I’m not saying all this to complain…though I wouldn’t mind having all my toenails. I see it, rather, as a mark of being a part of the work that my wife and I have prepared for for a long time.

What you need to know is that many people here simply don’t wear shoes, and if they do, 9 times out of 10 they wear flip-flops. So, as missionaries who want to relate to the people they minister to, it would just be impractical to sport the newest Nike styling as we hang out with our bare-footed friends…and super hot.   Read the NTM article>>> Missionary Feet       

“These are souls that you or I or traditional Western missionaries could never reach! Join us as we pray for the release of missionaries throughout the Middle East and North Africa from this great reservoir.”

Just as persecution in the early church at Jerusalem caused a scattering of missionaries throughout the Roman world, recent pressures on the church in Egypt appear to be having the same effect.

“This is one of the most exciting opportunities I’ve seen in 49 years of missionary ministry,” says Dr. Howard Folz, the founder of AIMS. “Please join with me in releasing a powerful flow of missionaries to the Middle East and North Africa.”

The first thought that comes to many people when they consider the Middle East is warfare and terrorism.  However, Dr. Folz wants believers to consider a different vision. “Please remember, Paul was also a terrorist against Christians, and yet he became the greatest missionary the world has ever seen. Can we believe God for miracles like this in the Middle East andNorth Africa? Even Jihadists coming to Jesus!” he suggests.

 

“On my first trip to Egypt, our partner Mustafa (a pseudonym) gave me a completely new view of the Middle East and North Africa. He said, ‘Howard, we have a huge reservoir of Egyptian missionaries just waiting to be sent out to this part of the world.’

“We are in a special ‘window of opportunity,’” Mustafa continued, “to gather together 600 plus pastors and leaders. Our goal is to send out hundreds of missionaries from Egyptian churches. Fifty-six missionaries have already been sent, and miracles, signs and wonders are happening for God’s glory,” Mustafa says.

As Dr. Folz flew back to theU.S.he sensed God  opening doors in the Middle East andNorth Africain new and exciting ways. As a result, AIMS launched “Operation Love: Middle East North Africa (MENA).

Operation Love MENA will address the immediate need for training of pastors in missions mobilization so God can release the Egyptian reservoir of missionaries into the area. This region has over 365 million people and 579 unreached people groups, according to Joshua Project.

The cost of training one pastor including travel, room, board and materials is $50. But each pastor is committed to raise one-half themselves so their goal is to subsidize this training event at $25 per pastor, according to Dr. Folz.

“These are souls that you or I or traditional Western missionaries could never reach! Join us as we pray for the release of missionaries throughout the Middle East and North Africa from this great reservoir.”

“This is the heart of the devil’s territory, but God is at work.  More Muslims have come to Christ in the past 25 years than in the first 2,000 years of the church!

Pray for Mission Ministry Short Term Trips

Acts 1:8-UBC Sends Local and Global-Philemon 6

 Please be in prayer for these 2 teams in preparation for their upcoming trips.

 Kenya Team: Jim Korn, Jerry Rebert, Dennis Unglesbee and Jay Bubel

April 1-12 

• 4 Day Pastor Conference Co-teaching many of the same pastors as last year with the Eleventh Hour Ministry
• Attending Easter Service in Nairobi at our supported pastor evangelist’s church
• 2 day leadership training with Eleventh Hour Ministry

Pray for the pastors attending the conference from all over NE Kenya who are reaching the least reached and unreached. 

“Be still, and know that I am God! I will be honored by every nation. I will be honored throughout the world.” – Psalm 46:10

“For it has been granted to you on behalf of Christ not only to believe in him, but also to suffer for him,” Philippians 1:29

Tohono O ‘odham Team: Denise Velte, Sheila Ramsey and Dana Weaver

These three ladies were invited back to serve and encourage Disciple-maker Sherrie Dodson April 27-May 2

• Weekend-sharing life with Sherrie-rekindling relationships built with the women they met last year.  Projects for children.
• 2 days with Sherrie on the job as counselor at the tribe’s Behavioral Health Department
• Wrap up time planning how UBC can serve and encourage Sherrie, the TO Nation and the community of Sells in the future.

 ”The vision is that we will carry the Good News – the Gospel – the “Ske:g Ha’icu A:gidag” (the O’odham phrase for Good News) from village to village (Luke 9:6) to prepare a people prepared for the Lord (Luke 1:17) all in response to the Great Commission of making disciples of all nations (Matthew 28:18-20).”

The Tebows~A Missionary Family

Read about the entire Tebow family and their ministry in the Philippines below:

Bob TebowEvangelistic Association-The Harvest is Plentiful-The World is the Field

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UBC Missions Team’s Annual Retreat

UBC Missions Team Annual Retreat

Retreat: a period of group withdrawal for prayer, meditation, study.

 The UBC Missions Team is inviting you to retreat from the daily hustle and bustle and come join us on Saturday November 5, 2011 to hear how God is using His people to make His glory known around the world. We will pray for local serving, short term missions and our missionaries. We will meditate on Acts:1:8 and Matt 28. We will study, through hearing about what God is doing here and abroad.

 The day:  Sign in begins at 8 a.m. followed by Worship at 8:30

With your group (and a passport) you will travel to 3 ‘destinations’ : Africa, Appalachia, and Arizona, to hear the trip reports from 2011 short term mission trips. The 4^th stop is a tour of UBC Local Outreaches, did you know there are serving opportunities from Union Bridge to Westminster, to Baltimore and Appalachia? The Missions Team takes a Serve Local, Go Global approach to world missions believing that sharing Christ begins at home, our communities and reaching the nations.

Pastor Steve will serve children of attendees grades 1-5 with a children’s missions program.

After everyone has completed their missions tour everyone will gather back in the multi-purpose room for closing statements, then lunch will be served.

It’s all FREE! Sign up at the kiosk on Sunday!

The title of this year’s Retreat is: Passport to Missions-Where is God Sending You?

To Preach Where Christ Has Not Been Named

“The apostle Paul had a holy ambition – to preach the gospel to peoples who had never heard. He ached to proclaim Jesus where he had not yet been named. So today, missionaries cross cultures, learn languages, and pour out their lives in word and deed to break through thousands of years of darkness and the reign of Satan over a people who do not know the King of kings and the Savior of the world. Missionaries go to, and minister among, peoples who otherwise have little to no access to the saving news of Jesus’ life, death and resurrection.

 

And since Jesus’ Great Commission to make disciples of all nations is still in effect – and since there are thousands of peoples today who have never heard of him – every church should pray that God would not only make all of us evangelists among our own people, but also that he would raise up from among us missionaries to take the gospel where it has never gone before.” John Piper

Come~Hear~Serve~Go…Missions at UBC

Come out, enjoy fellowship and dessert with Myriam and Miguel Garroni Wednesday September 7 from 7-8p.m. in the multi-purpose room at UBC. Here about their life and years of ministry in Uruguay. As a bonus-their son-in-law Tito will share the ministry he and his family have serving in Argentina.

 Serving Local and Going Global,

Your Missions Team at UBC

“Finish the Mission: For the Joy of All Peoples.” Desiring God 2011 National Conference

A missional community is a family of missionary servants who make disciples who make disciples.

Family

First of all, a missional community is a group of believers who live and experience life together like a family. They see God as their Father because of their faith in the person and work of Jesus Christ and the new regeneration brought about by the Holy Spirit. This means they have and know of a divine love that leads them to love one another as brothers and sisters. They treat one another as children of God deeply loved by the Father in everything — sharing their money, time, resources, needs, hurts, successes, etc. They know each other well. This knowledge includes knowing each other’s stories and having familiarity with one another’s strengths and struggles in regards to belief in the gospel and it’s application to all of life (John 1:11-13; Romans 12:10-16; Ephesians 5:1-2).

Missionaries

God’s family is also sent like the Son by the Spirit to proclaim the good news of the kingdom — the gospel — and fulfill the commission of Jesus. A missional community is more than a Bible study or a small group that cares for other believers. A missional community is made up of Spirit-led and Spirit-filled people who radically reorient their lives together for the mission of making disciples of a particular people and place where there is a gospel gap (no consistent gospel witness). This means people’s schedule, resources and decisions are now collectively built around reaching people together (Matthew 3:16-4:1; John 20:21; Acts 1:8; 13:2).

Servants

Jesus is Lord and we are his Servants. A missional community serves those around them as though they are serving Jesus. In doing so, they give a foretaste of what life will be like under the rule and reign of Jesus Christ. Living as servants to the King who serve others as he served presents a tangible witness to Jesus’ kingdom and the power of the gospel to change lives. A missional community serves in such a way that it demands a Gospel explanation — lives that cannot be explained in any other way than by the Gospel of the Kingdom of Jesus (Matthew 20:25-28; John 13:1-17; Philippians 2:5-11; 1 Peter 2:16).

Disciples

We are all learners of Jesus our rabbi who has given us his Spirit to teach us all that is true about Jesus and enable us to live out his commands. Jesus commanded us to make disciples who believe the gospel, are established in a new identity and are able to obey all of his commands (Matthew 28:19-20).

The missional community is the best context in which this can happen. Disciples are made and developed:

1. through life on life, where there is visibility and accessibility
2. in community, where they can practice the one anothers, and
3. on mission where they learn how to proclaim the gospel and make disciples.

Jeff Vanderstelt is a pastor at Soma Communities, an Acts 29 church in Tacoma, WA. He coaches and trains church planters, serves on the Board of Acts 29, and leads the Soma movement in vision and teaching.

Thank you for sharing your comments. All comments are moderated for content. Comments that fail to acknowledge God or Jesus with “caps” will not be posted. In addition any posts containing foul language or blasphemy of any form will not be posted.-UBC Missions

#Onewiththem Campaign to Raise Awareness & Prayer for Our Persecuted Brothers & Sisters!

One With Them

Why We Can’t Call Everyone a Missionary

A testimony from a  Missionary:

“This is the cost,” she says to me with tears brimming. Sitting on my couch, with legs curled under her…coffee in hand, she says confidently, “…and this is part of the cost, isn’t it?” The cost-benefit ratio of following God’s lead and moving overseas is complex and varied. Are there benefits? Absolutely! We can count abundant benefits to our family, our marriage, our kids and our spiritual lives. There are many, many benefits to living a life of service overseas. But, are there costs? Of course. Yes, absolutely. There are painful, daily, humiliating and difficult costs on our lives. I think, that said, there is a cost to any God-following obedience. …taking up our cross, He calls it in Scripture. There is always a cost to following Christ. The cross…although it brings innumerable benefits…is painful and heavy. The costs of moving out of your home culture to serve alongside the Good Shepherd, though, are unique. And, these costs are heavy.

“This is the cost,” she says half smiling—half ready to cry. My heart knows exactly what she is saying…I get it. And, I say, Yes! …Yes, I say as my eyes now brim with tears, too.

…missing your sister’s wedding. …missing your niece’s birth. …receiving an email (not a call) about your mother’s health. …having your young child ask you again, “Now, who is that person?… What is his name?” And, he is referring to your brother, his uncle. …missing those in-between years when nephews grow from babies to boys…boys to men. …missing that graduation, that 40th birthday party and the Thanksgiving dinner. …being forgotten. Or instead, being so deeply missed that you are the source of someone’s pain. Which is better? …raising kids that are not “normal.” And, they know it. …not having that youth group, that Grandma’s mentoring, or that Christian soul friend for a young budding daughter. …not having that booming, beautiful, vibrant worship service each week. …having to choose which state-side family crisis is worth the price of an international flight…and having to go on your own, because tickets for the others are too expensive. …not having a primary care doctor that knows you, has known your medical history or even your name. …not helping with your dear friends wedding shower, or attending her dad’s funeral. … missing it. …not being there. …not having.

“This is the cost,” she says to me. And, I hear her heart. And, I can only agree. I nod. And, I smile with small tears brimming. “Yes, this is the cost.” Is it worth it? …What a crazy, silly question, we both know. Even with brimming tears we know—of course it is worth it! We hardly have to ask each other the question.

We know what He has asked of us. And, we know His will is for His glory and our best. We know the benefits. We know our Good Father and His blessings. So, of course it is worth it!

Simon Peter answered him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life” (John 6:68). The benefits most definitely outweigh the cost. Always. Where else are we to go?! But, there is a cost. And, there is a cross. And, we must carry it. And, yes, this is the cost.