May 2015 MAP Update

In This Issue

Personal Greetings                                                                        Worth All the Work     

Melvin Schrock Update                                                                Children's Conference

Jonas Yoder Update                                                                      Food not only for the Soul

Weekly Leadership Conference Call - Join Us!                      Behind the Scenes

Testimonies from the Amish Awareness Conference         Breaking the Silence Project

Extra! Amish Voice   

In this issue of the Ministry Update, we’d like to share some highlights of the Amish Awareness Conference. 

• Before I begin, let me say: it was a powerful, God- anointed and moving three days.  About 180 people (including children) from ten states came to the conference.
  
  
• Over the course of three days, we recorded twenty-two sessions by no less then a dozen speakers.  We learned about Amish history, culture, beliefs, legalism and how to connect with our Amish neighbors and share the gospel. 
  
  
  
• Several former Amish shared their testimonies, some preached, and others challenged us to find someone in our life to mentor and disciple. 
  
  
• Special sessions included hearing and learning about our Godly American Heritage, rejection, bitterness and how to forgive those who hurt us.
  
  
• On day 2, the English asked the Amish questions. 

• On day 3, we switched the tables and the Amish asked the English questions.  It was fun.  We laughed at each other, learned from each other, and we figured out why we do some of the things we do. As one said—when comparing Greeks and Americans—apples and oranges, but in the end it’s all fruit.
  
  
• Rachel Arnold, who serves on staff at MAP, headed up a children’s ministry, allowing parents to enjoy the conference while children learned about missionaries and on their own level.    
  
  
• No one walked away hungry.  The food was good and plentiful. 

As I consider all the things that took place before, during and after the conference, one particular group of people stands out, and they are the volunteers who invested many hours of their time and served with all their hearts.  They were AMAZING!

3 Day!      12 Speakers!      22 Sessions!

Every session was recorded and is available for purchase from our website.

Purchase Your Copy Today!

Click Here

Thank you all for making the 2015 Amish Awareness Conference great and full of God’s glory.  We can’t help but start planning another one.  Be prepared to join us in 2016 to hear what transpired from the ones who attended in 2015 conference. We are expecting God to do a work beyond human capability. Begin praying with us now. 

—Joe Keim

 The Gospel of John in Three Languages

   =    

 The Gospel of John in German, English and PA Dutch with notes (authors shown)

The Gospel of John book was a highlight at the conference.  To learn more about this project and how you can get involved, please go to The Gospel of John.

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Greetings to you in Jesus’ name. We were sad to miss out on the Amish Awareness Conference, but God’s ways are best. I had hernia surgery scheduled for a week before the conference. Unexpectedly, the surgery was rescheduled. I was not able to take a week off work for the conference and then again for the surgery, but we were praying for the conference the entire time.

Thank you for all your prayers. It was touching to receive the cards the children made for us at the conference.

We are still presenting MAP in churches as God gives us opportunities.  Please pray for a man with whom I have had a few phone conversations recently, that God would open he and his wife’s eyes to the truth. He is still Amish, but he has a great hunger for God’s word and has many questions.

Continue to pray as we present the Ministry in churches and raise our support. Thank you so much for your prayers and support. God honors your prayers.

Support the Schrock's Ministry

— The Schrocks

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Dear Friends,  Greetings in the name of Jesus. Here in western Kentucky we are enjoying beautiful spring weather after an unusually hard winter. 

I had the opportunity to speak at several local churches and share about the Amish. We’ve got another church scheduled in the near future and several others showing interest. The Ohio Valley Baptist Association, which represents quite a few churches in Amish country, has asked me to come share with them in their associational meeting in May.

I was blessed to be able to attend the second annual Amish Awareness Conference in March. It was great to see so many people who came because of a burden to share the Gospel with their Amish neighbors. I believe all those attending went home with a greater urgency to reach out to the lost. I was privileged to stay with an Old Order Mennonite family while attending the conference. I was able to share with them about ministry in the prison and our need for more volunteers for the prison events that we do. They showed great interest.

We are gearing up for several events at the prison and are in need of volunteers. If you are interested in volunteering, please contact me at 270-625-6093. Here are some dates: Mother’s Day picnic at the women's prison on May 16. Returning Hearts Days June 5 and 6 at the men's prison. Father's Day picnic on June 20th.

Thank you for your continuing prayer and financial support.

Support the Yoder's Ministry

— The Yoders

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Join Joe Keim, Jonas Yoder, Melvin Schrock and Samuel Girod every Monday morning at 7:30 EST. for a 60-minute leadership meeting. 

Dial: (302) 202-1110

Enter Code: 409703

This time is used to pray and encourage each other as we seek to reach out to Amish and former Amish with the gospel. 

If you have questions, are seeking advice, or simply want to share a personal testimony, please join us.

Everyone Welcome!

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Thank you for hosting the conference this weekend. God used it to encourage us to be used to reach more people in our community with the gospel.

The conference overall was awesome!

Thoroughly informative—even to those who have been involved with the Amish for a long time. Well worth the money and time.

I very much enjoyed the conference. I am excited about the housing project for the future.

Great job. Good and helpful information. God’s hand is clearly upon MAP Ministry.

Very good, helpful conference. I live near Amish and know a few. I was interested to know how to best share the gospel with them. I really enjoyed learning Amish history, some of their beliefs, and how it compares with ours. It was very inspiring to hear the testimonies. The panel of English answering ex-Amish questions was very helpful. The best part was the testimonies of those saved who are Amish. The food was excellent.

Thank you so much! This was a priceless, precious event!

This was an amazing conference and I hope to be able to attend another one.

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We have accumulated many extra copies of the Amish Voice over the years and do not want to waste them.  They are intended for the Amish and contain Bible studies and other helpful articles. If you would like some of these to hand out to others, distribute them in stores,  pass out in your Sunday school classes, etc., and are willing to pay the postage, we will send them to you. Let us know how many you could use.

(419) 962-1515, or Rose@MapMinistry.org

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Now that the conference is over, my days at the office are back to being a little more normal and manageable. Though, often hectic and sometimes chaotic before the conference, I did enjoy preparing for the conference book table. Although, we seemed to use tons of paper and ink, we had everything ready on time.  I was really looking forward to the conference since I did not attend last year. It was interesting to put faces with names, as I heard many names of those who attended the conference mentioned around the office.

I did get sick on the second day (I hope I didn’t spread any  germs!). It put a damper on my end of things, but I was still thrilled to be a part of the conference.

Being a part of this conference was a blessing! I love meeting new people, and I got the opportunity to do so quite a few times. Preparing for it was a lot of hard work, but seeing it all come together was worth it all. God bless!

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I was challenged and blessed by the Amish Awareness Conference. Throughout the conference, the children focused on the missionaries here at MAP, but also learned ways to help other missionaries. Our first day was focused around praying for our missionaries. The children also made crafts, learned about the three MAP missionaries, and made cards for them. 

Day two was amazing! I introduced the children to Bible sword drills, where the children divide into two teams and the leader calls out a Scripture reference,

seeing which child finds  it first. We also discussed different ways that we could see God’s blessings in our lives. The children made prayer boxes into which they could place their prayer requests, which can be opened at a later date to see how God answers prayers. We also prayed for our MAP missionaries and made banners for each missionary and his family.

Day three we discussed the many ways to pray for our missionaries and how to help them as children. The children finished up their crafts from the previous two days and played many games such as football, Bible drills, and musical chairs. Overall, this was an amazing time to learn about prayer and how God works in each of our lives.

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Broasted chicken, mashed potatoes and gravy, sandwiches and salads, pie and ice cream, whoopie pies.

Another Amish Awareness Conference has come and gone, another very large group of people were fed for three days, and another small group of ladies is exhausted! It was all worth it, though, if more people realize that the Amish need the gospel and that they can be God's ambassadors to them. Praise God that we had enough food and that everyone appeared to be enjoying it! God is so faithful! 

Thank you to Chris, Kathy, Miriam, Joyce, Naomi, and Rosie, who worked from early morning to late at night to clean, plan, prepare, and serve the great meals that we had. 

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My responsibilities for the Amish Awareness Conference were doing what I do best—working behind the scenes. My main duties were finding housing for those who needed it, organizing the registration process, and having the Bible club volunteers busily working during the MAP building tours.

 I was responsible for seeing that eight families and a few single people had places to stay. It took a lot of phone calls, as finding housing for those who need it can be a little difficult, but everything worked out well. We had some wonderful people who took in these families to house them for three days, and we are very grateful for them.

I also was responsible for doing the name tags for those who registered for the conference, the workers and the speakers, making sure that those who needed a workbook got one, making sure that everything was in order for the registration, and  knowing who had paid and who needed to pay so that things ran smoothly on registration day. I had helpers who did a great job (thank you, Nikki, Linda, and Carol!) and I don’t think I would change a thing.  I was honored to be part of this conference.

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Joining us at the Amish Awareness Conference was the Graber family.  Joseph Graber was fourteen years old when his family was excommunicated from the Old Order Amish church. He is on a journey to discover where the Amish come from and what his heritage means.

Breaking the Silence is a docudrama that explains the origins and legacy of the Amish faith and traces the Graber family back to the Reformation Era. Joseph & Stacie Graber are telling this story with the hopes that it will encourage the church of today as we learn from the church of the last 2,000 years.

For more information and how you can get involved in this exciting new project, please go to their website: MyAmishStory.com 

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