CEF
Layer upon layer …
Just some of the layers for one of the Bible maps
Lately I’ve been working on the Good News Club® resource pack for the flashcard lesson Patriarchs. It’s been fun and challenging at the same time. Fun in that I get to work with Adobe Illustrator creating (or re-doing) maps for the lessons. I love cartography and geography. Give me a beautiful topographical map of the most mundane location (ok, except perhaps some places in the Midwest that are flat, flat, flat!) and I’ll be your friend for life. It’s interesting reading the Word of God from a geographical standpoint, and researching the locations of events that shaped history just makes me want to read more. What’s amazing is that after being in ministry such a long time, CEF® (that I know of) has no comprehensive set of maps of the Bible available. In working to create these resource packs for teachers, I realize how important it is to make maps that are easily readable, as well as translatable. Therefore I’m using lots of layers. I mean lots. The image to the side shows just some of the layers. Towns, rivers, mountains, regions, bodies of water. There is a color and black and white version for each item, plus a geographical layer showing the lay of the land. I’m also working ahead, working on places that will be in the Life of Christ 3 & 4 lessons, as well as lessons on Moses, Paul, Joseph, Joshua and Judges. Using Adobe InDesign, I can turn each layer on and off as needed. By creating three main maps–Israel, greater Israel and the entire Arabian/Mediterranian area, I don’t have to re-create the wheel each time.
That’s the fun part. The hard part is doing the research. One difficulty lies in the place names. Did you realize there are two Bethanys mentioned in Jesus’ time? There was also a lake above the Sea of Galilee that doesn’t exist anymore. Google Earth helps to a point, but even cities migrate over the years. When a city or town was destroyed it might have been rebuilt on top of the rubble, or it might have been rebuilt beside the rubble. This answered an apparent contradiction. In Matthew 20, Jesus and his disciples were leaving Jericho when the blind man, Bartimaeus, called out to them. In Mark 10, it says they were entering Jericho. In fact, Jesus was most likely leaving the old ruins and entering the newer, rebuilt Jericho.
Another difficulty I have is visualizing concepts, especially Bible verse visuals and central truths. Hebrews 10:23 says “ … He who promised is faithful.” The image of the rainbow immediately comes to mind, but has already been used twice in the lesson. Growing up, I remember tying a string to our finger to as a reminder to keep a promise. In the Ukraine, that is a way to protect oneself from evil, a pagan practice. We certainly don’t want to encourage children to do something like that!
I’d appreciate your prayers as these packs are a constant struggle. Please pray specifically for wisdom, creativity and accuracy in visualizing the many Biblical truths that will be taught to the children!
-Brent
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Better late …
Being a world-class procrastinator, I often look at hautle.org with shame as it should be updated much more often. Sorry folks! A few weeks ago, Kilchzimmer hosted the Child Evangelism Fellowship® European Multimedia Summit. (What a mouthful!) The days were packed full of training and equipping. Writers, translators, artists and desktop publishers all came away enriched at what Judy Couchman had to share. Using lighthearted teaching as well as concrete examples, Judy shared from her vast experiences in publishing and writing.
Before the Summit however, was a day-long training session for those involved in layout. Taught by Tim Shirey and myself, we covered time-saving features of design software rather than just simple how-tos. At the end, Pekka from Finland, explained how much he appreciated all he learned: “I wish you could have come to my former printing company and taught everyone in the layout department these tips. It would have saved us many hours!” Now we can save CEF workers hours of layout time. We thank God for this opportunity.
Tilt your chin a little more …
Amy and Ashley making modeling look eas
The weather was perfect. Sunshine to warm the colors. A slight breeze to show some movement. Amy and Ashley to pose for a photo. Daddy was there, too, reflecting the light onto the dark side of their faces, and Mommy snapped a few photos to capture the action behind the action. All in a days work for our resident photographer, Tim Shirey, who took a number of photos to get just the right one. And then we got it. The new photo for the updated brochure How is CEF® Reaching Europe’s Children? It was a fun brochure to put together, especially trying new things in InDesign to make it easier to make changes. However, we were lacking that one perfect image to bring readers inside. That’s when I asked Tim if we could stage the photo. As always, he was up to the challenge, and took a situation that I would have thought was “non-photographable” and did a miracle with it. So what is the purpose of the brochure? Simple: to tell others how God is using Child Evangelism Fellowship® in Europe. We use tools like this brochure to encourage those who currently give finances and prayers, and let them know their resources are being used wisely. It also helps those who might be interested in supporting the work to see how CEF is reaching children. There are so many needs CEF has in Europe right now. Workers who need support. Vehicles that need purchased, national offices that need paid for. Children that need reached. We’re thankful for the opportunity to share these things, and are equally happy our little girl was happy to help.
Hearing … and understanding
During this week’s Multimedia Summit, I’m in charge of one of the four prayer groups that meet daily to pray for different regions in Europe. It’s a blessing to hear all the different languages in our prayer group. Czech, German, Hungarian and English prayers are offered up to the Lord. I’m always blessed that even though I don’t understand what is being said, the Lord understands. Thank you Lord, for your ability to understand all our prayers, all at the same time. You are truly great.
Blessings,
-Brent
Starting the climb …
Monday will see the start of the CEF European Multimedia Summit. It’s not quite the G8 Summit, but the impact has much farther-reaching implications. We’ll see more than 30 people gather at Kilchzimmer from across Europe and from the US for a week of seminars, how-tos and refresher material, as well as insights from Judy Couchman, who is an author, speaker, and art history instructor. She’s published more than 40 books, workbooks, and compilations.
Before the Summit begins, I’ll kick off a half-day session for workers who are involved in layout. We’ll be covering the Adobe Creative Suite, and my goal isn’t so much learning tricks to “do” things, but instructing how to do things faster. (For those interested, we’ll be looking specifically at style sheets, next styles, nested styles, anchored objects, styles within anchored objects, smart objects in Photoshop, Illustrator, Bridge, and much more). I’ll be handling the InDesign and Illustrator portions, and Tim Shirey will cover the Photoshop and Bridge portions.
I’d appreciate your prayers this week, specifically for wisdom and direction during this half-day seminar, as well as for Jen and the children, as we won’t be seeing much of each other this week.
Blessings!
-Brent
Back in the saddle …
It’s nice to be back to work after several weeks off. Actually, I’ve been back to work for a while now, but having been off for 2+ weeks with pneumonia has had quite an effect of the projects I was working on. We would really appreciate your prayers, especially with several deadlines looming.
The first project is the Multimedia Guidelines which have been written and updated by several in our department. These guidelines, which are for CEF workers in Europe who work with literature and multimedia, cover a wide range of topics, such as writing a Bible lesson for children, obtaining permission for translation, layout and prepress guidelines, FTP server usage and much more. I’m working on laying out the guidelines, and since it’s written by several people, with multiple styles, it’s sometimes like a jigsaw puzzle trying to fit the pieces together.
The guidelines need to be finished before the CEF European Multimedia Summit, which starts on April 5. There is a day-long workshop for workers involved in layout, however, on April 4. There’s a lot of preparation that needs to happen for that as well as a lot of research. More than a dozen attendees have signed up for the workshop, with more coming to the Summit itself.
The Kilchzimmer Echo is also due by the end of the month. It’s gone through quite a few changes in the past three years, with a few more this edition.
The Patriarchs Good News Club® Resource Pack is another item with a quick turnaround. With nearly 50 different pages of worksheets, maps, illustrations, Bible verses, central truth strips, role-plays and more, it’s always a time-consuming project.
Finally, a multimedia presentation for a supporting church is currently underway, which always takes planning and a lot of time. Please pray especially for this project, that it would be exciting and informative. On Friday, my co-worker Tim was able to take several photos for the project, which I used for this post. Thanks Tim!
Jen’s new job
Jen working on the GNC resource packs
A few months ago, Jen made the comment that she wished she could help more in the ministry. She already has her hands full taking care of the children and the house, as well as diligently writing our thank you notes.
I hadn’t put much thought into her words until a Skype conference call with the Multimedia department. Andrea Weir, who has been helping us for the past two years, has been instrumental in preparing the packs for me, getting them ready for layout, proofreading and trying the activities to see if they work well. Since she will be heading back to the Isle of Man this spring, we realized someone needed to step into her place. My thoughts immediately went to Jen’s words.
Jen really enjoys this kind of work. She jumps in enthusiastically when given a task like this. Our supervisor, Bogdan, was elated when I suggested Jen try this out. A bit reluctantly, Jen said yes. After meeting with Andrea to get a feel for it, she started and has done a great job. It’s daunting, and there’s a lot to learn, but her work on the lesson Moses: Chosen Deliverer has been excellent.
Please keep Jen in your prayers as she still has a lot to learn about putting the materials together. There’s a lot of writing, planning, experimenting and brainstorming.
Armenia loses a friend
Ivan with several boys at a Bible club outside of Yerevan.
Back in 2007 when I stayed in Armenia for nearly two weeks, I stayed with the Pambakian family. I was saddened to learn today that Ivan Pambakian went to be with the Lord unexpectedly. His quick wit and humor made for some incredible laughs. His knowledge of the Word of God was incredible, and he loved teaching anyone who would listen. He was a father and grandfather figure to many, and during the Bible clubs his ministry held with CEF® the children seemed to gravitate to him. He warmth and smile brightened the room on an otherwise gloomy day.
Exiled from the Soviet Union from his native Armenia, he settled in England with his wife, Sonja. His younger daughter, Ruth, befriended Samantha Beck and led her to the Lord. Sam now works with us at Kilchzimmer. After the fall of communism, Ivan and Sonja went back to Armenia and started a mission, giving physical and spiritual aid to anyone in need.
We are sad he’s gone, but we rejoice that he is alive in Christ and is with our heavenly Father!
Please pray for Sonja, Ruth, Perouz and the rest of the family during their time of loss.
A time to pray
We often pray by name for all of our supporters at home. It’s important to us as a family to lift them up to God’s throne. It’s the very least we can do for all of those who work so hard for thier money, then sacrificially support our ministry. It’s humbling, invigorating and encouraging, all at the same time. This morning we celebrated a special prayer time at Kilchzimmer – praying for all of you who give to our ministry and everyone else’s supporters. One special thought that ran through my mind was how many families support us – mother, father and children! Talk about being blessed! We are truly grateful for all of you who give, and want you to know we pray for you!
New wheels
Outside of Kilchzimmer with our new Opel Meriva
We are so thankful for our new vehicle! The Lord blessed us with a 2009 Opel Meriva, which fits our needs perfectly. We are also so grateful that God kept our older car running for so long.
Although it’s 45 minutes away, we’ve continued going to Garage Alouettes ever since we puchased the Astra there in 2003. Owned by a family of believers in Christ, they have been a tremendous blessing to us, giving us a major discount on all work done. We decided we wanted to get our next vehicle through them and when we approached them about a newer vehicle they not only went out of their way to find the right one, they also didn’t make any money on it. Would you please praise God for Garage Alouettes and pray that God would richly bless them?