January 2008

Pack Your Purse with PERSEVERANCE

Feature: "Whine and Cheese Party"
This is a fun event that can also be used as an outreach opportunity. Send out invitations that read, "Join us for a Whine and Cheese Party. Bring a box of crackers, some cheese, and a friend". Prepare a food table with fancy toothpicks, decorative plates, napkins, and beverages. Set up small tables that seat 6-8 people to encourage small group interaction. Games: Have some fun by asking if anyone knows if cheese is mentioned in the Bible (see I Sam. 17:8, 2 Sam. 17:27-29, Job 10:8-11). If you want to be really silly, have everyone sing "On Top of Spaghetti, all covered with cheese..." in their whiniest voices! Give each small group a sheet of chart paper and ask them to come up with a list of the Top Ten Things Women Whine About, and then have a representative from the group share with everyone. Tape them on the wall and compare them. Transition Time: Read Philippians 2:14 ("Do everything without complaining or arguing") and I Thess. 5:11 ("Therefore encourage one another..."). Discuss examples of Biblical characters that encouraged one another to persevere in the face of difficulty, such as Moses, Aaron and Hur (Ex. 17), Ruth and Naomi (Ruth 1), and Barnabas supporting Saul (Acts 9) and John Mark (Acts 15). Close with Gal. 6:9-10: "Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers."

Outreach Idea:
Contact your local elementary school and ask if you can volunteer. Many schools need adults to read to younger children and/or tutor students in reading and math. If you can't volunteer in the school, ask if you can treat the staff to a coffee break one day.

Prayer Tip:
1 Chronicles 5: 18 - 20
"The Reuebenites, the Gadites and the half tribe of Manassah had 44,760 men ready for military service - able bodied men who could handle the shield and sword, who could use a bow, and who were trained for battle. They waged war against the Hagrites, Jetur, Naphish and Nodab. They were helped in fighting them, and God handed the Hagrites and all their allies over to them, because they cried out to him during the battle. He answered their prayers, because they trusted in him."

Today there are many who do not know Jesus as their Savior, and many others who do not even know of His provision. The task seems impossible, but when we place our trust in the living God, the impossible is possible. Pray! Trust Him!

Discipleship Thought:
As disciples, we do not live by sight but by faith. Jesus said, "I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father" (John 14:12).

Good to Go in Mexico

"Food for the Soul"

By Shirley Haworth
Ten years ago we arrived in the second largest city in Mexico, Guadalajara, as Alliance Missionaries. Guadalajara has approximately 8 million people from both extreme ends of the spectrum living in it. There are the poor, living in horrible conditions of garbage heaps as their dining tables, and cardboard boxes as their houses where huge cockroaches are their constant companions, to the very wealthy who boast of owning many toys such Hummers, Ferraris, yachts, enormous houses in various parts of the Country and do extensive traveling to every part of the world imaginable.

This is our City and our life, the people whom we were called to serve and to reach. With only 3% of the middle class population as evangelical Christians, we have lots of church planting left to do here for years to come. The good news is that in ten years time, the amount of Christians has doubled as other denominations have entered to help reach the lost and the Lord has moved among us. The people of Guadalajara are open and ready for a real and thriving per-sonal relationship with Christ, as they find their traditional religion to be superficial and leaving them empty inside.

Take my new friend Anita, for example. It was late morning, the traffic and the hub-pub of the big city were in full swing and I was waiting at a table by myself in a local restaurant praying and looking up scripture. I had received a disturbing phone call out of the blue from a desperate lady with whom I had only a brief encounter prior to this morning. She had told me over the phone some horrendous things that she had done, spending 73 years filling her life with any and every kind of worldly pleasure that she could find. She had been avoiding God; although she had talked with various Priests, psychologists, sexologists, Dr.'s, and had tried all kinds of meditation, yoga and any kind of self-help she could get her hands on to help ease the yawning torment in her soul. Humanly speaking, I was nervous. I knew very well my short-comings and could have said that she was way out of my league, but I knew that God had put her in my path for a reason and I was filled with His peace. She was a half-hour late (normal in our culture) and when she finally arrived, she made quite a scene as she is quite a flamboyant dresser and a loud talker.

Normally in our culture, the greetings take up a good bit of time, but Ana Maria was really hungry and ready to "eat"! So after smiling and kissing me on the cheek, she sits down close to me, gets right in my face and says, "Now tell me what I need to do to be saved!" I was so taken aback at her abruptness and since it was 11:30 a.m., I sheepishly said, "Don't you want to look over the menu first and we can talk while they prepare the food?" She says to me, "Yes, I'm hungry, but my soul is even hungrier still", and so I began to explain how God loves and accepts her just as she is, that we don't have to clean up before we take a bath, that when we come to Jesus with a repentant heart that He does the spring-cleaning and forgives us and makes us new. She agreed each step of the way, she read out loud each verse I had picked out for her, sometimes stopping to wipe the tears as they were blocking her vision. Each time the poor bewildered waiter came by to check on us to see if we wanted to order yet, she shooed him away! She would say to him, and to me, with great determination and resolve, "Yes I will order when I am ready, but I just can't eat until I do this". Various times she would say "This is more important and my soul needs this food more than my stomach does!"

Within about 40 minutes, Ana Maria was at the feet of Jesus, the Bread of Life, looking to be filled and satisfied by Him and Him alone. When we were done praying, she lifted up her head and with a satisfied grin on her face, she declared "Now we can eat! And by the way, how are your children?"

Well needless to say, it was an experience like no other, even after 10 years of being a missionary. It has been a tough climb out of the pit that Ana Maria had dug for herself, but she is taking life one day at a time with God. Ana Maria recently accompanied me to a Women's Encounter where she solidified her faith and saw that she has many sisters in Christ and many new friends whom share some of the same struggles that she has. Little by little, she has begun to see some changes in her home, where some of her children, grandchildren and even great grandchildren, live. Just when she thought that they would reject her and that none of them would believe that this change in her heart would stick, to our surprise, she showed up at my Woman's Class with a younger sister and a granddaughter by marriage. To our further surprise, Monica (the granddaughter by marriage) took the initiative and not only came with her Grandma, but had picked her up bright and early to get to class on time! God is on the move in this family as they begin to crack open the doors to their hearts. Let's pray that God continues to use us and Ana in their lives so that all of them find Him as their soul satisfying Bread of Life!!