ACCTS May Newsletter

M ay

2013

ACCTS in action O ur M ission :

To assist in the development of Christian leaders in the armed forces of the world and in the establishment and growth of military Christian fellowships.

A Tale of Three Spring Breaks: Cadets & Mids in Jamaica, Finland, and Poland

Poland Spring Break trip

Working in conjunction with Officers’ Christian Fellowship, ACCTS helped organize three Spring Break trips in March to inspire young U.S. cadets and midshipmen to develop an international view of the world and further their desire to follow Christ. “We met all our objectives and goal for these trips, including establishing relationships with military Christians in other countries,” ACCTS staff member Dean Mills reports.

“Meeting believers from around the world helped the U.S. participants realize that we are brothers and sisters in Christ. All three trips had their own flavor and distinctives but each helped the cadets and mids develop ministry vision.

We in turn were able to encourage the military Christians we met. God blessed these trips - we have a real sense of gratitude for what He did.”

Jamaica: In Jamaica, Coast Guard academy midshipmen, an OCF host couple, and ACCTS staff member Leslie Santee were hosted by Neil and Jan Lewis. Along with another group from the U.S. Naval Acade- U.S. cadets in Finland my, they attended a chapel service with over 100 new Jamaican recruits as well as ministered to boys at a juvenile correctional facility. They also had excellent Bible teaching on being a military Christian in today’s society through Neil Lewis, and Leslie reports, “They took copious notes and their lives were transformed. They were greatly challenged in their Christian walks.” Several participants were baptized or rededicated their lives at the end of the week. One cadet shared, “My highlight of this trip is being with people who love the Lord, been such continued on page 2

Coast Guard and Navy mids in Jamaica

A Tale ...

continued from page 1

a blessing...I think everyone should come on these trips, they are so beneficial...you will be changed.”

Poland: The U.S. cadets who went to Poland visited many military and cultural sites, including a concentration camp and operational academies. The highlight for most of the U.S. participants was the opportunity to interact with Polish cadets -- building relationships and getting to know the Polish cadets’ culture was an invaluable experience. They attended different types of church services and were blessed to have a former Interaction-Rocky Mountain High participant translate for them at one service. One of the Polish MCF leaders noted that arranging this trip for the U.S. cadets helped the military Christian fellowship interact with chaplains and academy leaders in ways that they hadn’t been able to before.

Finland: This team visited Finland’s National Defence University, FINCENT, and the military, naval and coast guard academies. The Military Christian Fellowship (MCF) of Finland hosted the group, and the U.S. participants were interested to see the difference between the U.S.’s religious culture versus Finland’s - one stated, “Our two cadet guides, Torsti and Tatu, represented the entire MCF of the military academy. We ask that you would pray specifically for God to work through Torsti and Tatu to expand the Kingdom. We experienced several miracles during our trip, but I feel that one of the most significant was the Holy Spirit putting exactly the right team together with the skills and personalities that were necessary to furthering His Kingdom.”

ACCTS IN ACTION • Page 2 • May 2013

Working Toward a Common Vision Among Military Ministries After attending the March Fellowship of Christian Military Ministries (FCMM) meeting in Virginia, ACCTS’ director Phil Exner reported, “There is a tremendous amount of ministry going on around the world through this small group of people and the organizations they represent. Nearly all of the organizations represented at the conference are small, yet God is powerfully using these people and organizations to reach military people for Christ.”

The theme of this year’s FCMM meeting was “Ministering to the Military in the 21st Century: Addressing a New Normal.”

Leaders from over twenty U.S.-based military ministries met to discuss how changing laws, values, politics, funding, and other factors are affecting both the requirements for and the methods needed for effective military ministry. Leaders from ACCTS, Christian Military Fellowship, Officers’ Christian Fellowship, Navigators Military Missions Network, Military Ministry (Cru), Olive Branch, and other organizations discussed the impact of the long war in Iraq and Afghanistan on servicemen and women, families, and veterans; the shifting demographics of the military and veteran populations; and challenges of ministering to military in the international arena. They also looked at the use of social media to achieve greater synergy in their ministries, including a new online social network, MilitaryBeliever.com, where service members and their families can connect with military believers, churches and ministries, and events and service opportunities. International ministries like ACCTS had a special meeting to discuss ongoing programs and plans, and how they might better collaborate and coordinate their work overseas.

The keynote speaker was Bob Sjogren, a leading speaker on missiology. Bob talked about how to approach ministry with the primary goal of glorifying God, and offered some profound insights into how ministries can judge whether or not their focus is on God and His kingdom. This included everything from how they identify themselves and how they structure their programs, to how they communicate with their supporters.

FCMM began with a small group of military Christian ministry leaders who agreed to work and pray together, but were unsure how that would work out in practical ways. In the years since it began around 1990, a palpable sense of unity, purpose, and a common vision has grown among the members of FCMM. Participants are eager to work together, not caring who gets credit for joint ministry projects that take place around the world as long as the gospel of Christ is being shared. “None of our organizations can do this by ourselves,” Phil stated. “It’s God that is helping us work together to reach the world.”

Building indigenous leadership is a goal of ACCTS’ staff members, and an April ministry trip to China was a wonderful fruition of this goal when a group of mainland Chinese Christians joined ACCTS’ medical mission trip to five remote Chinese villages. ACCTS staff member He Gang was joined by three U.S. participants -- Dr. Ed Ho, R.N. Susan Coleman, and EMT John Guthrie -- as well as two traditional Chinese medical doctors and their assistants, a pharmacist, a Chinese pastor, and several non-medical Chinese Christians to provide care to people in areas that have little to no medical services.

The group of 18 volunteers headed out to the impoverished villages with vehicles and food provided by a Chinese church. In each of the villages they treated people for a variety of medical needs, including high blood pressure, stomach ailments, and diabetes. When the number of people treated in all five villages was tallied, the volunteer medical personnel had treated well over 850 men, women, and children.

International soldier photos courtesy USDOD.

Mainland Chinese Christians Join Medical Trip

He Gang notes, “In these villages, people live in very poor houses but they take great pride in their church buildings. If they don’t have money to give, they donate meat or bag of rice or money to help their church. Every village church has a choir, and they sing beautiful worship songs. On the last day of our trip, after we finished the clinic work, I asked everyone to sing some songs together. The beauty of the music brought us to tears.”

Before and after the medical mission trip, He Gang was able to participate in a leadership training conference at which ACCTS coworker Dr. Larry Donnithorne was a speaker, meet with a fellowship group for Christian medical college students, and speak at a Bible study for dentists.

Praise God with us for what He is doing in China and for the large number of spiritually-strong mainland Chinese Christians. Please continue to pray for these Christians and ACCTS staff, who love the nation of China and its people.

ACCTS IN ACTION • Page 3 • May 2013

O ur C ore V alues : wBiblically-based wSpirit-led wPrayer-centered wPeople-focused

To China With Love ACCTS staff members and volunteers were joined by mainland Chinese Christians during April’s medical mission trip to five remote Chinese villages. See page four for more information and photos from this trip!

ADDRESS SERVICE REQUESTED Association for Christian Conferences Teaching and Service PO Box 27239 Denver, CO 80227-0239 Phone: 1-800-487-8108 Fax: 303-986-4710 Email: accts@accts.org Web: www.accts.org

NONPROFIT ORG. U.S. POSTAGE PAID LITTLETON, CO PERMIT NO. 162

Photo courtesy of USDOD

ACCTS Prayer Reminder May 2013 “For those who feel their lives are a grave disappointment to God, it requires enormous trust and reckless, raging confidence to accept that the love of Jesus Christ knows no shadow of alteration or change. When Jesus said, ‘Come to me, all you who labor and are heavy burdened,’ He assumed we would grow weary, discouraged, and disheartened along the way. These words are a touching testimony to the genuine humanness of Jesus. He had no romantic notion of the cost of discipleship. He knew that following Him was as unsentimental as duty, as demanding as love.”

--Brennan Manning The Ragamuffin Gospel: Good News for the Bedraggled, Beat-Up, and Burnt Out

Note: Staff member names are in bold print.

1 ACCTS’ Chaplains Interaction program ended last week. Pray that the international participants will be refreshed in their ministries and help breathe new life into their military Christian fellowships and chaplains ministries in their home countries.

2 Next year South African military Christians will host the once-every-ten-year AMCF worldwide conference, Global Interaction. It will be a vital time of training and teaching for military Christians from over 100 nations, many of whom will need scholarships to attend. Please pray for ACCTS as we raise support for these men and women who desire to carry out military ministry in their home nations. (For more information, please visit www. amcf2014.org or call the ACCTS office at 1-800-4878108.)

3 Pray with Rick and Melissa Ryles as they communicate with military Christian fellowships in Southeast Asia, support the new AMCF vice president in the region, and spur on more military ministry in these nations.

4 Please pray today for the political and military leaders of North Korea, and pray for God’s grace to rain down on the citizens of this troubled and troubling nation. Pray that level heads will reign and that political, religious, and emotional freedom will be restored to this land and its people.

5 Pray today for the political and military leaders of ACCTS prayer reminder • May 2013

South Korea and pray that God will give them wisdom during this tense time. Praise God for the large number of military Christians in South Korea and stand with them in prayer during this time in their nation’s history.

6 ACCTS staff raise their own support in order to fulfill ministry around the world. Pray with them as they seek to raise a sufficient amount of support to expand their outreach and take advantage of ministry opportunities.

7 Pray that more U.S. military Christians will become familiar with ACCTS programs and activities and that they will get involved by joining in on ministry activities, praying for our work, and/or supporting our work through financial support.

8 Today, please pray that U.S. military and political leaders will seek to lead with integrity and justice, and pray in particular for military troops in Afghanistan and their families on the home front.

9 Ongoing economic difficulties in European nations, as highlighted most recently in Cyprus, continue to pose problems for military Christians and their fellowship groups. Pray for the Holy Spirit’s wisdom as they continue ministering despite financial difficulties and pray that this will be an opportunity for them to share spiritual wealth and peace with their coworkers, friends, and families.

10 Please pray for Vic and Marsha Grazier, Bill and Suzanne Lumpkin, and other staff members who work with international military students in the U.S. Ask that

they be guided by the Holy Spirit as they befriend men and women who will become leaders in their home countries.

11 Today, please pray that the U.S. cadets and mids who participated in Spring Break mission trips (see newsletter for details) will continue to focus on what Christ taught them during those trips and that they will actively seek ways to grow in Christ and be involved in His work on an international level.

12 Pray for wisdom for ACCTS’ director Phil Exner and deputy director Bernhard Kaltenbach as they lead ACCTS in our work of leading people “out of darkness and into His wonderful light.” (1 Peter 2:9) Pray also for Sue Exner and Cheryl Kaltenbach in their ministries as ACCTS staff.

13 Praise God for the vice presidents who help lead AMCF’s (Association of Military Christian Fellowships) ministry, and pray that their relationships with ACCTS staff will continue to strengthen so that we can accomplish more for Christ by working together.

14 As Paraguay celebrates its Independence Day today, please join in prayer with military Christians in this nation as they seek God’s will for military ministry to their colleagues.

15 From 15-17 May military Christians in Ukraine will host a conference on the social aspects of a chaplaincy. Today, please pray for the Ukrainians who are planning and executing this event. Pray also for Richard Barnes and Bernhard Kaltenbach, who will participate.

16 Today, pray that participants at the Ukraine chaplaincy conference (see day 16) will be led by the Holy Spirit to consider ways for chaplains to support the spiritual needs of their troops.

17 Today is the final day of the Ukraine chaplaincy conference. Pray that all conference organizers, leaders, and participants will go forward in the Holy Spirit’s leading as they implement what they learned during this event.

18 Pray that ACCTS will be able to encourage ministry to international military students who are studying at key locations here.

19 Pray for a 20-22 May event for veterans, a Welcome Home initiative retreat. Pray that the retreat will bring God’s healing to veterans who participate.

20 Pray with military Christians in Cameroon as they serve their country while also living out their Christians lives among their colleagues, friends, and family.

21 Pray with Christians in Central Africa Republic who have experienced violence in recent months. Pray for their safety and that God will give them peace.

22 Syria is experiencing an increase in violence. Pray for this nation and that Christians in it - who are about ACCTS prayer reminder • May 2013

6% of the population - will stay strong in their faith and hope in Christ.

23 Ask for God’s wisdom for ACCTS’ board of directors as they guide ACCTS, and pray in particular for them as they help ACCTS deal with financial decisions to be made.

24 Today is Independence Day in the African country of Eritrea. Pray for military personnel and civilians in the nation as it continues to rebuild after many years of war. Peace remains a fragile thing here. Pray that Christians will lead the way in bringing their nation into a new, peaceful, and prosperous future.

25 There are a very small number of military and civilian Christians in Jordan - please pray for their wisdom and spiritual growth today.

26 The nearly 4 ½ million citizens of the nation of Georgia celebrate their First Republic (Independence) Day today. The nation broke away from the U.S.S.R. in 1991. Pray that ACCTS and AMCF contacts in this nation will strengthen and that God will build a strong group of military Christians to serve Him. 27 Memorial Day (U.S.) In the United States, today is a day to remember military personnel who have died, as well as family members who have passed away.

Please take time to give thanks for the military personnel who have served your country and pray for the armed forces of our world.

28 Praise God for the 175th anniversary of the British military ministry SASRA - the Soldiers’ and Airmen’s Scripture Readers Association (www.sasra.org.uk)which works closely with British chaplains. Pray for God’s continued blessings on their work for Him. 29 Pray for AMCF’s president, General Weerasooriya, his wife Dilhani, and all others who work in our partner organization, Association of Military Christian Fellowships (www.amcf-int.org).

30 Pray with staff members of Military Ministry International (www.m-m-i.org.uk) as they follow in Christ’s steps and lead international military personnel in that path.

31 Praise God and pray for Mission Support Organisation (http://mso.or.kr) as they share Christ, the shepherd and overseer of our souls (I Peter 2: 25), with international military personnel.