July 15, 2010
By Don Kramer, serving in Taiwan
“When you go to the United States, you will take your god with you.”
While passing by a friend’s home on the way to the office, I noticed another friend whom I hadn’t seen in a while drinking tea. I had just returned home from being away on business and really wanted to get back to my routine. But it was good that I stopped.
These two men, who have shown previous interest in spiritual matters, were there along with one man’s wife. In the course of the conversation, they began talking about my plans to leave Taiwan to take our sons back to the USA for college—and taking my God with me.
One man said he could see that God was with me. So, we immediately began a lively discussion of where God is. The men could not comprehend how God could be everywhere, unlike their gods, whom one must go to visit or carry around. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see the wife nod her head as if to say, “That makes more sense.”
Here, There, and Everywhere
We talked of how God was there with us, or out in the fields, and how we could talk with Him in the car, in the air, on a boat, in the USA, or anywhere in the world. It seemed unbelievable to them, but I trust the Lord to help them understand and long for such a God.
“Why would I want to trust in a limited god?” I insinuated. I told them they could trust God, too.
“But there are no feelings this way,” they said. I briefly agreed that feelings can be good and God sometimes gives us special feelings, but truth and reality are more important [than feelings]. Truth doesn’t change.
Please pray that the seeds of the gospel will grow, protected from Satan and the cares of this life—of which these people have many. May they see God for who He is rather than for what they hope to get from a god, and may they follow Him with all their hearts, souls, mind, and strength.
Pray that Rachel and I will always be ready to obey the promptings of the Holy Spirit, even when it doesn’t fit into our timing. I am glad that I did!
Learn More
Check out our work in Taiwan.
What You Can Do
Impact your world for Christ! Give to Alliance Great Commission Ministries and help support international workers like Don and Rachel Kramer.
By Alliance workers serving in marketplace ministries
Editor’s note: Alliance workers spent three months in a Middle Eastern country, where they unveiled the Alliance Marriage Encounter (ALMA) outreach. The couple has served in Latin America for more than two decades and has facilitated ministries that bring hope and healing to broken lives and marriages through Encounter outreaches. Inspired to follow God’s call into unfamiliar territory, the marketplace ministry couple found a people who are eager for God’s love.
We didn’t know their culture; we didn’t speak their language. They spoke English. We had met the team members just five short weeks ago. Would we be able to show the love we had for them?
We were a parachute drop-on site for three months to lead the logistics of the Alliance Marriage Encounter. The whole theme of ALMA is love. How could they see our love when we had just led the team of five couples through the grueling schedule of long meetings and late nights for the following six weeks of volunteer service?
During one meeting, they had even spoken out. “We must do it a different way,” they implored. Yet experience has taught us that each step is essential to accomplish the goal. Michael and Renee* and the other couples conversed in their native language as we ate our dinner that evening. There was so much nervous laughter. Were they totally overwhelmed? Would they continue with us to complete the preparations for the first ALMA seminar in the region in five weeks?
Divine Encounter
ALMA has been an instrument with which to pour extravagant love into the hearts of couples around the world, offering them hope for healing and reconciliation in their marriages. But can a ministry or program make it happen? Only as couples who have received this love turn to look fully at the Author of love and pour out their lives for others will the ripple effect move beyond the weekend experience into homes and families.
The power behind ALMA is the bended knees of couples, taking an hour together in prayer on behalf of other couples who are experiencing the love of a Marriage Encounter weekend. God is at work; the love of Jesus Christ goes forth as He touches hearts-at times through a sigh, a tear, or a laugh-and calls each heart to Himself, bringing new joy to a marriage.
God’s Team
God had a plan for Michael, who was raised in the majority religion, and Renee to be part of the support team. The evening of the first meeting, they were at the church listening to a Christian band when they received a call from a woman at the meeting saying, “Come now. There is a meeting for the Marriage Encounter.” The couple, who had experienced an ALMA weekend in 2009, agreed to go. We had already started the basic explanation when they arrived and explained the challenging commitment required of each participant to embrace the ALMA ministry over the following nine weeks. Everyone agreed, and the team was established.
Immediately after the meeting, Renee approached us and explained how they ended up in the meeting that day, and more miraculously, how her husband-an avid soccer fan-had just said, “Yes” to missing many soccer matches by participating on the ALMA support team. He always made it a top priority to watch soccer on Saturdays from early afternoon until about midnight. She couldn’t believe it! Michael then approached us and affirmed his decision to serve on the team, foregoing many soccer matches.
Individual team members had not had an opportunity previously to participate in a group setting, each one contributing his gift. They prayed for unity-to edify the whole and produce the fruit-the extravagant love. All rose to the challenge and served graciously.
Soon, donations arrived on a rainy evening and team members were excited to see that their hard work was beginning to pay off. When they visited the Catholic retreat center, where the event would be held, they began to visualize their guest couples arriving and the privacy of the center that would be ideal to serve the couples quietly in many diverse ways.
Unexpected Shake Up
Every member of the support team experienced great challenges in the weeks leading up the ALMA weekend. When we received the call 10 days before the Encounter that John*, our key in-country leader, had experienced a severe medical need that required heart surgery, we were shaken. In just a few short weeks, this brother who had become so dear to us had come within minutes of death.
Again, we sent out word requesting intensified prayer for the team in preparation for the ALMA weekend. Other team members discovered long-term embezzlement in their company, resulting in severe setbacks due to the loss, as well as several computer problems, including breakdowns in the middle of translating important text to be used during the weekend. It was uncertain whether they would even be able to take time off to work the Encounter.
God’s Sovereign Plan
Many miracles happened during the 48 hours of love-too many to list here. Couples truly engaged in sensitive conversations in the privacy of their bedrooms. One couple confided that this was the first time in 18 years of marriage they had talked intimately. Another expressed such joy; just by looking in their eyes-even though they spoke no English-their new love for their spouse of more than 40 years could not be held back.
Remarkably, after just 24 hours, the whole atmosphere of the Catholic retreat center had changed. The head nun said, “You must come back and have the Marriage Encounter three times a year.”
A woman of the majority religion who works at the center said, “When will you do this for my people? We desperately need something like this for our families!”
By the end of the weekend, nearly 10 nuns were lined up, requesting to enter the ALMA Thanksgiving service that was beginning in the chapel. They didn’t want to miss out on what was happening in the hearts of the couples who were experiencing God’s love. All the “shaking” from the trials prior to the event had produced the fruit of hearts transformed by extravagant love!
Each time Michael and Renee entered the logistical command room, they smiled broadly. They were energized to see what God was doing and had missed many hours of sleep that weekend so that the couples could experience God’s love. On the “Prayer Clock” poster, they wrote the names of more than 150 couples who had committed to pray for one hour slots during the weekend: couples from Brazil, Egypt, Indonesia, Chile, and the USA, as well as international workers from Africa upheld the ALMA weekend in prayer.
That night, though team members were exhausted, each member embraced us and thanked us repeatedly for the wonderful weekend. We knew that we had been able to show love to the support team, even though we had challenged them and stretched them to use their gifts as the Body of Christ. “Thank you for your encouragement for all of us,” said Renee, “and thank you for coming from so far away to help us and being willing to teach us. We love and respect you very much.
“We might have served the Lord a little, but surely God has served us abundantly this weekend. He served the families and His Church, His Body. His mercies endure forever on us. The joy Michael and I have is overwhelming. I am blessed to serve with my husband and to see him enjoying every single thing he did no matter how small.”
Amazing Grace
“With the team we were united, and love poured out in our hearts for every member. We got to know each other in a better way; we learned to love one another, appreciate one another’s gifts, and respect each other’s opinions. I think this is the real Body of Christ.”
At a church picnic just a week later, Michael and Renee, along with other couples of the support team, were praying and talking with excitement to see when they could schedule the next ALMA weekend; they hope very soon. They have been empowered to serve the Lord with joyful hearts.
Our hearts were heavy as we said good-bye. The embraces and tears were beyond formalities. Love was the language we communicated beyond cross-cultural barriers. We left a piece of our hearts in this beautiful country. So we were excited to receive an invitation to return in March 2011 to lead a second ALMA weekend. Once again, we are trusting in God’s sovereignty and for His provision, knowing that, through ALMA, the Lord is working in the lives of lost and hurting people.
*name changed
Learn More
Read about ALMA in Latin America
Check out Alliance work in Europe and the Middle East.
What You Can Do
Praise God for these opportunities to reach people in the Middle East with God’s truth. Pray that He will provide for the financial needs of marketplace ministries workers as they bring the light of Jesus into public settings. Also, pray that those who hear the message will trust in Christ.
Impact your world for Christ! Give to Alliance Great Commission Ministries and help support our international workers around the world.
July 13, 2010
By David Rebok, serving in Cambodia
On my way to work one day, I needed to carry two large boxes on my motorbike. This could be accomplished only by placing them between my knees and resting my chin on top of them. Yes, it was awkward.
As I was about to take off, I heard the delicate but authoritative voice of my four-year-old niece, Srei Poa, claim, “Jih ot gaet,” which, if translated word for word, means, “Ride not happen.”
I figured I knew more than she did about the finer points of negotiating a 90cc motorbike, boxes or no boxes, and proceeded to tell her just that. Her smile indicated that she wasn’t interested in my explanation, nor were the other 20 kids standing off to one side in anticipation of my impending failure to deliver said boxes without damage to cargo and driver.
Talk Is Cheap
While my instinct was to ask where this large, stern-faced audience had come from all of a sudden, I saved my oxygen. At the age of four, my niece was already fully aware that in her culture, talk is cheap. “Show, don’t tell” remains the rule of thumb in this country.
So, show them I did. I made it through the front gate and rounded the corner out to the street, with half of the neighborhood chasing at my heels with a victory cheer. So ended that brief but enlightening episode that could have taken place no other way in Cambodia—the Show-Me State of Southeast Asia.
Walking the Talk
Two minutes later, as I was stuck in the busiest intersection in Phnom Penh, it hit me that there was a lesson in that encounter with this culture. People in Southeast Asia aren’t going to believe anything they can’t see. This is especially true when something comes from outside their culture—like me, for instance.
Why should they believe anything I say unless I can back it up with reality?
People here are like people anywhere else. They have been hurt and they need love, purpose, and solutions. If we Christians can’t help others find those things, then everything we say is null and void.
Jesus Christ, our example of compassion, is looking for workers who will show compassion to others (Matthew 9:35-38). Verse 37 says that the harvest is plentiful. There is no shortage of people who are in great need of God’s love, and far be it from us to withhold it from them.
Learn More
Check out our work in Cambodia.
What You Can Do
Impact your world for Christ! Give to Alliance Great Commission Ministries and help support international workers like David Rebok.
July 8, 2010
By David and Evangeline Kindervater, serving in Japan
Nearly 400 Japanese sang God’s praises at the Hallelujah Gospel Family summer concert on June 19, 2010 in Kawaguchi, Japan. Choir members from around the country joined in singing the African-American spiritual song “Kumbaya.” Approximately 30 of the singers were from our Alliance Gospel Choir, which consists of three choral groups from Kawaguchi Alliance Church, Sengendai Alliance Church, and a community center in Laketown, where we hope to start a new C&MA church.
Rockin’ the House
Gospel artist Ray Sidney arranged the song for us with a strong gospel beat, accompanied only by giant Japanese drums. The hall, which seats 2,000, shook—literally—as the drums pounded and the singers called out, “Come by here, my Lord. Come by here! We need you—right now!” What an amazing testimony in a country with less than 1 percent believers.
In fact, probably 80 percent of these singers are not yet believers. But they are beginning to understand the gospel as they sing, and their hearts are becoming open to the love of Christ.
Ken and Bola Taylor of WorldVenture head up the Hallelujah Gospel Family concert series and do an incredible job. Evangeline and I were involved with directing four of the participating choirs. We praise God for such a wonderful outreach opportunity and pray for the salvation of each member of the choir.
Learn More
Check out Alliance work in Japan.
Read more about how this cutting-edge ministry is introducing Japanese people to Jesus.
What You Can Do
Impact your world for Christ! Give to Alliance Great Commission Ministries and help support international workers like David and Evangeline Kindervater.
July 6, 2010
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Thousands of high school students will descend on Louisville, Kentucky, July 6–11, to authentically experience the presence and power of God in a life-altering way. The LIFE 2010 conference, an Alliance youth event, will feature special speakers—including Francis Chan and former NFL player and Alliance pastor Derwin “Dewey” Gray—relevant seminars, concerts, an activities center, and more. The students also will participate in several community service projects, including a downtown clean-up and ministry at two homeless shelters. “It will be a week that the students will remember the rest of their lives,” said Jerry Mapstone, executive director for LIFE 2010.
The young people will be introduced to the Alliance Youth Project, which has the goal of raising more than $1 million for Alliance Great Commission Ministries. The project also is designed to engage the young people in making a lifetime connection to the “missionary heart” of the C&MA. Alliance international workers on home assignment will participate with the students at LIFE.
The theme for the conference is COLLIDE and will explore the question, “What happens when your world meets God’s world?”
“Our faith should be dynamic—it shouldn’t just be put up on a shelf and never used,” said Jason Ostrander, director for the C&MA’s Youth Disciplemaking Ministries. “Our faith should be interacting with the world around us and given a chance to grow. If we are truly living out our life of faith, then we’re bound to collide with the world around us. That’s why we chose COLLIDE.”
The Alliance is a fellowship of evangelical believers joined together in local churches, dedicated to fulfilling Christ’s command to make disciples of all nations. The Alliance has a thoroughly evangelical doctrinal statement and encourages believers from diverse backgrounds and theological traditions to unite to complete Christ’s Great Commission.
CONTACT:
Jerry Mapstone
The Christian and Missionary Alliance
717-490-4015
E-mail: mapstone2j@cmalliance.org
www.cmalliance.org
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July 2, 2010
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. – For the first time in more than a decade, The Christian and Missionary Alliance (C&MA) met and even exceeded its $37,500,000 budget with a projected surplus of $3.2 million at the close of the fiscal year.
Actual revenues exceeded $40,700,000, or 108.5 percent of the $37,500,000 fiscal year budget. These revenues included an extraordinary estate gift of $3 million. The C&MA Board of Directors voted to allocate the majority of this gift to future strategic ministry initiatives. Excluding this gift, revenues were 100.2 percent of budget.
The C&MA’s Great Commission Fund (GCF) not only supports current workers and their ministries but also enables The Alliance to establish new initiatives in parts of the world where there is little access to the gospel.
In addition to supporting C&MA ministries and field personnel allowances through the GCF, Alliance people gave $1.7 million toward Haiti earthquake relief efforts and, as of June 30, another $394,000 for the Great Commission Sunday offering to help “push back the darkness” in North and Central Asia. As a result of GCF giving, there were 24 U.S. new church plants in the 2009-2010 fiscal year through May 2010.
“Praise God for His grace and provision in the midst of America’s worst economic crisis since the Great Depression and for the sacrificial giving of the Alliance family,” said U.S. Alliance President Gary Benedict.
The Alliance is a fellowship of evangelical believers joined together in local churches, dedicated to fulfilling Christ’s command to make disciples of all nations. The Alliance has a thoroughly evangelical doctrinal statement and encourages believers from diverse backgrounds and theological traditions to unite to complete Christ’s Great Commission.
CONTACT:
Eddie Swanson
The Christian and Missionary Alliance
719-265-2072
E-mail: swansone@cmalliance.org
www.cmalliance.org
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