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Falling Into Place–A Story of Overcoming

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Nez Perce, Author: Falling Into Place
Nez Perce, Author: Falling Into Place

For someone on the outside looking in, she had it all. Beauty, notoriety, influence, financial security. Millions of people regularly watched her news reports on the national TV show, CBS This Morning. She had won several Emmy Awards for her outstanding work, rubbed shoulders with Presidents, First Ladies, Actors and Musicians and covered human interest stories from wildfires to crimes. However, when her husband of seventeen years unexpectedly asked for a divorce, she was thrown into a deep emotional crisis, questioning her identity and value.

Growing up in poverty in Seattle’s “projects,” as the daughter of a Nez Perce woman and a German and Dutch father, she remembers her parents struggle with alcohol, neglect, hunger, and going without electricity and water. The rare times when she

and her siblings got to go back to Idaho to see their grandparents, were like an oasis for a thirsty traveler. There she experiencedbook-cover unconditional love, plenty to eat, comfy beds, forests to explore and rivers to swim. Another light during dark days was her Aunt Teddy, who deeply cared for her and her siblings. She would shower them with attention, take them on little discursions, and encourage them to memorize words from the Bible, such as the 23rd Psalm. Although the words didn’t make much sense to her at the time, somehow, her current crisis brought them back. She began to meditate on them and find encouragement and strength. As she reflected on her childhood and the seemingly random experiences she had made while covering news stories, she began to see a pattern emerge that showed her that God had always been near. One night while covering the Oscars Awards show in Hollywood, she felt drawn to a church near the auditorium and experienced a profound touch by God, coming to her rescue, blessing her in a powerful way.

By now you might have figured out that I am talking about Mrs. Hattie Kauffman. She has been telling her story in a newly released book entitled “Falling into Place—a Memoir of Overcoming.” During a promotional interview she was asked: “Did you find God or did God find you?” Hattie stated:

“God didn’t have to find me… He knew where I was all the time. He knew that I was a hungry girl, trying to control her world, scrambling to get somewhere and be someone. It was only when I was so broken in spirit that I could no longer even pretend to be in control…that I looked upward. God? Are you real?”

I hope you take the time to read Hattie’s insightful, deeply moving story, but even more importantly that you to realize God is there for you too, right now, waiting for you to respond to his extended hand.

Maverick Flying Car

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Maverick Flying Car
Maverick Flying Car

Steve Saint (Son of Nate Saint) of I-TEC drove the road-legal flying car from Florida to Oshkosh, probably the largest Air-show in the world to exhibit its capabilities. Since then the FAA has also issued the Maverick a S-LSA aircraft airworthiness certificate. I-TEC hopes to be in production by EAA Oshkosh 2011.

As Steve shares in the short video, the Maverick Flying Car was developed to primarily serve humanitarian and mission applications.

For updates on the development of the Maverick, visit here.

Native Messengers for Jesus

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A small group of wonderful German friends have diligently and competently organized an outreach for a Native and First Nations Dance Team to Germany. Not only that, they have raised the funds for the airline tickets for the team of ten members and will also provide all housing, meals and transportation while in Germany.

Their intent is to offer an opportunity for cultural exchange and the sharing of the Good News of God’s kingdom through their beautiful dances, music, and art. From July 16 through August 2, 2010 we (Volkhard & Marianne) are privileged to accompany the team in our home country, with the great hope that our Native friends will be able to reach many Germans with their unique gifts and talents.

The team is made up of “Broken Walls,” a professional Native group, led by Jonathan Maracle (Mohawk) that is well known throughout Canada and the United States. They have performed at many different locations in North America and Europe, such as URBANA, published a number of CD’s, a DVD and won “Aboriginal Peoples Choice Awards for their recordings. Besides Broken Walls, a colorful team of Hoop, Fancy, Traditional, and Shawl Dancers from the Southwestern US, led by Robert Soto, (Lipan Apache) will be part of the team.

They will perform at three large open-air venues to which the organizers expect hundreds of people each, as well as several church services and other venues. You will be able to find updated information about the team at www.indianweek.de For those who might be in the area, we would like to extend our invitation to join us for colorful, exciting performances. If you you know others who might be interested, please forward this information to them.

Indianweek Program, German (PDF, 6.7 MB)

The Father’s Dance

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By Broken Walls, Jonathan Maracle

Broken Walls, formed in 1995 by Jonathan Maracle, base their music on the ancient sounds of the First Nations People of North America. The Father’s Dance, which has been nominated in six categories for the 2008 Aboriginal Peoples Choice Music Awards, is a call to freedom and a message of restoration for the family. Broken Walls combines the musical sounds of rattles, the powwow drum and Mohawk wind flute with contemporary instruments. The CD opens with “Sing to the Mountains,” which was nominated for single of the year. This fast-paced track describes how creation displays our God. The title track declares freedom for all mankind and restoration of dignity, trust and hope. “Surrendered” is a graceful and peaceful instrumental track highlighting the flute. The chorus on “Everything to Me” is especially beautiful and poignant: “You are the hand extended / The calm at the heart of the storm / The voice that calls in the darkness / I know that I am not alone / I see Your face in the stars / I hear Your voice in the silence / I feel Your breath in the wind / You’re everything to me.” For those who like to experience new genres of music, The Father’s Dance is the perfect introduction into Native music. But all listeners can enjoy the spirit in which Broken Walls sings and worships the Lord. —LEIGH DEVORE, Charisma Magazine

Check out Jonathan’s live performance of this song:

Youth With A Mission Documents

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Rider with the cross
Rider with the cross

Who we are

YWAM’s Foundational Values
Youth With A Mission (YWAM) affirms the Bible as the authoritative word of God and, with the Holy Spirit’s inspiration, the absolute reference point for every aspect of life and ministry. Based upon God’s word, who He is, and His initiative of salvation, the following responses are strongly emphasized in YWAM...More

Statement of Faith
Basic affirmation of beliefs

Christian Magna Charta
Affirms basic rights as implicit in the Gospel

Lausanne Covenant
(Not a YWAM Document but one that YWAM is a signatory to). It is a covenant that was formulated during an historic evangelistic congress in 1974. It was signed by Christian leaders from many nations.

 

What is a Mini-Discipleship-Training-School (DTS)?

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A Mini-DTS consists of a 4 week course of interactive lectures, study, small groups and outreach, designed to lay a firm foundation in the students life for a fulfilling and fruitful Christian walk and to help prepare them to become involved in Christian leadership and worldwide missions. It would consist of:

Learning and growing together
Learning and growing together

A culturally sensitive presentation of YWAM values and Discipleship Training School (DTS) teachings, with lecture phase and outreach lasting no longer than 4 weeks for each Mini-DTS. Subjects focused on are:

[Read more…] about What is a Mini-Discipleship-Training-School (DTS)?

Quotes of Note

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Quotes
Relevant

“The greatest moments of Native History lie ahead of us if a great spiritual renewal and wakening should take place. The Native American has been a sleeping giant. He is awakening. The original Americans could become the evangelists who will help win America for Christ! Remember these forgotten people!”
Dr. Billy Graham

“…we see God working in terms of Jewish culture to reach Jews, yet, refusing to impose Jewish customs on Gentiles. Instead non-Jews are to come to God and relate to Him in terms of their own cultural vehicles. We see the Bible endorsing, then, a doctrine we call biblical sociocultural adequacy in which each culture is taken seriously but none advocated exclusively as the only one acceptable to God.”
Dr. Charles Kraft, Anthropology for Christian Witness, Orbis 1996

The next 10 to 20 years will bring Native cultural expressions to the body of Christ that will be a tremendous blessing to many.
Richard Twiss

Biblical Christianity is never found apart from a culture. It is always part of a culture. The Christianity of the New Testament was a part of the Greco-Roman world of the 1st century. There is no such thing as plain Christianity. Christianity always expresses itself through a culture. It is unique in that it can be expressed equally well in any culture.
Grunlan, Stephen A. and Marvin K. Mayers, Cultural Anthropology: A Christian Perspective. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 1988, 244.

“The only way to drive out bad culture is to create good culture. We need to recognize that artistic talent is a gift from the Lord — and that developing those talents is the only way to create good culture.”
C.S. Lewis as quoted at: http://www.breakpoint.org/script4.html

“We know that this nation entered into solemn treaties [with Indian tribes] which have been continuously violated for more than 250 years. It’s a disgrace. It’s an outrage. We must do everything in our power to keep those treaties. Otherwise, the word of the United States government is no good.”
U.S. Senator John McCain, Presidential Candiate

“I have but one passion – it is He, it is He alone. The world is the field and the field is the world; and henceforth that country shall be my home where I can be most used in winning souls for Christ.”
Count Zinsendorf

“Without Christ, not one step; with Him, anywhere!”
David Livingstone

“Wherever you are, be all there. Live to the hilt every situation you believe to be the will of God.”
Jim Elliot, Missionary to the Auca (Waodani)

“Lord, make me a crisis man. Let me not be a mile-post on a single road, but make me a fork that men must turn one way or another in facing Christ in me.”
Jim Elliot

The development of strategies for world evangelization calls for imaginative pioneering methods. Under God, the result will be the rise of churches deeply rooted in Christ and closely related to their culture. Culture must always be tested and judged by Scripture. Because men and women are God’s creatures, some of their culture is rich in beauty and goodness. Because they are fallen, all of it is tainted with sin and some of it is demonic. The gospel does not presuppose the superiority of any culture to another, but evaluates all cultures according to its own criteria of truth and righteousness, and insists on moral absolutes in every culture. Missions have all too frequently exported with the gospel an alien culture and churches have sometimes been in bondage to culture rather than to Scripture. Christ’s evangelists must humbly seek to empty themselves of all but their personal authenticity in order to become the servants of others, and churches must seek to transform and enrich culture, all for the glory of God. (Mark 7:8,9,13; Gen. 4:21,22; I Cor. 9:19-23; Phil. 2:5-7; II Cor. 4:5)
Point 10 of the Lausanne Covenant on EVANGELISM AND CULTURE

“Suffering, if it is accepted together, borne together, is joy.”
Mother Teresa

“Two Rivers” –An example of walking out Reconciliation

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“Two Rivers” documents the true story of a Native American Reconciliation group that began in a couple’s home in Northern Washington State. Within five years many more had joined, and together they launched social and political reconciliation initiatives that changed their community, and race relations across the Northwest.

Two Rivers Movie Trailer