October 2012

October 2012 1
A2J Year 5              "Building upon firm foundation" We are thankful for all your prayers and for those who gave financially: *We now have a new men's discipleship house! *The Hope House is now open and Shelly moved in this past weekend *Another missional community is developing in the Harmony neighborhood in the east valley Please Keep Praying for God's financial provision as we are in need of one-time gifts to get caught up before the end of the year
Dear Ryan, I hope this email finds you well.  Nols and I are in a sweet season of joyful growth and by God's grace are finishing this year strong. Thank you for your friendship, love and support!             When I entered vocational ministry 15 years ago, a teacher where I was doing Young Life said to me, "people may not remember what I will say but the kind of person I am."  This has stuck with me all of these years. The good news is that as we continue to follow and obey Jesus, he restores us into his likeness so that what we say and do come out of who we are becoming in Jesus, and is expressed through love.  This is what the world around us is longing to see "Let love and faithfulness never leave you; bind them around your neck, write them on the tablet of your heart." -proverbs 3:3 "The simple program of Christ for winning the whole world is to make each person he touches magnetic enough with love to draw others." -Frank Laubach		The Vision A Movement and Way of Life with Jesus: Calling people to enter fully into the redemptive story of God and pursue a distinct life of discipleship and mission that transforms individuals and communities The Mission Starting and supporting intentional discipleship communities networked locally and around the world
A2J Men's Retreat                We just returned from our Men's Retreat and it was a powerful time.     "We played each other's sports for bonding's cause. basketball and Table arm wrestling. Thirty trout caught by new fisherman, cooked in nothing but breadcrumbs and manly joy. Changed hearts, holy kisses, unexpected prayers and essential late night talks. In short, not a retreat, but a spiritual advance!"   -Todd Thurman "We heeded the call to focus on Jesus, Himself, instead of merely ideas about Him. This call was understood as the primary way of escaping the story of shame, blame, escapism, and isolation that so often binds us and fully enter into God's redemptive story of salvation saturated with vision, motivation, intentionality, and partnership."  -John Lynch