Sweeten logo 500 pixels wide

December 2009:
Volume 2, Issue 2
In This Issue
It Takes a Whole Village
SLS Around the World
Seasoned Believers
EMI Homecoming
Support Sweeten Life Systems
Quick Links
Join Our List
Join Our Mailing List
Greetings!  
 
We are at the mid-point of a our fiscal year for Sweeten Life Systems™ (SLS). It's a time for reflection and a time to look ahead. It has been an exciting and God filled year. 
 
Let me remind you that God equipped and called us to work "upstream" from most immediate people problems. We focus on training and coaching leaders how to develop "A lifetime of great relationships" so they can multiply growth and healing. We do very little "crisis ministry" but intentionally set prevention and personal growth as our priority. 
 
It has been a productive year in several ways.  For example: Our research on families with children with special needs, called "It Takes a Whole Village" continues with very exciting and far reaching insights.  In August, I offered the Marriage Mentor and Coach Training to over 50 people.  And more recently, I taught a 7 week course in Free To Be Me (formerly known as Rational Christian Thinking) to more than 100 people at Tri-County Assembly of God in Fairfield, OH.
 
In October, Equipping Ministries International (EMI) celebrated thirty years of ministry multiplication at a wonderful Homecoming Banquet.  It was great to re-connect with friends and see the worldwide impact of our former ministry with EMI
 
We are finding opportunities in many areas to build on our goal of helping the church and individual Christians to create "A Lifetime of Great Relationships." Help us build a future of dynamic Christian organizations by making a year end tax deductible contribution to the work of Sweeten Life Systems.
It Takes a Whole Village
In early 2009, SLS received a grant from the Hatton Foundation to conduct research with families with children with special needs. 
 
We need your prayers. We will present our plans for 2010 and beyond to the Hatton Foundation in January.  Ask God for His blessing, direction and favor as we go forward with this groundbreaking work and for the Hatton Foundation that had the foresight to fund it.
 
Next month, we will have a special issue on this topic. For an update on this research project, click here.
Sweeten Life Systems Around the World

In 1979, the Discipleship Mnistry at College Hill Presbyterian Church decided to take the Teleios Equipping ideas and materials to others.  We called our new thrust, Equipping Ministries and we took our unique training to Norway, Africa, and Russia.  Each new relationship training center was called TELEIOS for "wholeness in Christ".  The Christian Psychiatrist and Psychologist, Dr. Galina Chentsova, M.D., Ph.D, came from Russia in 1994 to prepare to head Teleios Moscow. 

That center in Moscow is now called Liferoute. Galina is on the SLS International Board.  Galina and her team of well equipped ministers and lay leaders have established regional training centers all around the former USSR.  (Including a prison camp for drug addicts.)  Liferoute works closely with 12 step recovery groups as well as many Christian ministries. She even has a  cooperative relationship with several Russian Orthodox Churches with a major training center in the largest Orthodox congregation in Moscow.

 

Galina returns often to Cincinnati for advanced training, while Steve Griebling and I often travel to Russia to help her further equip the core team. Many of our materials are translated into Russian and distributed freely to the people in classes, groups, and churches. 

 

LifeRoute needs your support.  Your prayers, interest, and donations can help change that devastated nation by leading people to Christ and the new believers to maturity. Here is a list of needs where they can use your financial support.

 

Area of Support

Monthly Need

Salary and support for Dr. Chentsova

$1,500

Teaching team salaries and support

$2,000

Education, training, and materials

$1,500

 Administration, rent, office supplies, travel

$1,500

 

To make a donation or learn more, contact Sweeten Life Systems. (We are a  501(c)3 nonprofit ministry, so all donations are tax-deductable.)

Send your donation to:

Sweeten Life Systems
Box 498455,
Cincinnati, Ohio 45249

Or online here

Or call: 513.300.5065

Seasoned Believers and the Significance Center
At SLS, we continue to develop our plans for The Significance Center -- a faith-based, non-sectarian, non-political educational center dedicated to improving the spiritual, economic, creative, and educational welfare of organizations, families, and individuals.

Seasoned Believers - those believers who have a lifetime of experience and the resources to share - have a significant role in The Significance Center.
 
To learn more about the Significance Center, click here.
To read more about Seasoned Believers, click here.
EMI Homecoming
On Friday October 2, 2009, I was honored at the Equipping Ministries International (EMI) Homecoming Awards Banquet. Even though I was the "honored guest," the main purpose of this event was to re-connect (and connect anew) with those who use, teach, and benefit from the relationship-building tools we have developed over the years.
 
It was a great weekend connecting with old friends. To see pictures of friends and learn more about this weekend, read my blog posts one, twothree, and four
Support Sweeten Life Systems
Our work is a story of collaboration and community. Your donation to SLS will help support our training ministries in Russia and the former USSR as well as our work training and giving pro bono assistance to ministers, missionaries and key Para Church leaders.
To support Gary and the team you can:

     · Donate 
     · Pray
     · Volunteer
Mail your donation to: 
Sweeten Life Systems, Box 498455,
Cincinnati, Ohio 45249

Or donate online click here

For more information contact us at 513.300.5065 or gary@sweetenlife.com.
Sincerely,
Gary Sweeten
Sweeten Life Systems