December Update

I am leaving this morning for Santa Rita abbey and I wanted to share with you a few highlights that are around the corner in the next three months

Antioch Network Gathering: On January 8-11 we meet for our semi-annual Gathering of the Antioch Network Council (Board), staff and ministry friends. Our days will be framed by a rhythm of prayer. The mornings will be devoted to prayerful meditation on Jesus’ teachings on Servanthood. In the afternoons we will hear from each other as we sense the Spirit leading. We are awed and humbled each time we meet like this to experience how God gives direction to the ministry.

Ongoing Development of ‘Apprenticeship to Jesus’ (A2J)

Trip to Bosnia: January 24th-February 4th, Vision Trip. Some of you met Mladden and Becki last month from Bosnia. I will be spending some extended time with Mladden and other leaders continuing to explore the possibility of bringing college age students to Bosnia as a part of ‘A2J’. I will also be visiting with and encouraging the many friends that I have built over the past 13 years of involvement with the Bosnian people.

Take My Life Conference: February 15th-16th this will be gathering of 500+ college age students at Southwestern College envisioning them for missions and service. I will be teaching two workshops with another AN staff on Discipleship.

Spring Break Trips: In March, we are exploring the possibility of taking college-age students on two trips to Nogales Mexico to work at the Cuirim House

Please continue to pray for our family and for the events of this next season. Would you also pray with us that God would raise up additional financial partners. We are grateful for your friendship, love, and support. Have a Merry Christmas.

Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel
who alone does wondrous things,
Blessed be his glorious name forever;
may his glory fill the whole earth.

Thurman Update #38 Written November 3, 2007

Apprenticeship to Jesus

Building Partnerships: I have begun meeting with different leaders and pastors and am receiving encouraging initial responses. One recent meeting with a college pastor was powerful. As I shared with him the vision for partnering and praying together to see God’s Kingdom come in Phoenix and the nations beyond, he told me that this was something he has desired to be part of for a long time. Please pray for God’s guidance and preparation as we move forward, that I would make the right connections at the right time.

Vision Trip to TN: I am leaving Monday the 5th on an exploration trip to pursue the possibility of continued partnership with a good friend who lives outside of Nashville , TN. Pray for mutual blessing and encouragement and discernment on steps forward. Please also pray for my wife and kids as I will be gone three days.

Turkey work

Prayer Initiatives: We are kicking off a new bold initiative that seeks to find at least one person committed to praying for each Turkish district until all 923 are being covered in prayer. Pray for God’s mercy as we deal with many technical issues related to webpage work and also that God would raise-up more intercessors for Turkey .

Turkey Trip in January: I am prayerfully considering returning to Turkey to meet with several key Turkish National leaders as well as an opportunity to further develop Apprenticeship to Jesus. Pray for God’s confirmation and the arrangement of all the key meetings and for God’s wisdom

Thurman Update # 37 Written October 11, 2007

Greeting Friends,

I wanted to invite you all to come join us at the ODF Missions Fair next weekend (Oct. 19-21st). There will be a time of prayer starting at 7pm on Friday & on Saturday, there will be an international dinner at 6pm. If you would like more information please let me know.

Prayer Requests:

Most of the International Turkey Network workers are in Turkey( I was not able to be there because of the soon arrival of Thurman baby # 3, but I have been participating in various meetings through the technology of Skype).
The situation in Turkey has changed since the murders in April, canceled national elections, millions of protesters in the streets of major cities, special elections, and a new president.

• Pray we can together discern what ITN is to be focused upon in the near future

I am in the midst of many meetings with church and ministry leaders in Phoenix, who are working towards unity and reconciliation through prayer and serving together to address the social issues that Phoenix is battling. I believe building and strengthening these city-wide partnerships is a key in the ongoing development of Apprenticeship to Jesus.

• Pray for God’s wisdom and direction.

Thanks for your prayers, love, and support

We are grateful,

The Thurman Family

Thurman Update 36, Written September 25, 2007

What is God teaching you?
He is teaching me His desire and commitment to see me, “transformed into the image of his Son.”(Rom. 8:29). I am overjoyed and humbled that God has called us to be His own and given us the dignity of being created in His image (Gen. 1:27) and the privilege to exercise authority over His creation (Psalm 8:4-8) and co-labor with Him now in His kingdom work (I Cor. 3:9) and given the destiny of serving and reigning with Him forever. (Rev. 1:6)

Do you still plan on moving overseas or have you decided to stay in Phoenix?
Yes! Currently, most of our time is to be in Phoenix, with ongoing short-term trips overseas, giving direct leadership in select projects. We sense in the future the time we spend overseas will increase. We wait on God’s perfect timing.

What are you currently working on?
Administration support—I continue to serve the AN team through administration work at the AN office

Turkey Prayer Initiatives—Working with the International Turkey Network, in various prayer projects.

Apprenticeship to Jesus(A2J)—There appears to be a widespread disconnect within the community of Believers today; we know we are called make disciples of the nations and teach them to obey all that Jesus commanded but we ourselves struggle to live as disciples and obey Jesus’ commands. (This is not a condemnation but a recognition that generally speaking the American Church has gradually moved away from a life of discipleship to Jesus and is instead being influenced more by the popular culture, that worships self, pleasure, and comfort which is often in direct opposition to the call to lose oneself in Christ.)

Some, within Antioch Network have been developing (A2J) as a way of re-discovering Jesus' intent when He calls us to, “leave all and follow me and be my disciple.” We are developing a year-long apprenticeship for young adults where the purpose is building Christ-like character for a life-time of bearing fruit in all they do. Our passion to become like Christ by following His example and walking in His footsteps will lead us to serve Him both locally and overseas.

How does developing (A2J) in Phoenix connect with a call to make disciples of the nations?
This model of community can be duplicated in different cultures and locations. The young people who participate in (A2J) will tackle the call of Jesus to make disciples of every tribe, tongue, and nation.

 Please feel free to join us for prayer any Thursday at our house @7pm

 If you have questions or comments please email or call me 602-791-4892. I would value your input and influence especially in the ongoing development of Apprenticeship to Jesus




Jesus calling
Matthew to leave
his old life and
come follow Him
and be His disciple

Thurman Update 35, written August 19th, 2007

For the past 8 months I have been working with the International Turkey Network on an initiative to mobilize strategic prayer for Turkey. The vision is to see at least 50, 000 Turks come to follow and worship Jesus. This is a God-sized vision, for there are only 3,500 known believers out of a population of 70 million)

A small church in Turkey led by a Turkish couple with little resources, training, and support embraced this vision and have been praying and fasting.

In the past two days during concert outreach 400 Turks have prayed the Sinner's Prayer in Jesus' name. This is what we have been praying for!


Thank You Jesus
that you came to search
and save the lost!




This is a situation that requires constant, determined prayer.
We desire that these 400 will continue to grow in grace and truth and be used of God to reach out to their own fellow Turks with the life-changing message of the Gospel!

One of the young men whom we worked with in Cyprus two years ago, who last year was attacked, beaten, and threatened with a knife was giving leadership in this outreach. What an amazing testimony to God's faithfulness!


***Another praise is that God has provided for us a second car, through the help of good friend and ministry supporter! Thank for your prayers for us. God continues to meet all our needs.

Love,

The Thurmans

Thurman Update 34, Written August 9th, 2007

Three Pillars of Antioch Network:
 Reaching the Nations with the Gospel—Making Apprentices(disciples)to Jesus
 Serving the Church in its role in reaching the nations
 A pursuit of intimacy with God

We are involved in starting & supporting kingdom works of:
 Reconciliation—working for ethnic, social, and spiritual unity and reconciliation through Jesus
 Compassion—serving the poor and least of these by addressing the needs of the whole person
 Justice—Standing on the side of Justice and advocating for the voiceless and powerless
 Service—serving national leaders and ministries through prayer, training, and resource
 Evangelism—sharing the gospel through building intentional friendships

The international areas of involvement for the Thurman family are:
 Bosnia—Service/Compassion/Reconciliation
 Cyprus—Evangelism/Reconciliation
 Turkey—Service
 Germany—Reconciliation
 Senegal—Service
 India—Compassion/ Justice
 Mexico—Compassion / Justice/Service

When we are not overseas supporting these various works we are serving Antioch Network stateside through administration work and assisting Jayson K. and the International Turkey Network.

We are also working to develop Apprenticeship to Jesus as a model for discipleship that will train young people for a life of fruitfulness in the context of missional communities here in Phoenix that are involved in works of Compassion, Justice, Reconciliation, and Service, trusting that this model can be reproduced in any cross-cultural setting.

Thurman Update 33, Written July 12, 2007

Dear Friends,

We hope this email finds you encouraged and aware of God’s greatness! We are doing great. We just got home from a successful minor surgery for our daughter Keilah. I am back in full swing of things after my time in Turkey and Wheaton . I have finished the Turkey blog that has stories and photographs of my time. Please look at the photographs and if you have time read the stories. It will give you a glimpse into the amazing mercy and faithfulness of God to the struggling Turkish Church .


We are grateful for you ongoing love and financial and prayer support!

Ryan & Noleen Thurman

Thurman Update # 32, Written Tuesday June 19th

Greetings friends,

I returned home safely late Wednesday night. Thank you for your prayers for our time in Turkey and for my family!

We spent much of our time in Turkey hearing from God through His Word and praying in strategic cities.

I will be spending the next few days processing the trip and creating a web blog that will have key stories and photographs. When it is finished I will send out the address.

Prayer Requests

*As the Lord continues to call Antioch to be a blessing to the nations we have sensed the importance of us as a staff to remain steadfast in our journey to wholeness in Jesus. Some of us will be participating in a Pastoral Care Ministry school from June 24th-29th at Wheaton College; http://www.leannepayne.org/home/index.php
Please pray for this time, I have a strong expectancy for the work of healing God intends to do in my own life as well as the tools He desires to equip me with as I continue to serve Him.

*As we prepare for our third child and as I begin to travel more to Mesa to work with Jayson K. and the International Turkey Network. We are aware that the time of our family sharing one vehicle is coming to a close! Would you pray for God’s direction and provision of another vehicle for our family!

We are grateful!

Ryan & Noleen

Thurman Update #31 Written April 20th, 2007

 Recently, I have been devoting most of my time working with Jayson K., for the past five months I have been helping him with the development of a strategic web page focused on mobilizing prayer for Turkey. Currently, the focus is translating the web page into Turkish, Spanish and eventually Korean so that Latin, Turkish, and Korean Believers can use the resources and tools provided on the web site to pray effectively for Turkey.

 I will be heading to Turkey next month participating in our bi-annual Antioch Network staff meetings. It will be a special time as I get first hand experience of the ministries and workers that I have been serving behind the scenes through this Turkey prayer initiative.

 Our family is continuing to serve in Nogales as much as we can. I recently returned from a short trip.


Short story about latest trip to Nogales

Hundreds of illegal immigrants are bussed back to Nogales, Mexico each day. They are given the option to go to the Grupa Beta detention center, where they are allowed a phone call to try to get money wired so they can return to their homes in Mexico and Central and South America.

Many hang out, ashamed, scared, and not sure what to do next others are desperate to figure out how to get back into the US where some have family.


Dan Kane and his family have begun a ministry of compassion by providing meals to these immigrants. This past week I joined the Kane family; we prepared and then distributed a warm meal, they were all grateful. Those who spoke English told us a little of their stories. Juan(photo) shared a little of his story with us as he was waiting around for friends that he was detained with on the U.S. side but had since been separated from.

“For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink.”
-Jesus


Grupa Beta is a Mexican government-funded humanitarian organization that is involved in helping illegal immigrants. They have welcomed Dan’s effort to provide meals, recognizing it as a crucial need that they are not providing.

Thurman Update #30 Written March 28th, 2007

This is the team! We spent our time, this past weekend, enjoying the rhythm of work, prayer and study that is foundational to the
Cuirim House Ministry in Nogales, Mexico. For the work project
we continued where the college teams left off.
We mixed cement with a mixer and when that died we mixed it by hand and laid the
foundation for the addition that was built for Miguel’s house last month! It was a special trip for me, to have my wife and son with me, as well as some of my closest friends!



My Lovely wife
doing her part,
she was in charge of
holding the buckets under
the cement mixer. She
has the concrete on her
face to prove it!


Frederick was the
the pulley man. He
was in charge of getting
the five gallon
buckets of cement up
to Miguel’s house.


Zach is up on top
making sure the cement
doesn’t fall on Frederick
but rather becomes the
foundation of Miguel’s house.

Prayer Request Written March22nd 2007

Dear Team,

My family minus Keilah who will stay with her grandparents will be heading down to Nogales, Mexico this Friday afternoon for the weekend. We will be continuing to work on Miguel's house. Miguel and his family oversee the kids cafe. Two weeks ago we built an addition and a new roof to their existing small house. This trip we hope to lay a cement foundation for the addition and possibly frame the interior walls. There will be seven us total going down from Phoenix.

Please pray:

*that we represent Christ to the people of Mexico.
*that we would accomplish the tasks
*that we would learn new inisight from Jesus on what it means to be his followers
*for protection, joy and laughter

Thanks for your support

We are grateful

Ryan and Noleen

Thurman Update #29 Written March 10, 2007

Last week I spent 8 days working in Nogales at the Cuirim House. I went to help Brian Donahue, who runs the ministry lead 30 College students who used their spring break as an opportunity to serve Jesus. I had many wonderful conversations over meals, as we worked, and after our daily times of prayer and worship. We wrestled with the person of Jesus Christ and how his life is relevant to our every day living.

It has been 15 months since I first started working in Nogales, and it has been amazing to see friendships strengthened and to see God use this ministry to give hope to the poor and help equip Mexican leaders to serve their own people.

Miguel is one example. As I sat with him at one point during the week, he shared how Christ had saved him from a twenty year self-destructive battle with drugs. For seven years God restored him, healed him, and gave him a family as he served at a rehabilitation center in Mexico. After the seven years in exchange for his service, the ministry gave him two pieces of land. Just a few years ago, Miguel was completely broke, but full of vision and passion to serve Jesus he began to dream about how God would use him and the property. This is where the Cuirim House ministry comes in; it has been able to provide the laborers to build the Kids Café as well as the resources for the day to day operations and also to pay Miguel and his family so that they can be free to focus on serving the community. We rejoice in our God who is able to restore and heal the broken and place the light of His Son Jesus into our lives to shine in the darkness!

Thanks for your ongoing love and support,

Love the Thurman Family!


Miguel along with his wife Mari and adult daughter Lisbeth, live next to the Kids Café property. He runs the ministry, overseeing the property, cooking the meals, and leading Bible studies with the kids.







The building with the red roof is the Kids Café, every MWF 70+ kids come and get an amazing meal, (I eat there when I am down there). Miguel’s house is just above the Kids Café. This past trip we filled in that hole you see in front of the Kids Café, built a concrete porch to wrap around the Café so there would be more room for the kids and added an addition onto Miguel’s house and replaced his roof.

Christmas Greeting Written Dec. 19th, 2006

“Wisdom unsearchable, God the invisible,
Love indestructible in frailty appears.
Lord of infinity, stooping so tenderly,
Lifts our humanity to the heights of his throne!

O what a mystery! Meekness and majesty,
Bow down and worship for this is your God!”
-Graham Kendrick



Merry Christmas! Through your love for us you reveal the heart of our Father! Thank You! Our God is faithful! We have once again seen His abundant provisions for our family. God provided strength for us to endure many hardships and grace in relationships to forgive as well as be forgiven. He lifted our heads when we were discouraged and guided us back when in rebelliousness or ignorance we went astray. Every ministry work that God laid upon our hearts to do, He provided the resources for, and we lacked nothing. And then there is the amazing miracle of a place for us to call home! Thank You God, every good gift comes from You!
I find myself this year in a pursuit of learning to follow Jesus; becoming his apprentice. A season that I believe will lead to a life of fruitfulness no matter what assignment the Lord gives us! As I spend time with Jesus I long to see, feel, think, and hear as He does so that in all things I would respond as He would, in the small as well as the great things.

We are grateful,
Ryan, Noleen, Ethan & Keilah



This is a time when we celebrate and rejoice that Jesus came down to save us from the ways of death, and to teach us how to live ‘real’ life, and to give His own Spirit to restore us to the image of God so that we will indeed be the hands and feet of Jesus to a lost and broken world that God desires to show His love to, through us! It is also a time to remember what was told to the disciples after they spent time with the risen Christ and watched him ascend to Heaven, “this same Jesus shall so come in like manner as you have seen him go.”

Thurman Update #28 Written Dec. 5th

We write this email with wonderful news, after15 months of difficulty including one verbal threat and another via certified letter to take away the house, the house officially is ours, or more accurate God's! We finished signing the paperwork today! God is indeed mighty! He does amazing seen and unseen deeds, not least of these is the work in our lives so that we did not lose hope but were able to persevere in hardships. He also has used you, our friends and family to provide words of encouragement, help moving, material gifts, and shoulders to cry and vent on!

Thank you for your prayers and support! Let me say this again Thank You! No I don't think you understand we have been loved so fully by our loving Father through you! Thank You! We want to invite you to a celebration and dedication of this house to the Lord, we are thinking late January after things slow down from the holidays, we will keep you posted!

Please pray for us as we continue to journey with a small group of others, learning to be apprentices to Jesus. Please also pray for the work in Nogales, I am leaving this morning to go down to help with the final preparations for Monday's opening of the Kids Café that we have been working on, over the past several months! We are also planning on taking a group down over New Years Eve weekend!

We are grateful,

Love the Thurmans!





Our new address is:

1215 W. Monroe

Phoenix, AZ 85007

Thurman Update #27 written Nov. 8th

Dear friends,

I will be taking the Apprenticeship to Jesus group back down to Nogales this weekend. In September, our group built the stone walls (figure E.) to protect the trees, which are the only shade for the kids from the sun, from being washed away by the rainwater runoff. This trip, we are hoping to complete the finishing touches on the property so that it will be ready to start serving meals to the children of this community!

Kids Café—

A.) The German style structure was built this summer, this is where the kids’ meals will be prepared.

B.) Old community outhouse that needs to be torn down and filled.

C.) Vacant lot that we are hoping to purchase to add to the Kids Café.

D.) Tire wall we are rebuilding to protect the land from rain damage

E.) Rock barriers to protect trees from rain runoff.

F.) New bathroom being built for the Kids Café.

G.) Miguel’s house, Miguel and his wife will be coordinating the everyday operations of the Kids Café



Please pray for our upcoming weekend in Nogales that the Spirit of God would shape our thoughts, feelings, and actions to reflect His Son Jesus as we pray, worship, serve, eat and laugh together!

P.S. if you would like to come down and participate in or just see the work in Nogales sometime, let me know, it is only a 3 hour drive to the border!

Thanks for your love and support,

Ryan, Noleen, Ethan and Keilah Thurman

Thurman Update #26 written October 15, 2006

Photograph of the chapel at the Cuirim House


Ministry in Nogales, Mexico

My family is working with a friend who has started a ministry center called the Cuirim House. The Cuirim House is a center located in the heart of the Nogales slums that partners wiht local Mexican churches to love their neighbors.


The ministry includes:




Feeding children through the Kids Cafe



Facilitation the construction of houses, churches, and other projects; using young people from the U.S. through short term trips throughout the spring and summer.

A cross cultural discipleship and training center for Christians seeking to mature in Christ through a rhythm of prayer, study, and service among the poor.

Weekly trips to Nogales

I have begun to make weekly trips down to Nogales as well as periodic trips with the whole family to help with the completion of the Kids Cafe. We are hoping to have it up and running in the next few weeks. It will be the only place like it in this community.
A place where children and can have a delicious and hearty meal. It is also a safe place for children to play. Miguel and his wife Mari also provide Bible studies for for the children. Even though we are still finishing the work, kids are already seeing this as a safe place to gather!