Leader training in Guatemala

Key Verse: He must increase, but I must decrease. John 3:30

God continues to grow us and mold us. So this is an appropriate verse to reflect on as I look back at the year 2008 and look to the new year ahead.

John the Baptist communicated the reality of this verse in his role as the preparer for Christ. He spoke to his leaders (disciples) and shared with them that he was simply the friend of the bridegroom. (John 3:29) What a great joy it is to stand in the wedding party as the best man and see your best friend take his bride. As a father who has given away his daughter in marriage, I can relate to that, a memory that gives me great joy in my heart.

This has definitely been a shaping year both personally and in the ministry of Awana International. We have come to rely more on Him and much less on ourselves. We have seen John 3:30 first hand in our travels to so many new places and in meeting so many wonderful servants of the Lord wherever we go.

This past year, Sandee and I have had the privilege of visiting places like Guatemala, Brazil, Thailand, India, China and Canada. We have seen firsthand all that God is doing through the Awana ministry and with the wonderful servants that He is working through! Thousands of leaders are being trained in children’s ministry.

They are going back to their own churches to train more leaders and then all of them are reaching out to children with the gospel. We have witnessed the impact on the lives of leaders when they are equipped with a solid foundation of God’s word. Wow, talk about an increase! Ten’s of thousands of leaders are being trained and equipped. So many children are hearing that Jesus died on the cross for them and there is an opportunity for the Holy Spirit in their lives to do His transforming work.

Back to John 3:30. This has been a year of great joy and of great challenges for Awana International and significant change, too. It has held the highest of highs and some very deep valleys. I have never been more personally challenged in my own Christ journey than in this past year. What an interesting dichotomy that God allows challenges in our lives and in our ministry to help us grow and to help us experience His rich love and blessing.

What has God been doing in your life, family and ministry this past year? Have you taken the time to reflect on what he is doing? I encourage you to do that and share it with me in the comments section, below. I would love to hear from you!

I have come to understand this: The mountain top experiences have come when I, just like John, have been willing to decrease, so that Christ may increase in my life. I know that I must lay down my desires and plans and completely grasp His plan and purpose for my life. That is obedience, and that is so easy to write about and so difficult to live out.

I thank the Lord for your patience and for the love you have extended to me as I have grown and served in this past year. Your grace and mercy and love are evident and overflowing. May God richly bless you as He carries out His plan for you in 2009!

Blessings,

Brian

It is a great privilege to send you Christmas greetings in the name of the Lord. It is exciting to know that as you read this, many of you will be celebrating Christmas in the tradition and style of your culture and country. For some of you, it will even be celebrated on a different day. On behalf of the staff here at the Awana International office, (and as you can see by the photo, we really get into the Christmas spirit here in the

Some of the AI staff in my office.

 office) we want to wish you a blessed celebration of Christmas with your family and ask that God will give you a special blessing and encourage your hearts during this season.

The greatest joy of this season is to know that we share a very important focus of this season regardless of our country or culture and that is the celebration of our Lord Jesus Christ and His birth as a baby in that Bethlehem manger. The story of Jesus, that begins with His birth into humanity as the Saviour of the world. This message is the heartbeat of our ministry to children and youth around the world. We never grow tired of hearing the wonderful story of the Saviour and the privilege of investing that message into others around the world.

Sandee and I want to share our personal Christmas wishes and blessings to each of you and we ask God’s richest blessings in your lives as you faithfully serve Him. We recognize that each one of us is on a spiritual journey desiring to grow closer to our Lord and Saviour each day. We pray that God will continue His mighty work through you and that He will be glorified through your lives each day.

We love and appreciate each one of you and pray that your Christmas celebrations will be special.

“Behold the Saviour is born!” Luke 2:11

Blessings, Brian and Sandee

 

 

 

September/October 2008

Dear Family and Friends,

We have just arrived home after four weeks, not “on the road” but in the air. We have been in Thailand, British Columbia, Brazil and Florida. In Thailand, we held area planning meetings for our South East Asia team. This was our first time to meet our Asian team and we were so blessed to get to know their hearts. In British Columbia, we met with donors, attended an Awana club and participated in Harvey and Lil Fehr’s fall leadership conference. What a great time we had doing workshops and ministering to children, teens and adults gathered on a Saturday for conference. 

We then headed for Brazil where we met for our annual Global Leadership Forum to discuss and plan how we would reach more children for Jesus Christ in the years ahead. And finally, we finished off our trip in Florida where we met with a few friends, donors and/or potential donors and then attended a mission conference. What a delight to have participated in all these activities and to have travelled the world to do so!

We have been so amazed at the true servants God has given us around the world. We are humbled at their never ending love for the Lord, their commitment to Him and to ministry and their passion for reaching children, no matter how overwhelming the task may seem!  

But one of our biggest challenges ahead is how to implement the Leader Based Strategy around the world! The exponential growth this is producing is staggering and we are so excited about the opportunities to reach hundreds of thousands of children.  But with that comes a pretty exhausting schedule for our field personnel. We are also finding right now many of our missionary wives to be ill with some pretty significant health issues which range from the loss of a child to fighting breast cancer and they would be so grateful to know you are praying for them. We are also very concerned over the political situations in many parts of the world and we ask that you pray for safety and protection for our missionaries and leaders in those respected countries. 

Sandee and I are going to stay closer to home the next few months and concentrate on our Partnership Development ministry. We will be making a few in country trips but no international travel. We look forward to seeing how God is going to provide financial support for not just ourselves, but our international missionary families as well. We just continue to look to Him and His provision as we carry out His work through the Awana ministry. (If you would like to pray for each of us about that as well, that would be great!)

November schedule:

18th Travel to Florida

19^th – 21^st Donor visits for Leader Based Strategy

22^nd Travel to Ft Myers to visit potential donors

23^rd Speak at a church in Ft Myers

24^th – Dec 1^st Holiday with family (Thanksgiving with my mom-as this is her first one w/o dad)

Thank you so much for your love, prayers and support! We treasure our relationship with you!

May the Lord continue to pour out His blessings upon you and yours and may He be the center of your lives as we move into the holiday season. He is and always will be the very source of our strength, the love of our life, and the hope of our future! Happy Thanksgiving!

Forever Grateful for His Love,

Brian and Sandee Rhodes
Awana International