GEMS Names New Executive Director

Late last year, Cindy Bultema was wondering what to do next. As an author, blogger, and sought-after Christian speaker, she had publishing proposals and speaking engagements to consider for 2017.

But then she had a strange dream in which, she says, God told her she would be the next director of GEMS, an international ministry for young girls that has strong roots in and has long been supported by the Christian Reformed Church.

When she awoke from that dream, she wasn’t sure what to do. Since her daughters went to GEMS (Girls Everywhere Meeting the Savior) and she had spoken at some of their gatherings, she knew about the organization.

At the same time, she didn’t know if they were looking for a new director. After praying and talking to her husband, John, about it, she gave the organization a call. She found out they were, in fact, looking for a new director.

“I asked them for a job description and, when I read it, I thought, ‘This job description fits me perfectly.’ I wondered if God was opening this door,” said Bultema.

Although the search committee was already in its second round of interviews, Bultema applied for the job, was interviewed, and, a few weeks later, after praying about it frequently, was offered the job.

“I couldn’t be more thrilled than to be the executive director of GEMS,” she said. “I follow Jesus wherever he takes me. Everything I’ve done is part of a larger plan.”

Bultema started her work as GEMS director this month. Especially attracting her to the position is her own life story — and being able to work with girls. In her early years, she said, she got in with a bad crowd, had a child, and became addicted to drugs.

In her 20s, she took too much cocaine one night and ended up at the hospital, where they brought her around. After that, she said, she knew she had to get her life on track, but wasn’t quite sure how.

“At that time, I was 26 and didn’t know Christ. I didn’t know the truth of who God was,” she said. “I was filled with loneliness for all the world had to offer. I was a single mom and at that point off drugs. I finally surrendered myself to God.”

Quickly she experienced a new sense of life and hope. But she also knew, in the process of her conversion, that God was calling her, whenever and with whatever audience, to share her story of brokenness and restoration.

She did that, and her story touched many others, especially young mothers. Yet her story of personal challenges doesn’t end there.

Bultema eventually met and got engaged to a great guy, she said, and they had many plans for a happy future. But then he died suddenly in a freak work accident.

It was devastating.

“But people prayed for me that I didn’t go back to drugs,” she said. “I leaned on God, his Word, and my community. I experienced God’s peace and presence in my most difficult and dark days like never before.”

In her season of grief, she was offered a job at a megachurch, where she was able to teach Sunday school, start to oversee the youth ministry, and in the process work with teen moms, seeking to help and rescue them as God has rescued her.

That was satisfying ministry, she said. But once she met and married John, she left the workplace to raise her children at home and to eventually start her speaking and writing ministry.

“Now, as the GEMS executive director, I’ll be able to continue trying to rescue girls as God first rescued me. I have a heart to go out there after our girls. There is nothing I’d rather do than to walk alongside them,” she said.

Bultema said she is taking up this position as GEMS is continuing to grow. Throughout 2016, nearly 17,000 girls gathered for club meetings and events.

“With 800 clubs in the U.S. and Canada and another 100 clubs overseas, GEMS clubs are everywhere — in big churches, small churches — and we have a special focus on seeker girls, those who don’t go to church,” said Bultema.

In fact, 18 percent of girls who attend GEMS do not regularly attend church, and without GEMS they would have little to no exposure to God and his Word.

“The clubs are welcoming, safe, and fun places for girls to meet and do crafts and play music and receive solid, biblical teaching from counselors who devote their time and energy to help them.”

Since 2008, said Bultema, GEMS has been planning for and operating The Esther School in Zambia, which equips orphaned children to serve God, their families, and their communities. Since that time the school has also been a part of GEMS.

But in 2017 The Esther School will become an independent ministry with its own oversight and board. GEMS, she said, will continue to partner with this school.

“This sister ministry has grown so large that they need their own executive director to give it the care and attention they need,” said Bultema.

As she looks forward, Bultema said, “I’m so excited to see what God will do. We have 4,000 volunteers in North America alone. It is a great joy to join with them in a ministry that has such a strong foundation.”