Here’s an updated on the missionaries we support: Nate & Lissy Gangwer with Central Detroit Christian. I love the work they’ve been doing to transform individuals to reach their highest potential while transforming the community to be a place of peace and wholeness.
If you’ve purchased jewelry from Tracy Hibsman Studio, you had a hand in changing lives through the work of Central Detroit Christian. Ten percent of every purchase supports Nate & Lissy in their important work.
Here’s their email and newsletter:
How is your Fall going so far? We are enjoying the beautiful colors we see outside! As some of the big events we planned for (25th Year Gala, youth retreat, etc...) are over, we now transition our focus to planning for our Thanksgiving and Christmas outreaches. Nate is leading many of our planning meetings. He is also going through some changes with our volunteers as to what is now required of them from our insurance company (more thorough background checks, for example).
Lissy continues to enjoy teaching in the preschool classrooms when needed and planning for their grant-funded field trips and parent workshops this fall. She has also been able to volunteer as a "Family Friend" with Safe Families and support a mom struggling with homelessness.
Something new and exciting is that Lissy was recently trained to teach an exercise class at our local YMCA! She is super pumped to utilize her instructor certification and is trusting God to use her in these new relationships.
We hope you enjoy our Fall newsletter and reading about CDC's new after-school program!
We appreciate you so much!
--Nate and Lissy Gangwer
Dear Partner,
“But why did God put that tree in the garden in the first place?” Such a good question from one of the fourth-grade boys at CDC’s new after-school program, called Breakthrough Enrichment (BTE) After School. This program is our new effort to address the growing need for literacy development in our communities. With statistically only 4.4% of third-graders reading at grade level in the zip code immediately surrounding CDC’s headquarters, we have prayed about how we can get more kids reading at their grade level.
Our new Education Director, Andrew, has helped plan and implement BTE After School that started a few weeks ago. Currently, 48 kids, ranging from kindergarten through fifth grade, are registered for this program that runs Mondays through Thursdays, 4pm to 6pm each day. Every day, the kids are fed a meal when they first arrive. They also have gym time each day, as well as “Lit Lab” where the kids spend time in small groups with volunteer tutors using the BookNook app. The kids have individually been tested at the beginning using this app to determine their reading level and tailor each lesson to their understanding and abilities. As of right now, Andrew showed me that 26% of the kids are reading at grade level, and his goal is to get that number to 50% by the end of the year! He also shared in excitement that we were able to hire eight teen employees to work with the kids.
On Mondays and Thursdays, CDC’s long-standing volunteer who is a karate instructor comes to teach the kids karate. On Tuesdays, CDC’s gardener and the Farm and Fishery manager teach the kids a cooking class using healthy ingredients. The cooking class is the kids’ favorite! And on Wednesdays, CDC staff are taking turns teaching the Bible Lesson. Lissy got to teach the lesson from Genesis 2-3 about sin entering the world. The kids were super engaged and attentive as Lissy shared how much God loved Adam and Eve and each of them, how we all sin and what sin is, how God promised to send Someone to defeat sin and death and Satan, and how we can be saved by grace through faith in Jesus (Ephesians 2:8, our memory verse for the lesson). We talked about how the terrible things in the world are a result of sin, and then we all shouted together, “Jesus can make me free from sin!”
Prayer Requests
- Please continue to pray for our staff team and community our Evangelism and Employment Director passed away suddenly at the end of August. Things are definitely very different around here at CDC. Please pray for His wife and daughters.
- Please pray for all of our children and youth programs this fall to glorify God and to be used by God to lead many to trust Him and to grow them academically.
Praises
- Our 25th Celebration Gala in September went very well! We praise God for the night to remember all He’s done over the past 25 years and for how He provided financially for CDC through the event.
- The youth retreat that Nate spoke at the last weekend of September was refreshing! Nate received great feedback from the students and staff. They appreciated his honesty about our expectations of how God will move and what happens when our expectations are not met.
So that ALL may know him,
Nate & Lissy
I hope you’re as excited about reaching people for God as I am! I’ll be making these reports regularly so you can see the progress too. In the meantime, join me in prayer for Nate, Lissy, and their co-laborers in Christ, and for the people they reach! Click here to learn more about Nate and Lissy.
Many blessings to you!
