Very recently we received a letter from the IRS that began with the words: "We are pleased to inform you . . ." That's the kind of letter you want to receive from the IRS! Life in His Name, Inc. has obtained 501(c)(3) status! We are now a government recognized non-profit and tax exempt organization! This is a big step for the ministry and Board of Life in His Name. A big thank you to the Board for their support, they are: Pete Kovalcik, Laura Houck and Pastor Brian Sixby. There have been so many who have given encouragement, prayed and given financial support! Thank you all . . . I do believe good things are ahead!
Checks should now be made out to:
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| Gioconda Estrada - our amiga from Nicaragua |
"Life in His Name" or "LIHN"
And mailed to:
Life in His Name
PO Box 6092
Portsmouth, VA 23703-6092
A big thanks to Tammy Waters the District Finance Secretary and Mary Stroh, the District Treasurer for the Elizabeth River District UMC who have been receiving and tracking the finances up to this point!
Hispanic Ministry ~ Eileen and I just hosted some Latino friends at our home,since we had a special guest from Nicaragua visiting. Jason Gillikin and I met Gioconda (Yah - koon - dah) four years ago on our first trip to Nicaragua. She gave us a great welcome as the director of Missions for Hosanna Church. The evening at our home was a good time of fellowship and some deep conversation about the reality of the Gospel. We arranged for Gioconda to meet with some people who have a heart for Nicaragua. There are some promising initial plans for projects in Managua, which would go a long way towards alleviating the suffering of many there. I will be back in Nicaragua with a team over spring break.
Jail Ministry ~ GOD continues to open hearts in the Western Tidewater Regional Jail. Joselito and two other Latinos observed that before they were in jail they never read the Bible, but now they are reading all the time. They acknowledged that GOD was using this difficult time in their lives for good. As I was sharing with the guys about prayer and praising GOD one evening and I asked them if they knew any songs of praise they could sing. Surprisingly, they did not. So I found myself writing the words to a couple 'alabanzas' (praise songs) and then teaching them the songs. It is a noisy atmosphere with about 20 men in each cell and the TV constantly blaring. However, we went through a couple songs and talked about how good it is to simply praise GOD for who He is and for what He has done!
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| Life Group at VWC ~ the intersection of life and Scripture! |
Virginia Wesleyan College ~ Keith Moore, the Dean of Students snapped some photos recently in my office during a LIFE Group. LIFE stands for Living In Faith Everyday. The emphasis on the experiential reality of the Gospel is helping people to draw near to Christ and to go deeper in faith!
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| Some of the VWC Students involved in Campus Ministries! |
Experiencing GOD ~ I keep pressing this point wherever I am sharing, because there is a knowledge that goes beyond understanding. It is a heart knowledge, revealed by GOD; that we are dearly loved by Christ and then the witness of God's Spirit speaking that our sins are forgiven! So many are trying to live for GOD simply with head knowledge and they are missing out! Paul expected the early Christians to be experiencing GOD in a powerful way. You see his appeal here for unity is based on an expected shared experience.
"If you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any fellowship with the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and purpose" (Philippians 2:1-2).
Thanksgiving flows from deep within as I think of the privilege we have to share Jesus with others. Thank you for your prayers and support of this ministry!
I am traveling frequently to preach at different churches. Rev. Dave Zuchelli and his congregation, Smith Chapel in Great Falls welcomed me recently on a Sunday morning. They have big hearts at Smith Chapel! I drove that afternoon to preach at the Harrisonburg District Conference UMC at the invitation of Rev. Tommy Herndon, the District Superintendent. Small Group ministry & Wesley's Class Meeting have been an emphasis this year on that District! It was a surprise to see Bill and Carole Cunius at the Conference. Bill was my Sunday School teacher and Youth Group leader when I was in High School. He had his hands full with that group!
I've included some information below that I found online years ago about an amazing missionary leader to China, named Hudson Taylor. Taylor experiencing the reality of Jesus is a part of the story. There are so many amazing yet mostly unknown stories of the men and women of GOD who have gone on before us. We would do well to recover their stories and learn from them.
"I thank my God every time I remember you. In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now, being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus" (Philippians 1:3-6).
With thanksgiving,
Greg
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| Hudson Taylor - Missionary to China |
“Do not have your concert first, and then tune your instrument afterwards. Begin the day with the Word of God and prayer, and get first of all into harmony with Him." Hudson Taylor
Taylor was born in Yorkshire, England in 1832 and went on to his reward from Hunan, China in 1905. "Taylor was a pioneer missionary who spent the last half of the nineteenth century serving in China. More than a century before Richard Nixon reopened Communist China to the Western world, this young British missionary traveled to China. He left for China at age 20 with no university degree and sent by no government. He arrived unexpected and unannounced. But, by the time he died, 50 years later, he had founded the China Inland Mission which consisted of 205 mission stations with over 800 missionaries, and 125,000 Chinese Christian converts."
The beginning of it all was a quiet hour among his father’s books, when young Hudson Taylor sought something to interest him. His mother was away from home and the boy was missing her. The house seemed empty, so he took the story he found to a favorite corner in the old warehouse, thinking he would read it as long as it did not get prosy.
Many miles away, the mother was specially burdened that Saturday afternoon about her only son. Leaving her friends she went alone to plead with God for his salvation. |
Many miles away, the mother was specially burdened that Saturday afternoon about her only son. Leaving her friends she went alone to plead with God for his salvation. Hour after hour passed while that mother was still upon her knees, until her heart was flooded with a joyful assurance that her prayers were heard and answered.
The boy was reading, meanwhile, the booklet he had picked up, and as the story merged into something more serious he was arrested by the words: “The finished work of Christ.” Who can explain the mystery of the Holy Spirit’s working? Truth long familiar, though neglected, came back to mind and heart.
“Why does the writer use those words?” he questioned. “Why does he not say, ’the atoning or propitiatory work of Christ'?”
Immediately, It is finished shone out as in letters of light. Finished? What was finished?
“A full and perfect atonement for sin,” his heart replied. “The debt was paid by the great Substitute. 'Christ died for our sins,' and 'not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world.'”
Then came the thought with startling clearness, “If the whole work is finished, the whole debt paid, what is there left for me to do?”
The one, the only answer took possession of his soul: “There was nothing in the world for me to do save to fall upon my knees and accepting this Savior and His salvation to praise Him for evermore.”
Old doubts and fears were gone. The reality of the wonderful experience we call conversion filled him with peace and joy. New life came with that simple acceptance of the Lord Jesus Christ, for to “as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God.” And great was the change that new life brought..
