Here is a video that describes the heart of refugee ministries and what we’re about. CHeck it out.
Archive for August, 2007
We are in St. Louis visiting with my sister and yesterday we had the opportunity to share for about 10 minutes at her church (conerning missions and our work with ITeams). People were quite receptive and it is always interesting the type of response received. I met a few enthusiasitc people who were genuinely interested in te work in Minneapolis. I pray that the Lord will steer their enthusiassm to do something for the KIngdom of God.
i met others who seemed to have never heard of the concept of missions, like Hudson Taylor was the last guy to do this. And they were cool to talk to as well. Very inquisitive bunch. This missions thing had never appeared on their radar until yesterday morning. I was talking with Charity and we were both saying how you never know what God is doing deep within the hearts and souls of people. Acts 10 has been heavy on my heart for the last couple weeks. Cornelius is visited by an angel. Peter receives a vision. . . finally realizing the Gospel was for the Gentiles. . . it’s a powerful chain of events.
Probably eight years had lapsed from the time Jesus told the disciplies to go into all the world and Acts 10. Acts 1:8 said something like “Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” Interestingly, eight years in, and the only people the disicples had reached were Jews(a lot of them), other than the Samaritans and Ehtiopian eunuch. And the Samaritan beeliefs were very similar to Jewish tradition. I find it fascinating (and disturbing) how little we actually grasp from the word and call of the Lord. The series of supernatural eents in Acts 10 finally causes the green light to go on for Peter. The work of the spirit confirms that all people can get in on this thing. I wonder how many of us have the Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, ends of the earth thing on our radar? I wonder how many of us think about it in th ecourse of a given year? Read through it this eek. . . and think about your predjudices or unwillingness to engage lost peoplewho are quitedifferent from you. We too need the work of the Spirit to interrupt and recomission us.
I have been swamped for the last two weeks trying to get things lined up with our new work among refugees. A lot of you have probably received a packet in the mail. We’re trying to raise support, prepare for training, and work on an itineration schedule all at the same time. It’s a little more complicated than I thought, but it is coming together. We will be on the road from September through early December. We have a month long training session in Elgin, IL for msot of September, then we’ll be sharing our vision with churches in Montana, North and South Dakota, Minnesota, and possibly one or two in Wisconsin and Indiana. All are small churches of friends that we know well. . . I praise God for the great friends that He has allowed us to maintain through the years. We’ll have to see how timings work out as we make further appointments this week.
Our Website
Most of you know about it but we set up a little website at http://www.johnandcharity.com CHeck it out if you want and learn a little more on what we’re doing. We will make update on this site to fill you in on things.
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Other than the natural busyness that has come, I have had some amazing conversations with people in the last week. God is doing so many things in many settings on the globe. I talked to my friend Evan from Montana the other day and he is witnessing extraordinay things in his ministry. I felt very challenged and motivated after talking to him. It’s so cool when God puts these people in our paths to re-stir our hearts and get our butts in gear.
I wonder if this is any bigger, is it” ;alsdjf;asfdj;
I have read a series of articles in the last couple days on praying in the Spirit. As a Pentecostal, this will mean something all together different from a non-Pentecostal, but I think there is a lot more commonality than we might think. My interpretation of Scripture is that there is a definite second work after salvation in which the Holy Spirit does something very distinct, very supernatural. It is undeniable that something HUGE happened from resurrection day to the outpouring of the Spirit in Acts 2. I’ve experienced that shift personally in my life. The ongoing work of the Spirit’s evidence in my life takes so many forms, of which praying in tongues is a major component. To many, praying in tongues seems like foolishness. But my best interpretation of Scripture is that this practice is normative and helps us to pray when we have no idea what else to pray. I truly believe it empowers us for a centering focus on Jesus, His mission, and an eventual transformation of the world through our daily interaction with people. Without dispute, I believe praying in tongues is extremely important. BUT, I also see that Spirit-praying seems to encompass far more than praying in tongues. I have a hard time believing that someone who doesn’t come under my doctrinal position is not praying in the Spirit. We all have these moments of deep sighing, groaning, introspection . . . and I believe the Spirit is praying through us in those times as is discussed in Corinthians. Pentecostals need to be awfully careful in espousing that they are the only ones praying in the Spirit. That seems ridiculous to me. There are so many Spirit-seeking people who are extremely attentive to God’s voice. . and in their best interpretation are hearing and responding to the Spirit’s lead. Whatever our interpretation of Spirit-praying, I believe the key is sensitivity. Are we sensitive enough to really hear what God’s Spirit is saying and are we praying that over the nations? Are we Spirit-praying for our families or are we just asking God for more stuff? There is an incredibly big distinction. My postmodern Evangelical friends would appreciate my understanding that we are all praying in the Spirit to our best understanding, as we seek the Lord. My theologically minded Pentecostal friends would probably say I need to be a little more dogmatic, drawing a clearer line. I will not. Personally, I do think my interpretation is RIGHT!! lol I mean come on, who holds their doctrine and practice because they think it’s the second-best thing around? With that being said, I will continue to pray in the Spirit – both hearing God and praying in tongues, as well as praying with my understanding. I actually think that this concept of praying and living in the Spirit is way more important than the tongues as initial evidence to Spirit baptism debate. Regardless of our interpretation of what Spirit baptism and Spirit-praying means, shouldn’t we all be constantly seeking? Surely, God is not up in Heaven pulling strings, empowering some people and limiting others, because they don’t have a proper understanding of praying in the Spirit? We all see so dimly in our understanding of the greatness of God. As we follow the Spirit, things are shifted in a supernatural realm that all of us fall short of comprehending. The key is to keep seeking. . . .Keep hearing. . . .Keep obeying. Spirit-praying.
For the last week and a half Charity and I have been working on two separate computers doing a lot of officey types of things - getting packets ready to be mailed for our new appointment with ITeams. (making cds, stuffing envelopes, writing notes, etc.) We have literally been staring at computer screens, printing stuff, folding papers, emailing, etc for about 12 to 13 hours a day. I can feel myself getting fatter as I sit behind the computer screen. Little exercise, locked into one sitting position is like torutre to me. At the end of the day we’re both going nuts and absolutely have to get out of the house/office and do something alive.
I think administration is clearly a gift from God. I think I’m actually pretty good at it. That means that in a larger organization, I typically get thrown a lot of work. A friend of mine and I used to joke in college that if the different gifts represent a part of the body of Christ, administration must be like the butt, or armpit, or something. I think it was because we had both had bad experiences with “higher-ups”. All bureacracy aside, I commend people that do office work every day. It takes a special person to do it. I feel like bugs are crawling all over my body if I’m cramped up in a office for too long. And for the “higher-ups” that enjoy the prestige of an office position – take your presitige and gloat in it. . . .I think you guys needs psychiatric help. 
So what’s the point of this blog? I’m not real sure, other than the fact that I’m merely adding to my computer time by blogging about this. lol If you’re an office worker, make sure to go running, go to the coffee shop, or just hit something every once in a while to make sure you’re still alive. My hat goes off to all the secrataries of the world. . . though many of you are women. . .”You da man!!”
The cool thing is that we are nearing a destination with all this officey stuff. I started to work on a website today, and hopefully I can have that up and running soon. It won’t be anything too special, just enough to let you know that we’re still alive and what we’re about. Thanks for reading my office rant. . .. . I feel the bugs again. . . gotta go……aaaaggggghhhhhhh!!!!
The printing press was all that and more in Johannes’s day. . . . we’re still seeing the results of its birth. Charity and I are trying to put together a packet to mail out to several hundred people explaining what we’ll be doing with ITeams and refugee ministry. I go to Kinko’s and they wanted 1.80 cents per newsletter! Are you serious? lol I had another brochure on top of that which would have cost the same. . . called another printing place and it wasn’t much cheaper. .I tallied it up and if we went the Kinko’s route it would have cost 1,000 dollars to print crap! I’m amused right now, but about 4 hours ago I was not. We found a better way to go in printing all the materials. . . and it will al be fine. Yet, it amazes me how costly ink still is. Gutenberg was a genius. . . thank the Lord for his contribution to the world. I thought of him many times today, half amazed how much stuff still costs to print in this world of mass marketing. If I was a chick and it was 1421, I’d stop by and say hello. Yeah, I’m a freak. But, what’s your excuse?
So after I had a heart attack at Kinko’s, I recovered. I formatted some videos today also and they seemed to be all messed up. . . it was like everything was going wrong at the same time. BUT, I recovered and everything worked out. Funny how perplexed we become over stupid stuff. At the end of the day none of this even matters. It’s all recoverable. Ink, money, cd formatting. . . ??? Are you kidding me? Yeah, I freaked over it. I’m so glad Jesus is this patient with me. He still pursues me in spite of me. I had the thought later on today, “Why does Jesus care so much? I seem to have all wacked out priorities and loptarded expectations.” He never relents from showing himself to me in the good, bad, and the ugly. What a Lord, what a friend, what a Lover. Wouldn’t anyone follow a God like this? Sadly, no. Puzzling isn’t it?
