Remember the poor

A friend recently asked if I had any advice on how to equip members of his church to pray more effectively for the sick. I responded by sharing with him some materials I had developed for this purpose many years ago when Ingrid and I were Ministry Team Coordinators at a Vineyard church. We had used these materials to conduct a series of workshops for members of our church and for visitors from other churches. You can download a PDF of our Ministry Team Training materials from the new Resources page on our website, and if you find it useful feel free to share it with others. Cheers,  Mitch

The draft version of the Introduction section of our next book Simple Kingdom: Word and Spirit is now finished. You can read it here .

Hello everyone, I've just restored all the blog posts that I deleted a few weeks ago. The reason I did this is because last night I had a dream which I think was from the Lord. It was a very brief dream and I won't describe it in detail, but the gist of it was that our blog has value for those in certain corners of God's kingdom even though I had lately grown dissatisfied with it. But that's just me, I'm still a perfectionist at heart and usually spend too much time trying to get things right instead of just getting them done, warts and all. I'm reminded also of a story Carol Wimber told in her book The Way It Was about a prophetic word that was spoken out loudly during the early days of the Vineyard where the Holy Spirit said "I have made you a MARKETPLACE and I can take it away if I choose to!" I'm quoting here from memory, but the idea is that our lives as Christians should be an open book to the world around us so they can see the reality of the living God despite our numerous faults and failings. So the blog is back, though a couple of posts I felt were irrelevant have been removed. I've also made a brand new start on writing our next book Simple Kingdom: Word and Spirit and should have the Introduction at least finished and posted here before Christmas. The rest of the book will probably have to wait until the beginning of the new year as things get pretty busy around here during the Holiday Season. For example, tomorrow we're having a First Advent celebration in our home with family and friends who all go to different churches including Baptist, Brethren, Mennonite, Pentecostal and Vineyard. These are my favorite kinds of church gatherings, and the early home fellowships we started way back in the 80s and 90s often had people joining us from different denominations like this. So tomorrow we're going to be singing Christmas carols together and eating lotsa goodies as we celebrate the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ into the world "to save us all from Satan's power when we had gone astray. O tidings of comfort and joy!"  Peace and joy to all of you, Mitch

Hello everyone, Our original goal in launching this website three years ago was to write and publish a series of free PDF ebooks on five key aspects of the kingdom of God. These "keys to the kingdom" are intended to help Christians become better followers of Jesus. So far we've managed to publish three books in our Simple Kingdom series, covering the areas of worship, discipleship and fellowship. You can download our free books and also read them in full online. We still have two more Simple Kingdom titles we feel God has laid on our hearts to write: Word and Spirit, on how the Holy Spirit speaks to us through the Scriptures; and Spritual Warfare, a practical guide on resisting the Devil. The problem though is that each time we start writing one of these books, we get attacked! For example, when we started writing Word and Spirit way back in September of last year, we immediately got hit with some unexpected breakdowns in our home that occupied a lot of time and energy as well as costing considerable money. And we also experienced some worrysome health issues which, in addition to the financial stress of home repairs, caused us to scale back our writing efforts. Because of this in December I thought it might be better to shelve writing whole books for awhile and just start a blog on our site where I could post short articles on different topics like worship, healing, evangelism, and so on. But having tried with difficulty to keep a blog running for almost a year, I've now come to realize that blogging regularly is hard work! And more importantly, it's been keeping me from finishing the task God has assigned us of writing these Simple Kingdom books. So I've made the decision to stop blogging and get back to work with Ingrid on finishing our series of Simple Kingdom books. I've also deleted all my old blog posts and will instead be using this blog, which has now been renamed Site Updates, to post short updates like this to keep you informed of our progress. Some of my deleted blog posts may get repurposed later, either in future books or as standalone articles, but for now I'm shelving such ideas until we can finish the two remaining Simple Kingdom books the Lord has told us to write. Our plan going forward then is to post short updates like this twice a month here on our homepage. You can also receive these updates directly in your inbox by subscribing to our email newsletter . And be sure to subscribe to our SoundCloud stream where we'll be uploading new worship songs when we have the time and energy to record them. Anyways, please contintue to pray for us, especially that we can stay focused on the task God has given us to do. Thank you! Cheers, Mitch and Ingrid

I'm seventy-one. And unless the Lord returns soon, I'm going to experience death someday, just like Jesus did. And then I'll live forever in the presence of God, just like Jesus does. And while I still believe that healing is the children's bread (Matthew 15:21-28) — that it's God's will that our sicknesses and infirmities be healed through faith — growing old does change one's perspective a bit with regard to the ministry of healing. A few years ago this was brought home to me through a chronic condition involving my bum. Or buttocks if you prefer a less colloquial word. Or derriere if you want to be fancy. Or whatever you feel comfortable calling it :-) Since I was a young man I've experienced, on and off, problems with pain and bleeding from my rectum. Once it got so bad I decided to see a proctologist, who discovered I had an anal fissure (a crack in the skin inside the rectum). He recommended surgery, and I agreed to it. This solved the problem for a time, but eventually my love of spicy food led to recurrence of the condition. And when I went on a modified Atkins Diet to lose some excessive weight, the resulting constipation due to insufficient fiber left me in so much pain that I sometimes had to spend hours in a hot bath seeking relief. Eating several bran muffins each day eventually brought the condition under control (though it derailed my attempt at weightloss) and though I've now given up eating Kung Po Chicken and hot Indian Curry dishes, it's still frustrating how often restaurants incorporate black pepper or paprika into many of their dishes. At this point I'm sure you're saying "Ick!" at hearing all this stuff. But don't worry, I'll soon get to the "spiritual" point of my story. It goes without saying that whenever I was experiencing such pain, I asked for prayer, primarily from my wife. And while Ingrid has an anointing in the healing area (see this story for more about the gift of healing God has given Ingrid) on each occasion no divine (i.e. supernatural) healing seemed to take place. Only when I altered my diet (by adding more fiber and avoiding spicy/peppery foods) together with treatment (e.g. Tylenol, suppositories etc.) was the pain mitigated. But several years ago I experienced an especially bad episode of bum pain after we had a dinner out to celebrate the ending of our business and start of our retirement. I woke up after midnight in excruciating pain and went upstairs to sit in my soft comfy prayer-chair. And I prayed, hard, crying out to the Lord for his healing power. And the Holy Spirit suddenly spoke to me saying, "You must manage your condition." And I understood immediately that my chronic bum problems have been largely due to my habitually poor eating habits over the years. Since then it's been more daily fiber (e.g. lots of vegetables every supper, and a bran muffin with a few dates for dessert) no spicy foods (I used to love BBQ potato chips) and avoid any prepared or restaurant foods that might have pepper or Cajun seasoning in them (e.g. no more hamburgers, favor alfredo sauce over tomato sauce for pastas etc.) and eat home-cooked meals most days (easier now that we're retired). And I've had no bum problems since I chose to obey what God told me to do. Just a few more thoughts... Is this really a healing story? Yes, I believe it is; it's an example of healing by word of instruction. See this story by me for another example, and read also the story in chapter 20 of Second Kings of how Hezekiah's painful boil was healed. What I actually heard the Holy Spirit say to me was just the word "manage." But from past experience praying for the sick I've often received only partial revelation from the Lord concerning the situations and conditions I was praying for. And I remember John Wimber mentioning something similar in one of his sermons, how words of knowledge sometimes come to him like whispers that are easily missed or overlooked. If you want to learn more about praying for people who have chronic illnesses or conditions, I strongly recommend that you read Wimber's book Power Healing as this topic is covered somewhere in his book. And by the way, if you need someone to discreetly pray for healing for some "sensitive" part of your body, it's probably best if you ask your husband or wife to do this. Because (presumably) they are familiar with all different the nooks and crannies of your body :-) Anyways, feel free to email me if you have any questions or comments regarding this story or anything else on our site. God bless, and be healed in Jesus' name! —Mitch

Just a couple of quick updates about our worship stuff. I've pulled the recordings of a number of the songs on our SoundCloud stream as I haven't been very happy with my recordings of them, either because my singing sucks or they need a new arrangement (i.e. better playing and/or different instruments). Songs that will (eventually) be re-recorded are now listed as such on the Songs page of our website. I also happened to stumble across another verse I had written years ago for my song Lord, Have Mercy which I recently uploaded to SoundCloud . The additional verse goes like this: Son of David! Son of David! Stretch your hand out and make me whole. Heal my body, my mind, my soul. I've added this extra verse to the free PDF leadsheet you can download for this song which has the melody, lyrics and guitar chords so you can learn how to play it :-) Enjoy! --Mitch

Carol Wimber once said that as followers of Jesus, our lives should be like an open book for anyone to read. This means that as Christians, we shouldn't try to cover up our weaknesses and failures; we should instead be open and honest about them. "I will boast of my weaknesses," says Paul in 2 Corinthians 12:9, "so that Christ's power can rest upon me." And as disciples of Christ, isn't that what we all want to see more of in our lives — the power of God? Paul understood this. He was originally Saul, named after the first king of Israel and a man described in 1 Sam 9:2 as being a head taller than anyone else in the land. Paul's father probably named him Saul in the hope that he would turn out to be a great man of God. And until Paul met Jesus on that road to Damascus, he certainly seemed to be headed towards greatness as someone who could boast of his character, zeal and achievements (see Philippians 3:3-6). But fame, and the fortune which often attends it, meant nothing to Paul after he came to know Jesus as his Lord (Philippians 3:7-8). So instead of Saul, he changed his name to Paul (Acts 13:9) which in Latin means "little." It seems Paul did this because after he met Jesus he no longer saw himself as someone destined for greatness. Instead, he saw himself as "the least of the apostles" and someone who didn't even deserve to be called an apostle (1 Corinthians 15:9). In fact he said his success in his calling was due only to God working in him, not because of his own human efforts (1 Corinthians 15:10). "I came to you in weakness with great fear and trembling," he told the Corinthian converts (1 Corinthians 2:3). Doesn't sound very much like a "great man of God," does he? Jesus says that those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted (Matthew 23:12). He also says that whoever humbles himself like a little child will be great in the kingdom of heaven (Matthew 18:4). Being open to others about yourself can be scary, because you might end up getting hurt. But guess what? If someone does laugh at you or look down at you, your reaction should be to jump for joy! Because that's how the prophets — those "great" men of God in the Bible — were treated (Matthew 5:12). As for me, I will humble myself and be like a little child before my heavenly Father. Because that's actually what I am — just a simple, ordinary guy trying to follow Jesus. How about you? Cheers, Mitch

Don't worry, I'm not talking here about trying to convert Catholics to Protestantism, or Protestants to Catholicism, or Baptists to Pentecostalism, or anything like that. I love the church — all of the Lord's church — too much to ever want to do anything like that. What I'm talking about is fulfilling the Great Commission found in Matthew 28:18-20 where Jesus gave his first disciples the task of making more disciples — of multiplying themselves — by teaching others to do everything Jesus taught them to do. But the Great Commission isn't about making more Evangelicals, or Pentecostals, or Charismatics, or Catholics, or Orthodox believers. And it's not just about leading people to Christ either. It's about helping people become followers of Jesus. And that's the essential character of doing personal evangelism. It's about meeting people wherever they are at and then trying to move them a bit further along towards knowing Jesus and becoming more like Jesus. Because the ultimate goal of being a follower of Jesus is to become like Jesus. "A disciple...when he is fully trained will be like his teacher" (Luke 6:40). This might mean for example trying to convince an atheist that there just might be some inconsistencies in their position. Or helping an agnostic see that believing in God isn't such a difficult thing after all. Or talking with a longtime churchgoer about actually having a personal relationship with the Lord. Or demonstrating to a Dispensationalist that Charismatic Christians aren't so looney after all. And so on. Moving people further along the path of discipleship and deeper into God's kingdom. That's what evangelism is really all about.  —Mitch

A few months ago I started a series of blog posts on personal evangelism. My goal in doing this was twofold: to motivate myself to share my faith more effectively, and to help equip other followers of Jesus to do the same. And it's working — at least for myself. I've had several opportunities recently to share my testimony with others, and it's almost like the Lord has been bringing people to me who are already moving towards faith on the Engel scale . (See also pages 54 – 57 on this topic in Wimber's book Power Evangelism ). What has helped me are the guiding principles for doing evangelism that I described previously and which can be summarized like this: The Lord wants everyone to be saved, and he's commissioned and empowered his followers (including me!) to help Him gather people into his kingdom. So let's get on with it! To put this into practice, whenever I go out into the marketplace I try to start by praying a simple prayer along these lines. But it's still hard. Often I don't know what to say to people and feel like it would be useless to even try to talk to them about Jesus. And instead of feeling I'm being led by the Spirit, I usually feel like God is a million miles away from this cold, dark world I live in. The answer of course is to persevere. But it's also important to build upon these evangelism principles by adding priorities and practices. It's just like when you're building a house, you first lay down the foundation and then you erect the walls. And that's what I'll try to briefly do here. Evangelism Priorities The number one priority for effective personal evangelism is to make time for people . You can't tell people about Jesus if you don't talk with them! Our world is so hectic nowadays, and we are so stressed out most of the time, that we tend to be more focused on the tasks we need to do than the people we encounter as we perform them. This is probably the major hindrance that prevents us from sharing our faith with those we encounter in the marketplace. Valuing people more than our tasks, goals and accomplishments is a huge shift for many of us, but it's essential if we're to become effective in evangelism. Another priority when doing evangelism is open, honest sharing of your personal experience of God . Sharing your testimony — what you were like before you were a Christian, how you became a Christian, and how meeting the Lord changed your life — is generally more effective in winning people's hearts than reciting the Bridge to Life (Navigators), the Four Spiritual Laws (Campus Crusade for Christ) or some other salvation formula. A third priority is to view evangelism as a lifestyle . When Jesus called his first disciples, he told them he would make them fishers of men (Matt 4:19). Then later after he rose from the dead, he instructed them to go and make disciples, that is, others who would do what Jesus taught them to do (Matt 28:18-20). And if we too are followers of Jesus, then clearly our main job is to fish — to work with the Lord to bring men and women into God's kingdom. Evangelism Practices While taking time just to talk with people must be a priority for those of us who want to become more effective in evangelism, it's even more important for us to learn how to listen . While the ultimate goal of evangelism is to bring people into the kingdom, our immediate goal when we share our faith with someone should simply be to try and lead them one or two steps higher on the Engel scale. If you can simply lead them from merely having some interest in Jesus Christ to deciding to investigate Jesus further, for example by reading one of the gospels or visiting your fellowship, then you've probably done your job for the day as far as fishing for that particular person is concerned, because they've gone from sniffing the bait to actually taking a nibble. To accomplish this, you must listen carefully how people respond when you talk with them as this enables you to determine what level of awareness, interest and involvement they already have with Christianity. A second practice that is important when doing evangelism is to use the J-word . For example, if you're in a conversation with someone and they offer some objection concerning what they perceive as negative in Christianity, you might respond with "Well, you have a point there. But Jesus says..." and simply quote some verse where Jesus said something that bears on the subject. Remember, the goal of evangelism isn't to win people to Jesus, not to your church or denomination or personal way of thinking. Finally, if you want to become more effective in sharing your faith you should make it a practice to ask God for boldness . When the early disciples did this together in Acts 4:23-31 the result was that they were filled with the Holy Spirit and with boldness to proclaim the gospel even in the face of opposition. As Ken Blue, the former pastor of Foothills Vineyard in San Diego once told us many years ago, "Evangelism is just guts." So ask God for guts.  Cheers, Mitch