Mailing Address:

CEF of Nebraska, 6400 Cornhusker Hwy, Suite 400, Lincoln, NE 68507 Phone/Fax: 402-484-7877 Mobile: 402-525-5305 www.cefnebraska.org e-mail: jonathan@cefnebraska.org

“Trademarks, registered trademarks and logos in this document are owned by Child Evangelism Fellowship Inc.”

Spring 2017 Volume 7, Issue 1

A Prayer Update of Child Evangelism Fellowship of Nebraska

“Are you having a 5-Day

Club Again?”

A s summer roles around, many 5-Day Club

hostesses have children asking them, “Are you having a 5-Day Club® again?” Fortunately, a majority of these hostesses say YES and once again open up their homes and lives to the precious children who need to hear that Jesus is looking for them!

5-Day Clubs will begin the week of June 12th and

go through the August 4th. These clubs are taught by trained young people who have attended Christian Youth in Action® (CYIA®).

Please consider opening up your home for a morning, afternoon, or evening and hosting a 5-Day Club. Use 5-Day Clubs alongside of your church’s VBS or in place of your church’s VBS. Call us soon to schedule your clubs.

“I Came Looking, Just for You!”

W e as a culture find our time packed with all sorts of busyness and activities. Yet, when we really look at how we spend our time, I wonder just how much difference we are making for eternity. The following

poem is a gentle reminder of what should be truly important:

“One night the Lord spoke to me, while I was half asleep He told me I must go and find His lost sheep.

I told Him I was busy, tending to the ones of my own they were not quite ready to leave my nest and home.

He said it didn’t matter, I didn’t need to travel far for they lived close to me I didn’t even need my car.

They were wandering, up and down my own street I just needed to go outside so with them I could meet.

When I got up that morning, I knew what I had to do and that is why my neighbor I came looking, just for you!”

Copyright 2014—Deborah Ann Belka https://poetrybydeborahann.wordpress.com/category/missionsevangelism-poems/

Aren't you glad Jesus came to seek and save the lost, and found you? Do the children in your neighborhood know Jesus is looking for them? Will you open your home and life so they might hear?

Musgrave’s

Moments

W e are so thankful to the Lord for giving us safety to

travel over 3,500 miles to California and back the first part of this year! Our purpose was to attend a wedding for Yoli’s cousin, but while there we also took time to visit many friends and supporters. It was also a great joy to share in two supporting churches.

We enjoyed our time visiting, but the Lord also provided opportunities through friends to enjoy a day at Disney Land and Knott’s Berry Far! The children greatly enjoyed the rides and other experiences.

Ethan, our most outgoing child,

quickly adapted to our visits with people in California. He jumped right in with the children he didn’t know and made the most of his time.

Isaac, though more reserved than his brother, would eventually follow Ethan and warm up to new friends. He still occasionally tells us, “Let’s go to California.” We then ask him if he wants to drive all the way again. Sometimes he want to, other times he does not.

Ariana graciously puts up with her brothers. As first born, she is helpful in keeping and eye on them, especially in crowds. She enjoyed her time in California getting reacquainted with friend she rarely sees.

On our way home from California, we visited the Grand Canyon. This was an (cont. p. 3)

Giving can mean

writing a check to a

charity, but God sees it

as so much more.

Giving can be prayer

support, volunteering,

networking, telling

others about a cause

you believe in, and

planned giving.

Examples of planned

giving include a will,

living trusts, donor

advised funds, life

income agreement, life

insurance, and a

planned gift option.

The Bible tells us that

“God loves a cheerful

[joyful, extravagant]

giver”. We at CEF

desire to help you feel

God’s “joy” however

you decide to support

us.

Will you pray today

and ask the Lord where

you can help us? Then

call us.

Electronic Giving

Electronic giving is

available for all CEF

of Nebraska chapters

at:

www.cefnebraska.org

Meet the Board of Directors

O ver the next several newsletters we will

introduce those who faithful serve to give

oversight to the ministry of CEF in

Nebraska. Richard Lewis has served on the

Omaha Chapter Committee and State Board for

over 30 years. He gives the following reasons

as to the value of CEF and why he is serving:

“The ministry of CEF is important to me for

two key reasons. First, I myself had no useful

knowledge of God from my family background and childhood. There

were plenty of family-inherited-biases (which is all the world considers to

be faith these days), but no concrete Bible information. What I observed

as the one constant among all of the diverse religious persuasions was

that no one’s religious thinking impacted their basic decision making.

God was not alive to them. In spite of that, the Lord sought me out via

acquaintances that challenged me to delve into the Biblical evidence; I

was shocked to discover how much there was!

Second, I myself became a father and supervisor to an entire

neighborhood of children as my three biological children became of an

age to interact with other children outside their home and their (cont. p. 4) 2

“Taking the TRUTH to the YOUTH,—TODAY!

amazing opportunity which we are glad we experienced. The day we spent there was cold. In fact, it snowed while we were there, and heavy clouds covered the canyon for a while. Fortunately, the clouds cleared and we were able to enjoy the magnificent view from various locations along the rim.

Yoli and I greatly enjoyed reconnecting with friends and family in California. Her cousin’s wedding was beautiful, and she was able to introduce us to many family members we had not yet met.

How thankful we are to the Lord for allowing us the privilege of making this trip, for keeping us safe, and for His blessing and provisions to hep make this trip possible. We are also grateful for all those who knew of our travels, assisted us with it, and were praying for us! God is so GOOD! ▄

C hristian Youth in Action® (CYIA®), the dynamic, life-changing, eternity impacting

training for young people will be held in two locations again in Nebraska in June. Young people from across the state will join together reach the children and assist local churches throughout Nebraska.

CYIA East will be held June 4th-10th at Camp Moses Merrill. CYIA Central will be held the following week, June 11th-17th at Whispering Cedars Baptist Camp. The cost for CYIA is $225 which includes food, lodging, and materials. One mom commented that CY IA packed great fun and awesome training in one week for their teens. This training will be useful throughout the rest of their life.

Once the training is completed, the young people will teach at least four 5-Day Clubs during the summer. Some of these young people travel to serve in various cities throughout Nebraska. There is even an option to earn money for college by teaching the 5-Day Clubs.

Will you pray about sending and/or sponsoring a young person to attend CY IA this summer?

CEF will once again offer an awesome

weekend retreat designed to assist you in your

journey of discovering God’s will for your life.

GUIDE Retreat will give you the

opportunity to spend the weekend with others

just like you who want to discover and do the

will of God. We’ll enjoy time in God’s Word,

fellowship, prayer, worship, and investigating

the opportunities available. The weekend

together will be organized around the word

GUIDE:

GAINING A BIBLICAL PERSPECTIVE

UNDERSTANDING GOD’S WILL

INVESTIGATING THE OPPORTUNITIES

DEVELOPING A PLAN

ENJOYING THE JOURNEY

Join a group from Nebraska for practical

weekend retreat. Sign up now at

www.cefonline.com/guideretreat.

3

Musgrave’s Moments (cont.)

CYIA® CEF GUIDE Retreat

M E M O R I A L S

AND HONORS That Live to Serve Others

Honor the name and memory of

a loved one by sending a gift in

their name to CEF to enable us

to continue sharing the Word of

God to the children.

In memory of

Mark Your Calendar!

April 20, 2017 at 6:30 pm

Join CEF of Omaha as they celebrate God’s

goodness and testify of His work in the Omaha

Chapter. Come prepared to contribute to CEF of

Omaha so they can expand the ministry to reach

even more children with the Gospel. Find

additional details at www.cefomaha.org.

Various principals have asked them to begin an

after-school Good News Club in their public

elementary school. Additional staff and

volunteers are greatly needed.

CEF Omaha Banquet

$500,000 to fully support all our current staff and hire six others to reach a greater number of

children in Nebraska.

To reach 12,000 children with the Gospel this year (double that of last year)

To have 150+ young people attend CY IA this summer.

To have over 200 5-Day Clubs / VBSs throughout

Nebraska this summer.

12 total State Board members and 12 committee members on each committee.

Establish the Platte Valley Chapter and have on or more local missionaries for the chapter.

Ongoing Prayer Needs

Board of Directors (cont.)

lives were also universally devoid of concrete Biblical

information. In addition, those other children already

showed the marks of future patterns of self-inflicted

damage. These children needed help and protection!

Certainly, we could supervise and direct these other

children in many good ways while they played with our

children, but this was not enough.

My wife and I “found” CEF and began to teach/host

Good News Clubs and 5-Day Clubs as soon as we found

these wonderful tools and we delighted in the chance to

support the CEF ministry. I became a part of the

Omaha Chapter committee while in my 30’s and have

also become a part of the Nebraska State Board in more

recent years. These privileges have been a personal

source of joy to my Christian walk and blessing to my

personal life, AND, these privileges have allowed me to

contribute in a large and effective way to reach children

with the truth of the gospel and potentially rescue them

from hopeless living on earth and permanent disaster

and regret at death. Children deserve our best!!