On our knees before the Father!

       

Are you in a habit of daily time alone with God? Do you pray regularly? Are you so busy that you don't pray? I don't ask these questions to put anyone on the spot, but to help us think about what we are missing out on when we don't pray. We, as Christians, have the Holy Spirit of God living in us, to accomplish His mission here on earth, as long as He keeps us here. We are missing out on the blessings God has for us when we do not spend time each day in His Word and time praying, time alone with Him. Why do we so easily fall away from this? How do our daily lives become more important than His perfect will for our lives? We all know that when we are in the word and have times of really open prayer with the Father, that we are much more in tune with His voice and we are more wise inn our decisions about anything and everything. So why do we all slowly fall back into a habit of business? Don't think I can answer this for you, I cannot answer it for myself. We all need to have someone who holds us accountable for this in our lives. Someone who we can pray with, pray for and encourage to keep taking time daily to go to God. 

      I find myself asking questions like, "what is going on with this aspect of my life?" Only to realize later that I have not prayed specifically for it. I have not taken even a few minutes to think about and pray about the outcome. God is sovereign over every small detail of our lives. Why can I not understand this? Why can we so easily fall away from what we know about our loving Father? We see on the pages of scripture example for us to see. His people over and over again falling away from His laws and His statutes and going to idols made by their own hands. We are all the same. We do not worship idols, we mostly worship ourselves, our busy-ness and our kids and our stuff. But it is the same. Read what God has to say in Isaiah and Jeremiah about this. If you really love God and fear God, this will cause you to rethink some things in your life. Thus, this is why I am writing this today. I am reading chronologically through the Bible and I have been in Isaiah and 2 Kings and 2 Chronicles, as well as Jeremiah in the last weeks and we see this over and over. 

      I want us to truly realize what/who we are missing out on, when we put ourselves in top priority and not our Holy and loving creator. He created you and He sustains you. Our hearts beat because Jesus gives it rhythm. He is also the head of the church. Which means, he along is sovereign over the church. He is our savior! He died in our place, paid our debt, which by the way, we could never pay! Not only is He the creator, but the only way that creation can be reconciled to God is through Him/Christ! The author of Hebrews tells us in 12:2-3 " looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.³ Consider him who endured from sinners such hostility against himself, so that you may not grow weary or fainthearted." 

      I truly believe that the only way it is possible for us to be drawn out of ourselves is to focus on Christ. Now this is easy to say, and much more difficult to do. So let's pray for each other as we seek each day to spend time with the Father and find someone who can help us with that. Find someone who can and will hold you accountable for this and you do the same for them.This is where I am in my faith journey. But this applies to us all. Regardless of where you are in your journey, the right answer is Focus on Christ! 

      Always know that we are so grateful and thankful for you and we pray for each of you often. And we will not stop praying for you. We want each of you to begin praying even now, where and when you will go to serve alongside other believers. Encouraging them and serving the poor, the orphans and widows. Sharing the good news, the gospel of Jesus, in the coming year.

"The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few."

Greg Brown
Missionary To Guatemala
One Way Ministries Staff

Have You Looked in Your Backyard?

From my earliest days in ministry I have been committed to work in my own backyard!  I recall the first house Sheryl and I ever bought.  In a little subdivision near McDonough, Georgia we bought this little lot near the back for a great price.  A builder we met through the church helped us navigate the decisions and he built our first house for us.  I remember the "sweat equity" we put into the house just to be able to afford it.  I also remember the hours we spent working in the yard.  My memory is especially clear of one occasion soon after moving in that Sheryl's family was coming for a visit.  I planned and prepared for a great display of freshly planted flowers and shrubs to bring attention to OUR backyard!  Just before the visit I remember the daylight fading and the cool spring air becoming  almost more than my hands could bear, but nothing was going to stop the completion of the masterpiece I had planned for the centerpiece of flowers and shrubs right in the middle of the backyard!

The day came and went and other than a few very heartfelt comments about the good job we had done in the backyard, not much really was made of the hours of work that had been put in.  Yet, without the hours of preparation and cleaning and building of beds, none of the plan would have ever been accomplished.  In fact I have come to realize years later that the majority of my time in the yard is spent preparing the area for what is to come.  The actual planting of flowers or shrubs or filling with mulch or pine straw is done rather quickly in relation to the work done ahead of time.

As a mission minded person the backyard often times is lost in the shadow of the GREAT need in the "more desperate places" around the world.  I know for my own struggle with balance in this world of suffering and need and hopelessness, my backyard is often the last place I look to serve.  Why is that?  Why do so many of us overlook those who are nearest to where we have been planted?

You see, each of us is planted in a community, among a group of people or social network by the Father for a specific need that is present within that part of the body.  That's right I said the Body!  Missions has been so driven into the uttermost parts of the world that we have forgotten Jesus words that He used to help us see our primary task..." they will know you are my disciples by the way you love one another." John 13:35  I know this does not sound very missional.  In fact this may sound somewhat counter-missional when seen in light of the current trend in missions that going to another context equals real missional living.

However, if we are realistic in our understanding of the local church, the majority of people whom God plants within a local church will not move away to another context in a missional surrender of their lives.  Rather missional surrender will look more like daily taking up our crosses and daily living out the Gospel in the midst of the people group God has planted us.  Our daily tasks will be more focused on preparing the backyard for flowers than on pinpointing the next location in the 10/40 window to travel.  I also think that when I look intently into my backyard I will see the work that needs to be done to prepare the soil and remove the rocks and clear the thorns and pull up the weeds.

In 1982 God carried me on a journey that would forever change the way I see people.  I journeyed to an Indian reservation in southern Arizona.  There for a week I experienced a people group in my backyard that is in great need!  The church is in great need on the reservation.  The Body is in great need on the reservation.  The Father is at work among the local church on the reservation.  If this is my backyard, I should be preparing the soil and removing he rocks and pulling weeds here!

Today our ministry is serving among the Navajo Indians in western New Mexico.  The need is great! The struggle for truth seems to be unlike any I have seen in our country.  We served for a number of years in Arizona, yet the strength of tradition among the Navajo is much stronger and much more against "white man's religion."  This is in our backyard.  Right here in the US we have a people group whose number of professing Christ-followers is far below the national average for native people groups.  The number of Navajo who have had an authentic encounter with a Christ-follower whose love for them showed the Gospel is a number well below that of other unreached people groups around the world.  Why is this the case?

Our back yard is not just across the country in  a region like New Mexico.  Within the metro area of even the city I live in, Birmingham, there are large pockets of people who have no active Gospel witness or outreach.  Sure there are many churches scattered across the city, yet Gospel outreach seems to be the last thing that is happening in these communities.  Why is this the case?

I suggest that many of us overlook the work at home because of the extreme emphasis placed on the poor, impoverished and lost in unknown parts of the world.  These are places that most of us do not really know much about.  These are also places that most of us will never travel, at least not long-term.  So, is it possible that the primary objective of my missional faith journey is to love the people who live the closest to me in a way that the Gospel is seen by those around me?  The loving of my fellow Christ-follower becomes the focal point of my ministry within the context in which I have been planted as a result of following Jesus' words of instruction.  My backyard becomes a vital part of my obedience to the Father, even more so than the utter most parts of the world.  At least I think this may be the intent of the instruction so as to help me get my priorities in order.

The Gospel is shown most to the world around us by the way we love one another within the Body.  We then share the Gospel best when we speak to those who live life right around us whom we have a relationship with due to the location of where we are planted.  As we invest in those relationships to show and share the Gospel the Father stirs our heart for the areas beyond our backyard for a specific purpose of stretching us and shaping our lives to be more like Him in the way we love people.  As we follow Him obediently He carries us into various short-term scenarios to improve our "serve" in our own backyard!  So, in  no way am I saying that there is no place in the plan for the Father to lead some to move their backyard to another context and invest in the lives of those unreached peoples in various unknown and remote locations.  I am saying that for the most part our focus needs to be on the backyard in which we have been planted and trust that the Lord will change that in His time and in His plan in accordance with His purposes.

Just think about it...if the Body of Christ were to be so committed to loving each other with the love that Christ demonstrated right where we are all planted, the focus of most of our lives would be to simply care for and show the Gospel to those right around us.  If we were to all do this in every city, town and community in which the Lord has planted Christ-followers, then locally the Gospel would be being shared, shown and responded to all across the globe.  Out of this garden of growth would be raised a generation of Christ-followers that would carry the Gospel into every new community, town and city they would settle in across the globe.  I think the growth of the Body would be exponential and the call of God would be very clear when He led some to go into the uttermost parts of the world!

So, what's the bottom line here..."bloom where you are planted!"  Look at your backyard and get busy loving those with
whom you are in community.  Show the Gospel to those around you.  Share the Gospel with those who open the door to hear from you.  Obey the Father when He chooses to stretch you.  Follow His heart when He guides you into the world to be light and salt!  Let's Reach the world and Teach the Word together as we make disciples of all nations!

Where you are is where He wants to use you!

The time is quickly approaching for baby Noah to arrive! We are less than 10 weeks away from his due date and still have so much to accomplish! We are finally getting around to painting his room, putting together the crib and changing table, and making sure we have everything we need. It is such an exciting time for us as a family, and we can’t wait to show off our newest addition! As my husband mentioned in his post last week, Noah’s arrival in May will prevent us from being able to travel and work on the field in New Mexico this summer. Bummer! Anyone who has spent much time with me knows how much I enjoy and look forward to working with One Way any chance I get. In fact, after the plans fell through for us to become missionaries to Arizona back in 2010, I have struggled day in and day out with the different path God chose for our life. I often wonder how my life in Columbia, Louisiana could make a difference for others. How do I justify spending countless hours each week working when I could be some place developing relationships with people, allowing God to use me to spread His love and disciple others? How can I leave the sense of community that is built on the mission field by the participants and leaders involved? Many times after a trip, I find myself in a bit of a funk; I have left something that my heart so desires and come home to my mundane life. But who says my everyday life has to look and feel different from my life on the mission field?? Over the past three years, God has been revealing to me His plan for our lives in Columbia, Louisiana though I refused to accept it so many times. How could God trust me with His people in another state, culture, or country if He couldn’t trust me to do His work here in my own backyard? We are not called to the workplace simply to do our job and go home at the end of the day, but to use our jobs as a means to develop relationships with others and be the Light to them! There are people we come into contact with each day that need Jesus just as much as the family living in a third world country do. There are work projects we can do for those living in our own neighborhoods, just as we do for those on the field around the world. We have friends and family here at home that have a longing for the same sense of community we establish while on a mission trip. What’s the difference between home and the mission field? It’s easy for us to step out of our comfort zones when we have been transported to a new place and share similar experiences with other trip participants. We’re able to open up about how God is using us and pray together over situations we are facing. But at home, especially living in a small town, people know us. It’s much harder to lay down our pride and really open up to people we see on a regular basis. Joseph and I began to really pray about this together, asking God to give us a group of friends and family with whom we could pray, worship, study God’s word, and share our joys and struggles. Having this kind of community at home has not only brought us closer to each other, but it has brought us all closer in our personal relationships with God. We are able to challenge each other and hold one another accountable for our thoughts and actions. Not only have we sought out biblical community at home, but we are also reaching out to those we work with or see regularly. This has completely changed my outlook on my job! Instead of viewing work as something I HAVE to do, it has now become an opportunity for me to be a Light to my co-workers and others that I come into contact with. I strive to share about Jesus just as I would if I were on the mission field half-way around the world. Because my home IS my mission field. God has planted me exactly where He needs me to be. The only thing holding me back from being used by God was ME. My prayer for you is that God would reveal to you ways that your home life can begin to embody all that your life would while on the mission field. Develop a sense of biblical community with your closest friends and family. Find ways to share what God is doing in your life with your co-workers. Look for families in need near your area and meet those needs. Where you are is exactly where God intends to use you. Just let Him!


  Meghan Duckett has been serving with One Way Ministries for several years. She is currently a teacher in Louisiana where she lives with her husband Joseph. They are expecting their first child in May. We are so thankful for the influence and leadership Meghan has brought to the ministry through the years. We are eager to see what the Lord has in store for her and her family as they continue to follow His heart and obediently serve Him where He has planted them. Please pray for Meghan and Joseph as they seek to be the parents God has called them to be and continue to share the Gospel and show the Gospel in every occasion of life as they journey with Him daily!

This New Era of Life...

Meghan and Joseph Duckett have been serving with One Way Ministries for several years.  Meghan has been an intern and helped lead in many ways on the field with VBS in various locations, team leadership in a variety of ways in AZ and NM as well as Africa.  And off the field she has been involved with writing TAWG along with Joseph.  Joseph led as a youth pastor on trips with us at first and then after he and Meghan married he has become a vital member of our summer teams leading in a variety of areas from construction to worship.  This new chapter in their lives is a unique place for them and they are wrestling through the changes with grace and faith.  They have been a blessing to our ministry both personally and to our teams.  We look forward to all that the Father has planned for their lives as they grow their family in the midst of obedience to His call to serve the Body of Christ in many ways and in the circumstances He places them.  I am so grateful to the Lord for allowing us to be a part of their lives and have them be a part of One Way Ministries leadership!

 A Note From Joseph and Meghan: 

 The new year has begun and it has come in fast for us. Aside from the pregnancy we moved into a new house, bought the new furniture that goes along with that, began the painting and things that go along with a new baby room, went on a short mission trip to Birmingham, I (Joseph) got a new job title at the sporting goods store at which I work, and church is changing drastically for our family. All these things could be quite burdensome, but God has given us a nice peace about all of it. 

 He has brought us to a place of trusting in His leadership that has made it easy for us to just sit back, relax, and enjoy the excitement of the new life that is being created for us. If you know Meghan, you know that sitting back and relaxing doesn't come easy. Haha. Nothing brings us more joy during the summer than being able to go onto the mission field. We don't get to spend very much time on the field these days, so the short time we are able to spend during the summer is really nice. However, this summer we will have a fresh addition to the family, so we won't be able to fly or drive for 20 hours and be on the field with a 4 week old. I also don't think there is any way that Mr. New Daddy is going to leave his 4 week old child and wife behind and be that far away. So sadly, it doesn't seem that we are going to be able to go on the field this summer. While this saddens us, we realize that God is using us here in Columbia, LA, to be mirrors of His love and glory, and that's just what we want to do. 

 As we travel into a new era in our lives we covet your prayers for wisdom in our decisions. As always, remember that our home on earth may be a temporary home, but it is OUR temporary home, and God expects His best out of us while we are here. 

With such tremendous help like Joseph and Meghan, we have been able to see some amazing results on the field each summer. God has continued to bless the ministry and the work we have been doing in places like New Mexico. Our work among the Navajo people of New Mexico is in many ways just beginning. This is a long term work that will take years to progress and grow in a way that seems significant. Native work in any culture is a commitment for the long haul and not a short term commitment. As a result we are asking God to lead some people, like Joseph and Meghan, to get involved in our Native American work in a unique way. First we are asking the Lord for teams that will commit to return to the same spot for several years in a row. We need a few teams who will see the long term benefits of returning year after year to show and share the Gospel. Secondly, we are asking the Lord to lead someone to commit to serve the church in New Mexico in a mid or long term capacity to help with ministry on the ground and assist in helping us be more effective with every trip we plan and organize to serve the church in New Mexico. The work among the Native Americans of our country is a work that demands stability and trustworthy partners. We are praying the Lord of the harvest will send workers into the field right here in our own backyard to work the fields that are ripe for the harvest. Join us in prayer as we seek to follow His heart and in commitment as we serve faithfully alongside our brothers and sisters among the Navajo Nation! Lets work together to reach the world and teach His Word!

Be Still

Be Still

2014 is coming in like a lion in my part of the country. I reside in Western Kentucky and we have had arough winter here. As I currently write this, I am snowed in with 4-5 inches and a thick layer of ice over the top of that. We have missed so much school in our area and the wind is bitter cold. I can’t remember a winter like this since I was a child! 

Now, don’t get me wrong, I am not complaining. I have actually been blessed by this occurrence  You see, as we do from time to time, I had gotten to a place where I needed to slow down. I needed to have some unspoken-for-time to rest, regroup, refocus and reconnect. I had gotten so busy in the daily regimen of planning and goal-setting and meeting immediate daily needs that I was neglecting some of the moreimportant things in life. 

I had not forgotten my relationship with Christ or the priority that he takes in my life, but I had forgotten to take time to… ‘Be Still’. (I am guilty Lord and I know better! ) For in that stillness, we see Him at work, we see him around us, we see who he is placing before us for us to impact for His glory. 

Christ tells us in Job 6:24, “Teach me, and I will be silent; make me understand how I have gone astray.”  

Do you need to be still today? Or is it going to take a proverbial “snow/ice storm” to slow you down? He is waiting patiently for all of us to just get quiet and listen to his still small words. How will he use you to impact the kingdom this year? Have you heard His voice telling you His plan? This is his goal for our lives, he has a plan. Will you join him in that plan? I urge you to ‘Be still’ and listen to him and then follow his direction. 

“Be still and know I am God. I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth!” (Psalm 46:10)

One Way Ministries has several opportunities that are still available for you to serve in 2014. Will you honor Him in this way? 

March 22-29- One team is needed in New Mexico to work alongside our partners at Tohatchi Baptist Church and their native pastor, Aaron Jim. This would involve some construction work as well as some community outreach.  The people in New Mexico struggle financially and the winters prove to be very hard in this part of the country. We will focus on helping Pastor Aaron and the Tohatchi Baptist Church on ministering to the communities surrounding the church by repair work on homes, distributing food and wood for them to stay warm, and outreach events to encourage the church and reach the community for Christ. 

March 22-29, Another team is needed to go to Guatemala and work alongside Pastor Morales at the New Jerusalen Church, our missionary family Greg and Kathy Brown and the mission church in Sajcavilla. This is an annual women's trip with a strong focus on home visits, children’s ministry, and women's ministry events.

 June 21-28- We need about 10 more people for a trip to New Mexico. Again, this will be serving Tohatchi Baptist Church and Pastor Aaron Jim. Focus this week will be on VBS in the area of Naschitti, as well as a Women’s Conference and VBS in the Tohatchi area. There will also be some construction work as well as some outreach in the communities surrounding the church. 

July 11-26- A team of 10-15 is needed to go to Uganda. We plan to work alongside a partner church just outside of Kampala. We will also spend some time with Save Street Children Uganda and seek to better understand how to support the outreach to street children in the city of Kampala. This is a ministry that rescues children from the street and gets them into a home setting and into school. We will also be involved with an orphan care ministry. While there, we also plan to visit with s ministry doing work in the Gulu area where they are building a ministry base to include orphan care, church, school and a clinic. 

July 19-26- We need about 10 more people to serve in Guatemala. This will be serving the New Jerusalen Church and working alongside Pastor Morales and our missionary family, Greg & Kathy Brown. We will serve the mission church in Sajcavilla and focus on home visits and children’s ministry.

July 26-Aug. 2-We need about 10 more people to serve in Guatemala. This trip will be much like the week before and will be very important to continue the work that this team began.  

November 1-8 - We are already recruiting for a very important trip to Guatemala to include a medical clinic, children's ministry, construction and home visits.  

I am here to help you, however I can. I thank God for you and how He is using you to impact the kingdom. If you see a trip above that you feel God moving you toward, please do not hesitate to contact me. I will walk you through it and perhaps work alongside you on that trip. My email address iskaren.katchuk@gmail.com. I look forward to hearing from you very soon! 

Many Blessings, 

Karen Katchuk - Director of Team Development for One Way Ministries

Day In The Life

As I daily pursue purity and holiness, that is the life of a Christian, I am often reminded how I fall short, so very short! But when I begin to compare myself to someone else, I truly miss the whole point. In the pursuit of holiness and purity, the process of sanctification, I am looking to Christ, and for all of us there is NO comparison! Just one sin in the presence of a holy and glorious God is not permitted. We commit numerous sins each day. Lying, coveting, lusting, idolatry and the list could go on and on. I am reminded of something I read in a book recently. In justification, we can never earn or work for this salvation. It is by grace alone, through faith alone in Christ alone. But in our daily sanctification, we MUST work out our salvation with fear and trembling, Phil 2:12. And then we see in vs. 13 that the work in you is from God. So we have a collaboration between God and us as we work daily to be like Christ. Wow, this can be so perplexing! We can become bogged down and frustrated, knowing that we can never live up to Christ! And that is so true, we cannot.

  But in Romans 6-8, we see very important scriptures for this very idea. Romans 6 tells us that, "that since we are united with Christ, we have died to sin, and cannot live in it any longer(2-5)." Paul says, "we are dead to sin but alive to God in Christ(11)."  "In the past sin brought about ever increasing habits of wickedness(19), but from now on we must display the ever increasing habits of righteousness(19,22)."  In chapter 7 we see the bitterness of this struggle to live a holy life in our mortal/sinful bodies, and we all face it as followers of Christ.  We see Paul talk about not understanding his own actions(15), and he does not do the thing that he wants, but he does the very thing he hates. And (19) he does not do the good he wants, but the evil he hates is what he keeps on doing. This sounds like schizophrenia to us, but it is a struggle that we all fight and wage war against daily as followers of Christ. But the peace and glory that comes from the opening verse of chapter 8 is the encouragement we need in those times. "There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus(1)."  This chapter begins with a great encouragement and it ends the same. "For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present not things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.(38-39)."  In other words, NOTHING can separate us from God! Wow, if that doesn't encourage you, drive you to your knees, then I can't imagine what else could.

In 1 Timothy 6, Paul addressed this, speaking to Timothy saying, "fight the good fight of the faith, flee the sin that can easily ensnare you and run to Christ!"  We say it to one another, we read it in times of Bible study, but this is a reminder to us all. We never need to stop encouraging each other, to never stop praying with and praying for each other. And I would invite you to do just that. Let the Holy Spirit lead you to encourage and pray for those He brings to your mind. And as I said at the first, this is a day in the life of a follower of Christ.

Blessings to you in Christ,

Greg Brown - Missionary to Guatemala and One Way Ministries Staff

Greg and Kathy Brown are serving as full-time staff with One Way Ministries in Guatemala.  They have faithfully followed the call of God to go to an area of this globe that is not commonly referred to as "one of the most dangerous" places to serve.  However, the struggles that missionaries face on a daily basis in a country like Guatemala may surprise many.  The use of threats and extortion is a common tactic employed by the gangs and communities that see those from the US as "wealthy"  no matter what their position or service in the country may be.  Missionaries are frequently the targets for these tactics as they are in close contact with impoverished and desperate people groups.  Please pray for Greg and Kathy as they help our ministry invest in the local church and understand how best to serve the needs of the church in a developing world economy.  Pray for their family as they seek to find the right balance of compassion and accountability for the people in need within the communities in which they serve.  Pray also for continued support for them as they are in need of prayer support daily and financial support monthly to stay on the field and remain engaged with the church and people whom they have been called to serve.  In His Grip, JT Turner

I'd Rather Have Jesus!

There is a day that every one of us approaches in our journey in this life when we realize the overwhelming truth of our lostness before a Holy God who has pronounced His judgment on sin!  Yes this thought is more than we can bear in our own strength.  The fact that the sin in our hearts is enough to send us to hell for eternity.  Even without our sinful thought becoming a sinful act in this world, our rebellion against a holy God is enough to eternally separate us from our creator.  The lostness of our soul from God in our unrepentant state is a reality that sends us into a tailspin from which we can never recover!

But then, the amazing grace of our Lord enters into our lives through the kindness of the Father through the truth of the Gospel.  Jesus comes to us and invites us to take on His burden in exchange for Him taking on our burden of sin and the debt that goes with our sinful heart!  You and I have had this incredible truth revealed to us and most of us have responded by saying yes to the grace God offers...yes, I'd rather have Jesus!

We read in the Gospels the Parable of the Sower, and some of you have noticed this parable is found in a few places ( Matt. 13, Mark 4, Luke 8) in the Gospel accounts.  When seen once in the Scripture I should pay attention.  When found more than once in the Scriptures I should really pay attention.  When found several times in the Scriptures I should do all I can to get it!  These accounts of this parable all recount the Savior's words almost verbatim.  It is the worries of this world, the desire for other things and the deceitfulness of wealth that cause a seed to be choked out by the thorns and weeds!  This reminds me that even when I choose Jesus and receive the gift of grace that comes from His amazing act of redemption, I can still fail to "have" Jesus.

As this new year begins I want to challenge you to consider this reality in a unique way.  You and I have the opportunity to weekly listen to great preaching and teaching, worship with all of the latest technology that makes it easy to enjoy our experiences at church and reap the benefits of this first world church experience.  We gather weekly for a time of fellowship, sharing and challenge that involves very little real sacrifice on our part and actually involves a great deal of hope and uplifting elements in the whole experience.  I am grateful for the time the Father has given to me among the host of believers like this weekly throughout my life.  I must, however, ask is this all He has for me?

You and I know this is not what the experience of the church around the world is like each time a gathering takes place.  We know that struggle, suffering and often times sacrifice is associated with the weekly gathering of believers more often than that of comfort and peace in their surroundings.  The peace that comes to many Christ-followers around the world is in fact in direct opposition to the reality of their suffering and struggle to simply live this life of a disciple of Jesus.  And yet, their answer remains the same, "I'd rather have Jesus than anything!"

This new year brings much hope.  The hope of a new year to invest in the lives around us with truth and hope. The hope of a new year to deepen the relationship I have with the Savior and grow in my understanding of Him and His will for my life.  The hope of a new year to better understand and become involved in the global church as I seek to connect to others around the world who are following this same Jesus into a hope of eternity that is daily becoming more clear and more exciting with each new struggle, victory and truth!

In 2014 the church in Guatemala is going to grow in amazing ways!  I know this to be true because I have seen His promises and believe He is at work among a people who desperately need His hope and life.  I know this is going to happen because I have seen His amazing grace at work in preparing the field for harvest.  I know this is going to happen because I have seen the changed hearts of a community begin to choose Jesus!

The mission church in Sajcavilla, Guatemala has a great future and a hope that will not disappoint.  The Lord has provided land for a secure location to base all of its work and ministry.  The Lord is opening doors of opportunity and ministry among the children and families of this community.  It is obvious His hand is on the church there in that community.  The hope of Jesus is ringing out through the air in this community with the incredible truth of His redemption and His salvation.  Jesus is becoming a reality to many in this community and He is going to change lives.

I have seen God at work...I have heard His invitation to get involved with Him in His work...I have felt the urgency of my brothers and sisters who are serving on the ground in this missional church...I have heard the Holy Spirit speak to me about this eternal hope of glory that is free to all who will call on His name...I have heard His request for me to adjust my life in order to go with Him into all the world, in this place...The only remaining question is will I adjust my life to go with God into this field of harvest and serve along side the local church in Guatemala to reach, reap and teach?  I have said as you have said, "I'd rather have Jesus,"  will you now take this Jesus into the field of harvest and help the children of Sajcavilla say the same thing?  Will you step out of your comfort and become crucified for His name's sake?  Will you venture out of the first world you know and join the incredible movement taking place all over the globe among the poor, the desperate, the forgotten and carry the hope of an eternal Savior ion the cultures and communities in need of Jesus?  I'd rather have Jesus than anything is what the song says, is this true of our hearts today?  Will we respond to the need and go join the local church in that forgotten corner of the world to help realize the plan of our Savior of the whole world hearing the Good News?

 Reach the World and Teach His Word today!

I'd rather have Jesus than silver or gold

I'd rather, rather have Him than riches untold

I'd rather have Jesus than houses or land

I'd rather be led by His nail-pierced hands

Than to be king of the vast domains

Than to held in sins dread sway

I'd rather have Jesus than anything

This world can afford today

I'd rather have Jesus than man's applause

See, I'd rather be faithful to His dear cause

Oh, I'd rather have my Jesus than all the worldwide fame

Yes, I'd rather be true to His holy, His holy name

Than to be the king of a vast domain

Than be held in sins dread sway

Oh, I'd rather have You, Jesus than anything

This world can afford to day, oh yes

I'd rather have Jesus than anything

This world can afford, can afford today

I just love Him

I love you Lord more than anything, anything

I'd rather have Jesus than man's applause

See, I'd rather be faithful to His dear cause

Oh, I'd rather have my Jesus than all the worldwide fame

Yes, I'd rather be true to His holy, His holy name

Than to be the king of a vast domain

Than be held in sins dread sway

Oh, I'd rather have You, Jesus than anything

This world can afford to be

You see, I'd rather have my Jesus

He's been good to me

I'd rather have my Jesus than any, than anything

This world can afford today

I love You

Written by:  Rhea Miller / George Beverly Shea

2014 Opportunities to Serve alongside the church in Guatemala:

 March 22-29

May 24-31

May 31-June 7

July 26-Aug 2

November 1-8

In His Grip,

JT