Month: February 2022

February 28, 2022 The Homeschool Ministry

The Homeschool Group has continued to meet weekly over these past winter months for a time of shared work and fitness.  In November and December, we spent our group time practicing lines and songs for the Christmas Program.  The kids put in a lot of hard work and had a blast performing!  In addition, we also were able to have a movie night with Kindred in the coffeehouse watching The Voyage of the Dawn Treader. 

Throughout January and February, we went back to rotating between drawing lessons and book reading.  While the younger children learn about Christian men and women in history, the older ones take turns reading The Hobbit together.  As for the drawing lessons, we are going through a workbook and video series with Thomas Kinkade.    We’ve had a lot of fun ice skating and sledding together after the drawing lessons and reading. 

In February, we were fortunate have Matt teach us a lesson on human anatomy, particularly, about the heart and brain.  In March, we are headed to the cities to visit the Emergency Medical Program where Tavis works.  We are also looking forward to a Creation Science Lesson with Laura soon. 

February 24, 2022 Shofar Missions Cebu

Read what is happening with Shofar Mission in Cebu City.

One Saturday morning in late January, we woke up to emails letting us know the Philippines was planning to open to Foreign Tourists on February 11, 2022. March 13, 2022, will mark two full years since our last “normal” Street Level meeting, did an outreach on a university campus, or taught a science lesson in a classroom. Currently, universities and schools are like ghost towns with many staff still working from home due to requirements of social distancing, plastic barriers, etc. that remain in effect. Check out some photos from the heat of COVID and what ministry was like before:

The Best of Times and the Worst of Times

The last two and a half years have taught us a lot. It has been said that the Philippines has had the hardest, strictest, and longest COVID lockdowns. There were many times that left us trusting God – for example, when the city announced all Quarantine Passes were invalid. They issued new ones, but the idea was to issue less of them. These were required to leave our house to access goods and services. December 16, 2021, and the weeks after were another big test as Super Typhoon Odette approached our island. As Cebu City was raised to Alert 4, we prepared to move to the innermost room of our house with what we needed to be safe. The typhoon left severe damage, including no water or electricity for weeks (months for some people).

Street Level Ministries

During these times, we have continued to see the hand of God at work. Even though all classes remain online and students need a valid reason to visit campus. We have met several students recently through Facebook promotions that have been interested in SLM. We got to play Dutch Blitz and eat pizza with a couple of them last Sunday. In January, Street Level Ministries started meeting every fourth Friday of the month in Toledo City. We have also been hosting Street Level Radio live broadcasts weekly, and recently added a couple of songs written and produced by Capstone Generation Church to the station. Our latest edition of Word On the Street Magazine has been released digitally, with print copies coming next week.

Exploring Creation Science

All of the schools in this ministry are connected to one or more local church. This has allowed for some face-to-face interaction with students. We have been able to teach Sunday School for both the children and youth at the Inayawan Church of the Nazarene. We continue providing Explore Booklets, a USB with the lesson videos, and will teach a science lesson during kids’ church at the Universal Church of Christ Church & School in Toledo. These face-to-face opportunities have given us a chance to hand out fliers promoting the online Exploring Creation Science lessons. We have also continued to provide online lessons and Explore Booklets for students. Lessons online continue with the Nazarene school in Banawa.

Prayer Requests:

  1. Please pray for all of the students and staff we have been able to meet and minister to – that their love for Jesus would grow and that they’d be bold witnesses in their communities.
  2. Pray for the local churches we have recently been able to connect with more, including: Inayawan Church of the Nazarene, Capstone Generation Church, Universal Church of Christ in Toledo, and the Toledo Alliance Church.
  3. Pray for preparations as we get ready for Pastor Tim and Sharon to arrive, and us to depart for a short visit to the USA.
February 19, 2022 River Falls Ministry

It’s been a fun month with the University of Wisconsin River Falls students back on campus. Keep reading to find out what we have been up to.

Street Level

The first week that the UW River Falls students were back, Street Level packed into a 15 passenger van and headed over to Menomonie. We met up with Street Level Menomonie and Street Level Twin Ports for fellowship and a good old-fashioned game of Broomball. That Friday evening we hung out at the Street Level house, met and learn about a missionary from India that grew up in Hayward, WI, and woke up the next day to join the Broomball tournament.

On Monday nights back in River Falls, we have continued through the Alpha video series that we started last semester. We spent a few weeks learning what it looks like to hear from God. This can be a challenging topic for people, so it was good to be able to spend a few weeks discussing it.

Radio

We started bringing a bigger Burning Dog Radio presence to the university this semester. So far this month, we brought the radio booth down to campus twice. The radio booth was set up outside the cafeteria on campus for a live broadcast. Some of the Street Level students had the opportunity to join us for part of it as well as a few people from Menomonie.

Coffeehouse

At the end of January, the coffeehouse set up a booth at the Taste of River Falls. It was a fun opportunity to engage with the community. There were about 50 other businesses that attended. We gave away coffeehouse coupons, sold cold brew and hot coffee.

The coffeehouse also started a limited-time drink special that is only on Thursday evenings. We are serving Iced Caramel Frappes. And yes, we know it is the middle of winter.

Campus Church

Believers campus church is now meeting again on campus with the University being back open for school. We are meeting in the Trimbelle River room and continuing through the book of John.

PRAYER REQUESTS

  • For people to desire take the next step into service
  • To continue to meet new students and community members

FURTHER INFORMATION

February 13, 2022 Believers Church Duluth

Winter is wonderful as evidenced by the many delightful opportunities God has brought our way over the past handful of weeks.

Fellowship

There have been impromptu gatherings of assorted folks from our fellowship where we got to enjoy the things our Creator and the local and neighboring communities teamed up to offer. Earlier last month, a small group went ice skating at the Bayfront ice rink and ended up playing a rousing game of hockey.  The following Sunday after church a few went together for a free self-guided tour of Glensheen.  Some members were at a missions meeting and came over to catch the tail end, then we all went to VIP pizza for dinner to finish the day.  OneLife recently invited the Duluth couples to join them and the homeschool group to go snow tubing in Wheeler, which was a blast – what a beautiful place to enjoy the outdoors with great friends!

One Life Tubing

Street Level

Street Level Superior recently had the opportunity to travel to Menomonie and join the other campuses for a missions presentation and Broomball on a warm(ish) January weekend.  A YWAM missionary shared her experiences of work in various Asian nations and the path God took her on to get there.  The next day, only minor injuries were sustained as everyone came together for a mighty clash on the ice with an activity best reserved for the young – broomball.  I’m pretty sure they had a good time based on the stories told the next day. Street Level also partnered with a local Christian high school to fold and staple the next issue of Word on the Street right on the UWS campus.

  • WOTS Folding & Stapling
  • Street Level Broomball

Outreaches

Who knew the Zoo could be such a valuable place for outreach?  The Community Group got the opportunity once again to set up a booth at Duluth Zoo during their Winter Wonderland event.  It was a bit quiet as the temperatures were scarce, but this provided a great opportunity to meet local families and even get to know the always-helpful Zoo staff!  We also had a nice time chumming with each other and the neighboring monkeys.

Despite generally high covid cases in the area, God paved the way for us to visit a local nursing home and teach Bible studies on a few Sunday afternoons.  The Community group is on rotation for this every other week with different volunteers leading and assisting.  It’s a privilege to see people we would otherwise possibly never meet, to share God’s word with them, encourage them in their faith, and help them get to know Jesus better.

Zoo Outreach

Teaching, Videos & Discussion

In light of the current overall push to “distance” and “isolate,” a string of Monday night classes was particularly helpful.  The first three Mondays in January, we went through a book called “Evangelism as Exiles” by Elliot Clark. This dovetailed with our recent trek through 1 Peter well, as the book draws heavily from this text.  The author challenges us to consider carefully our motivation and approach to sharing Christ with those around us and increase our awareness of what really holds us back.  It might be the opposite of what we tend to think.  This is an excellent read, and we only covered the first three chapters.  Pray that God would use it to shape the way we think and how we act around our fellow humans.

On Sundays, we’re continuing through the last chapters of Romans and considering how our strength and freedoms in Christ intersect with our fellow believer’s sensitive consciences and weakness.  On various Wednesdays we’ve been gathering in small (or micro) groups to review and discuss the sermon from Sunday.  This is immensely helpful in re-orienting our brains toward what the Holy Spirit has to say to us and see clearly how these truths impact our lives.

We hadn’t been in it for a while as we took a break to go through 1st and 2nd Peter, but on a recent Wednesday, we took a refreshing dip back into the book of Jeremiah.  This was looking at the sad state and fate of faithless Zedekiah (and the people of Judah as a whole) who refused to listen to God through Jeremiah, and the silver lining of redemption for one sinner who would repent.  

Please pray for upcoming events – There is a big push to minister to the UMD student body starting mid-February, and a Street Level missions trip departing in March.  A potentially busy summer is on the horizon, so pray for God to help us all keep our heads in the game, moving forward, following His will, and for boldness to take advantage of the opportunities He provides.

-Karla

February 11, 2022 Pastor Jesse Moss

I wish I was smarter, and I am willing to bet that you wish you were as well. However, scripture is clear that there is a difference between being intelligent according to this world and being wise in the eyes of God. One leads to righteousness, spiritual maturity, and usefulness in God’s kingdom. The other leads to an inflated ego and eventual destruction. Scripture says, “For the wisdom of this world is folly with God.” Godly wisdom is to be sought after, while earthly wisdom is never to be trusted.

If you find yourself lacking in the necessary wisdom, the Bible has much to say about it. God’s word reveals that wisdom is found in scripture (2 Timothy 3:15). There is wisdom to be found in Godly counsel (Proverbs 11:14 & 24:6). If you are lacking wisdom James tells us to pray and ask God for it (James 1:5). Wisdom is withheld from the proud and given to the humble (Proverbs 11:2).

Another Path to Wisdom

But God tells us another way to gain wisdom. In 1 Corinthians 3:18, the apostle Paul writes, “Let no one deceive himself. If anyone among you thinks that he is wise in this age, let him become a fool that he may become wise.” Wait a minute, did God really just tell us that to be wise we must become a fool? He sure did. But don’t run off making terrible decisions just yet.

When God tells us to become a fool, He is speaking of becoming a fool to the wisdom of the world. The world would tell us it is foolish to trust and obey the Lord. The world would tell us it is insane to believe that God created this earth a mere few thousand years ago with His words. The world would tell us that to put all our hope in a “man” who came to this earth only to be killed on a cross is idiotic.

Embrace Foolishness

God says not only to embrace such truths but to display our “foolish” belief to all around us. Let’s face it, God’s ways do not always make sense to our intellect. He used trumpets to fall the walls of Jericho. He told Gideon to shrink his army from 32,000 to 300 before going into battle. He used an ox goad in the hand of Shamgar to defeat 600 Philistines. A jawbone from a donkey in the hand of Samson to defeat an entire army, and just a few loaves and fish to feed thousands of people.

1 Corinthians 1:25 says that the foolishness of God is wiser than man and the weakness of God stronger than man. God was at His most “foolish” and very “weakest” according to our limited perspective at the cross where He hung suffering and dying, but the reality was this was infinitely wiser and stronger than anything man could do. It was at the time when you and I would see God’s plan to be a complete and utter failure that He did what could easily be argued as the most miraculous, powerful, and brilliant act the Lord has ever undertaken.

An Undesirable Path

The problem is we live in an age with perhaps the strongest aversion to being seen as fools in the eyes of others. We want everyone to think highly of us. We would hate to even consider someone looking down at us.

To be a faithful Christian, obedient to God’s word, truly wise in the eyes of God, you are going to have to become a fool. You are going to have to embrace it. You’ll have to seek it. You are going to have to open your mouth and declare the gospel. And if you are really good at it, people will think you are dumb. They will think you are wrong. Will you be ashamed of believing what the Bible teaches when the world calls you a fool?

God says in Proverbs 2:2 to pursue wisdom and in 1 Corinthians 3, He tells us how to do it. If you wish to be wise in the eyes of God, you must become a fool in the eyes of the world. It seems like a fair trade to me. After all, God as Jesus Christ became a man for your sake. God, the perfect, sinless, holy, powerful, creator of the universe humbled himself and became sin on the cross for your sake. Are you willing to be a fool for Him? The funny thing is that doing so turns out to be the wisest thing you could ever do.

February 1, 2022 Benjamin Morrison

An Unlikeable Month

Let’s begin by acknowledging that the February is a challenging month:

  • It’s cold.
  • It’s dark.
  • The holidays are behind us.
  • The extra holiday weight we gained is still with us.
  • And the springtime feels like it is still months away.

But what really sets February apart as the worst month of winter (and arguably, the entire year) are the sneaky-yet-predictable feelings of depression and lethargy that first invade and then attempt to break our spirits. February offers few external motivators, so it’s just easy (1) to feel tired in February, (2) to feel down in February, and (3) to justify “staying in” in February: (a) staying inside the house, (b) staying in bed past the alarm, (c) staying in my sweatpants past noon, etc.

A February Miracle

(Let’s skip the commiserating and get to the point.)

Can we find any reason for hope in the next 28 days?

Yes. And if we push past the passive life management system of always letting our circumstances determine our mood, it is actually pretty easy. Remind yourself that God is good. Say this out loud: “February stinks, but God is good.” That’s all you need.

You might be terribly sleepy, or seriously downcast. But remember what Jesus said to the crowd: “The child is not dead but sleeping.” If God can give a dead person life – He can easily give a sad person hope.

So…  stop it.

Stop wallowing in the same seasonal depression. Stop participating in the February spiritual-hibernation season.

Wake up.

Snap out of it.

Start putting up a spiritual fight.

Take your eyes off of your own despair and place them on the God who brings light out of darkness.

A Possible February Theme Song

A great place to start might be reading a few Psalms to get a reminder of “how” to turn from despair to hope in God. Here, for your convenience, is Psalm 42:

1 (For the choir director: A psalm of the descendants of Korah.)

As the deer longs for streams of water, so I long for you, O God.

2 I thirst for God, the living God.

When can I go and stand before him?

3 Day and night I have only tears for food,

while my enemies continually taunt me, saying,

“Where is this God of yours?”

4 My heart is breaking

as I remember how it used to be:

I walked among the crowds of worshipers,

leading a great procession to the house of God,

singing for joy and giving thanks

amid the sound of a great celebration!

5 Why am I discouraged?

Why is my heart so sad?

I will put my hope in God!

I will praise him again—

my Savior and

6 my God!

Now I am deeply discouraged,

but I will remember you—

even from distant Mount Hermon, the source of the Jordan,

from the land of Mount Mizar.

7 I hear the tumult of the raging seas

as your waves and surging tides sweep over me.

8 But each day the LORD pours his unfailing love upon me,

and through each night I sing his songs,

praying to God who gives me life.

9 “O God my rock,” I cry,

“Why have you forgotten me?

Why must I wander around in grief,

oppressed by my enemies?”

10 Their taunts break my bones.

They scoff, “Where is this God of yours?”

11 Why am I discouraged?

Why is my heart so sad?

I will put my hope in God!

I will praise him again—

my Savior and my God!

Happy February everyone!