June/July 1998

Dear beloved of God,

God bless you and all those you love. We pray that this letter (for June and July) finds you rejoicing in the Lord, growing in His grace and reaching out with His love and His truth. We once heard a Christian leader say, "Praise the Lord for the people!" We agree, and we do. We thank God for the privilege we have to be in association with priceless people like you.

In light of our stated goal of unity among Christians, we want to respond to the feedback we received from some of our readers concerning our May letter on "Unity God's Way." We seem to have struck a nerve. Many people told us that we stated in that letter what they had been thinking and feeling but had not yet been able to articulate, and they thanked us for speaking the truth in love. They also appreciated our willingness to swim upstream against the popular currents in pursuit of the truth.

Others were disturbed, and heard in our words echoes of past associations with groups that regularly practice what they call "mark and avoid" (from Rom. 16:17) with those who do not remain committed to the teachings of the group. These groups drop people like a hot potato as soon as they start indicating some independence of mind and conscience. Perhaps you were victimized by such a harsh and vindictive misuse of some of the verses we cited in our letter, and your experience caused you to hear us suggesting a similar attitude as that which brought you so much hurt and emotional travail. We are thankful that you let us know how you experienced our letter, because it helped us realize we were not as sensitive to your experience as we could have been, having been further removed from such treatment than you. We should have made clearer the scriptural distinction between what we were saying and what you may have experienced. We apologize to you for whom this is a sensitive issue and the pain of "excommunication" is still fresh.

We were not implying, nor have we practiced, a hard, isolationist attitude toward those who we believe are teaching things contrary to Scripture. Please consider our track record (See the April 1997 CES  Newsletter: The Ten Year Odyssey  of CES . You can request a copy if you need one). In our pursuit of truth we have reached out to be in relationship with, support and even recommend other ministers and ministries we felt had something beneficial to offer even though they teach some things we believe are erroneous. This has not been without cost to us-we have lost some of our support in this process because some people felt we were losing our focus and embracing teachings contrary to our background. We have lost more support when, after we introduced them to other ministries, some people decided to support them instead of us. We have made an honest effort to remain in relationship with these other ministries despite the fact that, apparently, we were more willing to learn from them than they from us. How is that being "arrogant," "divisive" or "elitist" on our part?

We have come to most of our beliefs through a process of humiliation, that is, recognizing where a particular belief did not line up with Scripture, and then changing it. Thus we are willing to look at all the evidence and let the Word speak, even if it contradicts our previous beliefs. Through the process of much dialogue with many others of different persuasions, as well as having a sincere desire to be accurate in what we teach, we regularly reexamine, reevaluate and recheck what we teach for both accuracy of content and the best way of communicating it.

The point of the May letter, "Unity God's Way," was simply to set forth our commitment to Christian unity. We pointed out scriptures that argue strongly against the "unity at all costs" attitude so prevalent in the Church today, because we believe this attitude involves a betrayal of both conscience and truth. We believe we are upholding the standard of the Word, consistent with its exhortation to remain vigilant and circumspect concerning the subtle devices of the Enemy who seeks to move God's people off of the sound footing of the written Word.

The basic purpose of this letter is to present to you what we "unveiled" at the CES  10th Anniversary Celebration in regard to our new Partnership Program. If you were not able to attend the Weekend, we urge you to purchase a copy of the tapes that were made there. The teachings are designed to communicate the heart and the historical significance of Christian Educational Services  in regard to our past ten years, where we are now and what we believe lies ahead.

We are so blessed and humbled by our many supporters and the touching and heartfelt expressions of appreciation that we regularly receive. We have come a long way in ten years, in large part thanks to your prayers and support, financial and otherwise. At this point, we are at a place in our upward path that affords us a more panoramic view of the kind of future that is possible for all of us who share this vision. The purpose of the Partnership Program is to request that those who do share our vision become specifically united with us in our mission, our strategy and our goals. "What are they?" you ask. OK, here they are.

To Research:

1. Develop a system of hermeneutics for the honest and detailed handling of the Word of God.
2. Seek the integrity and accuracy of God's Word, particularly in areas that affect the fruitful propagation and practice of the Christian faith.
3. Seek keys, principles and characteristics of effective ministers from other Christian leaders.
4. Develop a network of honest and competent researchers for mutual support. They would help us, and we would help them write and promote their research.

1. Sound teaching (accurate, practical, inspirational), in as many languages as possible, that facilitates the fruitful practice of Christianity.

• Newsletters, magazines, books and tapes
• Camps and conferences
• Internet forums
• Personal visits
• Homeschooling support
• Christian school curricula
• Bible colleges and training centers world-wide
• A CES  Study Bible
• A daily devotional (like Oswald Chambers' My  Utmost For His Highest) 
• Educational aids (maps, teaching aids, action figures, artwork, children's books)
• Biblically accurate and inspirational music

1. A world-wide network of affiliated fellowships.
2. Charitable aid to Christians world-wide to further the Gospel and do the work of Christ.

1. Effective and innovative use of all media for global dissemination of CES  teachings.

• Publishing house, print media
• World-wide web
• Radio, television and video production facilities
• Biblically accurate feature films
• National advertising campaign
• Support for all art forms that promote godliness

1. Effective and innovative use of technologies to facilitate global communications among Christians.

• State of the art website, computer technologies
• Short-wave and satellite communications, especially for access to remote areas

• Individual study, research, discernment and character development
• Translation
• Evangelism
• Leadership
• Establishing local churches

We honestly see all these things as profound possibilities, but they are possible only as God is able to move in the hearts of His people to support these goals. There are many ways you can partner with us and support these goals other than by giving money. Prayer  is indispensable for our spiritual success, and if you are interested in joining our Intercessor Team, please let us know. Also, take a look at the above goals and see which of them fit with your interests, abilities and longsuits. Then let the Lord lead you in the details about how to help us. Please feel free to discuss anything about this with us.

In the context of this letter, however, we want to focus on financial giving. Obviously, we cannot do any more than we have the resources to do, but we can have faith in what we believe God has shown us, and share it with boldness. We see what others have accomplished by a bold faith energized by love and conviction. For example, most of the oldest colleges and universities in the world were established, maintained and funded by Christian denominations. All of these started as a vision in the heart of one person or a handful of people who faithfully embraced what God worked in them. We believe that by the grace of God our teaching is second to none, because we have seen it produce liberty, wholeness and a vital relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ for many people. This has been particularly confirmed by those in other countries who have been exposed to our materials and reported that the overall quality of their lives has significantly improved.

We are not saying that we have a corner on the truth or that we are "God's Only True Ministry." We realize that many will not share our enthusiasm for what we teach, and that they may see ours as just one of a multitude of possible interpretations. In fact, even our insistence that there is  such a thing as absolute truth, and therefore an absolutely true interpretation, may offend them. So when we go on to assert that we are in possession of some  of this truth, they may think we are "full of it."

If you are in that category, we do not expect you to run to your checkbook and enroll in our Partnership Program. But does that mean that we don't want you to be on our mailing list, come to our weekends or otherwise be a part of our lives? No, no, a million times no! We want you to do what you're going to do anyway-decide for yourself what level of interest you have in our work and to what extent you desire to be involved. We would just ask you to "stay tuned," because at least one of two things may happen: we may get better at communicating what we are believing and doing to the end that you get excited about it, or you might have a change of heart about our ministry and its place in the world and decide to be a supporter. We have seen both of these things happen with some regularity in the past ten years. We want you to know that our Partnership Program does not change a thing about our desire to have you be associated with us in whatever way you choose.

As we write this letter, we can think of many, many people who have told us how much they appreciate the stand we have taken on the integrity of God's Word and what we are doing to reach out with it. However, to be perfectly frank, many of those people who are verbally enthusiastic and who attend our functions have not supported us with regular  financial giving.

When it comes to encouraging you to financially support our work, we simply refuse to join the majority of ministries that tell you that you must "tithe" (usually to them) or you are "robbing God." The Church Epistles, that section of Scripture written to believers today, do not  prescribe that you must give one-tenth of your income. A study of the subject will reveal that the tithe was specifically to Israel to support the Levitical priesthood. In this matter, we are endeavoring to have a heart like Paul's, as he expressed in Philippians 4:17: "It is not that we desire a gift [something for nothing], but rather that fruit would abound to your account." Please  understand that the financial help we request from you is not for our personal gain, but so that we have what we need to reach out with the truth God has given us. If you have not heard our 1991 teaching tape, The Joy of Giving,  we recommend that
you do.

If "the love of money is a root of many evils" (NIV  ), then would it not follow that having the right attitude about money is a source of great blessing  in a Christian's life? The Church Epistles are very clear that financial/material giving is part of the godly response of a believer to the loving service of a genuine Christian leader who teaches him the Word of God accurately. In the Bible, all giving is to be in response to a blessing . If, via your interaction with CES,  the quality of your relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ and our heavenly Father has been enhanced, we humbly request that you help us financially.

In the past few months, we have given much thought to how we could help you help us. We realize that your life may seem to be racing by, full of events, activities and obligations. We thought about how we could provide some kind of structure to help you plan and budget your financial giving to help us. The CES  Partnership Program you will find in this letter is our attempt to provide you with a specific program to support your regular giving to our ministry. We are blessed to give you the opportunity to enter into partnership with us by making and keeping a specific financial promise. This will also greatly  help us plan our work based upon our expected income. We are responsible before God to steward the resources His people give us. We want to know who benefits from our efforts, who shares our vision and who wants to support us. We are simply making a request to you to help us, and hoping that in response you will make a promise to us to do so.

As we stated in the May letter, for our friends who do not choose to be financial partners with us at this time, we will send a newsletter on a quarterly basis, beginning with the January letter. To facilitate this transition, we will continue to send you a monthly letter until the end of this year, and each letter will contain the Partnership Program and sign-up form. If, after December, you don't want to be a financial partner with us at this time but you still want a monthly letter, just ask us for it and we'll send it to you (preferably by e-mail if you have it). Again, please understand that anyone may give anything at any time or purchase any of our materials at any time. The materials you see listed in the enclosed Partnership Program are our way of showing appreciation for your support. If you would like to participate, please fill out the form below the description of the Partnership Program and send it to us as soon as possible. We will receive it with thanksgiving and seek specific ways to work together with you to achieve our shared vision.

In closing, let us again encourage you to order the tapes from the Indianapolis Weekend. We think they will enrich you spiritually, as well as help broaden your vision of what CES  is all about. Remember that we will be getting together July 31-August 2 in Morristown, NJ and October 23-25 in Charlotte, NC. We hope you will join us at one or both of these wonderful weekends. Also, please pray for John and Jenivee and the 26 saints accompanying them to Israel June 27-July 10. We love you, and we thank God for the privilege of serving you.

Standing with you for Him,

John, John and Jenivee, Mark and Karen Anne  

"To lead" simply means "to go first." The Lord Jesus is our example of genuine leadership, that is, service to God's people. He will mentor anyone who is interested in following Him in order to lead others. If you have ever felt that you are called of God to lead anyone in any Christian capacity, we encourage you to consider coming to our first Leadership Conference this coming November 13-15 here in Indianapolis. Everyone is invited.

Details will be announced in our next letter. We will begin at 7:30 p.m. Friday evening, November 13 and close at noon Sunday, November 15. Sleeping rooms will probably be about $75 per night.

We especially encourage local fellowships to sponsor some representatives to attend. Thank you for your prayers for this conference, at which we will inaugurate the CES  network of fellowships.

We are looking for some good music to use with voiceovers at the beginning and end of our Bi-monthly tapes. We will also have need of other good Christian music in the future. If you would like to contribute musically in any way, please let us know. Thank you.  

At the Indianapolis Weekend, our dear brother Lesly Bertrand from Haiti shared that he sometimes walks up to eight hours on hilly roads in order to share the Word. Most other times he and the other saints have to travel in big trucks that are carrying three or four times as many people as is safe, along with lots of animals. The travel, therefore, is very dangerous. He told us that a used pickup truck would be a great blessing for his ministry, but that in Haiti such a truck would cost about four times what it would in the States. We are praying that someone has an old truck that he would like to donate, or that someone would like to provide the money for such a truck to be purchased in Miami and shipped to Haiti (probably not more than $1500).

By the way, there is also a need in Haiti (and other countries) for computer equipment. If you are upgrading your computer and would be willing to donate your old one, please let us know. Any of these donations can be made through CES  so that you can get a tax deduction for it.

More and more international people are attending our Weekend Fellowships, and, as in Indianapolis in June, we will be putting them on the program to share the Word. We may need a Spanish interpreter for our Leadership Conference here in Indianapolis November 13-15, and perhaps also a French interpreter. If you can interpret fluently in Spanish or French (or any other language) and you are willing to help us in the future, please let us know right away.

The report from the gorgeous camp setting in Western North Carolina May 28-31 was that those singles who gathered there with John and Jenivee Schoenheit were immensely blessed and enriched by the fellowship. We believe that ministry to single saints is important, and we will do another Singles Weekend next year at the same location-May 19-23, 1999. You might want to note that on your calendar.

The CES  10^th Anniversary Celebration Fellowship was a deeply meaningful and moving time for all those who attended. While it is certainly true that there is no substitute for being there in person, the tapes from the Weekend do capture a great deal of its heart and content. We wish we knew how to motivate everyone on our mailing list who did not attend to get the tapes, because what happened there was very powerful.

John Lynn opened the Weekend teaching What is "Christian Educational Services?"  He elaborated upon each of the three words in the name of our ministry. Jan Magiera shared on Knowledge, Understanding and Wisdom: How to Balance Doctrine and Practice , in which she briefly set forth the need to both know and do the Word. Karen Anne Graeser followed by laying bare her heart in a teaching titled Lovest Thou Me?  Don't miss this one! Then it was Mark Graeser with The Rugged Individual, Family, Community . In the last part of his sharing, Mark poignantly opened his soul about his own personal experience the past ten years. More than a few people were brought to tears with him.

Westerne Joseph and Lesly Bertrand from Haiti each shared, as did Alejandro and Marisa Marchesan and Hector and Laura Teme from Argentina. These international brethren definitely helped build our vision for the Word reaching around the world. The last two teachings are by John Schoenheit on The History of "The Mystery"  and John Lynn on Christian Leadership . Both are "keepers." Also included in the tapes are the presentation of the Partnership Program and the heart behind it, by John Lynn, the Graesers and the Schoenheits.

The cost for these tapes is $25, and we encourage you to order yours right away. For those of you coming to the New Jersey Weekend July 31-August 2, the tapes will be available there.