Newsletter June 2006...
From Julie... Stephen Graduates from Highland High School
May 14-21 are days which will long stay in our minds, hearts and memories. We had not previously attended Albuquerque Public School graduations held in the University Arena, fondly known as the “Pit.”
Those of you who have watched your own children march into “Pomp and Circumstance” know exactly what Paul and I mean when I say that we both celebrated and cried in commemorating the official end of Stephen’s childhood.
We know and love so many of those teens through four years of marching band and two years of “We the People” at Highland High School.
We capped off our celebration with an open house on the evening of the 21st, blessed by the presence of so many who have been a part of our nearly 20 years of living in Albuquerque.
Come mid-August we will head to southern Michigan to get Stephen situated at Hillsdale College and to participate in the Parents’ Weekend.
New Open Doors #1...Where you don’t expect
“Hi Paul. I thought you would get a kick out of this.....
I was in Kibera, the slums in Nairobi, Kenya (Africa), and found this.
Don’t know how he got it, but I thought you would be glad to know they are using your stuff in Kenya. This guy’s name is Chris, he works for First Love Kenya, running a school and feeding program for kids in the slums. Blessings.”
New Open Doors#2... A surprise email from Peter Drypolcher in Africa
Having just received the above email about Kenya, It came as great surprise when I received an email from Peter shortly thereafter: the Spirit prompted him (his words) to ask me to come and train nationals in Uganda (next to Kenya!) and southern Sudan, Africa with him. This is an unusual request from Peter, something that had never before happened. Amazingly, Julie and I were already going to be halfway there on the exact date Peter asked that we come – i.e. returning from Central Asia. So we began to pray.
Dear friends Peter and Debi have ministered with Youth With a Mission (YWAM) in Zimbabwe and Zambia in southern Africa for the past nine years. They lead a movement that sends Africans as missionaries to the 10-40 window of unreached peoples in the world, plus Debi new work with youth ministries in Lusaka. Four years ago, we worked with four tribal groups at a YWAM base in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe, and also enjoyed some personal time with Peter, Debi and their eleven year old daughter Katie.
Long-story-short, Julie and I will be going to Kazakhstan and western China in the first half of September and, after flying halfway home from that Central Asian ministry, we will turn south at London and go to Lusaka, Zambia. From there Peter and I will travel to northwest Uganda and southern Sudan. More on this in our August newsletter.
DO pray for the Lord’s provision financially on this. Our financial planning for overseas trips for fall of 2006 did not include this Zambia/Uganda/Sudan trip. We need to raise an additional $2800 on short notice to do this, believing it is the Lord who has asked us add this to our present trip. Let us know if you want to be a part of meeting this special need.
( julieleclearford@earthlink.net OR paul.ford@crmleaders.org )
From Paul: What is beyond...
...Stephen’s graduation for Paul and Julie?
...these last two years developing the Grip/Birkman Blueprint?
...and the book Knocking Over the Leadership Ladder?
"Delight yourself in the Lord, and He will give you the desires of your heart.
Commit your way to the Lord; trust Him and he will do this." Psalm 37:4-5
Stephen off to college...
Almost immediately, you can see some of the changes coming in our lives with Stephen going to Hillsdale this fall. The biggest is exampled by Julie’s traveling with me this fall, our first major trip together without Stephen since 1996. The Lord may be opening up some ministry possibilities with women on such trips in this new season for her. Please pray with us for clear discernment and direction as we seek His guidance. She may also be traveling with me to India in January. We would be training in support of David Singh, one of our board members who, with his wife, has a Bible distribution ministry there.
The Grip/Birkman Blueprint and Knocking Over the Leadership Ladder...
Beyond the six overseas training trips since July of 2004, the last two years have had a unusual focus for me. First came pioneering a new resource, the Grip/Birkman Blueprint and building a ministry team of Blueprint international trainers and coaches at the same time. On the resource-building side, it has taken these first two years to get the tool fine-tuned to most effectively serve churches, mission agencies, and denominations. As we have done this, the Lord has begun to bring both small and huge ministries who want to help their missionaries, pastors, and teams become more intentional stewards of who they are in Christ. Alongside this development came the people side, and the Lord has brought 60 incredible players as Blueprint Coaches and also a special group of now ten Trainers who are sharing the load in leading and training. It has been quite a process...whew.
Then came the unexpected prophetic call from the Lord to write a book to call out Evangelical church leaders in North America. With the help of 2o of you in our ministry circle, I am finishing my editorial work on Knocking Over the Leadership Ladder this week, and it should come out through ChurchSmart Publishers in September. Never have I experienced clarity of thought and mind as in writing this 165-page treatise.
Pray now for the newness that will come as the Lord fulfills His intent in these two resources and people involved. All I know for certain is that 1) it is STILL all about relationships and 2) we will continue to give priority to training nationals in non-western cultures for purposes of further world evangelization.
