Ministry News- A new year and new events! by Cindy

Dear Family and Friends,

Hi! We are so sorry this is so late.  Our household has been battling colds and sickness the past month. I also can’t believe how fast the new year is going. Spring is almost here!

Just like the newness of Spring, there are new things happening at Saving Grace World Missions!

One of those new things is the One Day Impact Conference. This conference is free and designed to help churches stir up the body. Here is what we are now offering…

“Do you have a desire to stir your church up for – God’s Heart for the Nations, Reaching the Unreached, Getting Involved in the Great Commission, Community Outreach, and much more?

Well, Saving Grace World Missions has designed a FREE dynamic 1 day missions conference that is customizable for your church.

We have options for:

• Main Sessions
• Workshops
• Question and Answer Forums
• Missions Conference Journal
• Short-Term and Long Term Missions Opportunities
• And Much More…

Our heart here at Saving Grace World Missions is to encourage your church body to be involved in the Great Commission both locally and abroad.  As a Calvary Chapel based ministry SGWM has a passion to see the nations reached with the Gospel of Jesus Christ, the Word of God taught, lives touched and people ministered to.” To learn more, please go to www.sgwm.com and click on conferences.

We believe that this is a great way to help the body learn more about missions.

Personal News– Outcome  by Chris

Since life has been so busy, I asked Chris to share with you our heart as the Lord has lead us to NOT be part of the ministry of Campus Crusade for Christ.

As some of you may recall, the last time I (Chris) shared with you from the heart, I shared about the redirection of God and how he ultimately had closed the door  to us serving with Campus Crusade as a couple. I related to you about the cross and how it clashed with the wills of Christ’s disciples. As well I wrote to about Abraham and the period of uncertainty that he experienced before Yahweh ultimately showed himself strong on Abraham’s behalf with the provision of the ram.

It has been some time since we last wrote to you. Much has happened in that time. And although I feel it would be somewhat inappropriate to share everything that God has been doing, I would like to share with you, just a few brief precious nuggets that God has taught to us in what I would like to refer here to as the “Outcome”.

Consider for a moment the dismay that the Disciples of Christ may have felt as they watched not only their master and teacher but ultimately their Savior and hope hang lifelessly from that terrible Roman cross all those years ago.

But consider for a moment that we too have seen the Son of God, in varying degrees no doubt. But we have seen him. For example we saw his power first hand when the Father saved us, filled us with the very Spirit of God and made us new creations through Christ’s finished work on the cross. But what is my point you may ask? What am I getting at? As believers we exhibit the much of the same doubts as they did then. We often limit God to our own designs and needs. We often seek to confine the limitless God to finite limited plans. Some times those plans are His and He willingly works within them to his glory. More times than not, however, they are not His plans and He gently if not firmly refuses them, defying the boxes that we demand he exist in. And in so doing He graciously reminds us that he alone is the Master and Father and we are but the servant and child and it is never the other way around.

Cindy and I have been learning in short that God’s ways are often contrary to our own. His plans are much larger than our own and often span far beyond the borders of the conventional methods and titles that we desire to have or serve within. God is teaching us to serve with all our heart where we are, irrespective of a “ministry”, to see the lost in front of our face, the hurting that we fellowship with on a regular basis but neglect to notice all of the time. I believe in my own life it’s often because there is no glory there to be had, no recognition of what you have done or are doing for the Lord or His kingdom there. And that I must confess savors of the very attitude Christ’s disciples manifested before the outpouring of the Holy Spirit in Acts.

But isn’t that the heart of what Jesus communicated to his disciples in the gospels? Did he not call them to live the whole of their life in service to others regardless of a title or prestige? Did he not call them to step out of the place of comfort and respect of other men to follow him? And are we not called as Christians, followers of Christ, to do the same? Are we not called to submit to God and his word at every moment in every situation no matter how difficult it may be to His glory? And are we not called to do this out of the outflow of who we are in Christ not what we are trying to prove or do in our pride? Or are we called to merely serve out of an outworking of religious philosophy that we have adopted (like the Pharisees) to our own glory and praise of others. I believe the answer is the former but sadly too often I have been guilty of the latter.

It is that change in our hearts which God has begun to work out practically in our own lives, our own marriage and places of ministering. And it’s that work that I felt led to share with you here in the hope that it will somehow give you both a little insight into our lives as well as maybe encourage you in your own.

I pray that you will continue to lift us in your prayers as you think of us. We have found the warfare has only intensified for us as we seek to surrender the borders of our own plans and conventions to God and allow him to work his will in and through our lives.

Pray especially for Cindy as she seeks to care for our son and serve with all of her heart at Saving Grace World Missions. Pray for me as I seek to lead by the example of my life and fellowship with the Lord. And please pray for our son, that God would give us the supernatural wisdom to guide and care for him as the word commands.  Blessings to you all in Christ!

In Christ,

Chris, Cindy and Josiah

Prayer Requests:

• Please pray for the health of our family.  Josiah and Chris have been sick a lot lately.  Please pray for strength and energy for Cindy so she can care for them.
• Please pray for God to provide for our finances. With Chris missing work, it means that we lose income.  He doesn’t get sick days. Pray that we would trust the LORD to provide.
• Please pray for wisdom and discernment in training up Josiah. We are starting to have to work through boundaries for him. Pray that God would show us the best way to train him as we follow Him.
• Pray for our walks with the LORD that they would be rich and full.
• Pray for us concerning the future. That we would continue to seek the LORD for how and where He wants us.
• Please pray that the LORD would provide a second vehicle and sustain the one we have.  It’s getting old.

To see photo’s and a printable version on this update, please click below

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