Ministry Archives - The Mom Maven

Flying Out of the Nest

cindy — Thu, 15 Aug 2013 17:00:41 +0000

Way back in February I introduced you to The 99, a national touring ministry that was making a stop in my area. While they were in Bradenton, all 5 of us became very involved in the ministry with each of us giving upwards of 100 hours of our time. We became connected to the message, the method and the ministry of The 99 and even more so, the people. The directors and inters that run this ministry are an amazing group of people. We fell in love with them so much, that when they left Bradenton and headed to Tampa we traveled up there to volunteer all 4 weekends they ministered in Tampa.

The bulk of the work for this ministry is done by the 200 local volunteers which come from churches in the area where they are ministering. The direction and organization is done mostly by a group of unpaid interns, young people ages 18-29 who have been called as Missionaries to the Youth of America by God. These young people raise their own financial support to pay for their basic expenses, they leave their lives behind for at least one year. They only go home for Thanksgiving-New Years. They are on the front lines ministering to youth and young adults, sharing the love of The Creator with His creation.

Today, my baby, my 18 yo son, Jordan headed out on the adventure of a lifetime. He is the newest intern with The 99! As a mom it was sooo hard saying goodbye at the airport this morning. I have cried barrels of tears, I will miss him terribly. I am also so proud of the young man of God he has become. He heard God calling him loud and clear and he answered the call, “Here I am, send me.”

Smiling through my tears

Our church, friends and family have bound together to support him with prayers and finances and for that we couldn’t be more grateful. I am delighted that he is going to minister with a group of young people that we all call friends. He will get to experience all sorts of new things as he travels the country. He will be living in host homes, meeting new people, visiting churches, site-seeing and sharing the truth that in Jesus is where freedom is found.

Today he is flying to Minneapolis, MN. The tent will be set up at 16655 Kenyan Ave, Lakeville, MN 55046 and the production nights are August 30th – September 22nd-Open every Friday-Sunday, 7pm-11pm. If you are in the area and want to volunteer you can message The 99 through their website or Facebook page for more information and the location of the volunteers training meetings. If you do stop by, find Jordan and give him a hug for me!

If you’d like to keep up with Jordan’s travels, he is sending out a monthly newsletter. You can subscribe in the box below.

Please keep Jordan and the team in your prayers!

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Compassion Blog Month Coming to a Close

cindy — Fri, 28 Sep 2012 11:13:57 +0000

Compassion Blog Month is almost over!! as of 9/27/12 2,574 children had been sponsored this month! That means there were 534 left to reach the goal for the month. We can do this!

Earlier this week we were finally able to have our family meeting about choosing our Compassion child. We decided on 3 criteria as a family-location, gender and age. The location we chose was the Dominican Republic. We chose the DR because both my oldest son and I have been on mission trips to the DR and we have a connection to the country. We chose to sponsor a boy because we have two boys. We chose to sponsor a teenager because both of my boys are teens and I have read a lot about how the teens are harder to find sponsors for.

Aderlin Hernandez Ozuna-Our Compassion Child

Thursday I went to the Compassion Sponsorship website put in our parameters and 4 young men’s pictures and information popped up. I prayed as I read about each one, wishing I could sponsor them all. In the end I felt led to choose 17yo Aderlin. Aderlin’s birthday is next month and we are excited to begin corresponding with him!

This week’s blogging assignment is to write a letter, poem, or prayer from the perspective of a sponsored child. I chose to write a haiku.

Chosen

God answered my prayer
A Christian family chose
To love and help me

I hope and pray that you will click the link above and prayerfully choose a child to sponsor and join us in helping children who live in poverty.

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Compassion International Pinterest Contest

cindy — Tue, 18 Sep 2012 18:09:06 +0000

We are smack dab in the middle of Compassion Bloggers month, where our goal is to have 3,108 children sponsored this month. So far 1,515 children in poverty have been sponsored this month! Let’s press on so 1,593 more children can be released from poverty. We can do this!

This week Compassion is sponsoring a Pinterest Contest! There are 2 ways you can enter so read carefully.

1. Create a Pinterest board titled “My Sponsored Child.”

On the board you create…

a) Pin the above image to your “My Sponsored Child” board and associate the following link with the pin: compassion.com/my-sponsored-child.
b) Pin any one of the following and tag this second pin with #mysponsoredchild.

A photo of you and your sponsored child together.
A photo of you with a letter from your sponsored child.
A photo of you holding a photo of your sponsored child.
Pin anything else you want that is relevant to your sponsored child or Compassion.

Once you have created your board, share the URL with us, along with your contact information, using the form on this page.

You will receive one contest entry for every repin your “Pin It for My Sponsored Child” pin receives.

2. You can also enter the contest by sponsoring a child via compassion.com/my-sponsored-child during the contest period. You will receive 30 contest entries for each child you sponsor.

All winners will be chosen randomly. Ten separate sponsors will win a $25 gift for their sponsored child. Five separate sponsors will win a $100 gift for their sponsored child’s family.

The contest runs from Sept. 17 to 23, 2012. Courtesy of Compassion International: http://blog.compassion.com/my-sponsored-child-pinterest-contest/#ixzz26poXzv00

We will be sponsoring our child this week! I hope you will be too. I’d love to help you gain entries by repinning your pins so please leave your board’s URL in the comments so I can help you help kids.

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A Letter to God-Compassion Bloggers

cindy — Thu, 13 Sep 2012 13:16:17 +0000

Dear God,
Writing a letter to you on my blog is not how we normally communicate but, since that is my assignment from Compassion International, that is what I will do.

Lord, we have spent a lot of time together this week. As I have prayed for Sierra, Katelyn, Garrett, Alex, Aaron, Brandon and Tiffany, their families, and our entire church as we walk through this difficult trial, you have been faithful. You are always faithful, You never leave us. It is us who move away from you. Lord, as I lift up “my kids” after this accident I also think about the fact that they are Your kids and You love them even more than we do, which is a concept I sometimes have a hard time grasping. As each of these 7 are precious to you, so are the millions of kids around the world who have never heard about You. Kids living in poverty who need food, clothing, education and a relationship with you.

Lord, I’m amazed at your infinite love and mercy. Lord, as we as a family choose which child to sponsor, I pray for your direction and guidance. You have a specific child set aside for us and we want to make that connection.

Photo courtesy of Compassion International

I am grateful for the 837 children who were sponsored last week! Please bless every family who took this step of faith. There are 2,271 children left to reach the goal for Compassion Blogger Month. Please stir hearts, as you have stirred mine and send people to the Sponsor a Child page so they too can touch a life.

Thank you for the opportunity to share Your Message and the message of Compassion International.

-Cindy

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Creation Inspirations-Book Review

cindy — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 00:44:00 +0000

A few months ago I was asked by an author if I would preview a children’s devotional and, if I felt led, to write a “blurb” for the cover. Well to say I was honored is an understatement. When the manuscript arrived I went right to work and I was impressed with the book and I submitted the “blurb”. I am happy to say that my autographed copy of that published book is now in my hands and it is even better now that it has all of the illustrations and photographs in it!

Creation Inspirations by Cheryl Pickett is a children’s devotional book that gives you a new view of the world around you. Each section of the book is based on a different animal everything from the arctic fox to a prairie dog to a wood duck. First she teaches the children about the animal-where it lives what it eats and what they are like. Next is the “new view” where by utilizing the animal’s God-given behaviors and tendencies she teaches a Biblical character lesson complete with verses to copy and/or memorize. The last part of each section is an activity based on the animal.

This book is geared towards 6-10 year olds and would make a great addition to any church or family’s library. It is perfect for family or homeschool devotions as it can be used for 25 weeks of activities. You could use it for an entire school year’s worth of devotions if you add in some Thanksgiving, Christmas and Easter devotions to round out the year. Creation Inspirations is an affordable curriculum too, at only $12.99 + shipping and handling this is a book that every family with young children can use to learn more about God and His amazing creations.