January 2012

Dear Ryan, This is an exciting time for us and we want to thank you for your friendship and encouragement.  This work of Godis being furthered through your prayers and support.  It has been over 5 years since my family moved into the Woodland Neighborhood to begin Apprenticeship to Jesus and it has been an adventure every step of the way.    We are now surrounded by an incredible team and a community of 30+ followers of Jesus living in this neighborhood. God has also helped us establish works in two other neighborhoods that are linked with us in this pursuit.   We find ourselves being asked by churches and ministries to help them establish similar works in their communities.    We sense that in these days God is making visible what has been by faith and vision.  God is making us a center for mission and discipleship to the city and the nations.  God is bringing more churches and ministries and individuals to link arms with us to see this established.    God is doing this!  It is an expression of his Kingdom and it is for the love of His bride the Church and for the sake of the lost and hurting that he desires to comfort, heal and restore through His Son Jesus. Growing Partnerships Hope Thru Art Hope thru Art is committed to loving the outcasts as Jesus does.  They use art to communicate the hope and beauty of the gospel.  They are working with us downtown to share this message with our friends who are homeless specifically at the A2J Community Garden click above photo to see more photos Christmas Eve we passed out shoebox gifts (that were donated by North Phoenix Baptist Church) to our many friends and neighbors who are homeless.  Hope thru Art was there partnering with us and our good friend Shelley, who once was homeless but now lives in the backyard next to the Prayer House took the lead in this project and was so thankful to be able to give back and offer hope to her friends who suffer on our streets.    City Serve check out their site   Evey Monday morning A2J and City Serve have a prayer time from 8:30-9:30AM at the A2J Prayer House.  It is a beautiful time where individuals from around the city come to pray for our city.  Please join us.  City Serve is working hard to bring the body of Christ together in common partnership and prayer to see this city transformed through Christ.    Neighborhood Transformation check out their site click above photo to see more photos On a last minute invite we were able to rally many friends and neighbors to come and help us with our community garden.  This garden is one of the ways we are working to see our neighborhood transformed through the love of Christ. We are partnering with Neighborhood Transformation who are working in several key neighborhoods across the state.    Phoenix Immigrant Hospitality check out their site Matt Linderman who is part of the A2J team started the Phoenix Immigrant Hospitality to help immigrant children who have been caught and detained crossing the border.  We help he children who are allowed to stay because it is not safe for them to go home or because there family lives in the states.  They are released to the care of our community (instead of going to an adult facility in Florence) while they finish up their legal process and get the money to reconnect with their families. We are able to show them the love of Christ. Some kids stay with us a couple of days and some a few weeks.  Currently we have two kids from a Central American country living with us.  (Flora above is praying with Chloe during Compline prayer)    Mending the Soul check out their site Mending the Soul is prayerfully considering moving into the A2J Woodland community to have this become a base for their ministry.  This will allow us to continue to work together.  There is already much overlap in relationships and mission.  Including Amber Hunter who is on staff with A2J and works with Mending the Soul, she wrote this song "True Father" is part of an 18 song album called "Princess Lost: The Music of Our Daughters". It was created to accompany a 'Mending the Soul' healing curriculum designed for young women who have been sexual exploited through prostitution/human-trafficking-but the music is meant for EVERYONE.  click here to listen    Rag Collection check out site A2J and Rag Collection have been living life and sharing relatioship together for several years and this Sprng we are working on a project to love and serve the youth in our community by offering 'Art + Story' to the youth in our Woodland Neighborhood at University Park A Prayer of Abandonment   In Apprenticeship to Jesus we are learning the joy of living our 'real' everyday life with Jesus. Jesus is our teacher and master and as his apprentices we are learning what he alone could teach; life with His Father a life that is full of purpose, beauty, and goodness.   There are many shining examples of followers who have gone before us that we can learn from.    I was reading a prayer by Charles de Foucauld, who was born in France and lived a 'prodigal son' lifestyle until the age of 28 when he came to his senses and returned to His Father.  He moved to the Sahara where he wanted to live among 'the furtherst removed, and the most abandoned'.  He wanted to "Shout the Gospel with his life" and he wanted the people he lived among to say, "If such is the servant, what must the Master be like"   Here is a prayer he wrote called A Prayer of Abandonment, may this also be our prayer   Father, I abandon myself into Your hands. Do with me what You will. Whatever You do, I will thank You. I am ready for all.  I accept all. Let only Your will be done in me, as in all Your creatures, And I'll ask nothing else, my Lord. Into your hands I commend my spirit; I give it to You with all the love of my heart, For I love You, Lord, And so need to give myself, to surrender myself into Your hands Because You are my Father. Antioch Network Gathering Beginning this Sunday night the Antioch network team (A2J is part of this family of ministries) from around the country and world will be here in Phoenix as we reconnect relationally and seek to hear from God together the plans He has for us. We will be discussing the themes we sense God has given to us to live out and express in our ministry contexts.  Check them out by clicking here    Prayer Requests Strengthening of our leadership team Discernment for our developing partnerships Adminstrative help Protection and Provision More Housing (below is a house the ministry would like to buy early next month) it would be a great new Men's House and would double our spacing                     We are very Thankful!