2012 Annual Leadership Conference

Be on the lookout for the 2012 Annual Leadership Conference information! I received my brochure in the mail yesterday. It looks to be another fantastic conference with many great speakers and workshop topics!

The conference will be held July 12-15 at Wheaton College just outside of Chicago, IL. Flight prices are incredibly LOW right now...I found a flight out of Newark Wednesday night (7/11) and returning Monday morning (7/16) for $140.00 round trip! This would let you take part in the pre-conference tours during the day on Thursday.

Also new this year: A payment installment plan!  You can choose to pay the Conference Registration fee in three installments.  The early bird registration fee is only open through January....so start thinking about attending now!

Counselors, if you've ever thought of going on a conference but cost was prohibiting you...this could be the year for you to go. I'll be praying for you as you think it over.....and I hope that you'll be part of the 2012 Conference experience with me :)

Amy

Weekly Devotional - "Do What Is Just and Right" - December 19

from Lenae, GEMS Training Manager

DO WHAT IS JUST AND RIGHT

Do not move an ancient boundary stone or encroach on the fields of the fatherless, for their Defender is strong; he will take up their case against you.

Proverbs 23:10-11

The Israelites acquired their land by conquest, and every tribe and family considered its allotment or inheritance as a gift from God. David said, The boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places; surely I have a delightful inheritance (Psalm 16:6). With contentment and gratitude He acknowledged that all he had was a gift from God.

Boundary stones were a common way of marking off property lines. Sadly, some didn’t see these stones as set in stone. They moved them to the right or the left, depending on what was most advantageous to them. It was subtle, a little push here, a small nudge there. They’d do just enough to gain the upper hand without being detected.

It’s today’s equivalent to fudging on your taxes or your timecard, cheating the system, taking company resources for personal use, or withholding your tithe. What seems like a small thing in man’s eyes is theft in God’s.

God gives warning in Scripture: Do not move an ancient boundary stone (Proverbs 22:28, Deuteronomy 19:14, 27:17, Hosea 5:10). The consequences listed within these verses include being cursed and God’s wrath being poured out like a flood of water.

God desires that we be people of integrity who do what is just and right, especially in our relationships with the fatherless and widow. He is their Defender (Proverbs 23:10). He will take up their case against those who deprive the poor of their rights and withhold justice from the oppressed of my people, making widows their prey and robbing the fatherless (Isaiah 10:2).

We’re in the midst of a season where there are ministries far and near (including GEMS!) asking for gifts, prayers, time, and resources to help the needy, widows, and fatherless. This is what the LORD says: Do what is just and right. Rescue from the hand of his oppressor the one who has been robbed. Do no wrong or violence to the alien, the fatherless or the widow, and do not shed innocent blood in this place (Jeremiah 22:33).

Whether making decisions within the boundary lines He’s entrusted to you or responding to the boundary lines of the poor and needy, be a woman of integrity: Do what is just and right!

Wisdom Step: Read Psalm 82:3. How will you obey this command today?

Lord, to those who hunger, give bread. And to those who have bread, give the hunger for justice.

Latin American Prayer

GEMS Get Connected Camp Info

Dear GEMS Club Coordinators,

Warm Advent greetings to you. We hope your fall season in club has been a great one for you, your counselors, and all your girls. Registration forms and brochures for GEMS summer camp for early teen girls – Get Connected! Camp are enclosed in this mailing. This camp has been in operation since 1999 and since that time it has had a profound, eternal impact on thousands of girls’ lives. Whether you’ve sent girls to Get Connected! Camp in the past or not, please consider how your club/your church/parents might send girls this year. Lives truly transformed are what this camp is all about.  Other GEMS related events/activities are highlighted below as well. Please take the time to read the enclosed information and pass it along to counselors and girls. Both an emailed copy and hard copy are being provided this year.

               

1. Once again, we are excited to invite girls that have been in GEMS for a minimum of one year and will be entering grade 7, 8, or 9 in the fall of 2012 to attend Get Connected! Camp. This may be our most exciting camp experience yet as we utilize Cranhill Ranch, located in Rodney, MI for camp. Many new program options will be available including horseback riding, river tubing, and geo caching. These along with past experiences that girls love like: high ropes course, zipline, swimming and boating, dynamic chapel experiences, and opportunities to get alone with God will contribute to making this camp an unforgettable camp experience. The camp is scheduled for August 6-10, 2012. Registrations open January 3 and all registrations will be handled on a first-come, first-served basis. Most years we have a waiting list for camp due to the great reputation of Get Connected! Camp. So PLEASE, get your registrations in early.

The cost for five days, four nights, with lodging and meals provided, plus a Get Connected! t-shirt and souvenir DVD is $395.00 US. Registration forms + brochures are enclosed. Extra forms and brochures as well as copies of the 2010 camp video are available at no charge from the Service Center. The brochure and forms may also be downloaded from the website www.gemsgc.org .

And please, do make plans now to share this camp opportunity with your girls. Many clubs plan a special night for introducing camp. They show the 2010 Get Connected! Camp DVD and distribute registration forms.  Another easy way is to save the attachment to this email – the registration form and brochure – and forward them to every eligible girl.

Please remember, we’d love for every girl to have the opportunity to come to camp. If your club cannot make that possible, please do let girls and parents know about the camp. This makes attendance at GCC a decision they get to make. It is always so sad when we receive phone calls from upset parents after camp is over who lament that they were never told about GCC.

Camp counselor (TLC) applications, CIT applications, and volunteer applications for camp are also available at www.gemsgc.org, go to the Event drop down and Get Connected! Camp.

2.       We had a good response to the fall campaign of the Hand ‘n Hand, all-club fundraiser. Customers and clubs alike were very pleased with this year’s campaign. For those unable to participate in the fall campaign, remember you may run your own campaign anytime, January through March. If you need the info packet and materials sent to you again, please contact us at the Service Center 616 241 5616 x3032 or servicecenter@gemsgc.org and we will be happy to send them.

        3.    Don’t miss out on the great training opportunity coming next summer: the Annual Counselors’ Leadership Conference will be held July 12-15, 2012 at Wheaton College in Chicagoland. Registration opens January 4 with discounts for early bird registrations. Read more at www.gemsgc.org.

4.    Reminder: 2011 offerings are due December 31. Dues were due November 15. Unfortunately, we will be unable to ship supplies to clubs that have not met these financial obligations.

We hope this additional information is helpful. And we thank you in advance for sharing it with your counselors and girls. God is indeed at work in the GEMS ministry. And we thank you for ALL you are doing for Him through the ministry of GEMS Girls’ Clubs. May your Christmas be filled with great joy, much peace, and deep love.

Serving Him Together,

Jan Boone

Executive Director

Weekly Devotion, " A Good Name" - December 12, 2011

 from Lenae, GEMS Training Manager

A GOOD NAME

A good name is more desirable than great riches,

to be esteemed is better than silver or gold.

Proverbs 22:1

What do the names Nae, Percy, Bell, Rooney, and Bear have in common? Unless you’re a close friend or relative of my family, probably not much! That list includes my childhood nickname, and those of my siblings. We affectionately associate those names with one another yet today.

What names are personal to you? From given names to professional titles to pet names, each one of us has a name or two. For those who kneel before the Father, from whom his whole family in heaven and on earth derives its name, we’ve also been gifted the name child of God (Ephesians 3:14-15).

The names Christian, Daughter of the King, and Beloved originate with God. It’s because of His divine paternity and through His Son Jesus that we have a name that is more desirable than great riches and better than silver or gold (Proverbs 22:1).   

To have a good name means to have a good reputation marked by integrity, godly character and conduct. It’s one thing to receive a good name from God, it’s quite another to live up to that name.

Women of integrity have a good name because they hallow God’s name. Jesus taught us to pray, Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name (Matthew 6:9). We hallow God’s name when we think on His holiness and “recognize Him as transcendent in every moral attribute” (John Lewis). We hallow His name when we sanctify God in our hearts, setting apart Christ as Lord (1 Peter 3:15). His name is hallowed when our thoughts, conversations, and actions honor Him, and regrettably, His name is profaned when we fail to live as He requires.

If you were introduced to someone new in your community or at church and she said to you, “Oh, I’ve heard of you!” What do you think it is that she probably heard? Would it be your tender heart toward children, your prayer life, or your service projects? Or would it be that you’re a shopaholic, have control issues, or are updating your status on Facebook by the quarter hour? What is your name associated with first? Our integrity impacts our reputation, our reputation reflects our name, and more importantly, the holy name of God.  

Wisdom Step: Who are you trying to make a name for today? Seek to only desire and pursue His name and glory today and always.

My dear Jesus, my Savior, is so deeply written in my heart, that I feel confident, that if my heart were to be cut open and chopped to pieces, the name of Jesus would be found written on every piece.

St. Ignatius of Antioch

Weekly Devotion - "Conduct=Character" - Dec. 5, 2011

from Lenae, GEMS Training Manager

CONDUCT = CHARACTER

The way of the guilty is devious, but the conduct of the innocent is upright.

Proverbs 21:8

Our conduct points to our character. If our behavior is devious or scheming, it points to guilt. If our pattern of choices is upright it indicates innocence and purity of heart. More often than not, our conduct equates our character; our character and deeds tend to run plumb. Even a child is known by his (her) actions, by whether his (her) conduct is pure and right (Proverbs 20:11).

Job was a man of integrity. Then the LORD said to Satan, “Have you considered my servant Job? There is no one on earth like him; he is blameless and upright, a man who fears God and shuns evil. And he still maintains his integrity, though you incited me against him to ruin him without any reason” (Job 2:3).

Though Job lost all that he had – his family and his possessions – he held fast to his integrity. He fell to the ground and worshiped, demonstrating that He loved God more than His gifts.

Job’s response to such mind-numbing devastation agitated his wife who said, “Are you still holding on to your integrity? Curse God and die!” (Job 2:9) Curse God and die. That was Satan’s goal for Job and remains his objective for mankind yet today.

In spite of Job’s pain and suffering, his unanswered questions and unsupportive spouse and friends, Job kept his steps on God’s path; his feet did not slip. He said, “Till I die, I will not deny my integrity” (Job 27:5). Although he wasn’t sinless, he was forgiven, and knew the joy and freedom of living with a clear conscious.

It’s complicated and pointblank exhausting, to cover up a lie with more lies, and deception with more deception. Foolish conduct leads to wickedness, death and destruction.

The way of the wise has nothing to hide. It’s a straight path to God and abundant life. God’s desire for His children is to guide them in the way of wisdom and lead them along straight paths (Proverbs 4:11). In everything – at home and/or the workplace, when we surf the Internet and pay our bills, interact with friends and/or strangers, let’s set an example by being women of integrity. Like Job, until we die, may we not deny integrity!

Wisdom Step: What kind of characters are you and I? Our conduct will point to the answer.

May I be consistent in conversation and conduct,

the same alone as in company,

in prosperity and adversity,

accepting all Thy commandments as right,

and hating every false way.

The Valley of Vision – A collection of Puritan Prayers & Devotions

 

Weekly Devotion - "Loyal Friends", November 28, 2011

from Lenae, GEMS Training Manger 

LOYAL FRIENDS

Many will say they are loyal friends,

but who can find one who is truly reliable?

Proverbs 20:6, NLT

In the book of Proverbs Solomon tells us that what each one of us desires is unfailing love (19:22). We want friends who will love us just the way we are, who will be there for us when we hurt, who will throw a party for us when we’re celebrating, who will extend forgiveness and grace when we mess up.  

Solomon acknowledges that these friends are rare. Many a man (woman) claims to have unfailing love, but a faithful man (woman) who can find? (20:6) The Hebrew word that is often translated unfailing love is hesed. It’s a rich word that describes God’s covenant love – His mercy and steadfastness.

Lamentations 3:22-23, speaks of the merciful and steadfast love God has for us: Because of the LORD’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.

God is a Friend like no other. He loves us just the way we are – God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us (Romans 5:8). He’s there for us when we hurt – He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds (Psalm 147:3). He rejoices over us with singing (Zephaniah 3:17), forgives our failures (1 John 1:9), and from the fullness of his grace we have all received one blessing after another (John 1:16).

Dear friends, since God so loved us [with unfailing, merciful and steadfast love], we also ought to love one another (1 John 4:11). Ruth demonstrated unfailing love to her mother-in-law Naomi when she said, Don’t urge me to leave you or turn back from you. Where you go I will go, and where you stay I will stay. Your people will be my people and your God my God. Where you die I will die, and there I will be buried. May the LORD deal with me, be it ever so severely, if anything but death separates you and me” (Ruth 1:16-17).

Jonathan and David promised unfailing love to one another. And Jonathan made a covenant with David because he loved him as himself (1 Samuel 18:3). Their sworn friendship translated from words to action when Jonathan warned David that King Saul wanted to kill him, and when David showed kindness to Jonathan’s son, Mephibosheth, providing for all his needs and inviting him to always eat at his table (2 Samuel 9).

“Ruth” and “Jonathan”-like friends are a precious gift from God. May we seek loyal friends and be loyal friends who give unfailing love.

Wisdom Step: Think about your friendships, one by one. Are you demonstrating unfailing love?

Happiness isn’t in possessions, education, or sensory ability. Happiness is found in relationships. And life’s greatest happiness is found in life’s greatest relationship: a personal relationship with God through Jesus Christ.

Kenneth L. Tangen