Hope for the Children

“In light of the grace I have from God, I urge each of you
not to exaggerate your own importance….” Romans 12:3

M Hope for the Children – Praise God from whom all blessings flow!

This year we celebrate forty years of CBM in Maryland. Yes, it’s hard to believe that it’s been forty years since

Dorothy (Dot) Warehime started Children’s Bible Ministries in Carroll County in 1984. After her was my mentor, Carolyn King, who served as State Director with unshakeable faith from 2000 until her passing in 2013. This faith in CBM’s future is expressed in her life verse, Faithful is he that calleth you, who also will do it (1 Thessalonians 5:24). Looking back, I can truly say that her faith was not in vain. God has done it and, best of all, he’s not finished.

We’re looking ahead to another great summer of camping—overnight camp again at Camp ToHiGlo June 30-July 5 and Harambee Day Camp at the BEAR Center in Baltimore City July 8-August 2024.

On April 26, we’ll be closing out another year of after school character-building clubs with an indoor carnival at the Elimu Center where one of our largest after school clubs has been serving the Kenyan immigrant community for several years. This year, between our virtual club, school-based and community-based clubs, the Mailbox Club and our Leadership in Training (L.I.T.) discipleship group, we have served 99 children and teens.

Among our 62 volunteers are six teenage Summer Missionary Interns who are gearing up for an eventful summer of ministry, serving as counselors at the overnight and day camp and sharing the gospel at day camps throughout the Baltimore metro area. We celebrated all of our volunteers at our annual Volunteer Appreciation Luncheon on February 10. You’ll read more about that in this newsletter.

March 29 and 30, I led a five member team–Mamie Teagle, Joann Curtis, BJ Rice and Eliza McClain–conducting a youth conference for the Siyin Chin Baptist Church in Laurel, MD that serves the Chin people of Myanmar. The theme of the conference was learning how to witness for Jesus, in

obedience to Acts 1:8. The church

Day 1 leaders have asked us to return next Day 2

year.

Finally, our talented and creative banquet committee is hard at work planning the best banquet ever to celebrate our 40th anniversary. We are honored that CBM National Directors, Lincoln and Jamie Simmons will be our guest speakers. Mark your calendars for June 15, 7-9 p.m.

Helping Kids Have an Everyday Faith

Message by Lisa Molite, Elementary Director, Community Christian Church, White Marsh, Maryland

“Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates. Deuteronomy 6:4-9 (NIV)”

All Christian parents want their children to have a faith that is part of their everyday life, not just a Sunday affair. Too often, though, as children grow up, God becomes like the fine china a bride receives as a wedding gift, sitting in a cabinet and rarely used.

By contrast, your favorite coffee mug is so much a part of every single day, you feel as if you couldn’t live without it. You may even take it out of the dishwasher and wash it separately if you want to use it at that moment. This is the place that God should occupy in our lives and in our children’s lives—not just one spoke in the wheel of the interests and activities that make up our lives but at the hub joining all of the spokes together. God, speaking through Moses, gave us some practical steps we can take to make that happen. “Talk about them [these commandments] when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up.” Organizations like CBM play an essential role in this, along with the churches and family upbringing. So, I want to encourage you to keep on doing what you’re doing.

Banquet was a wonderful Success!

The banquet was a real celebration of what God has been doing through CBM. The theme was inspired by our overnight camp. Our decorators, Tia Moore and Erica Omotosho, decorated each table with a globe, different country flags and little suitcases with “Deut. 6:4-9” on the luggage tags. There were also cards for the guests to write words of wisdom to be read to the campers.

After dinner, Susan Gaztañaga gave a slide show presentation on CBM.

Brooklyn Ready shared her testimony next. She started with the after school Character-Building Club at Hampstead Elementary School in Carroll County when she was in kindergarten and continued through fifth grade. She said it felt good to see that she wasn’t the only Christian in the school. She learned that Jesus was the best friend she could ever have.

Grace Mwangi then testified. Beginning as a camper, she became a camp counselor, then a Summer Missionary Intern and co-leader of the Leaders in Training club for teens.

Lisa’s talk, summarized above, was the highlight of the evening. Inspired by everything they had seen and heard, people donated an extra $1,019.

Harambee Day Camp

CBM’s Harambee Day Camp will run from June 28 through August 4, 2023 at the Refuge Baltimore, 3400 Brehms Lane in the Belair-Edison neighborhood of Baltimore City. (Harambee is Swahili for “All pull together”). From 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., Monday through Thursday, campers between the ages of five and twelve will get Bible lessons, academic enrichment, physical education and arts and crafts. Each day of the week will have a different focus:

Mindfulness Monday: Activities that promote peace, tranquility and mental and emotional wellness

I Am Terrific Tuesday: Building self-esteem

Wildlife Wednesday: Exploring the outdoors, nature walks, science experiments, etc. Technology Tuesday

Leaders in Training (LIT) helps students grow after they age out of the Character-Building Clubs

LIT meets virtually every second Monday for discipleship class and every fifth Saturday for fellowship. As the opportunities come up, they take part in community service projects. This group is now being led by two of the teens: Grace Mwangi and Kaylar Waweru.

“Bible Bucks” Motivate Children in Character-Building Clubs

This year, 100 children consistently attended four in-person Character-Building Clubs and two virtual clubs. They could earn five “Bible Bucks” each time they attended, brought their Bibles to the meeting and recited the memory verse.

Teachers handed out prizes each month to the students who earned the most Bible Bucks. By the end of the year, 151 verses had been memorized, and the 12 students among all the clubs who had memorized the most verses were treated to a pizza party on May 13.

The two little five year olds in the front row (fraternal twins) memorized more verses than any of the older children!

You can support CBM by:

• Praying:
  

• For the Summer Missionary Interns (SMI) training retreat June 18-22 For the launching of Camp Harambee June 26

• For CBM teaching at the Kenyan Christian Fellowship national conference June 30-July 3

• For CBM teaching at the Chinese Christian Church retreat at Skycroft Conference Center July 7-9

• That churches and individuals will participate in the food drive for the overnight camp (drop off food items at 3400 Brehms Lane on Wednesdays between 10:30 a.m. and 12:30 p.m.—link to the list of needed items can be found at https://www.cbmmd.org/camp).

• Giving:

• You can donate to CBM online and designate which project you want your contribution to support.

• Step 1: Go to www.cbmmd.org. Click on the red “Donate” button in the top right corner.

• Step 2: Click on the green “Give” button.

• Step 3: Enter the amount you want to give, and select the area of support from the dropdown menu: General Funds, Project J (Lois Jones), Project M (Denise Morgan), Summer Interns, C P King

  Scholarship

  Fund (for camp), Expansion Project (Refuge Baltimore). You can also set up recurring gifts to go out automatically at whatever time you designate. There will be a small fee to cover the service.

• Prefer to write a check? Make it out to “Children’s Bible Ministries of MD,” write your designation on the memo line and mail it to 1600-B Emory Road, Upperco, MD 21155.

Wonderful – Volunteer Appreciation Luncheon Held Feb 18, 2023
Here are a few Pics

Praise God from whom all Blessings flow!!

Each time we go out on the mission field, CBM aims to “MAKE A DIFFERENCE”!

Praising God for seeing us all through another year! Ups and downs are always a part of the growing process. I thank God for every challenge and every opportunity to grow. We praise God for meeting every need of this ministry.

Example: We were looking for a building to start a Refuge— a safe place where children can escape the dangers of this world, learn who God is and be safe in Him. God led us to the Belair-Edison Area Revitalization (B.E.A.R.) Community Outreach Center located at 3400 Brehms Lane in the Belair Edison area of Baltimore City. We have established a partnership with Ray Askins, Director of the B.E.A.R. Community Outreach Center. A team of volunteers sent by our national office (in Townsend, Tennessee) and Faith Xtreme Refuge (in Winter Haven, Florida), came to help us with some of the renovations.

To God be all the glory!

Loving you with the love of Christ,

Denise Morgan
Area Director

Email: cbmofmd@gmail.com