BCM International

[et_pb_section fb_built=”1″ _builder_version=”3.19.16″ custom_padding=”13px|0px|0|0px|false|false”][et_pb_row custom_padding=”0|0px|0|0px|false|false” _builder_version=”3.19.16″][et_pb_column type=”4_4″ _builder_version=”3.19.16″][et_pb_image src=”https://bcmintl.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/Plenary-session-East-London-CMC.jpg” align=”center” _builder_version=”3.19.18″ custom_margin=”||0px” custom_margin_last_edited=”off|tablet” custom_padding=”||0px” custom_padding_last_edited=”off|desktop”][/et_pb_image][et_pb_text _builder_version=”3.19.18″ text_font=”||||||||” text_orientation=”right” custom_margin=”0px||0px||true” custom_padding=”0px||0px||true”]Plenary session – East London CMC [/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”3.19.18″]By: Pat Govender and Esther Zimmerman with Jeanette Windle  [/et_pb_text][/et_pb_column][/et_pb_row][et_pb_row custom_padding=”14px|0px|7px|0px|false|false” _builder_version=”3.19.18″][et_pb_column type=”3_5″ _builder_version=”3.19.18″][et_pb_text _builder_version=”3.19.18″]“2019 marks ten years since my father and I first visited South Africa to launch BCM children’s ministry with Africa’s first Train the Trainer,” shares Esther Zimmerman, founder of  In Step with the Master Teacher [ISMT], BCM’s children’s ministry training curriculum. “We were praying that God would raise up someone to take BCM children’s ministry forward in Africa.  Pat Govender […]

[et_pb_section fb_built=”1″ _builder_version=”3.19.16″ custom_padding=”0|0px|42.3958px|0px|false|false”][et_pb_row custom_padding=”5px|0px|21.1979px|0px|false|false” _builder_version=”3.19.16″][et_pb_column type=”4_4″ _builder_version=”3.19.16″][et_pb_image src=”https://bcmintl.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/Family-Outreach-with-HoF-at-Elim-Devotional-Message-e1551578877380.jpg” _builder_version=”3.19.18″ custom_margin=”||0px” custom_padding=”||0px”][/et_pb_image][et_pb_text _builder_version=”3.19.18″ text_font=”||||||||” text_orientation=”right” custom_margin=”0px||0px||true” custom_padding=”0px||0px||true”]Family Outreach with HoF at Elim-Devotional Message [/et_pb_text][/et_pb_column][/et_pb_row][et_pb_row custom_padding=”0|0px|0|0px|false|false” _builder_version=”3.19.18″][et_pb_column type=”1_2″ _builder_version=”3.19.18″][et_pb_text _builder_version=”3.19.18″]By: Jeanette Windle with Damaris Grauer and Birgit Karsch  Sorsok Háza translates literally from Hungarian to English as “House of Fates.” The word “Sorsok” is used in reference to social outcasts whose “fate” or “destiny” is on the margin of society. The homeless. Drug and alcohol addicts. Those with mental or social problems. Even the elderly who may be suffering Alzheimer’s or dementia or have no family to care for them. The […]

[et_pb_section fb_built=”1″ _builder_version=”3.19.16″ custom_padding=”0|0px|42.3958px|0px|false|false”][et_pb_row custom_padding=”0|0px|3px|0px|false|false” _builder_version=”3.19.16″][et_pb_column type=”4_4″ _builder_version=”3.19.16″][et_pb_image src=”https://bcmintl.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/Vacation-Bible-School-group.jpg” _builder_version=”3.20.1″ custom_margin=”||0px” custom_padding=”||0px”][/et_pb_image][et_pb_text _builder_version=”3.19.18″ text_font=”||||||||” text_orientation=”right” custom_margin=”0px||0px||true” custom_padding=”0px||0px||true”]Vacation Bible School group [/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”3.19.16″]By: Jeanette Windle with Manuel, Lidia, and Mayna Dominguez  [/et_pb_text][/et_pb_column][/et_pb_row][et_pb_row custom_padding=”21.1979px|0px|8px|0px|false|false” _builder_version=”3.20.1″][et_pb_column type=”3_5″ _builder_version=”3.20.1″][et_pb_text _builder_version=”3.20.1″]On the border with Guatemala, the Mexican state of Chiapas was once best known for Zapatista guerrillas, drug trafficking, and as a refugee crossing from Central America. Today it is known for having the highest poverty rate in Mexico as well as high crime rates. The latter stems in part from lack of employment for demobilized guerrillas as well as “squatters.” These include an estimated […]

[et_pb_section fb_built=”1″ _builder_version=”3.20.1″ custom_padding=”0|0px|42.3958px|0px|false|false”][et_pb_row _builder_version=”3.20.1″ custom_padding=”0|0px|0|0px|false|false”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″ _builder_version=”3.20.1″][et_pb_image src=”https://bcmintl.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/Evangelism-class-e1552355580991.jpg” align=”center” _builder_version=”3.20.2″ custom_margin=”||0px” custom_padding=”||0px”][/et_pb_image][et_pb_text _builder_version=”3.19.18″ text_font=”||||||||” text_orientation=”right” custom_margin=”0px||0px||true” custom_padding=”0px||0px||true”]Practicing during evangelism class [/et_pb_text][/et_pb_column][/et_pb_row][et_pb_row custom_padding=”21.1979px|0px|0|0px|false|false” _builder_version=”3.20.2″][et_pb_column type=”3_5″ _builder_version=”3.20.2″][et_pb_text _builder_version=”3.20.2″]By: Jeanette Windle with Roger Espinoza Roger Espinoza was seven years old—and hungry—as he listened to his Sunday school teacher Wilma explaining the significance of each color in the Wordless Book. The date was June 23, 1974, and the hour was well past mid-day by the time the class ended in the Bolivian highland city of Cochabamba where the Espinoza family lived. The teacher closed with an invitation for any child who wanted to […]

[et_pb_section fb_built=”1″ _builder_version=”3.21″ custom_padding=”11px|0px|42.3958px|0px|false|false”][et_pb_row use_custom_width=”on” custom_width_px=”900px” custom_padding=”0|0px|0|0px|false|false” _builder_version=”3.21″ module_alignment=”center”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″ _builder_version=”3.21″][et_pb_image src=”https://bcmintl.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/Header-image-Group-project-Mobilize-Africa-3.jpg” _builder_version=”3.21″ custom_margin=”0px||0px” custom_padding=”||0px”][/et_pb_image][et_pb_text _builder_version=”3.19.18″ text_font=”||||||||” text_orientation=”right” custom_margin=”0px||0px||true” custom_padding=”0px||0px||true”] Group project – Mobilize Africa [/et_pb_text][/et_pb_column][/et_pb_row][et_pb_row custom_padding=”21.1979px|0px|4px|0px|false|false” _builder_version=”3.21″][et_pb_column type=”4_4″ _builder_version=”3.21″][et_pb_text _builder_version=”3.21″] By: Lisa Biegert [/et_pb_text][/et_pb_column][/et_pb_row][et_pb_row custom_padding=”21.1979px|0px|0|0px|false|false” _builder_version=”3.21″][et_pb_column type=”1_2″ _builder_version=”3.21″][et_pb_text _builder_version=”3.21″] BCM International’s children’s ministry training program has three different levels. In Step with the Master Teacher (ISMT) trains children’s ministry volunteers how to teach children. Train the Trainer (TTT) trains regional leaders how to teach ISMT within their churches and denomination. Mobilize is the third level, training designated Lead Trainers who have graduated from Train the Trainer to be able […]

[et_pb_section fb_built=”1″ _builder_version=”3.19.16″ custom_padding=”0|0px|42.3958px|0px|false|false”][et_pb_row custom_padding=”0|0px|0|0px|false|false” _builder_version=”3.19.16″][et_pb_column type=”4_4″ _builder_version=”3.19.16″][et_pb_image src=”https://bcmintl.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/Bolivia-AWANA-regional-leaders-with-Odicios-Espinozas.jpg” align=”center” _builder_version=”3.19.18″ custom_margin=”||0px” custom_padding=”||0px”][/et_pb_image][et_pb_text _builder_version=”3.19.18″ text_font=”||||||||” text_orientation=”right” custom_margin=”0px||0px||true” custom_padding=”0px||0px||true”]Bolivia AWANA regional leaders with Odicios and Espinozas [/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”3.19.18″]By: Shantal Artieda [/et_pb_text][/et_pb_column][/et_pb_row][et_pb_row custom_padding=”12px|0px|21.1979px|0px|false|false” _builder_version=”3.19.18″][et_pb_column type=”3_5″ _builder_version=”3.19.18″][et_pb_text _builder_version=”3.19.18″ text_font=”||||||||” text_font_size=”15px”]BCM International has a long-standing relationship with Awana Ministries, including partnering together to create our Sharing Christ with Kids training curriculum. Awana Ministries has a long-standing relationship with Bolivia, which is where Awana’s first international clubs were started in 1972. Or OANSA, as it is called in Bolivia (Obreros Aprobados No Son Avergonzados, the Spanish translation of Approved Workmen Are Not Ashamed from Awana’s […]

[et_pb_section fb_built=”1″ _builder_version=”3.19.16″ custom_padding=”0|0px|42.3958px|0px|false|false”][et_pb_row custom_padding=”0|0px|0|0px|false|false” _builder_version=”3.0.48″ background_size=”initial” background_position=”top_left” background_repeat=”repeat”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″ _builder_version=”3.0.47″][et_pb_image src=”https://bcmintl.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/Fiona-Baptism-e1552157273171.jpg” _builder_version=”3.20.1″ custom_margin=”||0px” custom_padding=”||0px”][/et_pb_image][et_pb_text _builder_version=”3.20.1″ text_font=”||||||||” text_orientation=”right” custom_margin=”0px||0px||true” custom_padding=”0px||0px||true”]Fiona being baptized [/et_pb_text][/et_pb_column][/et_pb_row][et_pb_row _builder_version=”3.20.1″][et_pb_column type=”4_4″ _builder_version=”3.20.1″][et_pb_team_member name=”By: Lauri Barrette” image_url=”https://bcmintl.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/Lauri-Daniel-Barrette-e1552157944449.jpg” _builder_version=”3.20.1″ header_level=”h6″ header_font=”||||||||” body_font=”||||||||” body_font_size=”14px” box_shadow_style=”preset3″ max_width=”75%” max_width_last_edited=”on|desktop” module_alignment=”center” custom_margin=”||||true” custom_padding=”2px|2px|2px|2px|true|true”]When my husband Daniel and I were involved in a devastating car accident in 1984 just four-and-a-half months after we were married, God’s comforting presence was palpable (see Split Second Tragedy Becomes God’s Glorious Intervention, BCM World, Spring, 2008).  Though Daniel was left permanently paralyzed from that day forward, God gave us a deep sense that whatever happened from here […]

[et_pb_section fb_built=”1″ _builder_version=”3.19.16″ custom_padding=”0|0px|42.3958px|0px|false|false”][et_pb_row custom_padding=”0|0px|0|0px|false|false” _builder_version=”3.19.16″][et_pb_column type=”4_4″ _builder_version=”3.19.16″][et_pb_image src=”https://bcmintl.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/ISMT-Training-Georgetown-e1553087173350.jpg” _builder_version=”3.21″ custom_margin=”||0px” custom_padding=”||0px”][/et_pb_image][et_pb_text _builder_version=”3.19.18″ text_font=”||||||||” text_orientation=”right” custom_margin=”0px||0px||true” custom_padding=”0px||0px||true”]ISMT Training – Georgetown [/et_pb_text][/et_pb_column][/et_pb_row][et_pb_row custom_padding=”21.1979px|0px|0|0px|false|false” _builder_version=”3.21″][et_pb_column type=”1_2″ _builder_version=”3.21″][et_pb_text _builder_version=”3.19.16″]By Lisa Biegert The first ISMT spark was lit in the Caribbean country of Guyana in April 2018 when BCM’s children’s ministry training program was introduced to hundreds of its church leadership (see Celebrating Easter with God’s People in Guyana, BCM World, Spring 2018). In response to a plea for additional training, BCM missionaries Pat Black and Barb Van Valkenburg traveled to Georgetown, capital of Guyana, to teach the entire twenty-two-hour In Step with the […]

[et_pb_section fb_built=”1″ _builder_version=”3.20.1″ custom_padding=”0|0px|42.3958px|0px|false|false”][et_pb_row custom_width_px=”950px” custom_padding=”0|0px|3px|0px|false|false” _builder_version=”3.20.1″][et_pb_column type=”4_4″ _builder_version=”3.19.16″][et_pb_image src=”https://bcmintl.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/Lonnie-leading-Drumbo-club-e1552153655546.jpg” align=”center” force_fullwidth=”on” _builder_version=”3.20.1″ custom_margin=”||0px” custom_padding=”||0px”][/et_pb_image][et_pb_text _builder_version=”3.19.18″ text_font=”||||||||” text_orientation=”right” custom_margin=”0px||0px||true” custom_padding=”0px||0px||true”]Lenore leading club [/et_pb_text][/et_pb_column][/et_pb_row][et_pb_row use_custom_width=”on” custom_width_px=”980px” custom_padding=”21.1921px|0px|0|0px|false|false” _builder_version=”3.20.1″ module_alignment=”center”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″ _builder_version=”3.20.1″][et_pb_text _builder_version=”3.20.1″]By: Pam Rowntree, BCM Canada  [/et_pb_text][/et_pb_column][/et_pb_row][et_pb_row use_custom_width=”on” custom_width_px=”980px” _builder_version=”3.20.1″ module_alignment=”center”][et_pb_column type=”1_2″ _builder_version=”3.20.1″][et_pb_text _builder_version=”3.19.16″]A ninety-two-year-old senior, Francie lives in a small southern Ontario town where there was no Bible ministry to children. She had taught Bible club many years ago and was familiar with BCM and its teaching materials. One day Francie put in a call to the BCM Canada office, sharing that God had laid on her heart to start […]

[et_pb_section bb_built=”1″ _builder_version=”3.0.47″][et_pb_row _builder_version=”3.0.48″ background_size=”initial” background_position=”top_left” background_repeat=”repeat”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″][et_pb_image src=”https://bcmintl.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/BCM-Myanmar-Campers-Zomi-People.jpg” show_bottom_space=”off” _builder_version=”3.15″ border_radii=”on|1px|1px|1px|1px” border_width_all=”5px” border_color_all=”#FFFFFF”] [/et_pb_image][et_pb_text _builder_version=”3.15″ text_font=”||||||||” text_orientation=”right”] BCM Myanmar campers – Zomi people [/et_pb_text][/et_pb_column][/et_pb_row][et_pb_row _builder_version=”3.0.48″ background_size=”initial” background_position=”top_left” background_repeat=”repeat”][et_pb_column type=”3_5″][et_pb_text _builder_version=”3.15″] By: Jeanette Windle with Dr. Jacob Mung, BCM Myanmar Director One hundred-fifty-eight children ages eight to fourteen gathered in the Zomi village of New Thalmual in northwestern Myanmar for five fun-filled days of year-end Bible camp April 5-8, 2018 (school year runs June-February in Myanmar). A highland people group of Tibetan-Burmese ethnicity numbering around ten million, the Zomi live scattered throughout the mountainous hill country of northwestern Myanmar, Bangladesh, […]

[et_pb_section bb_built=”1″ _builder_version=”3.0.47″ custom_padding=”14px|0px|42.3906px|0px|false|false”][et_pb_row custom_padding=”0|0px|0|0px|false|false” _builder_version=”3.0.48″ background_size=”initial” background_position=”top_left” background_repeat=”repeat”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″][et_pb_image src=”https://bcmintl.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/2018-Bethel-Camp-Outing-to-Royal-Summer-Palace-Gardens.jpg” show_bottom_space=”off” align=”center” _builder_version=”3.15″]   [/et_pb_image][et_pb_text _builder_version=”3.15″ text_font=”||||||||” text_orientation=”right” custom_margin=”||0px|” custom_padding=”||0px|”] 2018 Bethel Camp Outing to Royal Summer Palace Gardens [/et_pb_text][et_pb_text _builder_version=”3.15″ custom_margin=”0px||0px|” custom_padding=”0px||0px|”] By: Jeanette Windle [/et_pb_text][/et_pb_column][/et_pb_row][et_pb_row custom_padding=”12px|0px|12px|0px|false|false” _builder_version=”3.16.1″ background_size=”initial” background_position=”top_left” background_repeat=”repeat”][et_pb_column type=”3_5″][et_pb_text _builder_version=”3.16.1″ text_font=”||||||||” link_font=”||||||||” link_text_color=”#0C71C3″] On Saturday, September 15, 2018, more than two hundred-fifty visitors from across Spain and six other countries gathered in the small mountain village of La Granja where the summer palace of Spain’s royal family is located. The occasion—the fiftieth anniversary celebration of Centro Bíblico Betel, dedicated to serving a very different and […]

[et_pb_section fb_built=”1″ _builder_version=”3.0.47″ custom_padding=”6px|0px|42.3906px|0px|false|false”][et_pb_row custom_padding=”21.1875px|0px|14px|0px|false|false” _builder_version=”3.0.48″ background_size=”initial” background_position=”top_left” background_repeat=”repeat”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″ _builder_version=”3.0.47″ parallax=”off” parallax_method=”on”][et_pb_image src=”https://bcmintl.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/Finished-Mama-Baby-Cow-Puppets-e1537672516648.jpg” _builder_version=”3.15″]  [/et_pb_image][et_pb_text _builder_version=”3.15″ background_size=”initial” background_position=”top_left” background_repeat=”repeat” max_width=”90%” module_alignment=”center”]By Karen Whiting Animal hand puppets made of paper are an easy, inexpensive craft that can be used in any children’s ministry regardless of country or language. These little creatures can entertain children while also sharing Bible truths and facts about their own species that reflect human characteristics. That makes these simple folded puppets a great resource for adding fun to any lesson while reinforcing key concepts. A hand puppet cow, for instance, could talk about the cattle on […]

By: Jeanette Windle with Arnold Maviya, BCM Zimbabwe Director Five years ago, Arnold and Paulin Maviya with their entire ministry team, a total of ten, were commissioned as BCM’s first missionaries in Zimbabwe, a nation of seventeen million in southern Africa. Their focus was children’s Bible clubs, reaching a total attendance of more than ten thousand a week in rural and remote areas where there were few or no churches (see Braving Lions, Hyenas, and NIV to Reach Zimbabwe’s Children, BCM World, 2014). But children grow up—and so do children’s ministries. “When you do good outreach programs for children, they […]

By: Gerlyn de Jesus BCM Philippines National Director Encounters are prevalent in the Philippines. These can be between our military and insurgents, men in uniforms with drug barons, or daily encounters with life’s difficult realities. But one testimony from a BCM church plant in General Santos City, the southernmost urban center of the Mindanao island group, gives witness to a very different and life-transforming encounter. Thirty-three-old Kenny Alain Bulawan was born into a very religious family in General Santos City, a city of a half-million located on Sarangani Bay, which opens into the Celebes Sea that divides the Philippine island […]

By Shantal Artieda with Jeanette Windle From March 30th-April 7th, 2018, BCM International President Marty Windle and BCM Peru field director Jonatan Odicio joined BCM Guyana missionaries Ron Charles and Stanley Boodie for an Easter Christian workers conference in the town of Lethem near Guyana’s border with Brazil. Located between Surinam and Venezuela, Guyana was established as a British colony (formerly British Guiana). It remains part of the British Commonwealth and is the only country in South America with English as its official language. Its population of just over three-quarters of a million is predominantly East Indian, African, and indigenous […]

By: Marc Hoyle BCM volunteer Yvonne has been teaching Release Time Bible Clubs to second and third grade girls in Warren County, PA, for eighteen years. She admits to slowing down a bit now that she is 89 years old.  Every Tuesday and Thursday in two different locations, she arrives two hours early to set up her Bible Club room. The attendance chart is on a table with stars waiting to be affixed. Small prizes for verse recitations are unpacked. Large flags lean on their poles in the corner, ready for the pledges. Oversized blue and red plastic clips hold […]

By: Jeanette Windle with Freddy Chavez “I truly am a sinner and deserve this punishment,” confesses Prisoner M to BCM Bolivia missionary Freddy Chavez. “None of my family knows I am here in prison. I come from a place a day’s bus ride from here. I need someone to visit me because I am forgotten here. No one brings me supplies, and I have now been here five years without a trial or receiving a sentence.” Prisoner M is not unique in San Pablo Prison, one of several prisons in Bolivia’s highland city of Cochabamba. An estimated 70% of inmates […]

By: Lisa Biegert with Chuck and Cathy Powers Tucked away in the north of France is a small town known for its beautiful pottery and quintessentially French countryside. But beneath its picturesque exterior, Desvres hides a spiritual darkness. The area is steeped in alcoholism and has the highest suicide rate in all of France. Unemployment is high, occultism rampant, and any gospel witness almost non-existent. For thirty years, one Desvres resident prayed faithfully that God would send a pastor to start a church there. She was 82 years old when she saw her prayer answered with the arrival of BCM […]