Staying the the "Missions House"

EAGLES Meeting

Meeting with Pastor Chaanga



CSB Ministries has been invited to Zambia at the request of over a dozen pastors to help them start boys ministries in their churches. I am part of a team of CSB staff sent to Zambia to provide training and encouragement to start boys programs called EAGLES.

This is the second training trip for CSB. The dates in Zambia are April 14 through 22. If you are interested in what is happening in Zambia, you can read updates of the trip at the following link. I plan to update it often: http://socalcsb.org

Consider praying for us. There are a number of challenges. Communicating with men of a very different culture the concepts of disciplining boys being one of the most challenging. In the Zambian culture, men and fathers play a minor role in the raising of child.

Our objectives are to:

* Visit, encourage and strengthen the existing EAGLES programs from the first visit
* Conduct the Basic Training course for the new and potential leaders and pastors.
* Conduct Advanced Training for men who attended the first Basic training course and are part of a EAGLES program
* Provide training for pastors and church leaders to disciple and train their men
* Train and support the men in creating new EAGLES curriculum geared for their culture and purposes

Thanks for reading this. We appreciate your prayers. God bless you.

Norm Tacklind
CSB Regional Director
909-338-1439
www.CSBMinistries.org

Dear Ministry Partners and Friends,

Father Son Team Days:

Bob Nass and I were taking a brief break at the Father Son Team Day and observing the Marsh Madness event (shooting marshmallows with PVC blowguns). Some of the things we observed were: fathers helping their sons use the guns, boys and dads laughing at hitting the target, a father with his Tree Climber son on his lap waiting for their turn and a father and son huddled together, focused on learning the scripture verses. I remember commenting to Bob, “This is what the Father Son Team Day is all about.”

Our next Father Son Team Day is

April 27-28, 2012.

Thank you dads, for taking the time to spend the day with your son(s). The Father Son Team Day is what CSB Ministries is all about.

BattalionLeadership:

Last Spring, I visited one of the Battalion programs at Claremont Bible Chapel in Claremont, CA. This is a strong Battalion that has been functioning many years. Battalion is our program for senior and junior high boys where leadership training and discipleship are emphasized. The main difference I noticed from previous years is the ages of the leadership team. Brigade units are usually started by middle age men often with sons or specific boys that they want to disciple. The ages of the leadership at Claremont Battalion average around 20-25 years. These are men that grew up in Battalion and are now leading the program and are discipling boys. This is the sign of a successful Battalion. Not only are we trying to disciple boys but CSB is helping them grow up to be discipliers of others as well. I salute the young leaders in several Battalions in my area. In an age where the vast majority of Christian male youth drop out of Christian living, it is refreshing to see this not happening in Battalion.

Successful CSB Summer Camp Season:

The 2011 summer camp season has just concluded. The So Cal Boys and Girls Adventure Camps were very successful. What makes a successful camp? Many things: including spiritual decisions and commitments for Christ, building of relationships, happy campers asking about next year and future Brigade activities as well as campers wanting to become Junior Counselors. Junior Counselors play a key role in the success of camp. Like Battalion, when boys or girls see servant leadership in action and the godly example of a young Christian man or woman, they want to be like them. We had a great bunch of Juniors Counselors this year and they made a very positive impact.

Outstanding Senior Counselors:

Chris was one of the Senior Counselors at camp. I was impressed that many times when there was a particular need or situation at camp that needed prayer, Chris would ask his post of boys to pray with him. Chris challenged his boys to take time to pray. I noticed that after several campfires, his boys would individually take time to stay and pray. Boys learn by example, when boys see men take God seriously and taking the time to pray, they will follow.

Eight years ago Kirk called me to see if there was a Father Son camp in Southern California for him and his younger son. I told him the best I could do was offer him a role as Senior Counselor at our local Boys Adventure camp. Kirk and his son came and during camp, his son prayed to receive Christ. Kirk has come back with his sons each year since. His sons? They are now both Junior Counselors and are doing an outstanding job as well!

Blessings!

Norm and Helen Tacklind

909-338-1439

CSB Regional Director

ntacklind@csbministries.org

www.csbministries.org

Our Mission: Building godly men of today and tomorrow

I Corinthians 11:1 “Imitate me, just as I also imitate Christ.”

Saturday is an incredible time that is exactly what the name implies.   Fathers and sons compete together as a team in a series of unusual events.  (Think: ‘Minute to Win It’ meets Nicklelodeon)   A great location, a great event, a great time! 

The Derby is open to all Fathers and Sons.  Racing is done in divisions by program and ages.  TreeClimbers, Builders, Sentinels, Battalion/Ranger/Dads compete within their divisions.  There is also an ‘Unlimited’ class which does not require the CSB kit and allows use of washers, bearings or any other imaginative alternative.

This will be an unusually exciting event.  This year we will have an 8 LANE track!  Twice as many heats for every car.  Computerized scoring, slo-mo video replay and larger than life close-up shots of every car will make this an exciting and enjoyable day.    Start making plans now to join us on November 19th.

This is a great day

November 2010

Cell Phones: Everyone in Zambia who can possibly afford it has a cell phone. I saw very little LAN lines. You can buy phone minutes almost anywhere. The white sign says “Top up here” (to purchase minutes). They have internet cafes where you can plug in your phone. I have heard that eventually you may be able to pay bills and make purchases directly from your phone. The phone minutes would be like cash in the bank.

A “Christian’ Nation: Being a declared Christian nation obviously has some definite advantages. Churches are packed. It is popular to attend church. On the negative side, attendance at non-Christian churches is also high. We were stuck in a traffic jam for at least 15 minutes after the conclusion of a Jehovah’s Witness church service. We need to pray for the Christian churches and missions as they try to reach all the Zambian people.

Missions Guest House: We stayed at a Mission Guest House. This one is founded by a British Aviation Missions group. Only missionaries are allowed to stay overnight. The board and room were great. Each evening we were able to fellowship with different missionaries who were passing through, going or coming from their mission locations or coming to Lusaka for supplies or a holiday. Most were from the British Commonwealth, some came from many generations of missionaries, and some were surgeons or medical interns.

The Guest House was enclosed by a high concrete wall with barbed wire or glass on top, common for many residences; I assume this is for security, but I felt it was like being in a fort.

Taxis: The best way for us to get around was by taxi. Taxi drivers are individuals who “rent” their cars from an agency. They were courteous, punctual and were usually always available. Driving around reminded me of driving in Mexico, but on the left side, with roundabouts and with English billboards.

Churches in the Compounds: Our host church for the Brigade Training Conference was in the Kalingalinga Compound, a neighborhood of dirt roads and streets without names and extreme poverty. We had a difficult time getting the taxi into the church area. It must be very difficult to get in there during the rainy season. Churches were assigned a certain location; there were about six churches within the size of a football field. All buildings in the center of the picture are churches. The churches seemed to get along well; two of the churches were at the Training Conference. These pastors told of a time when they both sang the same song at the same time during their Sunday church services.

Church services: The typical church had basically a concrete floor and concrete block walls, wooden benches, some tables and a tin roof. I spoke at the Sunday service where we had our training conference. They had transformed the church with tapestries, table cloths and chair: A truly wonderful experience.

Nshima: This is staple food of Zambia. We were served this at the Training Conference. It is made of ground corn that looked like mashed potatoes. It is served with gravy, vegetables (cabbage and ?) and sometimes a small serving of meat. It is eaten with the hand, first forming it into a ball; the thumb then makes a “spoon” to scoop up the gravy or vegetables. It was important that everyone washed their hands before we ate it. This was a neat experience.

The Southern Sky: As an Astronomy buff, I looked forward to seeing for the first time, the southern sky. I took my binoculars. I enjoyed seeing Scorpius and Sagittarius overhead, but most of all, the Southern Cross constellation. I was able to view the two brightest globular clusters. I did not see the Magellanic clouds (two nearby galaxies), probably because of the lights of the city and smoke in the air due to the burning of trash, etc.

Eagles: The national bird of Zambia is the eagle. We used the acronym for the name of the Zambian Brigade units (Eager Active Gentlemen Leading Everyone to the Savoir). The eagle is also on the Zambian paper money.