Jerry Zeller's Mission Field Journal
World Impact San Diego Ministry
2010 August 19
Dear Family and Friends,
We just finished our fourth year of Summer Camp in the city, which turns out to be a huge collaborative effort. World Impact and Harbor Church partner with Inter Varsity to run a teen mentoring project that we called the New Heights project. We hired and trained teens to lead our children’s outreach over the summer. Our teens were joined by other teens from Orange Avenue Church, where we ran the week-long Summer Camp. (My wife) Robbie served as the camp nurse, and I was the registrar as we signed in 165 kids each day. A church from Alabama came to serve snacks and lunches and help with the crafts, and another local church provided training, curriculum, and supplies for a VBS (vacation Bible school) program that was the foundation of the camp. We added a variety of sports and swimming activities.
We had 30 teens assisting with the camp in different activities and capacities, including story-telling, skits, games, and counseling. Most of the teens in the New Heights project came from Harbor Church or from Hoover High School, where we meet and where a couple of our staff serve as coaches. Curt, who is on our staff, is the assistant wrestling coach at Hoover and had invited some wrestlers to participate in the project, some of whom had little background in church. Kevin, the tall young man in the picture above with Robbie, was one of those wrestlers, and I never saw him the whole week without a kid on his shoulders or one hanging off his arm.
Kevin served as a counselor to a group of 10–12 young boys, loving them throughout the week as if it were second nature, guiding them through the activities with great care even though he had never done this before. Throughout our training times with the teens and, of course, through the VBS program, Kevin was introduced to Jesus in a new way. He also saw the Christian life of service lived out before him by our staff and other teens who are a part of our church. Stephen, an Inter Varsity staff person, talked with Kevin a number of times about the Gospel and the last couple of days of camp went out with Kevin and challenged him to become a Christian. Kevin prayed to accept Jesus as his Lord and Savior and was baptized three days later at church where he shared how God had worked in his life this summer.
Kevin will be starting a new phase of life this month, both as a Christian and new college student. Please pray that he will continue to grow in this new life he now lives and that he will find joy in serving God.
Thank you for all your love and support.
Jerry, Robbie, Drew, Julie, and Peter Zeller
Email Jerry Zeller
2010 July 01
Dear Family and Friends,
I wanted to catch you up on some family news. Life has been full and exciting in the midst of our work, and I wanted you to know some of the fun news about our kids. Reid and Misty had our third grandchild in January, and his name is Fred. We have gotten to see him in person only once, but we are looking forward to spending some good time with him and his family here in July. Their cute little girl, Emma, is three now and doing a great job as big sister.
Jon and Sara are expecting our fourth grandchild in October, so we are excited for them. We get to see them more often, and it has been fun watching their son Jack grow up. He, too, is three and already has a baseball glove and loves to throw the ball around.
Drew finished his year of school at San Diego City College and will head back to The Masters College in the fall for his senior year. After that, he hopes to get credentials to teach high school and to coach basketball. His girlfriend, Briege, just graduated from California Polytechnic State University, and has been accepted to a graduate program at California State University, Fullerton next year.
Peter just graduated from Coronado High School and will head off in the fall to Cuesta College, a community college in San Luis Obispo. He hopes to be able to transfer to Cal Poly eventually, where Reid and Misty are on staff with Campus Crusade for Christ. For next semester, Reid hooked him up with a roommate who is one of his small-group leaders.
In ten days, I will help perform the wedding ceremony for Julie, who will be marrying David Zimmer. David’s father is a pastor, as well, so we will do the ceremony together. I tend to be emotional in these types of settings and not sure when the tears will flow. Will it be while walking my daughter down the aisle and giving her away or at the altar when I am trying to give some final fatherly/pastoral advice? Robbie has worked so hard getting ready for this day that I will need to give her some time off afterwards. As excited as we are for the wedding, both Robbie and I also would appreciate your prayers for our family as we celebrate together.
Lots of uncles, aunts, and cousins who we cherish being able to see are going to be coming to the wedding, but we are especially excited that my mom and dad will be attending because that will make the day very special. My mom and dad both have had health challenges that they have bravely battled through during the last year. My dad's struggle with leukemia has resulted in depleted blood supply and energy level. He has made some great progress and is so excited about coming. Julie will be his ninth grandchild he will watch be married, and Fred will be his fifteenth great-grandchild that he will get to hold.
Thank you for all your love and support of our family.
God bless.
Jerry, Robbie, Drew, Julie, and Peter Zeller
Email Jerry Zeller
2010 June 01
Dear Family and Friends,
Most Saturday mornings, I usually get together with Roberto and Evelia for Bible study. Our Spanish-speaking pastor leads our study, and, often, his wife Elizabeth comes. Another young lady, Naomi, has joined us at times, as well. I have been meeting with Roberto and Evelia for a couple of years now, and, it has been exciting to watch them grow. At first, we studied English together, and then they began to be curious about the Bible.
I have watched them grow in their faith, get baptized, and take on leadership roles in the church, which includes both of them helping in the children’s program. They are good parents, and I have watched their three children grow as well. The youngest is Eddie, who is four. He used to interrupt our lessons all the time, trying to get some attention from his mon or dad. Now he sneaks in once in a while to quietly ask a question.
Roberto’s brother Miguel lives with them, and I often see him as he passes through our study on his way to work in the morning. He says a polite greeting, and then is off. He sat through a study once when he had the day off and seemed interested, but there was never any follow through. He has three children back in his home country and a broken relationship with their mother. He is always friendly, but to me, it seems kind of sad just working two jobs and not having much else going on.
Last week, Evelia told me that Eddie usually has breakfast with Tio (Uncle) Miguel in the morning. She was observing Eddie ask Miguel why he didn’t pray before he ate. Miguel told Eddie he did not know how to pray, so Eddie offered to show Miguel how to and then began to pray for his grandma, grandpa, the rest of the family. Then he thanked God for the food. This scene repeated itself for three days in a row. When Miguel was still not praying before breakfast, Eddie took up the lead.
The fourth morning, Evelia noticed that Miguel seemed embarrassed that she was watching, so she pretended to walk out the door but, instead, peeked back inside to discover Miguel leading the prayer with Eddie as he prayed for his children back home. We were all touched by the story, and, of course, we would love to see God use this family, and especially Eddie, to draw Tio Miguel into a relationship with Christ.
I know you will enjoy praying with me on this, and I cannot tell you how much I appreciate that kind of support. Thank you, again, for loving our family and standing with us in ministry.
God bless.
Jerry, Robbie, Drew, Julie, and Peter Zeller
Email Jerry Zeller
2010 May 01
Dear Family and Friends,
Robbie and I have been in San Diego for 20 years now and we have always had single women on our staff that we have loved and appreciated. Meredith Wolfe joined our staff in 2001 and became another dear sister ministering the gospel with us to kids and their families.
We saw this community of people fall in love with Meredith as she selflessly served them, teaching their kids in Bible clubs and Sunday school and teaching the parents English through the classes she taught. Meredith’s background in education has helped her to be excellent in all that she has done.
Besides just serving people though, Meredith has genuinely loved them as friends, being available to hang out, have fun, go to birthday parties, and share in life’s struggles.
Meredith also has an administrative side, with a good sense of problem solving and thinking through ministry strategy. Over the last several years, she has attended my local advisory board meetings and has been available to talk though issues as they came up. I have seen over the years that ministry can be far more challenging for singles than for married couples. There is sometimes a sense of being isolated and alone and that became particularly difficult for Meredith as she has served with us for the last couple of years as the only single person on staff.
Meredith has decided that it is time to move on and discover what God’s next adventure will be for her. As you might imagine, I am really going to miss her and so are many others in our community and church. At the same time, I am excited for her and praying that God will clearly reveal what He has next for this girl that has given so much and served Him so faithfully.
As you pray for Meredith, please pray for us as well that God will continue to raise up faithful workers for our ministry. As we get a bit up in years, it becomes even more evident how much we need youthful workers to carry on the ministry.
Thanks for your prayers and support.
God bless.
Jerry, Robbie, Drew, Julie, and Peter Zeller
Email Jerry Zeller
2010 March 12
Dear Family and Friends,
Happy Easter. I pray you are enjoying this season of the year. I was watching the movie The Passion of the Christ again recently, and there is a scene where Jesus is carrying the cross and his mother comes up to him in his suffering and her worry and he looks at her and says, “See, I make all things new.”
I don’t know about you, but I am so thankful for all that he did to make me new. As I sit here, I am excited for the weekend ahead of me. My precious daughter Julie has been dating David, a guy she met at The Master's College, who recently asked me for permission to marry her, and tomorrow he will ask her. We believe David is part of God’s perfect plan for Julie and so excited to see how it continues to unfold.
This last week, I was on my way to a morning Bible study. As I arrived there, I saw another friend, George, getting out of his car. So I went up to see how he was doing. I have known George over the last several years as I have seen him grow in his faith and desire to serve God and his people. George grew up in an abusive home in Mexico and left at a young age to take his chances in the streets.
George eventually ended up in San Diego and connected with a homeless ministry of a downtown church that helped him out and provided him a place to serve. Through a mutual friend, we got acquainted, and he eventually started taking TUMI [ The Urban Ministry Institute ] classes to grow in his knowledge of the Word. Over the years, we discovered his gift of cooking, and he has often helped us provide food for large group events like the Christmas store.
A couple of years ago he moved in to share an apartment with a family that we had been teaching English and the Bible, and he became a great encourager and friend to them on their walk with the Lord. George is good friends with another family that has recently found life’s struggles overwhelming as work has been hard to find and they could no longer afford rent. George offered this couple and their two children his room in the apartment that he shares, while he moved outside to live in his car. It was there that I found him doing his morning devotion and trusting that God would provide all he needed for this time in his life.
During this time, when I know many of us have had our share of financial challenges, I am so inspired by my friend's trust in the Lord. Please pray for George that God would continue to bless and protect him as he lives for the one who came to make all things new.
God bless.
Jerry, Robbie, Drew, Julie, and Peter Zeller
Email Jerry Zeller
2010 February 01
Dear Family and Friends,
Last year God did an amazing work in the life of this family. I wrote some about them last August. At the end of 2008 the father, second from the left in the photo, was in the depths of depression after losing his job and his own father to death. He went on an alcoholic binge that lasted several weeks with no end in sight. His wife came to our Christmas store to find gifts for the kids and, instead, came to church and found Jesus. She began attending regularly, bringing her children and asking for prayer for her husband.
Several months later, one of my staff, Cuco, went to the family house to pray with the father and share the Gospel. He received Christ, and God delivered him from his depression. A Bible study started in the family home, and the father began attending church faithfully with his family. A couple months later, husband and wife shared their story with the church in a moving ceremony in which they were baptized.
In the summer, their oldest daughter, wearing glasses in the photo, worked in our summer program as an intern, helping with the children’s program and being challenged to grow in her faith. She committed her life to the Lord, and at the end of the summer, was baptized on the Sunday this picture was taken.
At our Christmas store in December, this family joyfully served tamales and champurrado (a Mexican drink like hot chocolate) to those standing in line waiting to buy gifts for their children. The father had distributed to visiting families a CD on which he shared Bible verses and the story of how God had touched his family. What a change from the year before!
This year, the father is interested in starting classes at TUMI [ The Urban Ministry Institute ], and we are excited about all that God may have in store for this family for the coming year. Please pray along with us that they will continue to grow as useful instruments in the building of God’s kingdom in City Heights and the community beyond.
Thanks for your love and support. God bless.
Email Jerry Zeller
2009 December 01
Merry Christmas! I thought it was time for a family update.
Jack and Emma It is still great fun being grandparents with Jack (Jon’s son) and Emma (Reid’s daughter) growing up getting to know us as Grandma and Papa. They are both about two and a half years old and repeating everything they hear. We love having them over and getting to spend time with them. Our favorite activity with Jack, who is here in town, is going to the zoo.
Jon It has been a rough year in the electrical supply business for Jon. but we are hoping to see things improve along with the economy. I love talking about ministry with his wife, Sara who helps with the outreach at their church and always brings down some groups to help out with our summer project of kids ministry.
Reid and Misty still love San Luis Obispo, where they work for Campus Crusade. They are expecting another child in January, which we are all excited about. They have been given responsibility over part of the ministry outreach to a large Asian country and just returned from a trip there to encourage the staff serving there. There is some thought they could spend more significant amounts of time there in the future.
Drew is spending a year away from The Master's College, picking up some general education requirements at San Diego City College before returning next year. While here in San Diego, he is coaching one of his former junior high basketball teams while helping with the high school team. Whenever possible, Drew likes spending time with his girlfriend Briege, who goes to school where Reid and Misty work. We are jealous because she gets to baby sit and see Emma more than we.
Julie is still at the The Master's College where she is also a resident advisor in her dorm. Both Julie and Drew hope to teach in high school when they finish, and like Drew, Julie enjoys spending her free time with her boyfriend, David. We have had some great times with his family who came for a visit over Thanksgiving as they were down from Seattle to see David perform a final music recital before graduation.
Peter is in his final year of high school. Next fall we could have an empty house. Robbie and I are thinking of sleeping in a bit longer in the mornings. Pete is back playing basketball this year, with his brother as a coach, and looking forward to lacrosse in the spring where they will defend the CIF title they won last year. He is looking at some colleges where he could potentially play lacrosse but another exciting option is to go to Cal Poly where brother Reid works with Campus Crusade.
Thank you so much for loving and helping support our family through all these years. I pray you will have a blessed holiday season. God bless.
Email Jerry Zeller
2009 October 01
Dear Family and Friends,
Kathy is pictured sitting in the middle of a bunch of teens, pointing to the boy seated next to her. She was our summer staff intern who spent three months with us learning about the urban poor and helping lead teens through our ministry to children.
If you found Kathy this summer there were usually several teens close by. After working with them all day, several usually ended up at her house in the evening hanging out, eating snacks or watching a movie. During her first week she spoke to the teens during one of our training times and several accepted the Lord. They stayed close throughout the summer project and then she followed up with Bible studies and activities over the next couple of months. She encouraged them to come to church with her and three of the teens were baptized in the month after the project ended.
Kathy loves teens and it was evident to all of our staff that God has designed her to minister to this part of the church. As our little church has grown it has also become evident that we need to have a more active ministry to teens and be prepared to follow through on the energy and momentum of the summer.
Before this summer Kathy had spent several years in the retail industry until becoming aware of a growing sense of call to full time ministry. She came to us to check out the mission field among the urban poor and is now looking for further direction in the certainty of her call. Without a doubt she knows that we would love to have her working with us and so we are praying along with her in this process.
At the same time we are putting together a team of people from the church to bring form to this new teen ministry. God has been faithful to provide several gifted people and so we are excited to see what form it will take and how it will grow over the next several months. Curt, who has been with World Impact in San Diego for more than 30 years, loves teens and was offered a position of assistant coach at the high school where our church meets. We are praying for more favor in this local school.
Thanks for your love and support and for your prayers over the next several month for Kathy, our teen leadership team and Curt as he begins this adventure in the high school.
Email Jerry Zeller
2009 August 01
Dear Family and Friends,
This last Christmas we had a toy store after church a couple of weeks before Christmas so families in the community could purchase presents for their children at very low prices. People started lining up for the store way before church was over. A woman, G, had heard about the store and came that day looking for presents not realizing that God had something even greater in mind for her family.
G has five children and her husband, F, had been going through a very difficult time. He had been hurt at work and out of a job for awhile. As he was recovering from his injuries F’s father got sick and died. F got discouraged by all these events and went on a drinking binge. G described how difficult it was to watch F in his pain spend each day of the month drinking away his sorrows.
G attended our worship service that first time in December and returned each Sunday afterwards with her children to hear the good news that was being proclaimed. She turned her life over to the Lord and began to ask for prayer for Freddie whenever the opportunity came up. A couple of months ago after a time of communion G came to the back of the church where we were offering to pray with people. he poured out her heart to one of our staff, Cuco, and they prayed for F. Cuco agreed to go to their home and talk with F.
That evening Cuco visited their home, sharing Scriptures with F and praying with him. They started a Bible study in the home and soon F prayed to receive the Lord. F also began regularly attending church and this last month he and G stood up in front of the church sharing their story and being baptized into the family of God. F knows so well what it means to be lost and without hope and now that he has found the One that offers hope he wants so much to share that with others.
He is like a breath of fresh air offering to help wherever he can. F and G still have a huge battle in finding work and paying bills, but we are trusting along with them that the God who began this good work in their family is going to see it through to completion. It has been neat to see the family of God begin to step up and care for this dear brother and sister. Please pray for us as we walk this path together.
Email Jerry Zeller
2009 July 01
Dear Family and Friends,
July is always an exciting month for us, full of extra activities for kids and the hopes that new relationships will be developed that will bear fruit in the future. Because so much is going on we have also spent a lot of time planning and preparing for this month, so we would appreciate your prayers that all this time and effort will pay off.
We will have Bible clubs in four different apartment complexes for three weeks and then a week-long, all-day summer camp program at the end of the month. We will pay 15 high school students to enter a mentoring program where we will train them to assist in running these activities. The high school students will mostly be from the local school where our Harbor Church Mid-City meets. Several of them are part of our church. We will also have several college students from InterVarsity helping us mentor the high school students.
The last week of July we will partner with a local Christian camp which will provide staff to help create an actual summer camp experience in the city. During that week an out of town church will come help with food, crafts and outreach. Sometimes it has been hard to keep track of where everyone fits in and how they will all work together, which has heightened the sense of need for prayer.
Every summer when we plan this type of program, many children make decisions to receive Christ as their savior and new relationships are formed that allow us to meet new families. Last year Rebecca prayed to receive Christ during our Bible clubs and then that decision was reinforced during the week long sports camp that we put on.
Rebecca is the daughter of a family that I teach English to the parents on a weekly basis. She was eventually baptized in the church and continues to come regularly to Sunday school.
I have no doubt that Rebecca will grow up to be a leader among the young people in our church and in a few years will be one of the summer interns that help lead other kids to Christ.
Thanks for all your prayers and support for this month.
Email Jerry Zeller
2009 May 01
Dear Family and Friends,
For us, spring is a stepping stone into summer. For the last several years, we have had a team of students from Northwestern College in Minneapolis come during their spring break to help us with a variety of work projects and daily Bible clubs for children. Once again this year, we had 12 students from Northwestern, but this year, an additional 12 students from Troy University in Alabama, joined them. It was twice as much work and twice as many Bible clubs, but all the work paid off.
We had clubs in four different apartments, and the kids were so excited to see us each day. The clubs serve as the stepping stone into summer. Some of the kids we haven’t seen since last summer, and, of course, there are always kids we have never seen before. Starting next month, we will do Bible clubs once a week, which will lead to a week of July summer camp in the city.
Summer camp will take place all day, every day, for a week. In addition to sharing the Gospel and seeing kids get saved, we strive to develop stronger ongoing relationships, which, in some cases, leads to developing relationships with parents who will become a part of the church we are growing. We are excited about the summer and all that will happen during that time, but for now, it is enough to thank God for the activities of spring.
The college students did a great job ministering to children. They helped us fix up our homes and ministry center. It was fun to see the interaction between the students from the different colleges. They had some great volleyball competitions as well as meaningful experiences working and living together. Students from northern and southern states are definitely different, but they all love Jesus and are searching for direction in life.
We had a chance to challenge these college students with God’s call to the city and what He is doing here building a multi-ethnic church among the poor. Our prayer is that some of these students will hear that call themselves and be drawn to join us in this work.
Thanks for your prayers and for all you do to support us. May God bless you.
Email Jerry Zeller
2009 April 01
Dear Family and Friends,
Planting churches in the inner city has to be one of the more difficult areas of ministry that one could choose to enter. We have an enemy that often brings fear and discouragement into the process. Often over the years, we have seen how this enemy picks one person in a church plant team and makes life miserable for him.
Several years ago in a San Ysidro team, we had a wonderful couple whose daughter began hearing voices in their home and experiencing different kinds of fears. It so disrupted their family life, that they moved out of their house and eventually left the team.
In another East San Diego team, our leader began having difficulty sleeping at night. This continued over the course of years, making it difficult for the leader to operate with energy and joy. In prayer, we pushed and passed through that time.
Our team at Harbor Church Mid-City has another wonderful couple from Venezuela who lead the Spanish-speaking part of the church with which we work very closely. Pastor Edgardo’s wife, Elizabeth, is a sweet woman with a heart for evangelism. She’s a key team member and helps tremendously in building relation- ships in the church. Several months ago at a dental appointment, one of Elizabeth’s teeth broke and caused damage to a bone that separates the mouth from the sinus cavities. Elizabeth has had several procedures to repair the damage, but she continues to experience severe headaches.
As you can imagine, this has been a huge distraction for both Edgardo and Elizabeth. On any given day, chances are 50/50 that Elizabeth is going to be well enough to engage in ministry. Edgardo and Elizabeth are far from their home and family and, at times, question whether or not they should return home, a place where they would have some help and comfort.
Two weeks ago at church, Elizabeth ministered to a young man, Antonio, who recently had come from Mexico. Elizabeth prayed with and for Antonio to receive Jesus. Edgardo began a discipling relationship with Antonio the next week. Today Elizabeth was unable to lead the Bible study with my wife, Robbie, and several other women.
It is always difficult to see one individual taking the brunt of the spiritual battle being waged against a team. Thank you for your caring prayers and support. God bless.
Prayer Requests- that Edgardo and Elizabeth get through this season of pain
- that God provides them encouragement as they faithfully serve Him
Email Jerry Zeller
2009 March 01
Dear Family and Friends,
In December, I wrote to you about Celia, her baptism, and what a tremendous influence she has had on her family. She has four married daughters along with 11 grandchildren here in San Diego. All four of these families are involved actively in our church.
Over the last couple of years, not only have we watched Celia grow in her relationship with the Lord and influence her family to do the same, but we have observed her serve her family as she helps watch kids, fix meals, and do whatever is necessary as her daughters and sons-in-law work multiple jobs. Sometimes it has been hard to know what they would do without her, but that is the challenge the families now face.
During this good time of growth, another desire has been gnawing at Celia’s heart. She has two older daughters with several more grandchildren and great grandchildren in Mexico City. She hasn’t been able to influence these families in the same way. Traveling to Mexico probably means not getting to see the San Diego part of the family again for many years, but the decision was finally made that it was time to relocate.
We had a going-away dinner for the whole local family, including a lot of tearful daughters and grandchildren. We read some Scripture from the Psalms and prayed together that God would bless Celia’s journey and one day bring her back to San Diego.
In spite of the local family emotions, Celia, had a definite peace about her decision. I know that she is going to Mexico in the hope that God will make a difference, and she will see a similar working of His spirit in her family on the other side of the border. I picked up Celia in the morning to drive her to the airport in Tijuana. Gathered around the car, the family shared one final tearful farewell.
Prayer requests- for God’s work in Celia’s family in Mexico
- that God continues to strengthen the San Diego family to live for Him
Thanks for your prayers and support.
Email Jerry Zeller