Grace Abounding

Dispatches From the Front, Episode 6: The Power of His Rising is out, and it’s only $5 for a limited time at WTSBooks.com! This is the missions film we showed a pre-release of at Grace Church of Alexandria‘s Missions Seminar in April. In it, Tim Keesee reports about creative missions efforts–such as coffee growing, baking, and aviation–to get the gospel into difficult-t0-reach regions in South Asia.

We’ll also have copies of this on the GraceBooks Table available on Sundays at Grace Church for $5.

Trailer – Episode 6: The Power of His Rising from Frontline Missions International on Vimeo.

Description:

Over two billion people in the world have no access to the Gospel—no Bible, no church, no Christians, no hope. Since many of them live in countries closed to traditional missionaries, how will they hear the Good News? One way is that Christ is calling and equipping men and women with skills—professionals—to use their talents to reach people who are hard to get to. The Power of His Rising is an inside look at how this is unfolding in South Asia, where baristas and bakers, pilots and farmers are a force for the Gospel! It’s an amazing journey by land, sea and air—down crowded streets and remote rivers—to find light shining in darkness and persecuted believers singing because of Jesus! Dispatches from the Front opens yet another window to see Christ at work in the world through His endless life and relentless grace!

More about episode 1, episode 2, episode 3, episode 4, and episode 5 here.

An intensive missions training event called FX: Frontline Experience will be held Friday and Saturday, June 14 and 15, 2013. Friday is for missions-minded pastors. Saturday is for missions-minded church members who want to more effectively get behind missionaries from home, or are considering going to the field.

Below you’ll find information about the Saturday event. For the details and registration for Friday’s pastors event, click here.

What: www.frontlineexperience.org

Where: Virginia Beach Theological Seminary (where I and Garrett and Amanda Lee from GCA attended seminary)
2221 Centerville Turnpike, Virginia Beach VA 23464

When: Saturday, June 15, 2013, 9 am to 5 pm
Companion events will also be held in NYC and Brevard, NC

General Sessions:

•  Bigger Box: Strategic Options For Pursuing 21st Century Missions
• Dispatches From the Front: Episode 6
• Developing a Biblical Philosophy of Cross-Cultural Ministry
• I Will Build My Church
• Q&A
• What Is Your Life?

Breakout Sessions:

• Theology of Risk & Persecution
• Critical Issues in the Muslim World
• The Role of Geo-Politics in Creating Gospel Strategies
• It’s Now What I Expected

Cost For Saturday: $45 ($35 if you register before June 1)
Friday’s pastors event is free!

RSVP for Saturday’s event for church members here.
Sign up soon because space is limited to the first 100 applicants.
RSVP for Friday’s pastors event here.

Hope to see you there!

Join us for a one-evening missions bootcamp led by Tim Keesee, executive director of Dispatches from the Front and  Frontline Missions International. This exciting seminar, film showing & discussion is for everyone at Grace Church, to help our church become deeply missions-minded.

What: “The Unoccupied Fields: The Church’s Remaining Mission”
When: Saturday, April 6, 2013, 3:30 pm to 7:00 pm
Where: The Frost’s home in Old Town Alexandria
Schedule:

• 3:30 to 5:00 pm – Tim Keesee will discuss recent trends in missions, including creative ways to reach closed countries and effective strategies that are advancing the gospel in the 10/40 window.
• 5:00 to 5:30 pm – Dinner
• 5:30 to 7:00 pm – film showing of Dispatches from the Front, Part 3, and Q&A

Dinner: $5 a person
Childcare: Childcare will be provided.
RSVP: Sign up here by March 27

Trailer – Episode 3: I Once Was Blind from Frontline Missions International on Vimeo.

Ten days from now, Matt and Ellen Bjerk and their two children will be on a plane bound for their new lives in Croatia. They are the one of three families connected to Grace Church who are relocating this month or next to an international mission field. More about the first and second families here.

The Bjerks are heading to a country which was torn by war and religious/racial tension for decades. There is precious little gospel witness in the cities they are setting out to reach which are about 40 minutes from the Croatia/Bosnia border. They will be working hand-in-hand with Pastor Vladimir, a seasoned Croatian church planter who has started multiple churches in central Croatia.

There are several ways you can be a help to the Bjerks–

• Take a short-term missions trip next year to help them teach English (using a gospel curriculum) in the public schools. The main qualification? Be able to speak English.
• Give toward their relocation costs. They still need about $12,000 to cover plane tickets, shipping a container to Croatia, government fees, and move-in costs. Give now.
• Follow them via Twitter @bjerkmissions and monthly or weekly email prayer letter.
• Pray for their training in the Croatian language, for them to build relationships when they arrive, for their children to acclimatize well to their new surroundings, and for them to see non-Christians come to faith in Christ.

On Mission With Jesus by

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Last night, friends of Grace Church David and Annalisa Wilson and their two children flew out of a D.C. area airport and relocated to England for the gospel’s sake. David has been called to be pastor of Newtown Evangelical Baptist Church in Chesham, England, and  so yesterday they flew to England to begin their new lives and ministry. This is the second of three missionary families connected to Grace Church who are departing to go overseas for service this month or next.

Here are several strategies for partnering with the Wilsons and keeping them blanketed in prayer as they serve:

• Sign up to receive their prayer letter by sharing your email address here or follow them via Twitter @DavidAnnalisaW;
• Contribute toward their relocation costs now. (At last check, they still needed $6,800 to cover the cost of moving to England.)
• Write them an encouraging note and let them know you are praying for them.
• Pray for them during your personal and family devotional time. Pray for them to settle in to their new home, for them to make connections in the community, for God to give them unity with their new church family, for wisdom as David shepherds and leads the flock.
• Visit them in Chesham, England to let them know they are remembered!

In the next forty-five days, three missionary friends of Grace Church will be relocating to the mission field to serve Christ. We’ll be highlighting them here so you get to know them & can find ways to get behind them.

In two weeks, friends of Grace Church Nathan & Krystal Young are being commissioned to serve at Stonehaven Baptist Church near Aberdeen, Scotland. The church has called Nathan to be their pastor and they have received their visas. And so they will be relocating on February 28.

There are a variety of ways you can help the Youngs as they move to Scotland and begin serving there. First, they are still raising funds to cover there move. You can give now here.

In addition, take a look at these eight ways to help originally shared by Emmanuel Bible Church in Mauldin, South Carolina:

1. Pray for new converts, healthy church members, and for the Youngs as they transition to a new country and congregation. Sign up for their email prayer letter here and follow them via Twitter @prayforscotland.
2. Design a brand and/or a website for Stonehaven Baptist Church;
3. Develop a social marketing strategy for Facebook and Twitter;
4. Prepare a team for a holiday Bible club this July/August to share the gospel with unreached families;
5. Recruit a team for a basketball clinic in Stonehaven this April and/or October to share the gospel with unreached families. Talk with Garrett Lee about the possibility of a Grace Church missions trip to visit them this fall or next spring;
6. Take your vacation in Scotland with the Youngs, who would be happy to host you, absorb some of your lodging expense, and enjoy your fellowship;
7. Host believers from Stonehaven so that they can broaden their perspective on how the gospel transforms life and ministry;
8. Relocate to Stonehaven (through schooling or vocation) and help build the church from within.

On Mission With Jesus, Part 1 by gracealexandria

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Looking for a great Christmas gift that shares the gospel? Look no further. I just read Christmas Uncut and my heart is pounding from how clearly and compellingly this short Christmas-themed booklet presented the gospel to me. I came away amazed at our Lord and the rescue plan he carried out for us which we call Christmas.

Carl Laferton’s book cuts through all the holiday tradition to get to the real Christmas story– Scandal. Controversy. Massacre. Mystery. Above all, the person of Jesus Christ. I’m going to give this book to several non-Christians I know, confident that if they read it, they will come face-to-face with the real Jesus who has won over my heart and owns my life.

It’s short and readable. And only $3.59 at WTSBooks.com. And they’re fast! My copy arrived exactly 24 hours after I ordered it, having paid for regular (not rush) shipping.

Order here.

Here’s a nifty trailer video with the author–

Our friends at Calvary Bible Church of York, Pennsylvania (who helped our church when we were a church plant) are organizing an extraordinary relief effort for victims of Hurricane Sandy. In addition to sending up work teams doing free renovation & cleanup in the name of Christ for needy families, they’re preparing 20,000–yes, that many!–care packages with food, gift cards, a Bible, and a gospel booklet to give to hard-hit families in New York and New Jersey.

You can help right where you are by giving a donation online now here . Your gift will be used to purchase gift cards to go in the care packages along with other relief items and Bibles donated by AMG Publishers.

Watch last night’s news report about Calvary Bible Church of York’s relief efforts:

http://fox43.com/2012/12/05/york-county-church-to-send-thousands-of-care-packages-to-new-york/#axzz2EEo7u6sw

What an opportunity this is to deliver a cold cup of water in Jesus’s name, and help local churches in New York reach out to their suffering neighbors! Pastor Joe Fauth of Spreading Grace Ministries, a ministry of Calvary Bible Church, has shared that people are stunned and moved to tears by the assistance & generosity of Christian relief workers coming with gifts and hands ready to help. If you or your church is looking for a way to contribute to people impacted by this disaster, I vouch for this ministry and commend to you this noble project.

Donate to hurricane relief here.

Follow the relief effort via Twitter.