The COVER Letter

August 2015

(Front) Yusuf Herman, MaryAnne Moran, Daniela Jones, Ray Dotzler, Jay McKenzie, Joselynn McKenzie, Jordan McKenzie, Bethany Thomas
(Row 2) Jan Dotzler, Kara Garrison, Cris Jones, Kelcy Gallagher, Bailey Henderson, Patricia Bossman, Christine Bell, Jackie Signaigo, Georgiana Thomas, Penny
Alden, Jo McKenzie, Janine Roberts (Row 3) Kathy Wooten, Heather Matthews, Ike Adams, Virginia Hutton, Joanna Zeiner, Ron Zeiner, Suzanne Jones,
Duane Jones, Carla Richardson, Chelle Courter, Kathryn Goodloe, Amanda Samrani, Jeff Dixon, Stephen Thomas, John Alden (Row 4) Paul Moran, Matt Hayes,
Christy Hayes, Rick Estes, Rebekah Estes, Micah Jones, Anna Jones, Michael Bossman, Jim Courter, Peggy Yost, Medhanit Amanuel (Row 5) Craig Garrison,
Jeff Henderson, Raymond Jones, Mike Yost, Stephen Venable, Luke Wood ( not pictured: David and Melissa Trimble and family, Laura Harvell, Della Jones and
family, Joel McKenzie, Ray and Stephanie Smith)

Hello all,
Our 2015 Summit is completed and we are now, once more, spread around the world. Thank you for your
perseverance in doing good works! A great man once said, Faith without works is dead.
I have been reading the feedback you gave about the Summit. Overall, you were positive and very thankful for
our determination to provide adequate member care, for the prayer support from our band of intercessory
missionaries and for the counselors we have available to you. You liked the food, the accommodations, and the
quality of the break-outs.
We heard you say that you would welcome more feedback to your prayer requests and we, along with those who
pray together for you, plan to drop you more frequent emails about how we prayed. We have consolidated the
notes from our group sessions on member care and fundraising and they are attached to this COVER letter.
Most everyone appreciated our speaker and the depth of his presentation. However, some considered him
wordy and too intense. I have found that there are cool preachers and there are hot preachers. Cool preachers emphasize the Father heart of God as they speak and hot preachers emphasize the righteousness of God.
Both are entirely biblical. How comfortable we are with either style is not the primary thing. Personally, I prefer
the cool but my own dad is a great preacher and he was definitely a hot preacher!
I asked Mr. Venable to speak on the Glory of Jesus. I wanted to emphasize that, as servants on the mission field,
we are kings and priests unto Him, bringing glory to His great name. This, I think, was accomplished at this
Summit. As someone wrote, it would have been better for us to have had his notes prior to the session
knowing now how challenging his sermons would be. But, we are thankful that you have the notes and teachings
so that you can hear and see what you might want to study more.
Another concern was a lack of time to debrief, congregate, fellowship, and just kick back. One person asked if
the evenings could be used to hear from other CI missionaries and about their work. Another said we have great
speakers in house so why bring in anyone? Many felt the evening sessions went too long.
I hear all this and my response is yes, these are healthy critiques which we will consider in our next Summit
planning. Thank you! And, oh yes, the biodegradable bed sheets were abysmal. A few of you went to
Wallys and bought sheets! Sorry about that!
At the board meeting following the Summit, Matt and Christy Hayes (Shell, Ecuador) were approved to begin the
transition from short-term to long-term status. They will attend CrossTraining in Wilmore as soon as we can get it
on the calendar.
Comrades, we have a great reward for our steadfastness in Christ Jesus! By His grace we have been saved, are
being saved and will ultimately be given a new, eternal, glorified, regenerated body. Thank you for caring about
hurting and destitute people. It is a privilege to know each of you and to serve as your director.

P.S. Please check out the attached Group Notes from the Summit!

Blessings to you all,

a missions organization, fueled by prayer and worship,

mobilizes people to evangelize the world,
loving and serving Jesus Christ.