“Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful” (Col. 4:2, TNIV).
Have you ever noticed how easy it is to overlook the “thankful” part our celebration of Thanksgiving? Often the challenges of hosting a Thanksgiving meal can distract and deplete our energies. Perhaps you have a family tradition that cultivates a focus on gratitude for which this holiday was intended? In our family, we each take a moment during the Thanksgiving meal to go around the table and remember those gifts from God for which we are most grateful. By celebrating God’s faithfulness in our lives, we attempt to capture the purpose of the sumptuous meal with family and friends.
As the extended CBE family, I thought you might enjoy hearing how God has worked in CBE. The truth is that many of you worked beside us throughout the year making new outreach possible. And, as I reflect upon our blessings this Thanksgiving, many of your names come to mind as partners in CBE’s work. We give thanks for each of you, for your sacrifice, encouragement and generosity that helped equip new people with biblical resources on gender. Here is a quick glimpse of what we were able to accomplish together, in God’s power:
CBE participated in the Evangelical Fellowship of India Conference—an event held every ten years. Over 600 pastors and leaders from all over India attended. CBE led two workshops and contributed to the panel on gender and ministry. We distributed hundreds of books and CD-ROMs. The response was overwhelmingly positive. One of our lectures and PowerPoints will be used by a prominent missions organization to train their leaders working in Asia! And, our book, Still Side by Side by Janet George, is being translated into Hindi! I had given a copy of this book to a leader working with children and families. She quickly read it in one evening. The next day the topic of gender surfaced and our book proved instrumental in this leader’s discussions.
CBE’s 2009 conference assessed the cultural impact on gender and attracted record numbers of students! Our first-ever student paper competition garnered 21 submissions.
CBE launched a new website, and phase 2 of our new e-commerce solution is under way!
CBE journals (Mutuality and Priscilla Papers) were recognized with five awards at the 2009 Evangelical Press Association convention!
Many organizations have joined CBE as organizational members this year!
God continues to bring gifted and visionary student interns to oversee Arise, which is read by thousands around the world.
Despite a challenging economy, CBE has not cut any major programs!
Our sense of gratitude is overflowing for the countless friends like you who express their commitment for our work each day. Because of your faithfulness to CBE, we are able to inspire individuals like a young woman who approached me at a conference and asked, “Can I give you a hug?” Throwing her arms around my neck she said, with tears in her eyes, that God had used CBE to restore her faith in Christianity! So, I too throw my digital arms around your neck this week, and thank you for standing with CBE through your prayers and your gifts of time and talent. Thank you for bringing biblical renewal and liberation to those who feel alone, devalued and excluded.
May God send you a Thanksgiving in which praise for our faithful Lord’s goodness is ever on your lips and bursting from your hearts!!
