BEAUTIFUL QUESTIONS IN STRANGE LANDS
By Joel Van Dyke

The Strategy of Transformation seeks to equip the church in Latin America to serve high-risk youth and their families in very hard places. We have been trying to figure out what a sustainable, missional theology could and should look like with high-risk youth in hard places. We have been coming together in strategic cohorts of grassroots leaders in five countries to think about and reflect on what we have learned and experienced with others on the journey.

We began trying to ask questions that would unlock some answers for us in the pursuit of a theology of mission that would effectively sustain effective work in hard places with members of Central American gangs, street youth and those caught in the trap of extreme poverty. We ask our questions with fear and trembling because we are not sure what the answers will be. We have a hunch of what they should be and have been told what they ought to be but quite frankly we are not convinced that we really have a clear idea for ourselves even of what questions to ask.

The Psalmist in Psalm 137:4 asks a beautiful question that gave us a launching pad for our discussions:"How do we sing the Lord's song in a strange land?" The context is Babylon where the Israelites were ripped out of their homeland and actually told to seek the peace and prosperity of their oppressors.

To read the complete article, click here.

Report on First Training in Dominican Republic
By Mario Matos

Since November 2007, our EdT Caribbean Director, Mario Matos, has been working on engaging and connecting grassroots Dominican leaders. In March we had the visit of EdT Director Joel Van Dyke for the purpose of presenting the vision and plans of the Strategy of Transformation. In attendance were over a hundred leaders in two gatherings in the two main cities of the Dominican Republic (Santo Domingo & Santiago).

These two gatherings set the tone for our first training session which occurred in May 10-12 in Santo Domingo with Dr. Jeffrey De Leon, Executive Director for Liderazgo Juvenil International. This first training experience in the three-year process was entitled "Welcome to the Great Adventure" and explored foundational principles of relational youth ministry. In attendance for the three-day training event were about 200 grassroots leaders.

This was a great opportunity for leaders from different church denominations to put aside their doctrinal differences and praise God together with dynamic worship services, unified prayer and authentic Christian fellowship. From Thursday through Saturday they were challenged to reflect on how to transform youth ministry into relational outreach that places special focus on those who are farthest away from the reach of the traditional church.

At the end of the training the participants were given the opportunity to formally sign up for participation in the Strategy of Transformation by committing to attend series of training sessions that will be held over the course of 2 1/2 - 3 years, with monthly follow up groups organized into strategic cohorts. More than a hundred leaders signed up to formally participate.

This first training of the EdT was organized in the DR in partnership with Club Juvenil Cristiano, a local youth ministry organization under the direction of Francis Montás. The commitment showed by the CJC was clear affirmation that this organization is the ideal National Organizational Partner for the Strategy of Transformation.

QQUICK NEWS

• The next EdT course in Nicaragua (City of Joy: Welcome to God's Playground) is scheduled for August 27-29. Please pray for the preparation and coordination that needs to go into this final course in the Nicaraguan EdT Teaching series. We have a weekend retreat planned for Nov. 30-Dec. 2 where we will be closing up the initial three year commitment to Nicaragua and handing off the baton to our national partner there (The Nehemiah Center) for the multiplication stages of the strategy.

• This month final touches are being put on the relationships with ideal National Partners in both Honduras and El Salvador for the launching of the EdT in those respective nations by this coming September. Please pray for these final details.

• Thanks to Professor Teresa Renkema and the 15 students from Kuyper College in Grand Rapids, MI who came to Guatemala City for a two week course on "Ministering Cross-Culturally" from May 5-18. It was a very engaging experience in incarnational missional training and reflection that we hope to host annually for the college.
  
  
• This month we welcome interns Cody Wilson from Sacramento, CA and Kent and Shelly Hendricks from Lynden, WA. Both Cody and Kent/Shelly will be working as EdT interns in local churches in Guatemala City from June till September.
  
  
• Thanks to the students and leadership team of Niekerk and Maranatha Christian Reformed Churches, from Michigan who came to Guatemala for a vision/missions trip on June and July. They worked tirelessly in a very marginalized squatter community in Guatemala City called La Limonada where 50,000 people live in a huge ravine. Click here to go to Niekerk´s blog, or here to find out more about what Maranatha´s group did.
  

Well...here it is. Blue Note Coffee at www.mudstore.com

This is the official EdT introduction to Blue Note coffee. You can find it at www.mudstore.com and once we are fully up and running the proceeds will go directly towards our work with gangs in the prisons of Guatemala. A "Blue Note" is a note in Jazz (also called a "Flatted 5th") that is used by musicians to "give voice to pain." Since giving voice to pain is a major element of our work with grassroots theological training in Latin America, it is a fitting name for an amazing product.

The net result of this effort is "Blue Note" coffee – one of the finest gourmet coffee’s in the world – Really! Order today and it will be shipped anywhere in the U.S. Here are five ways to enjoy a great cup of coffee and help support a wonderful thing:

We want your feedback so please feel free to contact us with questions or comments.
Check us out at www.mudstore.com

Coming Soon: the EDT Website! www.estrategiadetransformacion.com

If you have any questions or comments regarding this bulletin, please write back.