I made that phrase up.  But we were married seven years ago today!  OJ and I wrote vows to each other, said the traditional vows, and wrote a vow to the community…I know, long wedding!  Anyway, we cannot believe how faithful God has been to allow us to live these dreams! Literally, we looked at the words the other day and just were struck.  This is exactly what the Lord has done.

OJ and I were talking about there can be an illusion that “grace” or “anointing” ever substitutes for really hard work.  When we wrote these words, we had very little idea of what we were really getting ourselves into!  Much of these first seven years of marriage were spent in really hard work submitting ourselves to God in our marriage, breaking through in Biblical parenting, and laying a foundation.  There were many moments of…shall we say…REALLY HARD  work.  But the payoff…wow, the payoff.  Jubilee!!    God is so faithful!!!  Thank you, Jesus!!!

Commitment to the Community as One

“Suzanna and I could each give you a testimony of coming to Jesus and finding in Him the treasure that is worth everything.  We have been saved, set free, accepted as the Beloved of the Most High.  Most of you know the commitments we’ve made as individuals to, in the words of Paul, ‘offer our bodies as living sacrifices, holy and acceptable…’  But today, out of two God forges a new thing:  one flesh, individuals no longer.  And so we bring to you the renewed commitment verbalized and declared, personal testimonies become also the testimony of a marriage–from two, one voice.

“This marriage we offer to God as a living sacrifice.  This marriage we commit to Jesus for His use and pleasure.  In unity, we ask for the ministry of Jesus to flow through us, to bind up the wounded, nourish the impoverished, set the captives free.  as one flesh we choose to reject the idols of culture and comfort in favor of the kingdom of God.  We ask of Jesus that He take possession of our home, our marriage, and our children, just as He took possession of our broken souls.

“We commit to you, His beloved church, to live for Him, to seek Him on your behalf, to lean on you for support and love, rejecting independence.  We pray that when you come into our home, instead of finding us in pursuit of vain ambitions, you’ll encounter Jesus with arms open, saying, ‘All who are thirsty, come and drink…’

“We see our frailty, but we rest in the promise of Christ, the guarantee of the Spirit, and the trust that you will offer grace when we fail.”

This is worth your time to watch and listen.  Hope you enjoy!  OJM

I’m taking a break from the Love of Money series for one post because I am so burdened.  This is a little different, a plea from my heart to yours, so please bear with me.

OJ and I don’t watch TV really; we are pretty out of touch.  But last night, OJ was doing his discipleship meeting and I had a ton of folding and dishes to do, so I thought I’d find something.  I looked on a free website that hosts shows and movies and found a show that I’ve heard so many friends celebrate, so I thought I’d check it out.  I read that it was a family show, and the premise sure sounded super fun.

I opened the first one which started with the name “Madonna,” and skipped on to the next one.  The entire plot line surrounded a homosexual high school male who was yearning to draw a (straight) male into his amorous feelings for him.  Within the first five minutes, there had been numerous sexual references, including straightforward propositioning of a married man, an invitation to grab a same-sex partner for a dance, “if that’s the way the good Lord made ya,” and much more.  In FIVE minutes.

FRIENDS, PLEASE, PLEASE PLEASE…this is not an angry letter from a political group or a holier-than-thou sermonette, but please…my heart is breaking…please…what are you doing????  What are you doing???  What are you watching?  Where are you, that you could watch this stuff, and broadcast it as a pleasure, endorsing it publicly???  Do you not know?  Have you not seen?  Are you blind?

When my generation was in high school, the church was battling that we would make it through our teens with our virginity intact.  For most of the church, that battle was lost.  Do you know that for the generation that is now in high school, there is no difference between homo- and heterosexual sex, and it is all available and normal and practiced, often not even in the context of a dating relationship?  Do you understand that the utter destruction of a generation is taking place before our very noses?

The other day a young girl dressed like a man and almost in the j.d. system for violence heard me talking and asked, “What is righteousness?”  PLEASE can you HEAR them???  Asking….”What is righteousness?”  Can there be a greater injustice than to have no concept even that such a thing as righteousness exists?  Can you imagine, not being able to remember having an undefiled mind?  Being innocent?  Can you IMAGINE?  Perhaps you are too numb, because your mind is now so defiled!

Do you not know how such strides of destruction were made against these little ones in such a short amount of time?  The box in your living room!

Friend, please do not mistake my intent!  I am weeping, not superior, in any way!  If you can watch homosexuality among youth celebrated and invited on a screen, if you can welcome it into your home without flinching, if you don’t notice any more when women are half naked and casual sex and adultery and mockery of righteousness are PLOT LINES then I have to tell you, because the world won’t THAT YOU ARE SLEEPING!!!  You may think whatever you like of your spiritual life, but I tell you that the HOLY Spirit is grieved and whether you know it or not, you are hungry, so very, very hungry for His presence, not understanding that you are staving Him off and sending Him away.

Or do you think that the Scripture says in vain, “The Spirit who dwells in us yearns jealously”?  Jas. 4:5

I am astonished.  The world doesn’t astonish me, but friends with whom I have prayed, worshipped, and sought God…this astonishes me.  Please take a moment to be honest about whether you enjoy the Lord’s fellowship throughout your day, about whether when you speak, it carries authority, about whether your prayers are heard.  Please…you do not need to beg God to come near.  He already has but you have sent Him away!

Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord, and that he may send the Christ, who has been appointed for you—even Jesus.  Acts 3:19-20

Please, I beg of you, give your Spirit CPR…take a one month fast from media and replace it with Scripture and see if you can go back.  See if you don’t come alive.  See if you can swallow what is now normal to you without vomiting.  I challenge you to this!!  I don’t know who you are, I don’t keep tabs, or remember names…I just BEG OF YOU to WAKE UP!  I beg of you.

This will encourage you:

A few verses on compromise:

Rom 12: 1-2

1 I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. 2 And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.

Romans 13:12-14 (New King James Version)

12 The night is far spent, the day is at hand. Therefore let us cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armor of light. 13 Let us walk properly, as in the day, not in revelry and drunkenness, not in lewdness and lust, not in strife and envy. 14 But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to fulfill its lusts.

1 Peter 4:1-5

1 Therefore, since Christ suffered for us^[a^] in the flesh, arm yourselves also with the same mind, for he who has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin, 2 that he no longer should live the rest of his time in the flesh for the lusts of men, but for the will of God. 3 For we have spent enough of our past lifetime^[b^] in doing the will of the Gentiles—when we walked in lewdness, lusts, drunkenness, revelries, drinking parties, and abominable idolatries. 4 In regard to these, they think it strange that you do not run with them in the same flood of dissipation, speaking evil of you. 5 They will give an account to Him who is ready to judge the living and the dead.

Gal 5:19-20

19 Now the works of the flesh are evident, which are: adultery,^[c^] fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, 20 idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, 21 envy, murders,^[d^] drunkenness, revelries, and the like; of which I tell you beforehand, just as I also told you in time past, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.

James 4:4-6

4 Adulterers and^[a^] adulteresses! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Whoever therefore wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. 5 Or do you think that the Scripture says in vain, “The Spirit who dwells in us yearns jealously”?
6 But He gives more grace. Therefore He says:

“ God resists the proud,
But gives grace to the humble.”^[b^]

JOhn 7:6-8

Then Jesus said to them, “My time has not yet come, but your time is always ready. 7 The world cannot hate you, but it hates Me because I testify of it that its works are evil. 8 You go up to this feast. I am not yet^[a^] going up to this feast, for My time has not yet fully come.”

Matthew 5:13

“You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt loses its flavor, how shall it be seasoned? It is then good for nothing but to be thrown out and trampled underfoot by men.”

We have been talking about doing an update for so long that the stakes for a really, really good one just kept getting higher and higher. I am going to leave it to Suz to come on in the next few days with one of her brilliant posts. I will just put some of the main things down here.

1. After leaving KC, we visited family and did some ministry in South Carolina.   The Lord opened some doors in new relationships and some future opportunities to bring the restored gospel to my parents church and friends.
2. After about a week in Walterboro, the Lord provided for us to do a short family vacation in Palm Coast, FL! Absolutely wonderful, the kids loved it.

Kids play in sand

3.  After the trip to Florida, we went back to SC, and got to spend some time with my brother’s family.  This was totally GREAT!  The kids had not seen these cousins for 2 years.

Kids and Cousins with Grandpa and Grandma

4.  We left South Carolina and went to Chicago for 10 days.  We helped Suzanna’s parents do multiple projects to help get their house ready to sell and on the market.  It was hard work, but we accomplished a lot.  After the house sells, Suz’s parents are moving down here to KC! HOORAY!!! While in Chicago, we also got chances to see a lot of old friends and minister freedom to them.

5.  We came back here to KC and stayed with Dr. Wendy and Suzy’s sister Amy for over a week before we found a new place to live.  We only planned on staying a few days but it took a while to find the right place and Amy and Wendy were very gracious in allowing us to stay extra long.  The children tried multiple times to wreck everything in the home (not a home well-prepared for 3 McDowell men), but only I actually succeeded in breaking something.  (Wendy, I still owe you a new top for that sauce pan. Sorry!)

6. The Lord led us to a great town home right on the border of Kansas and Missouri.  We live off of State Line Road.  It is a very strategic place to be for us.  We are closer to our church. We are closer to Center High School where Suzanna continues to lead a girl’s discipleship group which has now grown to 6 girls every Friday afternoon. I am still only a few miles away from the men’s discipleship and outreach group that I am leading on Wed nights on the Missouri side.

So we are still not completely moved in and out of boxes yet.  From the time we hit the ground here, we have picked up right where we left off in the lives God has given us to invest in.  Multiple discipleship meetings every week, strategy and prayer meetings over the way forward for Center High School, and we just did a Marriage Freedom Course this past weekend for 12 couples who had attended our prior freedom classes.  The time with these 12 amazing couples was absolutely spectacular.   We are seeing amazing marriage teams raised up in our midst to bring the power of the gospel and of freedom in Christ to the areas of influence that God has given them.

It is such a joy to see reproduction so quickly.  We hear new reports every week of people who have received freedom and ministry doing the same things in their homes.  Taking a friend or group of friends through the freedom book.  Couples sitting down and praying for their friends and relatives and hearing from the Lord powerfully to bring freedom.  Our next freedom course begins on the 23rd and we already have friends of friends of friends registering to come to our next class.

The trip to SC and Chicago was supposed to be a fundraising trip, but for the most part, it ended up being more of a ministry and family trip.  We know that God knows the right people who will be partnered with us long-term and will lead us to come together at the right time.  In the meantime, God has provided for us every step of the way in this journey and transition as many people in the family of God have been led to give us one-time gifts.  We have even had a few people commit to regular giving to this ministry.  Currently, we are at 25% of what would be considered “fully funded” as far as commitments for partnering.  So we do need prayer that God would continue to lead us to the right relationships for those who see the need for freedom, discipleship, and the restored gospel in the church and want to partner with this ministry.

We are so encouraged to be back in Kansas City, doing what we were made to do and actively encouraging the church in being who we all are called to be.  God’s masterpiece, filled up with the hope of glory, Christ himself, our all in all, in whom we live and move and have our being!  A church set apart for the purposes of God, a light set on a hill, boldly living and proclaiming the glorious message of the cross and continuing daily to glory in what Christ has done and accomplished.  Unashamed and filled with joy, living not with our eyes dimmed by the cares and worries of this life, but eyes and hearts set heavenward, gazing on our beautiful, majestic Creator, fully engaged in bringing the kingdom of God to a broken and sinful world.  Not asleep, but awake to the reality that all of eternity stretches out before us and God has given us this vapor of a life to cooperate with His eternal purposes.  What a joy!  What an honor!  Words can not describe the greatness of the God we serve and of the message that we carry inside.

In our last post, we were traveling through the hinterlands on our way to South Carolina, and we posted a list of things we need and things we already have.  Well, take the vacation off the “need” list and onto the “have” list!  Thank you for praying!  Really, God is ridiculously good.  He is also very jealous (Ex. 34:14).  The other day in the car, I prayed, “Father, magnify yourself with my life.”  The kids didn’t know this word and started firing questions.  It was fun, and made me clarify out loud what I meant.  It ended up something like this… “Lord, cause people who are blind because their faith is so small to see God show up big.  Use our lives to do this.”

I believe He’s jealous for this.  Even in little things.  The Bible says “All provision comes from Him…” and He’s been teaching us to bring our needs so under His control that He gets credit for the provision.  This often involves uncomfortable and conspicuous waiting periods and jumping off proverbial cliffs.  We often fail to get the picture, and waste our time.  For instance, we spent hours and hours searching for the right vacation spot, seeking something affordable, etc.  But there were some appointments he had for us in SC, and once those were done, He released the most amazing, affordable sweet opportunity just a few hours away near St. Augustine.  The owners said the people in it had suddenly decided to leave early, opening it up just for us…

So here we are, having a great time.  Note the palm trees and the shining sun…

OK, it's actually a beach towel that's shining...

At the moment, it’s raining…don’t worry…we’ve had a couple days of sunshine and McDowells really can’t handle very much at a time.  I burnt slightly the other day just eating lunch at Chick-fil-a’s outdoor seating.  Mmmm…it was worth it.

Switching topics…who’s the church?  We are.  Here’s us, having “church” on the couch this morning.  OJ was helping the kids while I listened to this sermon with Duncan and Patricia, OJ’s parents.  We sang along with the online worship leader and then discussed his haircut.  D & P were generally of the opinion that all the musicians needed haircuts, and OJ and I countered that we had been studying the issue particularly in this young man’s case for the last few years, and really thought his current choice was a good one.  These are things you can do with the vacationing church, freely and in great love.  Also, you can go to church without showering, as I did.

Pat, Duncan, and Suz

They were with us this weekend, helping us to corral the kiddos on the beach, and being generally awesome, generous, and loving.  And helping us to drink loads of coffee.  We walked about, some even carrying a mug in each hand.  McDowells hate to run out of coffee.  We, in turn, for their generosity and love, ministered to them from the scripture, where Paul says, “we do not cease to pray for you and ask that you would finally realize that it’s about time that you would settle down and just do yardwork.  We pray that contentment in TV watching and bridge clubs would abound, that you, being filled with all Denny’s Breakfast Specials, would prepare yourself for Sunday services by pressing your clothes into great smoothness during the rest of the week.  And may the God of all provision give you a roomy RV, allowing you to roam reasonable distances from home.”  Oops.  Wrong bible.

No, here’s what it actually says

“…we ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding;¹⁰ that you may walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing Him, being fruitful in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God; ¹¹ strengthened with all might, according to His glorious power, for all patience and longsuffering with joy; ¹² giving thanks to the Father who has qualified us to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in the light.”  Col. 1:9b-12

The enemy constantly seeks to disqualify us from our inheritance, using whatever means he can.  Age, gender, marital status, busyness…you name it.  As we pray for people, we find that almost every willing follower of Jesus is attacked by some lie of disqualification, reasons that they cannot be fruitful, increasing in the knowledge of God rather than declining, and strengthened with His power for transformation.  Oftentimes, the enemy uses the voices of those around us to disqualify us.  There’s always a reason the enemy gives not to believe and obey, if not a hundred.  Often these lies revolve around us having failed to qualify ourselves, or even having disqualified ourselves.  Don’t we have very short memories! No man has EVER qualified himself, but through the blood of His Son Jesus Christ the “Father…has qualified us…”  He has done it, and so it cannot be undone, but by unbelief and disobedience.  If we believe the message that he qualifies sinners with His blood, then we have a message to preach, because, we’ve found, sinners are in good supply.  :)

Before Pat and Duncan left, we took a trip to the park.  After lunch, Ariel (our little evangelist) started a conversation with another family.  We all began talking and throwing around their basketball, and before long, OJ had engaged the couple in a conversation about God.  Pat and I engaged the kids, and told them about Jesus’ love while we got ours into the car.  A few minutes later, OJ and Duncan returned to tell us that right there on the basketball court, the couple had prayed to make Jesus their Lord.  We’ll reconnect with them to pray for their marriage this week.

They were so hungry!  There are so many hungry people…they are EVERYWHERE!  For so many years OJ and I have lived under some false perceptions, but we’re so excited to throw them off!  Here, I’ll share them before signing off…

1) “That was revival back then…oh, isn’t revival wonderful…let’s pray for revival…someday there will be revival.”  (The truth is that revival is EVERY day in the Lord)

2) “This is just such hard ground.  The soil is not fertile.”  We became increasingly suspicious when we started to realize that almost all Christians (including ourselves) believed that the soil around them was “hard” and “infertile.”  (The truth is that the ground is ALWAYS hard if you are filled with unbelief.)

Now, there’s some grain of truth in both of these concepts, but the lifeless paradigms that have been built around them desperately need to be torn down.  There’s more to say about our ongoing journey out of these false paradigms, but suffice it to say, we discovered that the problem was with our unbelief, not that of the people around us!  More later!  PRAISE THE LORD FOR TWO SOULS WHO HEARD THE GOSPEL WITH JOY TODAY!!!  Love to you.

Dear Friends,

We survived the great move of 2010.  Actually, we conquered the great move of 2010, halfway.  We’re packed up and stored and on our way South in formation.  The Sienna’s taking on the lonely road with aggression, Dad at the wheel as offensive lineman, Mom making snack passes from the front to the wide receiver (Judah), Ariel in the slot, and Samuel as the chubbiest tight-end receiver ever to toddle onto the field.  Much of the QB’s time is spent trying to get the rookie to sleep.

Go to Sleep Samuel

What do we do with all our energy?

The field, currently, is not worth more than a passing mention.  Illinois in March.  If you’ve never heard about this legendary season…be glad.  Flooded fields, naked trees, brown-green stubble.  Flaaaaaaaaat…  But we’ll find Kentucky soon, and at least our brown-green stubble will be rolling.

He's Driving, I'm Blogging!

We’re headed ultimately for South Carolina, so Grandma and Grandpa McDowell can kiss the grandbabies, and to work on building a network of partners.  There’s a lot to be done.  Here’s what we need:

• A new house back in KC central to ministry purposes
• A name for the ministry, and to register the 501C3
• Monthly Partners
• A location for the next freedom class
• A place to stay for a some family rest and relaxation in the next couple weeks (hopefully in the Sunshine state)

It may seem like an imposing list (especially the house part), but a quick look at what we already have puts it in perspective:

• THE GOSPEL!  Even in the midst of the packing/moving, OJ and I have fun Gospel stories from nearly every day this week.  Makes every day like a wild adventure!  I will share more stories in the next few days, now that there’s time for writing again.
• A full harvest field!  “Lift up your eyes…the harvest is white…”
• AM Radio in Centralia, IL  YES!!! (“Highway to the danger zo-one…”)
• Friends and family who share the vision and can’t wait to go to work with us in KC the day we return!
• Stories of transformation from the last few months, weeks, and even days that are still leaving us shaking our heads…”Did that really happen???”   I’ll share more of these, too…
• Monthly partners and friends who have already given with such passion and joy that we ARE FILLED WITH GRATITUDE AND FAITH, many from just the last few months of ministry!!!  The Lord is pouring out hope and transformation, and people are jumping on board!
• The most beautiful kiddos in the world (except for yours, of course).
• Incredible friends and family that we literally cannot wait to get back to, as much as we love a chance to get away for some rest.

So rejoice with us over what the Lord has done!  We’re gonna dance and sing, hope you are, too.

And pray with us for provision, especially monthly support and a house to move into when we return to KC in a couple weeks.

Love,

Suz for us

P.S.  One of the beautiful young ladies from the high school ministry told me a couple of days ago that she was making plans for college and a lucrative career so that she could support our ministry and others like it.  :)  OH, that’s some sweet fruit.

“Dude, you got witchcraft all over you!”

It was an unconventional way to intro the gospel, but it was true.  I couldn’t leave the store without telling the incredibly talented and forceful young manager a little bit about his reality, about the waste he was headed into, about the salvation Jesus Christ offers…

I have been asking the Lord for “woman at the well” encounters.  We’ve experienced many years of ministering to Christians through prophetic revelation, people who have a grid for watching you close your eyes and ask for revelation, who will wait patiently and hunger for the word of the Lord.  This method doesn’t exactly work on the fly at McDonalds, the park, or the well, for instance.  So we’ve been crying out, “Lord, increase our revelation to be able to speak to the lost…as a sign…”  He’s answering, of course.  The greatest obstacle is really the fear of man.

So I went for it with this guy.  OJ’s helping me to walk in boldness, always about 10 years ahead of the crowd in this.  Anyway, this guy gave me the worst possible response, “What are you talking about?”  But I was already knee deep, so I just blundered ahead, looking at him with the eyes of my heart…

“Have you ever read the Bible?”

“Yeah.”

“You know some of the things that God hates…drinking of blood, sacrificing animals to demons, crazy sexual immorality…?  Those things are direct partnership with the devil (who’s real) and God (who’s real) hates them, because they’re front door invitation to the demonic to come in, hang out, and destroy your life.  Well, whether you’re doing those things yourself, or watching others do it in your movies and music, it’s still witchcraft.”

BINGO.  We were tracking.  “I like that stuff.”

“I know.  You’re numb to it, because you’re so angry.  And you have your reasons.  But do you know what it’s doing to you?”  I jumped out there again, telling him some things he experiences because of the witchcraft in his life.  And then I told him a little of his original design, how God had made him, with incredible drive for excellence and competition.  He was an amazing young man, who will face increasing frustration and bondage and eventually death or find freedom in Jesus Christ. It’s really that simple, and that urgent.

By the end, he was shaking my hand, and asking if I’d come talk to him some more.  That young man has a destiny, and a hallmark card’s not gonna get him there.  The more we cry out for the salvation of this generation, and look at the gospel preaching that was done in the New Testament by Jesus and those He commissioned, the more we reach the conclusion that wimpy gospel preaching and indifference go together.  The more we love these young people, the more forcefully we find ourselves speaking truth.  I think often of George Whitefield preaching to the coal miners with tears flowing down his face.  If the preacher doesn’t recognize or care that the lost are lost, how will they?

The Cross means:

“It is finished.”  Abuse, pain, death, and hell…all of my worst fears, have completely and forever been taken for me by Him, my Lamb, Jesus Christ.  He stepped in and experienced the worst horrors so that every horror can be cast upon Him and off of me.

I am dead to my past, my sin, my selfishness, my debt, my guilt, my anguish, my hopelessness, my despair, my confusion, my shame, my self-hatred, my own efforts, my condemnation, and even the pain and abuse of others.

All of it, all the hell of living in a world that is overseen by the “prince of the power of the air” and the “prince of this age,” is dead to me.

That abuse victim, that neglected child, that rejection, that shame, that orphan  who was identified by failure, inadequacy, and worthlessness, that defiled person who no one wanted, riddled with sorrow and without hope, that person is crucified with Christ.  It is finished.

The Resurrection means:

I am raised with Him in the newness of life.  Immediately, upon believing and confessing, I become…not pretend to become, but actually become, a NEW CREATION.  I become beautiful, able, confident, alive.

I pass immediately into eternity, lifted out of the dirt of this world.  I am given, without earning it, every credential, every attribute of love, all the resources of mercy, unending hope, glory and power, eternal riches, and every resource in Christ.

If yesterday I was a liar, a murderer, and an abuser, in Christ, today, I receive the CHARACTER of Jesus Christ.  I am not a liar, a murderer, or an abuser, I am hidden in Christ, with God, my rags swallowed up by robes of righteousness, finally free to be pure, lovely, real, and fearless.

Through faith I blot out my old identity with the glory of His kindness, mercy, and truth.  If I rejoice in the crucifixion of my worthlessness, I can have value.  If I agree to the crucifixion of my prideful offense, I can have tenderness and trust again.  If I will cooperate with the crucifixion of my fear of man and insecurity, I can REJOICE without constraint RIGHT NOW in the GLORY HE HAS GIVEN ME AS A CHILD OF GOD.  I AM A JOINT HEIR WITH CHRIST OF ALL RIGHTEOUSNESS, no longer a slave to sin, but joyfully and willingly a slave of righteousness!

NOW, TODAY, FOR ALL ETERNITY!

The Gospel means:

That this glory is available at any moment, in any place, at any stage of life, to ANY LIVING PERSON WHO WILL HEAR AND BELIEVE.  It means there is no pain, abuse, or torment to overcome those of us who are in Christ.  We need never hang our heads and wonder what can be done.

The estranged brother in Christ our heart aches for, we can confess to be reconciled even before it manifests because He Himself is our peace, having broken down the middle wall of separation!  The prodigal child, the wayward spouse…the greatest possible pains, we live knowing that in an instant of receptivity, all pain will be more than swallowed up by glory and redemption, every sin forgotten in the bottom of the sea, all restored abundantly!

The moment that we receive we become ambassadors of reconciliation, overflowing with good news…our only pain being those who are slow to hear and believe.  We walk sure-footed among the hungry, desolate, abused, and downtrodden with the news of the King who has ALREADY COME, saying “ONLY BELIEVE, and you will BE SAVED!!!  You can crucify that life of pain and torment on the cross with Jesus and receive a whole new life, if only you will believe!”

This is the Gospel that we preach!  This is the life that we live!  This is why we are filled with joy, even in momentary light afflictions!

¹⁴ But God forbid that I should boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom^[a] the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.  Gal. 6:14

¹⁹ For it pleased the Father that in Him all the fullness should dwell, ²⁰ and by Him to reconcile all things to Himself, by Him, whether things on earth or things in heaven, having made peace through the blood of His cross. ²¹ And you, who once were alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now He has reconciled ²² in the body of His flesh through death, to present you holy, and blameless, and above reproach in His sight— ²³ if indeed you continue in the faith, grounded and steadfast, and are not moved away from the hope of the gospel which you heard, which was preached to every creature under heaven, of which I, Paul, became a minister.  Col 1: 19-23

For those of you looking for the teachings, they are now being posted under the “Teaching” tab up at the top right hand side of the home page!  Sorry for the confusion!

You can get the freedom book from City Central Missions Base here or through the link on the right of the home page, underneath the archives.  When the page opens, you will see several products.  The Freedom book is entitled Freedom Class Manual, and we recommend getting the Freedom Resource Manual, as well.  If you buy them as eBooks, you can get them both for the price of one hard copy.

We love hearing from you!  Thank you for letting us know what God is doing.  We could not be more excited!

Today is a big day for the McDowells. We have become FULLY CONVINCED that Jesus was talking to us when He said, “As the Father has sent Me, I also send you…” Jn. 20:21. After these years of training, we feel the weight of the love for the world that drove Jesus to bring deliverance to those who had NO HOPE. Paul sums it up: “For the love of Christ compels us…that those who live should live no longer for themselves, but for Him who died for them and rose again.” 2 Cor. 5:13-15. But to understand how we got here and what’s different about today, I have to tell you about…

Yesterday.

Three kids and six years ago, when we were married, we printed on our wedding program Isaiah 61, figuring that whatever Jesus was about, we wanted to be about, too. At the time, we were being rocked by His ministry in our own lives, as He set us free, healed our areas of broken-heartedness, and planted His good news in us. We boldly proclaimed to the congregation (to paraphrase): “This is what we’re about! Slap us upside the head if you ever find us doing otherwise!” We meant it. In between then and now, here’s what we’ve been up to:

• Prayer Ministry: This is a poor name for it, but “ministering the gospel of Jesus Christ specifically to an individual’s unique areas of need through prophetic revelation” doesn’t exactly roll off the tongue. Our brains fry when we try to count, but we’ve been privileged to have personal prayer times with several hundreds of people over the last seven years. When the Lord speaks, hearts open, marriages get restored, bondage is destroyed, and the indescribable value of each of His children is made abundantly clear. On one ministry trip, we only had a few minutes to pray for a young Korean woman, but as the Lord showed pictures from her childhood, tears flowed like rivers from her eyes. This young woman had almost never experienced affection in her family, and there was a mighty impact when strangers described to her through a translator her secret pain. We were sent from so far to tell her God saw her, knew her, loved her…and would free her from self-hatred. I can’t forget the older European gentleman who choked when God spoke to his depression and the abusive discipline of his childhood home. He simply believed on Jesus’ power to set him free and was jumping at the end of the prayer time, “I’m free! I’m free!” Like the woman at the well, he ran to tell everybody.
• Evangelism: This has become our burning passion, what we think about day and night! From starting a gospel service for the homeless in downtown Tacoma, to telling kids at the park about Jesus’ love, to sharing with other young moms, to college ministry, to jr. high school ministry…you name it, we like it. I remember one homeless mom who stayed with us with her young son. She listened to what we said with a furrowed brow, taking cigarette breaks outside, and then simply decided to turn her whole life over to Jesus, immediately moving to join a discipleship community. I remember one little crowd of African-American girls who gathered round at the park to hear what God would “say” about them. They were so hungry for a sense of significance, they laughed and jumped up and down when strangers accurately described details about them, and told them that Jesus had great purpose for each of them.
• Discipleship: If evangelism brings new birth, discipleship is the privilege of nurturing the young life into maturity. The folks we’ve discipled over these past years have been lodged so deep into our hearts, we can’t get ‘em out. To have spiritual “kids” who once were practicing witchcraft, suicidal, mutilating themselves, and fornicating, but are now walking in truth, being restored to wholeness, raising godly children, and making more disciples is…well, there just are no words for that kind of joy. We are addicted to discipleship, and feel, looking back, that none of our resources have been better spent than the ones poured into this. We love teaching and training, but that just flows out of our hearts to disciple, to spur others on to fully follow Jesus.
• International Ministry: What is this? Well, just all of the above, done somewhere else. In the past 7 years, we’ve been to six countries, ministered to missionaries from many different nations with teaching, training, and prayer. But that’s just the beginning, because here’s what’s coming…

Tomorrow:

For years, the Lord has been speaking to us about a major move of God among the emerging generation. We see rumblings of this around the country and world, but believe there is something coming never before seen. That’s why we think of everything that’s gone before in our lives as training…we believe that God’s going to bring together all the pieces often fragmented in the church (evangelism, discipleship, restoration of the heart, and prayer) to bring unprecedented wholeness and equipping to a generation marked by unprecedented destruction. Did you know that while in our grandparents generation, 65% were church goers, hearing some form of the gospel, only 3% of eleven year olds today are regular church attenders? American youth are essentially an unreached people group. Witchcraft, perversion, and addiction are normal to this generation, and instead of being the greatest exporter of missions, we are now the greatest exporter of pornography, secular humanism, and materialism. Our nation is now outdoing the unevangelized nations of the world in exploits of wickedness. This sounds dire…because it is.

BUT God is not intimidated. In fact, He’s never been intimidated by sin or brokenness or statistics. On the contrary, we’ve been astonished to learn how tenderly His heart is yearning for all His little ones, His lost sheep, and how little concern He has what for what kind of mire they are in, because the blood of His Son Jesus will wash it all away! We see this generation in the story of the sinful woman in Luke 7, having an extravagant love for the Savior because they will have been forgiven much. But “how then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach unless they are sent? As it is written:
“ How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the gospel of peace,
Who bring glad tidings of good things!” Rom. 10:14-15

Which brings us back to:

Today:

For these past seven years since leaving the army, OJ has operated our small business. His hard work ensured our financial needs were taken care of, so we could obey as God added babies, seminary, travel, and all the ministry described above to the schedule. Until now, just about every bit of ministry we’ve done has been on our time and our dime, which taught us this: there is no such thing as “ours!” It all belongs to Him! During these years split between the marketplace and ministry, we are so glad to have learned things we couldn’t have learned any other way: hard work, perseverance, total marriage teamwork, and sensitivity to the Holy Spirit to ensure all the kids’ needs are abundantly met. But today, it’s become clear that the need is too great, and we simply must devote all our time to ministry, particularly to the emerging generation.

We thought of all sorts of great solutions to allow us to go into full-time ministry and support ourselves, but God did not care for our good ideas. He has essentially shut every one of them down, and we finally realized this is why: “…how shall they preach unless they are sent?” He’s been gently informing us that we are not the only ones who are burdened for this generation and the gospel, that there are many on this team! It took us awhile to get this idea into our heads; sorry for being slow on the uptake!

We are asking you, if you share this desire, to SEND us to this next generation. OJ has already stopped working full-time out of obedience, and there are more requests for prayer and opportunities to teach than we can keep up with. We’re sending this because we know that God is causing some hearts to leap. If what we’re talking about makes your heart skip a beat, then we want to hear from you! This is the whole church’s calling, and we want to stir up everyone to be ready to care for the new converts God will bring in through the MANY preachers He is sending to the field. We love to share the vision, train, and minister for this purpose! In the immediate, we need a team of partners praying for us, encouraging us, and helping to finance this work. Please consider if the Lord would have you SEND us; we’re dying to go!