June 2003 En-Gedi Newsletter

June, 2003

Shalom Friends!

Today is a stunningly beautiful early summer day here in Michigan. It would be nice if everyone who reads this had the same weather. Our emails go around the world, so we don't expect that. We wish we could visit every place our emails go.

We are ready, finally, to send out our next paper newsletter, which is an event for us because we do all the xeroxing, folding, labeling, etc, with our own hands. If you wonder why you don't get a lot of mail from us, that is why. As our list grows the effort grows with it! But we are sending out a neat little gift in it for everyone so that you will remember us as you study. Here are a few excerpts from the newsletter.

Water from the Rock - Daily Refreshment from En-Gedi

We are excited to tell you that we will be starting a new project - to provide some living water in the form of daily devotionals. We call the feature Water from the Rock. The title is a reminder of the living water of En-Gedi, the miracle at Mt. Sinai, and Christ, the ultimate source of living water. We will begin publishing this "daily drink of living water" on our website beginning on July 1, 2003. We hope that you will want to start every morning with a refreshing drink of mayim chaim! It will take the form of Hebraic / biblical image "nuggets" based on passages of scripture. We hope it will supply nourishment for your hot dry days so that you can bear much fruit!

Some of these devotionals will come from you, our friends, who will write about various passages of scripture and tell us what it has meant to understand the Bible in its land and time.

Jewish Dance Workshop

Many will be interested in trying out a different kind of cultural learning experience. The Turning Pointe School of Dance, a Christian ministry teaching liturgical dance, will be having three beginning Jewish Dance classes for ages 10 years and up. They will be from 6 - 7:15 PM, June 23, 30 and July 7 at the school at 437 136th St in Holland. Cost is $11 per class, or $28 for all three. Call Turning Pointe to sign up at (616) 394-7109. Call before the class fills. En-Gedi is not officially involved, but we will be there dancing!

Future Plans

Right now we are working on our 2003-2004 schedule and beginning some new projects. These are just a few of the things we plan to do in the next year, if the Lord allows:

Weekend Seminars - We are working with Cornerstone University to sponsor a weekend seminar with Dr. Marvin Wilson of Gordon College, author of Our Father Abraham:The Jewish Roots of the Christian Faith, a top-seller that inspired an award-winning PBS special. Other excellent seminar speakers are in the planning stages as well.

Publishing – In the past three years we have been writing many articles on the Bible in its context and making Powerpoint presentations and study materials for classes. We have amassed a significant amount of material that we would like to make available in the form of books, group studies, and pastor’s sermon kits. This will be one of our focuses this next year - to put things in print.

Classes – Next winter we are tentatively planning to teach another class for the large women's group study at Christ Memorial Church in Holland, MI. We also expect to lead another Using Computers in Ministry workshop to teach about pastors and others helpful skills for ministry, such as designing Powerpoint slides for sermons and other needed computer skills.

Radio - We have also been working with Cornerstone University to design a daily two minute radio program to air on WCSG 91.3 FM this fall that focuses on knowing the people of the Bible in their context, and applying it to our lives. It is expected to start airing in September.

For Pastors – We are working on another year of breakfast seminars for pastors right now. We will also be hosting a week-long seminar for leaders in ministry with Dwight Pryor, President of the Center for Judaic-Christian Studies on March 8 – 13, 2004. The title of the seminar is "Thru Messiah's Eyes". It will be a fresh look, from a Hebraic point of view, at core issues of our faith and practice as disciples of the Rabbi Jesus, and as servants to His body, the church. Two of the sessions will be led by Dr. Timothy Brown, Professor of Homiletics at Western Theological Seminary. This will be an outstanding week for those in leadership - please start praying about it now. We will have more information as it is available.

Report for 2002 - Activities Summary

· Sponsored 3 conferences with international speakers
· Hosted 7 breakfast seminars for 60+ area pastors
· Hosted 4 fellowship dinners with speakers for supporters
· Wrote approximately 75,000 words of commentary text
· Sent out 65 study articles by email to about 500 readers
· Sent out 3 newsletters by mail to about 800 readers
· Developed and taught a 12-week multimedia Bible class
· Gave 12 – 15 teaching presentations at area churches and schools
· Acted as consultants for area pastors, loaning teaching materials and researching questions
· Hosted a weekly Bible study
· Maintained and updated an extensive website

Short Term Needs

· $10,000 – for speakers & seminars for the 2002-2003 season (for honoraria, travel and facility rental)
· $15,000 – for developing published resources – books & teaching materials
· $2,500 – for additional recording equipment
· $10,000 – for computer and website upgrades
· $3,000 – for mailing expenses for next year

Summers are always challenging times for ministries that rely on donations, and right now we are in a very dry time financially. If you have been blessed by our ministry and want others to be blessed, now is a very good time to consider supporting En-Gedi in its unique ministry of pouring the living water of the scripture into our lives.

Many blessings and shabbat shalom --

Lois Tverberg, Director
Bruce Okkema, Executive Director