Men's retreat and one thing you can't do...

Hey fellow laborers and prayer partners! (01-17-08)

As most of you already know, we aren’t expecting to be downtown tomorrow evening, because we are expecting to be at the men’s retreat at Metro Life. But, we are expecting to be downtown next week as usual. We are going to miss not being down there this week!

(Steven’s update)
Well, another week has gone by. I (Steven) have been reading at Mark Cahill’s book, ‘One Thing You Can’t Do in Heaven’ Wow! It’s really good… Mark has been sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ through conversations several years. Mark grew up playing basketball, including being on Charles Barclay’s team. Mark has been good friends with Charles and keeps challenging Charles to give his whole life to Christ and to follow Him with all his heart, but Charles is apparently reluctant… But anyway, God finally got Mark’s attention several years ago, and Mark gave his life to Christ – completely sold out to be a bold, effective servant of Jesus Christ. If you ever get to hear Mark speak, I encourage you to do your best to get there – incredible teaching of God’s Word and his testimonies. You can find some of Mark’s audio messages online – youtube has some. We got some full-length messages from www.ChristianWorldviewNetwork.com, but that’s a paid-subscription thing that is well worth it I might add! Back to ‘One Thing You Can’t Do in Heaven’ ~ In 3 days, I’ve read to page 80 in my ‘spare time’ – it’s a good book! A couple highlights from it, though there are many good points:

Ø As Christians, we have a unique opportunity. We not only care about people, but those who follow Christ are also learning to care about where a person will spend eternity and how it will go for them. That is unique. Those who think from the world’s carnal-selfish perspective will likely ask the people they care about, how their finances are doing, if their families are in good health, etc. Only a Christian will care about the person’s soul and their soul’s future. The surprising part here is – that means a whole lot to people when they know you not only care about them as a person, but you even care where they will spend eternity. Mark points out (as do others) that people constantly (consciously or sub-consciously) think about death and either think about where they will spend eternity or they avoid it because the unknown scares them. Mark points out that we as Christians obviously aren’t scared because we have the Creator’s handbook and living Letter – the Bible. God’s Word tells us about the two places people go after death and how to make sure we go to Heaven. Those are answers people will appreciate hearing about when they realize that you care about their eternity.

Ø Mark also points out that if we can’t do anything else in a conversation, there is one thing we ought to do – mention to the person(s) we are talking to about how death is un-escapable and remind them that eternity is much longer than this life, so we ought to get ready here and now. If that leads to conversation – great! If not, then pray that God won’t let them forget that thought and that He will use others to tell them more.

Ø Mark also tells that when he gets up in the morning, he will pray that God will arrange who He wants him to talk to, and then Mark says that he will engage with those in his path as though they are a new-found friend he hasn’t met. Kind of an interesting perspective. I plan to put that more into practice!...

There are more things, but those were some highlights and I wish I had time to tell you some of the stories! Really good stuff….

(You can buy ‘One Thing You Can’t Do in Heaven’ and Mark’s newest book, ‘One Heartbeat Away’ online. We got ‘One Thing You Can’t Do in Heaven’ from www.livingwaters.com, but we had to buy ‘One Heartbeat Away’ from www.amazon.com for 10 each, plus change – we chose the free shipping option because we bought more than $25…)

This week, God blessed us with a lot of good conversations! It was so much fun, but always challenging of course.

Some of the YWAM team joined us this past week and we got to meet some of the new team that is here for training for a couple of months. Our friend, Bart, was there and he brought his friend Blake, who also preached some. Sean Kelsey joined dad and they apparently had some really good conversations!

I talked to a group of teens that turned out to be a gang… interesting conversation. They all gathered around me to take the ‘Smart Card’ test and then most of them stood around and listened while I talked with two of them. I had the opportunity to give each of them a tract and take them through the 10 Commandments before they wandered off. I know their doing some thinking. Please join me in praying that God will convict their hearts and show them how they need to commit their lives to Him.

Mom and I also got to talk with 4 guys who listened and interacted, and seemed to be taking it more seriously that if they died, they would spend eternity in Hell. I’m praying God keeps bringing that thought to their minds until they repent and follow Christ with all their hearts.

We also had the opportunity to meet one of the local YWAM leaders – Rob. It was good to talk to him and get to know him a little. Also, Rob got to use the flipchart for the first time. A couple of guys walked up and asked about the flipchart, so they went through it and apparently had a great conversation!

(note from Paul)
Paul wishes he had time to add to this update, since he had some really good stories from last Friday. He’s taking an electrical class, which is occupying his evenings. Homework – such fun! ~ : )

As always, we so much appreciate your prayers! God has been showing us more and more opportunities to share the gospel and God’s truth throughout the weeks, so we wanted to say thank you to our prayer partners for your part! We are praying that God uses each of you where He has you to talk to those He brings across your path!

Your friends, and fellow laborers in the harvest,
David, Barbara, Steven and Paul