Joel
News Int'l
Homepage
| JOEL-NEWS-INTERNATIONAL-401 * 30 MAY 2002 * WWW.JOELNEWS.ORG IN THIS EDITION: JN401-1. TYPICALLY GOD: God's love for an ordinary missionary JN401-2. PRAYER FOCUS: G8 gathering in Calgary, Canada JN401-3. KINGDOM DEVELOPMENT: Sustaining momentum for City Reaching JN401-4. RESOURCE: Understanding God's times (Chuck Pierce) JN401-5. RESOURCE: Honoring the truth-teller (Roger Sapp) JN401-6. RESOURCE: Revival in Bogota (Guido Kuwas) --- POLL - Let us know your opinion on this new format of Joel News International. Vote now at http://pub.alxnet.com/poll?id=2222014 --- JN401-1. TYPICALLY GOD: God's love for an ordinary missionary Eric Olson from Norway, who ministers in prisons, hospitals and orphanages in the Kola peninsula (Russia), mailed us this precious testimony: We had just returned from a very long road trip to the new jail in Olenagorsk, the church there, to the prison in Revda, and to three hospitals as the Lord touched people all along the way. But I was nearly to the point of exhaustion. I had to do the driving, the preaching, arrange all the details and make all of the decisions for the team of five. At 10:00 pm, I decided to go back to the apartment I was using to get some needed sleep, and as I walked out to my car on the street next to Galina's apartment, my heart sank. Someone, it seemed had just run into my car, as I observed a long dent the distance of the door going straight down about a foot and a half long, 6 inches wide, and an inch and a half deep. I just stood and stared, realizing that someone had done something to my car. I knew from previous experience that even in Russia, a gash like this would cost at least a couple of hundred dollars to fix, and I was down to my last 2000 rubles, or 65 dollars! With my sunken head and heart, and tired body I got in the car, giving this situation to the Lord and bidding Galina farewell until the next mornings scheduled meeting in prison number 17. I then with an empty tank decided to stop at the gas station just down the street and fill up. I got out of the car on my side and again in my dejection, took a glance at the dent in the back door on my side of the car. I went around and filled the tank, and there went another 400 rubles. At this point, I went in to pay and then came out a couple of minutes later. As I was getting ready to get in the car, suddenly I noticed something in the corner of my eye and I had to take a second look. The dent and damage on the side of the car was gone! Immediately, wondering if I was dreaming I took my hand and wiped away the road dirt and took another look. The metal surface was smooth, absolutely like new! I was so tired and began to wonder if I was really seeing things. Yet, something was bubbling up inside of me, it was like this joy and excitement that a kid feels at Christmas waiting for the presents to be opened. So in my near ecstasy and yet dream like state, I decided to go back to Galina and get her to look at the car. All within the span of 10 minutes I was back, as Galina walked out to look at the car. As she looked her eyes were as big as saucers and her smile so wide too. "Eric, what did you do?", she said nearly yelling. I began to explain to her that I did nothing, and what exactly had happened, that I came out and just saw that it was fixed. She then asked if I was joking. I had to tell her repeatedly that I was not. She wanted to go to the other side of the car and look too. She still would not believe me. "Galina, I will swear on the bible that I did not do anything to that car!" She wanted to know if I had prayed for this, and I said no again, I had done nothing! By this time, a joy and celebration was getting so intense that Olya, Galina, and I were unable to hold back our laugher and smiles. God had done a miracle! As the story spread to friends and the rest of those who had gone on the trip with us, I heard something later that absolutely melted my heart. Serge, a Spirit inspired and filled ex-prisoner whom we met in the Revda prison a year earlier and was now released had come with us to minister on the trip. He had seen that I was exhausted earlier that day, and in his heart he felt for me. He had seen that I was giving a lot away to others and he had prayed this prayer. "Father, I pray that You will just reveal you love to Eric, this time in a very real and clear way." Well friends, my Father has really done that. And this missionary believes it, with all of his heart. And maybe I will just get the point this time, His love is deeper and higher than the oceans and the sky and He has even More than that, it is endless and out of sight! Source: Eric Olson <eolson@online.no> through Joel News --- JN401-2. PRAYER FOCUS: G8 gathering in Calgary, Canada On June 26 and 27, 2002, the Heads of State of the eight most powerful industrialized nations of the world will gather in Calgary, Canada. Christians in Galgary are mobilizing worldwide prayer for this G8 gathering. LINK: http://www.g8prayersummit.com --- JN401-3. KINGDOM DEVELOPMENT: Sustaining momentum for City Reaching Jack Dennison provides an excellent update on city reaching initiatives and describes our latest learning from them. While city reaching initiatives are rapidly and dynamically emerging everywhere around the world, Jack finds there is a great deal of confusion regarding what city reaching is, what we mean by transformation, and how we achieve our transformational goals. In his observation most citywide initiatives get stuck at their commitment to mobilize prayer and foster relational unity. Many of these groups have lost momentum and are loosing participants. Through thoughtful observation and biblical reflection principles have emerged, leading to what Jack calls 'essential activities' that must be applied throughout an initiative's development towards community transformation. He also presents nine 'momentum builders' that represent the best practices from cities that are sustaining momentum and producing results. COMMAND: This article can be retrieved by sending an empty e-mail to lyris@xc.org with only this command in the body of your e-mail: get joel-news-international dennison-cr-sustaining-momentum (Please note: this option only works for people who are subscribed to the e-mail version of Joel News. See colophon how to subscribe directly.) --- JN401-4. RESOURCE: Understanding God's times (Chuck Pierce) "We are living in interesting times," says Chuck Pierce in this article. "Understanding times and seasons is very important for us to pray effectively. Once you understand the times we are living in, we go through the window of opportunity that has been set before us by the Lord." LINK: http://www.globalharvestministries.org/home.qry?ID=2191 --- JN401-5. RESOURCE: Honoring the truth-teller (Roger Sapp) In healthy churches and organisations truth-tellers are honoured, says dr. Roger W. Sapp in this article. The value of truth is what keeps a local church or any organization from becoming like a cult. Cultic behavior, which always includes blindness, will result from an overemphasis of loyalty above truth. This sociological dynamic also explains to some extent the tension between church leaders and prophets. COMMAND: This article can be retrieved by sending an empty e-mail to lyris@xc.org with only this command in the body of your e-mail: get joel-news-international sapp-truth-teller (Please note: this option only works for people who are subscribed to the e-mail version of Joel News. See colophon how to subscribe directly.) --- JN401-6. RESOURCE: Revival in Bogota (Guido Kuwas) Guido Kuwas revisited Bogota, Colombia, and reports about the phenomenal church growth taking place through application of the so called '12 principle'. COMMAND: This article can be retrieved by sending an empty e-mail to lyris@xc.org with only this command in the body of your e-mail: get joel-news-international kuwas-bogota-revival-3 (Please note: this option only works for people who are subscribed to the e-mail version of Joel News. See colophon how to subscribe directly.) --- COLOPHON Joel News International is a leading special interest bulletin on prayer, church growth and revival. We offer a keen selection of the most encouraging news reports, the most challenging developments and the best resources from over 100 reliable sources in six continents. Joel News International is a great help and time-saver for thousands of Christian leaders and intercessors in over 120 nations. Editors: Branko Bjelajac, Adriaan van der Hoeven and Marc van der Woude. You can contact the editorial office at joel-news@xs4all.nl. Joel News International is distributed weekly by e-mail on the basis of an annual donation. For more information see http://www.joelnews.org/donation-jni.htm#options. Has this bulletin been forwarded to you? Then subscribe directly by sending an empty e-mail to: subscribe-joel-news-international@xc.org. |
(c) Copyright 2002 Joel News