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“Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends.“ |
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| For many years I thought that I understood this scripture in John 15:13. That it was meant solely for those that died while trying to save another’s life. It does mean that, but much more! There are so many instances in our lives where this applies. Moms and dads that give up their youthful dreams to make sure their children will later have the best chance to achieve theirs. My dad a high school principal died when I was 8 months old, just after World War II. My mother worked in a hot cafe kitchen for 17 years, all my youth to make sure we had food on the table and clothes on our backs and were able to go to school. We all know people who have done that. Pastors worldwide often live in abject poverty trying to keep the doors of their churches open, both for their flock and the lost. Missionaries have for centuries laid down their successful lives to follow the Lord into the mission field for a life time of service to the kingdom. Laying down your life for a friend has many applications! | ||
Four young missionaries lay down their lives! |
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| I want to share a story about 8 students in England in the eighteen hundreds whose lives exemplify this scripture! They all had graduated both from college and a mission school. All 8 felt the Call of God on their lives to serve Him abroad. They had prepared themselves through Bible college and mission school for four years. They were all completely dedicated and ready to spend the rest of their lives and die in the mission field. After graduation they began applying for support for their ministries. Each of them exhausted all their potential avenues for support. Times were hard financially for everyone (sound familiar), but the Call was burning in their hearts. They could not just give up and not go. Finally after months of failure and disappointment they prayed together and came up with a life solution and plan. Four of the young missionaries would go to the mission field and spend their lives doing what God had called them to do. The other four would stay home, take jobs and support the four that went. At that time, when missionaries went aboard their ship to go abroad they would load all their Bibles, materials and personal things they were taking into a coffin knowing they were not coming back. They knew they were laying down their lives as they boarded the overcrowded ship for the perilous journey. | ||
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| Now, which of these 8 missionaries made the largest sacrifice laying down their lives? Was it the four that went and did what they had dreamed of doing from an early age, following the Lord into the mission field? Or the four that laid down their lives and took jobs and supported the others so they could go and do the work of the Lord? Both equally laid down their lives for a friend. I personally have always thought it would be harder to stay behind and make sure the others could go. You see you can lay down your life through supporting missionaries that are already in the field and serving the Lord! Wow, that hits me in my heart as I’m writing and actually crying as the Lord is giving it to me!
Calli and I laid our lives down 22 years ago to serve the Lord, ultimately being Called of God to the Philippines to help Pastors and leaders come out of abject poverty by training them how to build their churches through one on-one-evangelism! Amen? |
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Dunamis Mission Center |
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| Our mission was nearly cut short three and a half years ago when we lost everything we had built here in a tragic fire that took the life of our precious daughter Felicity. When our mission center burned we lost all our heirlooms, pictures, so many things from our lives that we had accumulated. The mission center was almost paid for at the time and was fully equipped for a school and accommodations for guest pastors and leaders to be trained there. It was God’s carrier in Asia, our permanent presence, ready to do battle with the enemy for men’s souls. When the fire hit and destroyed the center we were knocked down from the loss of our daughter, Felicity, and the disruption of losing our home and center. Six days after the fire, we shook the ashes off our feet and flew to Cagayon De Oro, on Mindanao Island and did a mobile seminar that was already in the plans before the fire. It was so hard, but we pushed through knowing the devil would like nothing better than to stop us right there. We had more than 3,100 people saved during that seminar. We had risen from the ashes to kick the devil where it hurts the worst. Stealing souls from him! | ||
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| The new mission center is nearly finished and we are officially back from that devastating loss. The new center is a permanent presence here in Asia! We are continuing on in what God has called us to do, and we are expanding our work. Mobile seminars are now more the focus, but this coming year we hope to concentrate more on developing the video training for individuals to be able to train in their homes with our Stealth Evangelism Training Program. Do I hear an amen? There are more than 800 million born again Christians on this earth right now! A large percentage of them would love to know how to win a person to the Lord in 5 minutes. We hope to bring that to the everyday believer worldwide. You can help us get that done. Can you imagine the impact of mobilizing the body of Christ by putting the ultimate weapon in their hands to win souls?
Please consider laying down your life for the Gospel’s sake to reach the unreached across the world. If you’ve never supported this ministry, please think about being a missionary yourself by supporting us financially and in prayer. We will never stop as long as God gives us breath, and we need support monthly to do what we are doing. Again, I believe it’s harder to stay behind and support than it is to follow the Lord into the mission field! You can follow the Lord into the mission field yourself by supporting the training of God’s army. Please consider us in your year in giving to retire the approximately $55,000 of debt we have from the building of the new center. We are asking the Lord to pay that off this Christmas. Wow! What a Christmas present to the Lord. We will be debt free to do God’s work. Save a hug for us when we return for a visit next year, it’s been too long friends! Tony, Calli, Krystel, Levi, Wyatt, and all the Dunamis International Staff! |
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| “Win the Philippines! Win the World!” Let’s do it together! |
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| www.dunamisinternational.org |
