Chicago

Sunday was a bit hectic day for Rachel and I. She worked in the nursery, I preached, and then we both rushed to the airport to catch a flight to Chicago. Despite a brief delay, we were able to join Fusion (our Chicago pioneering effort) for their 5:30 pm meeting, where I also had the privilege of speaking.

The group here in Chicago is a fantastic and wonderfully diverse group led by the very dynamic powerhouse known as Tim and Chloe Steinke. They meet in a Jewish Synagogue on the north side of the city of Chicago. They are strategically located in a diverse area about a 1/2 mile south of Loyola University and they are right on Michigan Lake - very beautiful.

Fusion is really doing the stuff! I felt right at home being amongst such a radical group (reminds me of the people of Jubilee!). Lots of prayer and prophecy in their meeting. The real highlight for me was when Tim and I prayed with a young man named Mike to receive Christ. God genuinely met with this young man! I may get to be a part of his baptism tonight...we'll see. Please keep them in your prayers as they continue to pioneer. You can stay connected through their website (click here).

Word and Spirit Homework

On Sunday during my message, I concluded by giving out the assignment to read John and Acts, while asking the following questions:

o Who is Jesus?
o Why did He come?
o What might He have me give primary attention to?
o Who did he hang out with?
o Who was he compassionate with?

And then when you get to John 14 and on into Acts, add to that

o What is the Holy Spirit’s function?
o Do I want more of the Holy Spirit or do I have enough?

Pray for Zimbabwe

The situation is Zimbabwe is simply unimaginable for us in the US. The economy is an absolute joke even though Zim. is rich in natural resource. Unemployment is around 70%! In the height of the Great Depression during the 20s and 30s, it got no worse that 30% unemployment. Inflation is out of control. Currently, a can of coke costs One BILLION dollars (Zim dollars)! The political system is an absolute sham and the people live under the abuse and fear of a horrific dictator. It's like they experience the terror of 9/11 everyday. Here is a link to an article Rick Hein passed on to me that sheds light on the situation: http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/africa/06/23/zimbabwe.main/index.html?eref=rss_topstories

As a part of the Newfrontiers family of churches, we have relationship with churches there. Mbonisi Malaba has been with us and spoken at our church. He's become a friend of mine an others. Recently he sent these prayer requests to Alex and Maria Kerford that I would like to pass on you.

1. Please pray that there'd be peace and that there'd be God's protection over the churches in the rural areas particularly.
2. Evangelistic breakthrough: We're planning a major outreach into the rural areas for mid-July. We'll be having a healing evangelist from India by the name of Ram Babu with us who'll be preaching the gospel and praying for the sick. We can only go ahead with this if things are relatively safe, so please pray for safety for him in particular and our plans in general. Please pray for a real demonstration of the kingdom.
3. Please pray for leadership wisdom and courage for us to respond appropriately to what's happening.
4. Please pray for our time away in Brighton. Please pray that the churches would feel secure, even with leaders away, and please pray for me as I'm speaking in 3 churches and helping with a Brighton seminar.

All About 6-14 Year Olds

If you have a 6-14 year old child, you must sign them up for our Free Kids Camp on July 23-25. We'll have 3 types of camps for them to choose from: Soccer, basketball and art. For more info, visit www.freekidscamp.com.

Have them invite a friend!

Wentzville

Last Sunday, Jubilee Church had its 4th of 5 preview service out in Wentzville. The 5th will take place on July 20 leading up to the weekly launch on August 17. I am grateful to God that he is adding people to us from that region of St. Louis. The Heins and the group out there are hard at work to both serve Wentzville and be a witness to the gospel of Jesus.

Recently (June 20th), we hosted a "Thank You Wentzville" for all the public service men and women of Wentzville by providing them a lunch. Local businesses also chipped in on the effort, which was a plus. We had anywhere from 80-100 people attend and we got great reviews from the city employees. One guy told us, "I've worked for the city for 20 years and no one has ever done anything like this for us before." I've included a picture of the event on this blog.

Jubilee Summer BBQ Series

If you are new to Jubilee and looking to connect, you should definitely check out the BBQs Jubilee members will be hosting throughout the summer. Here is the current schedule. I believe all of them start at 7 pm.

Saturday, June 21 Alex and Maria Kerford (directions)
Sunday, July 20 David and Daniella Herrington (directions)
Friday, August 15 Seth and Shannon Hein (directions)

If you are interested in coming, all you need to do is rsvp at grouplife@jubileestl.org and bring your favorite side dish and drink.

Baptism Sunday

Besides being Father's Day, June 15 is also baptism Sunday at Jubilee. Baptism Sundays are my favorite because they highlight what Jubilee is all about, Connecting People to Jesus. This mission and passion of ours stems from the Great Commission (Mt 28:18-20) when Jesus commanded ALL of His followers (that includes us) to go in all the world and 1) make disciples, 2) baptize them and 3) teach them everything Jesus commanded. And this commission comes with the promise that He'll always be with us. I'm so grateful that baptisms at Jubilee have become a regular occurrence.

This Sunday, we'll be baptizing Jodi Hertz and Martin Pittman. We've made it a practice to include their testimony in our bulletin, a practice that I rather like. This time, I wanted to go ahead and share them with you as I find them both very encouraging.


Jodi Hertz

Good morning, my name is Jodi Hertz and I am thankful to spend such an amazing day with my family of God. I grew up in the South, raised Catholic and as a newborn unaware of the commitment being made was baptized in a ritualistic ceremony.

I am now 34 years old, a Mommy to an amazing little boy Elliott and am today with humble pride announcing my commitment to Christ. This day for me represents; encouragement, accountability, discipline, integrity, commitment, unconditional love and hope. This day also represents my transformation from someone who simply respected faiths, into someone who is growing in a real relationship with Jesus.

Before Christ I carried the weight of life upon my own shoulders. I didn’t value anything greater than myself. I gave greater weight to symbolism, taking whatever appealed to me from all kinds of other belief systems. I failed to recognize the need of God’s Love in my heart. What I began to notice was that I repeatedly continued to feel empty and unfulfilled.

My relationship with Elliott’s father was dissolving and I was faced with the harsh reality that my life was not the one I wanted to live, and I did not have as much control over it as I had thought. This time of hurt cultivated my relationship with Jesus. One night I was praying out to some of my ‘gods’, and yet I was overwhelmed with the feeling that Jesus was near. Just as a Mother would tuck in her child, I felt safe in His loving company as I laid to rest. I was met and accepted just as I was, and was asked nothing but to welcome Him into my heart.

I am thankful for all my dear friends who along my journey with Christ helped guide my path. Now, I live life with great hope, trusting my hand in the Lords. I live a life in a committed, faithful and loving relationship with Jesus Christ.

“Look beyond the sun not below the clouds.” –Terry Virgo


Martin Pittman

I had been in & out of churches throughout my adult life; for the most part it has either been superficial or short term. I never really felt “It” for any significant length of time or depth, despite being exposed to HIS love on a daily basis. In February, I began attending Jubilee; I had met Bryan and others and was once again ‘checking in’ to this whole deal.
Shortly thereafter, due to some devastating personal issues that I was experiencing (caused by the sinner in me), I found myself alone (or so I thought) in my loft on a Friday afternoon. It was time…I wasn’t asking for it, wasn’t expecting it, IT was happening whether I wanted it or not. Me & GOD…at that very moment he reached down with his mighty hands and literally turned me inside out…from the tips of my toes through my lips; physically this was certainly the most amazing feeling ever, it was unbelievable-it is what makes Believers. After some moments, I realized what had actually happened. No longer was there anger, hate or evil inside of me. It had been removed and was now filled with HIS abundant love. How lucky am I to have had that closeness with HIM. I can summarize the experience by saying this. “I was a Sinner, I have met the Savior.”

As I look back at my life prior to this, I realize that I had been dying a slow death from the inside out and it was often contagious and destructive to those around me; I never saw it…I was blind to my surroundings and emotionally disconnected. For the last 90 days, I have tried to simply remember the following:“The old has gone and the new has come.” 2Corintians 5:17

I am now talking the Walk with HIM.

Update From Our Brother in Iraq

For those who don't know, a brother of ours (Jamie Patton) is in Iraq serving his country. He is pictured on the right, his boss to the left. I have been receiving update emails from his wife (Anne Patton) and thought I would pass along a little info and encourage you to keep him (and Anne) in your prayers.

He seems to be doing well. It does seem to be a lot of work, especially considering he has to carry around a 50lbs bag of gear in very hot weather (it is consistently over 100 degrees F). Those who know Jamie know how responsible and caring he is. It is know surprise, then , to hear that he spends a lot of his time looking after some of the younger guys there to make sure they are getting along. I can only imagine the positive influence he is having as God's ambassador.

Please pray that Jamie accomplishes the work God has for him while in Iraq, for his safety and for his wife Anne who, of course, misses him very much.

Father's Day this Sunday

On days like Father's Day at Jubilee, we generally try to gear the message toward fathers or at least men in general. This year we are going to tackle the topic of dealing with failure. Everyone fails, but men seem to have a more difficult time with failure than women do. Men like to wear the cape and play like superman. They want to appear invincible and faultless. They want that respect. The problem is that we no matter how hard we try to hide it, we do fail. Knowing how to deal with failure is key to how you relate to God and others. I'm sure this message will apply to women as well, but I know that this is a topic particularly relevant to men.

We will also have a small gift for fathers...I think they will find it to be an interesting gift. See you then!

Celebration MW Recap

Celebration MW is an annual highlight for Jubilee Church and this year's event held to that reputation. We experienced great times of worship, the teaching was magnificent (follow this link to download the Main Sessions), and the unity amongst the churches was special. It truly is a privilege to be apart of the Newfrontiers family of churches.

I was so proud to see such a great showing from Jubilee. We had 167 in total registered for the event. This was a big jump from last year. Thanks again for all those who gave to help get people there. We raised a total of $11,818. Our total expenditure was $13,028.

I would really enjoy hearing how the weekend affected you. Email me at info@jubileestl.org.

Bahamas Part Two

Being in the Bahamas has enabled my wife and I to see some things from a different perspective. One of those things we have clearly received a new perspective on is pace of life.

When it comes to pace of life, the contrast between the American way and the Bahamian way couldn’t be clearer. One values productivity and material goods and the other enjoys the moment for what it is – a moment they didn’t have a moment ago. It’s been interesting watching these two cultures interact. The second day we were here, we decided to take the shuttle into Port Lucaya (the market area). It was suppose to leave 11:20 am, but at 11:23 am the driver (a native) had not arrived. I looked around at the rest of the group, about 20 and mostly American, and I could see people begin to lose patience. As the minutes went by some body posed the question everyone was thinking, “Where is the driver? Don’t they know we’re on vacation and have places to go?” The irony I thought. When the driver showed up at 11:30 am, one lady started yelling at the driver. The driver responded to the lady (to my amusement), “You’re head is to hot mon! You need to get into the shade.” Later that day, I asked one native, “The Bahamians don’t liked to be rushed do you?” He responded with, “You guys (Americans) are like machines!” Don’t you ever take a break? You have nothing left at the end of the day?” Even though it was clear this man had very little material possessions, I got the sense he didn’t envy the American life. In fact, I could tell that he pitied us.

I think working hard is admirable, but I am learning it’s important to have margin in life. Everything has margin. Roads have margin (there’s more space on the road than your car actually needs), your note pad has margin, even your Bible has margin! How about your life? Does your life have margin? Are you leaving enough space in your schedule so that your head doesn’t get too hot mon? If not, you should go find some shade.

Bahamas Part One

Rachel and I spend most of our vacation time visiting her dad’s family in Atlanta or completing home projects. Rarely do we get the opportunity to break away just the two of us for two reasons: 1) It’s expensive and 2) The age of our children. So when the opportunity arose to go to the Bahamas for six days/nights for $215 (includes airfare and a condo on the beach), we jumped all over it. Our only other challenge was finding childcare, but thanks to my parents, the Dreys and the Hein Srs (thank you guys) we got that figured out as well. Now we are three days into it and having an unbelievable time. The weather has been great, the people are extremely laid back, and the beaches/water are breath taking. But the best part is that Rachel and I get to be together.

We did miss seeing you all this morning. One of the reasons we believe we have a rich life is our relationships with the people of Jubilee. We love being and sharing life with you. We can’t think of a better place to spend our life for the next 40-50 years!