Category: Status

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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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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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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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Go Further Together Message at Rittman Grace

Mission Day

I had the privilege to go back and share at my home church on Sunday March 10 a missions message on a special “Mission Day.” It’s a special day for all of us to turn our hearts toward the nations, to pray for cross-cultural workers, and to explore our calling to participate in the Great Commission.

Rittman Grace

What a joy it was to share with the good folks at Rittman Grace Brethren Church in Rittman, Ohio!

One of the items we defined in this message was what we mean by missions:

Missions is the task of crossing barriers of language, geography, cultural differences and even prejudice to invite the nations to
become true worshipers of God through Jesus Christ. (From the book Discovering Global Missions.)

It was a joy to share with them, and they recorded the message that is posted below (and here is my Powerpoint) to bless you and encourage you!

Continue reading “Go Further Together Message at Rittman Grace”

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A Good Night in Cleveland

As a lifelong Cleveland pro sports fan, I’ve had more than any other fan’s heartbreak (ESPN did a documentary to prove it!!)

Tonight was unbelievable with a NBA Championship ring ceremony for the Cavs and a World Series game 1 win!

 

#WonForAll ?

A photo posted by Cleveland Cavaliers (@cavs) on

 

It’s happening.

A photo posted by indians (@indians) on

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August Mobilization Update on Coalitions, Mission and more from @MikeJentes

Mobilizing the Church for the Sake of the Least Reached

August 2015

The summer has been full with activity and ministry, too full to even write a newsletter ;-).

In July, I had the privilege to share in the Sunday morning service on Disciple Making & Mission @ Norwalk Grace Brethren Church, in Norwalk, CA. (hear’s therecording and powerpoint) What a neat church family with a heritage of engaging the world!

In late July, I was off to Atlanta for Encompass Family Reunion where it was great to catch up with many of our deployed staff who were back in the USA for home ministries. This time was rich for relationship renewal and even for the connections of future partnerships.

To wrap up that week away, I was in New York City (okay staying in Newark, NJ) at theFlinch Conference with our Grace Brethren Family. The theme on taking RISKs for Jesus was very powerful through messages and testimonies. You should check out some of thevideos of main session talks and audios of the workshops online.

I had the privilege to lead 2 workshops:
1) A Candid Conversation about Bi-Vocational Church Leadership with a whole panel of leaders, and
2) The Great Debate: Missions Vs. Missional with John Ward (handout)

Neither of these workshops got recorded, but I posted my powerpoints at the links above for you.

From a family side, we also sent our oldest daughter, Kayla, off to Grace College.  Here’s a little pic of us at a send off for her the night before she left!

(Thanks Flinch Conference for the selfie stick…we used it in Long Beach too..not just in NYC.)

Coalitions

Over the summer, we made some significant traction with a variety of coalitions:

Chad Educational Coalition:

Partnering with the Chadian church to help start new Christian elementary schools and help their teachers get the training/certification they need to lead those schools. We are looking to raise about $7000 per year to send 5 teachers to the training. Ways to give will be open soon!

Chad Medical Coalition: Partnering with the Chadian church leaders and evangelists and to aid their self-sustaining medical clinics and build a new surgical center where it is really needed. This one is still in development, but hopefully by the end of the year will be moving forward significantly.

St. James Way Coalition
A unique evangelistic opportunity is afforded by thousands of pilgrims walking on the Caminho de Santiago or the St. James Way. In Western Europe, where spiritual conversations are a rarity, this experience is fertile ground for the church to relationally and spiritually connect for evangelism, discipleship and leadership training. The faithful Via Portus Cale ministry in Porto, Portugal has become a strategic dual initiative: along the caminho and in therefugio.
We’ve had two different Teams to walk the St. James Way and to serve pilgrims over this summer. Also we had two interns serving consecutively for one month each.  One of the outstanding young ladies–Mariah Shope–was from our Los Altos Grace Brethren Church. There is much to be learned and prayed for in this ministry as we hope to send 20 international teams over the next 3 years! We are excited that Grace College will be doing a special mission project this fall (with solar panels) and taking teams next year!

Encounter SoCal

A cross-cultural experience in one of the most ethnically diverse geographic regions of the world — Southern California (pic from ChinaTown in LA). This pilot program from August 10-14 was a great success!
The participants had an eye-opening time and four people expressed faith in Christ for the first time through the ministry efforts of the team!  

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, you can make a tax-deductible donation to support my work using the Donate button.

Press on,
Mike–
Mike Jentes

Coordinator of Mobilization Initiatives
Encompass World Partners

 

My E-newsletter Archive:

August 2015 E-newsletter    on Mail Chimp
June 2015 E-newsletter    on Mail Chimp
May 2015 E-newsletter    on Mail Chimp
April 2015 E-newsletter    on Mail Chimp

Read the September 2014 E-newsletter
Read my February 2014 e-newsletter

Read my December 2013 E-Newsletter
Read my August 2013 e-newsletter
Read my June 2013 e-newsletter
Read my May 2013 e-newsletter
Read my April 2013 e-newsletter

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A Great Debate: Missions VS. Missional

For the conference on RISK (FLINCH Conference), my friend and team leader John Ward & I were asked to lead a workshop on how missions and missional relate.

Here is the workshop description:

The new word missional is now everywhere in Christian-ese. The word missions has been around for centuries. These two words often create very different ministry targets. You are invited to a lively debate highlighting the strengths and weaknesses of polarizing missional and missions.

Unfortunately, this session wasn’t recorded, but I have posted the powerpoint for you to see the direction we headed with this workshop. Below is an outline with the major items of discussion:

The first exercise we had the group do was to take 5 minutes and do their best to define the two words: Missional & Missions.

I’d invite you to take a few moments and take a stab too!

 

Here is where John and I landed for our definitions:

Missional:
The Word missional is simply the adjective form of the noun missionary, and like any adjective it is used to modify a noun.*

Missions:
Missions is to move towards or go to those different than us –culturally, socially, ethnically, economically– by crossing over those barriers and sharing the gospel with the compassion and love of Jesus.

 

Another exercise for the group was to ask this question:  Does the church have a mission or does the mission have a church?

We realize it is a “both/and” answer.  Yet thinking about our God being a missional/sending God reframes our orientation to see mission as bigger than merely a “job” of the church, but to see mission as part of the very character of our God.

Along this line, we shared the following quote:

“Our task as His people is to discern what God is doing and join with Him. It is not so much that the church has a mission but that the mission has a church.”

– Alan Hirsch (The Permanent Revolution, p. 148)

 

Don’t we need to be reaching out in my neighborhood before we go to the rest of the globe?

global_localThe tension of Global mission and Local mission is a one that everyone sensitive to the mission of Jesus feels at a gut level.

In China, the country with the most Christians on the planet–87 million– hasn’t really made a dent in the total population of 1.3 BILLION people!** So we are delighted that there is great progress of the Gospel, but there are millions (a billion!) more people to reach!

Even here in the USA where there are approximately 84 million evangelical Christians, a much higher percentage than China, yet we still have 234 million people to reach!** So do we need more disciples, leaders and churches in China and the USA? Absolutely! We need to take serious the opportunity to reach those in our community who don’t know our Jesus yet!

At the same time, we must know about the plight of billions of people outside of the easy reach of the Gospel. Billions of people on our globe don’t have a Bible, Body of Christ or even a Believer in Jesus in their lifepath! We must be informed about this reality!

To close our time we watched the following CONVICTING video–You Should Know:

We hope that sharing this outline of our workshop has been helpful to you!  If you would like to chat with John or myself, please reach out to us via email at the links on our names above!

The Key Articles / Resources shared below were on a worksheet we gave to all the of the participants:
Missions vs Missional Resource Sheet [PDF]

Seed article for this Workshop:
Missions vs. Missional? Why We Really Need Both by Ed Stetzer 
http://www.christianitytoday.com/edstetzer/2013/september/missions-vs-mission.html

Online debate about that article:

http://www.patheos.com/blogs/missionalshift/2013/09/missions-vs-missional-what-ed-stetzer-gets-wrong/

Make sure to check out the video in that article:

Other Resources on the Topic:

Seamless Garment of Christian Mission:  http://www.desiringgod.org/articles/the-seamless-garment-of-christian-mission

Leadership Network article Defining Missional by Alan Hirsch:   http://www.christianitytoday.com/le/2008/fall/17.20.html

Ed Stetzer on why Missional Churches don’t do Global Missions:  http://www.christianitytoday.com/edstetzer/2009/september/five-reasons- missional-churches-dont-do-global-missions.html

*”History of the Missional Church” by Brad Brisco:
http://missionalchurchnetwork.com/history-of-missional-church/

Four Reasons We Should Be Passionate About the Nations by Matt Carter:  http://ow.ly/PUEd5

Institute of International Education. (2014). Open Doors Report on International Educational Exchange. Retrieved from
http://www.iie.org/Research-and-Publications/Open-Doors/Data/International-Students

Video: You Should Know https://vimeo.com/32125879

Joshua Project: Research on Unreached People Groups – http://joshuaproject.net/

**Data via the Joshua Project. Retrieved from http://JoshuaProject.net on July 9, 2015

 

 

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Communicators Communal Learning with special guest @DJChuang

connect&equip-FGBCcommunicators

In my role of Mobilization with Encompass, I’m heavily involved in creating, facilitating and resourcing networks for Great Commission good. On April 22, there was a special event I was able to facilitate with Grace Brethren communications folks who have been getting together for a while now. They asked me to plan the next get together…and so I did.  We called it Connect & Equip for FGBC Communicators.

We had communicators from all over, so we gathered online via GoTo Meeting:

Thankful to connect with other leaders. @graceconnect #FGBC

A photo posted by Scott Feather (@esfeather) on

Our first 45 minutes we did introductions and also shared one tool that we were using to help us in communications in our work.

Thankfully someone wrote them all down… Thanks Steve Koontz!
 Here are the websites that were mentioned.

Doodle.com – schedule meetings
https://www.dollarphotoclub.com
https://www.designcuts.com/
http://unsplash.com – random, free photos once a week
http://www.freepik.com/ – free vectors
https://www.lightstock.com/ – faith-based photos
latergram.me – schedule Instagram
https://attendify.com/ Application builder
http://mobivity.com/ – texting
viviotech.com – webhosting
https://feedly.com blog reader for auto alerts

Email
mailchimp.com
tinyletter.com
constantcontact.com

 djchuang-webby

After this we had a time with church social media guru DJ Chuang. He has been instrumental in my even starting this website! You can find out tons about my fellow Southern Californian online.

DJ took on the topic “Fresh things he has been learning about churches and social media.”  My friend and participant Aaron Scantlen shared some of his notes on our Facebook event page:

I had a great time and got two pages of valuable info. Thanks to everyone for sharing what they are using right now and to DJ Chuang for sharing great stuff with us about the church and social media. I’m sharing with our Pastoral Leadership Team at Winona Lake Grace Brethren Churchtomorrow morning about the highlights of our gathering.

Highlights:
1. Social Media is about People – It’s easy to get caught up in all the new platforms and technology, but we have to remember that it is relational at it’s core. – DJ Chuang

2. Be Authentic – People can tell if you are only on there to “sell” them something or if you actually use the platform regularly. Each platform is different, so use the ones for your church that you know and are using and then use them as intended, or people will ignore you. – Andy Jewett Also, follow your church members and interact with what THEY are posting about rather than always trying to make them see YOUR posts. – DJ Chuang

3. Communication is about Content – We should be giving people content/value, not just telling them information. 90% of what we share and post should be story and adding value and 10% can then be an announcement or sale. We have lots of content already, especially through sermons, that we just need to package and give away. – DJ Chuang

4. Find a Reverse Mentor – Find a someone from the next generation to mentor you in how they are using social media. What platforms are they using, how do they work, and how do they use them with their friends. Don’t do this just one time. Social media is constantly changing. Once you get on the treadmill, you have to keep up. – DJ Chuang

 

Even if you weren’t there live, this rich time was recorded and is available for you to listen or download off my Dropbox at: ConnectEquipCommunicators2015April22    ENJOY!

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September E-newsletter from @MikeJentes

September 2014 E-Newsletter

Meeting in SoCal

Mindi and I meeting with ethnic leaders from SoCal! On Saturday, August 30 we had a little gathering of leaders from Cambodia and Latin America for a little breakfast get together with Jesús Muñoz (our Cambodian brother left before the picture and our Japanese friends were on a retreat!). This gathering may emerge into a network of ethnic leaders who can spur one another on to make disciples and plant churches in the nations of our world!
WHAT’S HAPPENED WITH ME
The Latest Scoop

Sorry it has been a while since I’ve communicated to you via this means.  The past few months have been full, as I’m sure they have for you!

Engagement Stations &
E Talks @FellowSHIFT

At the FellowShift Conference this summer, Encompass sought to do something which would engage people in reaching the nations. We set up stations we called “Engagement Stations” with a variety of different ways to participate. We also created an online version of the Engagment Stations so you can participate right now! Check out all 7 online!

We also shared a variety of short 8 minute or less Engaging Talks which we dubbed
E Talks. These were all videoed and will be available for viewing soon!  I was able to share on Coalitions as well, so stay tuned! If it turned out well, I’ll pass it on and if not, well…you’ll never know! 🙂
Cameroon Leadership Training Coalition

Just yesterday, I talked via Skype with Jason Carmean in Cameroon!  He and his family have been on the ground for one month and are adjusting well.

   I’m excited to be part of a coalition that has committed for 5 years to seeing dozens and dozens of pastoral leaders trained for the more than 45 churches and 30+ church plants in Cameroon.

   Dave Guiles has described this “as the greatest leadership development need the Fellowship of Grace Brethren Churches has seen in several generations.”

One of the ways you can help is by supporting the first modules of Bible training supporting the first modules of Bible training–please consider a gift!

Château

Pray for the Ongoing Ministry of the Château de St. Albain      

Yesterday, September 3, 2014, was declared as a Day of Prayer for the Château by

Joël Rongier, president of Château Association.

Please join in praying and fasting for God to supply the following personnel needs for the Château so that ministries will continue without interruption:

1) A European business manager and coordinator: Pray especially for wisdom and direction for the Château steering committee to find the right people to fit into ministry leadership.

2) An American support couple: To care for the responsibilities of welcoming visitors, preparing and serving meals, maintenance and grounds work.

Our Château Coalition is seeking to publish a coffee-table book (in English, French and German) to celebrate the 50th Anniversary of ministry and funds are needed to get it rolling.

Catalyzing Networks

Over the last few months, I’ve been part of catalyzing two really important networks:

One is around Women in Church Planting. All over the world, women are involved in the church planting endeavor– moms, businesswomen, educators, missionaries, single women, etc.  Many of these ladies don’t have a place to connect with others. Through the leadership of my friends Louise Klawitter and Jessica Robertson, this network has formed a Facebook group that is nurturing this network. It’s a secret group to hide the identities of some of our bravest women who are in closed countries, but if you send a message to Louise, she can get you synced up.
A second network is forming for those who are passionate about Adoption, Orphan & Foster Care.  This budding network, in addition to it’s Facebook Group is holding monthly Skype calls where folks from all over the world can call in and participate.  Find out more on my blog about this group.

 

THANK YOU!

I’d be remiss if I didn’t thank YOU for your prayers and support which are vital to the Lord’s work in our world.  I’m humbled and privileged to serve our King and alongside you!
Thanks so much for your financial gifts to support the work of reaching the least reached! Some of you have remained very diligent even without a lot of info from me! My work continues to be fruitful, so I want to encourage you to continue your pledge or consider a monthly gift!

 

Read the entire September 2014 E-newsletter online 

My E-newsletter Archive:
Read my February 2014 e-newsletter

Read my December 2013 E-Newsletter
Read my August 2013 e-newsletter
Read my June 2013 e-newsletter
Read my May 2013 e-newsletter
Read my April 2013 e-newsletter

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Honor-Shame Conversation in Long Beach!

I’m so excited to learn alongside an expert on Honor-Shame cultures. I find myself interacting with many people from Asia and this conversation will help me understand them and myself much better. I hope you can be there!

Have a conversation with an expert on HonorShame cultures! Jayson Georges is the missiologist-in-residence from Encompass World Partners. He will be here from Atlanta to share some of his latest learning on HonorShame cultures and how we can better sow the Gospel and grow relationships across cultures!
Did you know that there are three major cultural worldview orientations? The one which predominates the Western world is Justice-Guilt, but the Asian world is predominantly Honor-Shame. These orientations are important to undertand as we continue to live in a globalized world. They are really important as we look to live and share the Gospel across the street and around the world! Continue reading “Honor-Shame Conversation in Long Beach!”

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One Day Conference on How Churches are Responding to Immigrants, Refugees and International Students…Join Me!

Last Call…
I want to invite you to a great opportunity coming to Whittier with the premier North American mission network (http://MissioNexus.org). I’m planning to go to this special one day event:

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How are Churches Responding to Immigrants, Refugees & International Students?
June 12 [ 8am – 3:30pm ]
Whittier Area Community Church • 8100 Colima Rd., Whittier, CA 90605
Schedule, Speakers and Free Article online at
http://www.missionexus.org/tour/
Group Advantage for 2 or More
First Registration @ $69 (When you register with our group 3rd Individual or more: $35)
Please let me know ASAP if you going, so I can book us as a group and get your registration for $35 (almost a 50% savings!)
Press on,
Mike

Post by Mike Jentes.
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