Thanks Be To God For His Indescribable Gift!

“This service that you perform is not only supplying the needs of God’s people but is also overflowing in many expressions of thanks to God. Because of the service by which you have proved yourselves, men will praise God for the obedience that accompanies your confession of the gospel of Christ, and for your generosity in sharing with them and with everyone else. And in their prayers for you their hearts will go out to you, because of the surpassing grace God has given you. Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift!” (2 Corinthians 9:12-15)

Thanks be to God!

What an incredible Special Missions contribution we’ve had this past Sunday, November 18th, 2018! Many brothers and sisters tagged; sold cookies; drove Lyft and Uber; had yard sales; and asked friends, co-workers, and family members to donate to missions! Brothers and sisters also faith-fully pledged, thoughtfully planned, saved, and then sacrificed generously! God also worked in many situations bless-ing disciples with new jobs, raises, bank error refunds, and insurance settlements which all put them in a position give “beyond their ability” (2 Corinthians 8:3) and ensure they were not “hard pressed.” (2 Corinthians 8:13)

Amy and I are so thankful for the church family here in Phoenix! One of our prayer goals for the “Year of Grace,” (2018) is that the Phoenix church would both mature and “excel in this grace of giving.” (2 Corinthians 8:7) Our prayers have been answered! We blew away our Special Missions pledge goal of $43,871, giving $46,332 – or almost 106%! Already, the overflow has helped us with our missions effort in the southwest! We were able to pur-chase Joe Willis’ book Money Is The Answer For Everything for every disciple in Albuquerque as well as Phoenix! In 2018, the disciples in Phoenix have given a total of $158,533.31 to Special Missions that’s almost $20,000 more than last year! To God be the Glory! God has answered our 2018 congregational prayer goal of the church maturing and increasing in its giving this year! (See our 2018 congregational prayer goals at hhttps://phxicc.org/2018prayers)

Thanks Be To God For The Good News Email!

It is so vital that we as a church invest time in reading the Good News Email which reports what is happening in our sister churches throughout the world in our “Soldout Movement.” When we see with our own eyes the miracles, we realize that our missions contributions are “overflowing in many expressions of thanks to God!” (2 Corinthians 9:12) It is touching and deeply encouraging to hear this heart of gratitude when reading about the miracles in Mexico City, Lagos, Kinshasa, throughout Haiti, and even in the recent Operation Eagle plantings of Milwaukee and Columbus! (You can read the latest Good News Email at phxicc.org/goodnews)

We are so grateful that we have seen such “generosity” in our brothers and sisters here, it really shows the “obedience that accompanies your confession of the gospel of Christ!” (2 Corinthians 9:13) We are also grateful to read the good news about the New Zealand Mission team, which our beloved sister, Monica Wilson, is a vibrant part of! She was sent out from Phoenix to Sydney to become a part of this team, which God willing will plant American Samoa – her mother’s homeland! It is so inspiring to read about the impact of Marvel Holder in Milwaukee! God moved through our dear brother powerfully as he had 35 personal guests visiting with him at the inaugural service of the Milwaukee church!

Thanks Be To God For Missionaries

“We always thank God” (1 Thessalonians 1:2) for Teya Robinson and Gerald Taylor being sent on the Columbus Ohio mission team! It was so encouraging to hear about 146 people who attended the Inaugural service for Columbus and to read about how the 28 members of the church in Columbus had 32 personal bible studies! It was also special to speak to Ron Har-ding, who is leading the Atlanta Mission team with his wife Tracy, and hear about how our Phoenician broth-er Brent Madison is rising up to lead powerful-ly! Additionally, our dear sister Brittany Bulerin is do-ing very well leading alongside her new boyfriend Kevin Hetrick in our sister church in Toronto Canada. Cara, Natalie, and Nehemiah are all serving in Los Angeles powerfully, leading ministries, and standing in the gaps left by sacrificial disciples sent out from our flagship church in Los Angeles. It is exciting to see our brothers and sisters from Phoenix literally sent all over the world! We are so thankful to be a part of a movement that really believes in Christ’s dream of evangelizing the nations in this generation!

“We always thank God for all of you, mentioning you in our prayers. We continually remember before our God and Father your work produced by faith, your labor prompted by love, and your endurance inspired by hope in our Lord Jesus Christ.” (1 Thessalonians 1:2-3)

Thanks Be To God For Answered Prayer Goals!

It’s been amazing to see the “work produced by faith” in the teen ministry! With the addition of Gabby Jones and Amy Cano, the teen ministry has officially doubled! We are grateful to be splitting our “Level-Up” Bible talk so that the teen ministry workers and interns can focus on making Fridays impactful and focused events for the teen ministry! God is answering our congregational prayer goal for the teen ministry to grow in number and in maturity! Please continue to pray for the teen ministry as we gear up for an inspiring 2019!

It is so encouraging to see the brothers and sisters laboring in love as they did not stop serving the community as MERCY Ambassadors while also fundraising for missions! Not only did the brothers and sisters give almost 30 pints of blood through September’s Red Cross/MERCY blood drive they also packed 720 emergency food boxes at St. Mary’s Food Bank in November, right before Special Missions Sunday! We “thank God for all of you” and a special thanks to our MERCY Director, Michelle Brown, who has an amazing heart for the poor and needy in our community!

Thanks Be To God For MERCYworldwide!

Incidentally, the Homeless Youth supported by Tumbleweed came to the Food Bank MERCY project and were very impacted by their fellowship with the disciples! Tumbleweed has been so impressed with our ministry and MERCY, they’ve invited us to host Bible talks weekly with them! Also, our monthly MERCY food, clothing, and hygiene drives have been a major support for Phoenix’s homeless youth! God is again answering our 2018 congregational prayer goal for MERCY to have more projects and more impact on the community!

God has helped the Phoenix church to have “labor prompted by love” – and it knows no bounds! Even as we were gearing up for missions we also had the honor of hosting the first “Southwest Campus Retreat” in October in over six years! The brothers and sisters opened their homes to over 80 visiting disciples from nine different campus ministries from LA, Albuquerque, and Las Vegas! The labor was intensive, and a special thanks to our housing coordinator Chris Schultz and to all those disciples who demonstrated maturity in their life and doctrine by hosting and serving the Campus Retreat attendees. This encouraging example of brothers and sisters having the maturity and soundness to host so many is a clear answer to our 2018 congregation prayer goal for us to mature in our life and doctrine!

Thankful Hearts Are Bold Ones!

The year 2019 is slated to be the “Year of Boldness!” Certainly, our ministry needs have “…endurance inspired by hope in our Lord Jesus Christ!” As we walk with God and prepare ourselves for the holidays, let’s make sure they are kept holy, as in “holy days!” We do need rest and time with family and friends during the Thanksgiving and Christmas Holidays. Let us be sure, however, that as we “take a break” from work and the hustle-bustle of life that we do not take a break from our Christianity! Let’s use the extra time to dig deeper into God’s word, into our prayer lives, and to spend some real quality time with our brothers and sisters!

As we walk with our God let us be “overflowing with thankfulness” (Colossians 2:7) and set our hearts and minds to “bear much fruit, showing ourselves to be [Jesus’] disciples!” (John 15:8) We have over 40 days remaining in 2018! The longest recorded conversion in the New Testament book of Acts was three days! That is ample time to meet a friend and make a disciple! I would like to call every one of us to strive to baptize one more person in 2018 with a spirit of gratitude, with prayer and determination – closing out the year “to [our] Father’s glory!”

With You In Christ’s Cause,
We are family…by the amazing grace of God!
JMC