What will CYIA look like this year?

This year, nine young people from Western Wisconsin will be training to reach kids with the Gospel. They'll be training with two team leaders, who have taught 5-day clubs for years and are now willing to share what they know with the younger teens. 

Here's a few things that these summer missionaries will learn this summer...

At the risk of being over-obvious...

They'll learn how to teach! And not just during the two-week training. One missionary said last year, “we were having difficulties teaching [at club] because of the large variety of ages and there were 36 kids. So we split the club, and it worked.” Another teen said she learned that God “can empower me to teach 25 kids just as well as 2.”

“I am excited to learn this year,” says another returning student from La Crosse, “and to review my lessons from last year.” She adds, “Watching those kids [last year] understand and accept the gift God has given was so cool.”

5-day club verses

This year, the club theme is Jesus the Lifesaver, aka Knowing Christ.

There's a new memory verse for each day, all of them about who Jesus says He is. They're known as the "I Am" verses from the book of John. :)

Monday: JOHN 10:11 "I am the good Shepherd. The Good Shepherd lays down His life for the sheep."

Tuesday: JOHN 6:35 "...I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will never go hungry and he who believes in Me will never be thirsty."

Knowing Christ in Quiet

“Do you know what a quiet time is?” the 5-day club teacher asked the kids. One spoke up with certainty; “when you're asleep.”
It was probably true, for this boy, that the only “quiet time” of day was when he slept. That was most certainly the only “quiet time” of day for his mother!

The disciples, ironically, might have given the same answer about quietude. Everywhere they traveled with Jesus, someone had a question or a problem for Him to solve. Many times, it was the disciples themselves who had questions. They were confused and sometimes frustrated by Jesus and His answers.

Some Good Reasons

  After you've done something once, the odds of you doing it again usually increase... even when you have a bad experience!

  My first year of Christian Youth in Action® (CYIA™) was not the best -- when people asked me, I said I doubted I'd be back for a second year. However, God had other plans. :)

  Some of our summer missionaries this year have questioned their own motives, and struggled to find God's voice in the tumult of everyday life. But from what I've heard them say, they all have excellent reasons for coming back this summer...

Faithfully

All educators must learn this. So must politicians, surgeons, parents, lovers, musicians, law enforcement officials, and students.

The thing we share, and all must master, is faithfulness.

To be faithful is to maintain your commitment to something or someone, whatever the circumstances or feelings you experience.

An educator has to be faithful to the people they teach, not filling their minds with useless knowledge, but guiding them into hard work and achievement.

A politician has to be faithful to their constituency's needs and desires and accurately meet them.

Surgeons and parents have similar jobs, as they remove the bad and strengthen the good. To make their work count, they have to follow through once they begin.

Lovers must learn to be faithful to each other to see their relationship grow, and musicians must practice their instrument in order to increase their ability with it.

Policemen and women have to uphold the law the same every time, no matter how painful.

Students (such as myself) have to consistently work at their studies to pass classes and graduate.

Despite the overwhelming need for faithfulness in our world, I have to admit that I am not very good at it. I am   inconsistent; I avoid challenges; I don't do things when "I don't feel like it."

But the last few weeks God has challenged me to remain faithful to Him and to the ministry to which He has called me. I have made a commitment. Now all that remains to be seen is, will I be faithful to it?