The plane that Jeff and Mike were on got diverted to Atlanta, and they ended up flying the last leg to Bogota on the same flight as everyone else !

They had a great time Saturday at the Jungle (the new label for The Other Way from the Big Foot project) with about 60 Kids.  

Sunday: They traveled across town (1 1/2 hours) to visit a lady (Mary) who runs a drop-in school in a Squatter's town (very poor area).   We are very interesting to the folks who are on the outskirts of the city, and are treated like movie stars - they reported having a great time.

The only bad news:  Leah was playing soccer and broke a toe (we think...) and after two days, Robyn ran out of soap and rags for the fish craft, so they had to buy more! Which is the right kind of problem to have !

Steve (the main missionary leader) had some heart issues last week, I spoke with him this morning, and the new medicine is working very well - he has more energy, is making jokes, and wanting to buy the supplies for my trip (next week) so that is a huge praise.

Keep them in your prayers!

I hope everyone is planning to come to the Missions Potluck tonight to have some updates and wonderful prayer time for our missionaries!

"Hello! Brothers and friends

At the beginning of 2010 we received a word that impacted us, about how God wants to work in our lives in this new year, starting with our hearts.

 1 Samuel 10:6 Then the spirit of God will come over you with power and you will prophesy with them, and your heart will be moved and changed into a new person.

How good it is to know that God still has plans for us, it brings hope and at the same time is totally unnerving that he still brings new things to our family and although I know that everything won't be easy, we have faith that God will not take us out of his hands and He will accomplish his purpose.

Ok, I will tell you a little of what we have been doing:

Something gratifying and that I am realizing this year, has to do with the area of education, I (Fernando) am serving full-time in the area of education of YWAM, there I am teaching Bible, values and philosophy to sixth, ninth, tenth, and eleventh grades, it has been an enriching experience or at least one that has taught me that education is one of the three elements that brings liberty to a nation.

Furthermore I have been commissioned to be a part of the Coexist Committee of the school, where i have been named chaplain, this has opened up the countryside to action well I am not just to make acquaintenances, but that they have given me the possibility to disciple youths and to work toward a process of accompanying more teachers. It is not easy, but oh well I have taken the challenge.

 In the month of March they will be starting a parenting school and we are looking forward to it since for this year it has grown to a new level. It has been welcomed by the parents and at this time I am coming up with the curriculum for this new level.

In January, seminars on the fundamentals of family were started, with a workshop of cursing and blessing, for this new year the goal is to bring those seminars to the different churches and so to have a better advantage. We have found God's favor since pastors from different congregations have been participating and have received the vision and now they want to extend the blessing to their churches, we are seeing the fruit and response of God after many years of prayer.

I want to take this opportunity to honor my wife who has been a great supporter in prayer and intercession so that I could accomplish all of this that has come my way, without her help and support I don't think it would have been possible.

She, this year, is supporting the Light and Life School in a practical way, she is creating the menu and at the same time she is the one that buys the ingredients for the week. She does the same thing as well for the School of Compassion that will be starting their classes soon, she and the team are expectant that it will be a school where there will be representation from different countries.

Furthermore she is helping with the accounting for Formando Vidas, taking care of some of the details to finalize the accounting for 2009. She seems content to me that what she is doing agrees with her, she is good at service and administration.

At the same time she continues helping the ministry of Faith and Hope, which Rubi Faride directs in the San Luis district, her responsibility is to take care of the accounting and to help with the administrative part.

Something that my wife takes care of with a lot of responsibility and passion is her calling to the family, I can see it in her dedication to our daughters and to me as her husband. The word is true when it says that the wise woman builds her home, that it is a blessing to see a woman, mother, and wife as dedicated to carrying out her calling.

Our daughters have started at a new school. Maria Camila is in eighth grade and Angie Daniela is in sixth grade in the Light to the Nations school.

As parents we are joyful to watch them grow, although nostalgic since they have changed, but they are not little kids any more, but have been acquiring maturity and now don't have as much dependence on us, I can see them assuming their duties and commitments with responsibility. How the time flies!

Johana this year has gone to live on her own, assuming new responsibilities and challenges. Initially we were worried, but now we are convinced that it is in God's timing for her and with that perspective we have let her go with a blessing.

She actually is continuing to study, something that she proposed doing and she is now doing it responsibly. To see her now in this new phase we can understand something of how much has changed in Johana's life.

As an interesting fact, Johana has been more intimate and confident and although she decided to go out on her own, she is part of our family and we love her.

Also as a family we are helping with the formation of a community (church) that counts on spiritual development of a church in England and where some missionaries have been sent to be pastors.

Writing this letter, I ask myself: how is it that we are able to do this?

Please help us pray for:

- Guidance and direction from God in every one of the responsibilities that we are taking on.

- For wisdom in the instruction of our daughters and Johana in this new phase of our lives.

- For the health of Daniela and Camila's eyes, because the miopia is not getting better.

- That God would continue to open avenues of financial provision and so would cover our costs and commitments.

- That God would send us a new anointing and refresh our current calling.

Finally we want to thank you for the support that we have had through your prayers and supportive thoughts that have been a great blessing to our family. With love,

Agudelo Terrios Family

Step into another realm and dream.

Children do this well.  They do not allow this finite world to inhibit their creative spirits.  Adults struggle.  As we grow up, we are trained to live in the tangible reality that surrounds us; thus letting go of our imaginations.  However, being created in the image of The Creator, we are given an incredible ability: to create creatively.  Our imagination facilitates the creation of beauty and brings color to life.  Without it, we are forced to merely exist rather than truly live.  Life is a gift.  Live well.  Partake in beauty.  Let the colors of your life be vibrant.  Embrace the gifts of imagination and creativity.  As you are inspired, inspire others.

I have been inspired; inspired to be me; my true self: to embrace all that God created me to be; to accept that I am created in His image and thus am capable of creating creatively in reverent service to Him. 

I say this to preface my vision statement.  This was not written hastily.  After weeks of reflection on the past and dreaming about the future, a vision was birthed.  It expresses what I believe my life is to be about; what I sense God desires for my life.  It was written as a photography metaphor, each piece weighted with significant meaning.  [Photography has become the primary medium I use for creating.]  As a result, it is not always clear to those who read it.  However, rather than writing several more pages to explain every piece, my hope is that you will ask your own questions and I can respond to you individually.  Here goes:

After taking the vow to maintain a healthy mind, body, and spirit, I place the camera strap around my neck and begin; my adventure awaits.  I see the world through a lens designed to enhance the colors of love and passion, truth and beauty.  I zoom in and focus on my soul’s deepest yearnings, perfectly placed for a God inspired purpose. This focal point is centered on people: a vibrant, authentic community that advocates for others, with others.  The vivid colors speak on behalf of those who cannot. The blurred, distant background allows for a life filled with dreaming and imagining. Seemingly insignificant shadows highlight the pieces of the image that would otherwise be overlooked.  I trust the camera to capture the image I see through the lens.  I press the button and in an instant the shutters open and close, taking the perfect picture. 

{The image attached below belongs with this statement.}

I have a little more than one month left here in South Africa(!) and it is going to be intense.  Please pray for me during this time of transition: saying goodbye to my beloved community here and re-entering the United States; and for guidance and wisdom for upcoming decisions. 

We are in the midst of engaging the final stage: the entrusting posture.  We are evaluating, empowering, and releasing people and ministries to God and others, preparing to transition well, and beginning to move confidently into what God has called us to.  The texts within the Bible of which we are focusing are the Epistles and the letters to the churches. 

I will try to follow up before I leave and give you some more concrete details, but if I am unable, my next update will be written after my long journey back “home”.    I have so much more I would like to share with you all but I will save it for another time.  God has changed me.  I am a new creation. And I am about to embark on something brand new.  More to come…

With love,

Adrienne

By all accounts it was an incredible trip, and since our church has adopted the Khmer people, it would be great for us to turn out in support and to see what is happening over there so that we can all be a part.

"As the name implies, the Perspectives course is about vision.  It’s the same vision which empowered Jesus to live His life with joy, hope ,and single-hearted passion.  This course explores that vision and will help you respond to Christ’s invitation to live for the same purpose and significance that He did, “I glorified You on earth, having accomplished the work that You gave me to do” (John 17:4).  Jesus’ life purpose was to bring about God‘s glory on earth.  Throughout His life, Jesus kept the vision of God’s greater glory before Him.  The vision of God’s glory focused His life choices and filled His daily affairs with immense significance.  Passion for God’s glory energized and integrated His life.  Life with purpose was so satisfying that He said, “My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me, and to accomplish His work”. (John 4:34)  as He set His life toward the hope of finishing God’s work, His life became a daily feast of purpose.  This course aims to help you live strategically toward that same hope.

"'Missions' is a loaded word for most Christians.  Many people are exposed to missions in the context of appeals for volunteers or funds.  Missions has often been reduced to a limited question of whether you will be a missionary or not.  Most Christians would admit that they don’t really know enough about what missions is to know what they would do or be if they were to aspire to be a missionary.  Even less clear is how someone can live for God’s global purpose without being a missionary.

"The point of this course is not to persuade you to become a missionary.  Neither is it to train you in skills you need to serve as a missionary.  The point of exposing you to many of the practicalities and challenges is to persuade you of the feasibility and to set you on a path of ongoing learning to play your part wisely and well.

"The primary idea is that God will fulfill His purposes.  The certainty that He will see it fulfilled makes His invitation to join Him in His mission a matter of heart-blazing hope.  We are not called to perform dull religious duties.  He is enlisting His followers to lead lives of huge significance.

"We are convinced that God has a world-sized role for every Christian in His global purpose.  Whether people go to distant countries or stay at home is a secondary issue.  The primary issue is what most people are hungry to discover : vision to live a life of purpose.  Discovering that vision makes this course valuable, and perhaps crucial, for any Christian."

Please let me know if there is anything on this list that you would like to help with, and I will be sure to connect you with the people at WID, or follow the contact instructions below.

Last year we had 30 girls come to this event. We need Godly women to come serve and build relationships for this night, as it is vital to our ministry. Most of the girls we meet at the Jr. High School will never come to our Wednesday night Bible Study...until they have gone to a girl's night! 

 This event starts at 5pm on Friday and goes until 9am on Saturday. The location is the women's missionary house at 2729 South Blvd, Dallas, TX. We will need help with purchasing drinks, food, and crafts. As it will be a slumber party, we will be tye-dying pillowcases. Also, we need volunteers to help oversee activities and help prepare food. Please contact Amanda Sherrill at asherrill@worldimpact.org if you are interested.

Every year we partner with Interfaith Ministries and provide an alternative to Halloween. With over 60 kids attending, we will need your help! Starting in the afternoon, we will have 3-4 different teams going on a scavenger hunt across DFW. After hours of fun, we come back to the World Impact Ministry Center for food, games, and fellowship. We will need help in the following areas:

• Donating food
• Decorating our ministry center and setting up tables with food
• Attending the scavenger hunt by being a team leader
• Preparing the scavenger hunt (contact Glen or Amanda A.S.A.P.)
• Preparing games

As this event is still in the preparation stages, please contact Amanda Sherrill at asherrill@worldimpact.org, or Glen Banks at gbanks@worldimpact.org if you are interested.

In order to raise funds for the ministry, we are having a garage sale at the women’s missionary house (2729 South Blvd, Dallas, TX 75215). Volunteers are needed to prepare and help oversee the garage sale. This would be a great event to get your small group involved in for a service project! The garage sale will run from 8am-1pm Saturday, November 7th. However, we will need assistance the day before in organizing, labeling, and moving items from the World Impact Ministry Center to the women’s missionary house. So if you cannot make it Saturday, please come anytime Friday to help! For more information, contact Amanda Sherrill at asherrill@worldimpact.org

Look out for the flyer coming soon! Every year WID partners with local churches to make Christmas shopping for the families in our community easier. Save the date, and keep a watch for more information in the upcoming weeks! Please contact Glen Banks at gbanks@worldimpact.org for more information. 

"But now finish doing it also, so that just as there was the readiness to desire it, so there may be also the completion of it by your ability. For if the readiness is present, it is acceptable according to what a person has, not according to what he does not have."

2 Corinthians 8:11-12

I’ve been on short-term mission trips before, and there are always lessons learned and experiences you take from them. For me, there were several experiences that I know will stay with me for a long time to come. One was seeing a perfect rainbow in the mist over the city of Bogota, a reminder to me that there is beauty in the world even in the most unexpected places. The streets of Bogota are often filled with trash, and the homeless are everywhere, living where they can and struggling to survive. Seeing the incredible poverty, I couldn’t help but compare it to the way we live here at home. We have clean streets, safe homes, and an abundance of food and possessions. We are so blessed, but I know that I was reminded that we must never take that for granted, or think that we somehow deserve the blessings God has given us. We are blessed so that we may bless others. I know that it is good for me to be reminded of that, and to keep a sense of perspective in my life and a sense of gratitude for all God has given me.

For me, the most memorable experiences in Bogota were when we got to meet the children. Each day we visited a different school, so we only got to spend an hour or two with most of the children, then say goodbye. I wasn’t sure what kind of impact we could have in such a short amount of time. However, what we got to represent was simply the love of God for those kids. We were there to smile and hug and show them that somebody cares. And they showed us the same. We helped them make a beaded cross necklace, with each color bead representing part of the salvation message. Hopefully these crosses will remind them of God’s love for them always. These children had so little, yet they were able to laugh and smile and show love. We, who have so much, should certainly be able to do the same.

Going to Colombia was an amazing experience, and I hope to be able to go back sometime soon.

Diana Drake

You are rich too.

For whatever reason, this has become a label that most of us, including myself, strongly dislike. We rarely, if ever, claim that we are indeed rich [in the economic sense], but we are. We have a tremendous and delicate responsibility to distribute these resources to those without, in a fashion that preserves people’s dignity.

The manner and attitude in which we contend for others speaks more than we may realize. It is far more complex than simply giving out a piece of bread. It is discovering a way in which the relationship can be symbiotic, where both parties can give and receive. Otherwise, despite our good intentions, the relationship becomes hierarchical: those who “have” are at the top, and those who “have not” are at the bottom. This is not how it is meant to be. “Love your neighbor as yourself” implies equality.

Upon acknowledging this responsibility, I often feel a deep, overwhelming sense of guilt. I go, I give, and I serve out of this sentiment. I have learned that living with this guilt mentality is destructive and frequently results in feelings of resentment, bitterness, burn out, etc. I must go and give and serve because that is my heart’s desire.

I believe we are created to use our desires for the cause of Christ and for other people. If we are not living out of these deep places of longing, then of course we will feel a degree of exhaustion. If we are created to function in one capacity but choose to live from something else, we are neglecting a fundamental piece of who we are and thus live a life unfulfilled.

When we begin living against our heart’s desires, we start to compartmentalize “ministry”. It is no longer our life, but simply a part. This has become a very common way to ease our consciences. As long as we are doing “ministry” a few times a week, we’re good. But no, we still aren’t living the life we were intended to live and if we are honest with ourselves, we still long for more.

During these next six weeks, the “imagining posture”, we will be looking even deeper into these issues: living out our responsibility with God, gaining a clear sense and pursuit of our personal calling, and exploring and innovating different ways to be communities of faith. We will read Acts and Revelation in the Bible and other notable texts, as always.

Please continue to pray that I would stay focused, particularly at this stage of the year. There have been a plethora of external issues vying for my attention (eg. I miss Ryan!). But I believe that especially now, during the climax of the year, I must remain attuned to God’s promptings.

Thank you, thank you, thank you.

With Love,

Adrienne

“Hospitality is Resistance.” (from a book we just finished titled, Making Room: Recovering Hospitality as a Christian Tradition, by Christine D. Pohl) This is Christian hospitality: one that welcomes “the least”, which recognizes their equal value, and respects their dignity; one that goes against the hospitality that invites only those with whom we are comfortable. If we are truly welcoming people we must, again, be present and invite in the fashion that Jesus did: sitting side-by-side, face-to-face, engaging in equal relationship with everyone, especially those whom the world labels as inferior. I do not mean to say that if you are not considered lesser then you cannot receive the fruits of someone else's hospitality. But I would like to challenge us to remember those for whom hospitality was originally intended. True hospitality was meant to be a manner in which to care for the marginal groups in society; not as a means of entertaining the elite. I highly recommend reading Making Room. It addresses all the practical barriers that typically inhibit most of us from really engaging in this kind of hospitality.

It is now the middle of the year.  Last week marked the completion of the “inviting posture”, where I began learning the fundamental importance of simply being present with people. Today is the beginning of the “Contending Posture” where w e will be identifying and confronting issues of injustice, contending for peace and wholeness in people’s lives, and pursuing holiness together. We will spend time studying the prophetic literature in the Bible and continue reading other texts with a focus on contending.

If you are able, please continue praying for me during these upcoming months. I have reached a time of the year when I am struggling to stay focused, resulting in a lack of motivation to continue seeking as I should.  

Thank you so much, for everything…

With Love,
Adrienne

You all have played an integral role in allowing me to be here and I want to include you on this journey in a more personal manner than I have in the past. You have given me a rare and beautiful gift: space and time to discover what it means to be attentive and listen with my heart.

The past six weeks (called the “listening posture”) have been a time of recognizing and learning to accept who God has created me to be; even in the ordinary: what I like and dislike, my fears and dreams, my strengths and weaknesses, my needs and interests, my natural inclinations, etc. I have done an incredible job of even deceiving myself about who I am. I believe that accepting my identity in Christ must happen in order for me to identify what I am meant to do and what God desires for my life.

Through this time of self-discovery, I am experiencing something new and exciting: freedom. When I remember that God fashioned me in His image, and I recognize myself as His daughter, whom He loves, I am free. God knows my innermost thoughts, and He created me to experience countless different emotions, each in a particular manner. Rather than negating the value of these, I am beginning to embrace them. The sense of guilt that often follows when I think or feel a certain way disappears when I acknowledge and include God in those thoughts and feelings. If He is welcomed into our mind and heart, we are free of condemnation. This is revolutionizing my life.

On a slightly different note, we are now entering into the “submerging posture”. This entails learning what it means to be more committed and submitted to one another, more connected with and actively serving our neighbors, and grasping the power of the incarnation. We will be focusing on the gospels in the Bible and reading some other texts as well. I will spend more time with a select few ministries in order to decide where to commit for the remainder of the year. Some include work with young girls who have experienced varying degrees of abuse, and working with an economically poor community to start a vegetable garden. The nutrients that vegetables provide are absolutely essential in the treatment of AIDS, which is rampant throughout Africa. The garden would allow for more people to have access to the essential nutrients their bodies need to stay alive.

With that, please pray that I would sense God’s leading in where I can best serve. There is also something of which I need prayer that I rarely reveal to people: I long to sense something that is undeniably from God. I constantly struggle with doubt and skepticism in this area. Although I am learning, I am easily bogged down with frustration for not being able to experience more of God in a personal way.

If you are interested in more detailed, weekly/daily updates and occasional photos, feel free to visit my blog: http://www.xanga.com/nom_AD_ic

Thank you for taking the time to read my updates. I don’t say it often enough but you all mean the world to me. And, if ever you are willing, I would love to know how you are doing as well.

With love,

Adrienne

"Some years ago, the record of a wonderful work of grace in connection with one of the stations of the China Inland Mission attracted a good deal of attention. Both the number and spiritual character of the converts had been far greater than at other stations where the consecration of the missionaries had been just as great as at the more fruitful place.
"This rich harvest of souls remained a mystery until Hudson Taylor on a visit to England discovered the secret. At the close of one of his addresses, a gentleman came forward to make his acquaintance. In the conversation that followed, Mr. Taylor was surprised at the accurate knowledge the man possessed concerning this China Inland Station. 'But how is it,' Mr. Taylor asked, 'that you are so conversant with the conditions of that work?'
"'Oh!' he replied, 'the missionary there and I are old college-mates. For years we have regularly corresponded. He sends me the names of enquirers and converts, and these I daily take to God in prayer.'
"At last the secret was found! A praying saint at home, praying definitely, praying daily, for specific cases among the heathen. That is the real intercessory missionary."

• The prayer and financial needs of the missionaries we support as a church
• Who we support as a church and what kind of work they are doing
• Opportunities within our own church to participate in missions, and specific information about those

I hope you'll check back often to see what the Lord is doing in the world with the help of First Church Carrollton!