This I recall to mind, therefore I have hope. The LORD'S lovingkindnesses indeed never cease, for His compassions never fail. They are new every morning, great is your faithfulness. Lamentations 3:21-23

Discipleship Testimonies

Happy Thursday, Ladies! I hope you were all able to take note of the discipleship testimonies that were in the bulletin the past few weeks and I hope even more to see you all at the book study this Saturday. Even if you haven't read the book, it would be well worth your time to come and enjoy the discussion and fellowship. I very much look forward to each of the book discussions.

I cannot speak highly enough of the value of being in a discipleship relationship, whether as the one being discipled or the one doing the discipling. There is great blessing that comes with both sides and huge benefits that I have no doubt we will not fully be able to comprehend until we are with the Lord. Here are a couple testimonies to this:


I'm a check list type of gal. Give me a list of things to do and let me check them off or at least attempt to and I'm content. So when I met this young lady at work with a lot of questions my plan was to basically answer the questions. God's plan was answer the questions while she became a part of my life.
I invited her to church and then small group. We began meeting weekly and I gave her homework which she was always faithful to do. Soon Ashley became more then a co-worker or someone I met with she became family.
She plays with the grandkids, comes over to watch movies, eats with us, naps on our couch and sometimes hijacks my facebook.
I have been privileged to see the mercy and goodness of our God wash over Ashley's life and most recently had the joy of seeing her make a public profession of faith. I have seen the word stretch and grow her into a young woman who desires to share the gospel. Checklists are good but watching a young woman blossom in the word and have a heart for Jesus is a blessing I may have missed if I just stuck to my checklist or had left the "spiritual mothering"to someone else.
I have been reminded this life is not to be lived out alone. This life is to be lived out with passion in " God's design for women and thus adorn the gospel with our lives so we may impact our world as we make disciples of Jesus Christ."
Shelly Smith



I was 'tricked' into a discipleship relationship when I was 15. I was unable to go to one of the Sunday School classes but had really wanted to read the book that was being taught. A friend asked me if I would like to go through it with her during the week, as she was also unable to attend the class. We are still meeting to this day. A few sentences is not enough to speak of the massive blessing that this has been for me over the last 8 years. She offered teaching, direction, counsel, friendship, and love. Today she is one of my closest friends. Because of the benefit that this relationship has been to me, I am very excited (and nervous!) as I have recently entered into a similar one with a younger girl at church. Just the few weeks we have had together have been amazing. Whether its hanging out at Dunn Bros drinking smoothies or whispering in the local library, our conversations have been good. I am so much looking forward to watching as the Lord grows this young lady into a woman whose life is consumed in passion for His glory! I am excited to know her better and develop our friendship. I am eager to come alongside her as she enters into the difficult teen years. And I am anticipating all that the Lord will teach me through her. - Nichole Henry

The Month in Review

We have completed our month of prayer but I hope that we will all continue to keep the subject forefront in our minds. I hope that you all were encouraged, encouraged that prayer can be at once simple and powerful. I hope that you were a particular area that you could grow in, be it in setting aside a specific time for prayer every day or by giving it a more central place in your every day life.

My prayer is that the Lord would make the women of Missio Dei mighty women for God - and this can never happen apart from prayer.

We will be moving on from the subject of prayer for now, but do not let its importance out of your minds.

Even Simple People Can Pray!

So often as believers we make prayer a hypocritical, arrogant act. We desire so badly to be thought of as an excellent, theologically rich, well-versed prayer, that we turn into Pharisees! We are thought well of by men, and have no heart for the God we sound so passionate about.

I think we need to grow in the way we pray, but we need to go about it in humility, with a heart for God. This has been on my mind a lot because I know how prone my own heart is to having my pride stroked, and how quickly I can be satisfied so long as I have dotted every I and crossed every T. As we examine the prayers of the Bible and practice the discipline of prayer in our private lives, we must remember that all of God's children are called to this great privilege of communion with the triune God. Not just the intellectual elite. Thank God, because I would have no business praying of that were so. We must remember it is communion with God, we are actually pouring out our praise, our needs, our concersns to our creator and lover of our souls. But, like I said, somehow we turn it into "lookin good". People can pray awe-inspiring, theologically sound prayers and have lives (hearts) that do not match it. We are enamoured with these people despite that, and strive to emulate them; and in the process do much harm to ourselves and the church. Let me say, this is not always the case with a person who prays "well". But give me an old lady who simply loves Jesus, living a humble obedient life , who stumbles over her words, over the well spoken guy, who is arrogant, self-sufficient, and clumsy with his life.

One reason I love praying through the Psalm is that anyone can do it. The Psalms will bring you to praise, heart wrenching confessions, and words filled with need, in a very God oriented manner. And, even a child can do it!

Years ago after reading Don Whitney's book, Spiritual Disciplines, my prayer life was completely and forever changed! This is where I was first introduced to the idea of praying through the Psalms. (Thanks to my husband who introduced me to the book)

I know many others who have been so effected through his book and his conferences, as he taught how to pray through the Psalms. We pray about the same things we always do, but in different ways, and in God centered ways, as we pick up the Bible and use His word to guide us.

I would encourage anybody who says they want to learn to pray better, to answer why and then in humilty go to the Psalms. And, let us remember, prayer is not just for career pastors, and Theologians, it's for the rest of us, too!

Here is one of my favorite Psalms to pray through. This Psalm starts out asking God to hear, and in His faithfulness and righteousness answer; and immediately my soul is excited and confident that He will do just that. Not only does this Psalm give me words to pour out to my Lord, but helps me to meditate- to muse on God's works. Often through praying and meditating on this particular Psalm I am more prone to look in faith and see that He is at work all around me.

Psalm 143
¹Hear my prayer, O LORD,
Give ear to my supplications!
Answer me in Your faithfulness, in Your righteousness!
²And do not enter into judgment with Your servant,
For in Your sight no man living is righteous.
³For the enemy has persecuted my soul;
He has crushed my life to the ground;
He has made me dwell in dark places, like those who have long been dead.
⁴Therefore my spirit is overwhelmed within me;
My heart is appalled within me.
⁵I remember the days of old;
I meditate on all Your doings;
I muse on the work of Your hands.
⁶I stretch out my hands to You;
My soul longs for You, as a parched land. Selah.
⁷Answer me quickly, O LORD, my spirit fails;
Do not hide Your face from me,
Or I will become like those who go down to the pit.
⁸Let me hear Your lovingkindness in the morning;
For I trust in You;
Teach me the way in which I should walk;
For to You I lift up my soul.
⁹Deliver me, O LORD, from my enemies;
I take refuge in You.
¹⁰Teach me to do Your will,
For You are my God;
Let Your good Spirit lead me on level ground.
¹¹For the sake of Your name, O LORD, revive me
In Your righteousness bring my soul out of trouble.
¹²And in Your lovingkindness, cut off my enemies
And destroy all those who afflict my soul,
For I am Your servant.

Nevertheless do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice that your names are recorded in heaven. Luke 10:20

Psalm 71:14-16

But as for me, I will hope continually, and will praise You yet more and more. My mouth shall tell of Your righteousness and of Your salvation all day long; for I do not know the sum of them. I will come with the mighty deeds of the Lord GOD; I will make mention of Your righteousness, Yours alone.

Songs to Pray Through

So far this month we've talked a lot about prayer. We talked about ways that we can pray for some of the leaders of our church. We've reviewed a couple of books on prayer. We've talked about the importance of praying without ceasing and also of the potential power that our prayers can have when praying through Scripture.
Another time I have found that naturally goes to prayer is while listening to music. There are songs whose lyrics are so good that my heart cannot be content merely to sing them, but to pray them! There are lines of songs call my heart to prayers of thanksgiving to the Lord! It never ceases to make me smile when, as I am driving down the road I hear a song and begin to pray because of something that I heard in the song - and then finish praying and realize that I completely missed the next four songs! These are good times.
Here is a list of songs/albums that I like to pray through. It is by no means extensive!

Songs for the Cross Centered Life, by Sovereign Grace
This is one of my all time favorite cds. Every song in the album is focused on the gospel, on the work that Jesus did on the cross, and on our standing before God because of it.

Awaken the Dawn by Keith and Kristyn Getty
Another one of my favorite cds, the lyrics are amazing and full of truth. The fourth song, By Faith, contains my favorite song line ever: "We will stand as children of the promise, We will fix our eyes on Him our soul's reward! 'Til the race is finished and the work is done, we'll walk by faith and not by sight."

Valley of Vision by Sovereign Grace
This is a cd I listened to for the first time today and I kept thinking, 'this has to go in my post today!' A friend recommended it to me and I am so glad he did. Every song is based on a prayer from the Valley of Vision a collection of Puritan prayers.

Amazing Grace

My Savior My God

Everlasting God

Indescribable

Lord, I Want to be Like Jesus

And Can It Be (Amazing Love)

I can think of many others but I want to hear from you as well. What are your favorite songs? Do you ever pray as you sing?

Spiritual Reformation

A Call to Spiritual Reformation by D.A. Carson is not the same book as A Praying Life by Paul Miller. While both books focus on prayer, Miller deals mainly on the extremely central place that prayer should have in a believers life and the reality that we should focus much prayer on every aspect/event/situation/relationship in our life. Carson takes a different route.

If you and I are honest, most of us will admit that our prayer lives are in a sad state. When we remember to pray it is usually for food or for the aunt having surgery. While it is absolutely right and good to thank God for the food that He has provided and it is true that God cares about our aunt's surgery and is glorified when we come to Him with our needs, these are only shadows of what our prayers could be. Carson addresses this possibility in Spiritual Reformation.

The book starts out with the well-founded claim that, as a whole, the overall body of Christians in the world today is in a bad place. We are complacent and our spiritual lives lack urgency, joy, and fervor. Carson calls all believers to a radical transformation - a spiritual reformation. He goes on to say that this reformation must begin and end in prayer. We are weak and sinful creatures and must, as the writers of Hebrews said, continually "draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need" (4:16).

Carson points out that the practice of prayer is taught and modeled in scripture and that the Bible is full of amazing illustrations of prayer. Unfortunately, we generally pay very little attention to these inspired examples. Most of Spiritual Reformation is devoted to examining prayers of Paul.

The breakthrough of this concept for me came when I realized that I have no idea what the will of God is about my aunt's biopsy or the neighbor's car accident or my school payments. Scripture does not address these issues. It does, however, address in great detail the fruits of the Spirit, the 'sign-posts' of a Christian life, the perils of sin and Satan, and the importance of perseverance in the faith. I know that the will of God is for my aunt to grow in her love for the Lord. I know that it is the will of God that my neighbor pursue a greater knowledge of God. I know that the will of God in my life is to have patience. Carson encourages us to pray within the known will of God.

Another breakthrough came when I realized the eternal value of these prayers as opposed to those regarding the more material aspects of our lives. Again, these material aspects are all good things to pray about. As I mentioned in an earlier post this month, we should be in continual prayer for these areas. However, the vast majority of our prayer life should not be consumed with that which shall pass away but with that which is eternal. These prayers have eternal power!

Many of you know that my mother is staying with her family in Maryland for the remainder of the month. As such, she is very much on my mind and in my prayers. Below, I have quoted my favorite prayer of Paul's, found in the first chapter of Philippians. I have recorded a prayer for my mama as she is far from me that I have taken from the principles in this prayer. Join with me in reforming our prayer lives in such a way that we have massive and powerful influence on the eternal souls of those we know!

<sup>Philippians 1:9-11 "And this I pray, that your love may about still more and more in real knowledge and all discernment, so that you may approve the things that are excellent, in order to be sincere and blameless until the day of Christ; having been filled with the fruit of righteousness which comes through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God."

Father, I come before you for my mama. I love her and miss her and know that she is in a difficult situation. Her family does not know you and so I first ask that you would change this. I know that you delight to save sinners and so I ask that you would save my grandparents, my aunts, uncles, and cousins. Soften their hearts father, show them your love.
I ask that you would grow my mother's love for you to such a great extent that her family cannot help but take notice and become enviable of the obvious joy she has in You. I thank you for all of the knowledge that she has of You but ask that You would keep her from becoming content in where she is now, but rather that You would give her the strength to push on ever father in her pursuit of You. I ask that as her knowledge of you grows, her love for you would grow with it. Keep her strong in her faith Lord. Help her to run the race, to run it well and not to stop running until she is face to face with You. Keep her eyes on the goal, Lord, on eternity with You. Grow her in righteousness, Father. Cause her to overflow with the fruits of the Spirit. Keep her mind fixed on the gospel, for without the gospel everything is in vain.
As always, Father, I ask these things for my mama's good, and for YOUR GLORY! Amen.</sup>

Esme Randle and Mike Reeves

What to pray, these ladies asked? Well, if you know me this will not come to you as a surprise, but if you don't know me this should give you a pretty good picture of my greatest weakness plain and simple. There are many tangible things you could be praying for, but if I'm honest, a lack of submission is the winner! As my husband likes to say, him qualifying as elder didn't depend on me, but thank God I didn't disqualify him....(ha-ha). Partly joking, but not so much. He knows me best and he cannot but help me see it.

See what? Well, let's see, it started way back when Eve convinced her husband Adam to eat from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. Satan is at work and we, weaker vessels, are his spears to hit the target. He knows that we are to submit to our elders as unto Christ...and do you think he doesn't use us to weaken that headship Christ's church? Well, think again. But as the story goes, you know from then on, we, as women, were cursed in a very particular way: "Your desire will be for your husband, and he will rule over you"(Gen 3:16b). I think I got a double dose of that...seriously, my desire is to rule over my husband constantly. Don't take me wrong, my husband appreciates my input, my views, and opinions -- he likes what I have to say! However, him previewing info doesn't mean I get a vote. It doesn't mean, he doesn't know how to discern and/or make decisions and needs my counsel. It means, he's simply sharing. The cursed was that we would want what our husbands have: authority & headship over us. My husband's position of leadership only magnified what I already knew... and it brought it all the more to light. With our own hands we tear down our own homes and I'm sure it starts with a heart that rebel's against our husbands and ultimately God. So, how I submit to my elders (and one of them happens to be my husband) is a telling story of how I submit at home. Get the picture?

Satan never sleeps and when I think I've got it, I don't. So if you think to pray for us, and/or me in particular, pray that I yield more often, more graciously, and more to the Glory of God.

Thankful for you,
Esme





There are two main things that I would like prayer for Missio Dei in 2010. Those items are:

Community Groups - Pray for continued success with them but a desire by all to use their groups as a source of encouragement and accountability to help them and others persevere in their walk with Christ. Pray also that our groups continue to strive to be missional in all we do. I pray that many unbelievers are affected through our outreach into the community as we seek to be a light unto the world.

Families - As I have been encouraged by the growth of the young adults within Missio Dei, I realize that another generation is rapidly following behind them. We have a large number of families at Missio Dei with children, from newborn to teens. Please pray for the parents of these children, myself included, as well as the children themselves that Christ be our central focus and glorifying God be our goal. Pray that we as a church equip our parents to effectively raise their children. Not simply in obedience training, but to raise our children up with the gospel as the central focus of all that we do. Pray also that we as parents would be found faithful to demonstrate the joy that being in Christ is to our beloved children. As it says in Colosians 3, verse 16: Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God.”

Thanks, Mike Reeves

Let all who seek You rejoice and be glad in You; and let those who love Your salvation say continually, "Let God be magnified."

But I am afflicted and needy; hasten to me,
O God! You are my help and my deliverer; O Lord, do not delay.

Psalm 70:4-5

Now may the God who gives perseverance and encouragement grant you to be of the same mind with one another according to Christ Jesus, so that with one accord you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Romans 15:5-6

Everything is going right...

This has been one of those months... you know the type. We've been plagued with car troubles (and a mechanic who thinks we're imagining things like grinding sounds and cold air blowing from our van's vents when there is supposed to be heat). We had lost mail, late mail, and opened mail (by someone other than us). We've been sick and gotten sicker. Hectic has been our daily routine. Tensions have been running high and so there has been added strife and seeking of forgiveness and so on. My computer (the information hub for our whole family) broke all of a sudden and the prognosis is grim. Add to all of that the deadline for having our house ready for our move within a few short weeks, money being tight, Ry starting back to school and still being unemployed, as well as the boys starting a new homeschooling curriculum. I'm sure you can understand how I might soon have a nervous twitch and a new habit of thumb sucking (it seems to help baby Gabriel!). I feel like I might just lose my mind one of these days!

Wait a minute though... didn't I say that everything is going right? [Pause]... [deep breath]... Just the other day I was encouraging a frustrated Austin (who felt unfairly disadvantaged because he didn't get a cool weapon when playing swords with his brothers/cousins) to take a moment to think about how blessed he really is. Here's what it sounded like: "Austin stop and think about this for a moment. God loves you! He sent Jesus to die for your sins so that you are now forgiven and you are God's child! Someday you will get to be in Heaven with Him! He's coming back to get you! He is so kind to us! That's the big scheme of things, but now consider today. Today you woke up from a comfy bed, you ate breakfast, and you put on warm clothing. You have parents who love you, you're surrounded by a family with lots of cousins who love you and you get to spend the day playing with them having fun. You are better off than most all of the people on earth! God has richly blessed you! Don't be discontent but rather praise God for how amazing His mercy and love toward you are. Be happy with what you have and be thankful for how God has been so kind to you!"

So the other day when I was feeling a little overwhelmed with all of the stuff I mentioned, I had a little talk with myself. "Betsy, you are so blessed! Thank You God for sending Jesus to be born as a man and endure all of the stuff that this life throws at us. Thank You Jesus for never sinning and for living perfectly with love and compassion! Thank You Jesus that You willingly suffered the punishment for my sin. Thank You that You would take all of my depravity upon Yourself so that I could have Your righteousness and know the Father through You! God, thank You for making me Your child! Thank You for all of Your promises and Your kindness toward me! Thank You for how You always meet our needs and You are so generous with us! Thank You for how You don't always give us what we want, because You know what is best! Thank You for the love that You pour out on us through family and friends and other believers and even through strangers! I am so amazed at Your grace toward me. Your tender care is so sweet to my soul. Your love is better than cars, castles, computers, coins and calm. I am loved by GOD so EVERYTHING is going right! "

A pastor (David Prince) that preached at chapel one week reminded us that complaining is blasphemous because we lie about the character and person of God saying that He isn't good enough or that what He has allowed to happen isn't worth making everything (no matter how awful) seem insignificant compared to the beauty of His glory. Complaining communicates that the gospel isn't really as glorious as God says it is. Wow... just thinking about that I'm convicted all the more. We are just so blessed! I will end with Psalm 63 in hopes that we might all be encouraged to praise God more and be content and joyful in Him, today, tomorrow and always!

Psalm 63

My Soul Thirsts for You

A Psalm of David, when he was in the wilderness of Judah.

¹O God, you are my God; earnestly I seek you;
my soul thirsts for you;
my flesh faints for you,
as in a dry and weary land where there is no water.
²So I have looked upon you in the sanctuary,
beholding your power and glory.
³Because your steadfast love is better than life,
my lips will praise you.
⁴So I will bless you as long as I live;
in your name I will lift up my hands.

⁵My soul will be satisfied as with fat and rich food,
and my mouth will praise you with joyful lips,
⁶when I remember you upon my bed,
and meditate on you in the watches of the night;
⁷for you have been my help,
and in the shadow of your wings I will sing for joy.
⁸My soul clings to you;
your right hand upholds me.

⁹But those who seek to destroy my life
shall go down into the depths of the earth;
¹⁰they shall be given over to the power of the sword;
they shall be a portion for jackals.
¹¹But the king shall rejoice in God;
all who swear by him shall exult,
for the mouths of liars will be stopped.

Tom Love

Tom Love oversees missions at Missio Dei. Below are some ways that he feels we can most effectively be keeping this ministry in prayer.


First, let me say that I am blessed and humbled to serve MDF in this position. It is my desire to serve and honor God in this position to make His name known, to call all people to worship Jesus Christ the risen Lord, and to serve His people as we minister together for the sake of the Gospel! We are truly blessed to have been given a vision of what can happen concerning Missions through our relationships with Philemon and Linda Yong and the work that they are doing at Cameroon Baptist Theological Seminary in Ndu, Northwest Province, Cameroon, West Africa. I believe that our Missions program was changed forever when our Pastor Matt Henry first invited Philemon to come and speak to our Church. We heard about the Yong's desire to be a blessing to the nations because they/we are so blessed (Ps. 67). Our Mission's program was changed forever because of their vision and we are grateful to God for increasing our vision.
That said we will face many challenges as we seek to continue to grow up into a mission's minded people. One of those challenges is that I receive many invitations to support numerous missions work and it is difficult to know who to support and when to say no. This is never easy to do, for many of these people have left all to follow their "calling," and the work that they are seeking to accomplish for the Kingdom is a good work. But we cannot support everyone so please pray for discernment and wisdom in these hard decisions.
Second, I need to find better ways to keep the Body at MDF informed of the work that our missionaries and the organizations that we are supporting are doing. Please pray that I will be able to disseminate information and pass that along to you, so that you will be better informed and thus be able to pray accordingly.

John and Rhonda Monks, Mort and Pam Pappenfuss, Sherri Stocker, and Nichole Henry individually oversee various aspects of our Missions endeavors. They include Care Net Crisis Pregnancy Centers, Action Packs, BloodWater Mission, and Compassion International.
John and Rhonda have been responsible for our relationship with Care Net in Southeast Wisconsin. They have been organizing the baby bottle campaign as well as the Walk for Life Campaign. By God's grace we have been at the top of the fund raising efforts for this organization for the past few years. We are hoping to see our involvement increase to include working at the facility. Pray that they would continue to find ways to see our financial involvement grow, but more importantly that we would see members of MDF get personally involved with the ministry of Care Net. Lives of little ones are being saved and people are coming to faith in Jesus and we praise God for the work of Care Net.
Mort and Pam have been overseeing our work with Voice of the Martyrs Action Packs. These packs are sent to various places around the world to meet individual physical and psiritual needs. Mort and Pam spend a great deal of their time and money throughout the year to purchase items to put into bags. They have been so faithful to find great deals on items to put into the bags. They have also had many opportunities to speak to people about the work that they are doing and when people hear about this work they often times donate items. They are always in need of certain items so pleas pray that they would be able to find them. The shipping of the boxes full of the Action Packs is very costly so please pray that we would be able to find a way to cut the cost of shipping. we may never see the effects of this work that we are involved with, but we are please to be serving the "least of these." Praise God for VOM and ask God to guard this vital ministry to the persecuted Church around the world.
Sherri Stocker will be overseeing our Youth mission's emphasis. It is our desire that every age group in our church become involved in Missions. We have in the past been involved with the BloodWater Mission. This organization is working to see that the AID's epidemic in Africa is given the proper attention and support. They also see the need for fresh, clean drinking water to be addressed. Because this organization was started by the group Jar's of Clay, we saw a natural fit for our youth. We would also like to send our youth on short term mission's trips, so please pray that we would find worthwhile endeavor's for them. This is an evolving ministry and I would ask that you pray for Sherri as she looks to increase the vision of this ministry to MDF.
Nichole Henry is overseeing our Children's Missions Ministry. We have chosen to support the work fo Compassion International. This organization is involved with helping to feed, educate, and most importantly, present the Gospel to little ones around the world. Right now MDF sponsor's two children, Izamari, a young lady living in Honduras, and "J" a young boy living in Thailand. W want our MDF children to gain a vision for Missions, and this organization is one of the most trusted and effective ministries in place. Nichole will be organizing a Compassion Sunday where not only will she present opportunities for us individually to sponsor a child, but our children will participate in a Memory Verse Marathon. We will be given the chance to pledge money for each verse memorized to help support this ministry. Pray that Nichole will find effective ways to increase our children's vision of the world and how they can affect it.
I am over our involvement with Philemon and Linda Yong at CBTS in Cameroon West Africa and Steve and Leslie Schneider who are currently at language school in Costa Rica, and Lord willing will be on their way to Santiago, Chile to teach at Facultad Teologica Biblica Bautistah. Both of these families represent a fundamental belief that we at MDF hold. We believe that in order for the Gospel to be preached effectively, pastors must be well trained. These men will then go and teach their congregations well and equip them for the work of the ministry. Please pray that these families will be effective in their ministries and that many new believers will be born out of their labors. Also, please pray for a potential trip this fall to CBTS. A man from Philemon's home church has donated money for electrical upgrades and we may send a small team to install a generator for the whole school There are many logistical hurdles, but we know that our God can overcome these and many more. Pray for our Pastor as he prepare to go this fall to teach at CBTS. We will be trying to combine these two trips, please pray as we work out the details.

Right now we are in need of financial support. With the downturn in the economy in 2009 we saw our budgeted money from the weekly giving at MDF cut in half. 5% of the money given weekly is designated to MDF Missions. Thsi meanst aht we are operating on an annual budget of $10,000. Thisis not enough to support the work that we are involved with, and yet we have had some faithful people designate above their normal giving, money to support MDF Missions. Please pray that we would see more people sacrificially give to support this vital ministry.

Our vision statement reads:
"The Vision of the Missio Dei Fellowship Missions Program is to further advance the Gospel of Jesus Christ toward the creation of true worshipers of the One True and Holy God in every tribe, tongue, and nation."

Please pray that we would remain faithful to the cause of seeing this lived out in the ministries we choose to support.

Rick Aldrich 's Prayer Requests

Today we hear from one of our Elder's, Rick Aldrich.

These are the things he desires us to pray for, and his vision, for himself, his family, and his church.

Please pray that we as a church would continue to grow in living out our mission statement of glorifying God by delighting in Him and making Him know through the proclamation of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. For me personally, this means living as one who has been changed by God through the gospel, so that my family and all with whom I worship and serve would see me as an example worthy of emulation, and those apart from Christ would see a life that reinforces the gospel message I am proclaiming.

Pray that our church will grow as disciple-makers at all steps of this endeavor; from preaching the gospel to those who have not believed, to instructing the new believers, to encouraging the mature to persevere to the end.

Pray for our families that they will be diligent to nurture their marriages so as to portray Christ to the world and that they will train their children to be the gospel messengers after us.

Pray that we all may grow in love for one another and that by this the world may know that we are children of the one true God, who sent his Son to die for sinners. Pray that we would be diligent to call all to repentance so that may be made worshippers of their Creator and Savior. And pray that in all things God's glory would be sought and not our own.

Dave Crocker

Today we hear from Dave Crocker, our deacon over education. He has listed several verses that we can pray through as we lift him and his ministry to the Lord. This is an excellent example of how we can be praying in a God-honoring and extremely worthwhile way. He said that the lines which are bold and italicized are the specific prayer requests.

Dave also asked that we keep his wife in prayer, as she is not a believer.


Heb 13:15 - 25 (NASB)

¹⁵Through Him then, let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that give thanks to His name.

¹⁶And do not neglect doing good and sharing, for with such sacrifices God is pleased.

¹⁷Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they keep watch over your souls as those who will give an account. Let them do this with joy and not with grief, for this would be unprofitable for you.

¹⁸Pray for us, for we are sure that we have a good conscience, desiring to conduct ourselves honorably in all things.

¹⁹And I urge you all the more to do this, so that I may be restored to you the sooner.

²⁰Now the God of peace, who brought up from the dead the great Shepherd of the sheep through the blood of the eternal covenant, even Jesus our Lord,

²¹equip you in every good thing to do His will, working in us that which is pleasing in His sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be the glory forever and ever. Amen.

²²But I urge you, brethren, bear with this word of exhortation, for I have written to you briefly.

Matt 9:36 - 38 (NASB)

³⁶Seeing the people, He felt compassion for them, because they were distressed and dispirited like sheep without a shepherd.

³⁷Then He said^* to His disciples, “The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few.

³⁸“Therefore beseech the Lord of the harvest to send out workers into His harvest.”

According to my earnest expectation and hope that I will not be put to shame in anything but that with all boldness, Christ will even now, as always, be exalted in my body, whether by life or by death. For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain. Philippians 1:20-21

Book Review - A Praying Life

I hate doing book reviews. I'm not very good at them. My friend Laura would tell me that this is because I am a "details" person rather than a "big picture" person - I want to spend far too much time on the specific points, observations, and chapters in a book rather than being content to give the general idea.

That being said, this is a book review for Paul Miller's A Praying Life. The book was so good that I put aside all of my reservations and fears of writing reviews in order to tell you how good it is. I have been begging the elder's wives to do it as a book study and I am confident that I am slowly wearing them down!

A Praying Life is (obviously) about prayer. It discusses every aspect of prayer that you could think of, from how to pray to when to pray to reasons to pray to real-life stories of answers to prayer. Miller includes a wide range of ideas for prayer journals and other prayer tracking methods.

This book really dives in and looks at the question of what a life of prayer really looks like. Miller discusses how even an "average Christian" can have a praying life and offers many amazing stories of how God has answered prayer and worked through prayer in the lives of many ordinary people.

In short, this is the best book on prayer that I have ever read. Miller doesn't mess around. He speaks bluntly about the Christian's responsibility to pray. He speaks openly about the difficulty of prayer and then goes straight into a myriad of solutions. He shares story after story of how God blessed prayer in his life and in the lives of others.

This is not a book you read quickly. This is a book that you read slowly, considering every page. This is a book that you can't wait to put into action. This is a book that encourages you to press on. If I had to suggest the one Christian book that you would read in 2010, this would be it! That is how strongly I feel about A Praying Life.

Prayer is a crucial part of a believer's life that is often overlooked. I pray that each of you will read this book, be encouraged and convicted, and come out of it a strong woman of prayer. A daughter who is not afraid to go to her Father for anything. A daughter who can joyfully recount answer after answer to prayer. A daughter who is fully reliant on her Father in every area of her life.

Judy Love for the Women's Ministry of Missio Dei

Today we have prayer requests for the Women's Ministry of Missio Dei sent to us by Judy Love. Many women are involved in this ministry and it has been of service to all of you many times. Please join me in keeping this important ministry in prayer throughout 2010.

The Mission statement for the Women’s Ministry is to ignite in the women of Missio Dei a passion to live out God's design for women and thus adorn the gospel with their lives so they may impact their world as they make disciples of Jesus Christ.

As such, our prayers go hand in hand with the statement:

Pray that we would be able to foster a passion for God in the lives of the women at Missio Dei.

Pray that we would keep the gospel at the forefront and recognize our purpose to honor the Lord in all things.

Pray that we would help women to accomplish their God-given roles in a God-centered, mission minded way.

Pray that we would seek to honor the Lord in all that we do.

Pray that many women would join us in reading and growing through our book discussions.

Pray that the events planned for this year would accomplish the goal of providing fellowship, a place to bring friends and family that don’t know the Lord and would be in keeping with the above mentioned goals.

Pray for the older women and the younger women as we work to bring alive the Titus 2 model for women mentoring women.

Pray Without Ceasing

1st Thessalonians 5:17 "Pray without ceasing."

There are huge benefits to having a set prayer time each day. This is a sadly overlooked spiritual discipline in the church today. There are many reasons for this and even more creative ways to overcome the excuses. I am going to leave this discussion to men and women infinitely more qualified than I am (we are featuring two excellent books on prayer this month and I cannot urge you strongly enough to read both!)

The topic I want to discuss today revolves around the central point in every believer's life that prayer should have. Outside of a regular time set aside for the single reason of prayer, Christians should be praying throughout the day. The first thought on your mind when something good happens should be a quick breath of prayer to the One who sent it. The first groan of your heart when something sad happens should be to the Comforter. Your first words when you become angry should be to the Lord.

As Christians, we have all been adopted into the family of God. We are His daughters and He expects and desires us to come to Him as His children. What heart of a father is not made glad by hearing of his daughter's joy? What father does not offer comfort when a daughter is in tears? What father does not protect when a daughter is afraid, does not provide to a daughter in need, does not give instruction when a daughter desires to learn? Sisters, we have a perfect Father in heaven! Bring everything in your life to Him, throughout the day, as it comes up!

There are massive benefits to this kind of prayer including:

• A greater binding of your heart to Him
• Less opportunity for sin (have you ever tried to sin while praying? its possible...but it is HARD!)
• A greater awareness of witnessing opportunities
• Increased communion with your Savior
• A deeper reliance on God and a gradual disappearing of self-reliance
• Increased awareness to answered prayers
• Greater opportunities for thankfulness
  
• Greater opportunities for seeking forgiveness

May I encourage you today to continually come to the Lord in prayer? Before long it becomes almost automatic and I cannot tell you how many wonderful times of prayer I've had that were sparked by what started as simply a quick, "Father, protect me!" or "Father, thank you!"

My Family

As I think about the privilege we have a God's children to go before Him and pour out our hearts to Him; I wonder why I withhold so much at times from Him when I struggle. I mean it is not as though He is clueless! I am comforted by the fact that He is a gracious Father who cares for me.

This has been an interesting and tough year in many ways. We have been stripped of our supposed self sufficiency in many ways. We have experienced disappointment and loss; yet have gained much in seeing the God we love at work. And though it has been a painful process at times, we are incredibly grateful for the opportunity to see more of God and be more fully satisfied in Him. We continue to taste His goodness day after day, hour after hour. Our God seems more precious to me all the time.

So, now I will share with you some things you could bring before our sovereign and compassionate Heavenly Father for my family.

• That we would encourage each other to persevere in faith all the more.
• Pray that we would serve my grandparents and others around us with the gospel as our motivation.
• Pray we would continue to see God providing, and that we would be content with where He has us ministry wise, job wise, and health wise.
• Pray that our great provider would provide Rick with adequate work this year.
• Pray that Rick will persevere through his school with humility and excellence.
  
• Pray that I would fill my role as Rick's helpmate for the sake of the gospel.
• Pray that Noelle and Jackson will grow in their love for Jesus.
• Pray for Calvin, Silas and Gabe to repent and turn to Jesus.
• Lastly, I ask that you pray that we would be kept by God and faithfully serve Missio Dei Fellowship in true humility, love and steadfastness.

Thank you.

John Monks/Larry Miller

Today we have the privilege of hearing from two of our deacons, Larry Miller and John Monks. Please keep these men in prayer as they minister to the body of Missio Dei in very real and practical ways. They are both a great blessing in my life. Below are some specific ways that they have said they would appreciate prayer in the upcoming year.


Please pray that I would have the wisdom to lead the ministries of the church and enable them to align with the missional purpose of our church, and that the other deacons would embrace this as they make decisions. Also that we would be able to promote a sense of community in Christ as we add new Believers into our fellowship.
Thank you,
John Monks


I would simply like to ask you to pray that what ever endeavor I have as a deacon in the future that God will be glorified by it.
Larry Miller

Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy SACRIFICE, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the WILL OF GOD is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect. Romans 12:1-2

Hello Ladies, happy new year! I cannot believe it is 2010 already; time goes by way too fast. I hope you all enjoyed your new years celebrations.

The beginning of a new year is always a unique time. Many spend time looking over the past year and marveling at how much was able to transpire in such a short time. If you are anything like me, you are astounded at the amount of sin you managed to squeeze in! I am always dumbfounded looking back over a year of selfish, prideful, sinful activity. It is so easy to grow complacent caught up in the moment, in the day to day activities that consume our lives. I sin so much more often than I am even aware of.

This is one of the many reasons that we at the True Women blog have decided to start this year off in a specific and purposeful way. In January, we will focus on prayer. We will feature prayer requests from several of the leaders of our church, book reviews on a couple books dealing with prayer, and several prayer discussions. Remember to check in on the weekends for examples of Scripture to pray through!

In February we will focus on the gospel. Jasmine and I both start off each new year by reading the Cross Centered Life by C.J. Mahaney and so we are going to do an online study of this excellent book. I hope that you are all able to join us! We will be starting this very quickly in February, so make sure and get the book now if you plan to participate. We will also be doing other gospel oriented posts. Any of you who have been reading this blog for any length of time know the importance that we place on the gospel for every day living.

I cannot think of a better way to start a new year than by focusing my mind on the gospel and prayer. Please join us as we prepare to start 2010 off in a God-honoring, Christ exalting way.

For God's glory and our good,

Nichole