News from CAMT: Covenant's Adult Mission Teams

New Organization and Leadership of Missions at Covenant

In a reorganization of Covenant’s mission outreach, CAMT (Covenant’s Adult Mission Teams) and the Mission Committee will merge under the CAMT name, and the combined group will plan mission trips, oversee financial support of various mission organizations, and plan for Adventures in Missions (AIM) programs at which leaders of various kinds of mission outreach are invited to Covenant to tell about their work.

Elder Nancy Reynolds has been elected to be the new coordinator of CAMT following Joyce Lammey’s resignation, and Barbara Rhinehart will be co-coordinator.


Mission Trip Opportunities:

Local Service Shelters
If you are limited to—or just prefer—a one day mission trip, usually on a Saturday, sign up for a trip to one of the Service Shelters. The shelters offer a temporary safe haven for people who are the victims of unfortunate circumstances or have not always made good choices in their lives. The Shelters provide food, guidance and a supportive community while people get “back on their feet.”

Outley House (for men) and the Sheila Dennis House (for women) are in the Philadelphia area, and there is a small shelter for women and their children in Coatesville. The teams usually leave Covenant at 8:30 on the scheduled Saturday morning, car pool to the shelter, prepare lunch (you don’t really have to know how to cook!), and return to Covenant about 2:30.
For dates and/or to sign up, call Richard Smith 610-827-1630

PA Christian Endeavor: PACE
Carl and Pat Lotz will again lead teams to the Gawley Bridge area in West Virginia where they will prepare three meals a day for youth teams who work in impoverished areas. Team members can sign up to go June 20 – 26 or June 27 – July 3 (or if you’re really ambitious—both weeks). Team members get up early to prepare a full breakfast (there’s lots to do even for the non-cooks on the team) and assemble bag lunches for the young people. Team members are then free for the next 4 to 5 hours until it’s time to prepare dinner. The middle of the day can be spent swimming, hiking, sight-seeing, or just “hanging out.”
To sign up, call Carl and Pat Lotz: 610-647-3038

Mexico – Faith Ministry
The next trip to Mexico to work with the Faith Ministry organization will be late January or early February 2011. In addition to teaching sewing and craft projects to women, there are tentative plans to build a house for a family that desperately needs one. Yes—a house can be built in one week! (Mission teams have built more than 2000 houses under the direction of Faith Ministry!)
For information, call Barbara Rhinehart: 610-286-5289

Latin American Fellowship (LAF)
During the Mexico trip in 2009, Covenant’s mission team just happened to meet a team from Ann Arbor, Michigan whose church supports the pastor of the Latin American Fellowship mission church (LAF) that just happens to be in nearby Norristown, PA! The pastor needed 100 bilingual Bibles, and a church in Donegal Presbytery just happened to have Bibles to give away because they were replacing them. Unfortunately, even though we called immediately, they had just been shipped to Lithuania. However, a Donegal minister (whose husband’s native language just happens to be Spanish) volunteered $300 toward the cost of bilingual Bibles. The same day, Covenant’s Pastor Jim Moyer just happened to receive information from the PA Bible Society saying their passion is Bible distribution. With added donations from a few CAMT members, and a matching grant from the PA Bible Society, CAMT just happened to have enough for 96 bilingual Bibles!

CAMT has not made any formal commitments to LAF but plans to stay in touch and follow their growth in a difficult neighborhood with many challenges.