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  A MESSAGE FROM OUR PRESIDENT

I've had to walk the talk.  I'm referring to our Mission Society policy established two years ago that requires all people, youth or adult, who are going on short term mission trips, and who are looking to the Mission Society for financial help, to undergo the preparatory training program provided by our Regional Volunteer Coordinator, Mark Ebert. I plan to go to Jamaica in July with a team from New Philadelphia who is going to work on rebuilding Camp Hope. It presumably is the site where the World Wide Unity Youth Mission conference will be held in 2005. My position on the Board of Directors could not be used as an excuse, and I am very glad that I participated.

   The training program, which lasts about six hours, was conducted at Friedberg Moravian for a group of 19 who are also going to Jamaica, but to the mountains to work with the poor. After an introductory time of getting acquainted and loose, we began an indepth study of some of the key issues surrounding any outreach endeavor. Each segment involved reading and study of the appropriate Scripture with a very interactive discussion. I was most impressed with the spiritual depth of many of the responses, particularly from the teenagers.

The topics dealt with: Focus on Prayer and Worship; Developing a Team Mission Statement; Leadership and Matching Gifts with Jobs; Cultural Issues and Customs; and Appropriate Behaviors. The second portion dealt with the practical concerns of: food, clothing, housing, bathing, money, I.D. papers, and medical considerations. One of the most important lessons was the need to take regular temperature checks of each other to detect physical or emotional signs that require attention. The emphasis was on individual and group accountability for this. Home- work was to study papers on the Barbados Agreement by the BWM and The Problems of Reentry.

   In past years we have sent out many who were not equipped to be effective witnesses for Jesus Christ. This, coupled with insensitivity to the needs of others and a belief that we could do something for people that they couldn't do for themselves, resulted in much seed falling on rocky ground or among the weeds.  I am so grateful for what Mark and the other Regional Volunteer Coordinators are doing to remedy this situation.

   It became very clear that under girding our trips with prayer, and with full reliance on the Holy Spirit, will enable us to turn the tide and bear much fruit.

Jack Geis

FROM THE UNITY NEWSLETTER

            We remind you to continue to pray for the Holy Land. A lot of killing is still going on. Pray for our work. Let us not forget Star Mountain in our hourly prayers.

            We have been receiving letters from many more countries in Africa calling our Moravian Church to go there. We have had a call from Zimbabwe for the last four years. This matter will be discussed again next year in our Africa Regional conference that will be held in Tabora, Tanzania.

            We have been receiving letters from Gambia, calling our Church to be there. Many other calls must be looked on critically. We need to pray for a wise decision. (See maps below.)

            Besides these two countries, there are also calls from Rwanda, Burundi, Uganda, Kenya and Mozambique.