Dear Friends,
Another year of CEF of Peninsula ministry is drawing to a close. 2018 has been a year of blessings and challenges. We have increased the number of Good News Clubs (GNC) in our local public schools by God’s grace and have seen 19 children come to know the Lord Jesus Christ this fall. Thank you so much for your prayers and financial support!
By God’s grace and with your support, children around the Peninsula will again have the opportunity to be introduced to Jesus Christ in 2019, and we are hopeful and excited for all the divine appointments the Lord is planning with children in our ministry area.
We are mindful that we are ever closer to that great day prophesied in Isaiah 54:13, when “All your children shall be taught by the LORD, and great shall be the peace of your children.” That day will be realized when Christ returns to earth. Until then, it is our privilege to serve God by carrying the Good News of the Gospel with its peace that is beyond understanding to every young heart we can reach.
Some may think that most children are carefree and content. One day, as Isaiah proclaims, this will be so, but not yet. Many children are hurting; they shed tears of anxiety and loneliness and many feel the void of not being loved. Some children, sadly, are abused and bullied. Others are forced to fend for themselves, having to grow up way before their time.
The cries for peace echoing across our land are not just cries of men and women. Children too are crying out for whatever they think might make life better, to make them not afraid, to make them loved, that might give them peace. The answer is to teach them to know and live for Jesus as their Savior and Creator. As an old gospel song says, “Jesus is still the answer. He’s always been, and always will be.”
Yet it takes prayer, commitment, planning, preparation, time, talent, and funding to bring Christ to children, so they can hear that He is the Answer. Jesus can forgive their sins. Jesus can give them eternal life. Jesus can give them love and make all things new. And Jesus can give the dear children we minister to, peace. This is what your prayer and financial support can bring!
“Jesus is still the answer. He’s always been, and always will be.”
So please join us in praying for open hearts among the children and the school authorities. As we grow the number of GNCs so too does the need grow for additional CEF of Peninsula staff and board members. Pray that we manage this growth well, and come help us as God leads.
Finally, please also pray for our CEF volunteers and staff as they go into the fields, bearing precious seed to young precious souls for whom Christ died. May we be faithful in teaching the children of the Peninsula the peace of knowing Jesus in 2019, and continue sharing the love of Jesus until that time when, “children shall be taught by the Lord, and great shall be the peace of your children.”
Mark Loncar – CEF of Peninsula Board Chair
