Adopt-A-People Update

As we've shared, we are slowly, but steadily moving toward focusing our missions outreach toward the adoption of an unreached people group (UPG).

An unreached people group is a people group united by a common language and culture where there is not yet a self-sustaining multiplying church.

Following our fun map project, where we gathered lots of congregational input, we sense the Lord is focusing our selection process toward Indonesia or India. In other areas, there are a plethora of unreached peoples.


Our terrific Adopt-A-People Team recently shared the following guidelines/preferences they are using to help focus our search for the appropriate UPG for Grace:

• We want hands on involvement with the people we adopt.
• We desire a long-term missionary placement (though not necessarily from Grace).
• We want to be able to send short-term teams.
• We prefer a UPG where we already have connections.
• We favor partnerships with other churches, agencies, etc.
• Prefer a people easily accessible by air travel
• The larger the people group, the better.
• Sensitive to the security of the country we will work in - prefer a "safe" environment.
• Sensitive to the religious culture of the people - prefer those peoples least likely to find the "Christian God".

I think these are excellent guidelines.

Our APG Team Leader, Tim Arlen, is right now in India with a team from Atascadero Bible Church exploring partnering opportunities with Empart. I very much wanted to go on this trip, as well, but I just couldn't pull it off.

The need is enormous in India and Tim has been sending back some incredible and heart-wrenching reports, like this one. . .

Dear Partners in the Gospel,

Believe it or not, this is the first chance I've had to e-mail. We've had long days from early morning to late at night. I do not have a laptop with me, so I must depend on the internet room at our hotel. Not very accessible or convenient. Additionally, they have asked me to preach/teach a few times, which has consumed any free time I might otherwise have had. (I did not come prepared for that, but..."be instant in season and out of season"!) All that to say I'm sorry it has taken me this long to get a message out, but I see that Tammy has forwarded you some of Tom Ferrell's e-mails. He has given you a pretty good picture of the time we have spent here thus far.

It is now early Sunday evening and we leave for Agra soon to bring some encouragement to a snake charmer caste. I'm not sure exactly what we will be doing with them, but I'm told it will be some form of a caste reconciliation program. We are getting ready to travel overnight on the train which they say is a must experience! Can't wait to fill you all in!

In the next few days I hope to spend some one-on-one time with Jossy Chacko, the head of the Empart movement. I have many questions for him in light of what I've experienced here and thinking about our potential partnership with him. Please pray that we will be able to communicate clearly and honestly with each other so that I can have accurate and complete information to evaluate prayerfully with all of you. This trip has been a different sort of experience for me as I've tried to process everything as a representative of Grace Church rather than only as Tim Arlen. Please continue to pray for me that I may be able to have the wisdom of God in understanding the "heart" of this ministry and in forming some preliminary conclusions about having a long-term relationship with them.

I hope to have the opportunity to e-mail again, but I cannot guarantee anything. My time is not my own. I will definitely look forward to giving a complete report of my observations and experiences here after I return home. In the meantime I so appreciate your prayers. I have given your greetings to all the brothers and sisters here every chance I've had. And they are greatly encouraged by the fact that a church on the central coast of California is praying for them and considering a partnership with them in the advance of the gospel throughout North India. Let us pray that God will continue to empower these believers to reach their goal of 100,00 churches by 2020!

Your Servant in Christ,

Tim Arlen

Let's pray that the Gospel will run in India and that the Lord will direct our steps! Let's uphold Tim and his team in prayer.

around the world

Brandon Woods and Tyler Burns are two young men from our church who are on a missions adventure of a lifetime. . . . . read their blog at


http://www.worldwideopenasiatrip.blogspot.com/

Long posts, but worth the read and a window into their unique journey of faith!

Pray today for our Short Termers (Updated)

Just receive this updated list of Grace short-term missionaries. Let's storm the throne on their behalf today. . . .

• Rachel Valliere – 06/04/09-08/04/09 - serving with SIM in Ethiopia – orphanage and sports camps

• Stephanie Johnson – 06/10/09-08/15/09 – serving with Campus Crusade for Christ in Lake Tahoe

• Rebekah Weeks – 07/13/09-08/01/09 – serving with YWAM in Uganda – orphanage

• Bethany Donaldson – 07/15/09-08/24/09 – serving with Wycliffe in Papua New Guinea – assisting teachers and translators

• Robin Burns - 7/15/09 - 07/28/09 -- serving with Orpan response in Siping, China (UPDDATE: I didn't have Robin in my list. My apologies!)
  

• Ron & Cyndie Hamley – 07/23/09-08/09/09 – serving with Campus Crusade for Christ (ISP) in Guatemala training teachers in Biblical ethics

• Timothy Steffens – 07/27/09-08/07/09 – serving with Eastern European Outreach in Armenia – children’s youth camp

May God use Grace Church to do a mighty work in order to build His church and bring glory to His name!

NVision

I'm fired up about our 2009 Missions Conference, a chance for us to again think about the big picture of what God is doing in the world and how He wants to use us. This year, our Missions Team is thinking out of the box and taking a fresh approach in hosting a 4 session NVision Conference, Friday and Saturday evenings, 6:30 - 9:00 PM, March, 6 & 7.

NVision is very much like the "crash course" of the Perspectives of the World Christian Movement Class, if you're familiar with that. Here's a short vid clip. . .



Anyway, admission is free, but we'd really like you to sign-up before hand either on a Sunday morning or online HERE. Hope you'll consider setting aside this weekend together with me.

I'm also looking forward to opening our 2009 Missions Conference on Sunday, March 1. As usual, many of our visiting missionaries will be joining Adult Bible Fellowships, Growth Groups and other happenings throughout the week. Let's love on these sacrificial friends as we have the opportunity.

See you there?

2008 Super DWAP

In these uncertain times, we all need encouragement. Sometimes we don't know it. Sometimes we don't know where to find it.

This morning some of our staff shared how encouraging it was to be at the Super Dessert with a Purpose. They described not wanting to come, but wanting to stay home and enjoy a quiet Sunday evening, but then shared how encouraged they were after picking themselves up and getting there.

I had the same experience. My 3 older kids, surprisingly, wanted to be there (might have been the mention of "super desserts", but I'm not sure!). I'm so glad they were there.

This year's Super DWAP featured reports from 20 short term missionaries that Grace has had the privilege to send all over the world this last year. God is at work through our going and sending. What we are doing and money we are investing is bring water, care, education and, most important of all, the life changing Gospel of Jesus to folks in every continent.

I am humbled that God would see fit to involve our little church on the corner of Pismo and Osos to accomplish His global purposes.

Here's a list of all those missionaries. Click to enlarge and see clearly.

Here's a fun coloring map that was provided for the kids, showing all the places these folks have gone. Again, click to enlarge. . .


Here's a great article from John Piper, entitled "Holding the Rope." on developing a global vision for missions within the local church. I think we are making progress. . . .

http://www.ligonier.org/tabletalk/2008/11/1108_Holding_the_Rope

Finally, check out the newly updated Sending area of our website, where you can meet our long term missionaries, click to the missions blog, meet our missions team and learn about upcoming DWAPs. . . .

http://www.graceslo.org/Default.aspx?tabid=155

Many thanks to Ron Hamley for jumping in and helping with the website.

There is a lot happening in the area of missions here at Grace. Many thanks to our faithful and diligent Missions Team for their hard work and leadership in this vital area.

going global

I was encouraged during our prayer time on Tuesday morning as we prayed for all our short-termers scattered around the globe this week. . . .join us in praying for them. It is such a joy to be able to send and go for the cause of Christ around the globe.

• Jenny Nelson July 25 to August 12 in Philippines serving at the Aeta Children’s Home

• David Balderston July 13 to July 26 in Uganda counseling and aid to war-torn children

• Ron & Cyndie Hamley July 10 to July 27 in Guatemala with International School Project (Biblical morals course taught to educators)

• Jazmine Harvey July 8, 2008 to May, 2009 in Columbia teaching with Resource Christian Education International

• Lee Shirey, Cami Grey and Bobby Cleath July 3 to August 15 in Romania working at a camp with underprivileged children

• Mark Piester June 26 to July 25 in Russia working with locals to hold three summer camps for 126 orphan children

• Jen Peet & Ben Matthias June 23 to August 7 in Middle East working to establish Campus Crusade evangelism team.

• Arijaan Bulk, Ryan Cahill & Rose Valliere June 12 to August 9 in Santa Monica with Campus Crusade doing evangelism

Missions Movie Night

Way, way, way more than watching Lost (see last post), I'd like you to see and think about Amazing Grace, the challenging story of William Wilberforce's struggle against the English slave trade. It's being shown tomorrow night as our Missions Movie Night feature presentation as part of this week's 2008 Missions Conference.

Bring the family and join the church family for this fun evening!

Until All Have Heard

Our 2008 Missions Conference officially begins on Sunday, but 24 hours of prayer for this important week in our church begins this evening. Pray with us.

This year, we'll think together about unreached people groups throughout the world. . . peoples, tribes, and tongues who have no viable Gospel witness.

The week will be filled with events to help us engage with our visiting missionaries and think about unstoppable global plan and purpose of God to redeem a people for Himself from every nation, tribe, and tongue. You will receive a schedule in Sunday's worship folder.

Unfortunately, our family will miss this first Sunday of the conference as we are called away for the memorial service of our good friend, Dave Carlson, who went to be with the Lord this last week after a long battle with cancer. You may recall, I shared about our visit with Dave last Summer. Dave was the best friend of my father-in-law, Werner Jacobsen, for over fifty years and played a special role in Susie's life.

Our hearts, thoughts, and prayers will be with you!

Pastor Peter Xu Audio now posted

We had more than 1200 in Sunday's Worship Services to welcome Pastor Peter Xu, the grandfather of the house church movement in China and kick off our 2007 Missions Conference. It was awesome to hear of God's work in China, when all seemed dark and the light of the Gospel dim in closed, communist China, in reality God was doing a mighty work.

Because each service was different and Pastor Xu shared different experiences we've posted all three service audios HERE.

We're also trying to locate and post the audio from the Sunday evening question and answer session where Pastor Xu shared the Back to Jerusalem vision. Stay tuned!

I just thought the whole day was a once in a lifetime experience.

What were your thoughts, feelings and reaction to hearing Pastor Xu's experience of suffering and persecution?

One reminder for me, was that God meets us in our suffering. His grace is sufficient for us. I think Pastor Xu clearly communicated that this was his experience.

Heavenly Man

I, like hundreds of others at Grace, am currently reading The Heavenly Man in anticipation of Brother Peter Xu preaching at our Missions Conference on Sunday, February 25.

I actually started reading the book a couple years back, but never finished it.

Are you reading it? What do you think? What do you make of all the signs and wonders that are described in the early house church movement in China? Do you believe this stuff happened? Why don't these things happen here in the West? Or do they?

I just finished chapters 9, 10 and 11 which describe Yun's 74 day miraculous fast from all food and water. I've had a couple folks at Grace ask me if I was aware that there were some questions about Yun's integrity and the truthfulness of some of what he writes and especially this 74 day fast. So I went googling.. .

I found this interesting link answering the objections to The Heavenly Man . . .

Answers to Questions about The Heavenly Man

What I read there was good enough for me.

It's not too late to jump and read with the rest of us. I hope you'll read and finish the book, if for no other reason to stretch your boundaries about God's work and the power of the Gospel in the world. When no one knew what was going on in closed communist China, the Gospel was exploding. It gives me great hope and confidence that the Gospel is doing its thing in Iraq and Uganda and in other dark parts of the world.

I think God might use Brother Xu to rock our world here at Grace. I pray He does.

Serving Children of Kenya

Anybody see this story on the front page of the local section of the Tribune yesterday? Very cool. Very inspiring. This gal has attended Calvary SLO for a long time. James Rey is a pastor there and a great guy.

http://www.sanluisobispo.com/mld/sanluisobispo/16372167.htm

Check out the slideshow of her work among the children in Kenya. Took me back to my summer in Kenya in 1987 with Campus Crusade. I spent a couple of weeks in Nairobi.

So neat that the Tribune prints and posts stuff like this.