What's New With Me
Hello friends. I have had a number of wonderful trips and teaching experiences this month. I have been to Michigan twice, once for a week and another for a weekend.
The first trip I was able to speak at the church my son Joshua attends - the Southside Vineyard where Daryl Underwood is the senior pastor. I had so much fun playing and singing on the worship team with my son. God touched many hearts through the brief opportunity to share about First Loved. Here are a few comments from two of their leaders who sent me very encouraging emails: "Mark, It was wonderful getting to spend time with you at lunch last Sunday. I believe that the message God has given to you is very powerful, especially in this area. I'm excited about the possibility of having you work with the leadership of Southside Vineyard." "Mark, I am the guy who MC'd at Southside in Grand Rapids last Sunday, read Matt. 7:9-11 and demonstrated the back-cracking hug. I wanted to write a quick note to let you know that your message and the ministry that followed were an answer to prayer."
The second trip was to the Lakeshore Vineyard where I got to preach and invite them to return Dec 1-3 for the First Loved Seminar. Here is an email I received this week from someone attending the Sunday AM service. "It was great listening to you Sunday. It is a long story but your words from the Father for Margaret from 2nd service really touched my heart. Margaret suffers from a disease called Neurofibromatosis (NF), it is a rare disease and the disease which doctors were concerned my youngest daughter Abby might have. Ultimately Abby was fine, but I actually met Margaret and developed a friendship through the support group fundraising efforts. It was this disease and the fear of it that brought me back to the Lord after falling away for many years. She really needed to hear those words that the Lord spoke through you!"
I also spoke at a marriage retreat the second weekend in October. What an awesome experience. I led worship, taught a little of First Loved to Love and Getting Along in the Family of God. What a powerful time we had. During the love text session, Peter Webb and I spoke a text into a man and then continued to get more words of encouragement for him. We found out afterward that our words were incredibly prophetic and accurate. Yeah God. One of the leaders emailed me later with this word of encouragement: "I just wanted to say thank you for this past weekend. It really gave my wife and I a push in the right direction. We went home and put it to work in our family and was excited with the results. I look forward to seeing the Lord move in many lives. If there is any way Tina and I can be of assistance please let us know. We really feel led to help you out in anyway we can. We would love to go through training or home group or whatever you suggest."
Finally, a team of 10 of us are teaching First Loved to Love over a 7 week period at the Wilmington Baptist Church for a group of their leaders. We do about 10-15 minutes of worship, I teach for about 40 minutes and then we are in small groups for about an hour. We are very encouraged to see hearts softening, responding and sharing love. Several people attended the weekend event we did last July. Some of them have continued to journal, memorize and be more intentional about loving others. I have been so encouraged to see the noticeable changes in some of these folks.
So things are happening slowly but surely. My greatest challenge has been living in the tension between trust and responsibility. Sometimes trust feels irresponsible and being responsible feels like a lack of trust. Crazy. But God is so good and such a faithful teacher. Thank you for all your love and prayers. Mark
The first trip I was able to speak at the church my son Joshua attends - the Southside Vineyard where Daryl Underwood is the senior pastor. I had so much fun playing and singing on the worship team with my son. God touched many hearts through the brief opportunity to share about First Loved. Here are a few comments from two of their leaders who sent me very encouraging emails: "Mark, It was wonderful getting to spend time with you at lunch last Sunday. I believe that the message God has given to you is very powerful, especially in this area. I'm excited about the possibility of having you work with the leadership of Southside Vineyard." "Mark, I am the guy who MC'd at Southside in Grand Rapids last Sunday, read Matt. 7:9-11 and demonstrated the back-cracking hug. I wanted to write a quick note to let you know that your message and the ministry that followed were an answer to prayer."
The second trip was to the Lakeshore Vineyard where I got to preach and invite them to return Dec 1-3 for the First Loved Seminar. Here is an email I received this week from someone attending the Sunday AM service. "It was great listening to you Sunday. It is a long story but your words from the Father for Margaret from 2nd service really touched my heart. Margaret suffers from a disease called Neurofibromatosis (NF), it is a rare disease and the disease which doctors were concerned my youngest daughter Abby might have. Ultimately Abby was fine, but I actually met Margaret and developed a friendship through the support group fundraising efforts. It was this disease and the fear of it that brought me back to the Lord after falling away for many years. She really needed to hear those words that the Lord spoke through you!"
I also spoke at a marriage retreat the second weekend in October. What an awesome experience. I led worship, taught a little of First Loved to Love and Getting Along in the Family of God. What a powerful time we had. During the love text session, Peter Webb and I spoke a text into a man and then continued to get more words of encouragement for him. We found out afterward that our words were incredibly prophetic and accurate. Yeah God. One of the leaders emailed me later with this word of encouragement: "I just wanted to say thank you for this past weekend. It really gave my wife and I a push in the right direction. We went home and put it to work in our family and was excited with the results. I look forward to seeing the Lord move in many lives. If there is any way Tina and I can be of assistance please let us know. We really feel led to help you out in anyway we can. We would love to go through training or home group or whatever you suggest."
Finally, a team of 10 of us are teaching First Loved to Love over a 7 week period at the Wilmington Baptist Church for a group of their leaders. We do about 10-15 minutes of worship, I teach for about 40 minutes and then we are in small groups for about an hour. We are very encouraged to see hearts softening, responding and sharing love. Several people attended the weekend event we did last July. Some of them have continued to journal, memorize and be more intentional about loving others. I have been so encouraged to see the noticeable changes in some of these folks.
So things are happening slowly but surely. My greatest challenge has been living in the tension between trust and responsibility. Sometimes trust feels irresponsible and being responsible feels like a lack of trust. Crazy. But God is so good and such a faithful teacher. Thank you for all your love and prayers. Mark
posted by firstloved at 9:26 AM
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