Missions
CBM Calling is a live broadcast that keeps you connected to missions we support, and to the world.
Tim and Kallie Hutton
Get on their email list by writing to: Tim and Kallie Hutton thutton@cbmin.org or Khutton@cbmin.org
Hi Pincher Creek Friends,
Greetings from Bolivia! As 2020 draws to a close, we thought we’d send a video update for your church. You can find it using this link: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1o2V0cotRb0fMi23Ie7aPeylSEhil-th2/view?usp=sharing
A previous letter to our church to give an update during their time in Bolivia during the Covid-19 pandemic:
Yes, Tim and I are still in Cochabamba. Quarantine measures here sound very similar to what you described they are in Colombia. Go to our blog below where we explain it in a bit more detail. The quarantine was already extended to the end of the month and we are expecting the president to address the nation soon to announce whether it will continue into May. I feel it is likely since cases continue to rise. In the country, there are just over 800 cases in Bolivia, with about 70 in Cochabamba.
You can be praying for some emergency relief initiatives we’re doing. We are working with a network of about 90 churches across the country. They have each identified the most vulnerable families in their communities and are mobilizing to purchase and deliver groceries for them. It is a big initiative that has required a lot of creative solutions to working within all of the government restrictions!
CBM has been doing live interviews each day on Facebook (Canadian Baptist Ministries page) and I’ll be interviewed this Monday about violence against women during the covid-19 crisis. Also, on Sunday, May 3rd at 4:00EST, on Facebook live they are doing a “Solidarity Sunday” where different CBM fields share what is happening. Tim and I are giving an update on the situation in Bolivia. Perhaps you can announce that as well!
Thank you for keeping us in your prayers, as you are in ours,
Kallie
Tim and Kallie Church Update Video
Helen Blackburn
Helen's 2020 Bolivia update
Helen started serving the Lord in Southern Bolivia
in 2011. She works with the El Candelero Foundation –
The Candlestick – a Support Centre which shines the
light of Jesus to youth and families in Tarija, Bolivia.
Helen works directly with the El Candelero Kids in a
rural area outside of Tarija.
The El Candelero Boys Home was established to provide hope and physical, emotional and spiritual help for boys who have been abandoned or have had to leave home because of high risk and severe poverty. The boys receive healthy food, healthy fun, a safe place to live, help with homework and through Bible lessons they are taught about Jesus and encouraged to accept the Lord and live for Him. The boys also learn English and basic life and work skills while working with Helen around her rural home and garden.
In 2018, Helen coordinated a Summer English Institute with professionals from Canada coming to Tarija for 2 weeks to teach English through their testimonies and their love for Jesus.
After many years of full time Mission Work, Helen has moved to a half-year involvement in Bolivia with a half-year plus 1 day in Canada in order to fulfill Alberta Health Care requirements.
Helen also reaches out by teaching English in the city of Tarija.
Helen’s Prayer Requests are:
-
For her to be able to continue to share her life and love for Christ in a loving and practical way in Bolivia
-
Wisdom as she works with the boys and mentors the Dorm Parents and staff at El Candelero Boys Home
-
That they would indeed be a Candlestick shining the Light of the World – Jesus Christ – to the Bolivian people.
You can reach Helen at blackhrb@gmail.com
Mill Creek Baptist Camp
Established in 1967, Mill Creek Baptist Camp is located approximately 30 minutes from Pincher Creek in the foothills of the beautiful Rockies. Mill Creek Camp is led by wonderful staff that come from many Baptist affiliated churches in Southern Alberta as well as from Christian communities all over the world including Australia, New Zealand, Germany, France, Mexico and Hungary.
Our Mission:
Mill Creek Baptist Camp is a Christ-centered organization dedicated to providing a safe and positive camping environment for individuals of all ages to encounter and engage with God’s presence in their lives.
Our Vision:
Welcomed to Belong. Invited to Believe. Challenged to Become.
Each of these three values is critically important and interdependent in Mill Creek Baptist Camp’s Vision of balanced ministry in partnership with the Canadian Baptists of Western Canada and our supporting churches. We follow this framework as a way to evaluate faith formation as we equip people to follow Jesus in whatever culture or context they find themselves. Belonging means being welcomed and accepted no matter where an individual is at in their spiritual journey. We believe that we are transformed by the Gospel of Jesus Christ and that through Jesus we have been forgiven and reconciled to God. This reconciliation prompts us to invite others to make the conscious decision to believe. The challenge to become is a call to take action in developing Christ-like Character through a process of discipleship.
Our Principles:
We exist to…
-
Provide a safe fun and uplifting camping experience that is in constant pursuit of best practice while proclaiming the redemptive love of God.
-
Provide an avenue of outreach to invite individuals to faith in Christ.
-
Encourage and nurture individuals as they step into active participation in the Kingdom of Christ.
-
Provide opportunities for service, mentorship and Biblical discipleship.
-
Provide a facility that can be used by other ministries and organizations to experience the love of Christ through the unique setting of camp.
Your Part:
-
Pray for Mill Creek Baptist Camp.
-
Have a look at the Mill Creek Camp Website for more information.
-
Come out to Mill Creek Camp to see it and meet us.
-
Consider volunteering at Mill Creek Camp.
-
Consider Sponsorship of a camper who may otherwise not have a chance to experience what Mill Creek Baptist Camp has to offer.
Bill and Janice Dyck
Get on their email list by writing to: Bill and Janice Dyck bdyck@cbmin.org, jdyck@cbmin.org
We started in Bolivia in June of 2017, so we have been here almost 2 years. We are in Cochabamba—very central, where our denominational offices are, where the seminary is. It is not too high (about 8000 feet) and with a climate described as eternal Spring.
What our ministry entails:
In general we support all of the ministries of CBM in Bolivia. So, where possible, we support SENT (Short-term teams), The Casa de la Amistad (ministry to prison children), The Chagas Project (repairing homes to prevent Chagas disease), the Seminary. All of us (Tim and Kallie Hutton, Patricia Nacho, and ourselves) support these CBM projects. But we do have our areas of focus and specialized areas that each of us is involved in.
For Janice, her specialized ministry is teaching music to children at the Emmanuel Foundation, a ministry to children of prostitutes. She teaches three classes per week, in addition to personal discipleship time with the Director of the Foundation. Janice is really getting attached to the children she works with. There would be few children with greater needs than the ones she is working with. Giving them the gift of music is a huge confidence builder for them.
I, Bill, am focusing mostly on a ministry called Pastoring of Pastors. It involves setting up support groups/accountability groups for pastors. The denomination here has about 250 pastors. Going it alone leads to many problems for pastors. In the support groups they are held accountable, get mutual professional counsel, and prayer ministry. In the past year we have set up base groups in 6 cities. Each group has received training. Last November 34 pastors attended our first national retreat, to celebrate and receive further training. Last week we held our first planning meeting of leaders and co-leaders from these cities. We planned 30 follow-up training events. Planned for growth in the coming year (adding another 4 groups). We are planning another national retreat in July, which will include participants from a fellow evangelical denomination. We are planning for 120 pastors to attend. I will also be doing workshops at our national assembly meetings to promote the movement. We would ideally like to see all 250 pastors in accountability groups. We believe that healthy pastors will lead to healthy churches who will in turn impact and transform their communities.
I also sit on the Seminary Board, preach in chapels, guest preach at churches and special events, etc.
How you can pray for us?
-
I, Bill, have about 10 training events and retreats to plan for before we leave on home assignment in early September. Please pray that I will continue to get the help needed see the Pastoring of Pastors movement grow. I was so glad to hear one of my team leaders volunteer to do a training event in October, in my absence. It means they’ll continue even if I’m not here.
-
Pray for Janice, who is bravely venturing out and doing more things in Spanish. In addition to working with the children, she is also taking part in the group of pastors that meets weekly at our house. She is getting more involved with the women pastors and with pastor’s wives.
-
Pray for us as we prepare for the upcoming home assignment which will be September to December 2019. It will be so nice to reconnect with our children and family, but it will also be a busy time of visiting supporters.