by Dan | Jun 25, 2012 | Devotional, Next Step
This is going to be an eventful week. Edinbrook has Vacation Bible School this week so Tina has been very busy getting ready for that, plus we just wrapped up our first in a series of “Garage Sales.” This time Tina had out a lot of Scrap-booking supplies and between Friday and Saturday we made just under $1,500!
Anyway, Tuesday we leave for Washington DC for the Converge Biannual Conference. Our main purpose is for our official commissioning service on Friday evening. But we will have several other opportunities while we are there. Art & Dorothy Helwig will be there so we will have an opportunity to spend more time with them learning more of what will be required of us when we arrive in Nigeria. We will rub shoulders and share where God is leading use with Converge church leaders from all over the country. Then after the conference we will be staying for 3 days of training in Missionary Partner Development. We will also be finishing up an interview with the “Point” magazine (this is the official Converge Magazine), be watching it looks like GECHAAN will be the feature story for the fall issue!
Please pray that we make valuable Church connections while we are there.
by Tina | Jun 19, 2012 | Devotional
Mark 2:13-14 tells us~ Once again Jesus went out beside the lake. A large crowd came to Him, and He bean to teach them. As He walked along, He saw Levi Son of Alphaeus sitting at the tax collector’s booth. “Follow me,” Jesus told him, and Levi got up and followed Him.
Today I am going to share with you the things that God has used in our lives to mold us and shape us to start this journey of being a “Missionary”. Why I use missionary with quotation marks is because I believe is we have a relationship with Christ we are already a missionary. We are mandated to share God’s love and the Redemption Story with all we meet. But, first that starts with relationship. We need to be different than the world around us. When people look at us, our goal is for them to see Jesus through us. Wherever we are, whatever we do. How do we show Jesus to each person we come in contact with? He tells us in the bible, “We are to be Salt and Light”.
After Dan and I were married, we started learning more about each other and each others families. We loved being married and we loved spending all the time we could together. The first thing I learned is consistency. The third Sunday we were married I said to Dan, “I’m not going to go to church today”. Dan said, “Are you really sick?”. I said, “No, I just don’t feel like it”. Well, I hate to admit it, but he spent a few Sundays during that first year dragging me to church. You see, my family went to church if they felt like it. Dans philosophy was, even in those first weeks, “our children will grow up to know that when church is open, we are there”.
After I got done with school and started working at about month number two of marriage I received my first paycheck and told Dan that I was going to go to “Leslie’s”( a high end clothing shop in our town) and buy some clothes. Dan said , “That money is for bills”. I said, “Your money is for bills, mine is for clothes”. Needless to say, I was convinced otherwise.
From the start, Dan has been the most consistent person I have ever known. Growing up, things were very random in our house. One day I would do something or say something and it was fine and the next day I got in trouble for it. I grew to be very inconsistent in my beliefs and practices. I, have now spent 30 years TRYING to be consistent in all I do. It is an on-going challenge, but I have to say, each day becomes a little easier.
I grew up with a lot of broken promises. There is One who does not break His promise to me. He has called me and He will equip me. He tells us this in His Word.
Enough for this stage of life.
The Point is, God brings people into your lives to help you. Your spouse is your number one help-meet. That means where I am weak, Dan is strong, and the opposite is true. We need to let the Lord show us what is right and what is true.
by Tina | Jun 14, 2012 | Devotional
As Jesus walked beside the Sea of Galilee, He saw Simon and his brother Andrew casting a net into the lake, for they were fishermen. “Come, Follow me,” Jesus said, “and I will make you fishers of men.” At once they left their nets and followed Him.
When He had gone a little farther, He saw James son of Zebedee and his brother John in a boat, preparing their nets. Without delay He called them, and they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired men and followed Him. Mark 1:14-20
Today I am just going to reminisce about God’s invitation to two farm kids, two little people on this great big world that God created.
He invites each of us to join Him. Is it a short sprint? Maybe for some. For most of us, it’s a daily walk, step by step, day by day, listening to our Father’s voice and morphing and changing our inner beings to reflect His glory.
Dan and I grew up in Rural Minnesota, with hard-working, patriotic, God-fearing parents who taught us that if we did good in school, worked hard, God would bless. That may not be what they intended to teach us, but that is what we got out of it. We met when I (Tina) was in Fifth Grade and Dan was in Eighth Grade. We were in the same Church Class and got to know each other at church. When we were 18 and 21 we married in that little church. Did God have a plan for those rural children way back in the 70’s? I believe He did.
We grew up in a wonderful little community church where we got to experience missionary conferences every year and knew missionaries as real people doing God’s work in another part of our World. As we get ready to go to the Biannual Meeting of Converge and be Commissioned to our denomination, I want to share how God has brought us to this point of our response to His Invitation.
My point for today is: We need to spiritually feed and nurture our children and bring them into the reality of what God is doing in this world and that with His help and guidance they can do anything THROUGH HIM and FOR HIM.
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