Dear Friends:
It is clear that the Lord has opened the doors wide to NSCM for ministry opportunities and that the sky is the limit as to what may be accomplished in His Holy Name, with prayer, humility and perseverance.
Recent activity includes the presentation of the Fusion worship event which was an awesome experience of worship in song to the glory of God. NSCM will be presenting Fusion II at the end of this summer -so, stay tuned.
NSCM also presented two Youth Alpha courses in parish settings this past winter to over 120 teenagers using trained young adult presenters who love the Lord and who are committed to His cause. This dynamic was very important as the teenagers saw firsthand the witness of other young adults (albeit, a bit older) lending power and witness to the messages which were presented over the ten weeks of the course (and the included retreat). In this setting, church leaders and presenters actually witnessed the transformation of many of the young teens attending, with a new openness in the other teens to the biblical truths presented. Given the urgent need to evangelize youth, there is no question but that Youth Alpha provides an important and extremely valuable tool to reach the hearts and minds of teens who are confronted on every side with cultural messages which dramatically oppose the teaching of Christ and His church.
In March of this year, NSCM had the great privilege of commencing the first formally approved Alpha Prison Course in Massachusetts at Old Colony Prison in Bridgewater, MA. While this outreach will continue for many more weeks to come, already the response of the 27 attending inmates, the prison administration and the prison chaplains has been overwhelming positive. NSCM has pledged to all MA prison chaplains wishing to do Alpha that it will supply at no cost all the necessary materials to run the course. In additon, NSCM will make contributions of Alpha materials to prison libraries for general reading by the prison population. Therefore, NSCM asks your prayers and support of this very important ministry outreach.
NSCM is going international! Yes, as part of the Alpha Global Training initiative, NSCM is sending a team of seven persons to Argentina in June of 2008 to present two day Alpha Course training events. The team will visit Cordoba and Salta and will provide training to many churches, with a principal emphasis on Catholic churches. The travel and events schedule is very intense, and the team will be providing worship and prayer venues as well as presenting all of the teaching materials in a series of talks (through a translator) so as to equip attending churches to present The Alpha Course in their own church settings. We know that the Holy Spirit will energize the team when it is there, but it is certain that the team will also need some down time upon its return. Posts to this blog will be made periodically to keep you updated as to events.
Finally, NSCM is in the process of filming a Youth Alpha training program for use by churches to enable a kick start to presenting the Youth Alpha program, and will likely be presenting in the fall a Youth Alpha conference which will be a major initiative.
Thanks, and Blessings,
Pete Carpentier
