January 2012 News

A WEEK OF MINISTRY IN RECIFE
Jerry spent the first week of December in Recife in the Northeast
of Brasil ministering at several congregations.
1. Monthly couples meeting on Romance and the Stages of Marriage at the Boa Viagem church with 65 participants.
2. Relationship building workshop at the area wide men´s meeting where 46 church leaders participated in our DISC seminar. 15 different congregations were represented at the event held at the Boa Vista church.
3. Jerry preached and led the Bible class at the São Lourenço church on the Power of Forgiveness.
4. All day leadership workshop with the staff of the Boa Viagem church.
5. Area wide meeting for seasoned leadership couples on conflict styles in marriage at the Boa Vista church.
6. Interviews and counseling sessions with the house parents of the Lar Maná children´s home.
It was a very full week! But it was wonderful to work with the brothers and sisters in Recife again after several years of not being able to go there. The Lord is good!



Jerry teaching at the DISC seminar








Men at the DISC seminar

Couples meeting









With Daniel Palk who helped organize the events.















SABBATICAL

December 12 to March 12
We began our sabbatical on December 12 after Jerry returned from his trip to Recife. This past couple of years have been exhausting, but very fruitful! We felt God calling us to a time of rest and renewal. A time to reflect on where we are and where we are going with our ministry. A time to recover from the stress of a very active mission. We thank God for a sponsoring church who has supported us in this decision and for friends and supporters who are encouraging us. We have been on sabbatical for a little over a month as I write this. We have rested, exercised, gotten back to eating well, read books, and spent wonderful time in prayer and listening to God. Next week we will be traveling to the US for a retreat at Sonscape in Colorado. Sonscape retreats minister to church workers in need of rest and spiritual renewal. We are looking forward to having others minister to us! Please keep us in your prayers as we travel and as we seek His wisdom during this retreat.
















Workshop on Gestalt Therapy
Our first step into sabbatical was a weekend retreat to learn about and experience Gestalt Therapy. It was lead by a well known Brasilian therapist, Jorge Ponciano. Jerry got him to sign a couple of his books. We went with some very dear friends from the church in Campo Grande. It was a great way to start winding down and venture into a new arena of learning. It was held in a beautiful place in the interior of São Paulo state where we could feel close to God in His creation.

KRIS HOME FOR CHRISTMAS!

The best part of December was having Kristofer here for 3 weeks. We missed getting to have the whole family this year, but it was wonderful to see Kris and spend some time taking care of our boy/young man.
Kris is now in his last semester of teaching at Heritage International School in Kampala, Uganda. In June he will be returning to the US and looking for a job in Indiana so he can be close to his girlfriend (who is also a teacher at HIS).
Angela finished her masters in Modern Languages in December and is now teaching part-time high school Spanish, a Spanish class at the University of Texas at Arlington and also working on some translations for one of her professors.
Much love to everyone!! Thank you for your support and encouragement.

DECEMBER 2011 NEWS

YEAR END ACTIVITIES
















BIBLICAL COUNSELING CLASS AT SERCRIS
After our retreat with the Campo Grande leaders that we reported on last month, Jerry stayed in CG to teach a class on Biblical Counseling to the students. It was a 3 day, very intensive class, but one of the things he most loves to do!














MENTORING ENDS FOR 2011
Our last mentoring session for 2011 was a fun day of doing the DISC relationship workshop with our group. Since this is a group of church leaders from this region, half of the group were domineering, directive, hard-driving Ds. It was fun to watch them try to hash out who would take charge of their group! This is always an eye-opening experience for people that helps them understand who they are and how their personality affects others. It was a great way to end our year of growth together.















BRASILIA RELATIONSHIP WORKSHOP
We spent Thanksgiving week in Brasília conducting a relationship retreat with the team and leadership there. Bryan Gibbs went with us to work on strategy issues while we focused on relationships. It was an important time for healing conflicts, facing our failures and renewing our commitment to the lost in the city of Brasília.

Sculpting tends to bring out conflicts that need to be addressed.











Sharing this Brasilian version of Thanksgiving was a real treat!








SABBATICAL PLANS

Our Sabbatical has officially begun! We wanted to let you know how grateful we are for the responses of love and support we have received. We praise God for His care through your gracious words of encouragement and your financial gifts to aid us in our recovery. We plan to spend most of our sabbatical here at home where we do not have responsibilities but we do have good caring friends, access to physical exercise and the comfort of our own house. We will be attending two retreats to aid us in our renewal, one here in Brazil next weekend and another in the US (Sonscape) the end of January. We will be in the US for two weeks in order to attend this retreat and talk with some of our resource people. We have received almost all the money we need for this sabbatical. However, we are still lacking funds to do some needed therapy. If you would still like to contribute, send your funds to Prestoncrest Church of Christ, Attn. Teresa, 12700 Preston Rd, Suite 210, Dallas, TX 75230-1824. Make funds payable to Prestoncrest Church of Christ and earmark it Heiderich Sabbatical. All our love! Jerry and Gail

November 2011 News

SPIRITUAL RENEWAL RETREAT IN CAMPO GRANDE

THE GIRLS












THE GUYS













We had a wonderful 4-day retreat with 6 leadership couples of the Campo Grande congregation November 12-15. We started with the 24-hour couples “Vision Retreat” that we have done here in Itu. Then we spent some intense time in individual intimacy building with God and some awesome sharing time as a group. We also had time for relaxation and fun in a beautiful place lush with God´s creativity in nature. Here is some of the feedback we received about the retreat:
**We know that the Lord’s service is lonely and we often need psychological and spiritual assistance. But this worker is reluctant to seek help because he thinks he is “unbreakable” and “bullet proof”. Little does he know that Satan is at work laying traps that the most experienced of preachers can fall into. I hope these events will continue to aid us with the support we need.
**Thank you for providing unforgettable moments of internal and external peace. During this encounter requests for forgiveness were made and friendships restored.
**At a time when I most needed to be quiet and meditate on the words of the Lord this opportunity was given me. Wonderful to know that the Lord is God and He was directly providing these pleasant moments along with His wisdom and the beauty of His creation.
**I learned that I must act as a child and not as a servant. I can serve God out of gratitude for being treated as His child and not serve to try to win His love. I am not disposable to God. The retreat made me look at myself and helped me to take off my mask in all areas of my life, spiritual and marital.
**This event was innovative and restored my desire to serve. I was becoming very hardened and did not want to take part in anything. Thank you for great contributions to my life and my marriage.
**Thank you Lord for the gift of being here. The best event I have ever attended!
**This retreat met our physical, emotional and spiritual needs. New horizons of transformation impacted our lives as individuals, couples and a group. As couples it helped us to be intimate and open with each other. It was a time of intimate renewal with the Lord. I leave here refreshed not just for 24 hours or 360 days, but for life.
**I am taking home with me: spiritual restoration and renewal of my desire to serve. A deeper intimacy with my husband. Clear knowledge that I serve as a child of God. I am His daughter, not merely His servant!

COUPLE TIME














SOLITUDE















WORSHIP














RELAXATION

October 2011 News

CONTINENT CARE CONNECTION
For the past 4 years Continent of Great Cities has sponsored a spiritual renewal retreat-alternating years between men and women. This year Jerry attended-not as a worker but recipient of ministry, care and renewal. It was exactly what he needed and we will share with you next month some of the results of the transformational week there. For more than 15 years, beginning in Brasília, we have been leading and sponsoring spiritual formation-renewal retreats aimed principally at Brazilian leadership couples. The CGC retreat, in addition to being larger in scale and involving a bigger "ministry team" are helping to change the church culture and paradigm of what spiritual maturity means. Minister self-care and support is becoming main-stream in Brazil.
The 48 missionaries and the 15 caregivers who attended this year´s CCC in Atibaia, São Paulo




GLOBAL MISSION CONFERENCE
On October 16 we traveled to the US to participate in the Global Missions Conference in Fort Worth, Texas. We were invited to help teach three classes on Missionary Care. The first was on the “Therapists Role in Missionary Care”, the second on how “Seasoned and Ex-missionaries can help care for workers on the field” and the third was on how “Congregations can better plan for the care of their missionaries”. As you know, this is a subject that is dear to our hearts and a major part of our ministry here in Brazil. We pray that the sending churches will become more and more aware of the need to help their missionaries serve long term by caring for them physically, emotionally and spiritually during their time on the field and furloughs. We were encouraged to find many people becoming more interested in this vital aspect of missions.





























FAMILY NEWS
During our 17 day trip to the US we spoke at the GMC, visited with Angela and Joel, spent 3 days with Gail´s mom and her husband in St. Louis, met with our missions contacts at Prestoncrest and traveled quickly to Abilene and Midland to see friends and advisors.
One of the highlights of the trip was co-preaching with Gordon Dabbs at our supporting congregation (Prestoncrest in Dallas). Gordon was a missionary in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil and he and his wife Ila have been good friends and a great encouragement to us since they took the pulpit job at Prestoncrest.
We preached on forgiveness and took questions from the congregation by text-messaging. This is a subject that needs to be talked about more often. There were lots of good, hard questions to answer!


Sharing on forgiveness with Gordon Dabbs at Prestoncrest Church of Christ










Taking questions by text from the congregation.










PRAYER NEEDS:

1. As we go into the final stretch of 2011, we need prayers for stamina. It has been a very busy year and we have another month of travel to go before we recover and regroup during the holidays.
2. Please pray for our spiritual growth retreat in Campo Grande, Jerry´s class on Biblical Counseling at SerCris training school, our last Mentoring meeting of the year, a relationship building workshop with the Brasília leaders and evangelists, and Jerry´s trip to minister to several groups in Recife.
3. Angela, our daughter, is taking her finals for her master´s degree in Modern Languages and could use prayers for finishing well. This is the culmination of 3 years of studying and working. We are very proud of her!!
4. Kris is still teaching at Heritage Christian School in Kampala, Uganda. He will be coming home to spend a couple of weeks with us at Christmas. Please pray for his safe travel.

Thank you all for your love and care, for your generosity and your prayers. May our God grant you peace and hold you safe in His arms. We love you!!!

August-September 2011 News

FROM NITEROI TO NATAL

During the month of September we stopped at home for exactly 5 days. And not 5 in a row! We went from Niteroi to Brasília, to Palmas, to Aguas de São Pedro and then to Natal. In Niteroi and Natal we conducted Team Building retreats. These retreats begin with a questionnaire sent in by each team member before we even arrive. Upon arrival, we meet with each couple individually to talk about their personal, marital and ministry needs. The rest of the workshop is based on where the team is and what they are needing at the moment. This was our second retreat with the Niteroi Team and our first with the current Natal Team (we were there in 2003 with a different team). Our goal is always to help team members maintain their focus and sustain their mission by taking care of their personal spiritual needs, marriage strengthening, improving team functioning and helping them cast a vision and goals for the next year. It is a joy for us to work with these dedicated families who work so hard to spread the word of the Lord here in Brazil. Please keep them in your prayers.

Niteroi Mission Team: McGees, Nichols, Roberts and Zincks











Natal Leadership Group











Baptism in Natal











Team Sculpting












AND EVERYTHING IN BETWEEN

Elder Link Brasília

In 2011, 4 regional Pastoreai (Elderlink) events have or will occur in Belo Horizonte, Curitiba, Brasília and Recife, Brazil. We participated in the Brasilia version where Jerry taught several classes along with Bryan Gibbs and Tim Maynard and Chris Worsham from Park Plaza in Tulsa (they support one of the evangelists in Brasília)
It was a wonderful time of vision casting about developing Godly leaders for the church and the women who will lead at their side.






























Palmas

We traveled to Palmas, TO, where the next Continent of Great Cities team will be sent in 2012. With us were current members of the new team: Kátia Costa, Flávio and Fernanda França and Paulo and Renata Figueiredo. Also, Dale Brown from Golf Course Road, and Tim Maynard and Chris Worsham from Park Plaza came to consider investing in the mission. We met Arlindo and Susanna who currently work with a school of the Bible and a small church meeting in the city. We are considering two more couples to join this team before they go to the field. Please keep this project in your prayers.







































Couples Reteat in Itu

We spent a wonderful weekend with 48 couples at a retreat center in Aguas de Sâo Pedro for the annual marriage retreat hosted by the Itu church. We lead one of the discussion groups based on classes by F.H. Gates on the book Love and Respect. Five of the couples who attended are not associated with any church and we pray that they saw Jesus among us. It was a wonderful time of worship and renewal of our marriages highlighted by a special time of forgiveness between partners.

SPECIAL EDITION: What is FILA?

Family Institute of Latin America
Leadership Training and Mission Team Development

Jerry and Gail Heiderich
Directors

Jerry and Gail Heiderich have been taking the Gospel to Brazil for 31 years. Jerry has a Bachelor’s degree in History and Religion and 2 Master’s degrees from ACU: Missions, and Marriage and Family Therapy. Gail holds her Bachelor’s degree in Bible, and a Master’s degree in Clinical Psychology. They have been married for 35 years and have 2 children. Angela, a graduate of ACU, is married to Joel Garner. She teaches Spanish in a private school in Dallas while finishing a master’s degree in Languages, and is a member at Prestoncrest. Kris, also an ACU graduate, is returning to Kampala, Uganda to begin his second year teaching English, Drama and coaching basketball at a mission school. Jerry and Gail co-direct the Family Institute of Latin America, headquartered in Itu- a small city near São Paulo, Brazil.



The Heiderich’s ministry in Latin America has been divided into five phases, or stages. They were first sent to Brasilia as church planters. After several years they focused more on pastoral care of members and helping members mature and develop into leaders.

While still in Brasilia Jerry and Gail began to lead marriage and family seminars. From 1995-2005 they lead 85 seminars, throughout Brazil in which more than 1500 couples participated.

This overlapped with their third phase, which began in 1998; When the FAMILY INSTITUTE OF LATIN AMERICA (FILA) was founded. The focus on this ministry was leadership development and team conflict and crisis intervention. Jerry taught at all the 4 major preacher training centers and Jerry and Gail began to develop and host spiritual formation retreats and seminars. Since this chapter in our ministry began, more than 3,500 have attended at least one weeklong seminar, retreat or conference. After living in Brazil´s capital for 22 years we moved to a city with 3 million population in southern Brazil, Curitiba. During this chapter of the ministry we worked with Continent of Great Cities teams- often called in during stressful and conflictual situations.

After working with so many couples, families, mission teams, church staffs and leaderships in crisis situations, we decided we wanted to get to them earlier- in a more preventative and pro-active way, before relationships exploded. This fourth phase, as with the others, required re-tooling, which we obtained via seminars, research and interviewing experts in the field. We focus on key congregations, church leadership couples, and church planting mission teams to do on-going work, like regular check-ups with the doctors. Team and church leadership workshops usually are for three days; spiritual formation retreats are for 3-4 days.

Three years ago we moved to Itu- a small city about an hour away from the mega-city of São Paulo. Geographically it helps us with our travel-heavy schedule and hosting events for the dozens and dozens of leaders who work within driving distance of our home.

Our latest stage is a continuation of the fourth one- with an important caveat- we are focusing on training those who can replace us in each aspect of our ministries. We will also develop a training course for churches on “Church-Minister” relationships and specifically how churches can better care for their ministers, deacons and elders.
In the past 15 years we have worked, often multiple times, with more than 20 mission teams in Brazil and including the ones in Mexico City, Asuncion, and Santiago. At the same time we have worked with more than 30 churches and church staffs in Latin America, and also with Continent of Great Cities, La Mesa staff and elders, Prestoncrest staff, and the group Acappella in the US.

The FILA is a unique, continent-wide ministry dedicated to church planting and leadership care in Latin America. The key to Church growth is planting new congregations for spreading the Gospel and sustaining strong leadership for growing new churches. The mission of the FAMILY INSTITUTE OF LATIN AMERICA is to “TRAIN LEADERS AND FORM AND DEVELOP TEAMS”. Team development includes staff-deacon-elder relationships. The FILA has been at the forefront of many areas of ministry, introducing and innovating for the churches of Christ in Brazil.

1. Mentoring: FILA introduced the practice of mentoring to the churches in Brazil, specifically the need for ministers and leaders to have a support group and accountability to avoid the common error of neglecting their marriage, family, and even their personal relationship with God. In 2011 FILA is mentoring 15 influential couples from the region, one Saturday a month, in leadership development.

2. Spiritual Formation Retreats: We introduced a different type of retreat for American Missionaries and Brazilian leaders- retreats where spiritual disciplines were emphasized, a safe place to be authentic and be ministered to, and create on-going support groups for key leadership couples in each region of Brazil. Jerry and Gail participated in the first Renovaré (A spiritual formation organization) retreat in Brazil and will be utilizing the experience in it´s own retreats.

3. LeaderSource. Jerry spent three weeks in 2010 in an intensive course in Indiana that presented the most Biblical model of leadership development he has yet encountered. Since then FILA has sponsored 7 training events in which 200 leaders have been certified in this model. This model is more comprehensive in that it is not a strictly academic model, rather it involves dynamics and activities that prepare leaders for all areas of ministry: spiritual, experiential, interpersonal, and didactic.

4. Elderlink. FILA, along with Continent of Great Cities (CGC), brought the Elderlink team to Brazil. This was the first time they had given their seminar internationally. The seminar was designed to encourage and equip new elders and nourish those already serving. Thirty-five leadership couples from every corner of Brazil, including two from Santiago, Chile, participated. This year there will be five regional Elderlink meetings, with all Brazilian leadership.

5. Turn-Around Churches. That is the term for churches whose growth is either in decline or has stagnated for a significant time-period and who resolve to “turn things around”. FILA has partnered with CGC to work with those churches and specifically their leadership to evaluate and possibly recruit new ministers for those works. We are currently working with 4 churches in this on-going process.

6. Natural Church Development. This is a ministry that began in Brazil and has spread throughout the world. A questionnaire was developed after studying more than 1,000 churches in dozens of cultures and 8 qualities that growing churches have in common were discovered. FILA was the first to introduce this congregational evaluation to churches of Christ and it is a vital tool used for “Turn-Around churches”.

7. Acappella is more popular in Brazil and any other country. Two years ago the group decided to become “Musical Missionaries: Bring new people into the churches and help churches grow”. For the first time- they decided to perform in churches outside of the US- and Brazil was first. Keith Lancaster, the group´s founder, called on Jerry to serve as liaison and coordinator of the events. He accompanied the group and served as translator during the events. In 2009 three concerts were held and in 2010, seven, and more than 4,000 attended, nearly half of those visitors.

8. Family Life Ministries. The family life ministry in Curitiba was the first of its kind in churches of Christ. FILA has recruited a couple in ITU to partner with and train churches to establish like ministries in their local congregations. In 2010 FILA sponsored training for family life ministries with 13 couples from the region, one Saturday a month.

9. Missionary and Minister Screening: We are looking for those who are best suited to be full-time ministers, or church planters, or mission team members. Partnering with CGC, we have developed a screening process that involves psychological testing and interviews, phone interviews with current and past co-workers and which all culminates with Quest. This screening retreat has been adapted from the Christian churches- recently the fastest growing church in the US. This 4-day intensive event, for 5-7 screening couples, has been translated into Portuguese and adapted to Brazil. This is the best process currently available to prayerfully help those who wish to become part of a staff or mission team.

The FAMILY INSTITUTE OF LATIN AMERICA, in addition to generous support and sponsorship from the Prestoncrest family, counts on funding from more than 20 individuals and foundations and the following congregations:

Park Plaza, Tulsa OK
Central, Bloomington, IN
Richland Hills, Ft. Worth
Southern Hills, Abilene
La Mesa, CA
Continent of Great Cities, Dallas

NEW MISSION TEAM FOR PALMAS, TOCANTINS










In July we spent two weeks in Campo Grande. The first week was devoted to a team workshop with the new team we are helping to form and train in conjunction with Continent of Great Cities Ministry. This team has had many battles and changes along the way and we know the enemy has had a hand in some of it, but some of the changes have been blessings. We started with 4 couples and a single woman and are now planning to send 2 couples and a single. We also began forming this team to go to Goiania, Goias, but through many converging circumstances, we have felt the Lord leading us to a new capital city in the state of Tocantins. This team (pics above): Paulo and Renata Figueiredo and their children, Guilherme and Isabella, Flávio and Fernanda França and Kátia Costa are getting ready to move to the city of Palmas in January 2012. Our 5 day workshop involved team dynamics, processing and prayer about the changes on the team, and logistics and finances for the team. We ask for your prayers for this team as they prepare to carry the message of the cross to Palmas. We also ask you to pray for a third family to join them so that they may be a stronger force for the Lord in that city.


SERCRIS ANNUAL STUDENT REUNION







Our second week in Campo Grande was devoted to the annual SerCris student reunion. All ex and current students of the training school are invited for a 3 day renewal, retooling and reuniting retreat. This year Jerry taught on the LeaderSource material he has been developing through the SGA events we have hosted and the 3-week course he took last summer in Indiana. The course is about how to develop leaders in the image of Christ by employing methods which touch on the didactic, the relational, the experiential and the spiritual aspects of our formation. In the four pictures to the right you will see some of these aspects. Much work was done in groups to gain relational insight. We had a demonstration of learning by doing (experiential) where some of the men were taught how to put on make-up through explanation, demonstration, practice on themselves and then practice with supervision on another person. We also asked one couple to write all their hurts and resentments on some fruit and vegetables. They had to carry this sack of pain around with them for 2 days while reading scriptures several times a day on forgiveness. This relational, spiritual and experiential activity resulted in their learning quite a bit which they shared with the rest of the group at the end. All of the students left excited and transformed about using this method of disciple development in their own ministries throughout Brazil.


RENOVARE RETREAT



After our return from Campo Grande we spent a wonderful weekend of recovery at the first Renovaré retreat in Brazil. The Renovaré ministry is dedicated to helping ministers maintain their own personal spiritual growth and communion with the Lord. This is one of our main focus as we work with church leaders so not only was it good for us, but we also learned some wonderful new ways to help the ministers we minister to. The picture shows us with the speakers at this event: Lyle Smith and Mindy Caliguire who brought us inspiring lessons on the story of the prodigal son.


COSTA RICA




At the end of July, Gail and Angela took a mother/daughter trip to Costa Rica, something they had been saving for awhile to do. Angela is a Spanish teacher so we wanted to go somewhere where she could use her language skills. Costa Rica is a beautiful country full of volcanos and wildlife. They are very conscious of ecology and preservation of their natural resources and we were impressed with the pride the people have in their country. We went to the capital, San José, to visit the Arenal Volcano which is an active volcano, and to the Cloud Forest in the mountains.
At the left we are as close as they would let us get to the Arenal Volcano. We had a wonderful guide who filled us with information about volcanos and the country that Angela will be able to use in her classes.



After the volcano tour we spent some time in the nearby town of La Fortuna taking in the culture and shopping for souvenirs and then walked 7km back to our hotel.
To the right, we are riding in a boat across the Arenal Lake to our next stop in the Monteverde Cloud Forest. Behind our hotel here there was a forest with trails and lots of wildlife and plants to observe. I loved exploring that forest!



This is a picture of our day in the trees on the zip lines. This was the most exciting part of the trip! We did 14 lines including a Superman fly, a short rappel and the Tarzan Swing (see my facebook for videos!). I enjoyed so much getting to spend some time alone with Angela and being in such a beautiful place was a huge bonus!


NEWS

While Gail was enjoying God´s creation in Costa Rica, Jerry was in Brazil working, preparing for several trips and visiting the church in Vitoria where we are helping to revitalize the congregation together with Continent of Great Cities.
Please be praying for our workshops in Niteroi, Brasilia, Natal, and Campo Grande in the next several months. We will also be speaking at the Global Mission conference in Dallas in October. Please let us know if you would like to help us with expenses for that trip as we are needing some support for this.
Thanks to each one of you for your loving support and encouragement.
All our love! Jerry and Gail

June 2011 News

Kaiseres Ministry Team

Counterclockwise: Jerry, Carioca Marins, Mark Kaiser, Eric Peter, Barbara Alves, Alice Kaiser, Jackie Beth Shilcutt and (Chewie)





Mark and Alice Kaiser are at the forefront of several ministries here in Itu, most notably the ministry to youth and the ministry to chemical dependents and homeless men and women in our city.
They have a permanent team of three other young adults helping them with these ministries and they also have a constant stream of interns coming and going who want to help out with this exciting and important outreach.
Recently this ministry team asked us to help them improve their working relationship and learn how to deal with difficulties that arise in their busy, intense lives.
Our first meeting with them set the basis for further work with this team. We spent the afternoon taking the DISC assessment and working through the interactive dynamics we have developed to help teams understand each other and deal one on one with the interpersonal conflicts they often have because of their differences in personality, values, fears and priorities. It was a great first session and we plan to work with this ministry team more in the months to come.

JUNE EVENTS

Ministry Fair


We were able to share about our ministry at the annual ministry fair at church recently and show our brothers and sisters just what we are doing when we are traveling.

Counseling
The ministry fair opened up several opportunities to serve our local community through counseling and consulting on ministry issues.

Shilcutt Visit

We had a wonderful visit from Bryan and Tracy Shilcutt, long time supporters and friends. Their daughter Jackie Beth has been here this summer working with the Kaiseres. It was wonderful to have them in our home for a few days.

Brasília Weekend
Just two days after his return from Israel, Jerry and Bryan Gibbs made a 4 day trip to Brasilia to continue mentoring the mission team and coach the leadership on the work there. Topics included ministry and leadership development (including training for elders and deacons), evangelism strategies, and maintaining focus. They also encouraged each person in their own walk with God, their marriage, family and team relationships.













TRIP TO ISRAEL
Jerry received a wonderful gift from one of our supporters: A trip to Israel with an ACU tour group. Jerry was a part of a group of twelve men who were making this journey together. He spent 11 days exploring the world where Jesus lived and ministered.
The picture to the right has the temple dome in the background. Jerry is standing near the trail on which Jesus entered Jerusalem for the last time.
















He spent several hours reading and praying at the wailing wall, which he visited 3 times, and watching the celebration of sabbath among the worshipers there. Impressively, most of Israel basically stops from Friday night to Saturday sunset.
















He was able to compare the lush greenery around the Sea of Galilee, where Jesus did much of his ministry in the north of Israel to the extremely arid area surrounding the Dead Sea in the south. Jerry at the Dead Sea where one does not swim-- merely floats!

















The twelve men who accompanied Jerry on the trip. They debriefed together each evening.