The Gospel

The Gospel is the story of how God reconciled man back to himself. Through the Gospel, I have been learning, we receive life, not just in our initial acceptance of God’s gift, but in our daily taking the grace that God gave us. I have had a conviction to share the Gospel with friends and acquaintances for a long time now, but I never had the guts to get over it and tell someone. This made me feel like less of a Christian, and made me wonder if I really believed what I told myself I did; if I really believed it, wouldn’t it be more important than social embarassement? On summer project we were taught in a very applicable way how to share the Gospel. We were given surveys to start spiritual conversations and “Knowing God Personally” booklets to help us walk someone through the story of how 1. God created us and has a plan for us 2. We have all sinned and fallen short of God’s plan for us 3.God sent his son to die on the cross for us 4. By accepting God’s sacrifice we can receive eternal life and have a personal relationship with God. Because of the simplicity of this whole method, I began to worry that I was not making it seem real or personal enough. However, one of the big things that they taught us was that God working in a person’s heart through the Holy Spirit is what convicts them and leads them to make a decision to follow him, not our communication skills. God calls us to share the Gospel, to plant the seed, and if we really believe that God is real, and that his word is living, powerfull, and active, then we can trust him to work in peoples hearts. Even if don’t sell it right. After being shown how to share the Gospel in a simple way and practicing doing it, (however akward it was at first) I began to realize that it was what I truly believed; I began to see that the only way for the Gospel to be relevant is if God is working in our lives daily and through our lives daily. If we trust him to work through us, he can fill us through the Holy Spirit and empower us to see change. That is where the Gospel affects us daily. At some point I realized that I didn’t have the personal determination or boldness to share the Gospel on my own. One Monday morning when I hadn’t talked to God all weekend I simply told him that I was frustrated at work, angry most of the time when I was there, and never had opportunities to talk with people, much less share the Gospel with them. At that point the Gospel itself became real to me; I realized that only through the power of the Holy Spirit, God working through me because of the sacrifice that Christ made for me, I could serve God. When we confess to God that we can not “be a good Christian” then he tells us that Jesus died so that we don’t have to. At that point I was filled with a freedom and joy; it doesen’t matter what I do, God already paid for my sins. I then asked God to help me to serve him, because that was the only way I could do it. The Gospel came up naturally in conversation that day with a co-worker and God helped me to explain the story of how he created man and reconciled him back to himself. The Gospel is not merely a story that we accept as true and “become a Christian” through. The Gospel is the truth that we need God, and that God meets us where we are at. That God can work through us, because of the sacrifice he made for us, without us bringing anything to the table. The only way I can be productive in my walk with the Lord is to daily walk myself through the Gospel and accept God’s grace. The Gospel is a cycle; when we fail, we ask God for forgiveness and for him to empower us to do better, then we go out and attempt, and eventually fail again. Each time God helps us to do a little better, and in doing so we show more people what the Gospel truly means. God has already saved us, and can work through us if we let him.

Updates....I've been busy sorry

Wow I dont really know where to start. Its been like a month since I have posted. Since then project has pretty much gone on in the same way; its been really busy, especially since the staff left. Our week goes as follows; We work monday through thursday from 8:00 to 5:00, do service projects on Friday. Go camping on friday night, share down town on saturday morning, go to church sunday morning, and we usually have social events saturday and sunday nights. Monday nights we meet as a group to discuss the past and future weeks and encourage one another and share about our conversations at work or with locals. Tuesday nights we do an activity with all of the men, usually involving hiking or some other type of physical activity with a lesson. Wednesday nights we have the campus crusade meeting for the campus here, thursday nights we meet in small groups for bible study and accountability. So our week is packed. Lately I have been serving at the Methodist church camp on Fridays, which has been really rewarding. It has been neat to see the way the really solid people who run the camp invest in kids as a way of ministering to the future of Juneau. I have gotten in to a couple of spiritual conversations at work, which has been a huge blessing, but some times I get kind of frustrated by how difficult it is to talk to people at work; I am usually working by myself. Lately God has been teaching me to lean on his spirit to lead me and realize that I do not have the discipline or ability to even be positive all the time at work, much less be sharing the Gospel in my conversations. PLEASE PRAY that God would bring up spiritual conversations at work, especially in these last few days. As part of the evangelism team, I am helping plan a big event for this weekend. We are calling it an evangelism event but its really sort of a revival. We plan to have two events. The first event will be in the morning targeting churches; we are hoping to get as many of the churches in Juneau as possible to come for a worship session and pray, as the church body in Juneau, for the city. Following that we will give everyone the opportunity to come down town to share the gospel with us. We hope that God can use it to unite the church here and give them a vision for evangelising Juneau. The second event will be in the evening and will target non Christians. We will provide free food and have worship and a Gospel message. PLEASE PRAY for this event; that people will show up in numbers and that God will work in their hearts, and that the church will become more united here and that people will get plugged into churches.

Batesville

Lately God has been convicting me about the way I left my home town, Batesville, both physically and emotionally/socialy. One of the things the evangelism team leader was challenging us to do was to attempt to share the gospel with or just tell about what God had been teaching us to our old friends, whom we had already built relationships with. That made a lot of sense to me and I got all psyched up cause we are trying so hard to build relationships here in four months in order to share the gospel while already have quite a few relationships back home. Right?... Well I got on my computer and started thinking of people to share with and I realized that I hadn't really talked to anyone from home or old friends at all in a really long time, years even. Sharing with them what God has shown me after not keeping up with them for years wouldn't do any good and might weird them out. then it started to hit me that I had dropped all of my friendships back home when I left for Philmont last summer the day after graduation. The last time I talked to one of my best friends was in the parking lot after graduation. i think because I had a hard time socially in high school I kind of withdrew from everyone, in some ways even before I left. If you are from Batesville, especially if you are an old High School friend, I'm sorry. I didn't really realize what I was doing and I failed to show Jesus' love to a lot of people. I realized recently that Batesville is a ministry opportunity already set up for me. Instead of viewing at as an opportunity though, I tried to remove myself from it. Since leaving I have also failed to keep up with people through e-mail and stuff. Again, I am sorry to anyone who I ditched or judged. On the bright side, God has shown me grace by loving me through great friends in Fayetteville. I feel like I can be myself for the first time in a while, and that people like me like when I do. Its been pretty freeing. God is good.

I got to share with a co-worker!

I got to share with a co-worker at Fredmeyers yesterday! His name is Emmanuel. Emmanuel is from Puerto Rico, and has been living here for around four years. I prayed yesterday morning that God would use me and fill me with the Holy Spirit even though I wasn't feeling particularly spiritual and I was pretty mentally worn out at work. God answered my prayer and gave me an opportunity, as well as helping to lead into and get through sharing the gospel, by his grace. I think maybe he gave me more of an opportunity because I was completely dependent on his strength to help me be intentional that day. Any who I sat down next to Emmanuel at lunch, and we talked for a little while about where he was from, his background, etc. Another girl who is on project was eating there also, reading her Bible. Emmuel asked me if it was a Bible she was reading, and I told him it was, after which he asked me if we did a lot of Bible Study. (probably meaning our"crusader" group) I told him we did, and then asked if he did. He said he was not very religious, and began to talk about his doubts with the church and God working in the world and other thoughts. I was then able to tell him what we believed, (that the only way to know God or go to heaven was to daily confess sins to God and depend on the forgiveness given through Jesus Christ and let God work through you) how Jesus told us to love one another and disagreements in the church were our failure, how God gave us the choice to sin because he loved us, and how our sin is what causes bad things in the world. Since I had hit most of the points in the knowing God personally booklet but in a kind of un-organized way, I started to read it to him, but did not get past the first page before he had to go back because his lunch break ended. He had been to church before, and talked about going to mass with his wife. I think I am going to ask him what he thinks about what he said, if I can finish going through the booklet with him, and if maybe some time he would like to bring his family to the church that I go to and then tell me what he thought. PLEASE PRAY for Emmanuel; that he would keep thinking about what I said, that God would cause him to want to know more, and that he would one day have a relationship with God. I was extremely encouraged by the opportunity. I feel like it was definately something brought about by God, which strengthened my faith a lot. God is good! maybe one day Emmanuel can experience that too.

super convicting video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_2Pql9pbiJs

this video was really intense for me, it made a lot of sense. Its a video of a firm atheist really honestly telling how he felt after someone "evangelised" him. If we really believe in heaven and hell, and that faith in Jesus is the only way, then why don't we tell people? I think just having the guts to tell people would show them that we really believe in it. and maybe tell us the same.

Co workers

So now I have built friendships with three of my co- workers, and have made aquaintance with a hand full of others. WOULD YOU PRAY for Chris, Justin, Emmanuel, and Shiloh? Would you pray that I can make good friends with them, and that I will know when the Holy Spirit is leading me to share the gospel and obey? I got to tell a couple of them why we were here (I think that is becoming a great way to open up conversations). I told them that we were a group of college students who came here for the summer to get to know people in the community, get jobs, and share what we believe, our faith in Jesus. Please pray that I will have opportunities at work, and that we won't just be biding our time.

Serving at celebration

a few weeks ago we did volunteer work for about four days at celebration, which is exactly what it sounds like; a celebration, for the Native American people here in Juneau to help them preserve their culture. It was really interesting, and gave me hope for those people to come to know the Lord. It was good that we served at celebration; in like the 1950's Christian missionaries came and were very degrading to their culture and oppressive. By serving at celebration in the name of Jesus we could show them that we Christians were accepting of their culture. I got to tell a few people why we were volunteering; I told them we were a group of college students up here for the summer to serve the community and share what we believe, our faith in Jesus, with people. We didn't get to have any deep discussions with any of them but I think we made a dent in changing their stereotypes with Christians that were given to them by the missionaries in the fifty's. WOULD YOU PRAY for the tlingit people; that they God would soften their hearts to the Gospel and that tlingits would come to know him and then reach their villages?

Sharing last Saturday

Last Saturday we went sharing the gospel down town. It was really good, and, again, I learned a whole whole lot. The first guy we went up to would let us talk to him, and was fairly open to our survey, but he did not seem interested in what we had to say, so we told him thanks for his time and left, after giving him a knowing God personally booklet (pretty much the same thing as the four spiritual laws) I think we still might have had an impact just by asking him questions about his life that made him wonder what exactly he did believe. That was difficult for me, just walking away, but the guy I was with ended the conversation because it was almost turning into a debate, which is impossible to really win. I am learning a lot about depending on the Holy Spirit to work in peoples lives and through us when we share the gospel; we need to have faith that God is the one who changes peoples hearts, not our skills in sharing. That in itself has forced me to grow in my faith in the Holy Spirit, and that God will move if we ask him to use us for his kingdom. The next guys we were able to talk to were to construction workers on lunch break. They were kind of sarcastic at first, but gradually realized that we would respect there answers and began to answer more honestly to the survey. We asked them on a scale of one to ten how they would like to know God personally, and they told us a seven and an eight. That was suprising, but I think they honestly had interest in the gospel. They didn't have time to keep talking though, so we gave them knowing God personally booklets and left. I learned a lot from that conversation about respecting people and genuinely trying to relate to them while sharing; just because you are sharing the gospel doesen't mean you cant be friendly and fun with the people you are talking to. that lets them know that you respect them and desire their approval. I think thats powerfull when you share the gospel, because it shows that you want them that you honestly want them to like you, but that the gospel is even more important; worth embarassing yourself for. The third group of people we talked to were two homeless men sitting outside a bar. They were really enjoyable guys to talk to, and kept telling us jokes at first, but then they let us talk after we just hung out for a couple of minutes. When we asked them the survey questions to lead into the gospel, they answered with comments on their beleif in Jesus and God. We told them right on, and then asked how that affected their lives. They said it gave them a hope and someone to depend on (or something to that affect) which was legit. We asked them which diagram they thought they were represented by (diagrams depicting a cross and a chair and where your dependecy is) and they said that we had a good booklet and that it made sense. I think only God knows peoples hearts and what they believe, but they felt genuine. We gave them booklets, I gave them my Bible, and we talked to them about why they were homeless and if they had jobs. One of them worked for a church that some of our friends go to doing land scaping, but he said most of his money goes to child support. The other was in a wheel chair and I think he was on disability. Housing is outrageously expensive in Juneau. I gave them my number and told them they should come eat at the house some time (its against our housing contract to have them stay with us) and then we went and got them sub way; they hadn't eaten since the day before, and this was like three in the afternoon. WOULD YOU PRAY for the two homeless guys we talked to? I forgot their names, but God knows who they are. Pray that they can walk with the Lord and that he would change their lives.

the lock in

I forgot to post about it, sorry its been awhile, but two weekends ago we had a lock-in out reach event to target High School kids. We had a twelve hour night of games, worship, a dating forum (yeah I was worried too but it worked out all right,) and break out sessions where we got to share talks on having a quiet time and scripture memory. A friend of mine shared a testimony about a friend of his who died on a mission trip but lived with incredible purpose in high school. After the testimony I got to share the gospel, which was difficult because most of the people I was speaking to were on project with me or already believers, so I tried to kind of add inspiratoinal thoughts on living with purpose, which failed because I did not prepare early enough to let it be spirit led. I learned a lot about speaking; 1.It is not my spiritual gift 2. If you are going to speak, spend time in the word and in prayer and think really specifically about your audience and what you are going to say 3. Let the Holy Spirit lead 4. the Gospel is simple and is what changes lives, not inspirational thoughts.

The really neat experience I had at the lock-in though was getting to share the gospel with a girl named Nichole. Nichole came into the room me and Brandon were in while preparing for our talk because she was playing a game like sardines where you hide from the group. We told her we were preparing for our talk about our faith, and she said she heard the guy who had shared a testimony earlier talk about his faith and knowing God, and she asked what that meant. Immediately we were really psyched by how pointed a question it was, and led her through the gospel, with some help from the knowing God personally booklet. She also asked us questions about what we thought about partying and communion, which we were able to answer in relation to how our faith affects our lives. It was an awesome experience, and I think she was pretty interested, but did not want to make any decisions that day. PLEASE pray for Nichole; that God would work in her heart and use the seed we attempted to plant to lead her to himself. Another friend of ours on project, Jesse, got to share the gospel with a kid named Justin, who decided to follow Christ and accept God's forgiveness that night. Please pray for Justin, that he will learn how to walk with the Lord, and with Jesse, that he will be faithfull to carry out Discipleship.

Updates... long time no see

Its been a while since I have posted, so I am just gonna go through all of the intense stuff that has happened over the past two weeks or so. The past week I started work at Fredmeyer grocery, which has been exciting and tiring. The job is not the best one I've ever had, but it really makes me appreciate getting to go to college. I have mostly been stocking shelves, with the occasional chore like checking the temps in all of the refrigerators (they give us this really cool thermometer that works like a gun with a laser pointer and I sneak around and do combat rolls) or moving pallets, or cleaning out the old soup bar. (it was disgusting) Any who I think I will have lots of opportunities to build relationships with and share the gospel with my co-workers. I probably spend around an hour or two with different co-workers who I didn't know before this week every day. Would you please pray for Christ, Emmanuel, and Justin? They all work with me and we seem to get along, I would really like to share with them. Its been exciting getting to know them and learning how to relate with the intentions of sharing the gospel. Its been hard keeping that vision the whole day though, and being intentional with my conversations; most of the time I am pretty tired and a little spacy/grumpy by the end of the day. Can you pray for me, that the Holy Spirit would work through me at work and give me strength/passion?

A whole lot has happened since I last posted. I got a job! God blessed me with a job at Fredmeyer grocery, which is a great place; I will have a lot of contact with coworkers who I can build relationships with and witness to, and I can work the schedule necessary to work with project. I am really excited. Please pray for my future co-workers, the employees of Fredmeyer in Juneau; that God would soften their hearts to the gospel and that he would help them to open up to build friendships. Please pray for me; that I would be outgoing and intentional with my conversations. I have learned so much in the past week or so. One of the biggest things I learned was about my view of "missionaries" and grace. I used to think that missionaries had to be basically solid Christians who had worked through most of their struggles. That is bogus. We are all called to be missionaries, and the best witness is an authentic explanation of how a person needs grace. It is God who changes peoples hearts, and if we didn't need grace their wouldn't be a reason to tell about it. I have also been thinking about being bold with the Gospel and explaining in a really direct way the reason I am here for the summer. I recently read Acts 4 and was impressed by how simply Peter and John explained what they had done after healing the man at the Gate called Beautifull; they straight up said that they did it in the name of Jesus Christ, and that Jesus was the only way to no God. ("no other name under heaven, given to men, by which we must be saved") I think when I explain why I am here to people who question why we are serving the community I want to be more direct; to say that I am doing it in Jesus' name and that I believe Jesus is The Way. The Sadducees could not deny the real way in which Peter and John helped the crippled man. In the same way I can use how I serve people here as an open witness to God's power and how he is working through me.

I made it to Alaska! our week long road trip was awesome. We spent a night in Fayetteville Arkansas, spent a night in Columbus Nebraska, a night in Wyoming, a night near Calgarry, a night in British Columbia, Canada, a night in the Yukon, and a night in Haines, Alasaka. It was probably the best road trip of my life. We were fifty feet away from mount rushmore but couldn't see it because of the fog, we went through yellowstone national park, custer state park, Banf national park, and Jasper state park. I will post some pictures pretty soon. The Lord really blessed; we didn't have any injuries or accidents, despite getting snowed in at Dawson Creek, Canada. Yeah, we got snowed in in May. Banf was one of the most beautifull places I have ever seen in my life. I have raised all of the support necessary to pay for project now! God is good. Any other donations will help pay for our gas expenses traveling out. Thank you everyone who donated, I feel really blessed. I am staying in the on-campus housing at University of Alaska Southeast in Juneau. I am still looking for a job; please pray that i will be hired in the next few days, and that God will bless me with a work place where I can share my faith in how I live, work, and talk at my job. We went out sharing our faith down town today! It was a huge step of faith for me, I had never done anything like that before. We talked to three women watching there kids at a park. One of them was very involved with the Orthodox church and encouraged us to work with them this summer, which was neat, and I feel like it was a good conversation because it helped strengthen the church as a whole in Juneau. The second lady we talked to, name Jamie, seemed to know the Gospel and what it meant. We went through the knowing God personally booklet with her and then prayed for her. Please pray for Jamie; she is a single mother who has been on the road looking for a job and a home for a little while and is moving next week to Wisconsin. Please pray that she will feel God and walk with him, that she can witness to her children, (she told us how she had tried but was not sure how to answer all of there questions) and that she will find good work, a home, and a good church family in Wisconsin. The third woman we talked to did not want to talk to us because she did not like that we were using a survey to start conversations. We were not using it for any research or scientific means, but to start religious conversations, which offended her. We decided to start calling it a questionaire and confessing we were just attempting to start conversations. I feel really blessed from today's conversations; I learned a whole whole lot and got over a lot of the fear of talking about my faith with people. God is good! It was really encouraging to just come to terms with how God's grace and the Holy Spirit is what affects people, not our debating or marketing skills; the Gospel is not a used car.

Heading Out!

I head out towards Alaska (via a night in fayetteville) today! I have recieved $2900 in support now, which is $50 short of the amount required to go on the trip! I can personally cover the extra $50, so it will all work out. God has really really blessed. I appreciate your support if you have donated and are looking at this. Please continue to pray for a job for me in juneau that will provide opportunities to witness to the people I work with. Also please pray for the people I will be working with and coming in contact with through evangelism this summer; That God would open their hearts to the gospel. I am really excited about the road trip; we will be spending six days on the road driving through Nebraska and Montana, seeing mount rushmore, up into Canada, and then into Juneau on a ferry. I will be posting a few pictures from our road trip. Thanks again!

Caleb

God is good!! so far people have sent me $2000! I only need to raise another $950! Thank you so much if you have donated. I have been figuring out lately that God will work if we step out and ask him. (but maybe more so if we step out so that we need it to further his kingdom.) the support raising process has really been a committing but rewarding step. I have 2 more prayer requests in addition for prayer for support; 1.Would you pray that I would find a good job where I can build strong relationships with people that God wants me to witness to. 2Would you pray for those people that I will work with, that God would work in their hearts so that when I plant the Gospel it would take root. Thanks a lot,

Caleb

3/22/2010

Hello world! this is officially the first post of my summer project blog. I am really psyched to see what God will do this spring preparing for Alaska, what he will do this summer, and what Juneau Alaska is like. I am sending out support letters in the next few days, which I need prayer for; that people would support me and that God would be glorified in the way I tell people what I'm doing this summer.