Last night was our last itineration service. We thought that we would only have a 10 min window to share and at the last minute the pastor asked us to preach. It was a great opportunity and we felt like our last service was one of our best.
This blog post was written a couple of months ago, here and there along the way. I wanted to post it before we arrived back to the DR. Just a couple more miracles to add to this digital miracle web log!
A few months ago, Nelson and I attended West Florida District Council. They gave each of the credentialed ministers a book, “Finding significance in insignificant places” by Randy Valimont. I could relate to that title. My mission field is little island in the Caribbean, my hometown is called Niceville, Florida. My home district is one of the smallest in our nation. All of this adds up to a pretty significant measure of insignificance!
Yet in all of our travels to places both significant and insignificant, we are blessed and inspired to hear the stories of miracles in the midst of obscurity. At the West Florida District Council, we found ourselves in the company of two these choice servants of God. Two pastors pastoring in what would seem to be the prize winner for the insignificant places award. They both have these amazing stories. It won’t be published in Newsweek or even the Pentecostal Evangel, (not exactly the most significant of magazines anyway!) But I wanted to make sure that their stories are told. Even if that means that only my boys will be the ones to read it!
I first met Ricky Teddar while he pastored in Appalachacola, FL. He faithfully pastored in this tiny church for several years. We were invited to preach at his church but a hurricane came through the Sunday that we scheduled our visit. HIs tiny church supported us $100 a month. I later found out that one of the members cleaned the church and the church paid her $100 a month. After seeing our video, she told the Pastor that she would clean the church for free if he would give the $100 that she usually received to our ministry. When Pastor Teddar told me I was so humbled that someone was sacrificing in such a big way for Jesus.
Recently Pastor Teddar took a new church that was struggling financially in our district. He said that the first thing he did in the midst of such economic difficulties was to have missions convention and recommit to their missionaries. Right away they saw God come through and stabilize the finances of the church. So the people began to plan to purchase a 23 passenger people mover bus. This was a big purchase, it would cost $57,000. Pastor Teddar decided that the first thing that they would do was give $5700 to Speed the Light. The young people got busy with fund raisers and in two weeks the Lord helped them to raise all of the $5700!! Everyone was excited!
But the next step was to raise the $20,000 down payment. The people sacrificed and gave and in just a matter of months they had the $20,000 down payment and were able to finance the rest of the $37,000. Just shortly after the bus was purchased a man in the community came by the church during a local outreach and he saw the bus. He found Pastor Teddar and began to ask him a lot of questions about the bus. Pastor Teddar thought his questioning was odd but other than that he didn’t give it much attention. Then just a couple days later he got a call from this man. The man asked him to come by his house. Pastor Teddar said it was a Wednesday night and extremely inconvenient for him but he made the time to visit this man anyway. That night the man wrote a check for $37,000. The bus was purchased free and clear! What a miracle. Now that’s significant!
Pastor Bo Sentirfitt is meek and mild mannered. He is so passionate about the Lord and his Global cause but you would never know it because of what he says, you know it because of what he does. I love his church because they are always serving their community. They bus kids in for Wednesday services, they feed the kids both supper and the Word of God. When the kids go back to school; the church does a huge outreach and gives out school supplies and backpacks. I believe that this is what a powerfully pentecostal church looks like.
His church is a very small church in the sticks of West Florida. But this year it was the number one missions giving church in the district. How did he surpass churches that are three times and more the size of his church? He got creative! The church bought a home and the people of the church donated time and supplies to renovate the home and then they sold it and made a SIGNIFICANT profit. So much for insignificance!
I don’t know if these guys have read the book, they wouldn’t need to. Obviously, they have found significance in insignificant places.
Thursday, August 14, 2008
Friday, August 01, 2008
Becoming a Fan
If you are into Facebook then you know about Fan pages. Basically you can join an internet page that makes you a fan of almost anything or anyone. Starbucks has a fan page that is really popular, and there is Hannah Montana, Switchfoot, and Elvis. Of course, all of your sports teams have a fan page. I joined the Tampa Bay Rays. You can be a fan of a church or an organization. Joel Osteen has a fan page and so does the Batman movie. My sixteen year old son just joined the C.S. Lewis fan page. (My kid is so cool!)
As we come to the end of our itineration, (itineration: a missionaries one year in their home country to visit people and places, raise money and say thank you) I have been thinking about all the places and people that we’ve met. We have met so many unknown amazing people. Their stories may never be told in any magazine and they may never have a fan page on Facebook but if they did; I would want to join.
Mark and Jan Hall-- They began their missionary career in Mozambique. They both speak three languages and now as they reach retirement age you would think that they would be slowing down, but instead they have begun a whole new ministry here in the states. They work in San Antonio with the foreign military that have come to the united states to study language. They are reaching the whole WORLD right there in San Antonio. Muslims and Arabs have come to faith through their ministry and the ministry of local church that they partner with. I was especially blessed to meet a Dominican marine officer that they have been bringing to church. He absolutely loves the church and God is doing a work in his life. Mark and Jan say all that they really do is love these men and women into the Kingdom. That is why I am a fan of Mark and Jan Hall.
Judy Clark -- Judy is a Pastors wife and has been serving Jesus alongside her husband for years but just a couple of years ago she felt the spirit of God tugging at her heart and preparing her for a new phase of ministry. She wasn’t sure and she wrestled with it trying to find direction for awhile. Then the Lord opened up a door for her to work as a chaplain. She works in the area of Family services and has the privilege to pray and counsel with women involved in domestic violence, children victimized by abuse and couples going through divorce. She told me that in a years time she had met with over 200 individuals and had led 138 of those people to the Lord. I admire her so much, I would join her fan page as well.
The Hodums-- This is a pastoral family that have been our friends for years, but this time I was able to see how God uses this family in a small rural community in such a significant way. Their kids go to public school and they take being a campus missionary very seriously. Their teenage son, Andrew made friends with a guy that was kind of an outsider at school without any friends. Andrew invited him to church and got him involved with music at church and band at school. It turns out that he was from a broken home, a very sad situation. This boy gave his life to Jesus and is a totally different kid. The Hodums love him as if he were one of their own. He practically lives at their house. This is just one story, there are other kids as well but it would take too long to tell every story. Because of all these stories, I am a fan of the Hodums.
Woody Woodruff-- Woody is a great friend & partner in ministry. He has been helping us with MAPS building teams that are doing work on our project. But before he became a missionary associate, he was a successful businessman with his own welding business. He’s a hard worker and his business kept him away from his family and away from God. All that changed one day when his little girl sat on his lap and asked him to spend just three hours a week with her. He knew that he needed to spend time with his kids so he agreed and then she asked that those three hours be spent with her at church on Wednesdays and Sundays. Well, God got a hold of his heart, and as a result, his business and money and worldly success didn’t seem so important anymore. He sold his business, his custom built home and downsized so that he could do full time missions work. Now he travels the world using his welding skills to build a children’s home in Jamaica, churches in Africa and a children’s ministry center in the Dominican Republic. We are BIG TIME fans of Woody Woodruff.
Mary Jane Neville-- If you know us you have heard Nelson talk about Mary Jane. Mary Jane was the lady who led Nelson to the Lord at the age of nine. She did this through a Good News Club in his neighborhood. A Good News club is basically a Sunday school lesson held in someone’s home once a week after school. Mary Jane prepared memory verse games, stories and songs and the God used her to sow the seeds of God’s worn on my husbands heart. One day she gave Nelson a Bible and she wrote a date inside the cover; November 9th, 1974. That was the day that Nelson gave his heart to Jesus. Today Mary Jane lives in an assisted care facility and she still sends us offerings for our ministry. If Mary Jane had Facebook fan page, Nelson would be the first to join. I would be second.
These are just a few of my fan pages. I could write so many more stories. Just like me, you could probably write stories about unknown amazing people. So here’s my challenge to my blogging buddies. Tell their stories!! Don’t you think that Hannah Montana and Starbucks have enough fans? Let’s be fans of the unknown amazing people in this world.
As we come to the end of our itineration, (itineration: a missionaries one year in their home country to visit people and places, raise money and say thank you) I have been thinking about all the places and people that we’ve met. We have met so many unknown amazing people. Their stories may never be told in any magazine and they may never have a fan page on Facebook but if they did; I would want to join.
Mark and Jan Hall-- They began their missionary career in Mozambique. They both speak three languages and now as they reach retirement age you would think that they would be slowing down, but instead they have begun a whole new ministry here in the states. They work in San Antonio with the foreign military that have come to the united states to study language. They are reaching the whole WORLD right there in San Antonio. Muslims and Arabs have come to faith through their ministry and the ministry of local church that they partner with. I was especially blessed to meet a Dominican marine officer that they have been bringing to church. He absolutely loves the church and God is doing a work in his life. Mark and Jan say all that they really do is love these men and women into the Kingdom. That is why I am a fan of Mark and Jan Hall.
Judy Clark -- Judy is a Pastors wife and has been serving Jesus alongside her husband for years but just a couple of years ago she felt the spirit of God tugging at her heart and preparing her for a new phase of ministry. She wasn’t sure and she wrestled with it trying to find direction for awhile. Then the Lord opened up a door for her to work as a chaplain. She works in the area of Family services and has the privilege to pray and counsel with women involved in domestic violence, children victimized by abuse and couples going through divorce. She told me that in a years time she had met with over 200 individuals and had led 138 of those people to the Lord. I admire her so much, I would join her fan page as well.
The Hodums-- This is a pastoral family that have been our friends for years, but this time I was able to see how God uses this family in a small rural community in such a significant way. Their kids go to public school and they take being a campus missionary very seriously. Their teenage son, Andrew made friends with a guy that was kind of an outsider at school without any friends. Andrew invited him to church and got him involved with music at church and band at school. It turns out that he was from a broken home, a very sad situation. This boy gave his life to Jesus and is a totally different kid. The Hodums love him as if he were one of their own. He practically lives at their house. This is just one story, there are other kids as well but it would take too long to tell every story. Because of all these stories, I am a fan of the Hodums.
Woody Woodruff-- Woody is a great friend & partner in ministry. He has been helping us with MAPS building teams that are doing work on our project. But before he became a missionary associate, he was a successful businessman with his own welding business. He’s a hard worker and his business kept him away from his family and away from God. All that changed one day when his little girl sat on his lap and asked him to spend just three hours a week with her. He knew that he needed to spend time with his kids so he agreed and then she asked that those three hours be spent with her at church on Wednesdays and Sundays. Well, God got a hold of his heart, and as a result, his business and money and worldly success didn’t seem so important anymore. He sold his business, his custom built home and downsized so that he could do full time missions work. Now he travels the world using his welding skills to build a children’s home in Jamaica, churches in Africa and a children’s ministry center in the Dominican Republic. We are BIG TIME fans of Woody Woodruff.
Mary Jane Neville-- If you know us you have heard Nelson talk about Mary Jane. Mary Jane was the lady who led Nelson to the Lord at the age of nine. She did this through a Good News Club in his neighborhood. A Good News club is basically a Sunday school lesson held in someone’s home once a week after school. Mary Jane prepared memory verse games, stories and songs and the God used her to sow the seeds of God’s worn on my husbands heart. One day she gave Nelson a Bible and she wrote a date inside the cover; November 9th, 1974. That was the day that Nelson gave his heart to Jesus. Today Mary Jane lives in an assisted care facility and she still sends us offerings for our ministry. If Mary Jane had Facebook fan page, Nelson would be the first to join. I would be second.
These are just a few of my fan pages. I could write so many more stories. Just like me, you could probably write stories about unknown amazing people. So here’s my challenge to my blogging buddies. Tell their stories!! Don’t you think that Hannah Montana and Starbucks have enough fans? Let’s be fans of the unknown amazing people in this world.
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