Patti Deakin with one of her neighbors.

In Allendale, members of the Christians in Mission team are taking on new jobs, new responsibilities and preparing for new members. “Every member of the team is doing more than ever. It’s a busy time,” says David Zimmel, the mission coordinator responsible for Allendale.

Nathan Barrett, who leads the Christians in Mission team, recently accepted a full-time job working with MBI, a Shreveport-based manufacturer of blast-resistant buildings. Nathan and Genevieve are expecting their third child in May. Genevieve, a part-time physical therapist, recently volunteered to cook dinner each week for the single women’s household so that they are free to run an after-school group for neighborhood children.

Ben Reinhardt, a 2011 graduate of the University of Minnesota, has taken over responsibility for day-to-day administration of the Allendale work. He coordinates the work of visiting Action teams. He also makes himself available to respond to calls and visits from neighbors: a young man who needs a ride to a job interview or a neighbor who needs a ride to the hospital.

Kathleen Mehaffey recently became the leader of the single women’s household. The change freed up some time for former leader Joan Pingel, a special education teacher, so she can study more effective ways to work with the children of the neighborhood. Joan and Kathleen also make time for regular visits to a young single mother, Susanna Howard, who lives a few blocks away. “We are reading through the Gospels together,” Kathleen says. “She invited us to her baby shower and recently told us that we should start inviting more people to join us when we get together.”

Laura Brummer, a phone operator for a group medical practice, runs one of three weekly after-school groups for neighborhood girls. She also enjoys driving neighborhood children to church each week. When the number of regulars grew to four, she asked for help from Colleen Murray and Ben. Three of the children have asked to be baptized, so Laura, Colleen and Ben are teaching them about the 10 Commandments and other Christian basics so that they can be baptized in their respective church congregations.

Gerry Deakin, a sales rep for LaSalle Company in South Bend, also acts as neighborhood bike repairman and landscaper for the CIM team. Lately, he has also helped with administrative tasks related to the community’s purchase of some nearby properties. His wife, Patti, meanwhile, talks with neighborhood women who drop by, and runs a weekly exercise group for some of the women.

Ruthanne Seitz (Shreveport) continues leading a weekly Bible study for a group of older neighborhood women. Ron Seitz, her husband, a retired Lutheran pastor, walks over to the women’s houses and escorts them to the Bible study. Claudia Stephens, one of the regulars, recently ran into some family problems on her birthday. At one point in the day she thought, O Lord, if only I had some help with this situation. Just then there was a knock at the door. It was Ruthanne and Patti bringing a birthday dessert. The three of them were able to pray about the situation together, a great comfort to Claudia.

Thomas Duddy has finished his first year as a nurse at Shreveport’s VA hospital. He keeps up a friendship with Ed Allison, a retired neighbor who has come to prayer meetings and has helped with Action projects in the summer.

1442 Yale Avenue will become home for Pat and Edna Malone (South Bend) beginning in June.

What’s next for the CIM team?  A volunteer crew comprised of about 30 women from campus and mission divisions will arrive for a work trip in early May. In late May, Edna Malone will move in, ahead of her husband, Pat, who is coming in mid-June after wrapping up his 25-year teaching career at Trinity School at Greenlawn. The Malones are excited to be joining the CIM team in Allendale. John Bowar (Servant Branch) will also be joining the team this summer, following his graduation from the University of Minnesota.

Action teams will begin arriving in June and will get right to work repairing neighbors’ homes and organizing the summer camp. After record attendance at last year’s camp (57 campers at its peak), this year’s camp will be divided into seven different groups along age and gender lines. At the end of the summer, long-time team member Josh Caneff, a remote employee of the Healy Group in South Bend, and Mary Claire Busk (Indianapolis) will be getting married. (The wedding will take place in South Bend.) Mary Claire recently moved from Indianapolis to Allendale and is living in household with the Barretts.

“The Lord is doing so much with us that it is sometimes hard to keep track of it all,” David says. “We are especially grateful that he is giving us new CIM team members so that we can continue to grow and expand his work in Allendale.”

Vancouver-Portland branch members are playing a big role in helping to organize a day-long free health clinic for their north Portland neighbors. It is an ecumenical collaboration bringing together community members and members of a wide range of north Portland churches. Baptists, Pentecostals, Methodists, Presbyterians and Roman Catholics are among those represented.

On August 4, north Portland residents can come to Roosevelt High School to receive free medical, dental and eye exams, chiropractic care and other services. Event planners are following a template created by Compassion Connect, a Christian nonprofit organization that has been a resource for similar clinics around Portland for more than five years.

“This is a unique opportunity for us to connect with and love our neighbors in north Portland as Christ in a very practical way,” says principal branch coordinator Charlie Fraga. Seven or eight hundred neighbors and volunteers are expected to participate.

Branch members are hard at work, as leaders of seven of the 15 task forces that are planning and implementing the clinic. Ann Martinez is recruiting translators who speak Spanish, Russian and a host of other languages. Jerome Devlaeminck and Charlie are serving on the finance team. Steve Hansen and Erin Davis are leading a team that will transport and set up medical and dental equipment. Luke Glover and Andrew Ridenour are responsible for security. Liz Cole is lining up childcare and Linda Jo Devlaeminck is organizing a social services fair that will take place during the clinic. Many other branch members are working on these and other task forces.

Fred Dang is organizing transportation for patients to satellite sites–offices of dentists who want to participate but can’t set up shop at the high school. “I hope to accomplish this with much prayer, fasting and being open to the Holy Spirit,” he says, noting that the time guests spend riding between sites will be a prime time for establishing Christian relationships with them.

The branch has been doing city-building work in north Portland since 2006. The area is now home to 35 adult branch members. Trinity Academy, a school the branch started last fall, and Direct Development, a business that Charlie leads and which employs several community members, are also located in north Portland.

The genesis of the health clinic project dates to the fall of 2010, when branch members living in north Portland were seeking new ways that they could connect with their neighbors in Christ. In that process, Eric Shreves heard about Compassion Connect’s efforts in other Portland neighborhoods. He discussed the idea of organizing a north Portland clinic with Charlie and the other branch coordinators. They presented it to the branch for consideration at a January, 2011, community meeting. After researching the idea some more, the branch decided to pursue being a catalyst for launching a north Portland neighborhood clinic.

Fred Dang and several others worked to find pastors to cosponsor the clinic, but they had little success at first. A breakthrough came late in the summer of 2011, when branch members were looking around for space for Trinity Academy and came across Northminster Presbyterian Church. “Not only was the pastor open to having our school at his facility,” says Charlie, “but he liked the idea of the clinic. He introduced us to a group of 30 or so ministers he met with regularly who had real interest in working to bring tangible benefits of the kingdom of God to the area. Several of them had heard about Compassion Connect, but none had been able to devote as much time to investigate it as we had.”

Charlie, Fred and six of the pastors and other Christian leaders agreed to form an executive committee to launch and oversee the clinic. They recently sponsored an official kick-off gathering to attract the 300 to 400 volunteers it will take to care for the expected crowd of 400 on the big day. Nearly all of the 175 attendees signed up as volunteers. The executive director of the Compassion Connect resource center in Portland said that this was by far the most highly attended kickoff event he had ever seen.

“Being a big player in the organization of a clinic like this is new territory for our branch,” says Charlie. “We expect some glitches and time crunches along the way, but we are excited to reach out to our neighbors in love and to have the chance to build relationships with them. We ask the whole community to join us in prayer for this effort.”

Veronica Linczer

Two years ago, we reported the story of Veronica Linczer, daughter of Ron and Anne Linczer (South Bend), who was born with a cleft palate. When Veronica was three, doctors recommended a surgery to graft bone from her hip into her jaw, so that a permanent tooth would be able to grow at the site of the cleft. After many prayers, however, the cleft closed on its own and a baby tooth emerged, surprising specialists at an Indianapolis children’s hospital and making the surgery unnecessary.

Veronica is now seven, and last February Anne took her to see an orthodontist, her first visit to see him in three years, since before the healing. Anne was excited about the appointment, anticipating that new X-rays would be compared to older X-rays, giving her an opportunity to talk about the healing. Anne says she was “giddy with anticipation.”

She began by telling the doctor all about Veronica’s healing. She says the orthodontist responded reservedly, suspending judgment until after an exam and fresh X-rays. First he examined Veronica’s mouth. He said that he could see a space where a baby tooth had fallen out and he wondered if an adult tooth would be coming in. Then he took X-rays.

When he brought the new X-rays in, the doctor was excited. “He kept saying that it was a miracle,” Anne recalls. “He said that there was a 100% certainty that no tooth would come through a cleft, but he could see an adult tooth coming in where the baby tooth had been.”

The adult tooth had turned sideways, meaning some orthodontic work will be needed in the future.

“It was great to share about a miracle like that in a doctor’s office and to see documentation with X-rays,” Anne says. “I want to give God the glory!”

Jessica Davis

Jessica Davis, the 13-year-old daughter of Basil and Shyla Davis (New Orleans), out spelled nearly 200 other students to win the New Orleans regional spelling bee in March. Her victory secured her a spot in the highly competitive Scripps National Spelling Bee, to be held in Washington, DC, in late May. Jessica will have to pass a written spelling test and two oral exams to qualify for the final event, the famous spelling bee televised nationally on ESPN.

“I really didn’t think I could win,” Jessica said, “especially when I heard that last year’s winner was allowed to try again.”

In addition to overcoming the defending champ, Jessica beat out competitors from 40 schools in a large region comprised of seven parishes and including the city of New Orleans. One competitor was her own 11-year-old brother, Peter, a sixth-grader, who also made it to the top five before getting knocked out in round 12 after misspelling the word “homburg” (a stiff, German-style felt hat).

Those final four spellers hung on doggedly for 22 more rounds, so long that the judges ran out of words on the list of 500 they had given the participants as a study guide. At some point Jessica realized she was in uncharted waters, needing to spell words she had not practiced.

In round 34, all four correctly navigated through words like “hoomalimali” (a Hawaiian word for something whose purpose is to attract positive attention) “sarsaparilla,” “perestroika,” “apparatchik” and “beetewk” (a Russian breed of work horses).  Finally, the other three stumbled on “cinephile,” “phosphorus” and  “symmetrical,” respectively. To secure the win, Jessica spelled two words in a row correctly: “morose” and then “forage.”

A seventh-grader at St. Benilde School in Metairie, Jessica follows in the footsteps of her older sister Melinda, who won the same contest two years ago and went to DC. She and Shyla had brought Jessica along for the week of activities, including tours of the national monuments. “I think that experience made a big impression on her,” says Shyla.

“This past fall my mother told me to give spelling bees a try,” Jessica says. “I did, and discovered how fun it is.”

Jessica attributes some of her success to her love of reading. “It’s easier to remember a word if you’ve read it.” She reads all sorts of books; The Lord of the Rings is her favorite series. Another factor in the win: “I studied the guide list, and my brother and I quizzed each other.”

Basil will be the only family member available to accompany Jessica to Washington for the national bee. “We didn’t put much thought into the possibility she might win, so we went ahead and purchased tickets to go back home to India for a family gathering,” Basil said. “Shyla will go to India as planned, with Melinda and Peter. Jessica and I will join them later.”

From left: Laura Nagle, Coach Heather Hahn, Marilyn Preuss, Olivia Griggs, Rachel Cramer, Sierra Barbour, Journee Elie; Christen Havard, Molly Hoover, Katie Was, Marian DeLee

The girls’ varsity basketball team from Trinity School at Greenlawn edged out Lighthouse Christian Academy of Bloomington, Indiana, to win the state tournament of the Indiana Association of Christian Schools (IACS) on March 3.

“The outcome was in question the entire game, but our girls prevailed and won by one point: 37-36,” said first-year coach Heather Hahn. “I’m tremendously proud of how theyplayed.”

“We felt a lot of momentum remaining from last year, when we came in second in the same tournament with basically the same players,” says junior co-captain Christen Havard, who plays post.

“We had heard that Lighthouse Christian was pretty good,” adds junior guard and co-captain Marian Delee, “but we were still confident.”

Katie Was and Marilyn Preuss.

Trinity started out slow, with Lighthouse making the first few baskets. “Eventually Molly Hoover made a three-point shot that rallied us,” says Marilyn Preuss, a sophomore playing post. At the end of the first quarter, the score was 11-14 Lighthouse.

The lead seesawed from team to team in the second quarter. “I was frustrated,” says Christen. “I wasn’t getting rebounds and shots. But I was more concerned with how the team was doing. We started accumulating fouls.” At the half, Trinity was still down 18-22.

Christen remembers half-time: “We looked at one another and said to ourselves, ‘We’re not losing! We’re going to win. We’ve been looking forward to this since last year.”

“Second half we had a more solid defense and started thinking about our shots,” says Marian. “We scored less, but we got our heads together. The fans were cheering more, which gave us energy.”

At the end of the third quarter, Trinity was behind by the largest margin of the night, 26-32, but the tide quickly turned. Molly Hoover made another three-point basket, and Trinity managed not only to catch up but to fashion a six-point lead from which Lighthouse never fully recovered.

Molly Hoover, Katie Was and Christen Havard in the championship game.

Except they almost did. During the last few minutes, “Lighthouse slowly caught up to us with free throws,” says Marian. “We knew they wanted to foul us to get the ball back, and win through free throws. But we passed back and forth so well they weren’t fast enough to foul us. It was like a giant game of Keepaway, until the clock wound down.”

“Coach had taught us how to close up games,” says junior guard Katie Was.

The girls ended the season with a 19-5 record.

“The best thing about coaching at Trinity is that there’s no attitude problem,” says Coach Hahn. “The girls care about one another and help one another. Plus, there are no seniors on the team this year so I expect an experienced crew and bright future next season!”

The totaled car.

On a stormy afternoon in early March, a pickup truck traveling at highway speeds slammed into the back of a Ford Explorer carrying Justin and Cathy Walters (CIM Indianapolis). The pickup shoved the Explorer forward, lodging it beneath the back of a semi. The Explorer’s windshield shattered; its hood crumpled like paper. But Justin and Cathy, their car smashed between two vehicles, escaped unharmed except for minor whiplash.

(Watch video.)

Justin and Cathy were driving to North Carolina to visit Justin’s two sisters and their families on Friday, March 2. They passed through storms in Kentucky that reduced visibility and caused slick spots on the road. An accident ahead of them halted traffic on I-75, creating a long line of stopped vehicles. A semi sat at the end of the line and Justin stopped behind it.

A couple seconds later, they heard a loud bang and felt a massive jolt as the pick up truck slammed into their Explorer. A semi’s huge back bumper loomed just a few feet in front of their faces. “The suddenness was disorienting,” says Justin. “The rear-end and front-end crashes felt like one big collision.”
The Explorer came to a halt. Its airbags deployed.

“Are you OK?” Justin asked Cathy. “I think so,” she ventured. “‘Thank you, Lord! Thank you, Lord! Thaaaank you, Lord!’ was all I could say,” says Justin. “We prayed briefly, then got out. Cathy had to crawl out my side.”

People got out of their cars and offered help, encouragement and prayer. Several witnesses described the events to the police. The driver of the pickup apologized for failing to stop in time, and Justin and Cathy offered their forgiveness.

An ambulance brought Justin and Cathy to a hospital for X-Rays and CAT scans, but the tests showed no serious injuries. After several hours–spent mostly contacting family and friends–they were released.

The Walterses’ insurance company declared the Explorer totaled, offering them a generous settlement that has helped them buy a new car.

“God’s angels must have been busy looking after us,” says Cathy.

“We are so aware of how much worse things could have been,” adds Justin. “From what we could tell, the other two drivers also experienced little more than whiplash.”

by Chris Meehan (South Bend)

Don Busekrus and his daughters.

Campers and counselors from the South Bend branch will head north to Canon Falls, Minnesota, in August to join Servant Branch brothers and sisters for a week at Servant Camp. John Zwerneman made the announcement at a meeting of the South Bend branch on January 8, following a series of discussions in the branch about the future of its summer camp.

“This year, we’re going to be joining forces with another very successful camp that began the same year our camp did, in 1978,” John said.

Servant Camp director Pat Ficker is enthusiastic about a unified camp. “I am extremely happy at the prospect of combining camps,” he says, “and my fellow camp directors are delighted as well. I think it’s the Lord at work–making us all one.”

John explained that the South Bend branch will not hold their camp locally in the next few years due to rising costs, scheduling conflicts and a forecasted decline in the number of branch youth. “We decided to take action now, before a decline in numbers became a big problem,” he said. Servant Camp has also seen a decline in the number of campers in recent years, making the move advantageous for both branches, Pat says.

John and Mary Behrens (South Bend), directors of the South Bend branch’s camp, will join Pat’s administrative staff and take special concern for the campers from South Bend. Pat says he hopes to place a counselor or two from South Bend with each group of campers.

“We’re looking forward to the relationships that will blossom for our children when they experience the joys of summer camp with the children from Servant Branch,” John Behrens says.

South Bend parent Ann Marie Pingel admits to feeling a touch of sadness that South Bend branch members won’t be returning to Michigan’s Camp Tanadoonah in 2012, but she also sees a sunny side: “I’m excited about the opportunities our children will have to build relationships between branches–something that usually has to wait until they join Action.”

South Bend camper Leo Kane (10), is excited that the new camp will give him the opportunity to fire a gun at their rifle range. His friend Xavier Olsen, 11, agreed, but added that using the camp’s climbing wall is a primary goal for him.

Calla Couch (20) is a veteran of both camps and has been encouraging her South Bend friends to join her at Servant Camp for years. “I really like it that the camp property is so large, offering plenty of beautiful hiking space.” This year’s camp will be a family affair for Calla: not only are her two sisters, Katherine (17) and Colleen (15) serving as counselors, and her youngest siblings Daniel (13), Aidan (10) and Bonnie (7) going as campers, but her mother, Beth, has also volunteered to be a counselor.

Long-time camp director Larry Grauvogel (South Bend) says the move fits in well with the history of camp in South Bend. “We’ve always been kind of flexible, switching locations from time to time. Though the commute time will obviously take longer this way, there’s a plus: Servant Camp is open to 8th-10th graders, for whom South Bend camp hasn’t been.”

Servant Camp has has been the week-long home for thousands of campers since its start in 1978. Carmen Lee (Servant Branch) led the camp for 26 of those years until his retirement in 2010.

“Every year we hear stories of how God blessed camp with healings, surprises, interventions in the weather, and great relationships,” says John Zwerneman. “We know that camp is a wonderful part of our life and we are thrilled to be doing it in this new way.

“This will be an exciting new adventure for us in South Bend. Please pray for both branches as we prepare to join together for camp in 2012.”

Pete and Megan Sgroi

Early in the afternoon on December 4, Megan Sgroi (South Bend) was pushing her grocery cart up and down the aisles when she felt the pain level in her back rising. She didn’t think she had the strength to finish her shopping, so she left her cart in front of the service desk and hurried home for a rest. She thought about skipping the community meeting at 3:00, but decided she would go and brave her way through it.

She spent most of the meeting lying down at the back of the room. When the meeting ended, Jodi Engles and Claire Kurdelak chatted with Megan and then prayed with her. Megan also asked for healing prayers from Mark Timler, who was serving on the prayer team.

Megan says she didn’t experience any drop in her pain level during the prayer, “but within two or three days I noticed all the pain was gone.”

Now, almost two months later, Megan’s back is still feeling fine. A part-time nurse and mother of five, she no longer has trouble loading the dishwasher, shopping for groceries, sitting at a desk at work or sleeping through the night. “I’m able to do everything I need to do at work and at home,” she says.

Her struggle with back pain began in August, 2010, and seemed to be triggered by a strenuous exercise routine.

“Megan was in pain all the time,” her husband Pete remembers. “She had to lie down several times a day.”

“Pete and the kids would help when they could,” Megan says, “but with him working and five children ages 2 to 11, our hands are pretty full. Life still goes on . . . so I did too.”

An MRI revealed a bulging disc in her lower spine which was pressing on a nerve. After a few months of physical therapy last winter, Megan began receiving spinal injections from an anesthesiologist. One of the injections worked, but six months later the pain returned, as bad as it had ever been. She experienced the pain for about three weeks, before it disappeared again, three days after the December 4 community meeting where she received prayer.

A few weeks after the pain left, at Christmastime, Pete and Megan hosted two dinners for 23 members of Pete’s family. “Megan went well above and beyond the call of duty for us,” says Pete’s mother, Gerry Sgroi (South Bend). “She was carrying on like a house afire for days.

“She couldn’t have done that before.”