Children’s Cup Teacher Retreat 2009
Missions in Africa, Inc.
January 31, 2009
http://www.missionsinafrica.com
Dear Friends and Family,
Grace and peace to you in Jesus name!
Featured Picture: “Children’s Cup Teacher Retreat 2009”
As the New Year gets under way, we are just beginning our school year here in Swaziland. We wanted to start the school year filled to over flowing with the right stuff…….so the Children’s Cup teachers were able to spend two nights and three days focusing on the Lord and their relationship with him. Children’s Cup has 40 teachers spread out over 19 CarePoints throughout Swaziland. We were asked to facilitate the retreat and Randy acted as the “MC”. We wanted to share with you some of the awesome things God did during the teacher’s retreat and what he continues to do even after our time together.
The focus of the retreat was “intimacy with God” and the importance of our personal relationship with Him. If we are right with Him, He can do amazing things in us and through us……to those that He has entrusted to our care. Intimacy with God our Father deepens as we spend time in His presence, and that is what we did! Individually and corporately, we spent time in the presence of our Holy God. We prayed together, we cried together, we praised and lifted up the name of Jesus together. Teachers experienced God in a new and personal way. We received a testimony from one of our teachers, who prayed for healing in her physical body. The next morning when she got up, she said she could run again. Still other teachers testified that they have experienced emotionally healing from things that happened to them in the past. This healing, forgiveness and restoration from God our Father, has spiritually set the captives free! Isaiah 61:1 says, “He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners.” Praise the Lord for freedom!
We also spent time discussing Children’s Cup Core Values. What has the Lord called us to be and do as we serve Him at Children’s Cup? We discussed in detail what it means to be Christ-centered; what it looks like in our own lives and how can we live it out in our ministry with the children on a daily basis. We talked about being child-focused and how focusing on the children at the CarePoints, we can, with God’s help, change an entire generation. We talked about living a life of integrity; that we are who we say we are. That we should walk in honesty and do what we say we will do. We also discussed that we as Christians, must do everything with excellence. Colossians 3:23 says, “Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward.” Initiative is another core value that goes hand in hand with excellence. Will we just get by with the bare minimum, or will we go above and beyond what is expected? Will we show initiative by solving problems at our CarePoints with the resources that we have instead of waiting for the perfect materials? Will we go that extra mile for that child that has just lost his or her parents? Finally, we discussed having a servants-heart. We must walk as Jesus walked and that includes having a servant’s heart and putting the needs of others before our own needs. This is only possible as we humble ourselves daily before a mighty God, who through the Holy Spirit equips and enables us to do the work of the ministry.
This past week we received yet another testimony regarding one of our teachers and how the retreat has changed her life. One of the core values that we discussed was living a life of integrity. The Lord has continued to work in this teacher’s heart and has prompted her to share her HIV status with others. She has been living with HIV for almost a year now. Up until this time, she has only shared this with a couple of people. The Lord has moved in her heart to share this with others so she does not feel like she is hiding something. He has changed her heart and has helped her to live a life of integrity.
As we spent this time focusing on the Lord, repenting of the times that we went our own way, seeking him and him alone, the Lord God almighty was faithful to his word and he truly did provide for each of us, an intimate and personal time of refreshing!
Please join us in prayer for our teachers as they have a significant impact on the 7,000+ children that we care for each day.
Love,
Randy and Karen Brennan
Serving the Lord in Swaziland, Africa
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