Hello, vineyard workers.......

Sadly, we're suspending all activity pertaining to "THE MINISTRY", but hope to resume post-Covid. Most of us are entering new phases (inc. 2 new babies).....& I need to focus on new arrivals from the "A" country. Our group met weekly for nearly a year. We only did 2 kid events, but it was time well spent as a lot of networking happened & community formed. The greatest development was when my friend from the "T" country came to our zoo event w/his 2 kids. 

I'd been teaching this friend guitar since June. He eventually asked, "Will you teach me Christianity?"  So, we began w/Gen. 1 using the DMM method, which I'm learning on the fly.  One of the questions is, "W/whom will you share what you learned?" He again said that he'd share w/his book club....where they usually discuss THEIR holy book! Whoahhhh. Goosebumps! He's also been discussing the Word w/others lately. By Mon. night, he'd read to Gen. 41!........(I asked if he'd like a quick guitar lesson before I left. He wanted to proceed w/the Bible!) 

He & many "T" people in our town are disciples of the man accused of plotting the '16 coup attempt in their home country. This man, who started 1,500 schools around the world, is now exiled in Penn. & probably T's most wanted man.  My friend was a journalist there & has visited his home 5x. (Hmmm...wondering how far the Spirit might reach!) Pls pray. He also says that the DMM method resembles the way his mentor teaches their holy book!....Despite being his disciple, my friend seems disillusioned by his faith because the religious leaders lied to him about the Bible. In his quest, he's found much overlap between the Bible & his own holy book. I told him to expect diffs, but to continue. He's also been reading Tolstoy, who's playing a major role in his transformation. Ironically, a friend from the "A country" has also been listening to audiobooks by Dostoyevsky, another Christian Russian author. Could people from their faith reading Christian Russian authors be a trend? Now they have me interested.....because, I, myself, have been curious about Eastern Orthodox thought for a while now. Not because I'd like to convert, but to hear their wisdom. They're ok w/mysteries. I like that. 

There are many believing refugees in the T country, but merely 8-10k known native believers. Apparently, no T Church exists anywhere in the Americas. Pray that our town gets the honor of the 1st! That momentum got stoked when our Church co-hosted the 9-11 Memorial Picnic w/our T friends. 150 attended in total. 60 of them came.

My A friend (the one who loves Dostoyevsky), has also started reading the Word w/me. He also volunteered that he's read a few chapters ahead. Pray for him....6 yrs. ago, he graciously accepted a Bible from me in his language after I explained that his "New World Translation" was heretical. While visiting recently, he apologized because he'd lost it while moving. I told him, "That's ok! I actually now have Bibles in your EXACT dialect. Would you like one?" He humbly received it. I am so glad he spoke up because he's now reading it & was able to experience my grace. (It surely took bunches of humility to confess losing a Holy Book.) 

By faith, let's start seeing these people as more similar to the Ephesian believers in Acts 19 (who didn't realize there was a Holy Spirit)....& less like lost causes, ok? Deal? Not saying they're Christians yet, but many are closer than most realize......This friendship w/the T community was totally organic & sprung, unplanned, from 1 friendship.....which began when our friend bought something from one of them!

------------------------------------------

A youngster named Tony Daniels is credited w/the "optimistic" & "gratitude filled" phrase "Life's hard & then you die" (That's the sanitized version). It reminds me of a Bruce Springsteen song from a few yrs. ago. Although in a major key, it's sad because he declares that his glory days are all past tense. Even amidst Covid, I'm experiencing my best days now & they're only getting better.......This is the same Bruce who recently got away w/drunk driving. Such is Hollywood. Go figure....It's a very boozy anthem.

https://youtu.be/1BneV3MXM_Q

“Because children have abounding vitality, because they are in spirit fierce & free, therefore they want things repeated & unchanged. They always say, "Do it again"; & the grown-up person does it again until he is nearly dead. For grown-up people are not strong enough to exult in monotony. But perhaps God is strong enough to exult in monotony. It is possible that God says every morning, "Do it again" to the sun; & every evening, "Do it again" to the moon. It may not be automatic necessity that He makes all daisies alike; it may be that God makes every daisy separately, but has never got tired of making them. It may be that He has the eternal appetite of infancy; for we have sinned & grown old, & our Father is younger than we.”

For DMM, having a blast in Kingdom work and the nations, 

........Just another witness of His Glory 

Hello, my friends, 

I can't imagine the pain that the people in the "A country" are feeling. I've been consoling many friends. This is like a death in the family x 1000. 

One of those people is "M", a man from that country, who faithfully attended our home group for 1.5 yrs. He often said that WE were his true community, not his own people. We reconnected recently. He's been listening to Dostoyevsky's Brothers Karamazov on audiobook & was impressed w/the concept that a seed must fall into the ground & die to produce many seeds....I told him that Dostoyevsky got this from the Bible. (John 12:24).......M's brother, F, was a prison guard where fighters from the insurgent party were held. He's now being hunted. He & his family of 13 are trying to escape. Pls pray for them. 

I called M Friday night. His wife answered & said that he was doing his prayers. She spoke of her childhood under the first regime of the insurgent party. She said, "I'm considering leaving my religion"!!!!  Out of deepest anguish, I anticipate a Church rising up among their people soon. Are we ready to walk w/them out of what amounts to be the world's largest street gang? This will take the entire Church. 

These emails are for encouraging the Body. Let me encourage you w/this...Neither you nor I would pick me to do this. Exodus 6:30-7:1, 1 Corinthians 1:26-31. I'm a quirky dude. Ever noticed?  Like Peter, I sometimes say cringeworthy things. If you've ever spent more than a day w/me, you've probably rolled your eyes at something I've said or done. I'm artsy. Artsy people are flakes. Right now, I'm thinking of an idiotic thing I said to one of my A friends. I meant well but it was awkward. But God always works despite me. It's the testimony of Grace in my life. So, God can surely use you, too! And we need more workers! (John 4:35) Although I often fumble & stumble, I tumble into Providence w/frequency.

........A Providential story about another man whom I'm consoling (although I didn't say anything stupid yet): In 2018, I went to a conference that teaches how to engage folks from "that other Abrahamic religion ". Coming back from the airport, my Uber driver "happened to be" one of my A acquaintances. He's from the tribe out of which rose the insurgency. When I got in, I said, "Oh....R....you're listening to Christian music.".....He said, "The last customer requested it". Whether a lie or not, a spiritual conversation started. I asked, "Ever read the Bible?" He said he'd like to but didn't have one. I said, "I have a very discreet Bible phone chip in your language.....in my suitcase. Would you like it?" He said, "Yes". When he dropped me off, I threw my suitcase onto my yard & unzipped it, dumping clothes in the melting snow, looking for that chip. He said, "Oh....another call. Gotta go. You can bring it to my produce stand at the farmer's market on Saturday." I went....bought some carrots, putting the chip under the money. (Sneaky Sneaky.....His employee was also from A.) We lost contact after June of '18, but reconnected by phone last Thur night. He credited me w/changing his life. I was puzzled. But I eventually recalled giving him a contact for a construction job that somehow connected into a lucrative truck driving career. I barely remembered giving it to him, but recalled his struggles. So wild how God energized that connection!!! It's awesome when their blessings come from the Christian community! 

Jesus said "Go into all the world" (Mark 16:15). But, sadly, the Judeo-Christian heresy which I call "that other Abrahamic religion" grew from the vacuum of the Church not engaging the peninsula....and the religion was able to take root. Disobedience is costly. We can't continue the same mistake. I'm a latecomer to this work so it's easy for me to tell all the young 'uns to GO into all the world. I'm 55 & will likely never minister in really challenging places....but I CAN minister locally. What I/we do here gets back to their home countries. Trust me. When feeling hopeless, never forget the Apostle Paul. He was the terror commander of his day (Acts 9) but finished his career as the unlikely author of 13 or 14 of the 27 NT books. Now's the time to engage A people (esp those from that very conservative tribe)....But WHOMEVER God brings to you. They are the bridge back. 

I vow never to get partisan in these emails, but will criticize politicians on both sides. Any normal person is outraged by what America has done...& is further outraged by D.C.'s flippancy toward the A soldiers who sacrificed....many of whom will be left behind to face consequences for their service. Many Americans are stranded. But there is a deeper context about which most Americans are entirely clueless. Their's is an honor/shame culture. We're a guilt/innocence culture, traditionally. We've brought great shame on them because defeat & losing face is the worst thing that can happen in their view. Worse than that, Joe Biden called this a "civil war". Yes, technically it was, but sorry, Joe.....this is genocide against anyone who's not on board w/the new "government". You might as well say that Nazi Germany had a "civil war" w/the Jews. You've just slapped an entire nation in the face hard several times. Shame on you and us. Way too many of us are more worked up about transgenderism, Matthew McConaghey's deodorant & Britney Spears' conservatorship than things that really matter. Heaven help us.

A friend who is a very astute observer of "that other Abrahamic religion" told me something stunning the other day. He thinks America will convert that way someday. His explanation is that cancel culture is honor/shame & that is laying the groundwork for it. At a Common Ground conference, I first heard online culture described as honor/shame. I agree w/him but my reason for the same thought was different: Liberal 'christian' theology isn't much different from the competitor because the key doctrines are often arbitrary to many liberals. The Church needs to wake up & assert key distinctives like the Deity of Christ, the Trinity, the Cross, etc.....or they will slip into it when persecution comes. Many liberal churches are already playing w/fire & have created something called "Chrislam". Someone said, "Those who stand for nothing will fall for anything." We need to be outspoken. The Gospel must be reasserted & taken back from the liberal non-Church "church". 

Steve Green is one of my favorite singers......This is a very inspiring song. 

​For F and all of the other men and women who served A and America, a return to orthodoxy, and the nations........

Just another witness to His Glory.