Welcome to McKell.com

Dear Friends,

As the holiday season is upon us, we want to let you know how thankful we are for your friendship and encouragement we receive throughout the year.  We are especially thankful for your support which allows us to faithfully serve the youth of Europe through SHINE.  Sometimes our youth work takes us further away, where we work with teams in places like Spain, or Portugal, or Malta.  Other times, our work is close to home and close to our hearts as we work with students, including our daughters, from Black Forest Academy.  

Each year, about 1/3 of the Black Forest Academy student body gives up a portion of their spring break to participate in service projects around the world.  This year our family has the privilege of ALL participating.  Ed and Kim will help lead a group to Jinja, Uganda where Liz and Ed worked last year. Abby and Leah will be joining us this year as we work with Sole Hope, Davis Christian Academy, and Heal Ministries to encourage and empower local families.

Liz matched with the service project to India and looks forward to working with Youth Unlimited in the areas around Chennai, India.  They are planning to serve a local church by joining their school outreach program by providing worship, drama, and testimony sharing. They will visit Mother Theresa’s home for the challenged to help feed and comfort differently abled children. They are also planning to do small renovations on a home for abandoned girls as well as helping the girls with homework and Bible time. Lastly, they will spend several days visiting a home for abandoned elderly to listen to their stories and pray with them.

On this Giving Tuesday, we would ask you to consider a tax-deductible gift in support of Liz, Abby, and Leah’s service project costs that would make it possible for us as a family to make an impact on the lives of the students of BFA and others around the world.  They are responsible for raising the full amount of their trip through gifts and odd jobs around Kandern. The complete cost of each trip is $1700.

Thank you again for your continued prayers and support of our ministry.

Here’s how you can give:

https://give.teachbeyond.org/support/bfa-service-projects/

Enter the name, either Liz (India), Abby (Uganda), or Leah (Uganda).

In the past few weeks, we’ve hosted a team to run a retreat and women’s event in our community, led a mission trip to Uganda, held an Easter egg hunt for our church and the local refugee community, and met with our SHINE leadership in preparation for the international event this summer. Whew!

This spring, we partnered Hope Church in Memphis to run a girl’s retreat for BFA home students strengthening their relationship with Christ and just having a great time.  They got to challenge themselves on the ropes course.  One of the girls mentioned she learned so much about communication, teamwork, and trusting one another, but even more importantly, she felt much more confident at the end of the course and the end of the weekend.

Liz and Ed worked with four different ministries in Jinja, Uganda. They helped kids recovering from medical treatments, spent time at a school working with kids and painting, and served at a day program for underprivileged kids. It was a great learning experience.

French youth are coming to SHINE for the first time! We are excited for the ten who are signed up. We also have 17 signed up to attend from Greece! That is a record high for that country and after attending the leadership conference last fall, Nikolas went back on fire!

Thank you for the continued prayers and support as we seek to love others well and serve God.

Giving TUESDAY!!!

You’ve eaten your turkey.  You’ve shopped Black Friday and Cyber Monday.  So now it’s #Giving TUESDAY!  Your generosity makes a difference to people around the world.

We know your generosity goes beyond one day of the year.  We continue to trust God with our needs.  Your generosity today will make a real impact.

You gift immediately goes to work to:

Introduce youth to Jesus.

Train nationals to lead youth.

Empower youth to share their faith through words and actions.

Thank you for your generosity.

To give, please click here!

Hello from Germany! Thank you for your prayers. Liz knew y’all were praying when she discovered a Chik Fil A in the Pittsburgh airport.
In spite of many bags and a dog, check in was smooth and the load master even came to our seats to let us know Pepper made it aboard.
Our friend met us at the airport (with a big van) and now we are in the process of unpacking and re-discovering things after being gone for a year and having four families living in our apartment throughout the year. Fortunately, I found the birthday candles so we could celebrate Abby’s birthday!

Exciting times as our ministry begins to ramp up with event preparation and re-establishing our local ministry connections.  Thanks for your continued prayers for prioritizing the many tasks on the list!

“Walking in Memphis” has been great for the last nine months. We were warmly welcomed, well-loved, and generously encouraged. Our daughter, Liz, posted this on her Instagram. It is beautifully shared and we are thankful for the way God is working in Liz’s life and the lives of Abby and Leah.

Throughout this year we’ve worked remotely but look forward to a time when our colleagues are once again in the same time zone.  In the meantime, we continue to plan and build into the SHINE community as we prepare for our next big event at the end of October.

This summer we will spend time visiting churches, spreading the SHINE message, and re-connecting with family and supporters.  August 4 we return to Germany and ask you to remember us in your prayers as we transition yet again into a familiar but new environment.

v v

...God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins…he has taken it away, nailing it to the cross. Col. 2:13-14

God Loves Me.
I have Sinned.
Jesus Died for Me.
I Need to Follow Jesus.

The four sentences above (thefour.com) express the essential points of becoming a Christian. The four sentences also provided the teaching topic for the HOPE Student Ministries Ski Trip. Beginning and ending with a 24+ hour bus trip, this roaming adventure was

Ed shared a gospel message and how to share Christ with others.

full of rich spiritual conversations in the midst of a beautiful landscape. Ed and Kim were grateful and honored to walk through this time with the students and talented youth leaders at Hope.

Coming up, another roaming adventure takes Ed to the Agape Europe Leadership Forum to promote SHINE and The FOUR.  The core SHINE team also prepares for the September SHINE Rendezvous during this time. Please join us in prayer for these important meetings.

On a personal note, prayers are also appreciated as we begin a season of roaming. Please pray for us to finish well in Memphis and the US as we begin to look to the next transition back to Germany.

Why is this group around the table so happy?  Because the SHINE movement is alive and growing, and God-driven vision for the future is what the SHINE Rendezvous is all about.  SHINE Rendezvous gathers vital leadership around a table to cast a vision for the future of SHINE in Europe (they missed you Patry!).

Because we are in the states this year, we want to publicize The FOUR and share this simple, valuable tool in the U.S.  We are so thankful for our European staff and Cru resources that make this possible.  Check out this on the Cru High School site.  https://www.cru.org/train-and-grow/share-the-gospel/evangelism-principles/one-easy-way-to-talk-about-jesus-with-todays-generation.html.  See the kids in the picture?  These are OUR kids.  They are YOUR kids. Esther is a remarkable dancer.  Jefferson has a huge heart and patiently speaks Spanish until I understand.  Sam loves Jesus in beautiful Switzerland and so many others are being touched and empowered to share Christ.  Thank you for making this movement take us beyond borders to impact the world!

May the spirit of Christmas bring joy to your heart and happiness to your home.  

With love, Ed, Kim, Liz, Abby and Leah McKell