Back In Touch

As you can see, I haven't updated my blog like I had intended. There is so much that I could write about right now, but I won't. That would take too long and use up too much space here on blogspot. So this post will be very simple with little fluff.

Here you go... Are you ready?

Spend time in God's word today.

Stay tuned for more news in the weeks to come.
Have a wonderfully blessed day!

The Month of May

How does time get away from us so quickly? Today is the last day of May and THIS is my only blog of the month. There has been so much going on that when I do have time to blog I just don't feel like doing it. I do post a lot of news and pictures on Facebook on an almost daily basis though. Here is a short bit of what's been happening...

- The Vrettos family and Jamie Barton are now all in the States.
- The Black family and Marggy Hensley are now in Jamaica.
- Project RAISE is in full swing with land continuing to be cleared, and plants growing. The cucumbers are 4 weeks old today and have leaves the size of a man's hand.
- A team from Kentucky Wesleyan College was here last week and cleared land, built a house, and put a catchment roof on a water tank for RAISE.
- Starting June 12th we will be busy for 10 weeks straight with 12 teams.
- And a partridge in a pear tree.

It's going to be a busy summer full of God's blessings.
It's going to be a good summer to serve the Lord.
It's going to be a wonderful summer to watch as God continues to do work in Jamaica.
It's going to be a summer of newness and growth.

Pray for all God has in store for CSI Jamaica in the coming weeks and months.
(Hopefully I won't wait til the last day of June to post another blog.)

In His Light

There are days when I feel
That I just can't go on
Every thing that I try
It just seems to go so wrong
But I know that my Savior
Is right by my side
That is why I'll walk in His light

Help me to walk in the light of the Lord
Help me to walk in the Way
Help me to walk in the light of the Lord
Until my final day

My dear Jesus said
"I'm the light of the world
If you'll just follow me
You'll walk in darkness no more"
It's a promise He gave us
He'll be right by your side
So receive Him and walk in His light

Help me to walk in the light of the Lord

Help me to walk in the Way

Help me to walk in the light of the Lord

Until my final day

Struggles

Ever been at a place in your life where you knew you should be doing something like cleaning the house, hanging up clothes, washing dishes, diving into the Word of God, getting on your knees and praying, but you just had no desire to do anything but sit around and do nothing? I'm not talking about being lazy on an occasional evening, but during repeated evenings, to have no desire to do anything.

Ever had that feeling like God was trying to tell you something but his voice would only come through in bits and pieces because you were not really listening to what He might be saying?

Ever known that He was about to do something great (or may even be in the middle of doing something great) but you were under so much oppression from the enemy that you couldn't enjoy what God was doing?

Ever allowed your joy to be taken from you?

If your answer is "No", then you are either very blessed, very righteous, not paying attention, or a liar. (I'll leave that between you and our Savior.)

Fact is, there are times when we, as Christians, struggle. We have days when the desire to do anything besides be with God is overwhelming. We often will allow the world and all its trappings to invade our lives and make things so noisy that we can't hear God. We miss out on part, most, or all of what God is doing in certain situations because we are not expecting Him to show up or to do anything. It's easy to sit and stew in our own misery. But it takes action to kneel before the throne of grace. And even though I use the word "we", the words are coming from "me". I am the one with the current struggles. I am the one in need of a face-to-face at the throne. I am the one who has allowed other things to clutter my mind, not leaving much room for the lessons my Lord wants me to learn.

Please take a moment and pray for me.
Pray for God's best to be done in my life.
Pray that my desire for Christ grows.
Pray for His best to be done with CSI JAMAICA.
Pray for His grace to be poured out daily on His servants, both here and there.
Pray for His direction to be clear.

And as much as it is currently "me", "I" or even "we", it very easily could wind up being "you" all by yourself. So please feel free to share with me any concerns that I might be able to go to the Father with on your behalf.

We were never promised that the life of a Christ Follower would be easy. Oh, there are moments when things may go smoothly, but those are the moments when we must realize that we should be preparing for the battles that are coming. Because the battles will come. Frustrations will come. Struggles will come. And our Lord will be right there with us all the way.

Ants In The Sugar Bowl

This is a poem by Elizabeth Givens that was given out when I attended mission training in April/May 2008. I understood it pretty well before coming to the mission field, but now I understand it so much better.

Ants In The Sugar Bowl

So send I you:

To ants in the sugar bowl

To things that fly, creep, and crawl into the house

To uncertain water, sporadic electricity

To long hours, sweltering heat, exhausting days

To uncomfortable vehicles, crowded jeeps, smelly buses

To noisy early, EARLY mornings

To rice, rice, and more rice

To poverty you didn’t believe existed

To masses of people like you have never seen

To know and work with people who have never known comfort

So send I you

So send I you:

To people who will give to you from their poverty

To friends that will embarrass you with their generosity

To pastors that will entertain you from their lack, with bounty

To hungry, receptive, questioning people who want to know God

To study, to teach, to learn from your study and teaching

To probe your own motives, values, and beliefs

To learn about yourself and the culture that has reared you

To know God and to understand more deeply dependence on Him

So send I you.

Are you going? I’ll go with you all the way.

Elizabeth Givens

Update 3.21

This last week we had 2 college teams join the CSI JAMAICA family. The University of Akron and Huntington University.

Huntington University began construction on a restroom facility at the Basic/Primary School in Richmond. (They were the third team to work on a construction project for the school.) The University of Akron started construction of a computer lab/library at the Pringle Home for Children, as well as started the clearing of the bush on our new property in order to make way for the development of the CSI Jamaican Agriculture and Education Sustianability Project.

Thank you Huntington and Akron for a wonderful week of service and ministry!

This week we have no team, but we do have a group from our Muncie office coming to see what's happening with CSI JAMAICA. Plus, they are bringing some goodies for me from home! It's like Christmas in March!!

Next Saturday we have a youth team from Georgianna UMC in FL coming down, so please pray for them as they prepare over the next week to come serve our Lord on the mission field.

Everyone have a great week. Allow God to bless you, and make you a blessing.

UPDATE

Over the last few weeks I have received some good response to my "Urgent Need". Some of my regular supporters have increased their giving, I have had a few new supporters come on board, and I have received both small and sizable one-time gifts. Last week a printed version of my need was mailed out and has already hit mailboxes. I look forward to seeing what the response will be.

Thank you to the Dover Christian Church youth group for hosting a fundraiser bake sale for me on Sunday, March 7. What a blessing it is to have a home church with such great youth!!

This coming Saturday (13th) we have 2 teams coming in. One team of 12 is from Huntington College. And one team of 25 is from the University of Akron. Please be in prayer for their safe travel and for a great week of serving God in Jamaica. Both teams are doing construction projects and will be helping to clear the bush on our new property as we prepare to start development.

On Tuesday, March 23rd, we have a group of CSI administration and board members coming to spend a few days checking out what's going on with CSI JAMAICA. We also are praying that Marggy Hensley and Aaron and Melissa Black and children will be joining us as new staff on the 23rd. Please pray that their paperwork is ready on time... And that God's best is done.

The following Saturday (27th) we have a youth team from Georgianna UMC coming. Georgianna is the church that hosted our CSI Staff Retreat back in November and the home church for 2 of our CSI family members.

That's enough for now. Thank you all for continuing to pray for what God is doing here in Jamaica.

My God is so big, so strong and so mighty

There's nothing my God can not do!

Remember Your Witness

I thank my God, making mention of you always in my prayers, hearing of your love and faith which you have toward the Lord Jesus and toward all the saints, that the sharing of your faith may become effective by the acknowledgment of every good thing which is in you in Christ Jesus. For we have great joy and consolation in your love, because the hearts of the saints have been refreshed by you, brother. - Philemon 4-7 (NKJV)

Encouraging, uplifting words from Paul to his brother in Christ, Philemon. Here, Paul is encouraging Philemon to remember his faith, service and love of the Lord, as Paul is sending his run-away servant (and fellow brother in Christ), Onesimus, back to him. To remember and be mindful of his Christian witness as he receives him back into his house.

We may not have run-away servants in our lives, but we can take a lesson from Paul on how to respect and honor our fellow brothers and sisters. Paul is encouraging in his words. Many Christians are way too quick to be critical of other Christians who make mistakes, commit sins, and generally just screw up, instead of praying for them and encouraging them to seek the Lord's forgiveness. As Christians, why do we shoot our own wounded? Of all the different groups and religions in the world, the Church, the Body of Christ, should be the NUMBER ONE place to turn to in a time of trial, pain and need.

Use Paul's example. Love your brother and sister. Pray for them, encourage them, stand up for them, walk beside them. Whatever situation they may be in, they are still children of our Father and in need of His grace.

Besides... we never know when WE might be the ones in need of that same grace. We might be the ones in the "hot seat".

Yes, Another Blog Post

A month ago today (23rd) I arrived back on the mission field, and it has been a busy time here in Jamaica. There have been 4 teams in that time, 4 houses built, 1 VBS held, morning devotions at 10+ schools, work and painting done at the guesthouse, and other community outreach and house repairs done. What a wonderful ministry I am blessed to be a part of, and to see churches and individuals that are following God's call to fulfill the Great Commission.

The desire of my heart is to see churches become actively involved in local, state, national and world missions, to be mission minded, mission active, mission sending congregations. I pray that God allows me to help encourage those churches who serve with CSI to grow, and to continue on, in their missions programs. I have seen in the life of my home church how God can bless a congregation that surrenders to His call to minister through an active missions program and wish that all churches would receive a similar blessing.

Sadly, though, too many churches follow the lead of a pastor, elder, deacon, or other leader in the church who has no vision for anything other than their own agenda, instead of following the lead of the Holy Spirit. (Thank you Pastor Fred for following the vision the Lord placed in your heart so many years ago.)

It is way past time for the congregations across America to step outside the walls of their buildings and stop just GOING to church, but to start BEING the church we were called to be.

"Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit." Matt. 28:19

URGENT NEED:

Dear Family, Friends, and Ministry Partners,

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During the last year and a half I have had many people share with me that they are lifting me up in prayer as I serve our Lord on the mission field. I can’t begin to tell you how much it means to know I am covered each day by prayer from my prayer partners. It is these prayers that sustain me during those times when Satan is on the attack. But it takes not only prayer partners, but financial partners as well, to keep me on the mission field.

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As you all know I am 100% supporter-funded as a missionary with CSI, and in order to stay on the mission field I must rely on the generous giving of my brothers and sisters in Christ. When I first came to Jamaica my monthly support was not quite at 100% of my budget, but there was a need for staff on the field and, thanks to generous one-time gifts, my ministry account had a surplus balance. After arriving on the mission field, the hope was to occasionally pick up new support from mission team members, or even a church or two, as has happened historically for many missionaries. That has happened on a few occasions over the last year and a half, but not as was hoped.

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In recent months the monthly gifts that go into my ministry account have consistently been around $700 short of my monthly budget. Sometimes the amount is short by as much as $1000. As of the beginning of February my ministry account had a total of just over $4400. If the current giving trend continues I may not have enough funding to stay on the mission field through the busy summer season. And if an unexpected expense happens to arise I may be forced to head back to the States even sooner.

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I know that many of you who are (or have been) regular supporters were affected by the financial situation of the last couple years and have found that regular giving has been difficult , but I also know that God is Jehovah-jireh and will provide for my needs as well as yours.

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If you are not one of my regular, monthly ministry partners, and have considered joining with me, but have been waiting for the right time, then there is no time like the present. Join with me in making a difference for the Kingdom.

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Has the Lord blessed you in such a way that will allow you to provide a blessing? Maybe you received a work bonus or will be blessed with a tax return this year. Maybe you could help with a one-time gift of $50, $100, $500, $1000, or more. Any and all monthly support and one-time gifts are appreciated.

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Do you have a difficult time remembering to send your support in each month? Well CSI has an easy, automatic withdraw option that allows you to easily give each month without worrying about forgetting to write out that check. Just contact the CSI office in Muncie for details (765.286.0711). Also, the CSI website (http://www.csiministries.org/) has an easy, secure method of giving gifts electronically.

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Please join with me in prayer as I seek God’s provision through new, and renewed, financial ministry partners. Might YOU be one of the ones God has prepared and is calling to be a ministry partner through giving?
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Here is an example of how new financial partners can help meet my $700 monthly budget shortfall.
1 supporter at $700/month
2 supporters at $350/month
5 supporters at $140/month
10 supporters at $70/month
20 supporters at $35/month
50 supporters at $14/month
100 supporters at $7/month
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If, after a time of prayer, you feel God’s lead to become one of my financial partners, I only ask that you first give your regular tithe to God BEFORE you begin sending any support for me.
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Thank you in advance to everyone who will be joining me in prayer, as well as to everyone who will be joining me as a monthly financial ministry partner.

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Jamaica John
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“Carry each other's burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ." - Gal. 6:2

2K10

Well, the old year is over and a new year has begun. 2009 was a busy year for CSI Jamaica. Here is some info from 2K9:
- 22 teams
- 25 small houses
- 1 40X25 school room (2 team effort)
- 1 new school playground
- 1 school restroom
- 3 VBS
- 2 soccer camps
- 1 basketball camp
- multiple visits to local children's homes, schools, churches and the infirmary
- countless lives changed and relationships built
- new addition to the guesthouse (Host family apartment)
- property acquired
- and so much more

The Lord blessed CSI Jamaica in many ways in 2009 and I am thankful to have been a part of what He did last year. And, I am so looking forward to what He has in store for 2010. Our calendar is busy with teams coming down, we have new staff in the works who are preparing to join us on the mission field, and we are seeking God's direction and vision for the ministry of CSI in Jamaica. Changes in the way CSI operates in Jamaica are continuing. We as missionaries in Jamaica are asking for God's best to be done in 2010.

Happy New Year!!!