I thought I would share with you, my brothers ans sisters in Christ, what God has been teaching me the last few months and weeks. God has opened my eyes and spoke to my heart in a life changing way!

As a minister of the Gospel, I was sort of finding myself in my own personal “comfort zone”! As I’ve been very busy going about my organized and structured areas of ministry, I found myself sort of too tired or too distracted by all these areas of ministry to really care about the people out in the world. I know that the “ministry” things that I have been working hard at have been really beneficial to the youth of our city and to our community. But I’ve been finding myself caring less and less about random people that I meet in the community.

I used to be the type of person that just loved witnessing one on one to any random person that would listen. Many times over the years I have taken groups of youth to go to large malls and pass out Gospel tracts and just spend time sharing with people. I have witnessed to people on airplanes, teenagers, parents of our teens, waitresses at restaurants, and random people at Wal-mart or wherever. But honestly it has been months since I have stopped and taken the time to witness to someone in the community who wasn’t part of the ministry that I work for. I have been feeling kind of complacent in my walk because of this!

After coming to Christ 7 years ago I was so on fire for God and so thankful to know JESUS! Then receiving God’s call to be a full time youth minister I grew in Christ so fast and got so busy in the ministry which I love so dearly. But what think I have done is that I “have forsaken my first love” (Revelation 2:4). Jesus goes on to say to “Remember the height to which you have fallen! Repent and do the things you did at first.”

So that is what I did this Sunday. I set my pride aside and stepped out from the pew that occupy each Sunday morning and walked to the front of the church and repented at the altar. I told God that I was truly sorry for being “too much like Martha and not enough like Mary”. I asked God to renew my love and zeal for witnessing to all people, not just girls in my Bible study, kids at camp, or the people on short term mission trips!

It was at camp a few weeks ago when my friend and the amazing camp speaker, Jack Hager, talked about “a plethora of good things that can keep us from the best things”. He also talked about those who look so forward to short term missions trips but ignore the mission field all around us. I could relate to that because I am working hard to raise the money to go to Panama for 10 days to minister to the Kuna Indians yet I hadn’t been in much of a mood to witness to people here in this community, outside my circle of regular ministry that is. I knew it wasn’t fair for me to think that one of the people in Panama deserved to be reached out to more than say the single mom/cashier at Wal-mart.

Lord knows that there is organized religion and ministry of all types going on all over the place. This country is not at a loss at all for churches, Christian music and concerts, Christian conferences, retreats, camps, and short term mission trips. But God help us if we lose sight of those people who are on the outside of these “seemingly good things”. Many people in this country will not set foot in the doors of a church if they are not reached out to with the love of Christ. I think what the American Church and what our nation is at a loss for, is people who genuinely love Christ enough to put aside their busy “Christian lives” long enough to share about the great Christ that they are supposed to be living for.

How dare I get so spoiled in the “comforts of faith” that I would ignore the spiritual needs of those who know NO faith at all!!!!

That reminds me of a book I once read by Mark Cahill called “One Thing You Can’t Do In Heaven”. Of course the one thing we won’t be able to do in Heaven is to reach out to lost people. There won’t be any lost ones there. So I guess some of us need to spend a whole lot less time worshiping God at retreats, conferences, and concerts and start worshiping God by sharing Christ with people who don’t know Him yet. Out of the comfort zone…..YES…..but W.W.J.D.????

I am curious to hear your thoughts as well….?

I thought this was pretty cool!

This day I will marry my friend, the one I laugh with, live for, dream with and love.

This inscription is on the unity candle, from our wedding, that we still have displayed in our home. It has been 9 wonderful years to the day since our wedding day. I am so blessed and so thankful to have married my best friend. My husband is a man of integrity, who works hard to provide for our family, strives to know the heart of God, and to raise our son up in the wisdom of the Lord. I love him so much and I thank God for him!

I am looking forward to seeing the new Narnia movie, “Prince Caspian”. I love the parallelisms of the things of God! It sure is hard to find good wholesome movies these days, but I think this might just be one worth watching. I am definitely a C.S. Lewis fan!

 

Every day our faith is tested. I am tired of being crippled by fear and doubt. We must trust in the One who is mighty to save, the one who can move the mountains, the Creator and Sustainer, the One who always was and always will be!I love this video! I saw it several years ago at a youth retreat where I was a counselor and I remember God saying “Jodi, stop whining about what you can’t do and start trusting me!”

To find out more about this story go here http://www.teamhoyt.com/ .

While in Minneapolis at the 2008 National Bible Quiz Tournament, I took advantage of an opportunity to share Jesus with a worker in the hotel gift shop.  I was there with my friend Irene, who is one of the girls that I minister to.  The guy working behind the counter was being friendly and asked me a question or two about the tournament and commented on our team shirts.  I explained what Bible Quizzing was and I asked him if he went to church.  He said “no”.  I asked him if he had ever considered going to church?  He said “no, that he believed religion should be kept to oneself and not shared”.  I just listened for a few moments as he explained so as not to cut him off.

Then I shared with him my testimony of how I came to know Christ and how I didn’t realize really how to get to Heaven until my brother showed me in the Word of God.  I shared with him what Jesus has done for us and that I too didn’t want much to do with religion 8 years ago.  I told him how lost in sin I was when God reached out in love to me.  I knew he couldn’t argue with my testimony, because it is what God has done in my life.  As several people began to line up in the counter at the gift shop and were ready to check out, they just listened to us talking about God.  Irene was standing by me also listening to us talk.  The man then said “I just sort of follow my own way”.

I felt the need to go as the gift shop had filled up with people and the guy seemed to be pretty set in his ways (at least for now).  So Irene and I left and told him to have a great evening!  I do pray he will think about the things we talked about and that he will learn and accept the Truth of the Bible!

All I could think is how DECEIVED this guy was that he thought religion should be kept to yourself and that he could just follow his own way.  I don’t remember his name and I didn’t see him again at the hotel working while I was there anyways.  But maybe he will begin to question his personal beliefs and consider the love of Jesus.

 

Just a few pics from the first day of National Bible Quizzing.  I am here as an encourager to the 5 Midland Teams, photographer, and chaperone to 3 of our students who qualified…Andy Charles, Irene Moore, and Craig Graves.  The competition level is very high and everyone seems to be having a great time.  Last night we had the privilege of hearing John Piper preach at the opening rally.  He did a wonderful job (as usual).  He preached a powerful message full of interesting insights, lots of Scriptures, and that genuine Piper passion for treasuring Christ as your SUPREME value in life!!!  I love that about Him.  Piper inspires me to treasure Christ and be satisfied in Him.  Actually I believe Piper is just on to something that I think God has always wanted us to realize. 

He is definitly someone I look up to in the Lord!  I am currently reading my second John Piper book, Let the Nations Be Glad, and am enjoying every minute of it.  We got to visit with him a little after the rally.  What a blessing it was to hear him preach as enthusiastically as he writes books.  May we all seek to treasure Christ as #1 and be completely satisfied in HIM!

May we all live by this verse….

“For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain.”        Philippians 1:21

Pray for Andy, Irene, and Craig and the 32 other Midland quizzers as well as the hundreds of other National quizzers here that the Holy Words that they have memorized would burn on their hearts and come back to benefit them greatly in their walks with the Lord!  I pray we will all commit time to Bible memorization as we follow Christ.  I have about 13 verses in Ephesians and plan to do more while I am here.  Who knows when we might need these verses and not have a Bible handy. 

The SPOKEN Word is powerful!

“I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you.”      Psalm 119:11

Today we got the Pesina family moved from one temporary home to another. It took a team of 10 of us to clean for 4 hours to get the rental home in liveable condition, because the previous renters left it a mess. The landlords however have been generous in waving the deposit on the rental home and being flexible with the lease so that when the permanent home is ready they can move freely into their new home. That is a HUGE blessing. Red Cross will be helping the Pesinas to get beds and bedding, and will also cover their first month’s rent in the “temporary” rental home. Praise the Lord! The beds will be a huge blessing for the children and the parents.

Now our primary goal is going to be raising the funds to purchase the home to rehab for the Pesinas. We need $20,000 as quickly as possible in order to purchase the home and rehab it. We have $1500 on hand with another $3300 committed toward the cost of the home. That leaves $15,200. Please pray that individuals and churches will see fit to help us meet this goal. Every little bit helps and it will all add up.

On a spiritual note….Fermand and Maria, the parents of the nine children, attended church with us this morning at Missouri Valley Baptist along with all 9 of their children. It was a blessed morning to say the least. I invited them to come to church again next week and they said they would.

In our adult Sunday school class, Fermand shared some beliefs that he had when he was younger, and how he has only just realized that God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit are ONE. I believe, from our conversations, God has been able to sew many seeds this week and a half. Also Fermand admits that God protected His family from harm during the tornado and the collapse of their home.

Please PRAY for FUNDS to move forward with this project to provide the Pesina Family with a permanent home!

Great progress is being made. Today we successfully moved the Pesinas into a temporary home in the south end. There is a wonderful lady who has opened up her 7 bedroom home to the family for 10 days. During this 10 days we will need to find another temporary home. There is some pretty exciting news that we have to announce at the community meeting on Thursday at 7pm at the Midland Center. This meeting is opened to anyone and everyone. The St. Joe News Press and KQ2 will be there covering. It is open to anyone who wants to be informed on the project, offer ideas, or to be involved in the project itself. Right now we know we need to raise a lot of money to see this project through. So please pray that as we all sit back in our comfortable homes that we remember this homeless family of 11 who lost everything less than a week ago. Please continue to pray, especially for this meeting and for the financial means to see this project through!

Oh my, if you could only hold their adorable 3 month old baby in your arms or see their little children as they play together! Or if you could just hear the prayers of Maricella and San Juanita as they are just now learning to pray. They are already praying and thanking God for “all the people who are helping them”!!!

PLEASE PRAY WITH ME FOR THE PESINA FAMILY!

As you probably know I am stepping out in TOTAL FAITH right now, as we are underway on this project to provide a home for the Pesinas. I believe God wants them to have a permanent home in the south end of St. Joseph, and I believe that God has a GREAT plan for their lives! I have the chills right now as I even think about what exactly that might be with the growing number of Hispanics in the “Southside”. My dear friends, I implore you and request your prayers. I believe God wants to do an amazing thing in this community regarding His Kingdom.

There is a mission field right HERE in our midst!!!!

Please join with us and pray, spread the word for this project to give the Pesinas there home back. A home for their beautiful children!!! A home that is a testimony to Jesus Christ and of those who claim His name as Christians! Lets show this community just how much we mean what we say when it comes to following Christ and the Word of God!!! A new home their in the southside for the Pesinas would not only meet their needs, it would SPEAK LOUDLY for years to come as a testimony of what God can do through people who want to do HIS WILL! I am soooooooo excited about this. I know without a shadow of a doubt this is what God wants!!!!!!!!!!

Will you help?

I say give sacrificially (till it hurts), pray till the knees are worn out on your pants, share the vision with others until you have talked so much that you lose your voice, and love other people so much that your heart is completely overwhelmed with JOY! That is what I plan on doing!

I don’t believe that God needs us to accomplish this but I believe He wants us to accomplish this task. I also believe that it is just going to be an incredible and unforgettable blessing to be a part of God’s plan for this project and how He will use it to reach people for His Kingdom! This is a BIG BIG DEAL!

Please check out the website for other updates!!!

About the Task : Help the Pesina Family

God Bless You All!