De or Re Construction

Proverbs 16:8-9 “Better is a little with righteousness, than much gain with injustice. In his heart a man will plan his course, but the LORD determines his steps.”

These verses, these promises and truth of scripture, have been sustaining me the past two weeks. I have had to hold close to these promises as our lives, plans, and calling has been deconstructed around me. It has been extremely difficult but most times, as Christians and leaders, we are called to make difficult choices. These choices look foolish or incomprehensible to those without the grace of Christ in their life, I am not entirely sure that I understand all of the on goings, but another promise of scripture rings true, “Because of the LORD’s great love we are not consumed, for His compassions never fail they are new every morning.” So, I ask to receive some grace from you as all of this is reveled. We need your prayers and support now more than ever over the past year.

As of now we are officially not going to Rome to plant churches with Avant Ministries. There were a number of factors that went into that decision, some having to do with my giftedness for ministry and what my calling is or should be, some related to our team and a number of issues that we had, and some personal. We are sill missionaries with Avant and are praying about several options for our continued ministry with them and missions. I realize that those are some very generic terms, so allow me to add a little substance to each of those thoughts, however, this will be a synopsis; words are hard to describe the gravity of the last year and how we got to this point. If you have questions please e-mail or call me so we can talk more.

All of you who know me or have worked with me have known that youth ministry is something that I am truly passionate about. I love working with kids and teens to get them pointed toward a direction that will lead to them know Jesus Christ. This was why I went to Grace University, to work in youth. As we walked in faith, God did not allow for a job in that area. We eventually went to missions as we felt God moving us that way, but part of both Renee and I still wanted to minister to teens. We thought that we would just incorporate this into our church planting efforts but we have been informed that is not the most effective way of planting a church. That is not to say that we could not work with teens, but making it a main component of church planting would be difficult. 

Our team was unique in many aspects, most of them made it hard to lead out effectively. We were the first team that Avant ever had go through COP at the same time in July of 2010. By the end of 2010 we had lost one couple and one single from our original team. We did not get that team fully back until August of 2011. Our team training date had been delayed four different times due to the changes within our team structure, another first at Avant. There were personal/spiritual differences that resulted in conflict that was hard to overcome without team training, where most of those things are brought out. We had already been delayed as a team from Jan. 2012 to summer of 2012 and with our team, in general, being new into fund raising or having struggles making benchmarks needed to leave on time; we most likely would have been delayed again.  The potential delay we thought would be unwise stewardship for those who have already been supporting us.

The thought of delay lead to some very personal choices about our family, schooling, and how our kids would operate in a bi-cultural setting. Delaying would have pushed our time on the field with our kids shorter and recently both have expressed interest in coming back to Lincoln Christian for their senior year making the transition to college easier for them, but hard for me and mom three thousand miles away in Rome. I was separated from family during my senior year and had a chance to minister to a young man who also went through that experience; both of which were not great for the overall health of the families involved. After a lot of family discussions we knew delaying would absolutely make that transition harder.

Taking all of those factors into consideration, I made a hard decision to dissolve our team by stepping down as leader. This allowed Avant, our family, and our teammates to move in separate new directions. It also allowed for us to find a need within Avant that fits closer to our gifts and time frame. Please pray for us as we consider the following options, Echo Ranch Bible Camp in Alaska or Black Forrest Academy in Germany as a dorm host family. We hope the LORD will provide clear direction soon, and that by January we can communicate to all of you the direction we will be going. The uncertainty is rather hard but we are clinging to the promises. This is not a deconstruction, but rather a reconstruction.

I Love Music Monday!

I dig this song, it's has such a beautiful message of who God is and/or should be in our lives. Some days I lose focus on seeking Him and His heart for me. What if I lived everyday unsatisfied or alright until I found Who HE is? How much different would my life look, would I settle for a mundane existence of just being or would Who HE is draw me to some response? How about you? Have you found your Creator, Maker, Father, Savior, Healer, Redeemer today? 

Journeys

Lincoln Christian Drama Presents:

Journeys

High School One Act – “A Time to Go Home”

Junior High Oral Interpretations of Scripture

“The Psalms of Accent & selections from Ecclesiastes”

Friday October 28^th, 2011 & Saturday October 29^th, 2011

Doors at 6:30 PM; Curtain opens at 7:00 PM

Lincoln Christian School

5801 South 84^th St. Lincoln, NE 68516

Tickets $5.00, $3.00 for Students 

For Tickets call 402-488-8888 or available at the door

Ecclesiastes 12:13 “The end of the matter; all has been heard. Fear God and keep His commandments, for this is the whole duty of man.” 

Music Monday - POD

Youth of the Nation by POD


This is an older song but a good one. It fits well with the One Act play I am directing right now. I have made it my unofficial theme song for this play. I hope you all enjoy it too!

Music Monday III

I dig this song. It is so foundational in its message, but it is essentially a modern version of the Apostle's Creed and the Lord's Prayer. To which I say "AAAAAMMEEEN!"

Music Monday - Optimistic

This song is from one of my very favorite secular bands, Jimmy Eat World. Today I am feeling very optimistic about starting drama practice, my ministry, and life in general. The video was taken from youtube, I like the feel of the unknown in it. I posted the lyrics for the song too!

I, I always believed in futures
I hope for better in November
I try the same losing lucky numbers
It could be a cold night for a lifetime
Hey now, you can't keeping saying endlessly
My darling, how long until this affects me?

Say hello to good times
Trade up for the fast ride
We close our eyes while the nickel and dime
Take the streets completely.

I, I always could count on futures
That things would look up, and they look up
Why is it so hard to find balance
Between living decent and the cold and real
Hey now, what is it you think you see?
My darling, now's the time to disgaree.

Say hello to good times
Trade up for the fast ride
We close our eyes while the nickel and dime
Take the streets completely.

Hey now, the past is told by those who win
My darling, what matters is what hasn't been
Hey now, we're wide awake and we're thinking
My darling, believe your voice can mean something.

Say hello to good times
Trade up for the fast ride
We close our eyes while the nickel and dime
Take the streets completely.

We close our eyes while the nickel and dime
Take the streets completely.

How to do a spaghetti feed

Today, I helped Crete Berean and the Crete Ministerial Association with a spaghetti feed. The goal was a fundraiser for Crete Cares where a number of churches in Crete pool resources to help take care of some of their citizens in need. We fed about 150 people over the course of an hour and a half.

Shopping list:

18 - 32oz cans of crushed tomato or tomato puree ( I used about half of each)
18 - 12oz cans of tomato paste
15 - medium white onions
500 ml of extra virgin olive oil
3 - large bulbs of garlic
3 lbs. of Italian sausage ( just enough to add some flavor)
1/4 cup of red balsamic vinegar

Spices - basil, oregano, crushed red pepper, salt, pepper, bay leaves, and sugar

25 lbs. of pasta (I use Barilla - thick spaghetti)

(Salt for water, extra 750 mL of e.v.o.o. to keep pasta from sticking)

You will need a kitchen big enough to do some serious cooking, two large roasting pans and several 10 gallon stock pots. You will also need about 3-6 helpers.

I made the sauce yesterday. Chop half of the onions. Saute (low and slow)  in olive oil with a little salt and 1/4 cup of sugar. Let get carmel color and soft. Add half of the balsamic vinegar and half of the garlic peeled and chopped. Saute for another two minutes.

Open half of the cans of tomatoes and put into roaster (start with paste so it splatters less) add half a can of water for each can of puree or crushed tomatoes. Add in sugar, salt, basil, oregano, red pepper, and bay leaves to taste. Stir with wooden spoon until well blended and consistent in thickness.  Add in cooked onions with out draining. Stir more.

Cook half of sausage in saute pan and pour into sauce without draining. stir, stir stir! Repeat for second batch. Simmer on 200 degrees for at least 8 hours stirring every so often.

Follow directions for pasta as on box - 5 lbs pasta per stock pot (it will take a long time to get that amount of water up to boil; also it will take longer to cook, so begin to check at prescribed time). Drain and pour a little Olive oil on pasta after putting into a large bowl to serve. Assembly line serving - two people on pasta and plate, one on sauce! Enjoy!

Music Monday

I am starting a new feature; I love music and I want to share with all of you what I have been listening to or a song that sums up the past week or expectations for next week.  I will post a new Music Monday song every week ( or a least try too), it will not always be sacred nor will it always be secular but I hope it will always be tasteful and honest to how I have been feeling or what I am looking forward to. 

The past few weeks I have just been in love with this song. I had heard it before but when it was played at the Leadership summit I attended a few weeks back it has been stuck in my head and heart. I hope you enjoy it too! 

Processing

I feel like a hard drive that is bogged down in the process of defragmenting. This week at the SYIS conference was great, Renee and I learned a lot of valuable skills and had some time to reflect on a variety of topics in dealing with others. That being said; I am overfull, like a sponge that is supersaturated. I need some time to process everything that I have heard, thought, and learned. But before I do I wanted to let you know that I am still here. I haven't posted for a week and felt like I should let my readers know that I realize  I haven't posted for a while.

I also wanted to say thanks to everyone who prayed for us while we were in KC. For the first time we did not have a huge concern looming overhead back home while we away. I would also like to thank our friends and family that helped take care of the kids so we didn't have to pull them out of school. Love you guys and you know who you are, we could not do this without you.

I am going to start a continuing theme thread of posts starting on Monday next week as well as get you all more info on the past week. Stay tuned.

Tick-tock!

Ecclesiastes 3

A Time for Everything

 ¹ There is a time for everything, 
   and a season for every activity under the heavens:

 ² a time to be born and a time to die,
   a time to plant and a time to uproot,
 ³ a time to kill and a time to heal,
   a time to tear down and a time to build,
 ⁴ a time to weep and a time to laugh,
   a time to mourn and a time to dance,
 ⁵ a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them,
   a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing,
 ⁶ a time to search and a time to give up,
   a time to keep and a time to throw away,
 ⁷ a time to tear and a time to mend,
   a time to be silent and a time to speak,
 ⁸ a time to love and a time to hate,
   a time for war and a time for peace.

 ⁹ What do workers gain from their toil? 

Just Saying...... 
It may seem this season will last forever, but it won't! 

Shhhhh - It's a secret!

This is a special post, to all of the people that are interested to know more about what the Drama Dept. at Lincoln Christian School will be doing this fall. As you all know my family and I are in the process of beginning our journey into full time ministry on the mission field. As I thought about the walk that we are on I was inspired by that word....Journeys!

I began to think and pray about some other Journeys that the students could go on through the fall Dramas. JOURNEYS will be the theme for the fall production.

But that does not answer the question, what are the plays?

A Time to Go Home is a drama in one act that will be put on by the HS students. This is an emotionally charged piece that examines the incomplete lives of 4 students after they are tragically killed in a bus crash. It is the story of their last Journey into the unknown. We will also be taking this one act to contest (both conference and district)!

The Jr. High students will be taking two Journeys into the Old Testament. They will do an oral interpretation on The Psalms of Ascent (Psalms 120-134). These are songs the children of Israel would remember as they made their pilgrimage to the temple for one of the high Festivals or they would say as they walked up the stairs to the temple.  We will also examine the Journey of the Teacher with selections from the Book of Ecclesiastes who sought many things on his journey but could only find one thing that truly mattered.  Both of these will be done in a "chorus" style of OID complete with masks.

Looking forward to seeing you at Open House and Drama Kick Off night on the 25th!

Seriously PRAY!

So this is a short blog to ask for all of you guys to pray for us; on Aug. 28th we head down to Avant for training and every time we have been there, we have come under fire -

COP July 2010 - My grandmother died while we were in KC, we had to come home for the funeral and return for the end of our training.

Team Lead Training; Feb. 2011 - We took our kids with us, Caleb was so very sick for the whole week!

COP July 2011 - We went down to meet the new Missionary appointees and teach a devotional time; Renee's dad ended up sick and going into the hospital.

So please pray for us. Also pray for our friends Ken and Teresa and Renee's Mom and Dad as they are going to help watch our kids while we are gone, so they don't have to miss school.

Leadership Summit = Inspiration!

I had a chance to go to a simulcast of Willow Creek's Leadership summit. (For those who are unfamiliar Willow Creek is a huge church in the suburbs of Chicago, IL & their leadership summit is put on annually with speakers ranging for  Mega-church pastors, to high end business consultants, to CEO's). I love to hear about leadership and learn some of the newest thoughts on the subject. While at Grace U. I had a prof. that was particularly fond of this conference and would regularly bring in DVD's from previous shows and have our class interact with the materials. It was cool to see the information as it was happening instead of dissecting after the fact. I was impressed by one particular story; and I bought the guy's book immediately as it has a number of parallels to what we are going to do Rome.

"Sun Stand Still " by Steven Furtick is a book about what he terms "Audacious Faith" and daring to ask God for the impossiable. What I found most intriguing was the short version of his story. Five years ago he and his wife along with a few other families decided that they were going to plant a church. Their prayer was to reach 1,000 people for Christ in the first year. They moved to a town where they had no contacts and little chance for success (they actually decided that God was calling them to Charlotte which is one of the most over-churched areas in the USA) as most new church plants in that area are closed within three years. They were told by other Christians in the area to consider renting as they would not be successful. His vision to the team her was leading was " I want to know what it means to live life and do ministry at the speed of God. I want to see God do so much so fast that the world will have to take note ." AMEN! Five years later (same time frame as our time in Rome) his church is over 6,000 people and listed as one of the fastest growing churches in nation by Outreach Magazine.

I am inspired by a group of people that affect a measurable change for God in an area. I am more impressed by this young man's humility and willingness to give all the honor and credit to God! I am excited to read more about his vision of ministry and seeing what will be applicable to our ministry in Rome! Thanks to Ken Roeloffs and LBC for the invite!

EPIC FAIL!

Sorry guys. When I copied our August newsletter into a PDF and copy; paste it in to my blog last night it really worked. NOW not so much! If you would like to see it and didn't get it e-mailed from me already; send me an e-mail and I will forward it to you!

August Newsletter!

Prayer & Praise

Prayer & Praise

This page is a way for us to communicate our specific prayer needs to you. I will change these often and leave updates for ongoing prayer needs!

* Continue to pray for City Impact and our building campaign efforts!  Our Hopes and Dreams fundraiser on Oct. 29th, 2012 will be critical for us to complete our goals!

* Pray for Nicole, our missionary "sister" who is being prepared and shaped to go on the field to Africa! Specifically for her fiances as she is getting prepared for language school this winter!

* Pray fro Grayson & Eryn as they continue to seek the Lord's direction for their ministry & for the strengthening of this family and marriage!

* Rejoice with  Bud and us!  He is able to put wight on his leg and is walking!  His healing is right on schedule and he is getting stronger each day!

* Praise God for LCS drama; I have accepted the Assistant Director/Speech Team position! I will be directing the fall One Act/ Jr. High play as well as helping with other productions...with the talented Mrs. Freeman. We will have auditions next week and will be casting for One-Act and Jr. High productions.

* Pray for upcoming ILA year. There are still plenty of details to nail down before the end of our current hiatus. Pray for the new volunteers! Pray for the students! Pray that more students will come to see what is going on!

* Pray for the children who will be in our home. I am convinced that God has children for us that are in horrible circumstances even now, that would put them in the foster care system...pray that there hearts would be protected!

* Pray for Caleb and all of the students in fall sports, that they compete well and are safe.

Also I want to pray for all of you! If you need prayer please leave me a comment below or send an e-mail to me at mjohnson@cityimpact.org .

Perspectives

We live in a world and time where our individual perspective sets a relative truth for each one of us. Evidence for this fact can been seen by looking at our common sayings - "perception is reality" or "whatever works for you as long as no one gets hurt"; or movies "What I said (to you about your father) is true, from a certain point of view" - Obi-Wan Kenboi, Star Wars 1977. While living in relativity seems like a good thing as it holds us to be less accountable than what we should be, it is a slippery slope down a path of destruction.
There is in fact a right and a wrong. I have been reading in the Old Testament, Book of Judges and a repeating them though out the Book is something to the fact of  "Israel did evil in the eyes of the Lord" or "In that time Israel had no king, everyone did what was right in his own eyes." What I am starkly reminded of is the fact that there is a yes / no; black/white; right/wrong; in most situations. Those absolutes are set within all of us by our creator! If we listen and are honest most everyone (even young children) can differentiate good from bad and it is not negotiable dependant on our perspective. I think of the mountain that I climbed last week, looking at it from the ground it was rather imposing but from an airplane it would not seem as majestic; however the change in perspective dose not change the enormity of the mountain. It is still a mountain and still huge!
The task set before my family and the team we are serving on, to plant a national believing church in the nation of Italy. The task seems monumental and I am sure at some point in time while in the midst of it that perspective may change. It will seem like progress is being made and that success in our endeavor will come, but that will not change the fact that it is purely amazing.
As a Christian my perspective has changed as I try to take one the eyes of my savior. I try to envision a situation through His eyes. While I can see things as Christ does, it does not change the fact that there are still things that are good/bad. The difference should come in the response to those situations as we choose to operate in grace as grace has been freely given. But Jesus, being full of perfect grace, was not unwilling or afraid to call out impropriety. His perspective was always focused on the advancement of God's will being done on the earth as should ours be!

Climbing back down the mountain

As I sit here writing, having just returned from Dillon, CO and Mt. Quandary with it's 14,225 feet of elevation, I am forced to take inventory of my body. My legs feel all cramped up, my feet have several blisters, and my nose has 2nd degree burns from the sun (nasty blisters and all) but I feel great! I enjoyed spending time with my son, my friends from Omaha, and meeting new guys, all of them were there to grow closer to Christ and to summit a 14K peak! Here are some of the highlights:

* About 400 feet from the top of the mountain I was done.....Caleb had already been up to the top and was on his way back down. He was relaxing with a few other men that had already been up to the top. They saw the strain I was in, gave me some extra food and water, and tons of encouragement! It took 15 min. but I was able to summit!

* God working through our group of men. We worked together to carry a fourteen year old young man with cerebral palsy up to the top of the mountain! His story was all over the mountain that day and our group had a chance to show Christ to everyone else that was climbing that day!

* Caleb and I were talking with one of our former pastor's, who was also a MK. As we were talking he ministered to our hearts. He knew Italy, as is most of Europe, is post-Christian and he was able to encourage Caleb on his journey as a MK!

* Driving through the mountains was spectacular! Views were unbelievable; they were breathtaking at every turn!

* Bunked with Scott, Gary, Cameron, and Caleb - it was great! We had a fire going 15 min. after getting there and kept it going almost the whole time! Had to restart it after being gone for for the whole day of climbing but other than that it was lit for four days.

* I got a chance to act with Ty.... we have done a ton of stuff together over the years and it was fun to work with him again, even though we didn't get a chance to practice before hand!

* We fished for two days and didn't catch a thing....but had a great time anyway!

* I had a chance to lead a time of prayer with 20+ guys including Caleb.

* Taking a shower at Breckenridge Rec. Center after 3 days with no shower facilities!

Climbing a Mountian

Caleb and I are going to Colorado today on a men's retreat. We have been preparing for this for several months (years if you ask some of the guys we are going with that have been trying to get me to go with for at least that long). I look forward reconnecting with these men that were a part of my life for many years. I look forward to the challenge of making it to the top of the summit. I will also be leading these men on a prayer walk and perhaps some other fun surprises.

I feel like the fortitude that it will take will be similar (although in a smaller scope) to the journey we have been on for the past year. When I first take a look at the challenge ahead of me I will no doubt be in awe of the task before me. As I begin, I start the only way that seems reasonable by putting one foot in front of the other. There will be time where it will be incredibly difficult, but what will keep me going is both the goal set before me and the camaraderie of those walking beside me. The encouragement of the men surrounding me and their past experience in tackling a challenge like this will help me to triumph!

I look forward to the time that I will spend with this Band of Brothers!

Re-charge

It is hard to believe I have been in this process of deputation for a whole year. This is most certainly the hardest thing God has ever had us walk through! I am anxiously looking forward to being in Italy in less than a year, presenting the Gospel to the lost in the city of Rome. This past week Renee and I had opportunity to go to mission agency's headquarters/ training center to meet with the new candidates that are going trough training to take the Gospel to other parts of the world. I was there to lead a devotional study time and share our vision of reaching the lost in Italy (hopefully find the missing piece for our team). I was there to be a blessing to these new candidates and I was completely surprised by what God did to recharge me while I was there.
I was able to spend time with many of the HQ staff members during their down time or while they were not teaching the new group. I walked away with a better understanding of the mission of the office! These are men and women who will stop at nothing to make sure our mission, as well as the mission of all of the others in the field are fruitful. They desire to see God's glory in all corners of the world and are committed to making sure we have all of the tools we need to succeed. I am so grateful that they all took time to get to know us better and to share some of the insights that they have learned from being out on the field themselves.
I want to share some of the highlights:

* Our mission is to mobilize the church. Raising money is a by-product  of that mobilization! Get the church excited about the mission and God's vision of saving the lost; the money will come!

* You must develop a taste for cappuccino or espresso. Italians will not understand you if you don't drink coffee and it is not like Starbucks .... one of our staff members spent many years in Italy and can make authentic Italian style drinks.

*Renee and I will be taking our survey trip to Rome in late November and early December; we are on the board!

*We should be working on our Italian - suggestion of reaching out to the University to see if they have international students who help tutor us!

*John (book in the Bible) is Giovanni in Italian!

* Behind every missionary is countless people that make it possible for them to be sharing God's word: from supporters, to prayer intercessors, to support staff, and church members it is about God's people banding together to reach others with the Gospel!

Office Space

I have found the last two weeks really hard to get motivated. It is odd to be at home all of the time. I know that I have a million things that I should be doing; fundraising, training for Colorado, trimming down extra stuff for our sale, or updating my blog but for whatever reason being at home just makes me want to just be.

I think I need an office! A place where I can work away from the distractions of ESPN or PS3.

I have gotten a few things accomplished. I contacted my school, Grace University and will enroll this fall to get my degree finished before we leave for the field! I have made an appointment for my daughter to get her eyes checked before school starts. I have picked out the play that I will direct at Lincoln Christian this fall but still have to find one for Jr. High. This week I will be going to Avant to meet the new missionary candidates and lead a devotional time with them. Also we will spend some time with our teammates Meg & Josh.

Regardless of these things done, I need a place where I can focus and get some work done. And I believe you have my stapler....

Short Fuse

I love the Forth of July! My son Caleb and I have a blast (no pun intended) playing with fireworks, army men, and an ill fated G.I. Joe that by the end of the night has seen better days. This year our family spent time with our friend Elizabeth and her family. This is a long standing tradition, Renee and Elizabeth grew up across the street from one another. The first time I met Renee's eldest brothers was at Elizabeth's childhood home with her parents hosting. Generally speaking, for the past 15 years we have been together on this holiday. Elizabeth and her family were some of our first and most faithful supporters. As always the food and company were great. The fireworks were loud, abundant, and beautiful (this year we got lanterns- like in the movie Tangled). It was an epic day.
But there was one moment, after all of the other guests had left. We were sitting and talking with Elizabeth and her parents..... we realized this was our last 4th of July gathering for sometime. We have every intention of being in Rome next year at this time. For a moment we all grieved. We love this family, and they love us. They have been a huge part of our life, Elizabeth has lived with us, Mollie (her sister) was the first person to babysit our kids, Bob and Bev (Elizabeth's parents) are Faith's Godparents. Even though we are now spread out from Illinois to Colorado, we still see each other as often as we can. It was odd to think that next July 4th we would not be together. We will miss them terribly. A lot like the fireworks we lit the time for us to leave is burning away like a fuse.
That being said we are looking forward to the time that we will spend in Italy, making new traditions and new friends. I am praying that God will minister to our hearts on days like July 4th while we are over there and missing friends or family. I cannot wait to see what God will do with our team! I am so excited to meet the people that will one day make up the body of the church that we will plant. Maybe we can set off fireworks on a different day in Rome!

Don't worry.......

     The first month of being a full time missionary in deputation is quickly ending. If you have been following my blog, you will know that there were a lot of highlights. From camp to team time, guest preaching to America's great stories, family time to time with friends it was a great month!

     We also made good strides in our fundraising efforts. Camp was  exceptional, we connected with some friends who we had served with that committed to support us and we were able to speak as the featured missionaries. We raised about $700 for our mission from the offerings out there, awesome to see kids and cabin leaders wanting see God's Word advance. We also received an amazing gift from one of our supporters at the end of May that will allow us to continue full time support raising and we were completely humbled by their generosity! God has been so faithful this month and I just wanted to start this post by saying thank you to all of you. In fact you, (my audience) is at an all time high and I know that many of you are praying for me.

     There has been one thing gnawing in the back of of mind for the past month.......it has continued to grow larger over the course of the month. In the interest of full disclosure when I left Target, we lost our insurance benefits and I can not enroll in benefits at Avant until I meet a certain threshold of support. We are about 40% funded and need to be at 50%. I usually do not get to worried about much of anything, but I am concerned! God has called us to go and so we are being faithful. I know that He is always faithful to supply our needs. Would you consider giving to the Lord in support of us? I know God will keep us healthy, but the need is present!

Guest Preaching!

Readers,

I am excited to be guest preaching at Crete Berean Church this Sunday June 26, 2011. I will be talking about missions (of course), The Great Commission, and my family's journey. I am happy to announce that I had my usual pre-sermon sleepless night - last night as God though the Holy Spirit kept me up to work on finalizing the message. Crete Berean is our sending church and I am very excited for this opportunity.  If you are able to make it I would love to see you there. If not I would love your prayers.

Michael

Stormy Night

There was a huge storm blowing through the area tonight. I love sitting back and watching the shear power of many of these natural forces. The lighting dances and flashes brilliantly across a sky that has been discolored by massive angry clouds and the wind whips violently through the trees outside of my window, so much so I wonder if the ground is strong enough to hold it in! I love to watch storms. Then I turn on the news and I see that the same storm is causing power outages and severe  damage in other areas. I remember the people in places like Joplin and Tuscaloosa that have had their lives utterly destroyed by the same power that I am watching, and enjoying. How is that? Why do we find pleasure or enjoyment in something that is destructive? Is the power of the beauty more powerful than the power of destruction or just easier to focus on? Is there a false sense of safety that is equated to distance?

I think that there are many things in this life that are similar to this storm. Each of us struggle with something( food, alcohol, self image, too many video games, ect) that others would look at and find some beauty or joy. We can easily find ourselves flirting with a force that can destroy us by watching from a "safe" distance or without a personal experience of how destructive something can be. We find ourselves compelled to it.  Beauty can be deceptive and the real danger comes from forgetting that! There is an old saying that goes "if you play with fire your bound to get burned." Please be careful in this weather.

Closet Insanity!

It has been an interesting first week in full time support raising. Our daughter is off at camp, she will be home on Saturday! And while I have been working on strategy for fund raising, I have also been digging in to scripture for a up-coming guest preaching event, and performing several times for America's Great Stories. It has been a busy week!
But my largest challenge this week has been ripping into closets! Even though we pared down in 2009 when we moved from a home to an apartment, we still have so much stuff (honestly do I need both a blender with a food processor ad-on and a food processor?) We have books, clothes, and miscellaneous debris in various drawers and compartments all throughout  our home! Honestly I am one of the biggest techie geeks that I know, I found a whole bag of electronics cords that I have no idea what they are for! The rub is none of these things are going to Italy! I have to find all of it a new home! We are going to have a massive garage sale in July with all of the proceeds going to our start up costs (new furniture when we get to Italy) and we will be taking a free will offering for our mission. I will also be exploring how to sell items on e-bay and or craig list for those items that are a bit much for a yard sale (anyone interested in a trumpet or a Killzone PS jacket?) The prep work that is left to go is huge....so see you at the sale until then I will be sorting and sifting though our stuff!

The Hero Inside

The last week my family was at Maranatha Bible Camp in Maxwell, NE. We ministered to 140 fourth through sixth graders, (almost 230 when you include their counselors)  it was great! Our theme for the week was "The Hero Inside". Renee and I served as the featured missionaries and as a large group presenter for Prayer (teaching the discipline) and examining what the Bible had to say on the topic.

Our first night; the featured speaker asked the students who their Hero's are. One student said the "missionaries" are his hero. I was humbled....
A few days later I had the chance to talk with the students about my hero. I told them about our two youngest supporters: the first is a boy our son's age. He went on a retreat with his dad last year, and while there was convicted that he was dishonoring God by having too many distractions in his life. He talked with his dad after the trip and told him of an idea he had to get rid of some. He sold his video games; he gave all of the money away to God, some went to church and $100 came to our mission. Our other youngest supporter is a girl our daughter's age. She had a school project to raise money and part of her instructions were that she had to give away a potion of her proceeds to a ministry. I again was floored when a day later she handed me all of the money she made, saying "you need this more than I do".
I can see why Jesus said that we must have faith like a child! The children of the camp collected donations for us and the camp all week, they gathered almost $600 for our mission. These campers and these two kids are hero's, as well as all of our supporters. Without you we would not be able to bring the Gospel of Jesus to the lost in Italy!

Perfect ending?

Went to the baseball game tonight with our team mates. Our home team lost but it was dollar night (hot dogs, peanuts, and sodas) so we had a good time anyways. There were fireworks at the end of the game, nice presentation, and they were lit off from behind the side of the stadium that we were sitting on, at times it looked like they were right over our heads, beautiful! On the long walk back to the car; we saw some behavior that was not good. And for the first time our missionary team sprang into action! We acted with a sense of purpose and justice we were focused on a solitary goal; the safety of others. While it was good to see how we (as a team) will react in a difficult situation it was awful to see these circumstances going on in a public place. We live in a broken world and I pray that our team will be able to meet the challenges we will face with the same focus that we had tonight.

It's over.

My time with Target is officially done. I am not real sure how I feel right now, Wednesday is usually my day off, so it doesn't fell much different at this point in time but maybe in a few days..... I'll wake up and have the urge to ask, "Can I help you find something" or maybe have a strange need to put on a red shirt. I think as I contemplate it all now, the thing that I will miss most is the people that I work with. I have spent a third of my life over the past four years at two different stores; both of the stores have an average number of 110 employees plus turn over = 350 people that I have worked with. It's all just too strange, stay tuned for more.

This weekend; team time in KC, next week camp Maranatha! Lots to trick me into thinking it just a vacation!

I have a job!

Only four days left at Target....but I have a job! In fact, I have been trying to balance two for the last year, missions ( fund-raising for our time in Italy) and retail. They don't mix well together; one (retail) has been more immediate and has dominated my time. Coming home form closing the store five out of six nights, generally leaves little time to connect with all of you.
Over the last few weeks, I have made allusions to the fact that I will be leaving Target, but the time has come and is now! Our needs are not without substance, we have a lot of work to do in a very short time to make this thing work. We have been talking and praying with several great friends and family as we walked this decision. We feel like this is the right one but it is not without a huge dose of nervousness.
We are overjoyed, however, when we hear about how awesome God is when He is at work in the lives of His people. We met a couple at Avant in February when we were there for Team Lead training. They had recently taken a similar step into full time support raising. They had a long way to get to their goal and limited time as part of their team was already on the field. We just heard this past week, that they are 109% funded and leaving soon to plant churches in Europe.
This is my job to reach out to the lost and plant a church in Rome! Until I get there, my job is to get there!

No Power!

My wife's car wouldn't start on Friday morning, which was not particularly odd; we had a torrential down pour over the evening and for whatever reason Renee's car hates being wet (maybe it is part cat).  I was at a meeting when this was all going down. We have some great friends who came and got the kids for school, then tried to give her a jump start. When I returned from my morning coffee appointment, I found my friend and my neighbor looking under the hood of my wife's car. They had done some basic trouble shooting and tried cleaning the up the battery posts and cables, the car was trying to start but just would not turn over. After briefing me on the situation my neighbor had to take his leave. My friend and I decided to take the battery out and to the local part store to see if that was our problem.

The guy behind that counter looked at the battery and shakes his head. Then he looks at the date on the battery March of 2004 (seven years old) and shakes his head again. Before he even hooks it up to his machine, he says "this thing is deader than a dinosaur". His look of judgement saying, give me your man card, your privileges have been revoked. He proceeded to tell me that in our climate most automobile batteries last 3-5 years max. And I was lucky to have lasted this long.

All of that to say this: my wife's car a a systematic problem and it eventually ended with the battery being completely dead. It would not work anymore it had been utterly spent and was unable to operate the vehicle. The only way to fix this problem was to completely remove the battery and install one that is new and good.

I see many parallels to the human condition; we have a systematic problem and left unchecked it will leave us utterly dead. This problem leaves us unable to operate in the way which we are created to work.  The only solution is to remove it and install something that is new and good!
And just like the battery in my wife's car, we have no power to do this on our own.

Filling the gaps........

As we are in the process of making big decisions, I am continually blown away by God's provision and the doors that He opens in order for me to be faithful! If I had a title for the past few weeks, I would have to say that it is opportunities  abound! This summer and fall is going to be filled with great ministry that will shape my ability to minister to others and that will allow me to work in areas of strength.

First up, our family was a last minute addition to Camp Maranatha junior camp staff. This is a blast and something that we have been a part of for four of the past five years, we had a chance to minister there last year but we were at Avant for training. I have been asked to lead a devotional time/ bible study. I will work with a dear brother on some skits/ videos and work with a great group of kids from Lincoln Christian (as well as other schools)! So looking forward to our time in Western Nebraska!

Next, I have been asked to be a story teller for  America's Great Stories, a summer out reach to local Lincoln kids. I will be playing General Joshua L. Chamberlain a civil war veteran who lead the Union forces during the battle for "Little Round Top" a key turning point for the North. He studied theology and was preparing for the mission field (ironically enough)! This outreach already has over 500 students signed up to come to the story telling sessions and I will get the chance to share my missionary journey with all of the other volunteers that are a part of this ministry!

I plan on taking my son to Colorado for the Peak Challenge, this is group of guys from my old church that get together to take on climbing (up a trail not up a rock face) a 13K+ summit. These are men that I had great fellowship with for many years of my life. I was in Life Groups, Bible studies, and prayer partners with them. Our sons grew up together and I am excited to be taking them with us. It should be awesome!  

Finally (chronologically, not in terms of importance) I have been asked to help direct the fall play at Lincoln Christian. Our wonderful teacher is due to have a baby just two weeks before school starts and will not be able to take on the full season. I am so excited to work with these kids again ( I volunteered a lot of time this year) and to get the chance to coach them up! This will eventually be the play that they take to One Act competition. This is truly a dream come true for me and I cannot wait!

I pray that I will learn valuable lessons that will shape and equip me into the type of missionary that God has designed me to be! As I close the door on this chapter of my life and move to the next I am amazed at how God is filling the gaps.....

Running?

Today was filled with many things that had to get checked off of the list..... I had a doctors appointment for my yearly physical ( cholesterol, blood pressure, and everything else checked out great), then I had a meeting at the kids school to talk about tuition for the next year ( praying that the school and I are on the same page), third handed talked to a team member about support ( Renee was actually talking I was eavesdropping), talked to my father in law, went shopping for mother's day, and had Oasis tonight!
I am also coming off my closing weekend and haven't connected with my family for a week ( we haven't had dinner together since last Tuesday). I feel like I have been running a race, without getting very far! I made an executive decision for our family tonight; No OASIS and Family TIME! We watched American Idol and had a great dinner; then we went for a run (of course)! It was awesome to just spend some time together.
I have been running in my mind quite a bit recently too. As you read in my last blog I am starting to feel the pinch of running out of time, and feeling like I need to be more focused on getting the funds we need raised so that we can get to the field. I feel that this is the most important race that I need to be running, but with work and other schedules it is a race that I have been jogging. I am feeling that I need to step away from my current job, but the uncertainty of the ramifications of that decision has left me sleepless several times the past few weeks.
Please be praying for us, that our direction would be clear and that we are running the race God has laid before  us.

T-minus 56 weeks!

My co-worker went to watch the space shuttle launch this past week. As I reflected on the journey we are on, I wonder if we are going through some of the same feelings that an astronaut would just before launch. We have about 56 weeks before we depart for our journey to Italy to plant a church; as I think about that number it feels like both an eternity and an instant all at the same time. Much like that astronaut we have been preparing for this journey for a long time, but in the short time leading up to the launch there is still much to accomplish.

God has blessed us greatly in our fundraising efforts. We have raised almost 40% of our monthly need and our donors have been so faithful in their giving. We are so grateful to God and those who are equipping us to go. We do still have a fair amount of work to do but with God doing the preparations we are confidant that we will get there. As we send this letter out, we are hoping to meet with each of you in the very near future and will be calling you soon to talk about setting up a time to talk.

We had a chance to talk with a small group of parents from our kids’ school. It was great to share our story and a short message with them. If we have a chance to come and speak at your small group or Bible study it is a great forum to share and meet believers that are passionate about missions. Would you consider praying about us coming and sharing our story with your group?

Finally, we wanted to share some ways to keep in contact with us. Our e-mail address is listed on the side of this letter; we are trying to compile a list of e-mail addresses for each of you if you could e-mail us it would help tremendously.  We now have a Skype account; mixedupsocks is our screen name, if you have a Skype please include that information into your e-mail. Also Renee and I both have started a blog mine is koinoiawithmichael.blogspot.com and Renee’s is paxromanaiv.blogspot.com although I should admit that Renee is much better at updating her blog than I am.

            Please know that as we send this letter out to you, that we are praying for everyone who receives it. Also we would love all of you to be praying for us! We look forward to talking with you all soon, God Bless!

In Christ’s Peace,

Michael & Renee Johnson

6 Feet away; 2 or 3 feet short!

In the 12th chapter of Paul's first letter to the Corinthians; Paul uses the image of a body as a parallel to the group of believers know as the church. It is this imagery that I would like to explore in this writing.

I have heard a trend in the US church today that goes something like, "We are all missionaries, so let's be missionaries where we are at." While this seems like a well intentioned thought; I am not sure that it is entirely accurate. It is undeniable in looking at the Great Commission passages that the entire church is responsible to carry out the task of spreading His church "to the ends of the earth".  The fact of Corinthians 12 is there is one body with many parts and not all of those parts are the same otherwise the body would not operate the way it needs to. Not everyone is a "missionary", but we all have a part to play in the mission. Another way of saying it would be "all Christians are called to ministry", so we are all pastors or all elders. While this is a great thought, it simply isn't true. I am not saying that the position of a missionary is "better" than any other part of the body of Christ, it i just unique in its purpose. Most importantly it is a part that cannot exist outside or independently of the rest of the Body but rather is interdependent on the rest of the Body! No Body = no missionaries; everyone is a missionary = no Body!

Right now I am looking at the missionary as a foot; the part that is mobile, the part that goes. We have a team of 6 adults ( and two great kids) that have signed on to be feet on our team. But we are looking for  two or three more feet to join us (maybe some more kid feet too). We know that God knows who they are and has been preparing them for this journey, we are praying that they will be faithful to answer.

We are also diving into fundraising a bit heavier this month. I cannot communicate to all of you how much we need the Body of Christ to respond to the calling God has placed in our lives. As we send out letters this month; I would ask you to consider what your role within the Body is. Without legs, bones, or muscles the feet cannot go anywhere.

Date Day

I love Wednesdays. It is my usual day off work and it is the day that my wife and I have set aside as our date day. It is not that we do anything extravagant; we generally run some errands, sometimes we go to the grocery store, but we almost always go out to eat. It is a time that we have set aside each week to focus on our relationship, we can sit together and chat. I think that it is a practice that all married couples should look into. I need that time to connect with her and I think she needs it too.

It's funny - this week life gave us a monkey wrench in the form of a snow day. With the kids being home we didn't get our usual date; although some of the same errands had to be run! And I missed that time! That is not to say the time home as a family wasn't awesome, because it was great. I just missed lunch with my wife!

Box Office Theology!

I sat down to watch a movie that I expected to enjoy for it's action sequences but I wasn't expecting a profound thought to come from it. In fact, going into watching this movie I was pretty sure that it was devoid of any artistic quality or deep thoughts. The A-TEAM was a good movie one that I really enjoyed. For the most part I was correct in thinking that there wouldn't be anything that truly challenged my brain. 

But now a day or two later I was thinking back to the movie, I found myself thinking of one particular scene. The Col., played by Liam Neeson just stepped in front of a speeding car in the middle of the desert. He is trying to get to another soldier that is in a life and death situation; and it just so happens that the van he stepped out on was being driven by a fellow Ranger.  Sometime during this discussion he says "I don't believe in coincidence. I believe that no matter how random things may appear, there's still a plan."

I like this thought; no matter what our situation is GOD is in control. Though we may not be able to see the plan, it is there. God sets everything in place to get us where we need to be or get going or draw us back to Him. No matter how random it may appear; God has a direction for our lives. It is our duty to seek His face and to walk in faith on the path He has laid before us. Sometimes we get distracted or off course and much like the movie it is often a mission of dire importance that we must complete. 


I look back at the road to missions and it would appear to be a sequence of unconnected events. Random choices that my wife and I made. But each of those steps got us closer to the calling God had for us. Each of them individually couldn't be seen as a choice for missions, but looking back at the whole it is so obvious! I love it when God works this way in our lives, or as the Col. also said "I love it when a plan comes together!" 

Life Happens

It seems I have been praying for a lot of people this week; not that I usually do not, but this week I have had a ton of specific things to pray about:
* A friend is going through training at Avant
* An extended family members father is sick
* A couple that got the news they were hoping to not hear
* A family member of mine that is sick
* Our pastor was in the hospital - stroke (doing okay)
* A co-worker that has had a rough couple of weeks

It is during times like these that I wonder "how much more can life happen". Why is everything always so hard? Shouldn't God, who loves all of these people, make life easier for His followers?

The fact is we live in a sinful and fallen world; and Jesus himself said "while you are in this world you WILL have trouble; but take heart for I have overcome the world!" God in His perfect will uses our imperfect circumstance to show His Glory and perfection. He is our refuge and shelter and has promised to not leave us. But most days Life happens, when we can give God our praise when times are hardest is when we see the most growth in our relationship with Him; that is how I see Him work in my life!

So pray with me that my friends and family can give God all of their praise, even through tear soaked eyes!

New Year, New challenges!

Dear Friends,

It has been a while since we have chatted. During the holidays I just didn't have a lot of time to write, and for that I am sorry! We did have a great time spending time with family and friends trying to soak up every moment that we had with them, knowing that this season is quickly coming to an end as we look to go on our mission soon.

It was also an eventful 1st week to 2011 for our team. We were informed that one of the other couples that had been comissioned to serve with us was going to step away from our team; in order to accomplish some other personal goals before going overseas. This has brought up a mix of emotions for Renee and I. We were nervous, sad, dissapointed, and concerned for our friends and co-laborors. I had a chance to talk with the rest of our team mates, inculding the couple leaving; we were all working through similar feelings.

As I contemplated all these events, I began to pray a read scripture. I began asking God what He was planing. I was taken to a familar passage in Romans (coincedentaly) 5:3-5 says:
Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.

I love that we can rejoice or have glory in our sufferings, and while the loss of our team member is not what most would consider "suffering" it is never the less a loss for our team. And God is building into our team perseverance, character, and hope. So while I am saddend by this trial (as some texts translate suffering) I still have hope that God is building us up for His perfect will for our team. We can take joy in the fact that He is perfecting us and while that process can be painful, it is always for the better!