MISSION STATEMENT

This is a mission statement but I pray this is also a message, or maybe even a challenge for anyone who reads or hears these words God has put on my (Joel’s) heart.

I always thought that there was a certain requirement or certain lapse of time required as a Christian before I would be considered as a usable part of ministry or the mission field. You can’t just go can you?

A little over a year ago I acted on a calling into ministry and began online classes in the usual pastoral doctrine.  As I studied and prayed with Jes we decided to ask ourselves what kind of church is God calling us to lead?

To us the answer seemed simple.  The one Jesus describes in God’s Word, but what does the Word  of God say that is? As we studied and prayed this question opened a new chapter in our lives that slowly led to the calling we believe God has intended for us. Something we may have missed from the very beginning.  What is our calling? How do I hear it?

So many of us think it’s some kind of personal divine intervention with God.  Some kind of miraculous sign that blows the doors off.  Or maybe we have to be some sort of spiritual elder to truly hear from God, and sometimes that’s the case and it’s amazing, but is that always the case?  Am I called?  Has God chosen me for a specific job working for His kingdom?

I was in the military quite a few years ago, I never did anything heroic or that amazing.  For the most part I just served my time. I was a heavy equipment operator who worked mostly on airfield runways and roads. Of course most of my time was spent fixing broken dozers and other equipment that only seemed to run in two hour intervals. But somehow every time I turned a wrench or pushed up a pile of dirt (as small as my part was) it had purpose. What I was doing wasn’t about me, but in some way it was for the better of humanity.  I now realize that feeling was more of a selfish pride at that point in my life but isn’t that the feeling we should have as Christians as we accomplish the goals laid out for us in God’s Word. When I prepared to leave the service my leadership told me I would hate having a civilian job and I would struggle.  I remember one of my NCO’s saying to me; wait until the big problem of the month is the cups ran out in the dispenser at the new job and see how valuable you feel. Do you want to know something, they were right.  But why? 

This is where the truth is revealed. I was so ready to be free from my duty and just go to work, make good money, come home at the same time every day I was only concerned about my own welfare. But as that went on I started to feel something missing. Suddenly turning that wrench or pilling that dirt only meant hours on the time card.  And for what?  To pay MY bills and fill MY selfish needy desires. Everything I did was to advance my kingdom {no greater purpose than ME}.

I think it’s a feeling many of us have dealt with before. Even after I got saved I still felt this repetitive self-sustaining life was dragging us down. What is missing?

As we studied and prayed we decided to read the gospels as if it was a letter from Jesus to us taking EVERYTHING literally, and when we finished asked ourselves what did Jesus tell us to do? After we did this we realized Jesus was giving us specific instructions in the Word that we had read over time and time again. We had been aligning Gods word to meet our lifestyles leaving out the areas that we were lacking and just capitalizing on our few strong points rather than adjusting our lifestyles to meet all the requirements of God’s Word. 

I’m not saying we found the answer for everyone individually, not at all. But by doing this we believe the Holy Spirit laid heavy on our hearts the things that we are capable of doing to further Gods Kingdom, and then most importantly acting on them. By doing this we have discovered this sense of purpose we’ve been missing. This purpose isn’t necessarily to a specific place, people, or need. But we believe it’s helping whoever, going wherever, or doing whatever can be used for Gods glory.  

I’d like to point out that this was not an overnight change, this was a process of us seeking God and Him working on our hearts.  And lots of prayer!

CHALLENGE

We truly believe that we are ALL called for Gods purpose and that we ARE called.  And it’s not necessarily divine intervention or a miraculous sign, but your calling can be found in the Word.  We would challenge everyone to start with reading the gospels, the actual words of Jesus, as if he was speaking directly to you.  Pray continually, and take it literally.  Then ask yourself what did Jesus tell ME to do?  The Holy Spirit might reveal something that could change your life forever, keeping in mind it could be something different for everyone.  

OUR MISSION

That being said we believe we have found a need for the gifts God has given us at the Belize Mission Conference and Retreat Center We will be going down there in March to see it in person and make sure this is where God wants us to be.  

Please keep us in your prayers as we travel and prepare for this next step in our walk with the Lord.      

  

The Fishless Fisherman

A friend of mine read this story out of her Evidence Bible and it just spoke to me so much I had to share:


Fellowship. They were surrounded by streams and lakes full of hungry fish. They met regularly to discuss the call to fish, the abundance of fish, and the thrill of catching fish. They got excited about fishing!
Someone suggested that they needed a philosophy of fishing, so they carefully defined and redefined fishing, and the purpose of fishing. They developed fishing strategies and tactics. Then they realized that they had been going at it backwards. They had approached fishing from the point of view of the fisherman, and not from the point of view of the fish. How do fish view the world? How does the fisherman appear to the fish? What do fish eat, and when? These are all good things to know. So they began research studies, and attended conferences on fishing. Some traveled to faraway places to study different kinds of fish with different habits. Some got doctorates in fishology. But no one had yet gone fishing.
So a committee was formed to send out fishermen. As prospective fishing places outnumbered fishermen, the committee needed to determine priorities. A priority list of fishing places was posted on bulletin boards in all of the fellowship halls. But still, no one was fishing. A survey was launched to find out why. Most did not answer the survey, but from those who did, it was discovered that some felt called to study fish, a few to furnish fishing equipment, and several to go around encouraging the fishermen. What with meetings, conferences, and seminars, they just simply didn’t have time to fish.
Now, Jake was a newcomer to the Fisherman’s Fellowship. After one stirring meeting of the Fellowship, he went fishing and caught a large fish. At the next meeting, he told his story and was honored for his catch. He was told that he had a special "gift of fishing." He was then scheduled to speak at all the Fellowship chapters and tell how he did it.
With all the speaking invitations and his election to the board of directors of the Fisherman’s Fellowship, Jake no longer had time to go fishing. But soon he began to feel restless and empty. He longed to feel the tug on the line once again. So he cut the speaking, he resigned from the board, and he said to a friend, "Let’s go fishing." They did, just the two of them, and they caught fish. The members of the Fisherman’s Fellowship were many, the fish were plentiful, but the fishers were few! 

I love this!  Let's stop talking about it and just DO it!!

Keeping Perspective

I (Jes) have begun to realize that this is when our ministry is starting.  As we share our plans with others there are a lot of questions that come up and opportunities to share what God has been doing in our lives to bring us to this point.  I feel totally unprepared for this!

The last couple weeks have been kind of sad.  While we've been thinking about this for a long time it's the first our family and friends have heard of our ministry plans.  Everyone has been so great and supportive but there's an underlying sadness because we know we will be leaving at some point. 

During worship night a couple nights ago there was a song we sang called 'Redeemer', let me share some of the lyrics:

Blessed Redeemer, precious Redeemer  
Seems now I see Him on Calvary's tree 
Wounded and bleeding, for sinners pleading  
Blind and unheeding, dying for me
 
"Father, forgive them," my Savior prayed 
Even while His lifeblood flowed fast away 
Praying for sinners while in such woe 
No one but Jesus ever loved so

This served as a great reminder to stop focusing on how this is affecting ME and my family and to get my focus back on JESUS who DIED for me!  How small is what we're giving up compared to His LIFE He gave for us!