Month: June 2022

June 28, 2022 The Homeschool Ministry

By Nick Samens

A month ago, our homeschool group was able to attend the MACHE Homeschool Convention together in Arden Hills, MN. It was not only informational, but also inspirational. The sessions covered a broad group of topics with titles like “Parents are Uniquely Qualified to Teach and Disciple Their Children” and “Fear Not, You and Your Children Can Learn Math Together.”

The conference was held in a large church that had many rooms. The mornings started with an introduction and worship, then we all split to the sessions of our choice. At any given hour there were 8 different talks going. In the gymnasium there were vendors selling curriculum, books, helpful materials, and yes, essential oils. Despite my lack of interest in expanding my lavender inventory, I took personal inventory of what would benefit my own heart, my children’s education, and the flourishing of my family the most.

In one such session the speaker pointed out the difference between a growth mindset and a fixed mindset when it comes to teaching our kids. The simplest way to sum it up is that someone with a growth mindset views intelligence, abilities, and talents as learnable and capable of improvement through effort. On the other hand, someone with a fixed mindset views those same traits as inherently stable and unchangeable over time. I think this provides a special opportunity as parents to teach (and often times learn with) our kids about how often God provides the means and we have to provide effort in our growth and discipleship. Things don’t always happen “just because”, somethings always being formed, molded, carried out one way or another.

Finishing off the second day I attended a session regarding the “legal” process of how homeschool came to be, where it is now, and where it’s heading. I actually listened to this speaker the day before and wasn’t thrilled to say the least. Maybe my patience regarding anything politics has warn as thin as frog hair but I sat through another one of his sessions with a different heart and attitude. I realized that despite his “fire” for law, without guys like him we would not have the fundamental right to choose how we educate our kids. I left his session with a different attitude and a reason to pray and support the people behind the scenes who really do play a large role in why we get to live/parent the way we do.

One thing that has been of the upmost importance to my wife and I since we started homeschooling was to do it for very “offensive” reasons. Such as seeing your child’s education as more of a lifestyle, an opportunity to spend more time with them, and to essentially, by God’s grace, cultivate an atmosphere where they are properly equipped to love those in a lost and dying world and bring life to it. All and all it was a special time of learning and fellowship with the other parents from our group who attended.

June 25, 2022 Shofar Missions Cebu

Street Level Ministries

What a crazy month it has been! Some students have been wrapping up their semester with final projects, papers, and presentations. Other students are starting summer classes. Each university operates on a different schedule, so there’s no slowing down during the summer.

We’ve continued meeting on Fridays for dinner and discussions. In Toledo, a few students who previously attended Shofar Camps joined! Last week in Cebu, we had a couple SLM alumni surprise us in the office and at our meeting. Ruby Mae was in the city to process paperwork for GRADUATION! Can you believe it? In August, we’re holding a one-day summit on the west side of the island. The directors of all 4 branches of SLM will teach and lead discussions about living an unwasted life.

  • Britt, Anisa, Rona, Fia, Jael, Mae, KC, & Garie
  • Friday nights in Cebu…
  • …and Toledo!
  • Izzy…goofing off!
  • Learning how to bake brownies….
  • …enjoying the fruit of our labor!
  • Ruby Mae is graduating!

Street Level Radio & Word on the Street

We’re excited to announce a new sponsor of Street Level Radio! Draft Punk Craft Café is now an official sponsor and host of one of our Wi-Fi antennas. This antenna connects to the SLR antennas at our office, thus expanding our broadcasting reach! In the coming months, we plan to add more antennas to cover the area near National Bookstore. We recently joined the USA staff online to pray together and hung up posters around the city. Althea and Christian (from the SLM Toledo group) started volunteering and will help hang up posters around Toledo next weekend.

Issue 90 of Word on the Street Magazine is almost ready for printing, and Issue 91 has begun! Passing out magazines is a primary means of meeting students and inviting them to SLM. Last month, Britt met a Senior High School art professor while passing out magazines and fliers. He introduced her to his graduating students on campus, and all of them got a copy of WOTS.

  • New SLR banner at BBC’s Printstop
  • Can you find the SLR antenna at Draft Punk?
  • Global radio mixdown!
  • University of San Carlos Senior High School Students with WOTS
  • Working on WOTS drafts at a local cafe that lets us distribute magazines there

Exploring Creation Science

The 2021-2022 school year has ended for many private schools, but there is still plenty to do. Limited face-2-face classes for students at Banawa Nazarene School will begin on Monday, June 27 with staff and student orientation. This includes information like entering and exiting the building safely, handwashing/sanitizing station, mandatory face mask wearing, emergency contact information, etc. Since we will be away for orientation, Laura visited the school last Monday to talk through what school reopening will look like and how students can participate during classroom lessons. Laura will teach her first in-person class on June 30.  

All the schools are beginning to plan for classes to start again. Some will start the first week of August. Each school has their own set of rules and regulations in accordance with the Department of Education and government protocols. Plans are being discussed for Laura to teach more in all three schools. She may have occasional guest lessons for schools as more schools bring students back, she has gotten requests from schools that have been waiting to have lessons again in person.

Laura will be attending the moving up ceremony for grade 6 and graduation for grade 12 Southern Bethany Christian School students on June 30 at South Town Center in Talisay.

  • Laura & Caren catch up at the school office
  • Banawa Nazarene Grade 6 in March 2020
  • Grade 6 at Banawa Nazarene graduates
  • Visiting Southern Bethany to talk through summer classes & graduation

Shofar TV

Exploring Creation Science lessons for students in grades 4-12 continue to be recorded for use on Shofar TV. We are hoping this part of the ministry will be launched by the time the school year begins. It will be another way to reach students we wouldn’t normally come into contact with and provide an opportunity to share about Shofar Missions. We are also following up on to broadcast Shofar TV at other cable stations throughout Cebu.

Team Prep

The first missions team since January 2020 will arrive in August. Ministry plans include a Street Level Summit, Shofar Youth Leader Summit, and Ministry Training Institute classes for pastors in three different locations: Cebu City, Balamban, and Bantayan.

As things open up more and restrictions ease, ministry groups are starting to hold meetings again. The Cebu City Ministerial Fellowship is a group of pastors that gather each month. School principals join if they have something to invite the other private schools to or if there is discussion about school related items, since that often involves pastors. We were invited by the pastor and his daughter at Banawa Nazarene Church & School to present Shofar Missions at one of their meetings. We will attend in July to share the Ministry Training Institute, Street Level Ministries, and Exploring Creation Science. We visited the Four Square Gospel Church of Cebu City to meet the pastor, who serves as the group’s chairman. The church is close to our office – about a 20-minute walk. We look forward to developing a relationship with him and the others involved in the ministerial fellowship!

  • Four Square Gospel Church of Cebu City
  • SLM Summit Poster
  • Youth Leader Summit Poster
  • One of the Ministry Training Institute Banners
June 19, 2022 River Falls Ministry

It is hard to not worship and see God in his creation during the summers in Wisconsin. We have been blessed to be able to spend a lot of time outside this summer doing outreaches, Bible studies, and fellowshipping. Keep reading to find out what we have been up to this past month.

Street Level

Outdoor Bible studies, camping, and fellowship are what our Street Level River Falls summer has been made up of so far. Recently, we had the opportunity to connect with the Superior and Menomonie Street Levels for camping overnight in Poplar, WI. It rained a little bit, but we still had a great time seeing each other, making s’mores, and hiking at Ammicon Falls. On Mondays, we are a smaller group, and we meet in various parks around town, grill out, and are going through the book “One at a Time” by Kyle Idleman. It is challenging us to be observant about the people that God has put in front of us.

Church

For Wednesday church this summer, we have been able to join Menomonie’s small group Rewinds. We host a small group in River Falls, and when weather permits, we are outside at Glen Park. A few of the students, we met during the school year, are still around for the summer and join us.

Coffeehouse

Last summer we brought the coffeehouse to Music in the Park, and it was such a fun time we decided to try something similar this year. On Thursdays, we set up the coffee kiosk in different places around town. Most recently we were in Heritage Park. It’s been a nice way to get out into the community and interact with people that otherwise may not know we are there.

We are hoping to be able to do a few more it reaches this summer including a Taste of River Falls event and something during River Falls days. Please be in prayer as we plan and consider these events.

Prayer Requests

  • For direction on outreaches this summer
  • That we would continue to meet people in the community
  • That we would use our time well this summer to prepare for the return of the students in the fall

For Further Information

June 13, 2022 Believers Church Duluth

Our little fellowship has officially made it to June. You know what that means: no snow for at least three months (probably)! This is a big deal for us up here in the North. So, we’ve packed up our parkas, pulled out our Chacos and set our sights on getting out in the community. 

Here’s what we’ve been up to.   

One heck of a rummage sale

Almost every year, we look at each other and say: I don’t know if we have enough stuff for another rummage sale. Then we all go home, rifle through our closets, purge our basements and, sure enough, we were wrong. We have enough! After a few donations from friends outside the church, our pews were packed with many well-loved items just waiting for a new home and we were able to have our annual spring rummage sale. 

It was a rainy day, and we were concerned that the weather would keep people from coming. But it actually had the opposite effect. We were steady all day and able to meet folks from all over the city. In the end, God let us raise a bunch of money for missions, and we even made it on the evening news (no joke). As always, it was a really great opportunity to spend time together, make memories and work hard to further the Kingdom in a way that’s pretty unique. 

Matthew on Sundays, mixing it up on Wednesdays 

On Sundays, we’re continuing to move through Matthew. We’ve covered Jesus being tempted, choosing His disciples and now we’re moving into His sermon on the mount. It’s been both challenging and encouraging to focus on the beginning of Jesus’ ministry as we look for ways to apply what we’re learning about Him to our daily lives. 

For Wednesday nights, we’ve been talking about the previous Sunday’s message. This is a great way to continue thinking through what we learned. For the summer, we’re going to change things up a bit, which is always fun. We’ll rotate between a traditional church service, small group discussions and men’s/women’s groups. 

Prepping for Park Point

Setting our sights towards the near future, we’ve been getting ready to serve coffee and other treats at the Park Point Rummage Sale. This is a huge event for Duluth, and we’re pretty excited to get to participate another year. Basically, it’s a 4-mile long rummage sale starting from the Lift Bridge going all the way down Park Point. We’re looking forward to the chance to meet more people, spend time together and see what God will do!

If you’ve been praying for us, thanks very much. If you haven’t, you’re always welcome to start. Here are some things we’d love prayer for: 

  • A heart for the people of the Twin Ports
  • Ideas for and opportunities to meet people 
  • Continued fellowship and unity in our group
  • Wisdom for our leaders 
  • Staying close to Jesus individually 

That’s all for now. Thanks for reading our update. God’s been really good to us and I’m already looking forward to all the things we’ll have to tell you about next month.

June 10, 2022 Pastor Jesse Moss | Duluth

Henry was born into a world beneath the Earth’s surface void of any light. He stumbles around in pitch blackness navigating the underground tunnels entirely by touch, accustomed to collisions and falls from a lack of sight. Having grown up in this subsurface underworld, having no knowledge of surface-dwelling this individual is entirely unaware that they are missing out. Light is a foreign concept because the darkness is all he has ever known. Any rumors of light allowing something called “sight” that drift down to this subterrestrial existence that they may have heard about are entirely not understood. Henry is blind and he doesn’t even know it. 

Scripture indicates that this is not too far from reality for much of this world. Apart from Christ, our only option is to dwell in the dominion of darkness (Colossians 1:13). God says that not only are unbelievers living in darkness but that they actually are darkness (Ephesians 5:8). And like this fictional child, they don’t even know it. They are blind without even realizing it. They stumble through life unaware of what they are missing out on. Unbelievers are left in this condition until the light of Christ crashes into their existence and brings sight to the blind in a very real way.

Light breaking in

Eventually, a sliver of light breaks through the ceiling and shines down into the underworld and unknown sight is gained. It is foggy, blurry, and dim, but finally, a ladder leading up to the surface can be spotted. Henry doesn’t understand what is happening, but he now knows there is so much more to this world than he has ever known. So he climbs the ladder and with every step, the world gets brighter and brighter. After much squinting and pausing to allow his unaccustomed eyes to adjust to the sight he pushes his way up to the Earth’s surface.

When the light of Jesus breaks through the darkness of this world it can’t be ignored. For the first time sin is seen for what it really is. For the first time truth is seen, believed, and understood. The reality of God and the reality of our own condition can no longer be ignored because it is sitting right in front of us. The truth is not always pleasant, but we can no longer close our eyes to its presence.

A whole new world

Henry can’t believe his eyes the world is so much more than he had ever experienced before. It was beautiful. It was terrible. He never knew that this was reality. He had thought the tunnels he had spent years traversing were all there was, but it turns out there is so much more. It seemed as though everywhere he looked there was evidence that things were not right. His years in the tunnels had never shown him anything like this before. 

Before the light of Christ, we are living in ignorance. We are totally unaware that this world is broken. We have no idea of the existence of our perfect God nor the reality of our sinful condition. We are living blind to the real beauty of this world and also painfully unaware of our own condition. Living in real light changes all of that.

Is it worth it?

At times as Henry traverses this new world of light, he wishes he was still in darkness. It seems like it would have been easier to stay below the surface. He sees things he would rather not see. The reality that he can no longer avoid, is so unpleasant that he would like to close his eyes to it. He sees his reflection and he is not as attractive as he might have wished. At times he is even tempted to go through this sunny surface world with blinders in front of him. He desires to run from the light back to hide in the shadows. But he can’t. His eyes have been opened and no matter how hard he might try to close his eyes to this reality he cannot. He now has the light of the world. And the truth is, although his life is now more complicated than ever, and he can see all sorts of scary things, he wouldn’t trade it for the world, because closing his eyes to those things doesn’t make them go away. Now Henry can see real life.

Sometimes Christians don’t want to live in the light as they should. Instead, we try to slink back into darkness. The light of Jesus is too bright and we want to remove ourselves from it. It shines on us and shows all of our imperfections and we don’t like that. It would be ridiculous to close our eyes to the light once it has come into our life. If you are a Christian you are to live in the light. You cannot go back into darkness. And that light will show you just how broken this world really is. It will even show you just how broken you are. Be glad you can see it. Don’t close your eyes to it. Seeing it means you can see real life.

When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” (John 8:12) Jesus is the light of the world. You don’t have to live in a world without light.

June 1, 2022 Pastor Jason Gilbert | Menomonie

This last month we have been discussing the practice and purpose of personal and community “Spiritual Check-Up”. We’ve looked at common ways Satan blinds us, the doors we leave open to the enemy, and how we can keep those doors shut. Through these teachings, along with reading “The Christian in Complete Armour”, my attention has been keenly focused on our spiritual well-being, our enemy, and our need to fight.

Our Spiritual Well-Being…

We’ve looked at the following common ways Satan blinds us, hampering our spiritual well-being:

  • Spiritual Delusional Disorder (i.e., we can’t tell what’s real from what’s imagined)
  • Spiritual Switzerland (i.e., we look for a middle ground, a compromise, safety)
  • Comfort and Lethargy (i.e., we have too much to lose)
  • Isolation (i.e., we take our church community foregranted)
  • No Joy, Peace (i.e., we look for happiness in worldly things, rather than Joy and Peace in Christ)
  • Lack of Discipline (i.e., we are tired, don’t want to hold the hard line anymore)

Our Enemy…

We also looked at the doors we leave open, that our enemy exploits:

  • An uncontrolled tongue (Proverbs 18:21, Proverbs 13:3, James 1:26, James 3:5-6)
  • An uncontrolled imagination (2 Corinthians 10:4-5)
  • Fears (Philippians 4:6-7, 1 John 4:18, 2 Timothy 1:7)
  • Sinful Habits (Ephesians 4:26-27, 1 Corinthians 10:13, Mark 7:20-23)
  • Stubbornness (Proverbs 29:1, Psalms 81:11-12)
  • Emotional Hurt (Proverbs 15:13, Hebrews 12:3)
  • Anger (Psalms 37:8, Proverbs 14:29)
  • Rebellion (1st Samuel 15:23, Psalms 68:6)
  • Unforgiveness (Hebrews 12:15)

Our Need to Fight…

We can’t avoid the fight if we are Christian (2nd Timothy 3:12, Acts 14:22). The enemy is coming, whether we ask for it or not (Genesis 4:7, 1 Peter 5:8). Paul puts it this way,

“Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might. Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.” (Ephesians 6:10-13)

First, this fight is addressed to a community: “my brethren… For we”. There is an aspect of fighting in which we are all in this together. None of us is exempt. We fight with and for our brothers and sisters.

Second, this is personal: “we wrestle”. As William Gurnall puts it,

“Wrestling is primarily a ‘one-on-one’ contest where one opponent singles out another and enters into an arena with him… Each wrestler exerts his whole force and strength against the other… Each contestant is the sole object of his challenger’s fury.”

“Wrestling is close combat… wrestlers grapple hand-to-hand… When Satan comes after you, he moves in close, takes hold of your very flesh and corrupt nature, and by this shakes you.”

Third, God gives us the tools to win: “be strong in the Lord… and the power of His Might”. But it’s on us to “Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand...“

Are We Ready…?

If we are going to be any good at this, preparation is required. Let’s examine ourselves in light of the above:

  • Am I strong in the Lord… and the power of His might? (i.e., Does He come through victoriously for me in the battle… Or do I give in to my flesh?)
  • Do I put on the whole armor of God? (i.e., Do I read, study, and meditate on His word… Do I pray and seek to remember his directions, so I can quickly maneuver and react?)
  • Do I take up the whole armor of God? (i.e., Do I recall his truth when needed, to win arguments against Satan… to fend off the enemy’s temptations?)
  • Do I fight for and with “the brethren”? (i.e., Am I surrounding myself with able men and women who can train me… Am I leaning on them for advice and feedback… to be a better wrestler?)

If we are going to make it, we can’t be ignorant of our spiritual well-being, our enemy, and our need to fight.

The Christian in Complete Armour – William GurnallDownload