Greg and Melissa

Prayer Needs 5/2011

Thu, 19 May 2011 17:18:31 GMT

1) Please pray for Melissa and the girls as we enter the last two weeks of visiting friends and raising support in California and Washington. From now until our departure from CA on the 30th, we have a dinner commitment every day. This is a blessing but a difficult schedule to pull off with kids.

2) Please pray for Greg as he starts preparing now to preach a three week sermon series on the Glory of the Trinity for our local church shortly after we return to home to the Middle East in June.

3) Please pray for our upcoming Church Planting 101 training that we want to provide for Christians in the country to the west of us. Please pray for the planning, visas and effectiveness.

4) Please pray that God would move new people to invest in our ministry and current supporters to increase their giving so that we can raise the remaining $300 of monthly support needed before returning to ministry in June.

Easter Baptisms at the Jordan River

Mon, 05 Apr 2010 21:48:28 GMT

It has been invigorating to be back in thick of it here in the Middle East. We jumped back in with both feet being re-immersed in our church ministry and outreach. Speaking of immersion, we had the honor of seeing nine people from our church publicly announce that they are followers of Jesus by being baptized this Easter. To make it even better, they were baptized in the Jordan River, the same river as Jesus Himself. The most exciting part of all is that two of the new believers being baptized, Martin and Jeri, are members of our Wednesday night home Bible study (WNC). It has been inspiring to watch their faith grow over the last year. We are so proud of them and thankful to God.

One funny fact: Martin is a worker at the Netherlands embassy. Somehow the Netherlands press got wind of his baptism and decided to cover it on Netherlands public radio and put it on their website. How cool is that?!

Here are some videos of the baptisms:

Ministry is Accelerating

Mon, 23 Nov 2009 21:27:04 GMT

Ministry is accelerating on a number of fronts:

Strategy to assist and mentor nationals

Our initial timeline projected that we would have our first national minister in play by 2011. As things have been progressing here, it appears that this may happen more quickly. There are a number of factors that have to fall into place but the potential is to have two new ministries commencing sometime in 2010.

Personal Outreach

It has been a firestorm of meetings with unbelievers these last months. I have had many opportunities to explain God's Word. Most of the time my friends disagree holding tight to their false views... but the dialog continues and our friendships continue and we live to fight another day.

Travel Plans

We are looking forward to being in WA for Christmas. Our schedule is pretty well set. We will be in WA Dec 16th -Jan 5th. We arrive in CA Jan 5th and stay until Jan 27th . At that time, Mama and baby head back to WA and I will continue on to Avant headquarters in Missouri for field leader training Jan. 31st -Feb.6th. Most of Feb. will be spend in WA. Later in the month, the whole family will be back in Missouri for team training Feb. 28th - Mar. 13th. A short bounce back through Seattle and we are on a flight back to the Middle East Mar. 15th.

Middle East Vacation

Sun, 30 Aug 2009 21:41:01 GMT

This last two weeks we had the privilege of having my mom, Beverly, as our first official emissary from the good old US of A. We spent the first week and a half where we are living now experiencing the culture, visiting a few of the local tourist sites, interviewing at some local schools for a possible 2010 job, and enjoying family time. For the last four days of her visit, we gave her a high speed tour of our two favorite places: Jerusalem and Galilee. Visitors are welcome anytime!

Arabic School Has Begun

Tue, 09 Jun 2009 14:48:54 GMT

Arabic school has begun! Melissa and I both find it a bit difficult. It is also yielding immediate rewards. We can now converse with our taxi drivers to the extent of finding out their name, where they are from, if they are married, if they have children and great stuff like that. It is very exciting to be unlocking our environment even in these precursory ways. Before we came, our church gave us both a language aptitude test but we never were shown the results. I now think that it was because Melissa is smarter than I am. Please pray for us as we work through how language training and raising a nine month old can happily go together. The language school is a two year, five days a week, intensive program. It looks unlikely that Melissa will do the full program with me. Private tutoring many be a family friendly option after the Summer.

New Home

Fri, 08 May 2009 17:42:39 GMT

Good News! We are in our new home here in the Middle East...paid up for six months. It is a great place for a great price. Also, originally the language school said that we would have to wait for September for a level one class. Now they have enough people that they are going to let us start a level one Summer class June 1st.

Departure Date Set

Wed, 01 Apr 2009 19:47:47 GMT

Great news! We have finally set a date for our departure to Jordan and have tickets in hand! Thank you to all of you who have come along side of us as ministry partners. Through your sacrifices you have, like saints of the past, become "fellow workers for the truth".

3 John 6-8
"...You will do well to send them on their journey in a manner worthy of God. For they have gone out for the sake of the name, accepting nothing from the Gentiles. Therefore we ought to support people like these, that we may be fellow workers for the truth."

Here is the timeline:

April 12 (Easter) Greg and Melissa's last Sunday at Living Hope in California.

April 15 Greg and Melissa drive to Washington.

April 19 Greg and Melissa will be at Poulsbo Community Church in Poulsbo, Washington.

April 23 Greg and Melissa fly from Seattle to the Middle East.

April 25 Greg and Melissa start looking for an apartment in the Middle East.

Reaching Out to the Middle East

Sat, 07 Feb 2009 22:29:14 GMT

As of January 23rd 2009, Living Hope and A.M. have become partners in sending Greg and Melissa to mentor nationals in church leaders in the Middle East. How can we impact this region for the Lord? Living Hope and A.M. have come up with one answer: strategic partnerships.
Living Hope and A.M. have solidified their strategic partnership having a shared investment in Greg and Melissa. On January 23rd 2009, Greg and Melissa were commissioned as full-time A.M. workers. Living Hope is sending Greg and Melissa through A.M. to reach out to the Arab world. How they plan to accomplish this feat brings us to the next strategic partnership.
In 2001, A.M. entered in a strategic partnership with a Middle East based leadership training institute. This school rests in the cradle of the Middle East with 127 million Arabs living within a 1,000 mile radius. Students from the Christian minorities of Syria, Lebanon, Egypt, Sudan and Jordan flock to the school to be trained for the ministry and are then sent back to their perspective communities.
Today, A.M. is looking to Living Hope and Greg and Melissa to bring this strategic partnership with Arab nationals to the next level. Greg will come alongside a select group of national men graduating from the school to mentor them through the process of starting churches. This partnership will play itself out with Greg mentoring teams of nationals to start churches throughout the Arab world.
With an anticipated move to the Middle East in April 2009, Greg and Melissa are looking for committed ministry partners. Greg and Melissa need your help to impact the Middle East. Email Greg at greggriz@hotmail.com for more information.