Zechariah 9:9
– Rejoice greatly, Daughter Zion! Shout, Daughter Jerusalem! See, your
king comes to you, righteous and victorious, lowly and riding on a
donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey.
John 12:12-19
– The next day the great crowd that had come for the festival heard
that Jesus was on his way to Jerusalem. They took palm branches and went
out to meet him, shouting, “Hosanna! ” “Blessed is he who comes in the
name of the Lord!”“Blessed is the king of Israel!” Jesus found a young
donkey and sat on it, as it is written: “Do not be afraid, Daughter
Zion; see, your king is coming, seated on a donkey’s colt.”
Luke 19:11-44
– “Go to the village ahead of you, and as you enter it, you will find a
colt tied there, which no one has ever ridden. Untie it and bring it
here. If anyone asks you, ‘Why are you untying it?’ say, ‘The Lord needs
it.’ ” Those who were sent ahead went and found it just as he had told
them. As they were untying the colt, its owners asked them, “Why are you
untying the colt?” They replied, “The Lord needs it.” They brought it
to Jesus, threw their cloaks on the colt and put Jesus on it. As he went
along, people spread their cloaks on the road. When he came near the
place where the road goes down the Mount of Olives, the whole crowd of
disciples began joyfully to praise God in loud voices for all the
miracles they had seen: “Blessed is the king who comes in the name of
the Lord!”“Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!”
Garden of the Gods (foreground) Pikes Peak (background) Colorado Springs
Last month (February 2019) John & Carolyn Blake were in the Rocky Mountains for a week speaking, teaching and sightseeing during the CEF Western States Conference. John was privileged to share ministry ideas being used in Durham and listen to the needs of the CEF family from Utah, New Mexico, Colorado, and their hosts from Wyoming, Tim and Bonnie Hickman. John Romano from CEF of Maine was the Bible teacher. All became friends, especially with the Carlsons, who offered their mountain cabin below Longs Peak, CO for lodging. Good conversations, prayer, hiking, and even John crossing paths with a grey wolf made for an awesome time. NEXT STOP: North Dakota
After much prayer, seeking the right team members, and making all the necessary preparations, a new Good News Club® has begun in the first-ever charter school location for the CEF Durham chapter. This club, like many others being held in public schools, meets immediately after the school bell rings, on-site, in one or more spaces within the students own school. After club, students either stay for their normal after school programs or get picked up by their families. CEF teaching curriculum and training is provided to the Good News Club team and a local church who sponsors their mission.
Pastor Trump leads children in action-songs as they enter Good News Club
Where is this new charter school club being held? It’s at Voyager Academy in North Durham and is being sponsored by Edgewood Baptist Church. Pastor David Trump and his wife Amanda are the team leaders of 10 volunteers and a growing group of K-3 graders. The club began meeting Feb.28th and by the second week, it was necessary to make logistical changes as the attendance almost doubled. It was impressive to see young students so excited about learning about God from the Bible even after a long day at school.
Research has found that early positive experiences in sports create a lifelong commitment to an active lifestyle. Tennis is fun for families and kids of all ages and levels. CEF and docBlakeFitness are advocates and facilitators of youth and family tennis through More Than Gold teaching academies, camps, and clinics, which are usually held in the late Spring, Summer, and early Fall. We also offer total body fitness workouts to enhance overall strength, agility, and healthy lifestyles.
SOCIAL
BENEFITS
New
friends
Quality
time with family
Positive
learning environment
Learn
teamwork and communication
HEALTH BENEFITS
Stay
active with aerobic and anaerobic exercise
Enhance
flexibility and coordination
Increase
bone and muscle strength
Creates
mental and physical awareness and well being
Pray/Bless: CEF staff, club volunteers, churches, pastor/minister prayer groups, PrayDurham, Transformation RDU, various coalitions, ekklesia prayer and action groups
Fellowship/Listen: CEF staff, club volunteers & coordinators, collaborators, church partners, housing authorities, urban networking partners, prayer movements, and mentoring groups
Proclaim: CEF staff, club & event volunteers, church partners, ministry collaborators
Identify assets/Meet needs: CEF staff, volunteers, collaborators, asset-based community developers, cultural competency trained, deconstructing racism trained, and housing authorities
I realized the focus of Jesus ministry and the heart of God was on people. Their worth, dignity, and living situation dictated ministry. My vision was sharpened on how God valued the people we were reaching, even in the most resource-challenged communities of Durham. As our team refocused, no longer were the people seen as objects or goals of our ministry, but essential conduits and leaders for the transformation of their own communities.
The vision of CEF Durham is a 10+ year block-by-block spiritual transformation of city kids and their families living in 10 of Durham’s most resourced-challenged communities. This vision statement is articulated and realized by using and achieving the 10 Keys of the Kingdom.
During the past several years, both ministers and residents have been enriched when they prayed, blessed, listened, learned, and ate together. This biblically-relational approach has allowed us more effective evangelism, discipleship, and leadership development. Spiritual transformation becomes evident when these ten expressions of the Gospel are implemented. Collaboration with other ministries, churches, organizations, and groups is necessary – even mandatory for success.
2 Tim. 2:2…commit to faithful men who can teach others also… Psalm 107:23-25, 28-31 …put your faith in action
Now everything CEF Durham does will be community-based and guided by these 10 Keys of the Kingdom. The purposes of Child Evangelism Fellowship are being fulfilled more effectively by following Jesus’ Model of ministry. Our ministry plan is year-round rather than seasonally. Making disciples is the focus. Changed lives, communities, and our city is the goal.
After the evaluation, important questions were answered: What was missing?
Focused prayer for spiritual transformation of the specific communities where we ministered. — Reconciliation, strategic, and transformation prayers needed
Godly relationships with the indigenous people living in those communities.
— Visitation and sharing life with community is a must! …aka being invited into the
community: “Why don’t you live in our neighborhood?”
A comprehensive, collaborative, and biblical ministry plan that fostered sustainability and Christian community development. — When the community/neighborhood, CEF, other organizations, city agencies, local
churches are working (pulling/pushing) together… Harambee.
Evangelism with follow up and some special outreach events had been our plan through Child Evangelism Fellowship® for many years. It was done well. Thousands of lives were touched and heard the Good News. Many of those received Christ as Savior during that decade. But it was incomplete. Even when we conscientiously followed Micah 6:8 and Mark 16:15, I realized we were falling short of expressing the Gospel as Jesus had instructed His disciples to do when He sent them out to every town and place where they were to go; where He would be going.
We were guided by the Word of God in prayer and through seeking counsel.
Psalm 11:1-4 …when the foundations are being destroyed… what are the righteous to do? — Families, schools, churches, and communities are broken
— Let’s not contribute or make worse the brokenness
Proverbs 11:10, 11, 14 …when the righteous rule… the city prospers
— Volunteers, teachers, workers bless this city and area
Isaiah 58, 61:1-4 …conduct ministry with the heart of God… the city blossoms as a garden…the indigenous are the champions of the restoration of the city… — Good News Clubs conducted with a Godly mind-set and biblical ministry plan
Matthew 16:13-18 — Christ’s kingdom-building plan and promise
— Gates and Keys
Mark 8:1-12 — Compassion leads us to the answer …like Jesus: love and compassion to do something
— Location teaches us the answer …not always convenient or right for ministry (“…is this good ground?”)
— Situations stretch us to get the answer …little food – hungry and tired
— Signs distract us from the answer …don’t delay, stop waiting until everything is in right order to serve
Luke 10:2 — Laborers are lacking and needed. Certainly prayer is a big part of the answer, but this is God’s prayer request of us. … teaching by Reese Kauffmanaka God’s Will / Way
Luke 10:3-12, 16 Basic instructions from Jesus before starting your ministry and while you minister in community
1. Go to the people in their community
2. Bless the people and their community
3. Pray with the people for transformation
4. Fellowship by eating together
5. Listen to the people when visiting them
6. Proclaim the Gospel with words and actions
7. Identify assets within the community
8. Meet real felt needs which empowers people
9. Develop and disciple indigenous people
10. Enrich and be enriched by the people
Despite the great work of churches and ministries over the years, why was I not sensing an imminent revival ― a change in apathetic attitudes outside or inside the church? Why was there little evidence of biblical transformation, in which I believed in and hoped would come? Was it too late? What was missing? Was I even thinking clearly or biblically? Why did I feel so troubled?
I had no conclusive answers for these questions. I self-examined my own vision, passion, and prayer life by asking: Was I contributing to this spiritual malaise? Could in fact, our ministry be partly responsible for God withholding His blessing to our city? But during this struggle, I was soon reminded in another discussion, “Do not mistake God’s presumed inactivity as His lack of involvement or interest in our city.” His Words in Psalms 11, Proverbs 11, Isaiah 58, 61, Matthew 16, Mark 8, Luke 10, and John 4 as well as from trusted friends began to bring me needed wisdom and a clear understanding about what troubled me. I was also blessed with how to evaluate our ministry teams and an action plan to implement ― it was similar to an operational system to run a business or organization ― it was simply ten biblical expressions of God’s Kingdom.
The EOS Model™ provides a visual illustration of the Six Key Components™ of any organization that must be managed and strengthened to be productive, scale-able, and sustainable.
Vision. Strengthening this component means getting everyone in the organization 100% on the same page with where you’re going and how you’re going to get there.
People. Simply put, we can’t do it without great people. This means surrounding yourself with great people, top to bottom, because you can’t achieve a great vision without a great team.
Data. This means cutting through all the feelings, personalities, opinions and egos and boiling your organization down to a handful of objective numbers that give you an absolute pulse on where things are.
With the Vision, People, and Data Components strong, you start to create a lucid, transparent, open and honest organization where everything becomes more visible and you start to “smoke out all the issues,” which leads to…
Issues. Strengthening this component means becoming great at solving problems throughout the organization – setting them up, knocking them down and making them go away forever.
Issues. Strengthening this component means becoming great at solving problems throughout the organization, setting them up, knocking them down and making them go away forever.
Process. This is the secret ingredient in your organization. This means “systemizing” your organization by identifying and documenting the core processes that define the way to run your business. You’ll need to get everyone on the same page with what the essential procedural steps are, and then get everyone to follow them to create consistency and scalability in your organization.
Traction®. This means bringing discipline and accountability into the organization for
the execution of the vision – taking the vision down to the ground and making it real.
John Blake shares his "Heart for City Kids" 