My Three Sons: Herald of Christ is All in this Family

On June 12 John Russell from Battalion 1233 was awarded his Herald of Christ, by Battalion Captain Dave Card and his father Mark Russell. John is the 746th young man to earn this impressive recognition.

Just as impressive is that John is the ninth HOC from his church and the third in the Russell family! Nathan Russell (#699) earned his HOC in 1998, and Samuel Russell (#715) earned his in 2004.

During the past ministry year – the following have also earned their Herald of Christ; #742 Peter

Employment Opportuinuty: Alumni Care and Development Director

CSB has been blessed by God to have long and deep connections with the men, boys, and families that have seen God work through this ministry. We recognize the importance of nurturing these relationships and are looking for someone who has a passion for helping us do so.

This new position with CSB Ministries will provide Visioning for and Strategic planning on locating, communicating with and developing CSB’s relationship with alumni. This position will also be responsible for launching a comprehensive plan for donor development. It is desirable for applicants to be alumni of CSB Ministries and reside within 2 hours of

a major U.S. airport. Candidates must agree with the CSB statement of faith, demonstrate a growing, vibrant relationship with Jesus Christ and a passion for CSB Ministries. Candidates will be asked to share a testimony of their Christian faith journey and provide information for a criminal and financial background check to be conducted. Candidates will possess a Bachelor’s degree, have experience in fund raising, be willing to obtain or already possess notary public certification, have attention to detail and reliable follow through, and be able to travel frequently.

A full job description may be obtained by contacting the CSB National Office at office@csbministries.org or 800-815-5573. 

Please send resumes to office@csbministries.org or mail to: CSB Ministries, Attn: Human Resources, PO Box 1010, Hamburg, NY 14075

Intern interview: Erik Johnson

Thanks to Erik Johnson’s great work our leaders will have 6 new modules this year

How are we accomplishing the ever increasing rate progress as a ministry? One of our strongest assets has quickly become our passionate and competent interns. Though still fresh and new our internship program has found a consistent stream of amazing young men who have taken up the challenge.  One of many recent examples is Erik Johnson has been an enormous help to our reVision team. Among other things he helped develop six of our new modules. Here is a bit about Erik in his own words:

A little background on Erik

I have been involved in both CSB as well as through Northern Frontier Camp as a camper and now as my fourth summer as a counselor. I think camp has been one of the biggest influences in my life, and in particular the camp directors, fellow counselors, and campers.

I am going to be a senior at Cedarville University next year majoring in Journalism with a focus on Public Relations and a support field in Travel Writing and a minor in Bible. I have competed on the track and cross country teams at Cedarville the past three years. I love backpacking and camping and my dream is to thru-hike the Appalachian Trail one day.

What did his internship look like?

"Fatherless No More"

View the video

The initial installment of the Brigade Impact Series

Your involvement in and support of CSB is changing lives. The new "Brigade Impact Series is another way we are sharing some of this impact with you.

For leaders and other people supporting CSB in local churches this is a great resource to help others catch the vision of our ministry.

You can use these short video clips in a variety of settings: for promotion, leader recruitment, banquets, Brigade Sundays as well as in your CSB meetings.

The video in this edition features David Gregg.  Entitled, Fatherless No More you will hear how CSB filled the need in his life for father-figures to fill the gap left by his own father.

View the video

As we considering other topics for this series if you have an idea or a story to share please reply to the Brigade Connection.

The New CSB Portal

An online application set to revolutionize the lives of brigade leaders

The backbone and strength of Christian Service Brigade has always been the men who sacrifice blood sweat and tears to provide a vital context every week in which to disciple the boys who will soon join us as the next generation of Christian men.

Because we understand how important each leader is to this vital task, we are more focused than ever on providing creative, powerful, and practical tools to help you effectively execute what is often a very difficult task. We are really excited to be able to introduce you to one of our biggest initiatives yet ... The "CSB portal."  

The Portal is a dynamic tool designed to make your life as a CSB leader a lot easier. We hope to have an initial release this September and that will be just the beginning of a really powerful tool that will only get more powerful over time as we hear from you regarding what your needs are and progressively build tools into the portal to meet those practical needs.

Some of the early features will include

• Check-in and attendance
• Easy communication with your leaders, parents and youth
• Access to resources like best practices, videos, and the CSB store

Interview: Bobby Seetaram

"I want to be a part of the great things God is doing"

We are excited to introduce our newest intern, Bobby Seetaram. As you will see from the following interview, Bobby is a passionate addition to our team.

Brigade Connection: Bobby, thank you for taking time to chat with us. Tell us a little bit about yourself

Bobby: I'm from Rutherford, NJ and am a Senior at Liberty University. My intended major is Family and Child Development with a minor in Psychology. I expect to graduate this December. 

Brigade Connection: What's your experience with CSB?

Bobby: Growing up in Stockade and Battalion played an essential role in my growth towards manhood. When I was in high school I also spent three summers at CSB's Northern Frontier Camp in the New York Adirondack Mountains as a Kitchen Assistant, Lifeguard, and Camp Counselor.

Brigade Connection: Why you are interested in being a CSB intern? 

Bobby: There are a few things that caught my attention. First was the ability to better understand the role that Christian community based programs can have on the growth of young men and boys. Second, I am really excited to work with a well respected and close friend of mine Ron Rynd, the Northeast Regional Director for CSB. Finally, I believe that Christian Service Brigade is playing an essential role in completing the Great Commission; CSB is changing lives for Christ and I want to be a part of the great things God is doing in and through this ministry. 

Brigade Connection: What are your interests long term? 

Bobby: Last summer I had a chance to go to Nepal on a Missions Trip and it really inspired to minister to children. In the future I want to be a Social Worker for the State of New Jersey focusing on the foster care system. I see CSB as a great stepping stone to learn, grow, and to serve the Lord in this important area.

reVision Update May 2014

The Stockade reVISION is moving along with 9 additional modules in development by various men and leaders of CSB.

Two new Outpost Adventures, Swimming and Weather, have been recently released.

The Battalion revision, called INNOV8, has started with four distinct teams looking at current and past materials. One priority is to refresh the Herald of Christ for Men materials that will continue to challenge men to pursue the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. 
  

If you have an area of competency in an interest area contact us for more information on how you can help:
Connection@csbministries.org
(800) 815-5573

Blessings,

Steve

Interactive Guide to Stockade

Take A Tour of the Stockade Materials

Take this easy interactive tour of the Stockade materials

Stockade is one of our key ministries helping men in the church disciple boys 3rd through 6th grade.

We are really excited about the new resources for that ministry and want to make sure that you know and understand them.

This interactive presentation guides you through a birds eye view of the stockade material to help you understand a bit better how our resources help equip churches to disciple. 

The guide is really interactive and fun to use. Take a quick look and pass it on to anyone else who might be interested in taking a look as well. 

Take the interactive tour ...

Affirming Parents

Our leaders seek to encourage parents, to involve them with discipling their sons

Relationship building activity is a main ingredient in Brigade Achievement

This is a letter sent by one of our Regional Directors to a local Brigade Leader to encourage him as he seeks to challenge, encourage, and equip the parents in his local church. 

Dear Chris,

I appreciate that you are encouraging parents to support their sons and to give them encouragement from home.  I know what you are dealing with, it’s never an easy road but the parents are key.

I see this now with my grandson, a fourth grader. He’s making progress in his achievement mainly because I take some time most weeks to go over some part of the requirements, a step each week.  As long as he sees I’m interested in working with him, he cooperates.  I doubt if any of it would be done on his own.

Arden Musselman is CSB Regional Director for the Delaware Valley and Capital Regions

And yet that’s the point. We are discipling the boy.  This requires a person, not a system, willing to help make those disciples. And parents need to be affirmed in their God given role of discipling their children. Brigade is there to help in this vital task.  We’ve been telling people that the Brigade achievement program is not about patches, it is a time tested map for discipleship.

I had the immense privilege just today of doing Exploring God’s Word in Blockhouse Two with my grandson.  Did he want to do it right then? No, but once I showed him with

You'll Want to Know Kim Ferri

The kind of passionate and competent woman that makes any organization thrive.

If you are like me then you too will want to skip this staff introduction, but that would be a mistake. I

understand the desire to do so. Honestly, how is that person half way across the continent who you will probably never meet relevant enough to justify the time investment?

Kim's passion for ministry recently took her to do ministry in Zambia

But I realized that you need to know these people not just because they are important members of the growing CSB team, but because they are really really cool people! God has without a doubt brought to us passionate and interesting members of the body of Christ.

It would be a mistake not to take the next minute to learn about Kim Ferri, our Business and Operations Manager. This is the kind of passionate and competent woman that makes any organization thrive.

Here she is in her own words:

“It became very clear to me, very early in my son's life that both my son and my husband not only would benefit from interaction with Godly men but they NEEDED that interaction in order to follow Jesus as God designed. I believe our boys and men in America are so bombarded with emasculating messages that without a ministry like CSB it is near impossible for them to follow Biblical teaching. It was over a decade ago that God put on my heart to help wherever possible my brothers in Christ find a place where they can learn and become who God designed them to be, warriors at heart. As Max Lucado has stated, I paraphrase, "safe communities have Godly men leading them".

I was first approached by Scott Haima almost a year ago to think about how I might be able to serve God and CSB. This past Spring the tugging on my heart became a reality.

My aim is to help CSB operate in the
most efficient, cost effective way possible so that our leaders of men are freed up to disciple. I have a passion for cutting costs and improving operation efficiency and my new role with CSB allows me to do that.

If you are wondering what my responsibilities look like day to day it’s