What would your response be...?

Whose responsibility is it for revival to happen?

Mentoring leads to informal accountability

Release your people to use their skills to serve others

If people are missing in your missioning, try this...

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Recently, I spent my lunch time with a senior leader in our organization. It was one of the best working lunches I’ve had in a long time. In fact, I can’t remember a time like this, when someone above me poured into me. For too many of us, times spent with senior leaders are filled with anxiety. Or, we're beaten down afterward and feel like in order to get clean from the experience, we need to take a long, hot shower. Please! For your sake, and the sake of your team, learn from what I am sharing and put some of these into practice the next opportunity you have to pour into your team. 1. He gave me his full time and attention. He didn’t check his phone (or Apple watch) the entire time we met. No blurting sounds either, to interrupt our lunch. In fact, I didn’t know he had a phone. He listened intently to what I had to say. He asked follow-up questions often. He looked me in the eyes often when he spoke to me, which said to me he had just the right amount of self-confidence. 2. He bought me lunch. That is kindness in action, since I invited him to lunch and was profuse in my attempts to buy him lunch. 3. He offered up a sum of money to invest in my leadership development. Very impressive. This said to me he not only believed in me as a leader but that he sees a future for me in the organization. When someone does that it causes you to think, “I want to be here for a while.” I came away thinking I have a opportunity to help write our story. 4. He asked about my family. I know there’s debate about how personal you should get with co-workers. But in this instance, man to man, I appreciated his interest how my wife and I were doing with our transition to this new job and how our kids were doing. 5. He challenged me. As he politely inquired about one area of life, I was stuck and he knew it. He politely suggested a reason for this and then challenged me by carefully suggesting a way to become unstuck. Very smart move on his part. Friends, this isn't rocket science here. Life is about making good memories. This was one of them for me. I hope you take steps now to intentionally pour into someone and make a forever positive memory for them.

The following are short stories prepared by One Mission Society. I share them to encourage your heart with all that God is doing to transform lost people. Haiti (provided by David and Marilyn Graffenberger) - In the Grison Garde area of northern Haiti, a young woman, Lordiana, accepted Christ. While engaging the one to reach the many, Janiel Charlot, an OMS ECC trainer and church planter in the north of Haiti, trained Lordiana. Later, while accompanying two other church planters to a special annual training, the motorcycle taxi on which they were riding crashed. Thankfully no one was not seriously hurt. In spite of many challenges, Lordiana has continued as a church planter. A man in the area, a person of peace, allowed her to have a small group meeting in his courtyard. In time, he accepted Christ. Two years later, his live-in wife accepted Christ, then they were married and baptized. The resulting worshiping group has planted another small worshiping group. We rejoice in what God is doing through OMS in Haiti. _______________ The Republic of Ireland (provided by Jonny and Julie Pollock) - A local woman, M*, recently reached out to us on social media. She has been asking questions about our church plant. She watched some of our teaching online, knew of our desire to be of spiritual and practical help, and was aware of our teaching the Bible to children in the local area. She reflected how different this was to her understanding of religion and has decided to connect with us online, as well as gather with us once restrictions are relaxed. Contacts such as this are not that common in our rural town, and we are thankful for God’s grace and mercy in bringing this woman across our path. We ask you to join us in prayer for her, that fruit comes from our connection, and that she may come to know Jesus not as a figure of religion but as a wonderful and gracious Lord and Savior. Even in unresponsive and difficult places like The Republic of Ireland, God is conveying his love for people in need of a Savior. _______________ Brazil (provided by Micah and Marla Routon) - Since the beginning of last year, the church we are helping to plant has doubled. Through the pandemic, we had to go online. We also switched our discipleship classes and small group meetings to an online format, and the response was tremendous. We saw not only people’s faith being challenged to go deeper, but the number of people being attracted to Jesus also growing. Though the pandemic has presented definite challenges, it has been wonderful to see how God is still bringing people to himself. Working with David and Conce Roof is Pastor Jonas and his wife Virginia. A number of years ago, Pastor Jonas retired from the pastorate. But when he began praying for an opportunity to serve once again in one of the denomination’s frontier areas, deep within the jungle, he and Virginia obeyed God’s call. They have been blessed with good health and been able, even in their advanced years, to play an important part in the planting of a new church in an area of great need. Praise God for what he has done. Even in your old age and gray hairs, I am he, I am he who will sustain you (Isaiah 46:4). _______________ Taiwan (provided by Rod and Beth Williamson - Twelve years ago, Central Taiwan Theological Seminary purchased 18 acres of farmland in northeast Taichung. Three years ago, we began a four-year process of rezoning the land so that it could be used for training pastors. Ten of the fourteen needed approvals have already been received. The eleventh approval from the Environmental Impact Committee is the toughest of all the approvals remaining. Just a few weeks ago, after six months of meetings, the Environmental Impact Committee finally gave its approval. The remaining three approvals should not be difficult, so we hope that in a few months, we can begin the preliminary construction of a retaining wall, contouring the property, roadways, water control, and putting in utilities. This will take about a year. A seminary’s impact is greatly increased when both head and heart are trained, when teaching focuses on knowing about Jesus, and learning how to follow and worship him in daily life. May this campus be a place where leaders are trained who train many others, leading to the multiplication of leaders … and where Taiwanese missionaries are trained for impactful cross-cultural ministry! _______________ Taiwan (provided by Don and Marla Bettinger) - One of the things that gives us the greatest joy is to see coworkers step up or take the initiative to be a witness to their own people. This Christmas, one of our coworkers, Chyou Ting, shared her testimony at two separate Christmas events. One was a Christmas breakfast we hosted for a number of our unbelieving friends, and the other was a meeting that she initiated on her own. This second one was a “Gospel Teatime” in which she invited several coworkers from the hospital ICU department where she works. She and her friends did the music, shared a testimony, and gave a Gospel presentation. We only needed to open our home and teach the women how to make cookies. At least one of the coworkers made a decision to accept Christ that night. Chyou Ting invited her to the LIighthouse home church this past Sunday evening, and she came. We praise God that Chyou Ting has caught the vision for sharing the Gospel and making disciples. _______________ Taiwan (provided by Mark and Michelle Dinnage) - One of the college-age men with whom Mark has been able to meet for discipleship is a great person of peace, gifted in connecting people. He invited fellow classmate, Johanna, to Bible study. A few months later, Michelle prayed with Johanna to accept Christ, and then she was baptized in October. Johanna grew up in Honduras with her mother, who is also a Christian. Johanna has also become closer with her father, who is Taiwanese. Johanna is now growing daily in her faith. Lost people matter to God, and he wants them to be found. _______________ Kenya (provided by Silas and Rahab Waweru) - We were able to distribute food to selected vulnerable families in November. The area where this was done has suffered many attacks from the terror group Al-Shaabab, a radical Muslim group seeking to extend its dominance through violence in this region, which has few Christians and a majority of Muslims and practitioners of African traditional religions. This distribution focused on 40 of the most vulnerable households. It was done during the week Rahab ministered in a women’s seminar. We distributed wheat flour, dried corn and beans, cooking oil, sugar, and rice. We shared the Gospel and prayed for the sick as the team distributed the food. This had a great impact as some recipients were so sick and unable to help themselves. One family shed tears when they received the food as they had not eaten a good meal for a long time. This humbling experience opened doors for us to minister to felt needs of the people and also challenged the local church community to exercise the grace of giving. The Gospel in word and deed touched lives in an amazing way! “Let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven” (Mat 5:16). _______________ Thailand (provided by Scott and Sarah Morrison) - 2020 began full of joy and enthusiasm in our ministry as we saw two young believers baptised, two households start the journey of following Jesus, our coworker miraculously healed, an abundance of fantastic Jesus conversations, and consistent answers to specific prayers regarding many Buddhist people around our town. One of our most unusual answers to prayer included our noodle soup seller. One day, she asked me “What do you do here? Are you a teacher?” I responded, “I’m not a teacher. We tell of the way out of sin.” She looked at me with wide eyes and said, “I have a lot of sin. Could you teach me?” This sparked a great conversation that left the door open for me to return. A few days later, we passed her as she was setting up her stall and stopped to ask if we could bless her in Jesus’ name. She enthusiastically accepted, and we prayed a blessing over her. Fast forward three days. Our noodle soup seller came running up to me and said, “Scott, since you gave me that blessing, I received 2000 baht (around her week’s salary).” But then, she spoke a word that I didn’t understand, huay. I said to her “This is God showing you that he sees you, loves you, and wants you to know him, the God who created the world and gave life to all people wants you to be in relationship with him.” She was grateful and full of joy, saying that she was eager to learn more. I came home, positively buzzing about the interaction. I told Sarah about it and mentioned the word that I didn’t understand – huay. Sarah smiled at me and said, “Huay means ‘lottery’!” We had a good laugh, knowing the lottery isn’t usually something we would promote as God’s vessel for financial blessing! But who am I to say he didn’t choose to reveal his goodness to this lady, at this time, in this way? Regardless, this opened a fantastic opportunity for her to begin a journey of discovering how good Jesus is! _______________ Ecuador (provided by Darryl and Kelly Chambers) - God has moved in the hearts of the members of our three newest church plants. Most are young Christians who are still learning and growing in their faith. They have mostly been on the receiving end of ministry. During quarantine, we saw God move in such amazing ways to empower these young believers to step up into leadership roles in their families and communities. Because we could not hold public meetings, we saw many parents step up and take on the role of spiritual leader for their families, hosting their own family worship services, holding kids’ clubs in their homes for their children, and reaching out to their neighbors to hold outdoor evangelistic events. As they got involved in helping the churches with the distributing of goods to those in need, they began to recognize the needs of others, often giving the bags of goods that they had received to a family who was in greater need. They began seeking out those to whom they could provide assistance. Where our missionaries had taken the leadership roles before, they were now taking the role of encourager as their church members began to step out in faith to reach and help their communities. _______________ Northern Ireland (provided by Donald Coulter) - A ministry God has allowed me to partner with as a director/trustee is the Cherith Gospel Outreach. In the period from January 2017 until the end of February 2020, OMS UK sent a piece of Gospel literature through an initiative called “Into Every Community 4 Christ (NI),” administered by me into each of the 800,000 homes in N Ireland. Dick Keogh, of the Cherith Gospel Outreach Trust, wrote a wonderful Gospel booklet. Dick helped plant two churches and has been involved in evangelism over many years. We are currently distributing his booklet, No Longer Hoping, into the 1.79 million homes in the Republic of Ireland with the help of the Irish Evangelistic Band (IEB). This will be completed in the first half of this year. In all of these initiatives, a Bible and booklets on the way of salvation are sent out upon request thereafter. The wide scattering of much seed leads to a harvest. _______________ India (provided by Sundar Raj, serving as an ECC trainer) - This is a testimony of sister Sampurnamma, from a non-Christian background. Her husband suffered from serious stomach pain. The sister, not knowing what to do, took him to the hospital. The doctor treated him with medicine for the pain, but it did not work. The doctor then did a scan of his stomach, and the report was normal. But her husband was getting worse. Another person insisted she take him to church. So sister Sampuranamma brought her husband to church. We prayed for healing. God healed him completely, and after this, the whole family accepted Jesus Christ. They were baptized on January 3, 2021. All glory and honor belong to God! _______________ India (provided by M. Raju, an ECC worker in one Indian region) – Here is our report for the work in South India this year: Decisions for Christ 2,550 Baptisms 584 New House Churches 1,154 New Trainers 750 Leaders in Training 204 I am Second Bible Study 205 New Prayer Cell Groups 120 New Groups 162 With God’s help, I am working to motivate pastoral workers to identify two villages every month for outreach and new churches. _______________ India (provided by Virendra Khutey, ECC worker) - A brother, Dilip Kumar, is from a high caste and was totally paralyzed. His blood pressure and sugar were at very unhealthy levels. He was confined to his bed for three months. He was the only wage-earner in his family, with his illness leading to a financial crisis. One evening, his family members came to us, sharing their story with many tears. We then went to their home and prayed for him. God completely healed him, and now, we are in regular contact, and he rides his bike and brings his family to our church every Sunday. “You answer us with awesome deeds of righteousness, O God our Savior, the hope of all the ends of the earth . . .” (Psalm 65:5)

I've seen some wild ocean storms living in the Canadian Maritimes for nearly two decades. Yet, I always, always believed the storms would eventually end and calm will return. The current storm hitting the United States and the world has already caused horrific damage, with no clear sign of when the damage will stop so that we can get back to some sense of normalcy. We knew the political divide in the US, for example, had been brewing for years. As the November 2020 election neared, we expected upheaval. If Biden lost, radical leftist would storm the streets and riot. If Trump lost, right wing zealots would do the same. Well, it happened, and it might only get worse. I read so many posts on social media claiming, "This is not America!" Unfortunately, it's time for all of us to face reality and admit America is what it is!Why are we shocked? Our political leaders and law enforcement authorities have failed us miserably. Here's a rundown of the most shocking events of this week (Jan 4-10, 2021), a week like no other in my more than five decades of life. 1. Chinese Communists arrested the entire democratic opposition in Hong Kong, reversing any hope of a free and fair election. You can read more about that from the Wall Street Journal . However, what seems to be more shocking is the lack of attention and interest from mainstream media. 2. Donald Trump, the outgoing President of the USA, held a protest rally down the street while US Congress met to certify electoral college results in favor of Joe Biden. 3. US citizens (pro trump folks and likely Antifa, BLM and other rioters) easily stormed The People's House, the Sacred Temple of Democracy, while the electoral college was being certified. Our elected politicians cowered in fear, running for their lives . Civilians and one law enforcement died. 4. Big Tech Businesses Twitter, Facebook, Google, Apple, and Amazon removed a competitor, Parler, from their platforms and censored the speech of millions of American citizens, citing violations of community standards. On Saturday, unfortunately, the most trending hashtag on Twitter was #hangmikepence. Really, Big Tech? 5. The American Civil Liberties Union seems to be the lone voice in sounding the alarm of Big Tech's censorship. Yes, that's shocking, because the ACLU is so partisan and favors Progressives. My bible readings this week have brought to attention one key verse, "Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, 4 not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others" (Philippians 2: 3-4). May this key verse guide my thoughts, words, and actions in the coming weeks and months.