Month: January 2009

Report From Baja January

On By Harvest of Faith ChurchIn church locator southaven msLeave a comment

Dear Family,

Greetings to everyone! We hope this finds you all havin gotten a good start on the New Year and ready to come out of winter…..
Here in Mexico, we are thankfully well and full of excitement and hope at what this year will bring. We continue to be constantly occupied with a ministry that is in a real spurt of expansion that amazes us!
The Lord has allowed us an opening into the indigenous community in the area for which we are very grateful. At this point we are ministering alost exclusively to Indian peoples from several tribes who hail primarily from the states of Oaxaca and Chiapas, the two most impoverished states in Mexico. These people come to Baja Norte seeking work in the rich agricultural fields here. They seek no more than to survive and hope for better conditions than the ones they fled, but unfortunately, they most often find themselves in an even worse situation here, far from all that they know. They board old (circa1974) auto buses for a 5 day trip to Tijuana, then board other buses for the farming areas. Once here, they find the wages insufficient to sustain themselves upon, with minimum wage right now hovering at the equivelent of about $4.00 US a day. In order to survive on such low income they must live in “company” housing or labor camps which are overcrowded, unsanitary and basically deplorable. A family of 11 that we know, for instance, lives in a labor camp; they all live in a 8×8 cinder block room with no running water or bathroom, no heat and one 2×1 glassless window set high in the back wall. Rain and wind blow freely through the window no matter how they try to plug it up with cardboard or old blankets. Raw sewage runs freely thru the camps central area, where all of the cooking is done over wood fires.
There is no safe place for anyone to walk let alone anyplace for the many children to play and they frolic daily in nasty black water.
The people to whom we minister very rarely know how to speak Spanish which is the national language here. We deal with three tribes , the Trique, Zapoteco and Mixteco; each on espeaks a different dialect and they do not understand one another, making it easier for the rest of society to discriminate freely against them. Due to the language barrier and the fact that these indians still practice home births most have no government documents such as birth certificates. This and the transient nature of their work keeps almost all of the children from being able to attend school.
To make a long story short, these people are facing an impossible situation (without Christ) and each day is a new and difficult battle, jsut to survive.
On January 8th, we celebrated one year of feeding these children at the new facility and it has flown by. Last year this time we were serving approximately 45 people a hot free meal daily, but noiw attendance is up to an average of 65 a day! It comes out to some 325 meals a week, praise God!
The Lord really blessed our relationship with the local school principal, allowing us against all odds to inscribe any children we can in elementary school.So far, in the current school year we have placed 53 indigenous children in school for the first time in their lives. We found a loophole in the law that allows us to enroll them if we have them vaccinated at a state hospital. Once vaccinated, they recieve a natuional vaccine card which is the legal equivelant of a birth certificate here. Praise God, you should have seen Pastor Francisco , Bro. Marcial and me chasing leery children around the hospital lobby on our mass vaccination trips. Everyone knows how much children hate shots…. We are working closely with the school now, so much so that Marcial, a brother and HEALED heroin addict who came through the rehab program here 7 years ago, now drives the school bus route to three different work camps. After school the kids return to the church, eat and board our borrowed bus to be shuttled home. Having outgrown the van, (with about 58 kids needing a ride) a local rancher has loaned us their school bus which is usually used to transport field workers. This is a great example of God’s favor as this rancher is not even a Christian and is known as a very “hard” man , but he’s butter in the Lord’s Hands!
WE now have a couple who are members of our church who are helping us daily with teaching the children. We are offering daily classes on Bible and basic Spanish. We were trying to teach math and reading but found that we needed to narrow our focus first to the very basics and it has been very successful thus far. I thank Yahweh for the help!
WE have also been approached by a couple of doctors who are very interested in opening a health clininc offering free medical care to the indigenous people in our community. The idea is also to train individuals from each camp in basic triage and preventative medicine to improve their quality of life. They will be using our building until they build their own and would work closely with us as we have ties to the pueblo and the people are very very suspicious of “outsiders.” Until the clinic opens, they have pledged $150 a month to establish a fund for health care emergencies among the people we minister to. This is an awesome blessing. Currently, we are trying to help Cristina, a 7 year old girl with stribismus or wall-eye condition that is causing her bad headaches and many problems learning to read obviously. Minor surgery will hopefully correct the problem and be an asthetic blesssing as well, as the other children tease her about her eye. Right now, we are awaiting the return of her father from Oaxaca to get permission for the treatment.
There is so much going on, I know i am forgetting something, but I have to tell you that I am most overjoyed by what is happening in our little Church. WE have Sunday morning services here and a mid-week service out in a community south of town at a young Trique couples home. They were both saved here when they lived in the camp near the mission base last spring. He is our Trique translator.
Our Sunday meetings have grown steadily in accordance with Pastor Richard prophetic Word when he was last here!
I have to say that that is what excites me the most of all. This past week we had 49 adults and about the same amount of children. Every chair was full and the Presence was oh so sweet! Attendance has been steadily climbing since mid December and we have men as well as women and children and it is hard to get the indigenous men to attend. No OTHER fellowship in this area has such a diverse mix of tribes as we do, praise Yahweh. Please keep our meetings in prayer and pray that the Word will go forth quickened by the Holy Spirit so that it can be understood in each language!
We have had cases of supernatural translation and some really creative salvation miracles. Sister Felipa is a Trique who speaks NO Spanish. Weeks after her conversion she told me through a translator how it happened. Evidently, days before she responded to the altar call, she had a dream. She dreamed a “good” man with a “shining appearance” was beckoning her into a mountain meadow in her homeland. In the dream she felt such great peace. Well, when the altar call went forth that Sunday she connected it to the dream and “knew” she should step forward. When the prayer and confession to salvation was made in Spanish she heard it in her own language and repeated it that way!! So see, the Lord loves these people so much that He WILL make away! I and she believe it was Jesus in the dream. Now I do not worry much about which language the Word goes forth in, because I know the Lord can make anything happen. This sister is in her mid 60’s, she works 14 hour days in the field cutting tomatoes for about $7 a day. She is always bringing new friends and family to meetings and she has never missed a Sunday so far, even though she walks over a mile to get there. She is a true blessing.
I want all of you at Harvest of Faith to know that not a day goes by that we do not have you on our hearts. Your sacrificial giving to this mission is truly touching and changing people’s lives everyday.
I recently read on The Joshua Project, an organization that tracks international missions and their impact that the people we minister to’ the Trique, the Zapoteco and most Mixteco are considered to be “unreached peoples”. LESS than 2% of them are evangelical Christians. The entire Bible in written form is still unavailable in their languages. There has been ZERO evangelical church planting among them in the past 2 year period.
Now I know folks who believe missions are “obsolete.” They believe everyone has been “reached.” NOT TRUE! The Lord has entrusted us with a very special task! This includes you all, because without your giving we would not have done all of what we have this past year. These people are modern day targets of the Great Commission handed down to us by our Lord Jesus Christ. No one else is doing it and if they do not hear the Word they WILL remain LOST. Now, you may not be able to physically get out on the foreign mission field right now, but by your obedience in giving you are enabling us to preach the Gospel to the lost everyday. Thank you all so very much for remaining steadfast and faithful. Harvest of Faith has been the fountain through which the Lord flows since our first months in this foreign land and we thank ya’ll for sticking with us and for your great generosity. Please know how important you are to our expression of Jesus great Love and His Kingdom in this place!
We love you and pray the Lord prosper you in every area of your lives,
Your Sister and Servant in Christ,
Sis. detra

PS- you may google “The Joshua Project” or “Etnopedia” for statistics on missions and more info!
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Word for 2009

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Sunday January 4,2009

Given by: Richard Chambliss

I want you to have a shout of victory in your mouth. It does not matter what it looks liken your life right now. The circumstances are temporary. They are absolutely temporary. But, know that I am Eternal says the Lord. And my eternity is working in your hearts says the Lord. I want you to have a shout of victory in your mouths. As you approach this year I want you to approach it with a shout of victory in your mouth says the Lord, a shout of victory.

Even in your mind and in your body there which is contrary to what I have declared says the Lord, but believe me. Witness what I have said this day and meet every challenge this year with a shout of victory. For there shall certainly come the appearance of that which shall appear to you says the Lord that which shall appear to be defeat and to be a lessening in your life, but look beyond it says the Lord. Stand upon your toes look over the fence, look over the barrier, know this, The victory is on the other side waiting for you the wall that appears is only a thin veil that the enemy has put in front of you, over your eyes to keep your heart darkened. But know this day my light and my life come into you to lighten your heart, liven your heart and cause my very, very nature to come forth to you this year. This will be a year of increase in your lives. This will be a year of increase in your lives says the Lord spirit, soul and body, spirit, soul and body. Listen not to the gain slayers. Listen not to the doomers and gloomers, Listen to My voice, says the Lord. I have my hand upon, I have my hand upon you, I not only have My hand upon you, but beneath you to under grid and lift you up, says the Lord. This will be a year when you gain true identity in me. Know longer will you flounder here and flounder there but you will know who you are in Me, says the Lord and who I am in you. If you will believe that and mix faith in that, you will know things that I a have for you are not for your destruction but for your blessing and for your benefit, say the Lord.

Encourage yourself, says the Lord, Encourage yourself in me, says the Lord. Encourage yourself in the Holy Ghost. Let the darkness be behind you and the Light of day be before you, says the Lord.

Thank you Father. We bless you now Father.

The Mission of God

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By Frank Viola
The Mission of God

Throughout the book of Ephesians, Paul spills a great deal of ink trying to unveil the eternal purpose of God to the Christians in Asia Minor. The entire letter is a breathtaking unfolding of the divine purpose. In it, Paul puts the most sublime truths into human words. In Ephesians, the ultimate purpose and passion that God has had in His heart from ages past is richly set forth.

Ephesians teaches us that the purpose of God stands far outside the reaches of redemption. In eternity past, God the Father has been after a bride and a body for His Son and a house and a family for Himself. These four images—the bride, the body, the house, and the family—comprise the grand narrative of the entire Bible. And they lie at the center of God’s beating heart. They are His ultimate passion, His eternal purpose, and His governing intention. To put it another way, God’s eternal purpose is intimately wrapped up with the church.

As I write this book, there’s a great deal of talk about the Missio Dei (God’s Mission or “Sending”) in Christian circles. I think this can be a healthy emphasis. But exactly what is God’s mission? I suggest that it’s nothing other than God’s eternal purpose.

As long as I’ve been a Christian, I have made this simple observation: Our modern gospel is entirely centered on human needs. The plotline of that gospel is one of a benevolent God whose main purpose is blessing and healing a fallen world. Thus our gospel is centered on saving man’s spirit/soul (evangelism) and/or saving his body (healing the sick, delivering the captives, helping the poor, standing with the oppressed, caring for the earth, etc.). In short, the gospel that’s commonly preached today is “human centered.” It’s focused on the needs of humanity, be they spiritual or physical.

But there is a purpose in God that is for God. That purpose was formed in Christ before the fall ever occurred. The meeting of human needs is a by-product, a spontaneous outflow, of that purpose. It’s not the prime product.

Tellingly, God didn’t create humans in need of salvation. Go back to the creation project in Genesis 1 and 2, and you will discover that God’s purpose preceded the fall. That should lead us to ask a very incisive question: What was God going to do with human beings if they had never fallen?

Throughout my years as a Christian, I’ve been involved in movements that majored in evangelism, others that majored in social activism, and others that majored in spiritual gifts. All of these things were made “ends in themselves.” None of them were integrated into God’s ultimate purpose. In fact, “the eternal purpose” was never mentioned. The result was that those activities, though good and noble, failed to satisfy the beating heart of God.

Let me explain the last paragraph by giving an illustration. Imagine that a general contractor purchases twenty acres of land by which to build a housing complex. After the houses are built, he wishes to have a landscape garden at the entrance of the complex. This is his goal. So he hires someone to plant beautiful trees. He hires another to lay large rocks. He hires another to plant beautiful flowers. And he hires another to plant shrubs and bushes.

The person who plants the trees plants them randomly throughout the complex. The person who lays the rocks does the same. So does the person who plants the flowers. The person who plants the shrubs and bushes does the same.

When the contractor observes what they have all done, he’s very disappointed.

His goal was a landscape garden. Instead, he sees that the flowers, rocks, trees, shrubs, and bushes are all disconnected and scattered about the complex haphazardly.

Is it good to plant trees? Yes. Is the planting of flowers a positive thing? Certainly. But these things “in themselves” were not the contractor’s goal.

He wanted a landscape garden.

That describes the kingdom of God today. Many good deeds, but an overwhelming disconnection from God’s ultimate goal—which happens to be from Him, through Him, and to Him (Rom. 11:36; Col. 1:16–18; Eph. 1:5).

Overshooting the Main Point

Why is it that so many of us Christians have shot past the main point? Why have we not seen the greater purpose of God amid all of our books, magazines, Web sites, blogs, CDs, DVDs, conferences, and seminars?

If I knew the answer to that, I would be twofold a Solomon. I’ll make an educated guess, however. I think part of the reason is that evangelical Christians have built their theology mostly on Romans and Galatians. And many nonevangelical Christians have built it on the Gospels (particularly the Synoptics—Matthew, Mark, and Luke). And for both groups, Ephesians and Colossians have been but footnotes.

But what if we began, not with the needs of humans, but with the intent and purpose of God? What if we took as our point of departure, not the earth after the fall, but the eternal activity in God Himself before the constraints of physical time?

In other words, what if we built our theology on Ephesians and Colossians and allowed the other New Testament books to follow suit? Why Ephesians and Colossians? Because Ephesians and Colossians give us the clearest look at Paul’s gospel with which Christ commissioned him. These two letters begin, not with the needs of postfall humans, but with God’s timeless purpose before creation. They also introduce us to Christ in His preincarnate state.

I assert that if we did this, the Gospels, and the rest of the New Testament (let alone the entire Old Testament), would fall into a very different place for us. And the centrality and supremacy of Jesus Christ and His counterpart, the church, would dominate our understanding of everything spiritual and physical.

Contrary to popular opinion, the Gospels are not the beginning point of the Christian faith. Neither is the Old Testament. Both give us the middle of the story. Ephesians, Colossians, and the gospel of John are the introduction and the opening chapters of that story. Those writings give us a glimpse into Christ before time and what His mission is all about.

His earthly life that’s portrayed in Matthew, Mark, and Luke must be understood against that backdrop.

In this regard, we can liken the gospel that most of us heard to watching Star Wars Episodes IV, V, and VI first (which is the way they came out in the theaters). But for us to really understand what’s going on in that drama, we must begin at the right place with Episodes I, II, and III.

Again, human beings didn’t come into this world in need of salvation. Saving souls, feeding the poor, and alleviating the suffering of humanity was not part of God’s first motion in eternity past because the fall had not yet occurred.

Please don’t misunderstand. I’m not against any of these things. On the contrary, I’m strongly for them. But God has a purpose—an eternal purpose—that humans were to fulfill before sin entered the scene. And He has never let go of it. Everything else is and should be related to it. As DeVern Fromke says,

This which we see in Ephesians is what the Father intended to realize in His Son, and it has never been affected by sin, the fall, or time. It was this purpose which had previously been a mystery, that the Apostle Paul was now unveiling. For the Father from eternity had a wonderful purpose for Himself which of course included man. Redemption is not the end, but only a recovery program. It is but a parenthesis incorporated into the main theme.

Most evangelical Christians begin the Biblical story with Genesis 3 (the fall) and then go on to Romans and Galatians (salvation). The Biblical story, however, begins with Ephesians and Colossians (God’s purpose before time). And it continues on to Genesis 1 and 2 (God’s intention for humankind before the fall) and then the Gospels (in Jesus we see God’s eternal intention). If we learned the story this way, it would change everything.

Truthfully, it would require another book to unfold the eternal purpose of God adequately. (I’m in the process of writing such a book.) In this chapter, I will briefly introduce some of its major elements. They are ….

This article has been excerpted from Chapter 7 of Reimagining Church. The chapter is entitled “Reimagining the Eternal Purpose.”