SmithAdventure

China Update

Wed, 07 Jul 2004 18:54:06 +0000

For those new to the story be sure to watch the video .

Drilling has begun and water has been found! At last report, water was flowing from the well. However, there was a major problem...the water was very muddy. Our partner asked for our advice and our team of experts began compiling ideas and solutions for the problem. 3 days later as I was about to send all the information I received word that the water was now running clean! Operations are in place now to build a reserve tank and run pipe into the village. Thank you all for your prayers and support.

Jimmy

I Found a Job!!!!

Mon, 09 Aug 2004 15:30:34 +0000

We are so excited. After many months of searching God has led us to Stapleton Fellowship Church in Denver, CO where I am now the Executive Pastor.

I am so glad the interviews are over. I feel like every square inch of my life has been examined, multiple times. I have taken a least a dozen personality profiles with close to a dozen different patterns resulting. We traveled to Little Rock, OKC, Pittsburg, Dallas, Tulsa, & Denver while a pastor from Montana and a pastor from Austin came to Oklahoma to interview me. My wife is really tired of hearing me speak but could easily do the interviews for me at this point.

While we had a few options, we were convinced that God was leading us to Denver. Dean Hill is the Senior Pastor and we seem to have a great working relationship. After just 3 weeks on the ground here, it feels like home already. We are so blessed to be a part of this church.

SFC is somewhat of a church plant hybrid. It is the remnant of Immanuel Baptist Church, the oldest Swedish Baptist Church in Colorado. Some years ago, IBC decided to reorganize in to a church plant and restart for a new generation. This plant was called Cherry Creek Community Church. After a few years, the church had a vision to move into the new growing community of Stapleton on the edge of the Denver metro area. After liquidating the property of CCCC, they moved to Stapleton. Now just more than a year in the process SFC is running in the low 100's and meeting in a school. What a step of faith to go from established church with a facility to uprooting, becoming portable, and moving into a new area where God is working. So many things feel like a church plant, but there is a lot of history here as well. It is so exciting to be part of a plant that is beginning with such a solid foundation.

Continue to pray for us as we transition, especially for my wife that she is able to find work at a preschool where she can take the girls.

Blessings,

Jimmy

New Executive Pastor

Fri, 23 May 2008 06:38:46 +0000

First, a big thank you to SFC for bringing me on as the new Executive Pastor. I am blessed in so many ways to be here. I look forward to a long and fruitful ministry as we reach Stapleton with the gospel. God has great things in store.

Fishing and Details

Fri, 23 May 2008 08:02:53 +0000

Ever wonder why the other guy always catches more fish? I've always thought it was just a matter of time and experience before one could master a particular lake or stream. However, while in California I began to understand a great concept. One of the great things about So Cal is deep sea fishing. When the water warmed in the summer the tuna began to run, as well as many other types of large game fish. Yellowtail, sea bass, and even marlin. I would hear boat captains say things like 20% of the fishermen on the boat catch 80% of the fish. So while a boat of 25 guys might catch 100 fish, 5 of those men would divide 80 fish while the other 20 would only have 1 a piece. I wanted to be one of the 20%. I always hated seeing someone on the same boat, in the same water, using the same equipment, and using the same bait...outfish me.

I began to learn that fishing really is an art. The reason those 20% caught the majority of the fish is that they did all the detail things right. While I might only cover the major fishing techniques, they covered the minor details, too. Such as they type of knot, specific hooks, specific types of line, position on the boat, where to hook the bait...very small details. It is so much more than just having your line in the water while in a school of tuna. Ya, you'll get the occasional gimmie, but the real prize comes to those who manage well all aspects of the art of fishing.

Church Ministry is much the same way. I feel I spend a lot of time organizing and fussing over details...little things, low priority things. But church ministry is more than just having your line in the water in a growing community. Why is it that some churches grow and others do not? Well, that is somewhat of a loaded question but I believe a major factor is that Churches who capitalize on details and fluid systems in general "catch more fish." So if I seem to have my head and efforts into tweaking fine, hairsplitting details...it may just be that I am preparing for a big catch, not just gimmies.

Story of Revolution

Fri, 11 Jul 2008 03:07:38 +0000

Laszlo Tokes: Rebel

Freedom from Communism in Romania is a fairly recent reality. December 2009 will mark just 20 years since the fall of the brutal dictator Nicolae Ceausescu. Amazingly enough the fall began with a Pastor in a town far from Bucharest in northwest Romania, Timisoara.

Laszlo Tokes became the pastor of the Hungarian Reformed Church in Timisoara in 1987. After many years of government collaboration, the former pastor died suddenly and Tokes was made the new Pastor. Tokes however was passionate about leading the church the way God intended; as a light of the gospel and a place for community. As a result, Tokes was on the radar of the Communist Party as he was attracting not only older people and former members, but young people from the university. Tokes' brand of religion would not be tolerated in Communist Romania.

By 1989, the church had grown to over 5000 in attendance. After attempts at intimidation and persecution to remove Tokes, the government decided to simply relocate him to a small town that would limit his influence. The eviction from his home and church was to take place on December 15th, 1989.

When the people heard that their pastor was being removed from them by the state, the seed of revolution was planted. No government had the right to remove God's man. In a peaceful protest, thousands gathered in front of the church creating a human shield. With curiosity, the crowd began to grow and chants and songs of freedom and liberty began to rise. Many in the crowd moved the protest down the street to the city square and the crowd continued to grow.

Two days after it had begun, officials broke through the crowd in the night, beat Tokes, and dragged him from his home. This event moved the entire crowd to the city square. Here the brutal dictator opened fire on the crowd and hundreds were wounded and killed. Bullet holes scar the buildings in the square to this day. Word of this protest and action quickly reached Bucharest and Ceausescu lost control. He could no longer command the troops to fire on the huge crowds now gathering in Bucharest. Within 10 short days of the peaceful protest in Timisoara, Ceausescu and his wife had been captured and executed, thus ending the brutal reign of a madman. Freedom was felt and churches were filled.

You see, the revolution in Romania was spiritual at its core. A single rebel, standing on the revolutionary truth's of God's Word changed history forever. To this day 2 simple plaques hang in silent memory to the events of that day in Timisoara. They read in 4 languages..."December 15, 1989. Here began the revolution that felled a dictator."