Keeping Tuned In and Tuned Up

I remember those old TV sets we had when we were kids. It seemed my dad was always fiddling with those knobs in the back to adjust the vertical and horizontal hold for the picture.  When everything was just right I could actually see what was going on with the Lone Ranger! Without it I could only hear the music and the gunshots and had to guess what kind of adventure the Lone Ranger and Tonto were getting into.

Recently, Kathie and I started going to a chiropractor.  No major complaints -- we just knew some things were “out of whack." We learned that the body is an amazing creation and that when everything lines up vertically (spine and head) and horizontally (shoulders and hips) it can heal itself of many of the aches and pains of daily life. So, the doctor is helping to train our bodies to line up the horizontal and vertical hold.

God designed us to also have the proper spiritual relationship of the vertical and the horizontal in our lives.  When Jesus was asked what the greatest commandment is, he answered:

Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind; and, love your neighbor as yourself. (Luke 10:27)

In this compact answer is a deep well of wisdom concerning our relationship with God, ourselves and others.

For the next two weeks I am in Pennsylvania receiving training in how to help us in our Proclaim Community keep our relational horizontal and vertical holds in good adjustment. Pray with me that I would be open to anything the Lord cares to show me in this process.


Jim

Ministry Starts Here

We are all about evangelism in Proclaim. We put incredible amounts of time and effort into planning and leading overseas tours completely focused on that goal with all our energy and passion. Our Los Vecinos team has just finished such a tour in Belarus where every event and activity has been planned to maximize opportunities for the gospel.

But what about times when we are not involved in an organized tour. One of the concerns that we have felt is the importance of keeping this priority in focus all the time, in our individual encounters with people and in planned events. During the past year Kim Peterson has headed up regular excursions where Proclaim musicians and even others from our local Christian community can take it to the streets nearby -- playing music and engaging people in conversation. Lately St. Augustine has been the target area. Pray that we will keep finding creative ways to reach people locally.

PROCLAIM! GALA  Another big focus for us right now is planning our April fund raising Gala. This year we are especially praying that God will bring people who have a passion for missions and will catch the vision for partnering with Proclaim in significant ways. We need to have a strong Jacksonville ministry base to provide resources for all that God is doing through Proclaim internationally. We are praying for people who through their partnership will fuel the fire and fan the flame! 

OUR PART  As we're working on addressing the needs in Proclaim, we are not forgetting our own support shortage. In fact, getting our personal support more stable through monthly donors or special gifts would have a positive effect on Proclaim overall. You can help with donations for our ministry through the DONATE link on the right sidebar. Contact us if you would like to find out more about Proclaim or our part in the ministry.

FAMILY  

Jami just celebrated a big birthday. A milestone for all of us! She is busy finishing up a writing project between her church commitments, part-time care giving, and still looking for full-time work. 

Jim has had a lot of playing opportunities -- men's retreat and Sundays at church, street evangelism, in addition to several private events. He has an interesting opportunity next month coordinating music and playing for a wedding where the bride and groom have definite evangelistic goals for the event. 

Kathie's role of coordination and communication in the Proclaim office is challenging and fun as we are adding new members to Proclaim and gearing up for the coming tours this year. A recent project has been helping develop the new website which is up now. See it at www.proclaiminternational.com

Fall Update

We didn't realize what a full month November is until we started trying to find a few days in a row to make a trip up to Indiana to pick up our car. Yes! we found the perfect deal right in Warsaw. The sale notice was posted on Facebook by a friend for her mom's car, a 2004 with 25,000 miles! Actually it's the same car we have now but 3 years newer with almost 200,000 fewer miles! It checked out mechanically so we sealed the deal. After Thanksgiving weekend we will attempt to squeeze a final 1,000 miles out of old faithful to get us there.

  OLD CAR                                                              NEW CAR

We just hope we can adjust to the drastic change!

Proclaim has been challenged since the summer news that Co-director Bob Johnson had to leave the tour he was leading in Poland and was diagnosed with advanced prostate cancer. This meant a major change for leadership as the other two co-directors divided up most of the responsibilities. The US office is impacted as John Bowers took over leadership of the newly forming team in Germany and Bob McIntyre assumed responsibility for the US office. John and Diana are in Germany now, the first of some extended times they will spend based there through at least the next year. A lot of very positive things are happening there with our team and their ministries and local churches. 

Bob McIntrye is making trips to Jacksonville and connecting in other ways to keep things on track at the home base. In fact, he and Vicki will be here this week with a full agenda checking in with our local Proclaim people and advising on ministry here. Bob Johnson has now made remarkable progress with his  treatments and is optimistic about a full recovery. Thanks to all who have been aware of that situation and praying for Bob and Alyce and our mission.

It seemed that our December tour in Tunisia would be a go when we got word that a big hurdle had been cleared for getting our sound and video equipment into the country. Then within a few days we learned of changes in the economy there and outrageous airfares that would at least double the projected budget for the tour. So it was decided to postpone to a later date to adjust the planning. We had both been scheduled to go on that tour.

That does take some pressure off for the end of the year here. We would have returned mid December with all the year-end letters to be processed and mailed! So we can do that on a bit more realistic schedule. Other regular ministries continue -- Jim meeting with men - individuals and groups - and involved in the music ministry at church. We both have committed to help with a newly forming Mission Development Team at our church, taking young people who are interested in missions through an extended mentoring process to provide some deeper preparation in the process of getting to the mission application stage. And we have recently joined a family group that is just getting started. Jami is a teacher for the 1st grade girls in the mid-week Pioneer Club and working part time as a helper for a couple of elderly folks.

We are thankful for really good times we have been having together as a team in our Tuesday morning Bible study and prayer. We have been challenged with deep teaching as we spent time thinking through the disciplines of the Christian life and lately exploring what it means to be a community. It helps us keep things in perspective. 

Pray for us as a family and Proclaim in general as we continue to face decreased funds with which to operate and carry on the ministry. By reducing our salary and cutting costs, our ministry fund had stayed in the black for several months, until the past couple months when we have gone in deficit. Please pray for wisdom to manage well our personal finances and the courage to continue to invite new people to join our team of senders.  A note of praise is that Dave Wilbert, a former board member who has recently returned to the area, is helping us and other individuals, as well as Proclaim, in our efforts to raise the needed additional funds.  We are thankful for this encouragement!

Summer Stretch

We were not on a tour this summer, but it almost seems like we were there through involvement in recruiting, communication, logistics support, and lots of prayer for the two summer tours. We had a pretty exciting last minute challenge getting a sound tech for the Poland tour when the scheduled tech was not able to come. In a little over a week our replacement was able to raise his support and get a passport! See the Proclaim! site for some news on Adonai's tour in  Croatia/Bosnia  and the tour with Writing on the Wall in  Poland.

INDIANA

We did some actual traveling the first two weeks in July to Indiana. We had a great time with family, especially the main event -- a family reunion in Michigan.  Hard to have it without Kathie's Mom -- but time with her sisters and many of our cousins and their kids was really precious. We hadn't seen some of the cousins in MANY years.

My mom's sisters -- she was the oldest of the 6 sisters and 2 brothers

We had over half of the cousins (my generation) there plus spouses and kids/grandkids

Once again we experienced God's intervention in the timing and planning of the whole trip. We came away feeling like we'd had more quality time with family, friends and supporters than we could possibly have planned. We can never get enough of those adorable grand nieces and nephews -- it's such a gift that they (and their amazing parents) are all in the same town or nearby. (Facebook members: see pics)  Going home increasingly overwhelms us with appreciation for God's tremendous blessings of our wonderful family and friends who are part of our heritage and who we are.

We were happy to get in on a gathering put on by our Europartners prayer support group that has prayed faithfully for us and our dear friends, the Hoberts in France, for 30 years. We actually were able to be back in town at the same time with them and catch up on each others' ministries as we shared with the whole group. We are anticipating possibilities for Proclaim members to provide support for some of the ministries in France that they are involved in.

Now back in Jacksonville summer tours are over and we will be moving into plans for the fall and 2012. Overseas we have 2 families -- one first term and one returning for their second term -- getting settled and forming a team in Germany. Please pray for a good transition for the Libertis and the Davises, and for a strong team to be established there.

Proclaim Gala in Jacksonville

CLICK HERE 

for Gala report and photos at the Proclaim site

Proclaim! in Belarus and Ukraine February 2011

KIEV

February 21-March 6 Jim was with Next Exit ministering with Belarusian Christian band Spasenie to Proclaim Christ in Belarus and Ukraine. There was no chance to get bored! Spasenie makes use of innovative means of connecting with people for sharing their faith, and our team experienced that diversity of ministry opportunities. 

BELARUS

Spasenie's concern for youth and the reputation they have in schools opened doors for our band to play in some of the schools and speak with students.  They are the first American band to have this opportunity, and their efforts were enthusiastically received by teachers and administration.

Individual team members had other opportunities for ministry: helping Spasenie in their music studio, teaching music and audio classes in their music academy, and designing a coffee bar in a multi-purpose ministry facility. 

Three of our band members spent a day judging 30 high school bands performing 2 songs each, competing to play in a music festival.

At the Saturday Music Festival the 6 finalists were featured with Next Exit performing at the end. All students at the public school performances were invited to this event.

 At a music college where Spasenie and Next Exit performed together, the students loved the concert and many stayed after to talk.

The time in Belarus finished with a concert in a church that is small but very strategic with a history of launching many other ministry ventures.

UKRAINE

The final days of the tour were in Kiev, Ukraine. The two bands joined together leading worship at church services and had some more teaching opportunities.

Praise God for the opportunities in these venues to encourage believers and engage with unbelievers to build bridges and share. Praise for the endurance that God gave the team to continue strong to the end. 

Belgium Follow Up

Jim and Jami had a great time in Brussels and were impressed with the Serve the City ministry.  This model not only reaches out to people through meeting felt needs, but very effectively encourages the involvement of the local church. Working with their events would be a good opportunity for a small flexible Proclaim ensemble or mime team. 

Jami was there to explore possibilities for a short term mission or internship. She had a good experience that week and is interested in returning, but has decided that this summer is not the right time.  

 Jim and Jami had a day to see a few of the sights and had the special treat of spending that evening with our dear colleagues Jean-Claude and Miriam Thienpont from our time at the Belgian Bible Instititute when we first went to Belgium 30 years ago.