Has your faith taken flight?

“If we have put our hope in Christ for this life only, we should be pitied more than anyone.” 
1 Corinthians 15:19

I have read this verse many times, but recently the Holy Spirit stopped me as I read it and when I meditated on it, the truth became startling. This life that we are all living in America is created by our worldly obligations. Careers, school, shopping, eating, exercising, etc. dominate our time that is divided into segments of minutes and hours—every increment of time being scheduled and accounted for in an effort to perform optimally in a world that demands our best. With this in mind, let’s turn our attention to Paul’s words in this verse. As Christians we have put our hope in Christ. What does this mean? It means that we believe in the birth, life, death, resurrection and ascension of Jesus Christ. He died as He placed all of our sins upon Himself, and when He rose from the dead He defeated Satan, death, and sin. So now we know, that through belief and relationship with Jesus, our sins are forgiven and thus the deserved wrath of God is erased from our current and future reality—since the blood of Christ covers our sins.

Therefore, we know that upon our mortal death, we will be carried to heaven by angels and spend eternity in heaven with our Creator! It is this hope that Paul is referring to in this verse. This means that in this life—through all of its trials, tribulations, diseases, suffering, and pain we look towards heaven—hoping in the reality of our eternal resting place where death is swallowed up by immortality and perfection. This hope creates power within Christians, and we see this in the Bible. Paul, Peter, John and the other disciples and followers of Christ don’t concern themselves with worry over persecution and trials. In fact, as in the case of Peter and the other apostles getting flogged for spreading the gospel, they fall on their knees in absolute joy as they praise God for being, “counted worthy to suffer shame for His name” (Acts 5:41). In Acts 16, we see Paul and Silas singing hymns of praise in prison as they sit shackled with fresh wounds from the beating that tore their backs open that day. How is this possible? It’s possible through hope—the hope that they placed in Christ and heaven.

Read the original July 2014 newsletter

Commitment that thins the ranks

"...choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve.” Joshua 24:15

In the United States a very unique milieu exists in which one can live as a Christian. We are not persecuted, we can freely worship, we can purchase Bibles at will, we can evangelize without fear of death, we have any Christian educational material that the world offers available to us, we are wealthy, and we can travel whenever we want and wherever we want without visas because we have the highly coveted American passport.

With that said, American Christians will travel on their paths of life and inevitably reach a spiritual fork in the road. One road is wide open and paved with gold. As you look down this road you see a comfortable home, multitudes of friends, your church and your pastor, endless sporting events to watch for hours, a two week vacation to Europe, and the summer church BBQ. There is, in fact, so much great stuff going on down this road that you can’t see what or where it leads to, and obviously you can’t focus on what you can’t see—so you focus on what you can see—and who can deny that this road looks great! How could it be anything but the right path when most of the Christians that you know are standing there and asking you what you’re waiting for?

Then you turn and look down the other path. It is very narrow and looks lonely. There are very few people on this path and you can see why—it’s difficult with thorns and a multitude of trials, and comforts are nowhere to be seen. You can’t see anyone’s face who is on this path because, unlike the open comfortable path where everyone was focused on you, everyone on this narrow path is focused on the journey’s end, and thus you can’t get any of them to look back. As you look at the end of the narrow path you see a paradise that is beyond your imagination—but the road to get there is full of sacrifice and hardship. 

Read more in the original May 2014 newsletter

Family prayer sponsorships

“And the Lord said, ‘Simon, Simon! Indeed, Satan has asked for you, that he may sift you as wheat. But I have prayed for you.” Luke 22:31-32

Prayer! I often ponder on the things that must sadden God as He considers us, His creation. He is constantly present, He is always listening, and He sees everything. If we could allow ourselves to grasp this truth we would live a lot differently as Christians. What would you think if you married the love of your life, a person that you would die for and have vowed to care for forever, and he/she never spoke to you—or, only spoke if they were in trouble and thus limited their verbal interaction with you to self-centered requests. That would be completely unacceptable, but this is how God must feel when we don’t put prayer in its proper place in our lives. God wants us to speak to Him constantly about all aspects of our lives, good or bad. He longs to be an active, daily part of our life through continual conversation. The power and importance of prayer is something that we, in Western society, have long denied and ignored. As a result, we struggle to discern the voice of the Holy Spirit within us, and, in failing to pray more, we reveal our lack of faith in God to handle our successes, failures and trials in life. 

Read more in the original April 2014 newsletter

Building blocks

“Coming to Him, a living stone—rejected by men but chosen and valuable to God—you yourselves, as living stones, are being built into a spiritual house for a holy priesthood to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.” 1 Peter 2:4-5

As I sit and watch our dedicated construction crew erecting our second school building in Haiti, this verse from 1 Peter entered my mind. As I pondered it, the Holy Spirit created a degree of sadness in my heart considering that we, as Christians today, fail to appreciate, and further, are not taught, our role as “living stones”. As I watch the school going up one cement block at a time it is very evident that if a block were to be left out, a hole would result in the wall making it incomplete. This is directly analogous to our position on this earth as Christians. Each one of us are “LIVING stones”, according to Scripture. If we were meant to just fill a position in a wall than there would be no need to place the adjective, living, as a descriptor of the stone. Therefore, Peter is telling us that we are to be alive and active as Christians, fulfilling Christ’s direct commands to us found throughout Scripture, especially in the gospels. 

Read more in the original February 2014 newsletter

Missionary life (Joyfully sanctified)

"They who dive into the sea of affliction bring up rare pearls." - Charles Spurgeon

Suffering. Due to a worldly standard that places a negative connotation on this word, we are taught to avoid suffering at all costs. As a result of our unwillingness to suffer as Christians,the world suffers! In our journey through our ministry in Haiti, which is currently in its infancy, I have been surprised by both the level of suffering and the reliability of its almost daily reality. Since initiating this ministry in Haiti we have personally experienced real hunger due to lack of food, have witnessed babies and young children die due to starvation, we have lived in 135 degree temperatures with no relief for days, I have had severe illnesses, experienced demonic attacks, curses have been placed on me by vodou priests, death contracts have been placed on my translator and I as we witness to the vodou community, I have been abandoned by friends and deceived and slandered by leaders and this is all within the first year of our ministry! Many reading this could fairly ask the question, "why would you continue?" The answer is readily available in the Bible.

Read more in the original January 2014 newsletter

Centurion Initiative

As 2014 is upon us and we look forward to a new year of walking obediently with the Lord in Haiti, we anticipate the awesome work that God is going to perform through all of us. The letter that follows is a call to action, faith and growth. If you are receiving this correspondence you should join with me in feeling honored! Honored by the fact that we have been divinely recruited by God to be a member of this team that was put together before time began for a lofty purpose--this purpose culminates in the salvation of Haiti. This assignment requires a corporate effort and if we remain faithful in prayer, support, and performance of this work, I have complete faith that we will witness a total defeat of Satan on his playing field in a country that he has controlled for over 500 years. I am proud to be a part of this team, and you have my promise, as the founder of this organization, that my life is fully dedicated, in complete surrender, with an overwhelming sense of urgency, to the work of the Holy Spirit in Haiti. I write the following letter in humility before God and as your brother in Christ.

"For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them." Ephesians 2:10

Read more in the original December 2013 newsletter

A tour of our schools

"But God said to him, "You fool! This very night your life is demanded of you." Luke 12:20

Prior to moving to Haiti, I spent summers and falls playing men's 12 inch softball. I was friends with many of the players, and even though I refrained from going out with them after games to drink at bars and stay out most of the night, I was still respected by my team mates who saw me as a family man who had standards that existed as a result of my Christianity.

This week I received an email stating that one of my team mates, who was in his early 40's, was found dead in his home. As I read these words and began to process this, the Holy Spirit pierced my heart with great force. This man, my team mate, was dead, and he was not a believer. Unless he had responded to God's call since I last saw him, his soul is now eternally lost, forever separated from God in hell. This is not a topic that we like to talk about but it’s about time that we do.

Read more in the original November 2013 newsletter

Interview with a Vodou priest

“…The Son of God was revealed for this purpose: To destroy the Devil’s works.”
1 John 3:8

This newsletter will reveal a new ministry at CHARIS that God has assigned to us—evangelization of vodou priests and priestesses. When I discerned God’s will for me to perform this ministry, I went immediately to Scripture to study Satan, demons, their roles on earth and God’s purpose for them. The verse above is a good summary of this study. Jesus was born into the world, died on the cross and was resurrected on the third day for one reason—to destroy Satan’s work! Therefore, Satan is already defeated and he knows this, so why is he given such seemingly great power and reign on earth? The answer to this question is found in Colossians, “By Him (Christ) everything was created in heaven and on earth, the visible and the invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things have been created through Him and for Him. (Colossians 1:16). Satan and demons exist for purposes that are meant to elevate Christ, His name, and His people. As Christians we have made a choice to follow God and not the Satanic world order, thus making our love for God genuine and authentic rather than a forced relationship for lack of an opposing force or choice.

Read more in the original October 2013 newsletter

Death that produces life

"Therefore, produce fruit consistent with repentance… ‘What then should we do?’ The crowds were asking him. He (John the Baptist) replied to them, ‘The one who has two shirts should share with the one who has none, and the one who has food must do the same.’" (Luke 3:8, 10-11)

The root of all sin is pride, in some form, and as I read this passage John lays out a chronology of effective Christian living. After coming to the realization that we are sinners and that there is nothing we can do within our power to make our relationship with God right, we pray and repent of our sin. This is the first and necessary step in re-establishing our right relationship with God. John states that after repentance we must, "produce fruit consistent with repentance". This is news to the crowd then, and is still news to us today.

Read more in the original September 2013 newsletter

100 Days (focus on the unseen)

“So we do not focus on what is seen, but on what is unseen; for what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.” (2 Corinthians 4:18) 

While considering this verse I want to pose a question, is Christianity seen or unseen? Is this a strange question to ask? Yes it is, but I believe that there are powerful lessons to learn through this verse. As I thought about this it became apparent to me that much of what we affiliate with Christianity today is seen—churches, Christian book stores, bumper stickers, fish symbols, the cross, etc. Now ask yourself, how much of Christianity is unseen? If you are having trouble answering this question let me try to help with asking: can you identify a Christian by what you can’t see—you can see their home, the car they drive, and the career they have chosen but can you see the unseen Holy Spirit in their life? I think that we can all agree that the sad answer to this question is that Christianity currently lives within the seen temporary world, while the unseen attributes of Christianity which are supposed to be loudly proclaimed through our changed life are becoming hidden. 

Read more in the original July 2013 newsletter