Newsletter April 2006...
This prayer letter is focused mainly on several people in the U.S whom God has touched over the past year. We rejoice in His faithfulness as He calls each one of us to faith in Jesus and even trusting him vocationally....
Leaps of Faith and Stepping Out – Several Testimonies
Have you ever decided to jump off a diving board without checking to see if there is any water in the pool? I have.
My pastor, Tom Howland of Hope Community Church, near Wichita, KS, asked me to
go to one of Paul Ford’s “Discovering Your Spiritual Gifts” seminars. In spite of my initial reticence to attend, I discovered my primary gift was “evangelism” but I had never thought of myself in this way. After praying to God about what I should do with this newfound knowledge, the answer I received was to help Christian ministries extend their reach worldwide by providing websites, web hosting, and e-commerce solutions.
So, I quit my “day job” and...
I climbed up the ladder to the diving board. You know, it’s scary up there. Nothing is the same. Nothing is comfortable. Your reference points are gone. Comfort zone? It doesn’t exist. What’s really scary is when I realized God wasn’t interested in my comfort. He was interested in the comfort of others. It has everything to do with the Great Commission and very little to do with me.
I contacted ministries that interested me and just asked them if they could use some help. Eventually Paul asked me to help develop his website and the Grip/Birkman Blueprint Coaches website, which are both up and running. I now am responsible for dozens of Christian ministry websites and their internet marketing. I believe that God knew that Paul and I would cross paths again and I am eternally grateful we did, what with the changes that happened in my life from his seminar on learning to be who God intended you to be!
God always provides for our financial needs. I found that when I concentrated on what God would have me do and I left the worrying to Him, a great burden was lifted from me. I also have a peace that manifests itself in so many ways. So do you have enough faith to climb the ladder to that diving board? I am the hardly special and if I can do it, those much more gifted than I can as well. It takes guts though and a large helping of faith. And besides, who really cares if there’s any water in the pool if God’s the lifeguard?
Allan Gunneson
Minnow, First Class
Gunner Web Group
Mike Hermann...
Mike is a part of our Life group, an extension of City on a Hill, our church in
Albuquerque.
Pictured: Marshall, Mike & Randy
Guys in my Life Group, I want to thank you all for being a part of my life. You have all helped me to open my heart and soul to the presence and influence of the Lord, Jesus Christ, in my life. And what a difference this has made for me. Although the struggles continue, they are much easier to accept knowing that I have you here on Earth and the Lord in heaven to guide me. My New Year's resolutions for 2006 are to strengthen my relationship with the Lord and continue on the journey of becoming "A man of character in a world of compromise."
A ‘Perfect Storm’ of the Spiritual Kind
It was January, 2005, and for all outward appearances everything appeared to be going well for me. I was married to a loving wife and had three beautiful daughters. I lived in a beautiful and spacious home on a one-acre lot with a magnificent view of the Sandia Mountains. I owned a small, but relatively successful, business in Albuquerque. And my physical health was as good as could be expected for a man of forty-one. So, you ask, what’s wrong with this picture? In a word, I was ‘unfulfilled’. I was searching for meaning in my life, and it was nowhere to be found.
Then, my life changed in a profound way. Several events happened in a very short period of time that impacted me in a rather enlightening way. First, my youngest step-daughter had a daughter of her own; my first grandchild. She was brought into the world on January 22, 2005. I didn’t know what to think at first, being a grandfather at the ripe old age of forty-one. And I certainly had no experience being in any way responsible for an infant. But it took only a matter of a few days for me to experience and know the joy of welcoming a new life into this world. This baby was truly a ‘gift from God’ for me and our family.
In February I was playing in my first amateur ice hockey game after a year-and-a-half of extensive training and I ended up breaking my leg. It was a serious fracture - such that my podiatrist recommended surgery and the insertion of a metal plate and pins into my leg. However, on the advice of several friends and family members I opted against surgery. I ended up having to endure a series of three different casts over a period of 13 weeks, but am happy to report that my leg healed properly with the positive thoughts and prayers of many friends and family.
About the same time, a good friend of mine that I have known since college days, Alan Fowler, suggested that I meet with him and a few of his friends for a weekly meeting. I thought that he was talking perhaps about a ‘tips’ club for business owners, or something similar. I agreed with some hesitation to meet with the group. I found excuses for the first couple of weeks as to why I could not attend - because I wasn’t sure what to expect and was a little nervous.
In the meantime, in my search to find meaning in my life, I found the book “The Purpose Driven Life” by Rick Warren almost by accident. Not knowing anything about it, but being intrigued by the title, I began to read it. The book made a lot of sense to me, and ironically, led to another meeting with Alan, who wanted me to join his group and their weekly meetings. I shared my experience about finding the book and agreed to meet the next week with the group.
As it happened, the group turned out to be a fellowship group and they were reading a study book on the Book of Proverbs meeting in Paul Ford’s home office. It occurred after a couple of weeks in the group, that this was not just coincidence that all of these apparently unrelated events had occurred in such a brief period of time. It was the Lord reaching out to me and saying, “Struggle no further and seek no further. The answers to life’s questions and meaning are with Me. And they can be obtained by appreciating the things and people that are all around you. The purpose for your life is in your service to all those people in your life that love and respect you. And by honoring and respecting them you will find purpose in life. And you will honor Me with that purpose.”
My life continues to be challenging. But with my newfound relationship with the Lord, my life now has meaning and a sense of purpose.
Mike
