Somebody Loved

Somebody Loved-France Update
Zephaniah 3:17 The LORD your God is with you, He is mighty to save. He will take great delight in you, He will quiet you with His love, He will rejoice over you with singing.
Prayer: God may we feel Your delight and hear Your rejoicing. May Your love save, quiet  and heal us. And may our hearts and faces reflect that love to the world around us every day!
     It has been an amazing week. I spoke Sunday at Trinity AME Church in the Carver's Bay Community of rural Georgetown, South Carolina. I was nervous because the only person I knew, Rev. Gloria Ford, the one who had invited me, was not going to be present. I arrived in time to hear Sunday School. the message was about how to Serve God by serving others the way Christ served/serves. What a great intro for my presentation later! Then as service began I learned it was Youth Sunday and the service would conclude with a short Black History Program of music, history and poetry.
       I felt like God had made me feel at home by providing a setting that was 99% similar to the church experience I had every Sunday growing up:
the youth choir marched in singing, led the responsive readings, read the scripture and provide almost all of the music. In my presentation I was able to reference all of these things on the foundation of how I believe God has called me to serve Him in France. I applauded the congregation for the way it is mission and compassion oriented in their own community and worldwide and for how the young people are being discipled and challenged to live and learn their faith to the maximum.



       I closed the presentation with the story of David Braesch who accepted Christ at 15 years old at the end of our conversation in the summer of 2005. Sunday was his 21st birthday but it reminded me of his spiritual birth almost 6 years ago. He is still living out his faith but in a culture where he is the only Follower of Christ He comes into contact with on a daily/weekly basis in his entire city!
        I left Trinity with some one-time support and several families in the church took my information and asked about how to set up monthly support!!! In closing the Pastor was so welcoming but tried his best to matchmake for me afterwards! Awkward, lol! Not really! There such a home-like feeling because of our bond in Christ. I loved it! The best moment was when I sang after my presentation. "I AM" by Eddie James When I repeated the chorus the youth choir began to sing along! I was wrecked by the overflow from that anointed and generous response!!! That was my first time leading worship alone for an African American group! What a blessing!
Support Update:
       I also have about 12 new partners/families over the last week up to today!!! Today two long-time buddies joined our team and it really moved me- the sacrifice they are making because of our relationship and their faith in what God is doing in France!!!
       I close with 2 personal updates.
      First I have to thank all the people who helped fill the pantry and the refrigerator with groceries! I am grateful and sometimes moved to tears while I'm cooking or eating when I think how, like the birds or the air and the lilies of the field...He has provided more than I needed or wanted! Thank you for being His hands and feet!
      Lastly, I have felt a little isolated so please pray I would not schedule my friends and family OUT of my life in order to see this Mission succeed. I have had so many opportunities to share that conflicting schedules and just being tired have kept me from recharging in the glow of fellowship with those I love most. I am being more intentional already. The song/video is how renewed time with Jesus-in-the-flesh of my brothers and sisters in Christ makes me feel...Loved.



Rain turns the sand into mud
Wind turns the trees into bone
Stars turning high up above
You turn me into somebody loved

Nights when the heat had gone out
We danced together alone
Cold turned our breath into clouds
We never said what we were dreaming of
But you turned me into somebody loved

Someday when we're old and worn
Like two softened shoes
I will wonder on how I was born
The night I first ran away from you

Now my feet turn the corner back home
Sun turns the evening to rose
Stars turning high up above
You turn me into somebody loved

Wrecked by "Oh Love!... That Will Not Let Me Go"

Wrecked by "Oh Love!... That Will Not Let Me Go"
I visited a dear friend with a beautiful French name today.
Claire Adare. I went to comfort and fellowship with her as she recovers from an appendectomy.
Or I thought I did. We chatted and eventually talked, shop. I got to tell her how meaningful her friendship and example have been for me thru Your Next Steps Institute. And I got to pray with her and for her. We read Psalm 27 that is my favorite Psalm to describe how my soul reaches for God in worship...
Because I always end up realizing He is doing ALL of the reaching!
As I was intending to leave I made certain Claire knew that when I say " Call if there's anything you need or just want company," I MEAN it! I offered to read with her or even sing. She took my hand and asked me if I would sing a song.
I closed my eyes, opened my heart...and this is what came out...


Oh Love!... That Will Not Let Me Go
I rest my weary Soul in thee
I give Thee back the Life I owe
That in Thine ocean depths its flow
May richer, fuller be


Oh, Light that follows all my way
I yield my Flickering Torch to thee
My heart restores its borrowed ray
That in Thy Sunshine's Blaze its day
May Brighter, fairer be


Oh, joy, that seeks me through the pain
I dare not close my Heart to thee
I trace the Rainbow through the Rain
And feel the promise is not vain
That morn shall Tearless be


Oh, Cross that Liftest up my head
I dare not ask to Fly from Thee
I lay in dust life's glory dead
And from the Ground there Blossoms Red
Life that shall Endless be


Oh Love!... That Will Not Let Me Go...


Sung by the incomparable David Phelps to the wrecking and rejoicing of my Soul!

Black and Gold + Man of Peace

Song=Black and Gold


"“Man (or Woman) of Peace”

Luke 10:5-9 “When Jesus sent out the 70 to preach the Good News, He commanded, "When you enter a house, first say, 'Peace to this house.' If a man of peace is there, your peace will rest on him. ... Stay in that house, eating and drinking whatever they give you. ... Do not move around from house to house. ... Heal the sick who are there and tell them, 'The kingdom of God is near you,'"

Most people who can’t give how much they want to financially end up not giving at all.

Most people who give financially stop there.

I personally challenge you to be a Man or Woman of Peace in your sphere of influence (friends, church, small group, family.) to extend the opportunity to share about France further than I can alone. You can do more than you think.

          A Southern Baptist missionary in Asia discovered the power of that advice when he entered a potentially hostile unreached village with a co-worker:

"We prayed, 'God we know you're at work here or we wouldn't be here. We need a man of peace who will take care of us until we can feel our way around this village and know if it's safe or unsafe.'"I started my stopwatch. We walked into the center of the village where the well was. A person approached me out of nowhere and said, 'Have you eaten?' We said, 'Not yet.' He said, 'Well, come to my home.' His name was Li, and he was the person of peace we wanted. I stopped my watch: three minutes, 21 seconds."

          Li fed them, then properly introduced them to the village's hard-faced leader -- who might otherwise have ordered the strangers killed with long knives. Li told the village [leader], who was ill, that the newcomers' God "is a great God, and they will pray for you." They prayed; the leader got better. He soon became a man of peace in his own right, opening his heart -- and the whole village -- to the Gospel.

          Who is a man -- or woman -- of peace? You can identify him or her by three R's, according to Thom Wolf, a leading proponent of the concept who teaches at Golden Gate Baptist Theological Seminary. The person of peace (1) is receptive to the Gospel; (2) possesses a reputation to gain attention for the message among family and community; and (3) effectively refers the bearers of good news to that larger group.

The Roman centurion Cornelius was such a person, "a righteous and God-fearing man ... respected by all the Jewish people," (Acts 10:22 NIV). Encouraged by a divine vision, he invited Peter into his home, warmly welcomed him and called together his family and friends to hear the apostle's words. [As a] result, Cornelius, his family and many others believed and were baptized.

          Wolf contends that Cornelius' "sphere of influence" -- his "oikos," as the Greek New Testament calls it -- was the normal focus for the first evangelists. Michael Green, author of "Evangelism in the Early Church," agrees that the oikos, "consisting of blood relations, slaves, clients and friends, was one of the bastions of Graeco-Roman society. Christian missionaries made a deliberate point of gaining whatever households they could as lighthouses ... from which the Gospel could illuminate the surrounding darkness."

          Today, such lighthouses shine in many places. One group's region in India was long known as a "graveyard for missions" -- and the literal grave of at least six Christian martyrs in recent years. Instead of giving up, a mission team trained workers to quietly enter villages, pray and seek men of peace. If they didn't find one, they were to leave the village. If they did, they were to build relationships and share Christ with that person's natural network of family and friends. Hundreds of churches have been planted among the people in the years since.

How would God desire to use you in your sphere of influence? Ask Him.

Father where and how are you asking me to be a man or woman of peace? Who can I influence for your Kingdom? Where is the harvest heaviest and the laborers fewest?

Click the link below to read The Walker's Walk, my Feb 2011 newsletter!!!

The Walker's Walk Feb 2011

Borrowed heavily from an article originally printed under the title

Biblical 'Man of Peace' Approach is Key to Effective Outreach 

by Erich Bridges 

Baptist Press

Find the article in it's entirety at

http://www.ethnicharvest.org/links/articles/bridges_man_of_peace.htm

"“Man (or Woman) of Peace”

"“Man (or Woman) of Peace”

Luke 10:5-9 “When Jesus sent out the 70 to preach the Good News, He commanded, "When you enter a house, first say, 'Peace to this house.' If a man of peace is there, your peace will rest on him. ... Stay in that house, eating and drinking whatever they give you. ... Do not move around from house to house. ... Heal the sick who are there and tell them, 'The kingdom of God is near you,'"

Most people who can’t give how much they want to financially end up not giving at all.

Most people who give financially stop there.

I personally challenge you to be a Man or Woman of Peace in your sphere of influence (friends, church, small group, family.) to extend the opportunity to share about France further than I can alone. You can do more than you think.

          A Southern Baptist missionary in Asia discovered the power of that advice when he entered a potentially hostile unreached village with a co-worker:

"We prayed, 'God we know you're at work here or we wouldn't be here. We need a man of peace who will take care of us until we can feel our way around this village and know if it's safe or unsafe.'"I started my stopwatch. We walked into the center of the village where the well was. A person approached me out of nowhere and said, 'Have you eaten?' We said, 'Not yet.' He said, 'Well, come to my home.' His name was Li, and he was the person of peace we wanted. I stopped my watch: three minutes, 21 seconds."

          Li fed them, then properly introduced them to the village's hard-faced leader -- who might otherwise have ordered the strangers killed with long knives. Li told the village [leader], who was ill, that the newcomers' God "is a great God, and they will pray for you." They prayed; the leader got better. He soon became a man of peace in his own right, opening his heart -- and the whole village -- to the Gospel.

          Who is a man -- or woman -- of peace? You can identify him or her by three R's, according to Thom Wolf, a leading proponent of the concept who teaches at Golden Gate Baptist Theological Seminary. The person of peace (1) is receptive to the Gospel; (2) possesses a reputation to gain attention for the message among family and community; and (3) effectively refers the bearers of good news to that larger group.

The Roman centurion Cornelius was such a person, "a righteous and God-fearing man ... respected by all the Jewish people," (Acts 10:22 NIV). Encouraged by a divine vision, he invited Peter into his home, warmly welcomed him and called together his family and friends to hear the apostle's words. [As a] result, Cornelius, his family and many others believed and were baptized.

          Wolf contends that Cornelius' "sphere of influence" -- his "oikos," as the Greek New Testament calls it -- was the normal focus for the first evangelists. Michael Green, author of "Evangelism in the Early Church," agrees that the oikos, "consisting of blood relations, slaves, clients and friends, was one of the bastions of Graeco-Roman society. Christian missionaries made a deliberate point of gaining whatever households they could as lighthouses ... from which the Gospel could illuminate the surrounding darkness."

          Today, such lighthouses shine in many places. One group's region in India was long known as a "graveyard for missions" -- and the literal grave of at least six Christian martyrs in recent years. Instead of giving up, a mission team trained workers to quietly enter villages, pray and seek men of peace. If they didn't find one, they were to leave the village. If they did, they were to build relationships and share Christ with that person's natural network of family and friends. Hundreds of churches have been planted among the people in the years since.


How would God desire to use you in your sphere of influence? Ask Him.
Father where and how are you asking me to be a man or woman of peace? Who can I influence for your Kingdom? Where is the harvest heaviest and the laborers fewest?

Click the link below to read The Walker's Walk, my Feb 2011 newsletter!!!

The Walker's Walk Feb 2011

Borrowed heavily from an article originally printed under the title

Biblical 'Man of Peace' Approach is Key to Effective Outreach 

by Erich Bridges 

Baptist Press

Find the article in it's entirety at
http://www.ethnicharvest.org/links/articles/bridges_man_of_peace.htm

Belief is a verb

Belief is a verb. Our faith or belief can grow! How?

Jude 20-24
       "But you, beloved, build yourselves up [founded] on your most holy faith (make progress, rise like an edifice higher and higher) praying in the Holy Spirit; Keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life.

       And of some have compassion, making a difference: And others save with fear, pulling them out of the fire; hating even the garment spotted by the flesh. 
       Now unto Him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy, 
       To the only wise God our Saviour, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and ever. Amen"

Faultless...we can become faultless...How?

His presence is the Holy Fire that Sanctifies us.
Daily making us more like Him.
       Everyone deserves the chance to hear about, meet and become like Jesus.

There is not one evangelical church in the town of Brie outside Paris where we are plantng a church. How can their belief grow if they never hear?