Confession and Revival

This line that we cross every time we travel south to Rakai in Uganda is a reminder. This reminder is that we have a line in the dirt of this planet called the equator and it never changes. The constant nature of the magnetic qualities of this position of the globe teaches us a very important lesson. You see on one side the water spins one direction and on the other side it is reverse. Yet, no matter what you do to it, the water runs straight down the center on the line!

No matter what you and I feel from this day to that, the center of His will is always the same. Obedience is always better than sacrifice! His will for our lives is to remain the line in our lives that never moves. Daily we all struggle with the walk He has called us to follow. Daily we all struggle with the little things of this world that draw our eye away from the line. Every day we all seem to stumble through the day trying and working at being good. Yet, it is very clear in His Word, we will never be able to walk this road on our own strength.

Revival is the only thing that will turn the heart of the Body of Christ back to the center of its true life. Revival will only come when the Body repents and turns from her ways. We can only repent when we first confess sin. Whether it is the sins that we commit daily or the sins of neglect daily we all sin. We all are in need of some confession. We all need to be driven to our knees with a humble heart to repent and turn from the ways we have been following.

We need revival to sweep our Body. We need a fresh encounter with the Holy One that will drive us down to our faces and allow Him to pick us up and send us out. He so desperately desires to see the lost come to faith in Him. We are the tool He has chosen to reveal His love to this fallen world. It is our calling and responsibility to humble ourselves, and pray, and seek His face, and turn from our wicked ways, so He will hear from heaven and heal our land. As a result of true revival among His people spiritually blind people will see, spiritually deaf people will hear, and spiritually dead people will rise again to life!

How about some confession today to start down the road of reaching this world for His Glory!

In His Grip,
JT

What are you planning for 2010?

I am in the midst of mapping out the 2010 schedule details and have been overwhelmed with thoughts of the teams we will see on the field. 2009 has been a tough year as we have seen a decline in participation in many of our locations. We hear people say all the time they want to go, yet many simply never get there. This is especially tough these days with so many things competing for our money and attention.





I wanted to write today to the few who will take serious the challenge to go! Now is a time of the year many of us begin to focus on the holidays and the business of the seasons that are coming. I would like to challenge you to consider making a commitment before the busy seasons overwhelm you and overtake your budgets. The harvest is plentiful bu the workers are few is the truth we hear from scripture. That being the truth, we need to go into the fields and get busy. It is a great time to consider what you will do with your 2010!

We are all given the same 24 hours and seven days. We all have the same access to the same Father who owns it all and is in control of it all. We regularly recognize His sovereign rule over everything. Will you today allow Him to speak to you about the days and hours He will give you in the coming year?

We often wait until the deadlines that are imposed upon us to commit to a project, complete a task or even sign up for a trip. I am going to ask you to consider making that commitment now! Will you consider where the Father is sending you in 2010 and make the plans now? Will you consider calling a friend or family member right now and asking them to commit with you? Will you take the step of faith and as you hear the Father direct your heart follow through with your hands and call or email or sign up today!


One of the most encouraging things I have seen in the past month is a trip posted on our 2010 calendar as full! Yes, we have a trip in 2010 that has a group committed and deposits paid! Now you want to talk about faith...I believe they are acting on a faith that is active and alive and moving forward. That is the kind of faith the world is literally dieing to see and experience.

Come on...go to the website...look for the dates...make a committment! Let's get started on 2010 together and make it a year of Kingdom building that overwhelms us all and reaches across the world with the Gospel and into communities and hearts with the teaching of the Word! Come on let's GO!

In His Grip,
JT

Arizona October Trip

Hey everyone! I wanted to update you all on the recent trip that OWM made to the TO reservation in Arizona. This was actually the first time I'd been there that wasn't in the summertime. I was excited to experience the desert in a new way...with much cooler temperatures than the scorching summer heat that I had experienced many times before. The days were warm but ideal for the many construction projects we were doing, and the nights and early mornings brought a chill that was cool enough to need sweatshirts and jackets. Aside from just the weather, other things that differed from previous trips I had taken were that the children are in school now, the team was rather small (which allowed for us to get to know everyone better), and we did a different aspect of ministry than the summer VBS.

Our week on the reservation entailed many different aspects of ministry, from visiting the nursing home to fixing the steeple on the church, with everything in between. Our team worked really well together and God used us to get many things accomplished for the Kingdom. We were able to have a block party in a village we had not been into previously! That night was special also because several members from the church went with us and we served together. It was exciting to see God working there. The wind was blowing excessively, leaving us with dirt all in our hair, ears, teeth, etc...BUT it did not keep the people from coming. We served food, gave away clothes, school supplies, and Bibles, and just had a great time talking with one another. Even in the middle of a remote village in the desert GOD IS THERE. This is a reminder that no matter where we are, or what circumstances we find ourselves in, God is always there with us.

Each morning we would spend a few hours at the nursing home in the center of the reservation. It was such a privelege to be able to talk with elders of the TO nation who had experienced and seen a different way of life than the current generation. We were told stories of past times, how things used to be on the reservation when people were dependent upon the land, and just general things - like one woman sharing of her travels from the rez, to Phoenix, to San Diego, and back to the reservation. She shared with me her life story, and I felt blessed to be able to just sit and listen to her as we worked on a doorhanger craft together. The elders especially enjoyed the presence of the children who were on the trip with us as their laughter echoed throughout the room, and they entertained by singing, dancing, and just doing what kids do. God used those children to bless others (including us on the team).

Back at the church we were involved in a couple of work projects like finishing the ramada we had begun this summer and fixing the steeple on the church. We were able to get much accomplished in a short amount of time. It was a blessing to me to see how everyone used their gifts and talents to work together to accomplish tasks, and how people were also stepping outside of their comfort zones to do something they wouldn't do on a normal basis. My favorite part of each day came when the kids got home from school and I was able to invest time in them. I have grown to love those kids over the past few years and it is always brings a smile to my face when one yells my name out to come talk to them, play a game, or even if it is just because they need a fork, seconds for dinner, or a drink. Those children are amazing kids and it blessed my heart so much to see a couple of them the last night hang around while we had worship outside. It was cold and late, yet they sat there listening as we sang praises to our Lord and shared about our week. God is indeed doing a mighty work in the desert, and I hope that some of you in the future will feel moved to go and serve even just a week of your time in that place. I promise you will be forever changed because of it. I hope you all have a blessed week!!

In Christ,
-Autumn

Save the Children!

We are familiar with the passage from James 1:27, "Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this; to look after orphans and widows in their distress and keep oneself from being polluted by the world." Many of us in Birmingham are hearing weekly a full explanation of this passage in context of the entire book of James. Our hearts are touched by the pictures of children in need and the orphans around the world that have no hope. Regularly our hearts are stirred by the facts and figures that follow the tear producing photos and videos. Yet, the majority of our money and time is spent on ourselves in our own churches and our own programs.

Mission Maker magazine 2009 shares these stats:
During a 60-minute Lunch Break here is what took place around God's globe

2,738 people died from starvation
342 people died from malaria
76 mothers died from childbirth issues
9,582 babies died from induced abortion
8,898 infants and children were abandoned
4,650 rural poor people migrated to cities
$2,088,751,996 personal income was earned by church members
$2,737,851 was given to global foreign missions
$2,966,005 was embezzled by trusted church leaders
20 Christians were martyred

These stats remind me of another passage in James...anyone who has spent much time around me has heard this passage before, James 4:17 says, "Anyone, then, who knows the good he ought to do and doesn't do it, sins."

We need to be motivated by the call of the Father to do what is right rather than led to an emotional response based on how my tears motivate me to give up a little of my excess. When we as the church return to the truth we already know and practice the Holiness that the Father demands, the children will be saved!

What are you doing today?

In His Grip,
JT

2010 TRIP SCHEDULE

2010 Trip Schedule


March
12-20 Outreach & Work Crew AZ
13-20 Outreach & Orphan Care GUA

April
3-10 Outreach & Work Crew AZ
3-10 Discovery Trip NM

May
29-5 Outreach & Youth Conference GUA
29-5 Outreach & Work Crew AZ

June
12-19 Sports Camp & VBS AZ
19-26 Crusade & VBS AZ

July
8-22 Outreach & Children’s Camp UGA
(Possible Pastor/Worship Conference)
24-31 Outreach & Orphan Care GUA

September
3-6 We R The Body Gathering TC@BH

October
1-3 Women of Faith Conference AZ
2-9 Fall Harvest Revival &
Work Crew AZ

November
6-13 Outreach & Orphan Care GUA
6-20 Africa Outreach Mission UGA

December
18-20 Project Christmas Blessing AZ / GUA
26-3 Youth Conference UGA / AZ

Back to the Truth of the Past

God our Father is calling us back to Himself!

The primary relationship we all are to focus our attention on is the relationship we have with our Heavenly Father. So many of us are very familiar with the intimate feeling we had at one time with God and His will for our lives. We can reflect on a day when it seemed like everything was just as it should be. I recall times in my life when this was the case.

I look back and see times in my life when God was very real and personal. I remember days in Canton, GA when the student ministry was working on a Judgment House event and feeling the very presence of the Lord walking the halls with us every step of planning and working. I recall nights on the streets in Philadelphia watching the Lord stir hearts of teenagers for the lost and hurting on the street of this cold and dark part of the city. I remember the experience of crusade in Arizona when 70 people were baptized in one night. I remember the excitement of sharing from village to village and hearing the response of decisions and salvation being normal and expected.

I look back even further and recall times in my life when God was so real and personal in walking the streets in Salt Lake City and sharing boldly the whole truth of His Word and watching the Word bring freedom in lives. I recall the experiences of watching mission teams walk into nursing homes in West Palm Beach and love on elderly men and women for the sake of the Gospel. I remember even further back walking the streets of Chicago with a group of fellow college students sharing the Gospel and searching for the needy and hurting. I recall visiting church after church in college and the joy one evening of stumbling into one country church north of Birmingham where God had been stirring for several weeks. I realized He did not need my words He wanted me!


Since the summer months much has been happening on the home front with admin. type work for the ministry. Yet, just in from AZ I am sensing the refreshing wind of the Spirit. God is stirring in the midst of the church. I am sure that He desires a new movement of obedience and ministry among the Body. I sense Him calling us back to a place of revival. Our need is overwhelming for a fresh encounter with the Lord. He is searching our hearts for a new avenue of commitment and obedience to once again settle on our hearts and step radically into the world.

Children all over the world are dying daily without the saving knowledge and truth of Jesus because the church is unwilling to return to the truth of the past. There was a day when the Body of Christ was willing to gather for a time of fellowship and worship without the need for any form of technology being needed. At one time we gathered for prayer meetings to actually pray. Pastors at one time were bold enough behind the cross to speak the whole truth of His Word and watch as the Spirit of God transformed lives in front of their eyes without any desire to report a number or accept any credit for the work of the Spirit.

NEW STEEPLE AT FIRST PAPAGO BAPTIST CHURCH IN SELLS, AZ

All over the world right now there are children who need to hear. All over the country there are children who are in need. Right now in your neighborhood children live in darkness. All of these children are in need of a Savior. Yet many do not know it because you and I sit at home or even in the pew at church and soak up more truth and more blessing and more hope. The whole time we are soaking, the world is seeking.

When will we go? When will YOU go? It is time we begin to walk into the communities of the world with the whole truth of God's Word on our lips and allow the Father to use us as His mouthpiece to spread His Word...GOOD NEWS...JESUS SAVES...FORGIVENESS IS FOUND IN A RELATIONSHIP WITH GOD..THERE IS ONE WAY...JESUS IS THE CHRIST THE SON OF THE LIVING GOD AND IS ALIVE TODAY SPEAKING TO THE FATHER ON YOUR BEHALF!.

We as the body need to get back to gathering for revival and renewed commitments to His plan. We need to refresh our relationship with the Father and seek the journey many of us once were on with Him. It is time we get back to the truth of our past...


Our 2010 schedule is now available and waiting on you to join in on the journey to Reach the World and Teach the Word! Join us today!