Grace United Methodist Church

Joe, at this writing, is in the midst of a 6 day trip to Africa, November 28 through December 12. He trains and encourages leaders in the four countries of the Democratic Republic of Congo, Congo Brazzaville, Burkina Faso and Cote d’Ivoire.

(Rather than win souls for Christ "one on one", his group's mission is transform whole communities by "Discipling for Development". In Africa where so many poor live, Joe blends community development with discipleship to expand God's Kingdom among poor and unreached people groups. He and his staff teach the people how to teach others, thereby multiplying ministry over and over. The result is an advancement in health, agriculture, and water resources as well as building relationships for the glory of God. He says we do this because God in His Word said; "The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me, because the Lord has anointed me to preach good news to the poor..." Jesus, of course, knew that the poor must not be left out. He went to them and so do we.)

December 2009

"MGU" in Moscow is the Harvard University of Russia. It resonates with prestige and influence. The Ginn's write of a seminar that Dave taught in November titled "Emotional Intelligence". One of the things that he appreciates most about leading seminars on "EQ" is the tremendous privilege of spending 16 hours with non-Christian students in just two days. Those hours are chocked full of significant conversations and deep insights. By the end of those two days something amazing happens.

One student said, "My life is now different, I have experienced transformation." He is from Kazakstan and a Muslim background and he probably would have been hesitant to discuss the life of Jesus Christ in most situations. However, during his mentoring appointment he was very open and he heard the Gospel.

Another student is described by his neighbors as one who is part of the "new wealth" in Russia, those who made a swift shift to capitalism and found prosperity in a soaring real-estate market. He describes himself as an extremely closed person who trusts no one. He also considered himself to be an atheist. During his mentoring time he shared freely and expressed what Dave thinks is his greatest value: "Whenever I do anything I measure my success by profit." He repeated this theme so often that it became obvious to Dave that he was in fact telling Dave that he would like to hear the Gospel. Jesus addressed people in his day whose focal point was profit. So they discussed Jesus' question - "What does it profit a man to gain the whole world and lose his soul?"

The seminar in Moscow came just one week after Dave was privileged to lead a similar seminar in Chisinau, Moldova. As hoped for, a unique type of student came to the seminar. He had students who were preparing to be judges, students who were leading political parties, medical students and future bankers. During Dave's mentoring appointments he met with ambitious young people who had lots of energy to pursue grand dreams. He met with one member of the National indoor soccer team; she was particularly close to the Kingdom of God. She identified herself as someone who bellieves in God, but a person who had not yet trusted Jesus to be her Savior.

The Ginn's want to thank you for praying for the students in Eastern Europe and Russia. God is working, drawing them to himself. They would like to ask you also to pray for their great staff who are reaching out to these students. Immediately after the Moscow EQ seminar Dave helped to train 16 staff members in how to lead an EQ seminar and teach the principles of Emotional Intelligence as a door opener for sharing the Gospel.

In October Dave had the opportunity to teach 270 Hungarian high school teachers the principles of Emotional Intelligence that would address both essential needs of students, as well as impact the atmosphere of the classroom. This instrucction was the first step in enabling these teachers to introduce the principles of EQ to the high schools of Hungary. Four teachers indicated decisions for Christ during this training event.

Dave and Shari

Check out: http://budapestginns.blogspot.com to get acquainted with the stories of what God is doing in Eastern Europe. It's a little "dated" but you'll also find some great pictures of the family.

June 2009

Dear Praying Friends,

We can't thank you enough for your prayers for us during, yes, another lengthy silence. I think the last you heard was that I was headed to the northeast for a conference.

The conference went well. I learned several things that I will be able to apply to my work in serving the members of Wycliffe. I traveled safely for over 1500 miles. I did come within inches of getting my first 8-point buck, but God intervened! I returned to Dallas on November 8th.

Nine days later, I got a call at midnight that my 59-year old brother, Barry, had died suddenly of an aortic aneurism. This was a shock to us all as he seemed to be the one of us 5 kids who was in the best health. I was able to arrange a quick flight to Rochester and then my next older brother, Lyndon, and I drove down to my oldest brother's (Don) place. We were able to meet with Barry's wife and children, all grown and married, as there wasn't going to be a funeral. It was good for us guys to be together for a couple of days and just talk, though sad my sister couldn't join us. I flew back to Dallas on the 23rd.

Since Lynette has been working, her days off have not coincided with the kid's school days off. However, they all had some days off over Thanksgiving, so we went camping. (yes, you can camp in November in Texas, in fact that is when you WANT to go camping instead of during the summer!) It was a good time of reconnecting since we had all been running around.

Lynette's job is going better. She still works an intense teaching schedule, but is getting a handle on the curriculum and her role. She has had students from all over the world in her classes. She is applying to a different college for the fall semester which has a less intense ESOL course and is closer to home. Please pray that we would have wisdom as to whether she should change schools or continue where she is.

The month of December seems a blur to me. We have a new co-worker in the office, so some of my time has been going to orient her and get her up to speed. At the present time I am supervising her "practicum" as she interviews and advises two members. I am presently working on finishing up with several members and beginning the process with a couple more. We are beginning to expand the ministry of career guidance beyond our normal face-to-face process and doing it remotely with Skype and webcam. Please pray that this will be an effective way to help our members and that we will get used to doing CG in this way.

The kids are all doing well. Kyle is in his second semester of college. He still finds that organization and time management are his biggest challenges. Please pray that this semester he will develop the survival skill of "just getting it done." Otherwise he is doing well at his job and he is demonstrating grace and integrity. Lynnea has been spending most of her after school hours practicing for theater class. We just went last night to see her as one of the ladies in "Once Upon a Mattress," a musical about the princess and the pea. She is beginning to look at colleges and would like to find a Christian college that has a good theater and fine arts program (her drawing is getting better all the time!). Kayla did a great job in her role in "The Tortoise and the Hare." Just last week we went to see her play oboe in the all-region concert band. Needless to say we are proud of our kids and what God is doing in their lives.

Our church here is taking a missions trip to Ecuador this summer to help build a seminary and do VBS. The girls have been praying about it and would really like to go and help out. The only kink in this is the finances. In order for the girls to go, one, or both, of their parents must go as well. We would like our girls to see missions from a different perspective than just being an MK (missionary kid). It would also be neat to do a missions project as a family. Lynette is already involved in helping some of the people who are going learn some basic Spanish. She also could help in the VBS by giving the Bible stories in Spanish. The church is putting on several fund raisers, but we expect to need to come up with around $1000 per person. $400 of this needs to be turned in by February 15th. Would you join us in prayer as we seek God's wisdom as to whether this is something that we should be involved in and, if so, God would confirm this by providing the finances?

We truly couldn't do this ministry without you. We think of you every time we read Philippians 1:3!

Serving together,

Kevin