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TRES DIAS TEAM GUIDE NOW ON COMPACT DISK!

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IInntteerrnnaattiioonnaallIInntteerrnnaattiioonnaallFall/Winter 2009

The Tres Dias Guide for Team Membersis now available in an electronic version, giv-ing communities that purchase the CD-Romgreater flexibility than in the past for distrib-uting Tres Dias materials to team members.The copyright provisions allow a communitypurchasing the CD to print all or part of theguide and to post a copy of the guide on thecommunity’s web site. The only restrictionsare that the community’s charter must bevalid, material printed from the CD must beto support Tres Dias activities, and the con-tent cannot be edited or changed in anyway.

To support this flexibility, the CD placeseach section of the guide and each rollo out-line, together with that rollo’s purpose andcommentary, in a separate file. The CD alsocontains one file with the entire guide.

In developing the CD, the policy commit-tee emphasized that reproducing parts ofthe guide must not be allowed to detractfrom the unity and progression of the talks.The rollos form one talk, given over threedays—not fifteen separate talks.

For anyone joining a team for the firsttime, the entire manual should be required

reading. Seasoned rollistas, as well, benefitfrom reading through the entire guide peri-odically.

For those who prefer reading from acomputer screen rather than the printedpage, doing so is now possible.

Copies of the CD cost $5.00 and may bepurchased from “supplies” at Tresdias.org.

Also in this issue:You, the Community . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2

SRO at Secuelas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3

Yes, Lives do Change . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4

The Effects are Lasting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .5

As the Storm Raged, They Celebrated . . .6

Got a database problem? NeedHelp? Don’t know where to

start?Every new community faces the problem

of managing the data that accumulate eachweekend—not just names and addresses ofnew pescadores, but also information onwho has worked in various positions andwho has met the community’s qualifying cri-teria for serving as rector or working in otherleadership positions. Indeed, every commu-nity faces the challenge of keeping the infor-mation in order, but the problems can beespecially troublesome for emerging com-munities.

The International Secretariat’s ServicesCommittee hopes to ease these difficultiesby offering new communities an opportunityto use a “starter kit” approach to building adatabase. The Services Committee is lookingfor volunteer communities that need helpand are willing to put the starter kit to useas a first step on the way to a full database.

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by Richard ThornhillVice President, MembershipTres Dias is a powerful Christian, ecumenical

movement uniting the Body of Christ worldwideand raising up leaders to support local churches.The Tres Dias International Secretariat is dedicat-ed to serving and supporting local communities asthey go about fulfilling that mission.

My friends, and even people in my communi-ty, have sometimes asked me to explain exactlywhat the Secretariat does. Why, exactly, do I flyto a different part of the United States three timesa year for a Tres Dias meeting?

The answer, simply, is that I am meeting with26 other pescadores—people like you, who havebeen given a special love and a special calling toserve our Lord through Tres Dias. You elected usto serve on the Secretariat, which becomes theboard of directors for Tres Dias, Inc. We becomethe working hands of Tres Dias, Inc., distributingthe responsibilities among five committees:Administration, Executive, Membership, Policy,and Services. All have the attitude: “Anything wecan do to help your community, let us know.”

My place of service is on the MembershipCommittee, which has the responsibility for char-tering and renewing charters for each local com-munity, for teaching the Essentials, and for main-taining contact information on all communities.

Each Tres Dias community must renew itscharter every two years. One of the requirementsfor renewal is that an Essentials workshop mustbe conducted within the community by a certifiedtrainer during that two-year period. This traininghelps all pescadores understand the Essentialsand their importance and value. The Essentialsare what make Tres Dias unique and equip it tobring believers together at the cross of Calvary.

To arrange for a certified trainer for your com-munity, you may contact me (or my successor asmembership vice president). I will ask someonewith certification to contact you, and you canarrange for the workshop, as needed. But there’sno reason why someone in your community can’tobtain the certification. The Membership

Committee conducts Essentials workshops andtrain-the-trainer sessions at every AnnualAssembly (held in July) and during the spring(March) and fall (October) Secretariat meetings.Attending those workshops is all that is needed forcertification.

There’s an added advantage to this choice. Bysending delegates to the Assembly andSecretariat meetings, your community is activelyparticipating and becoming involved in supportingTres Dias, at the local, national, and internationallevels. By attending the Essential training, yourdelegates can come away as certified trainers.

You, the community, are vitally important foraccomplishing the Tres Dias objective to “be afriend, and bring a friend to Christ.” It all comesback to you. Those of us who serve on theSecretariat know that you face many challenges,and we continue to look for ways to unite andencourage local secretariat growth and leadershipdevelopment, and to support you, the community,in all three phases of the Tres Dias experience:pre-weekend, weekend, and post-weekend.

How can we help you? Let us know.

To contact Richard Thornhill, send an e-mail toMembershipVP@tresdias.org.

You, the Community

The Colors of Tres Dias International is published three times a year by the Services Committee of the TresDias International Secretariat, Ned Heffington, chairman. Don L. Bohl serves as editor, Rosann Miloscia asartistic director and production editor, and Ned Heffington, proofreader. To submit comments, requests, orsuggestions please e-mail newsletter@tresdias.org.Tres Dias communities are hereby given permission to reproduce material contained herein in their localnewsletters, so long as the content and intention of the material is not changed.

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The kit allows for a great deal of flexibility.Almost every community has a database of somesort, whether on paper, in Excel worksheets, orsome other format, and they are all different,based on local needs and local database talents.It is not possible to build one database that wouldfit everybody’s needs. For this reason, the starterkit enables a community to get started, learn MSAccess, and grow on its own.

The Services Committee can’t teach a commu-nity how to use Access, but it can assist, startingwith the collection of data. At least two coursesare available in local colleges and universities thatteach the basics of Access. Specifically, theAccess 2003/2007 Beginner’s Course and Access2003/2007 Intermediate Course are availablethrough ED2Go, an organization that partnerswith local schools to offer noncredit continuingeducation courses. The courses can also be takenon-line (see www.ed2go.com).

If your community needs help in building adatabase and is willing to put in the effort, let usknow who your contact will be, how much data isavailable already, and in what format (e.g., paper,Excel spreadsheets, etc.).

The Starter Kit will get you started!Send inquiries and interest to

ServicesChair@tresdias.org

SRO at a Secuela?By Rosann MilosciaSRO is an acronym for “standing room only,”

used at popular Broadway plays and other venuesto indicate that all seats are taken. Is it possibleto have standing room only at secuelas? This isthe question posed by Diane Hrubik and DanKearney to attract participants to their workshopat the Tres Dias Assembly, held in Cleveland thispast July.

Working toward an SRO goal does not meanremoving all the chairs, the leaders explained, nordoes it mean having the secuela in a small chapel.And no, it does not mean filling the room with rel-atives. As a matter of fact, the community has yetto achieve the SRO goal, but it has seen consis-tent increases in secuela attendance over the pasttwo years.

Community leaders adopted a marketingapproach, starting with an analysis of attendancetrends. By tracking how holidays and weatherissues affected participation, they were able tosee if secuelas could be skipped in certain months.(The Tres Dias Essentials encourage, but do notrequire, monthly secuelas.)

The community tried babysitting, but foundthat allowing the children to be in the sanctuarywith their parents boosted attendance. Secuelasare open to friends and family members who havenot done a Tres Dias weekend and members of thecommunity are encouraged to issue invitations.There is universal agreement to avoid using theTres Dias vocabulary (“pescador,” “abrazo,” etc.).

Every team gets commissioned at a secuela.This encourages attendance and allows the com-munity to pray over the team and the weekend.

Secuelas are scheduled as soon as possibleafter weekends. This not only improves atten-dance, but brings new pescadores together in away that makes it easier for them to form reuniongroups.

The community also credits improved atten-dance to special dinners scheduled prior to thesecuelas. These include picnics, a Thanksgiving orChristmas potluck, and a “Pay it Forward” dinner.This dinner, held once a year, raises money to helpoffset weekend costs.

The seminar leaders noted that it’s all too easyto find excuses for poor attendance. People whocomplete a weekend become leaders in their con-gregations; they participate in reunion groups andsmall groups. Why should they come to a secuela,another night out from their families?”

The answer is to re-create the feeling of theweekend, using music and fourth-day speakers tobuild the kind of spiritual excitement that draws inmore people.

Got a database problem?(continued from page 1)

The community requires that the music teampractices together before the secuela. The postweekend committee also arranges for the hostchurch to supply the musicians. This also ensuresthat the music flows easily and prevents anythingfrom happening to take away from the worshipexperience.

Many communities place the responsibility ofsecuela planning with pescadores at the host con-gregation. Cleveland uses a more centralizedapproach, with the post weekend committeeactively involved in planning and securingresources.

Those who sat through the workshop realizedthat enthusiastic leaders also help—with work-shop presenters Diane Hrubik and Dan Kearneyproviding living examples to reinforce that point.

Rosann Miloscia is a member of Mid-HudsonTres Dias and attended the Assembly in Clevelandthis past July.

Yes, Lives Do Change—To Find Out How Much, Just AskYes, Lives Do Change—To Find Out How Much, Just Ask

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Tres Dias was an initial opening of my heart and spirit to how much God lovesme, and how that love can be shared.

I am into the Word as never before. I have held many positions in my churchsince my weekend. I am now involved with Kairos prison ministry.

What did Tres Dias mean to me? It was a Road to Damascus experience thatchanged my life in every way.

By Don BohlDo people who participate in a Tres Dias

weekend really feel closer to Christ? And dothey actually become leaders in their localcongregations? Are their lives after the week-end essentially the same as before, or hassomething fundamental changed?

The best way to find answers is to ask peo-ple to reflect on what Tres Dias means tothem. The Fairfield County Tres Dias commu-nity did just that by inviting pescadores tocomplete a 25-item questionnaire, distributedat a closing and also made available online atthe community’s website. Fifty personsresponded online, and another 40 completedpaper questionnaires. The quotations at thehead of this article are a sample of the kind oftestimony respondents provided.

The questionnaire collected information onreunion groups, sponsorship, secuelas, out-reach, and other matters. This information,much of it statistical, should prove useful inthe community’s strategic planning effort,launched in January of this year. But the mostvaluable responses were those indicating howlives have changed—valuable because theyconfirm that the Tres Dias weekend doesexactly what the Essentials say it should do.

Research writers always look for ways toannounce that “the data provide startling newinsights into…” whatever the subject may be.In this case, however, there are no surprises.The respondents’ comments speak to a truththat almost everyone who has been through aweekend understands. Those comments arenot so much “research data” as they are aprayer of praise—an awe-filled, humble, pro-found welling up of thanksgiving for what theLord has done in their lives.

The most satisfying insights came fromtwo open-ended questions: “Describe howbeing a member of a reunion group is helpingyou on your fourth day,” and “Describe theways Tres Dias has led to changes in your life.”Almost all respondents took the time toanswer these questions, with the 50 onlinerespondents being especially fluent in open-

ing their hearts to share what Tres Dias hasmeant—and producing more than 2,000 words ofinspiring commentary on the second questionalone.

Three major themes emerged from theanswers:

• More involvement with and support of thelocal congregation. Some respondents listed adozen or more volunteer activities and leader-ship roles they had assumed since their week-ends. • More frequent Bible reading and study of theWord—often on a daily basis.• Increased ability to share Christ with others.

Secondary themes included “greater aware-ness of God’s grace and forgiveness,” “increasedability to cope with life’s problems,” “greater innerpeace,” and “knowing God’s plan for my life.”

Often, of course, the themes are interrelatedwith, for example, more frequent Bible studymaking a difference in other aspects of life.

I definitely do more Bible study now and givemore thought to how to apply Scripture in mydaily life. I have become more thoughtful inhow I interact with others and more aware ofthe necessity to be Christ-like at all times,especially when discussing my faith with oth-ers and encouraging them to get to knowJesus.

I am a daily reader of the Bible. I haveincreased my involvement with a variety ofministries including support for the unem-ployed, prison ministry, lay Eucharistic min-istry, and hospital visiting services, and I havebegun education for ministry training.

Daily Bible reading, creating improved rela-tions with my children, greater inner peace,and less self-imposed pressure – Tres Diasreally was a miracle experience!

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TThhee EEffffeeccttss aarreeLLaassttiinngg

To our readers...a request for help

Do you have a story to tell about how Tres Dias hashelped to develop lay leaders for your congregation?If so, tell us about it. Our staff is planning to devel-op an article on this theme for a future issue of TheColors of Tres Dias International and we need yourhelp. Send your anecdotes to newsletter@tres-dias.org or simply give us your contact informationand we will interview you to get the story.

There’s the saying that “what is said on theweekend stays on the weekend,” meaning thatthe personal, often painful disclosures thatteammates and candidates share are spoken inconfidence, in the presence of the forgiving andhealing hand of the Savior. While those disclo-sures are not to be talked about outside thecloister, the changed lives speak eloquently.

Here’s an accounting by Jamaica Tres Diasafter that community’s September 2008 week-ends, as described in the July 2009 “CommunityHighlights” report to the InternationalSecretariat.

Fathers were forgiven

Marriages were restored

Bitterness and hatred were healed

Self-destructive thoughts and behaviorended.

At least one child that we know of will not beaborted. Thank you, Jesus.

Prejudices were recognized and broken

Leadership developed

Joy was restored

The men had 24 candidates and 3 dedica-tions on their weekend. The women had 42 can-didates and 6 dedications, hopefully to be fol-lowed with baptism at their local churches.

A number of respondents told about how TresDias had helped to bring about a total changein their lives.

The change was in all ways and in all things.First of all, I did not have a church I calledhome and I now do. I did not have a relation-ship with Christ, and now I do. We are nowactive in church— youth ministry and otherministries, and of course Bible study. Our kidslove to attend church. It’s become their foun-dation and we are forever grateful.

I’ve totally changed priorities. I have shiftedmy attitude to be more interested in what Godthinks than what other people think. This hashelped me to be more open in discussing andsharing my faith with people whose religiousviews I am unaware of.

Tres Dias inspired me to step out and developmy music skills in ways I did not think I could.

It was the beginning of seeing myself as aleader and being able to understand, accept,and act upon God’s call for my life.

It made me realize that God loved me so muchthat he sent His only Son to die for me. Ialways thought I wasn’t worthy enough. Now Irealize no one is worthy enough. Praise Godfor His mercy!

Of course, the weekend is only one phase ofthe “Tres Dias Method,” and the questionnaire alsocollected statistical information and insights onthe pre-weekend phase (sponsorship) and thepost-weekend phase (secuelas and reuniongroups). Clearly, there is work to be done.Respondents reported that it has become increas-ingly difficult for potential candidates to take threewhole days away from work and family. Also, thecost of the weekend is proving an obstacle forsome. Other respondents pointed to the need forbetter promotional materials.

Only about six out of ten respondents said thatthey were currently active in a reunion group.However, almost all who were not active said thatthey would likely join a reunion group if invited.

The secretariat entered into the research pray-ing that the data would reveal God’s plans for TresDias in Fairfield County and provide insights intohow to make the blessings of Tres Dias availableto more people. The work has just begun.

Note: Other communities are welcome to use the FairfieldCounty questionnaire as part of their strategic planning. For acopy of the survey instrument, send a request tonewsetter@tresdias.org.

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Upcoming Meetings

Mar 12-14, 2010 International Secretariat Abundant Life Tres Dias/Northern IllinoisJuly 9-11, 2010 International Assy & Secretariat Cleveland, OHOct 22-24, 2010 International Secretariat RIMA Warwick, RIMar 11-13, 2011 International Secretariat Central GeorgiaJuly 8-10, 2011 International Assy & Secretariat Mid-Carolina Belmont, NCOct 21-23, 2011 International Secretariat Long Island Tres Dias

Here is how Anna Dubrovsky of Moscow TresDias describes the events that set the tone for aweekend in Voronezh, Russia, earlier this year.

“On Friday there was a strong storm and manytrees around the facility were fallen. The electric-ity was turned off because of the accident. We hada forgiveness ceremony during that moment.There was no panic; we simply lit candles. At theend of that day in the chapel, we sang the week-end song, “Hope” by Hillsong. The chorus con-tains the following words, “When the oceans riseand thunders roar, I will soar with you above thestorm. Father, you are king over the flood. I willbe still and know that you are God.”

Anna describes how that song transformedfear into praise.“Behind a window lightningsparkled and there was rain, and in our heartsthere was a victory celebration, joy and gratitudefor God for His power, love, and mercy to us. Allof us experienced God’s presence.”

The Dubrovsky’s newsletter, Tres Dias inRussia, reports what some of the candidates hadto say about their experience.

I completely forgot about my cell phone, myfamily, my job. I have never opened my heartto God so wide and never told God so much.Before the weekend I wanted to score successby myself in order for God to be proud of me….I compared myself with others and saw theirsins and problems but not in my own.

[Before the weekend] I had no power of Christand no willingness to be a real Christian. Irepented of my sins and turned towardJesus.... Jesus showed me my sinful heart. Iam humbled. I realized I need a strong rela-tionship with God.

Tres Dias is for me a lifting. I have againrisen…. I came to the weekend strained. I wasdisappointed in the Christian life. I served

AAss tthhee SSttoorrmm RRaaggeedd,, TThheeyy CCeelleebbrraatteedd VViiccttoorryyautomatically. I prayed, fasted, talked to pas-tors, but helped nothing.... God restored me.Here I was released. I should go further, toserve, love, and grow in Christ.

Voronezh is an emerging community spon-sored by Moscow Tres Dias. The team for theweekend drew from both the Moscow and St.Petersburg communities. People from St.Petersburg spent 21 hours to get to it at Voronezhby car. For the Moscow team, it was much easier,only 11 hours.