Eph 4:11-12 And He gave some as…evangelists,…(12) for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, to the building up of the body of Christ. Amplified…12…the full equipping of the saints (His consecrated people), [that they should do] the work of ministering

In June 8-10 our C2C family held a Summit in Pittsburg Kansas regarding Ephesians’4 evangelists. Our goal was to take steps towards evangelists making connection with churches and other evangelistic types so the equipping process can be facilitated among our C2C family. We want to see every local church embrace and fulfill their evangelistic mandate by seeing Ephesians’ 4 evangelists related to, and equipping local congregations and regional spheres on a regular basis.

Some Christians mistakenly see the Ephesians’4 ministries like slices of a cake. Each ministry represents one slice. You can take any slice away and still have a cake. Without a particular slice (like evangelists) the cake will still be desirable to some.

What if we saw the ministry gifts of Apostle, Prophet, Evangelist, Pastor, and Teacher, more like the ingredients of the cake rather than slices of the cake? Cakes usually contain sugar, eggs, flour, butter, and oil. What if the evangelist (or any of the other gifts) were like flour? As you may know flour is the basic substance in a cake. The other ingredients are added and it creates the chemical reactions that occur in baking. Flour helps all the ingredients to adhere into a mass, to add flavor, or both.

If evangelism or any other of the five fold gifts are like the flour in a cake it causes Spiritual/chemical bonding that connect with every other ingredient and thus the whole cake. Evangelism or any other aspect is part of every slice and every bite. It would be a wonderful cake (local church) if every bite had the flavor of all the five ingredients in it!

The Summit was a good first step. Recognized Ephesians’ 4 evangelists Glenn Middleton and Jim Morgan came with many others to see what God would do. There were international representatives from both Sweden and Spain who are involved in Evangelistic ministry in several nations. There were great relational connections that stimulated the evangelistic desires of Jesus among us. We believe that this will be a seed bed for further mentoring and stirring for the equipping process in local churches on a regular basis. Here some accounts of the gathering from Glenn and Jim.

Glenn Middleton - It was very exciting to be attending a summit made up of evangelists. You could feel the expectation in the air on Friday night of what the weekend would bring…It didn’t take long to discover the diversity of ministry among us. We had everything from child evangelism; church planting from Sweden and Spain to crusades in Africa and Asia. There were pastors, local evangelists, woman evangelists, street evangelists, and university ministry reaching international students.

Doug helped us see the restoration of the equipping aspect of the Evangelist to local churches. He used the analogy of a cake with its ingredients that was very effective.

We all cheered when Buck Hudson got up to speak and said “This is the decade of the Evangelist!” He also spoke on the similarity of the Evangelist and the Prophet, which there are many. Buck taught about Abraham being given three important things … A Call to create a family. We are to call people into a family. A Promise God gave him of ingathering “all the nations shall be blessed.” The harvest in that his descendants “shall be like the sand of the sea.” A Commission which entails not just a call but the journey to get to the commission, which includes things like rejection as well as relational and other blessings.

Jim Morgan talked about all the revivals and awakenings and how they affected evangelism. One statement he made was “We shake-em and you shape-em” which sounds like team work to me that together will help make disciples!

I spoke of the “Fourfold Dynamics of the Church” Family, School, Army, and Hospital and how all components affect each other. I also spoke on the tension between the Helmsman (senior leader) and Evangelist. One of the things that burns in my heart is to see the Church begin to be evangelistic. Not just wait for the Evangelist to come and “get’r done” but the body of Christ reaching the lost. The ultimate purpose of the church is to press darkness to give up souls!     

Jim Morgan – I think the evangelistic summit was a great turning point for evangelistic efforts of the C2C family of churches. The summit topics and ministry time greatly affected attendees understanding as to what God is doing with evangelistic efforts among the churches in the present time. I personally saw and heard testimony of how people’s hearts were stirred, convicted, enlightened, and energized for renewed evangelistic thrusts. Messages from Doug Kreigbaum, Buck Hudson, Glenn Middleton, and others (including myself) brought an understanding of family and relationships in the local bodies as the ultimately effective plan of God for evangelism. Also, messages came forth that convinced us that there will be more interaction between the churches with evangelism. We all left with a feeling that there is support available one for another and resources are available to be shared one with another. I personally connected with the evangelists and others at the summit to help in any way possible. Buck’s declaration that we are in “the decade of the evangelist” and Doug’s teachings on the five-fold pertaining to evangelism today meant the most to me. I see that the evangelist will be supported by the five-fold ministry in a new and productive way and that the support for evangelists in local houses will not be isolated.

The evangelist will be an integral part of the next move of God with the interaction from other ministry gifts. The message that will extend to the church is that all are to utilize their gifts in the body to further the spread of the gospel with an understanding of the church as a family in relational life. The U.S. statistics concerning the effectiveness of crusade evangelism (a vast majority of people making decisions end up falling away) is alarming. The church is obviously God’s desirable method.

The fact that we had this summit and the great things that were shared, gave strength in the understanding of the commission to the church by Jesus. The teaching on the great commission as seen from all four gospels put a new light on how we should approach evangelism. The summit gave strength and direction especially to the evangelists, but also gave the conviction to everyone that we should see the local body as a family and that family brings the lost into family, relationship, and discipleship.

There have been many testimonies I have recently heard from evangelists subsequent to the summit that have blessed me. I see in them a continued effort with more fire to do the will of God. My team from Christian Life fellowship in Raleigh was tremendously impacted and envisioned for new outreach efforts.                                                                               

Overflow: A Prophetic Conference was so much more than a conference.  The time spent in Casper, WY from July 12^th to 15^th was not just a series of meetings, but a consecrated encounter with the Divine. God—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit—literally came down, called us into His throne room, and transformed our hearts.  Anyone who was there is sure to say that they will never be the same again!

Amazing worship, holy awe, life changing utterances, and divine revelation poured out of Heaven day after day.  We stood as witnesses in God’s presence, as Restoration Church was called to minister and live in greater dimensions of prophetic worship and creativity. A powerful anointing was released, as well, when God confirmed and commissioned Bob Kelly as an Ephesians 4 Gift for the house. Even more so, magnificent impartations were deposited in the heart of every God-seeker—surely in the days to come these prophetic sons and daughters will release the ecstasy and light of Father God in such a way that their families, churches, cities, and even nations will be changed forever.  Praise God for Buck Hudson and Tom Bedford! They saturated us with sound teaching and Biblical truth in every session, so as to ground our experience in right theology.  Then the Holy Spirit confirmed His word with signs, wonders, and prophetic releases—realigning our hearts with the will of Heaven and catapulting us to destiny! Certainly, we all were humbled by such a visitation.

The testimony of Jesus Christ is truly the spirit of prophecy!  Throughout the world, may we ever more testify of Him and be moved by His spirit! (Who knew that a trip from the cornfield to cowboy country would be so grand!)

A team from several C2C churches recently had the chance to travel to Mexico City to work with Pastor Carlos Fernandez and his church there.  It was a great time to reconnect, work together, minister to lots of people, make some new friends and generally see the kingdom of God moving forward in Mexico!

Pastor Carlos had attended some leadership conferences in Kirksville many years ago, but he lost touch over the years, and often found himself alone.  In 2004, God brought Carlos back into our lives, reopening a relationship with Paul Kidd and the church in Raleigh.  There was a real connection from the beginning, but in the last two to three years the relationship has truly started to flourish.  Teams from Raleigh have been in Mexico a few times each year, and Raleigh has also been very blessed to receive Carlos and his family to minister here multiple times.  Several pastors from the other C2C family churches have also had the privilege to connect with this church.

At the end of April, Paul brought a team from Raleigh including Mark Clark, Timothy Hilton, Wesley Jones and Luke McIntyre, and we met up with Doug Kreighbaum and Carlos Angeles from Pittsburg and Pat Forbes from Mankato.  We also met up with Moses Borjas, who pastors a church in El Paso and who has become a dear brother to our church in recent years.  To put it succinctly, our trip was 6 days of being constantly fed delicious Mexican food, soaking up the powerful presence of God in daily corporate meetings, meeting with leaders and local pastors from the area, enjoying long conversations with old and new friends, and for some of us, keeping an alert eye out for the nearest Starbucks.

We are very happy to report that the church is not only surviving, but thriving.  Carlos has two of his sons, Jonas and Salomon, leading the church with him and another son, Bernabe, has planted another church nearby.  His son-in-law, Ivan, and daughter Elisabet, have also planted another church nearby.  The main church has now reached over 1200 people and continues to grow.  Best of all, Carlos is raising up an amazing team of young leaders that are full of purity and hunger for God.  The church carries a strong evangelistic grace and has cultivated an atmosphere of dynamic worship.  They always love prophetic preaching and the worship teams are ready to soar into the heavens on a moment’s notice.

We look forward to watching God unfold this relationship in the years to come, and hope that many more of you also get to take part in this joining to another part of our family.   When Carlos and his sons are with us in Raleigh there is such a connection that transcends language, and we know God has so much he wants to do in both of our cultures.  I can tell you it’s a beautiful thing to see a congregation of gringos in North Carolina rocking to the beat of the Latin worship sound.  This is just a taste of our future when every tribe, tongue, and nation will worship together, and for all of us here in Raleigh, it’s been a delicious new taste.  Here’s to many more in the years to come…

by Lollie Hofer, Omaha, NE

 A man who has friends must himself be friendly, but there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother.  Proverbs 18:24.

Patrick Christian Effrein is our one graduate at Christ’s Family Church School this year.  Proverbs 18:24 isn’t the normal scripture you would choose for a young man graduating from high school but this scripture is applicable to the life of Patrick.  Instead of me explaining why, I thought it would be fun to hear from some of Patrick’s friends.

Caitlin (first grade) – “I like Patrick; he plays with us.  He cares if you get hurt.”

Johanna (first grade) – “Boys like to be with other boys but Patrick and Jared always play with us.”

Promise Joy (first grade) – “He is a teenager and usually they don’t like to hang out with little kids.  Patrick really likes to hang with us.”

Danielle (fourth grade) – “I’ve been with teenagers and some of them ignore kids.  Patrick doesn’t and he cares about us a lot.”

Micah (K4) – “I like to eat lunch with Patrick.  I love him and he loves me.  He likes to do homework like I like to do homework.  He is my good, good friend.”

Patrick, of all the things you could have been known for during your senior year, consider it of the highest honor to be called friend.  You have faithfully stuck by the children at CFCS and they recognize your genuine commitment to them.  It won’t be the same next year when you’re not here.  Congratulations!  We are proud of you.  There is a grace and gifting on your life from God where children are concerned.  Cherish the special gift the Lord has entrusted to you.  That call you sense in becoming a teacher?  Yeppers, it’s a God-thing.

Brochures are being mailed to area churches, but if you don’t receive one or want more information, please contact Wendy James at wendyjamescfcomaha@gmail.com.

by Cheri White, Omaha, Nebraska

With tears streaming down both their cheeks, my husband and his friend embraced! I could hear Don’s muffled voice saying, “I’m sorry I hurt you, will you forgive me?” And with warmth in his voice, his friend responded, “It’s all forgiven and in the past.” Then, I too, was embraced by our friend’s wife, and we both cried as forgiveness flowed among us all. Other men and women came too, with similar statements of forgiveness and many with tears.

This amazing moment took place at the business meeting of a very honorable denomination of which we had once been a part. We had left the denomination some years ago, but we had done it wrong. We had not communicated well with them prior to our departure, and as a result we had hurt our friends. In the wake of our decision we had left our friends with hurt feelings, misunderstandings and confusion – all of which needed to be healed.

While in Europe a few years ago, God allowed us to hear an amazing message on honoring our spiritual heritage.  The speaker opened our understanding to the scriptures which state clearly to “give honor to whom honor is due.” He spoke of honoring those he knew, who had walked with God before him. Those who helped him come to the Lord, discipled him, and helped him through difficult times. He challenged us to do the same! To honor those who had helped to spiritually shape our lives.

As the message concluded, my husband leaned over and told me he knew he was to write letters to the officials of the denomination in which he had grown up. He felt he was to give them honor for their influence in his life and to ask their forgiveness for the hurt caused when we left. His heart was tender as he spoke and I too, sensed God directing our hearts in this matter.

True to his word, Don wrote the letters. Our friends responded graciously and wrote or called him to thank him. Recently, some of those men invited us to the denomination’s business meeting to share publicly the letter Don had written earlier and to bring public reconciliation to the situation.

As he addressed the assembly Don said, “It is an undeserved honor to be here today.” Those words were never moretrue. We did not deserve the door of reconciliation God had so graciously opened! But, it was time! Time to repent to them face-to-face, time to embrace, time to cry and time to say the things we had held in our hearts for all those years. And so…..we did! Last week.

I cried as friends from years-gone-by embraced me and lovingly forgave me. I cried because a deep awareness of restored friendship was settling deeply inside me. It was as if I could literally feel the fragmented pieces of my heart smooth out and nestle back into the places they belonged. My heart felt whole again!

Don and I truly believe relationships matter to God. We teach it, we preach it and we try to live it. But that day……….. amidst the hugs and tears……….as forgiveness flowed………….as relationships were restored…………….

I know…………

I felt HIS pleasure………

and I was undone!

I realized something today as I was watching TV and saw several similar commercials. The self-help wave has given way to the support group model. “I think I can, I think I can” has yielded to the reassurance of “you’re not alone.”

There are support groups, or “recovery” groups, for every kind of addiction, illness, or problem we can encounter. You can get together with other people struggling with addiction to alcohol, drugs, sex, gambling, or those who deal with depression, debt, divorce and other family problems, and so on.

I’m not against any of these groups, or the mentality that causes people to form them. In fact, I believe that many times people can be greatly helped, in part, just by knowing they’re not the only ones dealing with their particular issues.

What the founders of all these groups have realized, consciously or otherwise, is that we were not created to live life by ourselves. We can’t just help ourselves through all the difficulties of life by reading a book, or attending a seminar. We were created with a need to have others around us who can see our strengths and our weaknesses, who can identify with our successes and our failures, to provide us with a sense of belonging, where we don’t have to put on a happy face and act ‘okay’ in order to be accepted.

The problem is that man was not created to group together around our common weakness and sins. We are designed to draw together around the Center of the Universe, Jesus Christ, and His strength and victory.

Twelve steps generated by human reason (or 24, or a thousand) will never be enough to free us from our addictions and weak wills. Hundreds of encouraging words from people who will affirm the fact that you don’t have to deal with issues all by yourself (but you’re probably stuck with dealing with them forever) will not set you free to live a victorious life. Only the blood of Jesus can do that. And the effect of His shed blood on our lives is applied as we walk with Him by faith, united with the family He predetermined would be the perfect fit for us, and us for them.

We were created to live in the family of God, to live in relationships centered around our yieldedness to Him. The phrase “you’re not alone – I love the Lord too” is much more powerful than “you’re not alone – I can’t lick this thing either.”

Don’t drop out of your support group or abandon treatment for your addiction. Just make those things secondary to experiencing the comfort, sense of belonging, love, and power of God through His glorious family, the Church.

You’re really NOT alone!

By Daniel Dunn, Life Church, Kirksville, Missouri

I was on a flight to Dallas recently, when a group of 16-18 year olds were boarding and the flight attendant asked them where they were headed. “To Belize to go snorkeling and scuba diving for Spring break.” was their reply. The flight attendant laughed, wished them well and said that she went across the street to Jan Harris’ back yard for spring breaks at that age. After the group passed by I watched as a fellow passenger rolled his eyes, shook his head slightly and mumbled “Kids these days…”

For the rest of that flight I reflected on that statement, the attitude behind it and the generation that it indicted. As I considered this I remembered a recent meeting with Bobby Pino, an apostolic father and dynamic church planter from the Philippines. He met with our local eldership team and mentioned that he believed that there was a move of God coming to his region and nation. This was interesting because some of our young leaders had been talking about this same thing for some time and were moving to put feet to the call of God that was stirring in our local church and the young people of our region. Imagine my excitement when Bobby next asked that we send someone to serve a gathering of youth in the Philippines. How exciting to be a part of what God is doing among kids these days!

Another recent trip brought me into contact with the kids these days that attend my alma mater Heartland Christian College (formerly NMBC). I had been invited to be a guest lecturer in a class and preach in their weekly chapel service. The worship, passion, commitment and love on display during my visit was inspiring. These young people had determined to set themselves apart for a season to seek God and study his Word! I left our time together thankful that they were gracious enough to laugh at the right times in my old stories and understanding that God is calling kids these days to a place of deep consecration and they are responding as He directs!

• With these fresh memories and the comment from the fellow passenger in mind I began to consider kids these days:
• Kids these days have opportunities, obstacles and responsibilities that are unique in history (especially in the developed world)
• There are more kids these days than in any time in human history – the harvest is great!
• Kids these days have a visibility into the world around them and the world has visibility into them like never before
• Kids these days have and want the chance to make a big difference in a darkening world where a life devoted to the Kingdom of God shines brighter than ever
• The assault from the kingdom of this world, it’s powers and systems which are openly hostile to a consecrated life makes each day  a battleground and opportunity for kids these days to triumph by the grace of God
• Finally – God loves and has called kids these days to himself and they are responding!

If we, the kids from those days, can encourage, provoke, promote discipline, serve and fan the flame of passion in kids these days, we will see a move of God among them that will shape our tomorrow! So go find one of the kids these days and find a way to help them answer the call of God any way you can.