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Today's OWNit365 Takeaways

Awesome day. Had the chance to hear what's going on in Doug & Camelia's life in their plans for Romania. (If you're looking to invest in God's kingdom around the world, like in Eastern Europe, grab a coffee with him!)

Here were today's take-aways in the reading.  I enjoyed today:

• God does prompt people with the thought, "That's enough. It's time to get moving." (Deut 2:3)
• Individual success, if you're not ALSO helping others achieve what God wants, is not true success. (Deut 3:20)
• God is planning to remodel (Psa 102:25-26)
• Here's the start of a fantastic list of things to pause & thank God for...things people can forget. (Psa 103:2)

Jason Stary & KC's Homeless Youths

I don't know if you saw it recently, but there was a very cool article about our own Jason Stary in the Olathe Daily News.  Jason works with homeless youths around KC as part of TLC for Children & Families.

(You might be familiar with his wife, Lynnora, who plays violin at Grace.)

Anyway, if you see Jason around Grace, let him know how much you appreciate him!

A Slew of Missions Updates

Here's a slew of updates, God-moments, and prayer requests from various missionaries connected with Grace:

• "Church-Like" Activity -- We have been able to identify some "church-like" activity among a highly-persecuted, unreached people-group in a village that has been an object of systematic hatred by the majority group in the area.  It looks like there might be up to 15 (maybe even 25) new followers of Jesus among this group.  They are meeting together.  Since literacy is low, they are requesting oral teaching & audio Bibles.
• Hello from Spain -- Steve & Ally Baker, our missionaries to Spain recently wrote this:
  • "Unlike the rest of Spain, I think, [our city] has a very large percentage of devotees. People are obviously sincere in their devotion, but the truth is salvation comes by grace through faith in the shed blood of Jesus Christ, not by works.Our hearts are broken for Valladolid and we ask that you pray with us as we share the Truth with our city. Ally and I found an apartment! It is centrally located and is furnished! It is 600 square feet so it’s kind of small... We are in full swing of language learning and I am wishing I had paid more attention to grammar in school! We have an excellent teacher, Alberto, who is a grammar drill sergeant! He says, “These are the rules you must follow them!” At the end of a two-hour session our heads are hurting... We figure all this will be worth it when that day comes where we can effectively share the gospel with a Spaniard in Español. That will be a great day for us. Pray that day will come quickly. Right after we sent out our last update [our sending agency] sent us an email and told us that an anonymous person donated enough money to put our entire team through language school! Praise God!"
• One Grace Family's Story -- One of our own Grace families wrote us about the impact of our Summer Breakout theme, spending a week learning about, praying for, & loving a particular foreign people group.  She wrote:
  • "SBO had such an amazing impact on my daughter H. Here it is [in the Fall] and she is still praying for the K's. Thanks for committing your time towards having such an awesome SBO!"
• Project Partnering -- Our world missions team fields many project requests from missionaries. They pray about the requests, and then partner as the Lord leads them.  Here are just a couple of the recent projects they've told me about:
  • Medical Relief -- One person has been working with a village and we were able to partner with him on providing medical relief and health/first aid training to the village, bettering their relationships.
  • Children's Scholarships -- One missionary has developed a strategic partnership with a local school & underresourced families.  We were able to scholarship a good number of children with them.
  • Friday School -- We were able to fund a lady's request to create -- for lack of a better    term -- a "Friday School" for children in a village were expressing an interest in the things of Jesus & Scripture.
• Church Planter Prayer Request -- One of the indigenous church-planters we support recently wrote to ask for prayer:
  • "I need prayers for me and my family. I feel my life is becoming like Martha (busy with mnay things but not having enough time with the Lord of service) and this has made me so tired. My baby does not sleep well at night and this is affecting my wife's health very badly. Please pray for my family."

Operation Christmas Child

This Sunday is the deadline for a simple, powerful  way for you & your family to show the love of Jesus to kids around the world.

It's called Operation Christmas Child. All you have to do is follow these simple steps and bring your box this Sunday.

If you have kids, this is a FANTASTIC way to start a conversation about other cultures, the poor & affliction, how to love people, being generous, showing Christ's love, etc.

Cathy and I are going shopping TONIGHT with Jacob & Karina for our 2 shoeboxes (for 1 boy & 1 girl).

So...DON'T FORGET YOUR BOXES this Sunday!!!

Stories@GraceKS Thursday

There are a BOATLOAD of stories ("God moments" we call them) going on these days around Grace and with our strategic partners.  Here are a few.  They are TOTALLY worth the time.

1. From a Person Who Accepted Christ -- "I grew up going to church but did not understand this concept. I felt a lot of stress about not feeling good enough and worried I would not pray for forgiveness in the right way and wouldn’t be 'covered'.  After attending Grace for several months and starting to read the Bible and talk to my husband, I prayed to accept Christ as my savior and felt very relieved after this experience."

2. From Samantha about Children's Ministry -- "Just wanted to let you know how much [my son] enjoyed the water theme last Wednesday. It sure sealed the deal for him on the Wed. night program!  We left that night and he said 'Mom, I love Grace church.  Can we come here EVERY Wed. night?'  He is really learning a lot in his class too!  Thanks for offering this to our kids!"

3. From Julie Larocco at KC Rescue Mission -- "Hi Tim, this is Julie Larocco with Kansas City Rescue Mission.  I just wanted to call and just tell you thank you so much for beautiful gift that you and your church sent just recently.  We can’t tell you how much it means to us that you guys have gotten so involved as volunteers, as prayer warriors...as financial donors here....I know you’ve got a group that comes down to volunteer...Thanks again.  Bless you all."

4. From Paul Masao at KC Rescue Mission -- "FYI—from our outreach Sunday in July, Kevin [a volunteer from Grace Church]... contacted me last night and offered to provide margarine to KCRM—a month’s supply at a time.  That represent’s a 300# blessing for us and allows us to divert funds towards areas of greatest need.  Praise the Lord!  Thanks and Blessings..."

5. From Steve Baker, our Missionary to Spain -- "THIS IS IT!  We leave for Spain this Friday, the 24th....we are leaving everything behind except for our clothes. That's right we are leaving with two suitcases each and nothing more.  We are leaving our children, furniture, books, tools, children, fishing gear, golf clubs, children, car, dog, church, family, grandson, friends, and did I mention the children?  We are struggling with leaving our kids behind. We will miss them so much.  [Our missions board] told us that when we get to Spain, we do not measure activity, we measure results. We like that because we can get so busy that we forget the most important thing of all... Our Lord and King and our relationship with Him. It’s by His Spirit!! Please pray that God would lead us to the right place that we could call home for the next five years in Spain. Pray for our children as we say goodbye and that God would be their all in all. Pray for the provision of the last 20% of our required monthly support."

6. From the Church Planters We Support among the K's -- "Good News! There is a town, located about 70 minutes from a major metro area in the Middle East, where there are many refugees.  Our church planters have been ministering in the town for 3 years or so.  As a result, an evangelical, indigenous church seems to be growing there, with perhaps 15 believers or so. At least 4 families are involved, as well as young men. May Jesus Christ be praised."

God Moving in a Village

Hey everyone. I recently received a great report about a people group dear to Grace where God is working. An indigenous leader was involved ministering to widows and orphans with aid provided by distant partner churches.  As he told his own church about it, the indigenous church was moved to tears and action:

• "Last Sunday I reported to my church in the Sunday Service about my wonderful visit to [a certain village].  I...showed them the photos [of the widows and orphans in this village] and told them the stories.  After the service was done, many of them came to me and donated some [local currency] to the families in [that village]. Some of these people are not doing not well financially at all. Others promised to brings clothes...and other things from their own houses to the families in [that village]. I was very happy to let the people in the church help move the villagers forward and serve their Lord...Please pray for this village, that all the ideas and plans would be approved and managed by our great manager, the Lord Jesus."

Web Bonus - Bottom Line on Career

I loved yesterday on so many levels.

• Ladies Worship Team -- Wow. That was uh-maze-ing. The ladies that led worship together have an incredible gift, their voices blended so well, & God was there! "Point of Grace" has nothing on them. It's time to get a bus & have them tour the country! :-)
• Yesuparam Bandela & John Jacobs -- Hearing from Yesu & his work with the Gospel Association of India was outstanding. The story of his father, his father's stabbing & martyrdom, & Yesu's call to the ministry was an incredible mixture of tragedy, forgiveness, redemption, & God's grace. And it was great hearing from John, CIO of JE Dunn, on what it was like for a fellow Johnson Countian & Gracer to minister in India for 2 weeks.
• God's "Career Shift" -- The topics we touched on yesterday fundamentally changed how I viewed my career at Black & Veatch years ago.
• • Our God is a God of creativity & work
  • God created people in his own image, with the same need & capacity for creativity & work
  • No matter who we THINK we work for, our TRUE supervisor is Jesus
  • No matter WHAT we think we do for a living, our TRUE vocation is to be Jesus ambassador, missionary, pastor, & priest to our workplace
• Cutting Room Floor -- I had to leave several passages out of our conversation, but to see our careers from God's perspective, check these out:
• • The bondservant-master relationship (Eph 6:5-9, Tit 2:9-10, 1Tim 6:1-2, 1Pet 2:18-25)
  • Our finances are to fund our ministry (2Th 3:10-11, 1Tim 5:8, Eph 4:28)
  • Check out the hero in this story. It's General Naaman's wife's servant girl who exemplified grace, love, forgiveness, & speaking God's message in her workplace (2 Kings 5)
• A Transformed Family -- A mother grabbed me last week after service, broken about the type of environment that had emerged in her home. She was owning the responsibility & desiring to change. We prayed together & I shared some Scriptures with her. This week she came back & she was glowing. Her focus, attitude, & home environment had been transformed by God!

Next week's topic is "The Bottom Line on Health."  Never had a talk on this. I'm PUMPED about it!

God Wants You to Shop

God wants you to shop.

(How often do you hear that line?)

This Sunday is the deadline to bring in a backpack filled with school supplies listed for a child in our urban core.  They will go to a child through Freedom Fire Urban Ministries, a fantastic partner organization with Grace which equips young people spiritually, economically, and socially.

It's as easy as 1-2-3.

1. Print off this list of school supplies (RIGHT NOW!)
2. Buy one or more backpacks along with the school supplies
3. Bring them to the lobby of Grace Church this Sunday

It's just that simple...God wants to you shop...for Him.

P.S. Last weekend, Kevin Casy (of Freedom Fire) & Merideth Nitzel (Grace's champion for Freedom Fire) share more about the ministry.  Powerful stuff.  Check out the full interview here, by clicking play in the Livestream box, then "On Demand," then "One Prayer," then watch the August 8 message "Unstoppable" at the 17:55 mark.

Web Bonus - GC Around the World

What a fun Sunday!

We got to have a quick refresher on what it means to become an Antiochian Church from Acts 13-14, which is our long-term vision ("We exist to establist life-transforming & reproducing communities of Christ-followers among all peoples.).

We got to hear from a number of people connected with short-term, medium-term, & long term missions with Grace.

• Short Term -- Troy B. who traveled to Egypt, Iraq, & Jordan recently
• Medium-Term -- Lynnora S. who spent several months -- twice -- being a teacher in a remote area of Central Asia)
• Long-Term -- Steve Baker, who is being redeployed with a church-planting team in N. Spain
• Long-Term -- Jim Mehl, who had a short video in service, and spoke in our conference room in detail about missionary life in El Salvador

We got to challenge ourselves about being willing to move anywhere, do anything, let go of anything God would ask -- the price of discipleship according to Jesus in Luke 14.

We got to close the whole day out with our monthly celebration of communion.

Wonderful.

Web Bonus - Essential Tacklebox

Yesterday we closed out the series we've been talking about for the last six weeks...a great series... ummmm... (silence)... "Deadliest Catch"!  (One-who-will-not-be-named forgot our series title in 3rd service yesterday.)  :-)

Our topic was "The Essential Tacklebox" from Acts 18:1-11, giving everyone the essential tools to address:

• How do you graciously raise the issue of spiritual things/God in a conversation?
• How do you bring up the subject of Jesus in a way that fosters healthy dialogue?
• How do you know when it's time to drop the subject?
• What is "success" when it comes to sharing our faith?

Here are some "thots" on yesterday...

• Must Reads -- I referenced 2 books yesterday by Carmen Mayell & Ravi Zacharias.  I blogged about them before here.
• Ravi Time -- I also posted 2 entries after a live session with Ravi earlier this year.  You can find them here & here.
• Entrepreneurs & BAM -- I referenced a trend in the Church today where God is using entrepreneurs to start businesses in cultures which are closed to the traditional missionary. It's called BAM.  Here's one place that talks about it.
• Ask an Athiest -- Brad Johnson sent me a link to an interesting USA Today article called "How to Sell Christianity? Ask an Athiest."
• The Power of Questions -- I referenced some powerful questions from Carmen Mayell yesterday, to encourage dialogue (tr. "reasoned" in Acts 18:4), not monologue:
• • Can I ask you a couple questions I've been thinking about recently?
  • Do you believe there's a God, & if so can He be known?
  • What brought you to those beliefs?
  • Have you considered the claims of Jesus as to his role in the know-ability of God?