2014, Now What?
I remember, years ago a lady came to our church and she said something I will never forget. She said, “I used to think that prayer was a big part of the ministry. But now I know, PRAYER IS THE MINISTRY.”
We all have experienced difficult times and circumstances. As a fellowship we have recently looked at what the Bible says about spiritual warfare. And as you know, “…we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. Stand therefore…”
We live in dark and difficult times, there’s no other way to describe it. 
Our enemy tries to trip up believers causing them to fall, and to capture the hearts of the unsaved through casual sex, drugs, alcohol, pornography and undelivered promises of happiness. Evil isn’t decreasing in our life time, it’s getting worse. Living in Europe we see that it’s 15-20 years further down the road of immorality and rejection of Jesus then the states. It’s estimated that only 1/10th of one percent is Bible believing born again Christians. But, “…the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God…”
I shared this idea, that “PRAYER IS THE MINISTRY,” with Ashley and Elijah just before they went back home. Ashley commented, and I’ll paraphrase, that if you’re praying for us then you’re just as involved in the work God has entrusted to us as we are. She continued to say that even though you’re not present physically here with us, the Lord knits our hearts together in the work. As we call people to come out of the world and run after Jesus Christ, through your prayers, it’s as if you’re standing right next to us. It’s through your prayers that the enemy is bound and the work of the ministry is enabled.
Thank you for your prayers, we need them more than you know. I believe your prayers are vital to the work we are engaged in. We have experienced much adversity this last year. Our missions pastor, Mike Thiemann, reminded me recently that “if you’re not getting shot at then you’re probably not in the battle.” Since we are not ignorant of the enemies devises, we suspect the adversity will continue with even greater intensity as we continue to take a stand and call others to repent from sin and follow after Jesus Christ.
I would ask you to pray for God’s blessing and protection on our family. Please pray that God would overwhelm us with His presence. It’s our heart to have walks worthy of His calling. Pray that we would honor our Lord and Savior with our lives. We desire to see the power that raised Christ from the grave to be working mightily in our lives. Pray that God would give us faith, that we would not just wait for Him to move with an attitude of reluctant resignation, but with a worshipful anticipation of His goodness. Pray that the Lord would open doors to us to share Christ with boldness. And please pray for our health. Pray that God would bless the Calvary Chapel Ansbach, and that He would cause the teaching to come alive by the Spirit, to draw the hearts of those in the fellowship into a deeper love of God the Father and His Son Jesus Christ.
Many people have asked us what’s going on with England? 
Where are we in the process? Well, we have our sponsorship number and are able to fill out the paper work to get our visas. Our hearts are unwavering in our desire to follow the Lord to Exeter. All we are waiting for is God’s timing and provision for the visas and the move. Until He moves, we wait. When He opens that door, that’s when we will go through it. But until the Lord opens that doors, we wait, and continue to serve Him in Germany. Ultimately, England is not our goal, our goal is to be committed to follow Jesus wherever He would lead us.
As always, I want to remind you, even as you are linked with us through prayer in the work here in Europe, we want to be linked with you in whatever the Lord is leading you into. So please, if you have need of prayer, let us know, we count it as a blessing to pray for all those who share their request with us.
Check out our “Photo Gallery” on our web page. We have updated it with a new look and a lot of pictures of the family, of places we have had a chance to share the gospel, and random pictures that are special to us.
As always, we thank you for your prayers, friendship, love and support.
God bless,
Gary and Tina
Tina and I 2014
Posted in Update by Mike Thiemann with comments disabled.
“…Who will go for Us?”
In Isaiah we have one of the most beautiful descriptions of the heavenly scene in scripture. We get a glimpse of God’s throne room and Isaiah’s heart.
Isaiah sees the Lord high and lifted up, the train of His robe filling the temple. He see and describes the seraphim as they are flying about the throne, covering their eyes, so as not to look upon the Lord, and covering their feet in the presence of the Lord, all the time crying “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord… the whole earth is filled with His glory.”
In the Lord’s presence Isaiah is confronted with who and what he really is, a man of unclean lips, an undone man, a sinner. But the Lord…how gracious is our Lord?…He allows a seraphim to take a coal from the alter to touch Isaiah’s mouth, which purges him of his sin.
Then Isaiah hears the voice of the Lord saying what I strongly believe was the 
longing of his heart. “Whom shall I send, who will go for Us? I’m certain that Isaiah didn’t even think about it, he blurts out, “Here I am! Send me.” I believe because it had been Isaiah’s heart’s desire for many years before those words ever fell upon his ears, he didn’t have to give it a second thought. It was a dream come true for him, and as the fulfillment of the deepest longing of his being he responded from his heart, “Send me!”
As you know the Lord has opened a door of opportunity for our family. We have been invited to be part of the work in Exeter England. We will be working with college students, teaching and discipling them, leading out reaches, assisting Pastor Bob Claycamp with the work at Calvary Chapel Exeter. But that’s not all. There is a plan to start a new School of Ministry, which I will also be assisting with, geared towards raising up British men for positions of leadership with in churches across the south west of England. The school is slated to open this January.
The invitation to be part of the work in Exeter, to work with and disciple college aged adults is our hearts desire, and I strongly believe, our gifting.
We have applied for and have received our UK sponsorship number from the government, and now we are applying for our visas. We need $3500 for our visa application fee.
I would ask you to be part of sending us. If everyone who receives this update would donate just $20 towards our visa, we would have the money for it. That’s all it would take, twenty dollars. In fact, if everyone who receives this update would commit $20 a month, we would be fully funded for living in England and would not have to deal with the constant distraction of raising support, we could focus totally, without interruption, on sharing Christ’s love with those who need to hear it.
When we came to Europe to be part of the work the Lord told me He was going to do a something radical and asked if I wanted to be part of it. I feel like that is what He would say to you. He’s going to do a work in Exeter, a radical work that none us us could ever imagine, and I think He would ask you, do you want to be a part of it? I know if you had the chance to go, you’d get on a plane so fast it would make your hear spin. But since you’re not in that place, would you prayerfully consider sending us in your place?
If you know Tina and I at all, you know we’re not all about money, 
we’re not living off others, we’re not raising money so we can live lavishly, but we need your help. Would you click the button that says, “Become a Financial Partner” and set up a regular monthly contribution of $10, $20 or $50? Join us in the work of bringing Christ and solid Bible teaching to the people of Exeter and south west of England. Be part of raising up men who can teach the Bible in churches which desperately need Bible teachers. And, be part of sharing with us in the joy of serving the Lord and in His rewards.
Finally, would you please share this update or repost it on your Facebook page? It will be a great help to us, or go to our web page and click on the “Like” button in the upper right of the post. It will allow that many more people to see what the Lord is doing and they go to the Lord and pray for us and the work ahead.
We always would love to hear from you. So let us know how you’re doing, and how we can pray for you. It is a blessing for us to hear from you.
Thank you again for your continued faithful prayers. Your prayers are paving our way.
God bless,
Gary and Tina
Posted in Update by Mike Thiemann with comments disabled.
Exceedingly Abundantly Above
“Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, to Him be the glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen” Eph 3:20-21
I can’t think of a better description of my recent trip to the states. I went to share with friends, supporters and churches the open door that the Lord has placed before us. In short, we have been asked to move to England to assist Pastor Bob Claycamp in the work at Calvary Chapel Exeter. Tina and I will be working with University students, teaching and discipling, along with assisting in the church and serving the body. And that’s not all, a major denominational church has asked Calvary Chapel to raise up Bible teachers to teach in their churches. How crazy is that? It’s like a large denominational church in your area calling your church and asking them to send over a Bible teacher to teach them the Bible because they can’t do it anymore. So, Calvary Chapel is starting a Pastor’s school, and I will also be assisting in raising up pastors to teach the Bible simply and accurately in churches across the southwest of England.
Calvary Chapel Corvallis
I couldn’t have asked for a more amazingly fruitful trip. I had a chance to share at Pursuit Christian Fellowship in Gilbert Arizona, Calvary Chapel Saving Grace in Yorba Linda, Calvary Chapel Corvallis and Calvary Chapel Monmoth in Oregon. I was also blessed to share at many House Churches, Home Fellowship, Bible Studies, and Men’s studies across California and Oregon. I was also blessed by being able to attend a Men’s Retreat held by our home church, Calvary Corvallis.
Pastor John
There are so many people to thank for making my trip so successful, I can’t mention them all, but I do want to thank my missions pastor Mike Thiemann and his wife Erin, pastor Tim Lee and his wife Jenny, and my pastor, Rob Verdeyen. Thank you also to pastor Dan Campbell, and a big thank you to my good friend, pastor John Whang. I also want to express my thanks to Anna and David Hogan, Nathan and Cindy Hightower, Mendell and Darlene Gosnell, Arron and Emily Wells, Bryan and Dawn Hill, and thank you to my sister and brother in law, Sharalynn and Bob Culy. Thank you all for your love and unselfish support. I would like to say thank you to everyone else by name, but unfortunately I don’t have the space, but may I say, you’re not forgotten and I thank God for you.
Please pray for us:
Now that I am home, there is so much more for us to get started on so we can get to where God is calling us. 
I want you to know that we are so in need of your prayers, maybe now more then ever before.
I am starting the visa process to allow us to move to England, and there is a lot to it. Please pray for favor with the officials.
We are in need of the Lord to give us wisdom and show us when and where we are to relocate in Exeter and that He would establish us and provide a “Home” for us.
We’re asking Him to raise up a support team committed to pray for us as a family, as well as standing with us in the work the Lord is entrusting to us.
We are also in need of the Lord increasing our monthly support. We are currently at about 30% of what we need to live in the UK. We are asking the Lord to raise up people who are called to support us in the work and who have a heart to reach the lost, to reach university student for Christ and be part of raising up men to take leadership and teaching roles within churches in England; people who see the work that the Lord is calling us to as an opportunity to investment in the building of the Kingdom.
Please continue to pray for Ashley and Elijah serving in Jordan. Pray for open doors and opportunities.
Austin will be going to Kurdistan Nov 6th through the 16th on a mission trip. Pray for safety and amazing fruit from the trip.
Finally:
Would you please share this update on your Facebook page? It will be a great help to us if you repost it or go to our web page and click on the “Like” button in the upper right of the post. It has to do with Facebook and internet stuff that I don’t fully understand, but it will also allow that many more people to see what the Lord has called us to, and that many more people can go to the Lord and pray for us and the work ahead of us.
We always would love to hear from you. So let us know how you’re doing, and how we can pray for you. It is a blessing for us to hear from you.
Thank you again for your continued faithful prayers. Your prayers are paving our way. Together we share in the work ahead of us as well as in the rewards.
God bless,
Gary and Tina
Posted in Update by Mike Thiemann with comments disabled.