Once again the time has come for Pastor Jose to lead a team from our Youth Group down to Peru. This is our favorite time of year as we see young people fully commit their lives to living and preaching the Gospel.
We will have more details coming up about the trip so stay tuned……..
Peru Team 2009
Dear Family,
One of our dear friends and family members is a missionary in Quepos, Costa Rica. He has an opportunity for a male, short term missionary to go down there to serve alongside him for a period of 2-3 months volunteering in a drug rehab center.
“Obviously they need to be believers in the Lord Jesus Christ.
They need to be self supported and we can help in finding a place for them to stay.
Spanish would be a plus but the men in the house have a bit of English to help.
We would love to have someone come along that is mature enough and knowledgeable enough to guide and train the men in the center.
This would be in Sept.-Oct. or even Nov.
This is a win/win situation for anyone needing to give someone further outlook at ministry and life and we would benefit greatly from their part in helping this ministry move forward.”
This is a great opportunity for someone wishing to serve the Lord full time for a short season. Calvary Chapel Kendall has sent a missions team to this ministry so we have seen first hand the great need that is there. If you’re interested, email us at missions@calvarykendall.com.
It is awesome to see how God has blessed the ministry here at the Bible College in Hungary. Not only does He continue to bless the work here through His Spirit and Word, but now the school has received international accreditation through the EU. Check out the story at the College website. www.ccbce.com/degree
A few weeks ago I had the opportunity to exchange some emails with a friend who has a passion for business and mission and is affiliated with a mission organization overseas. While starting off as more of a traditional missionary approach, in his 20 year career as a business consultant he has been apart of developing several businesses. During the past 3 years he has developed a very profitable business that allows him to fuse together faith + business. A few months ago he had the opportunity to speak about some of the invaluable lessons that he learned to some of the key mission agency leaders across the country. I asked him to share some of his thoughts. Here’s what he had to say…
1) God loves Business as Mission
• Doing business (organising people to work together & thus provide for their current & future material needs) is part of the call on God’s people.
• Over the centuries (e.g. Paul was a small business owner & not just a tentmaker) God has blessed organisations which have taken their business abroad & proclaimed His kingdom.
• God is putting in on the hearts of business owners world wide to use their resources for God’s glory.
2) Business as Mission is not just about starting a company in another country
• Starting a company in your home country has a success-rate of 1 in 10. Opening a branch in another country has a similar success rate. Starting a new company in another country does not increase the likelihood of success!
• Starting a company is complicated, time-consuming and requires more money than was forecast. Doing this in another country is rarely less-complicated, less time consuming and never more predicable!
• Effective cross-cultural business takes an existing effective business in one country and adapts it to a new country. Rarely do people who try to re-invent the wheel, succeed in doing something beautiful.
3) Business as Mission is not a way to get more money or more time to do mission
• Running a business is time-consuming so if your workers want more free time don’t get them to run their own company. Being in charge means that they don’t have anyone else to shift the responsibility onto!
• Businesses require money to run. If raising support of US$40,000 a year was hard, why will it be easier to raise at least US$200,000 to open a business in a dangerous country?
4) Business as Mission is vital for communicating the gospel
• The gospel impacts individuals, families and communities. It impacts them physically as well as spiritually.
• Communities need to see the gospel implemented not only in individual lives and in families but also in other social environments.
• After the family, the most common social grouping is business.
5) Business as Mission is not the job of charities
• The type of person with experience to run a business do not often join a mission agency in the way that, say, a teacher or doctor does.
• Charities (and people with a charitable background) have difficulty managing for-profit organisations because of the difference in organisational culture.
• Charities cannot simply own for-profit organisations without risking their charitable status (since the charter for each charity rare permits them to establish or run such businesses).
• The authorities in the US (& elsewhere) are concerned with money-laundering of charitable funds. Moving money to another country to pay money to a business (either for salaries or equipment) with no legal relationship to the charity is likely to be construed as money laundering!
6) Mission agencies have key roles to play in Business as Mission
• Business as Mission people may not join mission agencies in the same way but that does not make them lone rangers. They value professional experience (including in missions) & they expect to work in partnership with the rest of the church.
• Business as Mission people need advice & guidance to how to do mission appropriately. Mission agencies can work with the business leaders to form their Business as Mission strategies & to provide ongoing insight.
• Agencies can specifically encourage certain types of business to enter their fields so that it is easier for other Business as Mission people to enter. For example, if there are experienced sympathetic consultants on the field then it is easier for other Business as Mission people to assess how to enter that market.
• Agencies can fund research into market opportunities to attract Business as Mission people onto their field.
• Agencies can take advantage of effective Business as Mission people by providing them with competent tentmakers with a strong BAM ethic.
7) Mission will look different after this latest Business as Mission wave
• Mission agencies are likely to need to work with Business as Mission people as peers not employees. This means that some agencies will tend towards becoming service providers rather than employers of missionaries.
• Mission will be seen as something done by the inter-dependent church not merely by local congregations sending their members to work for mission agencies.
• If a business leader came to you today, how would you explain what you can do to make the business more eternally effective? How would you relate to that Business as Mission person? How would you enable the Business as Mission person to pay for the services? What happens if that BAMer is from Africa or Asia?
• If a business leader wanted help to do what you do on your field, would they be able to find you at all today? (Business as Mission owner are typically too busy to attend mission conferences so how do they get to hear about you?)
posted by Justin Forman | www.businessasmissionnetwork.com
After his conversion, one Lebanese Muslim lost all of his teaching and professional privileges and eventually was murdered. Other professionals, who had grown accustomed to some degree of esteem, are set back by the disdain they experience as a result of choosing to follow Christ. “Traumatizing” was how an observer described one Arab North African’s experience of being arrested, interrogated and held by police for two days.
For those who have been subject to persecution on the basis of their ethnicity, the persecution for their new-found faith comes as less of a surprise and actually serves to confirm their decision to leave their former faith. The North African who found Christians to be the only non-racist people he knew was intimately acquainted with severe persecution. His brother and several close friends have been murdered.
A West African man had his house burned and he was chased by people who were attempting to kill him and his family.
A fisherman from the Philippines expressed an increase in persecution, with people stealing his boat, cutting his nets and tormenting his children. Yet, an observer notes, “he is not shaken.”
This steadfastness in the face of persecution illustrates, at least in part, the role that persecution has played. If it does not actually spur numerical growth, it certainly seems to spur the growth of the soul, creating, so to speak, bigger Christians as a result of difficult, even horrendous treatment by the majority Muslim community. In the face of persecution, the comfort of scripture has provided profound help in time of need. One Javanese brother found courage to face persecution in Matthew 5:11: “Blessed are you when they revile and persecute you, and say all kinds of evil against you falsely for My sake.” The teaching of Christ reoriented his perspective and he began instead to consider it a blessing. He noted that it was the exposition of Matthew 5:11 at a church service that was instrumental in his coming to Christ.
An Egyptian believer received similar comfort from scripture when he was being spit on and suffering death threats. The taunters told his younger brother he was an infidel. Yet, when he read the Gospels, he felt the love of God, sensing the presence of Jesus. A contrast to the Qur’an, he found the Gospels powerful and satisfying.
In this relatively brief look at what God is doing in a very large cross-section of humanity, we see His heart being conveyed in dramatic ways. Christ’s hand is extended to Muslims in a way no less sincere than His hand has been extended to you. We don’t appreciate being known for our worst manifestations. Muslims, too, ought to be given the benefit of the doubt. Many are seeking to follow God as best they understand Him. Sincerity may not be the measuring rod for truth, but sincerity of heart is a critical foundation for a life of saving faith in Christ.
Dreams and visions may have been used by God in part because there is a dearth of flesh-and-blood witnesses for Christ willing to articulate and demonstrate the power of the Gospel in person. If nothing else, the preceding testimonies of these witnesses for Christ show that God is at work. Apparently, when Muslims do have an opportunity to see the love of Christ revealed in all its fullness, they are finding a life with Christ quite compelling.
Believers in the Messiah, Jesus, have many beliefs and values in common with Muslims, not only concerning faith-related issues but also moral values. People from both faith communities agree that our world has become a dangerous place. Believers in Jesus and Muslims can both be in agreement concerning the following text in 2 Timothy 3:2-5:
“… Men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, unloving, unforgiving, slanderers, without self-control, brutal, despisers of good, traitors, headstrong, haughty, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God.”
Believers in the Messiah and Muslims share similar common values for daily living: faithfulness (to God and in relationships), honesty, compassion, honour, humility, chastity, self-sacrifice, mercy and love.
Muslims and Christians believe that there is one God, but are we worshiping the same God in word and deed? One might also ask: In a time when many people think that all roads and all religions lead to the one true God, why should one pray for Muslims to come to salvation? Does it make any difference? Are they not already accepted by God?
Certainly Muslims are loved by God. Without doing anything they are loved by Him. God counts Muslim children and adults as precious. He loves every aspect of their languages, food, attitudes and daily life which are truly good and right. However, this does not mean that Muslims have entered into eternal life or have had their sins forgiven.
Muslims are not inspired by the hope of a new world in which Jesus, the crucified and risen Messiah, reigns as King. Most Muslims have actually been trained not to believe that Jesus died and rose again. In general they know little of His forgiveness. They believe that Jesus was a prophet sent from God but they generally never think of Him as God’s appointed King who reigns over the nations (Mt 28:18-20). It is precisely “believing the Gospel of the Kingdom” which is a problem. Like all people everywhere and in all cultures, Muslims are called to turn from evil and believe the Gospel of the Kingdom. Most Muslims around the world have not even had an opportunity to hear the Good News of Jesus’ death for sins and His resurrection, which liberates us from the power of sin, death and demonic bondage.
For various reasons which will be discussed later in this prayer guide, Muslims do not believe that Jesus is the Son of God. Believers in the Messiah are always rejoicing that “God has sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him. In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the atoning sacrifice for our sins” (1 John 4:9-10).
Jesus has come so that we can have life and have it in abundance (John 10:10). Therefore let us pray for Muslims so they can enter into that life in the Messiah’s eternal kingdom.
There are some ministry opportunities we have available in the Middle East. We are looking for a few good men (and women) that are available
for 2-3 months in order to spread the gospel in an Islamic country. This ministry is primarily building relationships with Arabs over tea with the hope of seeing them give their lives to Jesus. There are also opportunities to help with church administration and other ministries. The cost is reasonable, the work is spiritual, and the rewards are eternal.
Recently, we had a member of our church take us up on this offer. Soon, she’ll be leaving the comforts of Miami and will be serving in an undisclosed location in the Middle East, pray for her.
Would you like to follow up on the work that she’ll be doing? Email me at missions@calvarykendall.com
Would you like to influence history? Would you like to do something big in Jesus’ name? Check out this organization and the opportunities that they have.
Last Saturday was another blessed day at the CRNH outreach! Ann Marie dressed up in beautiful 50’s attire and sung songs from the 1940’s and up. The elderly residents responded to her beautiful voice and her selection of popular show tunes. What a blessing! Kitty and Nancy gave their wonderful hand massages and manicures to the residents while spreading God’s love through hugs/encouragement. Mark prayed (and read the Bible) for several of them who were in need of special prayer. I woke up with pink eye (conjunctivitis) that morning so I could not touch/hug the residents and minister to them as usual, but I was able to at least talk to them. Thank you for all your continued prayers on behalf of this outreach, as it is definitely growing (glory be to God). I pray that next month will bring even more volunteers out to join all those who have dedicated themselves to serving in this blessed outreach.
The next CRNH outreach will take place on Saturday, June 27th. CRNH has us down for 2:30 pm, so we can definitely begin then (till 4:30 pm when they start wheeling them out of the rec room for dinner in the dining hall at 5 pm). I believe that it’s Paola will be performing (as her and husband Jorge take turns and Jorge did the April outreach musical performance). We will also be visiting the residents this month on Saturday, June 20th. Fiorella will be joining me on June 20th (at around 1-2 pm) as we hand out Father’s Day cards and sugar-free candies/cookies to the residents at CRNH. If you’d like to join us, please e-mail me at phoenixfath@yahoo.com
God bless you all and please keep the CRNH outreach in your prayers. Please e-mail me if you have any questions/suggestions/comments!
In Christ,
Minerva
Thank you to everyone who signed up for the mission trips this year. Jesus Christ will be exalted as we serve Him in Miami and throughout the world. There’s still much to do. Just because you can’t go on the mission trip doesn’t mean that you can’t be part of the team. There are many “behind the scenes” activities that go into planning and executing a successful missions trip. If you would like to act as “home base” for one of our teams this year then please email us at missions@calvarykendall.com to find out how you can get involved.
