank you for ‘holding the rope’ and being on our team as missionaries with and alongside the North Caribbean & Bermuda area.

The post What’s Going On in the North Caribbean During COVID-19? appeared first on A Moment with the Millers.

Monday, March 9th Pastor Beltane Harrigan, Child Evangelism Fellowship Regional Director of North America and the Caribbean, made his first official visit to Nassau, Bahamas . He was officially appointed Regional Director in December 2019.

Pastor Harrigan’s visit was three-fold. He was invited to speak at the annual missions conference of Abundant Life Bible Church for two nights. An invitation was also extended to him to be the guest speaker for the missions conference at Victory Baptist Church. Last but not least, he was the special guest for CEF Bahamas’ Regional Week, climaxing with the Regional Day of Prayer on Friday, March,13th 2020.

Monday evening, Pastor Harrigan spoke at Abundant Life Bible Church’s Missions Conference. Their theme was “God’s Mission, Our Mission” which he used as the topic of his messages also.

Early Tuesday morning, Pastor Harrigan and the team visited the Good News Clubs at a local Primary school. There are two clubs in this school, one for Upper Primary and one for Lower Primary. We combined the club session for that morning. Club members listened intently and watched with anticipation as he dramatized the story of Zacchaeus. Pastor Harrigan ran up to the stage and jumped on a chair, depicting Zacchaeus running to climb a tree to see Jesus as he passed.

Through much prayer, the Lord opened the door for the president of the Bahamas Christian Counsel and his team to meet with CEF Bahamas and Pastor Harrigan. The meeting was scheduled for Tuesday morning, and we prepared breakfast for the attendees. The pastors represented a cross-section of various denominations.

We visited the Good News Club at another local Primary School. This was a new club recently started in the Lower Primary School during the lunch break. The story of Zacchaeus to this new group of students was dramatized with more intensity and animation, and the students watched in amazement. Without failing us, the chair and the counter-top became the famous sycamore tree that Zacchaeus climbed up to see Jesus.

Tuesday evening, Pastor Harrigan spoke at the Abundant Life Missions Conference again, the focus being CEF Bahamas. His topic was “An Urgent Call from God to You!” In great support, CEF Bahamas’ staff, volunteers, and national board members were represented.

Wednesday morning, we visited a small primary school tucked away in the back of a major shopping center in a local community. Pastor Harrigan again brought the lesson and captivated the children with the dramatization of Zacchaeus.

Immediately following club, a special Meet and Greet was hosted by the volunteers with Pastor Harrigan. We were also encouraged by Pastor Harrigan to work as a team. Even though there is a team captain, no one is more important than the other, for each person has a part to play. Working together as a team makes the dream work.

We were also scheduled to be at Government House to meet with the Queen’s representative, the Governor General of The Bahamas, Mr. Cornelius Smith. Pastor Harrigan was presented and introduced to the Governor General by Dr. Willamae Miller, CEF National Director Emeritus. Pastor Geoff Wood, Vice Chairman of the CEF National Board, Mrs. Terry Bain, and I introduced ourselves to the Governor General. The ministry of CEF international was shared, Pastor Harrigan gave a brief history as to how he became involved in CEF for this region, and he also highlighted CEF Bahamas and the difference we are making in the lives of children in The Bahamas.

Thursday we had been given an invitation to be guests on The Darold Miller Live Show, a radio talk show, and we wanted to be “making the most out of every opportunity.” (Ephesians 5:16). We took a short drive to The Broadcasting Corporation of The Bahamas and waited patiently to join the show that was in progress. During the one-hour radio presentation, we shared the vision of CEF and our purpose, Pastor Harrigan shared the work of CEF international and how this region is connected. We also advertised our special prayer service for Regional Day of Prayer, and encouraged persons across the Islands of The Bahamas, to pray for the children of The Bahamas.

During CEF Regional Week, Dr. Miller invited Pastor Harrigan, to also be a guest on the Children’s Hour radio program. This week’s recording was very different in that children normally host the program, but they were unable to do so. Poems, brain teasers, songs, and a Bible lesson with the gospel are normally shared in the usual line-up for the pre- recorded program. Dr. Miller hosted, two poems on prayer were read by Lisa Moss, and Pastor Harrigan gave the Bible lesson on prayer from the book of Daniel

Friday arrived! This was our Regional Day of Prayer, our grand finale! CEF Bahamas’ staff, volunteers, and invited guests gathered at Discovery Learning Development Center for our special prayer service. Students from the school prayed for the various requests made by the workers in and around the were lifted for The Bahamas, the Corona Virus, and children around the region. Songs were sung in response to the prayers lifted. The Scripture reading and prayer were done by our National Board Chairman, Mrs. Kimberley Minors. Superintendent Mr. Jerome Forbes from the Ministry of Education attended the service and brought greetings. He applauded the principal and the school for setting the example by not just teaching academics but also focusing on instilling Christian values. It was now time for the message, and Dr. Willamae Miller National Director Emeritus, introduced Pastor Harrigan. His topic was “The Importance of Prayer.” Referencing the book of Acts, he showed how vitally important prayer is no matter the situation. Beginning at chapter one, every chapter had a problem or a situation that could only be resolved by prayer. The message was clear, “Prayer to a Christian, is Like Oxygen to the Body.”

At noon we went to another primary school for club that is held during the lunch break. Pastor Harrigan again dramatized the story of Zacchaeus, and this time he spoke as Zacchaeus.

Then, my husband Cornell and I, along with my brother Keith treated Pastor Harrigan to a down home Bahamian meal at another popular Bahamian restaurant, Frankie Gone Bananas, on Arawak Cay. The food was delicious, there was lots of fun and the fellowship all made it a great way to end the day.

Our Regional Week was filled with opportunities to share the ministry of CEF Bahamas and the vision for the region. Our purpose remains the same, ‘To evangelize boys and girls with the gospel of Jesus Christ and to disciple/establish them in a Bible believing church.’ This is done through our primary ministry, the Good News Club. It is also our goal to bring awareness to un-churched children within our communities and to encourage churches to adopt Good News Clubs.

Please continue to pray for CEF® Bahamas and our region at large as we prayerfully trust the Lord to send more labors and continue to provide such opportunities to reach boys and girls with the gospel of Christ.

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And they are well on their way to reaching that goal. To give comparison, in all of 2018 their local staff, church partners and volunteers reached over 86,000 children. However, just in this past quarter alone they reached over 65,000 children!

Over the few days, I worked with them to analyze where they are in the process, attend a national board meeting, and reverse engineer the 200,000 figure with them to see which areas of ministry need to be strengthened and which areas have the most long-term fruit. Myron Tschetter, the CEF director of leadership development for the region, joined me for this time in Jamaica.

Jamaica and Belize have been recently added (as of January 1) to my North Caribbean area of oversight (the specific countries fluctuate periodically), so this also gave me the opportunity to meet the national board in person which is helpful for our communication. They (CEF Jamaica) also have 15 full time staff members!

Sunday was a travel day, and I overnighted in Miami, FL. All the more reason why we were moving to Pensacola, FL! I could have arrived same day and came home same day if I had flown out of PNS.

Monday I arrived in Jamaica and went immediately into meetings with the national director! Due to different calendar requirements, Myron Tschetter had arrived into Jamaica earlier so he and Michael Scott had already spent the morning meeting.

As previously stated, CEF Jamaica has a bold five year plan to reach over 200,00 children. As their Area Director, my role as a missionary is to do everything within my power to serve them through that plan and to help them make it happen. They have been a thriving and sustainable national chapter for decades, in fact Jamaica was one of the very first nations that started with CEF way back in 1946!

That evening we made our way to where I would be staying over the next few evenings, couldn’t help but notice the price of gas!

On a personal note, it was deeply encouraging to stay with friends that I haven’t seen in a few years, the Lewis family. Neil & Jan are Jamaican and the parents of a past member of our church in Montgomery, and their family became extremely close friends of ours while they lived in town. They live in a different city now but Mandi and I had the privilege of meeting Neil and Jan and two of their other children a couple of times when they visited their daughter and son-in-law. So it was amazing to see them again! Unfortunately with all the busyness and the late arrivals/early departures we all forgot to take pictures together, but I took some pictures of their beautiful home in the mountains that was built in 1774! They do weddings there, so if you ever want to do a destination wedding in Jamaica, be sure to check them out!

Horatio Nelson even stayed there!

As the next day began, I was able to spend one-on-one time meeting with Michael Scott. He was a banker for many years and the former national board chairman for CEF Jamaica. When the position of national director opened up after he retired from banking, this proven and capable leader stepped up to the plate!

Afterwards, we started off our set of meetings with the Kingston parish supervisor. This position is similar to a local director position in the USA, the position I held when I led the Central Alabama chapter for over five years.

As you know, our home church in Turks & Caicos is Harvest Bible Chapel TCI. When I was in TCI last, Pastor Kenyatta and others were in Spanish Town, Jamaica to celebrate the one-year anniversary of a new HBC church plant there! We prayed during that Sunday service for the church there in Spanish Town. What a joy to just a few months later in God’s timing to help connect the new church and CEF Jamaica together!

As Michael prepared for the evening national board meeting, I was able to meet, pray, and plan with the national and local Spanish Town staff there.

As we then met with the national board, the evening became very late but it was a productive and enriching time of discussion and decision making as CEF Jamaica is a large-scale operation. As I serve national boards throughout the Caribbean, it was deeply encouraging to see such a healthy board. We are praying for more board members to lead CEF Jamaica, will you join us in praying for this to take place!

The next day we had time in the morning to meet with another CEF parish chapter, so we made our way to the St. Ann parish.

Lornalee (below) is an incredible new worker for CEF Jamaica. She has a big vision and has cast that vision before the churches of St. Ann. There are 53 Good News Clubs now taking place there due to the Lord blessing her leadership! I was honored to meet with her, pray with her and discuss with Michael and her how we can take these ‘best practices’ and scale them nationwide and region-wide.

Later that day, I headed to the airport back home. But not before I had my hands on $1,000! (remember that is only about $8USD!)

Will you pray for CEF Jamaica as they seek to reach over 200,000 children by the year 2022? Please join Mandi and I in praying for Jamaica and all the needs of the country in light of the next generation. CEF Jamaica reaching 200,000 children means 50% of the primary-aged children will be reached. What could happen to the future of Jamaica with 50% of the children being reached with the Gospel, being discipled in the Word of God, and established into local churches? I am excited that this is not just an idea or a dream, it is an action plan that is taking place!

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