Young Men’s Leadership Training Course

Vision & Development: Calvary Bible School Board

Oversight Committee: Ministerial Team from Shady Lawn Mennonite Church

Coordinator: Ernest Eby, AR

Other staff members: Myron Stoltzfus, AR & Caleb Yoder, KS

Objective: To provide an environment where young men can evaluate their walk with God, experience spiritual healing and growth, and develop leadership skills by serving each other and the people of Arkansas.

When? October 27 – November 3, 2009 (Arrive October 26 P.M. – leave November 4 A.M.)

Number of students for this Course: Maximum: 25; Minimum: 8

What Can Students Expect?

Spiritual Atmosphere:

Students can expect a disciplined yet relaxed atmosphere that will encourage reflective thinking, honest soul searching with other men, and lots of time alone with God.

Teaching:

Each morning there will be teaching sessions on inner healing, Christian growth, and leadership development

Group Discussion:

Every day students and staff will meet to discuss life issues and questions.

Individual mentoring:

There will be designated times throughout the day when staff members will be available for “one-on-one chats” with students.

Prayer Partnering:

Each day there will be time allotted for prayer partners to talk and pray together. Students will draw names to discover their prayer partner for the weekend. The person God has appointed for your partner will be one you will know very well by the end of the retreat.

Collective Prayer and Praise:

There will be scheduled times for group worship. In addition, spontaneous worship initiated by students will be encouraged.

Recreation:

This course is designed for those who are dead serious about becoming alive for Christ. The whole group will be on a “sports/entertainment fast” in order to awaken desires for recreation that re-create the soul and spirit. There will be lots of time though for exercise! 

Spiritual Disciplines:

Disciplines such as fasting, prayer, solitude, journaling, reading, and witnessing will be encouraged and promoted.

Development of skills:

Camping, first aid, wilderness survival, cooking, leading worship, leading group discussions, mentoring, witnessing, and community service

Accommodations:

Students will sleep in tents when the weather is suitable. (If it is not suitable for you to bring bedding, an air mattress, or a tent, these will be provided.)

Requirements for students prior to the Training Course.

• Read The Serving Leader, by John Stahl-Wert and Ken Jennings (Available from Amazon.com, Half.com, or through your local bookstore.)

• Keep a regular journal of struggles, blessings, and inspirations starting as soon as possible and continuing through the course. (Note: You will NOT be required to share what you write.)

• Describe on paper a few significant parts of your spiritual journey. (Again, you will not need to show this to anyone else.)

• Be prepared to share about one “life issue” for which you would like some advice or counsel.

These requirements are designed to help you get the most out of this course. The more you prepare, the more you will receive. If you attend, we hope this event will be an important milestone in your Christian journey. In addition, we hope this experience will refresh every aspect of your being.

Schedule: Weekdays

6:00 – 6:15 Rise and Shine

6:15 – 7:15 Solitude (Begin the day with God)

7:30 – 8:00 Collective Worship

8:00 – 9:00 Teaching Session

9:00 – 9:45 Group Discussion

9:45 – 10:30 Brunch (*Meals may be simple, but there will be plenty to eat!)

10:30 – 11:30 Teaching Session

11:30 – 12.15 Solitude

12:30 – 5:00 Community service, witnessing, group activities

5:00 – 6:00 Supper* & Fellowship

6:00 – 7:00 Laundry, letter writing, and electronic communication

7:00 – 8:00 Prayer partnering (accountability and prayer)

8:00 – 9:00 Personal evaluations, discussions, & encouragement

9:00 -10:00 End of day sharing

10:00 – 11:00 Solitude (End the day with God)

And then: Early to bed, early to rise, makes a man..?  Yes… for real!

Closing Day:

8:00 A.M. – Collective Recap of the course.

Everyone meets one final time for Reflection, Goals, and Commitments

8:30 A.M. Brunch and Good -Bye’s ………..

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If you are wish to attend, are at least 18 years old, and are able to meet the above requirements, please fill out the application and send it as soon as possible.

You will be contacted within a week of receipt as to the status of your application. The cost of attending this training course is $225.00. You do not need to send any money until we notify you of your acceptance. Please submit applications by September 10, 2009.

Feel free to contact Ernest anytime if you have questions.

Ernest Eby, 870-269-3338, ec.eby.ar@gmail.com

Application

Name __________________________________ Phone Number _______________________

Address _______________________________________________________________________

Email or Fax number: ___________________________________________________________

Name and phone number of minister: ______________________________________________

Please state the primary reasons you have for taking this training course, personal needs

for which you hope to find help, and any goals you hope to accomplish during this event.

____________________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________________

I am able to meet the requirements and am willing to put myself into making this retreat a success.

Signature: __________________________________________________________

Send Applications to:

Ernest Eby

4812 Mountain View Rd.

Mountain View, AR 72560

Or

ec.eby.ar@gmail.com

Or

FAX: 870-269-5137

No.

Yes, my dear readers. I’m afraid that my “profound thoughts” are being discussed, hashed, and otherwise digested with a smaller audience, namely, in the presence of older, wiser men and friends.

The Preacher: at this time, I have not succumbed to the aforementioned vice called Facebook. Thanks for your concern. . .

To all: Thanks for your time and concern about the health of this blog. Unless something really “moves me”, I shall consider my time more valuably spent influencing the lives and hearts of my fellow youth-groupers, church members, and family. Your gracious release from my blogging habbit is cordially requested. . .

thesinger

To Continue Blogging?

or not to continue blogging? That’s the question.

I’m Home.

I am tired. It has been a long day. I got up this morning in Bucharest, Romania at 4:15 AM and flew to Dusseldorf, Germany. We left Dusseldorf, Germany at 11:30 AM for Chicago, Illinois, USA. We arrived in Chicago at 1:30 PM, “two hours” after we took-off. . .  As of this writing, I have been awake for 23 hours and 35 minutes. The sun has shone all day. It has been a long day.  I am tired.

Romania Cont. . .

Yup, we’ve been hanging out here at Marvins for the last two weeks. The time has been packed full with work, visiting other church people, packing and distributing seeds with the seed team, and in general, just hanging out with cousins. It has been a really swell time of conecting with my cousins, especially Timothy, in ways that a person is not able to do at a weekend family gathering, for example. That, I think, has been the best part about this trip. God is teaching me again on this trip that relationships are so much more important than anything else. It makes me really glad for the chance to develop relationships with my cousins, as well as makes me sad because of the friends/relationships I left at home. So, to all my friends and relations, allow me to express my sorrow at our separation. It has been revealing to me how much I think about you. . .

Ok, time to cut the sappiness. On to news. We get home on the fifth of Feb. I leave again for third term CBS on the ninth or tenth. (it depends on some scheduling stuff. . .) I’m getting really stoked about CBS!!! Even here, in the cold land of Romania, I already met two guys that will be there, Raf Y. and Tim somebody, who will be the asst. dean. In addition, one of the seed team guys’ brother will be there. (don’t ask me what his name is; I haven’t met him yet. . .) So, all in all, I’m getting stoked!

Peace be da journey,

thesinger

Romania

Dear readership,

My parents, Loyal, Anja, and myself are flying off to the cold land of Romania to visit my Uncle Marvin and family for three weeks. We’re leaving on Tuesday, the 13th of January, and coming home on the 5th of February. The primary reason for this note is to “reassure” you that yes, I will actually not be posting for a good reason this time.

In other news, the mixing for the Anonymous Somebodies album is finished for the most part. At this point, I’m not able to give you a release date, because of too many unknown variables, but you’ll be fine anyway. . .

Much peace, love, and hair grease from a random man,

thesinger

Joke of the day: The Importance of Correct Punctuation

Dear John:
I want a man who knows what love is all about. You are
generous, kind, thoughtful. People who are not like you
admit to being useless and inferior. You have ruined me for
other men. I yearn for you. I have no feelings whatsoever
when we’re apart. I can be forever happy–will you let me be
yours?
Gloria

Dear John:
I want a man who knows what love is. All about you are
generous, kind, thoughtful people, who are not like you.
Admit to being useless and inferior. You have ruined me. For
other men, I yearn. For you, I have no feelings whatsoever.
When we’re apart, I can be forever happy. Will you let me
be?
Yours,
Gloria

Soon I Will Be Done

As was long announced here, the Anonymous Somebodies recorded on the 12th, 13, and 19th of December. The first day was a real struggle of becoming accustomed to the studio setting. For lack of time, I won’t go into how and why it’s different; just trust me, it is. Because the first day was such a real struggle, we re-recorded all five songs that we did that day during the next two days. They clicked so much better with a days experience behind us. . .

The 13th went well, after the first two songs of the morning, that is. We ended up with eight songs recorded on that day, leaving seven for the next friday. Here’s a quote from an email that I sent to a cousin that describes the last Friday. . .:

“It was a good time. We finished our final 7 songs in 4.5 hours and then went to eat lunch. Lunch was a real celebration. We were done! and it was time to party!!!!!!!! I basically stuffed myself with food and drank lots of pop and coffee. [i.e. Highly caffeinated drinks] We spent the afternoon doing some preliminary mixing. We got a cd to listen to and make notes with, then we’ll go back down on Jan. 3 for the final mixing. I’m happy to be done, and think it’ll be worth listening to. . .”

Here are several pics. . .

During the boring part of the mixing process that we did on the 19th, the girls fell asleep.

Thank you, friends and relations, for thinking and praying for us as we sang our songs, and worshiped God. It was because you prayed that the recording went as well as it did. As a brief side note, directly after lunch on the last day, my throat began to feel rough. As the afternoon progressed, it became evident that my throat was well on its way to becoming totally shot. I feel confident that your prayers on our behalf kept our spiritual and physical health in good condition and prowess for those three intense days.

May the road rise up to meet you,

may the wind be ever at your back.

May the sun shine warm upon your face

and the rain fall softly on your fields.

And until we meet again,

May God hold you in the hollow of his hand.

thesinger

Recording Draws Nigh

Dear friends and relations,

The Anonymous Somebodies will spend tomorrow, (Friday), and the day after tomorrow, (Saturday), plus the next Friday, at Cornerstone Studios in Wichita, KS, recording our album entitled “Wayfaring Stranger”. I am feeling so many things that I don’t know what to say. (insert long pause here) The thought of recording excites me. We know that it’ll be hard work, yet we know that we are ready musically. But then again, any effort on our part is useless without God’s blessing and protection. Without Him, life is a journey through a desert; hot, difficult, and bothersome.

It’s with this realization that we recognize our need of your prayers that God would sing through us and use the album powerfully for his glory. Of a lesser yet important concern, please pray for our physical, emotional, and spiritual health as we spend long days in the studio. Pray that God would recieve any and all glory from this work.

Lest I give you any incorrect impressions, let me close by saying that we have so much fun when we sing together. Singing is a joy. Together we enjoy singing. It is a good time!!!!!!

Many thanks for your thoughts and prayers,

thesinger

I see Shane. . .

A LOT!!!

I see him at all Anonymous Somebodies rehearsals, at Church, at some youth functions, and tonight, I’ll see him at his house, because he (and Dorcas) invited our family for supper.

Seeing Shane is a good thing. Singing with Shane is just as good (or better. . .). In a month or so, I will not see Shane very often. He is leaving. Too bad for me. . . Good for them. . . It’ll all work out. I will visit them in CO. . . We will sing. . .

thesinger