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New Director of Operations for Assist Church Expansion

April 27, 2020 For Immediate Release: 
We are pleased to announce Mike Jentes has joined the staff of Assist Church Expansion as the new Director of Operations. As the catalytic work of Assist in the Charis Fellowship continues to grow, we are glad to have Mike join our team! We believe that his experience and leadership will position him well to serve our team and aid our vision of seeing the Charis Fellowship becoming a movement by 2030.

Mike Jentes – New Director of Operations for Assist CX


Mike has served many roles in the Charis Fellowship including as a Church Planter, Pastor, Mobilizer with Encompass World Partners, Moderator of the SoCal/Arizona District, Coordinator of Church Multiplication Associates, Fellowship Council, Social Concerns Committee and more. His passion for church planting, reaching the lost and discipleship as well as his gifts in leadership and administration make him a great fit for Assist.  

In January of 2020, after serving for 11 years in Long Beach, Mike, his wife Mindi, and their youngest daughter moved to Raleigh, North Carolina. In a new adventure of the Lord’s leading, Dr. Mindi joined Atlas Chiropractic of Raleigh and Mike began project management consulting and now joins the Executive Team of Assist Church Expansion.  

“I’m glad to stay connected to the Charis Fellowship and continue to champion church planting and reaching people for Jesus to expand His Church in this new assignment!” – Mike Jentes

Feel free to reach out to Mike to congratulate him and to talk about possible church plants or the expansion of your ministry at mike@assistcx.org.

See the online announcement at eepurl.com/g1kMgb

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Some Big Changes…

Greetings to you from sunny Long Beach, California. It has been a very busy and intense 6 weeks and I wanted to let you know about some big changes for me and our family.

EncompassBecause of some restructuring at Encompass World Partners, the role that I have served in since 2013 will not have funding after December 31st of this year. I fund raise a portion of my role (and thanks for many of your help with that!), but it’s not enough to sustain the salary/support needs. The mission is fine financially, but a combination of investment income and other special gifts being down this past year meant that projected income was not where it needed to be to sustain the current budget for the coming year, therefore my role and a few other cuts were instituted in October.

For me personally, as you recall, we were seeking to make efforts at church planting here in Long Beach, with Circles of Grace. It has been a joy to engage with a new spiritual family, but unfortunately, this work isn’t financially viable and our part-time support/salary projections will not last to the end of 2019 either.

These two items are enough to have us seeking what the Lord wants but there is more stirring in our family…

Through this fall Katja has recovered from her summertime concussion and is back to no restrictions on computer screens in high school and feeling healthy. In September, she requested to transition out of public school into homeschooling after this semester, for various reasons. In addition, Dr. Mindi ’s chiropractic practice lease is up at the end of December and she hasn’t been able to find another suitable space. Our two boys, Korey (who married Kaelyn in June) and Kevin are both living in Indiana going to Grace College, so they are out of the house. Our oldest daughter, Kayla is in Chiropractic school in Whittier, CA and getting married to Zach Sagester on December 21st. They have been living with us, yet they will need to remain in SoCal for Kayla to graduate with her Doctorate in December of 2020.

As this convergence of scenarios came together, the Lord and our consciences freed us so that we would be seeking to find our next place anywhere in the USA and would seek to leave no stone unturned ~ ministry, missions, secular employment, etc.

We have decided it is time for us to take a huge leap of faith by moving to Raleigh, North Carolina where we will be closer to our children and Mindi’s family.

Just days ago, we received confirmation that Mindi has received her Chiropractic License approval from the state of North Carolina. This was the last hurdle for her to accept a great job offer to be an Associate Doctor at Atlas Chiropractic of Raleigh, NC www.atlaschiroraleigh.com where she will be starting on January 20, 2020.

Our family will be moving cross country the week before, starting January 13 to be to Raleigh on time for her to start her new role (Lord Willing!). Her patients started receiving letters this week about the closing her office in Los Alamitos and our faith journey to NC ( https://briowellness.com/2019/12/a-december-to-remember/ ).

Mindi’s parents and her sister’s family are in Wilmington, NC and we will be glad to be close to them. We are all hustling in these last few weeks before Kayla’s wedding is there on December 21st!

Please pray for Kayla and Zach as they were in a bad car accident in mid November and are still recovering from injuries. This accident was with a City of Long Beach garbage truck and will result in a lawsuit, so we have been unable to share in social media settings about this difficulty. Zach has a significant back injury, is in a back brace is unable to work or drive as of yet. They still need to secure a vehicle, and now housing in January because of our move.

About me, I don’t have a job yet in Raleigh, but have a variety of applications out and some conversations, but nothing is solid yet. Please pray for and with me about the Lord’s leading for the right position.

We have been in SoCal since 2008 and to the left  is a picture of our family on December 27, 2008 compared to the pic in June 22 of this year to see how much our crew has changed!

We hope you will pray for the Lord’s provision for our family and the many choices we have to make in this transition.

A Way to Send a Parting Gift:

If you would like to donate to support the Jentes family in our transition, the Los Altos Grace Church as made a way:

Give Online – select “Church Plant/Circles of Grace” from dropdown box ( https://losaltosgrace.breezechms.com/give/online )

If you feel more comfortable, you are welcome to send/drop off a check to:

“Los Altos Grace Church”
6565 E. Stearns Street
Long Beach, CA 90815
Please designate “Circles Of Grace” on the Memo Line.

How to Reach Out:

My current ministry email’s will be vacated soon, so you I invited you to use the following email going forward:  MissionMikeJentes [at] gmail.com 

My cell # will stay the same so if you have it, keep reaching out that way!

Thank you for your prayers and support for us over the years. We do ask that you continue to pray for us during this transition.

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My first Podcast “From Bob’s Office” on Sports and Faith

What a privilege to be on the @FromBobsOffice Podcast. I talked a little longer than their other guests…but North East Ohio sports history needed a shout out as well as God’s faithfulness in my life and family! Enjoy! #sportsandfaith #FromBobsOffice
#NowPlaying

 

10/15/2019 in today’s “From Bob’s Office” episode we interview our friend Mike Jentes. We start with a quick update about our weekends (–) followed by a late recap of Dodgers/Nationals and some more baseball goings-on (–).

We give a brief insight into the world of uploading podcasts, including Jacob’s frustration with what should have been a much easier and quicker process (–). We spend some time looking back on the football weekend, spending a good amount of time on Packers/Lions and questionable refereeing (–).

Then we have an extended conversation with Mike about his sports background and the highs and lows of growing up as a Cleveland sports fan (–), then dive into his life and faith and all the travels and milestones that got him from his humble beginnings in northeast Ohio to his current status here in Long Beach.

 

You can find this podcast on Spotify and iTunes.

 

 

View this post on Instagram

 

Getting ready to record with @jbaumer42 and @jake_mathes episode 3 of their podcast @frombobsoffice #sportsandfaith

A post shared by Mike Jentes (@mikejentes) on

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October Mobilization with Mike – upcoming ministry, mobilizing churches for missions impact and much, much more!

October 2019 Update

Greetings to you from the air as I fly from the Pacific toward the midwest for some important ministry opportunities.

I have the privilege this week to be a host for the Central African Leaders Pastor Jonas Bavon and Dr. Françios Ngoumape who will be visiting the USA on a fraternal visit to the Charis Churches and leaders here in the USA.

CAR Leaders

(On the Left) In addition to leading his local congregation, Pastor Bavon Jonas was recently elected to serve as Executive Secretary of the 3000+ Charis Alliance (Grace Brethren) churches of the Central African Republic.

(On the Right) Dr. Ngoumape Francois is Dean of the School of Theology in Bangui, and coordinates leadership training among and beyond our four Bible Institutes.  You can see more about the school online here:

 

Here is a brief outline of our tour with 2 special receptions (in bold) where you can meet these leaders!:

Oct 2 in Ashland, OH  Brief Reception at Ashland Grace Church at 8pm
Oct 3 at Ashland University
Oct 4-5 at Marysville, OH and in Columbus area
Oct 6 at Grace Polaris Church during Sunday morning worship services

Oct 6 @  6PM in Delaware, OH for a special reception! Details and to RSVP online here- https://africareceptionOH.splashthat.com 

Oct 7 @  1PM in Winona Lake, IN for a special reception! Details and to RSVP online here- – https://africareceptionIN.splashthat.com

Oct 7-9 attending Central FOCUS Retreat with Charis Fellowship leaders in Northern Indiana

Wow it’s going to be a busy week…and I’d covet your prayers for this trip and the mobilization of many toward cross-cultural impact for the Gospel!

Mobilizing Churches for Missions

I wanted to share a bit of the story of a church I love and get to work with directly in my California ministry scope. You can see a compelling video of how we are working to help churches by clicking on the picture below…

Church feature: Auburn Grace Community Church in Auburn, California
Watch how one church dedicated themselves not only to be a sending church but an equipping church. Together with Encompass, Auburn Grace Church educated their missions committee to be a proactive team that supports missionaries and shares God’s love for the nations with their church body.

As you learn about Auburn Grace’s approach, ask yourself: How can my church better engage with our global movement? Learn more about The Path Series’ “Mobilizing the Mobilizers” at PathSeries.com.

Circles of Grace


Our church plant had a neat morning this past Sunday!  We finished the book of Acts and so we took last week to think and pray about what the Lord has put our hearts about our church family… what we are doing well and where we could grow.

We were trying to sense what the Lord has for our next chapter.  There was some really great feedback and we sense that the Lord has us in a good spot and we love eating together!

We’ve been meeting in the public park regularly on Sundays centered around Jesus and His Word. And the Lord is pushing us out and deeper in this next chapter!

Keep praying for us to sow the Gospel, make disciples and enlarge our circles! Circles Of GraceWe also need financial supporters for our effort and you can see how to contribute online at CirclesGrace.com (where you can also track with what we are doing together!)

Read the rest of this newsletter online here

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September 2019 Update – Mobilizing the Church for the Sake of the Least Reached

September 2019 Update

graduationLet’s start this update with info about our family as this year is a crazy one for the Jentes Haus.

On June 22, our son Korey got married to his high school sweetheart Kaelyn! We had a wonderful celebration and I was honored that they asked me to officiate the service (in the picture you’ll see our longtime adopted family member Heike who flew in from Germany!). After their wedding and honeymoon they drove cross country back to Indiana as they work on finishing up at Grace College.

Speaking of weddings, our daughter Kayla and her fiancé Zach are up next on December 21st! Last week, Kayla also reached an important milestone at her “White Coat Ceremony” where she was donned the honor and responsibility of practicing medical care! She is now doing her clerkship (or residency) and working with doctors and caring for patients in her chiropractic studies!

Our son Kevin started his first year at Grace College last month. He is having a blast having conversations with many people, living away from home and learning a bunch. We are proud and hope we will hear a little bit of news from him :-).

Our youngest, Katja completed her tour over the summer with a Drum and Bugle Corp called Blue Devils. She unfortunately got a concussion at the end of the season and has been on limitations with her school studies and her high school color guard. Please be praying that she will fully heal and be able to be healthy for the challenges of school and life.

Whew it is crazy in our world…and so thanks for praying for our kids (and new ones coming into the family!), and for my amazing wife, Dr. Mindi, who is still running her own Chiropractic office in this zaniness!

Circles of Grace


As if we didn’t have enough, early this year we were sent out to plant a new church!  We’ve been plugging along connecting with people and seeking to live our our faith in our new church expression. We’ve been meeting in the public park regularly on Sundays centered around Jesus and His Word.

Keep praying for us to sow the Gospel, make disciples and enlarge our circles! Circles Of GraceWe also need financial supporters for our effort and you can see how to contribute online at CirclesGrace.com (where you can also track with what we are doing together!)

You can see the rest of this email update online

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Discovering Jesus: A Retrospective from those who walked with him

So we’ve been trying to figure out ways to connect people with Jesus (whether a seeker or curious or already believing), His Word and our new faith community – Circles Of Grace! Tonight we did a Discovering Jesus event where we used the “artist motif” of a “retrospective” to string together 9 “portraits” of Jesus throughout his life in our “Art/Story Gallery.”   It was creative and insightful!

The definition for a retrospective is:

“an exhibition or compilation showing the development of the work of a particular artist over a period of time.”

Discovering Jesus -Powerpoint with explanations and setting the table for people to engage with Jesus (PDF)

So we took 9 chronological vignettes from the writings about Jesus of Matthew, Mark, Luke & John and read them together and made some comments. We called them “Portraits of Jesus.”

We actually photocopied the pages out of a Bible so that everyone had the same words.  Below you can see the packet we put together with all the 9 stories/portraits:

DiscoveringJesus-2019-07 Packet of 9 portraits

Here is the list of the 9 portraits we picked as well:

1) Birth – Matthew 1:18-25
2) Baptism – Matthew 3:13-17
3) Teaching – Mark 4:21-25 & 30-34
4) Healing – Mark 5:21-43
5) Transfiguration – Mark 9:2-10
6) Teaching – Mark 9:33-37
7) Murdered – Matthew 27:1-66
8) Resurrection & Appearances – John 20:1-31 (Matt. 28:1-15)
9) Ascension – Acts 1:1-10

I know that the Word has the power…and we saw Jesus in a powerful way tonight through His Word. I trust that some of this might help you as you seek to help connect people to Jesus, His Word and your faith community!

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June Update – Mobilizing the Church for the Sake of the Least Reached

Mobilizing the Church for the Sake of the Least Reached

June 2019 Update

graduation
Let’s start this update with info about our family as this year is a crazy one for the Jentes Haus.

Last week, our son Kevin graduated with honors from Los Alamitos High School! We are proud of him achieving this milestone. Over the summer he will be working with a STEM Day Camp and in the fall he will head out to Indiana to attend Grace College.

Speaking of school, our oldest daughter Kayla is still plugging away at her doctorate in Chiropractic and planning her December wedding!

Speaking of weddings, in just a few days, our oldest son Korey will be getting married to his high school sweetheart Kaelyn! We are delighted for this upcoming celebration and I was honored that they asked me to officiate the service. It will be a SoCal wedding and then they will head this fall back to Indiana as they work on finishing up at Grace College.

Our youngest, Katja completed her school year last week, and earlier this year was selected to be part of a Summer Drum and Bugle Corp called Blue Devils. She has already begun rehearsals and will be heading to the Bay Area for more training and a summer tour!

Whew it is crazy in our world…and so thanks for praying for our kids, and for my amazing wife, Dr. Mindi, who is still running her own Chiropractic office in this zaniness!

Church Planting

Easter Morning CircleAs if we didn’t have enough this year, in February we were sent out to plant a new church!  Over the last few months, we’ve been plugging along connecting with people and seeking to live our our faith in our new church expression. We envisioned meeting in the park regularly, but weather has been dicey and we’ve moved a bunch of Sundays to our home. The picture here is from our Easter Sunday Morning Sunrise Service which was a special time with our core community and some visitors.

Keep praying for us to sow the Gospel, make disciples and enlarge our circles! We also need financial supporters for our effort and you can see how to contribute online atLosAltosGrace.org/plant  (where you can also track with what we are doing together!)

Encompass Mobilization Team Retreat

mob teamAtlanta, Georgia: In early May, our Mobilization Team got together for our annual planning retreat to reflect and prioritize our work for the coming year. This year our team made great strides in connecting people and churches to going and engaging the least-reached. We rejoice in what the Lord allows our humble team to do to push the Great Commission forward! [We also had fun getting out of an Egyptian Escape Room :-), see the pic! ]

Internships to Impact the Nations

One of the highlights for our mobilization team for last year was seeing nearly 2 dozen interns deployed around our world to have significant cross-cultural ministry experience. When God calls you to go, He’s not calling you to go alone. Maybe you could take your next step toward the nations with an internship…or share the opportunities with another globally interested friend! Find out more about our Encompass Internships online

Resources You Should Know About

Missions Recordings

March in Wooster, Ohio: Connect & Equip was a missions conference which I had the privilege to help coordinate. There were many great things, but the two main session messages were outstanding and worth your time to listen to!”When Safety is Satanic: Mark 8:31-35” by Matthew Ellison

“Destiny Disrupter: God has always been disrupting lives” by Dave Guiles

Click the titles above and download these audio files (MP3s) right now, listen and be challenged…and share them with others!

Discerning Your Calling

Late last year, I had the opportunity to meet a young California couple who were seeking to go to a least-reached country in Asia. I was encouraged as they shared their story of God’s calling!

Recently, Encompass World Partners interviewed them for an article and I thought I would share an intro here: “Manuel had been interested in missions ever since he was a kid, but his wife, Rochelle, didn’t share his interest until this past year. Was this new curiosity God’s leading? And if so, where was he calling them?

Two books have been instrumental in the process of pursuing God’s call. The first is the Bible, to which the Olivas family turns daily for God’s wisdom. The second isDiscerning Your Calling by John Ward. Manuel says this book would help “anyone who is looking to serve in any capacity, whether locally or internationally. This is an excellent book that guides you step by step in discovering your specific calling to missions, and is a must read as soon as you start to feel the call to ministry.”
… read the rest online

Encounter SoCal

A cross-cultural immersion experience in one of the most ethnically diverse geographic regions of the country – Southern California: If you want to come see my world and the great mission opportunities that are available in a short-term mission trip, check out Encounter SoCal online, shoot me an email and we can talk about it for the coming year!

Donate nowThanks for your support!

I wanted to thank you for your prayers, they make all the difference! Also, if you want to continue to mobilize the church for the sake of the least reached with Encompass, you can make a tax-deductible donation to support my work using the Donate button.  Or you can mail a check with my name designated to “Encompass World Partners” PO Box 3298  Monument, CO 80132-3290

Press on,
Mike–
Mike Jentes

Coordinator of Mobilization Initiatives
Encompass World Partners
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Growing Daily in Your Relationship with God… Free Classic Book

Today I came across a free download of the letters captured in the book:

THE PRACTICE OF THE PRESENCE OF GOD: THE BEST RULE OF A HOLY LIFE
Conversations and Letters of Brother Lawrence

One of the things I seek in my own life and champion to others is the life of living WITH God. Not under Him, not over Him, not just from Him or for Him, but living our lives WITH God.

Now Brother Lawrence was from a more high-church tradition more than four centuries ago (yep in the 1600s!) but his letters and conversations have been captured for us.  At a variety of points over the decades of my walk with God, they have resurfaced for me to re-read and be challenged. They are a sample, a model even of living out a life WITH God…being in His presence.

So today again, God broke into my life and re-surfaced the stories and conversations of Brother Lawrence. I thought I would share them with you! As an example of some of the nuggets, here is one quote from Brother Lawrence in his 5th letter:

There is not in the world a kind of life more sweet and delightful, than that of a continual conversation with GOD: those only can comprehend it who practice and experience it; yet I do not advise you to do it from that motive; it is not pleasure which we ought to seek in this exercise; but let us do it from a principle of love, and because GOD would have us.

So I post here this free PDF of only 22 pages to engage with someone from a bygone era who might have much to teach us about living with God everyday.

THE PRACTICE OF THE PRESENCE OF GOD
THE BEST RULE OF A HOLY LIFE
Conversations and Letters of Brother Lawrence

Thanks to PathsOfLove.com for posting and sharing!

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Worship God–His Transcendence & Imminence in Two Verses

For our time of worship and in the Word on Sunday, we spent time in these couple of verses in Jude (vs. 24-25). They are from the conclusion of an itty-bitty book at the end of the New Testament (think “intro to Revelation” haha).

As we talked about these couple of verses, we were able to see GOD’s TRANSCENDENCE ( Big-ness, Over-all-ness, Superiority, etc.) and HIS IMMINENCE (Close-ness, Personal-ness, Near-ness etc.). You can see BOTH in this expression, and it’s a beautiful balance of truth!

We honored our God through His Word…and I invite you to contemplate this Scripture and our God for yourself:

“To him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you before his glorious presence without fault and with great joy— to the only God our Savior be glory, majesty, power and authority, through Jesus Christ our Lord, before all ages, now and forevermore! Amen.”
‭‭Jude‬ ‭1:24-25‬ ‭NIV‬‬
https://www.bible.com/111/jud.1.24-25.niv

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Your Invitation: Sunrise Service for Easter Sunday!

On Easter morning, April 21st  at 6:00AM, we will have a Sunrise Service in Signal Hill near Hilltop Park! We will bring some coffee to keep you warm, but you should bring your coat & a chair so you have a place to sit! So we can see the sunrise (praying for no marine layer!), we will meet on the South side of Skyline Drive just east of Dawson Street around the Oil Well Workers statue. Map of our Location 2448 Skyline Dr. Signal Hill, CA 90755 To honor our own Denny, we will follow our time with an Easter breakfast at Denny’s at 2860 N Bellflower Blvd. Long Beach, CA 90815 (Dutch treat for breakfast). We would be delighted to have you celebrate our Risen Son at the rising sun on Resurrection Sunday!
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Passion Week … Participate in it This Year!

I love Jesus and His PASSION for me and the whole world!  On the special week of His death on the cross and resurrection, which has been dubbed the “Passion Week,” I love to have some outline/Biblical readings for each day and participate in the week that way.

To help myself (and you), I’ve created a whole section of Passion Week readings… this year focused on the Gospel of Mark.  

Yesterday, as we celebrated Palm Sunday, I was again gripped by the way that this was probably the only moment in all of Jesus’ earthly life where He got what He deserved! The praise and worship of the people He created and loved –even to death!

I’m looking forward to participating in this Passion Week through the Gospel of Mark. I hope you’ll join me!

 

 

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A Peek into Peter’s Important Vision

As our church plant continues to plug away in the amazing book of Acts, after the murdering of Stephen the story explodes in many directions.  Persecution is breaking out on the emerging church.  The author of Acts follows three key people and corresponding movements of the Gospel:

1) Philip (Acts 8) who shares the Good News about Jesus the Messiah with a leader from Ethiopia who carries the news to Northern Africa.

2)Then Saul who is met on the road by Jesus in Acts 9, who goes from killer to convert to chosen instrument to take the Good News to all the non-Jewish nations (and later becomes the Apostle Paul).

3) Then Peter (Acts 9:32 – chapter 10) who was part of the inner circle with Jesus, and has already created a stir in Jerusalem with his healings, prison escapes and preaching. We honed in on Peter as that is our spot is in the story.

Peter had followed God devoutly all his life in all the Jewish traditions, and over the time of Jesus’ ministry had followed Him with devotion as well.  Peter was a leader in the burgeoning church and understood that Jesus was His Messiah…and the Messiah for the entire Jewish Nation.

Continue reading “A Peek into Peter’s Important Vision”

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Praying Psalm 23–Soul Training

With a team of leaders from Los Altos Grace, I’ve been reading The Good and Beautiful God: Falling in Love with the God Jesus Knows by James Bryan Smith. It has been a delightful read–confirming many things and challenging many more.

One of the things I’ve enjoyed the most is that he talks about “Soul Training” — or exercises to grow the spiritual aspect of our lives. Often in Christian circles these are called “spiritual disciplines,” but maybe because of my love of sports I like “soul training” much better.

One of the Soul-Training exercises is “Praying Psalm 23” which followed an excellent chapter on the generosity of God.  I’ll share Smith’s exercise as we are seeking to do it this week as a church family as well:

Psalm 23 is a beautiful expression of the kingdom of God, in which God is with us, caring and providing for us, and blessing us, even in trying circumstances. The God of Psalm 23 is generous. Because of God’s gracious provision, protection and care, we lack nothing. God invites us to rest, to be refreshed and to be restored. God leads and guides us, even in our most painful situations. And because God is with us, we can live without fear. God even prepares a “table” for us in the presence of those who would harm us. God not only provides what we need, he gives us more than we need—our cup is overflowing. When we walk with God as our Shepherd, we see our entire life—even our trials and suffering—as goodness and mercy. This psalm is read at nearly every Christian funeral because it provides comfort, especially the verse about walking in the valley of death and not being afraid. But this psalm is not primarily for funerals but for everyday life. As you go about your week, carry this psalm with you and recite it as often as you can:

The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want.
He makes me lie down in green pastures;
He leads me beside still waters;
He restores my soul.

He leads me in right paths For his name’s sake.

Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I fear no evil;
For you are with me;
Your rod and your staff— They comfort me.

You prepare a table before me In the presence of my enemies;
You anoint my head with oil;
My cup overflows.

Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me
All the days of my life,
And I shall dwell in the house of the Lord My whole life long. (Psalm 23)

Try to recite this psalm before you fall asleep each night, and again when you awake. Before your feet hit the ground, try to have slowly meditated on each word. Recite it so often this week that it becomes second nature to you, as natural as breathing. You will notice yourself beginning to pray it at odd times.

An excerpt from: The Good and Beautiful God
by James Bryan Smith (Pages 90 & 91)

 

 

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What do you mean by “spiritual family”?

I was just asked a good question, and thought I’d re-post my answer here:
What do you mean by “spiritual family”?
 
Here was my reply:
The primary metaphor for church in the New Testament is FAMILY— not hospital, not army, not organization and not school. So often we will refer to the emerging of a new local church as a “spiritual family.” Not a physical family, but the new brother & sisters who are spiritually joining together to follow Jesus.

Jesus actually uses this kind of language about his new “spiritual family” in Matthew 12:46-50:

While Jesus was still talking to the crowd, his mother and brothers stood outside, wanting to speak to him.  Someone told him, “Your mother and brothers are standing outside, wanting to speak to you.”
 
He replied to him, “Who is my mother, and who are my brothers?” Pointing to his disciples, he said, “Here are my mother and my brothers. For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother.”
 
A few Bible verses which use this language about the church in the New Testament:
“Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers.” (Galatians 6:10 NIV)
 
“Show proper respect to everyone, love the family of believers, fear God, honor the emperor.” (1 Peter 2:17 NIV)
 
“And in fact, you do love all of God’s family throughout Macedonia. Yet we urge you, brothers and sisters, to do so more and more.” (1 Thessalonians 4:10 NIV) 
 
“In bringing many sons and daughters to glory, it was fitting that God, for whom and through whom everything exists, should make the pioneer of their salvation perfect through what he suffered. Both the one who makes people holy and those who are made holy are of the same family. So Jesus is not ashamed to call them brothers and sisters. He says,
“I will declare your name to my brothers and sisters;
in the assembly I will sing your praises.”(Hebrews 2:10-12 NIV)
 
Hopefully that helps if you had the same question!