prayers in the midst of discouragement

Friday 25 January 2008 at 09:47 am

Slowly digesting these verses as of late:  Ephesians 6:18-19

With some prayers, the Lord tarries for His purposes, with others, he responds in a short amount of time, speaking from a human perspective Regardless, I am overwhelmed and thankful that He does answer them at all. Lately I have been praying for encouragement and strength as I strive to read and apply His word.

The part about Mission Raleigh that people like to hear is the impact on the community, the lives of kids, youth, or adults changed, the joy of having little children run up to you because they know you are their key to unconditional love and snacks, holding a little child in kids club and watching their little minds and hearts soke in God's Word, the new and exciting challenges of working with a fast paced ministry, being in the so called "frontlines" type of ministry etc, etc.

The flip side is rarely spoken of - the part where you see people hurting so badly from circumstances and consequences whether it be of their own decisions or not, the part where people abuse and misuse you because they are lost and easily take people and things overall for granted, the spiritual warfare evident that causes great rifts and ripples in relationships whether it be those in our own or in the lives of those whom we seek to minister to, the pain of watching a child get beaten or neglected because the father and mother figures are no where to be seen, though gently pleading the part where we watching addictions take over the lives of youth and adults ...  overall the reality of how dark and demented sin truly is. This is not to mention the inability of fellow believers at times to sympathize with this cause in Christ thereby many times unknowingly comment and react in such  way to bring doubt and destructive criticism to the minds of those who already see the lostness of the world outside the church building and feel compelled to reach it. These and the myriad of other discouragements that can so easily  drown out the voice of the Almighty God who called us to such a great task, promises anyone that serves in such a ministry the opportunity to take up our cross and follow him daily, hourly, and instantly - or die trying.

With that said, prayers are not only vital or the life blood but our Lord tends to use them as the main source of renewal, healing,  and encouragement.  It is true, others will fail us even discourage us, but Christ will never leave nor forsake us. How sweet it is to cry out to the Lord and for Him to hear the prayers of those who truly belong to Him. I speak for myself if not also for my wife and those who serve in such a God sized ministry, do not give up praying and crying out on behalf of the lost and dying, do not give up hope, do not stop communicating with Him for any reason.

Stepping into the River

Thursday 24 January 2008 at 08:54 am The Buddhist monks that I use to study under, yeah I know it’s a false religion but God taught me things even through that, had a saying. “Life is like a river it is always changing and forever moving forward. You can not step into the same river twice.” Growing up a river rat in WV I can really relate to that picture.

In heaven we will exist in a world without change because we will have direct communication with God who is the same yesterday, today and tomorrow. Nevertheless we must exist in the world today that is in constant change as we struggle though this journey toward our home.

We tend to view change as a bad thing, but I see it as an opportunity. The vision for Mission Raleigh has changed slightly several times. The change we are in right now is to return to an evangelistic, church planting ministry. I am very excited about the changes and I look forward to the challenges that always accompany change.

Just In Time

Monday 21 January 2008 at 8:11 pm
I forever stand amazed by God’s timing. After a very hard week when I had made all preparations for my surgery (that I am so looking forward to) the surgery was canceled. It really made the bottom dropped out for me. I couldn’t even make youth group that night. I was really down for 2 day then out of nowhere I felt a peace come over me and I started moving on. I hope everyone understands that those few days were very hard on me and I did what I felt I needed to do.

Well God blessed me with what was a really great day today. It started out with a great meeting with Dan; I praise the Lord for putting him in my life. God has really been talking to me about Mission Raleigh lately and I knew that he was leading me to make sure we focused on Salvation in our youth groups. A good friend suggest that I talked to my youth leaders before making the decision and that lead me to have great conversations with most of my youth teachers and I was encouraged by how supportive they were to the idea, Rick came by and he thought the youth plan was good and we had a great visit talking about multihousing missions. While Rick and I was talking this guys with long hair and pony tail walks it and I say “Can I help you?” He replied, “You don’t know who I am do you?” We’ll it was one of my former youth from Raleigh North. I hadn’t seen James in years but there he was. He is 21 got his GED, has a job with the city and is going to be married soon. We sat and chatted for about an hour. I am amazed an how the youth from Terrace Park keep finding me and how God has worked in their lives and how he allows me to stay in touch with them. God taught me so much through those early years with that youth group and it is amazing how he used that to prepare me for how he is using me now.

What an amazing day and what an amazing God we serve.

learning about the Lord

Friday 18 January 2008 at 07:13 am

One of the youth, we'll call her D, is a close to becoming a believer. She stayed afterwards the last youth night that Clyde taught, and asked questions about Scripture for about 30 minutes. The whole time we could tell she was very serious and intent on understanding our answers and learning more about these subjects in the Bible. Her family has lived in VB for several years, she grew into the youth program from Kids club.  She has also been a big help with kids club for over a year now. This young lady has a tough life, but having watched the Lord do great things and change her life these past couple of years, we are excited what is happening and look forward to all the Lord is doing in D's life.

prayers and needs

Saturday 12 January 2008 at 08:05 am A lady in BC apartments called me asking MR for help for a special family she knew that had lost everything in a fire. After returning her call, I found out that this lady is helping a hispanic family by letting them stay in her home temporarily. Interesting thing is this families insurance, which they had paid up till the fire, is trying to work their way out of paying damages not because they are not covered, but because they are only have a work permit. What a typical lost uncaring people and business they come across as. From what I can see, this is only a larger scale of what happens on a regular basis for those who are from other countries that have desperate needs whether large or small. Being from an international family, my parents must know what its like as well, moving to a foreign country with little understanding of how it works, and finding it easy to be used along the way. Real people, with real needs, are not limited to those who are born in this country only. This is yet another opportunity to be a part of whatever the Lord wants to do!

PTL!

Thursday 03 January 2008 at 5:16 pm Tonights kids club started horribly (from my perspective) but the Lord had His own plans in store. MR bus would not start, it was 25 degrees around 5pm, and I felt sickly in general. Not to mention I wasrunning late to the Kids Club at Youth Nite at VB. Long story short, in between passing out snacks for kids and youth at VB, and visiting other families after the holidays, Josh Blythe and myself delievered a large bunk bed to a family, and while while giving the Lord credit for the beds, and we were also able to see the father of that household trust in Jesus as Lord and Savior. This is a gentleman I have been praying for now for over 4 years or so. He is also willing and interested in studying the Bible together and even visiting others around his neighborhood! I am so thankful to the Lord for all the circumstances that occured today! All the credit, praise and glory to Him!

Where Do We Go from Here

Thursday 03 January 2008 at 11:11 am
So a few hundred pound ago I use to love to explore caves. I learned a lot about spelunking form ole Doc Covey. When exploring caves you will sometimes follow a path that will dead in at a wall. There is no turning around in this tight space so you have to back out. Ole Doc would always say “Sometimes you have to go backwards to go forwards. This phrase is very applicable to Mission Raleigh right now.

We need to back up and remember that our call is to reach Multi-housing communities for Jesus. Sometimes that results in kids clubs and youth groups. Sometimes it results in adult bible studies or even a church plant. But primary it is about making disciples out of individuals. It is all about the relationship! Over the past few years we have past our hundreds of food bags, turkeys, school supplies and Christmas presents, but have they helped up to make disciples? Don’t get me wrong they have met needs and shared the love of Jesus but they have not made disciples.

So how do we make disciples? Let’s look at how Jesus made disciples. (What a concept)
Out of the masses of people who showed up to hear Him teach or heal the sick He chose 12 that he poured His life into. Out of that 12 he chose 3 or 4 that he spent even more time. The 12 started the Church!

It’s time we move backward to where we use to be so that we can move forward to making more disciples and reaching more communities for Jesus.