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The 2009 WFA World Missions Convention kicks off this Sunday morning, as Pat Summers, founder and director of “thinkMISSIONS” joins us as our special guest. As a church planter with over twenty years of pastoral experience, Pat understands the demands on today’s pastor. While planting a church north of Pittsburgh Pennsylvania, Pat led the congregation with a global focus that resulted in church members praying, giving and going to share the Gospel in different areas of the world. A significant portion of the church’s annual income was invested in missions. An incredible impact has been made. Over 145 churches in different parts of the world have been planted. Relief work, evangelistic work and global partnerships have resulted. Pat’s vision is to help churches think globally so more churches are started in needy parts of the world. You can read more about Pat’s ministry at www.thinkmissions.org
You won’t want to miss this great kick-off for our World Missions Convention! The Missions Convention continues next Wednesday, February 25th, as Bob Carey, Executive Director of the Delaware Teen Challenge joins us. Bob has burden to help those whose lives have been ravaged by the destructive power of addiction. Having lived a life himself that was on a ruinous course, Bob’s aim is to lead people towards the greatest beauty, the highest value, the deepest satisfaction, and most lasting joy, to help them toward God. Bob attended Central Bible College – Detroit Campus where he completed his minister’s certification with the Assemblies of God. He began in full time ministry in 1994 at Life Challenge of Southeastern Michigan where he recently served as Assistant to the Executive Director. In September 2008 Bob was appointed Executive Director for Delaware Teen Challenge. Bob and his wife Cristina are proud parents of their three children 14, 12, and 8. For more information about the Delaware Teen Challenge, go to www.delawareteenchallenge.org
The WFA Missions Convention has its “grand finale” next weekend, on Saturday and Sunday, February 28 and March 1. Our world famous Missions Banquet takes place on Saturday evening at 5:30, and our concluding convention service is on Sunday morning, March 1st. Our special guest for both of these great meetings is Jack Belin of Convoy of Hope. Make your plans now to attend each of these four great Missions meetings! You will be abundantly blessed and challenged! by Jim Liebelt “For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” — Ephesians 2:10 (NIV)
If you’ve ever thought that you can’t make a difference, let this simple, true story from America’s history be an encouragement to you. Amazingly, something as simple as playing a fife and drum can make a huge difference! God has gifted you uniquely and specially and if you offer yourself to Him today – you can expect that even in some small way, He will provide you with opportunities to make a difference in someone else’s life. How? Who knows? It may not take much. Perhaps a kind word spoken to a stranger, an e-mail to a friend, giving a hug to a family member, or helping a peer at school or work – could be just the encouragement that someone in your life needs to help them make it through a tough day. Don’t underestimate God’s willingness to use your ordinary actions to touch the life of someone else in extraordinary ways! Today, be willing to be “An Army of One.” as seen in “Today’s HomeWord,” a daily devotional with Jim Burns. Visit them online at www.homeword.com A four-hundred-year-old tree crashed to the forest floor. Over the centuries it had been struck by lightning fourteen times, braved great windstorms, and even defied an earthquake. In the end, however, it was killed by little beetles. Boring under the bark, they chewed away its mighty fibers until the giant of the forest lay broken on the ground. Little things can either make us or break us. A little lie, a little theft, a little laziness, a little neglect, a little drink a little too often, a little sarcasm, a little denial here and a little there ... bit by bit we can add them all together and eventually hurt or destroy our relationships, our physical and/or mental health, and our walk with God. On the other hand, a little smile, a little deed of kindness, a little encouraging word, a little thoughtful gift, a little phone call, a little bit of love given a lot of times every day can add up to a whole lot of sunshine that we can spread wherever we are and go, and in so doing encourage others, enhance our relationships, improve our physical and mental health, and please the heart of God. The owner of a half-share in a small firm which made a soft drink sold it because he thought it would never be a success because of the product’s name. He had not, however, lost faith in the soft drink business, so he invested the proceeds from the sale in a company he thought had a better chance of succeeding. It was called the Raspberry Cola Company. The name of the product he thought would never succeed was called “Coca-Cola.” A few years later, the Coca-Cola Company, which by then had grown into a rather large and successful enterprise, was offered the opportunity to purchase a smaller bankrupt soft drink company. The owner, Charles Guth, was willing to let his little subsidiary go for a mere $1000. But Coca-Cola had a near-monopoly on the soft drink industry, so they turned down the offer. When they did, they missed the opportunity to take over the business which would eventually become their arch-rival: Pepsi-Cola. Coca-Cola was itself the result of a tremendous mistake—otherwise known as an “accident.” In 1886 a pharmacist named John Pemberton cooked up a medicinal syrup in a large brass kettle slung over an open fire, stirring it with an oar. When he was done, he figured he had created a fine tonic for people who were tired, nervous, or plagued with sore teeth. Coke didn’t make it as medicine, and wasn’t even an instant success as a beverage. In the first year, Pemberton spent $73.96 promoting his new product but managed to sell only $50 worth. Today people guzzle 1 billion drinks a day from the Coca-Cola company (they make more than Coke), which is quite encouraging for those of us who create big mess-ups every day of our lives. as seen in Rocky Henriques’ January 19, 2009 issue of “The Timothy Report,” www.timothyreport.com Long ago in a small, far away village, there was a place known as the House of 1000 Mirrors. A small, happy little dog learned of this place and decided to visit. When he arrived, he bounced happily up the stairs to the doorway of the house. He looked through the doorway with his ears lifted high and his tail wagging as fast as it could. To his great surprise, he found himself staring at 1000 other happy little dogs with their tails wagging just as fast as his. He smiled a great smile, and was answered with 1000 great smiles just as warm and friendly. As he left the house, he thought to himself, “This is a wonderful place. I will come back and visit it often.” In this same village, another little dog, who was not quite as happy as the first one, decided to visit the house. He slowly climbed the stairs and hung his head low as he looked into the door. When he saw the 1000 unfriendly looking dogs staring back at him, he growled at them and was horrified to see 1000 little dogs growling back at him. As he left, he thought to himself, “That is a horrible place, and I will never go back there again.” All the faces in the world are mirrors. What kind of reflections do you see in the faces of the people you meet?
You ask why I follow this Jesus? It’s not the rewards I’m after The Lord doesn’t shelter His faithful Yet He gives me a plan and a purpose, It’s the love always there when you need it; So you ask why I love my Lord Jesus? In a small Texas town, the owner of Drummond’s Bar began construction on a new building to increase his business. The local Baptist church started a campaign to block the bar from opening with petitions and prayers. Work progressed right up till the week before opening when lightning struck the bar and it burned to the ground. The church folks were rather smug in their outlook after that, until the bar owner sued the church on the grounds that the church was ultimately responsible for the demise of his building, either through direct or indirect actions or means. The church vehemently denied all responsibility or any connection to the building’s demise in its reply to the court. As the case made its way into court, the judge looked over the paperwork. At the hearing he commented, “I don’t know how I’m going to decide this, but as it appears from the paperwork, we have a bar owner who believes in the power of prayer, and an entire church congregation that does not.” One of the highlights of our year at WFA is the World Missions Convention. WFA is a missions church – both at home and around the world. We support every Penn-Del District Assemblies of God world missionary, as well as scores of other missions ministries around the world and here in America. We believe in missions here in Delaware, as we continue our church planting efforts, currently working toward our fourth church plant. Be sure to join us during these two weeks as we highlight World and US Missions, church planting, and reaching around the earth in the name of Jesus Christ!
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There’s power, and then there’s power! In Luke 10:19, Jesus says, “
– thinkMISSIONS!
An old lighthouse sits on the edge of the shore in Scituate, MA. At this lighthouse a plaque memorializes what has been called “An Army of Two.” During the Revolutionary War, a British ship anchored just off shore and lowered smaller boats with British troops that headed toward the shore. Two young girls, having seen the British soldiers approaching from the lighthouse, took a drum and fife outside and played. The British troops heard the music and mistakenly assumed that the noise was coming from an American militia and quickly retreated. No one would have ever thought that two young girls could have won a decisive battle that day – all without a shot ever being fired.
