Often times in the life of our Lord Jesus, you find him going off on His own for time in prayer with the Father. It is refreshing for us to do likewise, to reflect and get perspective on what the Father is doing in our lives and where He is leading. That is what we purposed to do as an Executive team here at Children's Hunger Fund. We want the ministry to be led and directed by the Lord, so times away spent planning and praying are very important for us. Tim Kirk, Vice President of CHF, shares with us about the fruit of the retreat and the impact it had on our leadership this year.

Mark Rodriguez
Ministry Development Executive Director

Thank you for praying!

Each year the Executive team, with the prayerful support of our staff and the Board, takes extended time out of the office to seek the Lord and to plan for the next 2-5 years. With great joy, we spent time studying God's word, praying together, and basking in God's creation. There is much to be said about getting away from the day to day duties to focus on our awesome Creator and mighty Savior!

At Children's Hunger Fund, we take planning seriously and we also hold that God is sovereign. He is the only One who knows the future, and we humbly submit ourselves and the ministry to the Lord. During our time away, we review the successes and challenges from the past, work on pressing issues and opportunities, and then bring our thoughts and goals before the Lord in prayer. We are purposeful in seeking godly counsel and following biblical principles as we make decisions that will direct CHF in the years to come. We enjoyed reflecting on how God has provided for and blessed the ministry year after year.

After spending the first part of our day meeting about CHF business, we were blessed to share time with our own family and each other's families. We also enjoyed hiking, canoeing and praying together. A highlight was coming together to share devotions each evening. We studied some of God's attributes and some of the fruit of Christian living. We all agree that we are blessed to serve an omniscient, omnipotent and omnipresent God!

Please keep CHF in your prayers as God continues to reveals His plans to us in the months to come.

Tim Kirk
Vice President

Prayer Requests

Praise the Lord for His faithfulness and provision for CHF.

Thanksgiving-- We are thankful for the unity and discernment God shared with us.

Pray for the CHF team as we begin to implement the new plans.

What a beautiful thing it is to see the Lord working in different cultures and people groups. Recently Mike Busch, Ministry Development Director of the Midwest, and I had the opportunity to teach at the Legacy Conference in Chicago. This conference is designed for churches that work in the inner cities of America. Our role was to teach workshops on compassion ministry that could be used directly in their communities for the sake of the gospel. Mike now shares with us about the conference and how we can be praying for the new relationships that were built.

Mark Rodriguez
Ministry Development Executive Director

Thank You for Praying!

Last week, Children's Hunger Fund had the opportunity to participate in the Legacy Conference, which took place on the campus of Moody Bible Institute in Chicago, Illinois. With 1,300 in attendance this year, the Legacy Conference is a growing ministry targeting mostly young urban Christians in their 20's committed to urban ministry. It is biblically based and focuses on disciple-making relationships and applying the knowledge acquired at the conference by spending the last day of the conference doing outreach ministry in an under-resourced area of Chicago. Teachers at the conference this year included Francis Chan, Thabiti Anyabwile, and Paul Washer with many Christian hip-hop artists such as Shai Linne and LeCrae also teaching and performing.

CHF's role was to conduct two day-long workshops for the conference attendees and have a booth introducing the ministry to churches that are very aware of the need for Gospel-centered compassion ministry in their communities. The two workshops CHF lead, "Poverty and the Local Church: Mission and Mindset" and "Biblical Compassion Ministry: Practical Ministry Advice and Principles," were well received. Many questions about ministry issues facing these workers were answered and many more made comments about how the biblically-based training helped them understand what their ministries should look like.

It was truly a joy for CHF to interact with all of the conference attendees in our workshops as we moved around the conference. We met many ministers and churches that we pray CHF will be able to support in the future as they reach out to struggling areas of America's cities with compassion and the Gospel. We praise God for this new generation of believers that are committed to serving the Lord where they are at through compassion ministry and evangelism.

Prayer Requests

Praise God for the opportunities CHF had to talk to churches and ministers at the Legacy Conference.

Pray for God to guide CHF as we continue to intentionally develop partnerships with these urban ministries.

Pray for more opportunities to build relationships at our Compassion Ministry Essentials Trainings and various conferences in order to help equip more churches in compassion ministry.

Mike Busch
Ministry Development Director, Midwest