Tag Archives: ministry

When I was in Prison You Visited Me…

I’m headed to prison this morning.

Don’t worry. I think they’ll let me out by lunch time. Today is the opening ceremony for the newest (and 2nd) class of prisoners to start their seminary degree in Christian ministry with New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary. I’ve been invited to attend.

I’m giddy with excitement. Pray for this new class of men that will be launching into uncharted territory in their lives.Pray for me as I head back next week. I’ve been asked to teach them how writing can be a ministry. So next Thursday, I’ll be heading back to prison – with a happy heart.

Today, I am also posting at The Internet Cafe. It’s something you’ve read before, but I beg you to go visit it again. This need has not yet been filled. Click HEREto hop over to the Cafe and read.

I’m sorry I haven’t been around much lately, but God has certainly been working in my life. Would you pray today to ask how you can live out Matthew 25:40 in your life?

Whatever you did for the least of these brother and sisters of mine, you did for me. Matthew 25:40

Carol

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How Do You Know if God is Calling You to Ministry?



He told me to ignore the call of God, and it was the best advice I ever received.

I was sixteen. God had been working on me. Not like cleaning out a few cobwebs kind of work. He was knocking down walls and rearranging the basic structure of things. I knew, well I thought I knew, that He was calling me to some type of ministry.

I pictured myself in the Amazon rainforest passing out tracts and cold chills went up my spine. Each intake of breath felt heavy, like I couldn’t get enough air. How do you know?

How do you know when God is calling you to a deeper place with Him? How do you know if God is asking you to be in ministry? Or even more daunting – missions? Just the word brought to mind the tiny black and white photos of the missionaries in the back of the Open Windows devotionals we used to read at the breakfast table.

I took my shaky questions to someone I knew would have the answers. Someone wise in the ways of the Lord – my grandfather.

My Pop, as we called him, was a preacher. He retired after 50 years in the ministry, but couldn’t stay away and was doing interim pastoral work to supplement the time he spent in his garden.

Sure no one else was around, I dropped my big question and waited. “Pop, how do you know when God is calling you into the ministry?”

His hands stilled on the mail in his lap as he turned to look at me. “Ignore it.”

I’m sure my mouth hung open because those were not the words I was expecting to come out of Pop’s mouth. “Ignore…God?” I didn’t understand.

“Ignore the calling. The best way to know if God is really calling you is to ignore it. If He does really have a calling on your life, He won’t leave you alone. There will come a point where it will be obvious. You won’t question it anymore, and you’ll know with confidence God’s plan for you.”

I let that sink in a minute, the velour sticking to the backs of my sweaty legs, and took a deep breath. I didn’t have to worry about it. The ministry train wasn’t going to pass by if I was unsure about whether or not to get on board. God would make it obvious.

And guess what? He did.

Perhaps you’ve heard God whisper. And you’ve wondered. Wondered if He’s really speaking to you. Is He calling you to some kind of ministry or the mission field? Is He asking you to open your heart to adoption?

I offer the advice of a wise old preacher and tell you, “Ignore it. Just for a time, because if God’s really trying to get your attention, He will. Trust me.”

The LORD came and stood there, calling as at the other times, “Samuel! Samuel!” Then Samuel said, “Speak, for your servant is listening.” 1 Samuel 3:10 NIV

****Today is the day!! Today is the release of the Guideposts book I co-authored. If you received this by email, click on the link to my site. Look in the upper right-hand corner. If you are interested, you can order from there. :)

Carol

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Praise and Paraphrase – Author Interview


From time to time, I like to share people and books with you that I think you’ll enjoy. This is one such occasion.

I’d like to introduce you to a sweet woman of God I met at the Glorieta Christian Writer’s Conference several years ago. Her name is Pamela Sonnenmoser, and she has a newly released book out called Praise & Paraphrase. Here is a little interview to help you get to know Pamela a little more.

PAMELA SONNENMOSER, AUTHOR OF PRAISE & PARAPHRASE

Tell us a little about your background and how you got into the ministry.


“My parents were evangelists and from the time I was a little girl, I thought I wanted to go into some kind of ministry. As I grew up, dreams of reaching people for God took a back seat to reaching for happiness and peace in everything the world had to offer. For six years I wondered in the wilderness of worldly pleasure. When I finally came back to the Lord, I thought he would never be able to use me because I had done too many horrible things. In 1996 God spoke to my heart in such a way that I knew He wanted me to surrender that prideful thinking and submit to His calling on my life. I finally realized it didn’t matter what I’d done before. It only mattered that I gave my life completely to the Lord.”

What was your inspiration for Praise & Paraphrase?


“I have always loved object lessons. I think having parents in ministry helped me to find examples of God’s truth in things we see every day. It seems like no matter what I am doing, the Lord uses the normal things in my life to show me what He is trying to teach me. When I speak, I use a lot of these stories and object lessons. People kept asking me to repeat the stories, so I decided to make them into devotionals. Eventually, Praise & Paraphrase was born.”

What new lessons is the Lord teaching you right now?


“Every day there are new lessons, just like every day there are new mercies. Right now I feel like the Lord is really teaching me what it means to be fully consecrated to Him. I mean, more than committed, more than surrendered, and not just saying we are His, but living that out every moment of every day.”

Now that Praise & Paraphrase is out in bookstores, do you have any projects that you’re currently working on?


“It seems like I am always working on something new. I love it. Right now I am excited about the release of Pamela’s Healthy Pantry at the beginning of March; but this summer the book that is closest to my heart is being released by Beacon Hill. It’s called Beside the Empty Cradle. It’s such a personal book for me, because it’s our story of battling with infertility and the process to becoming content with God’s plan for our lives, even when it wasn’t our plan.”

God is really moving in both areas of your ministry (speaking and writing) – what projects do you have on the horizon?


“It seems like there is always something new going on. God is really opening doors for the speaking ministry right now, and I am working on two more book projects this year. More than anything, projects that I say yes to have to line up with what God is speaking into my life. I love to do a lot of different things, so I am sometimes too willing to say yes, ahead of listening for God’s direction. I used to try to plan the next thing before the current projects were even half finished. I don’t do that anymore. There are a few things I am praying about right now, but until God says, ‘Go,’ I am finishing the current stuff and speaking around the country as He provides opportunities.”

When you’re not speaking and writing, what are you doing?


“I enjoy doing so many things, my favorite way to spend down time in the summertime is with my husband, John, on our boat in the Missouri, River. I am also blessed to have amazing, godly girlfriends in my life, and I love spending time with them. It’s always fun to find things we can do together that might be encouragement, support or help to someone else.”

Where can readers find your book?


“Praise & Paraphrase can be ordered directly from me at www.freshcupministries.com or on Amazon, and from your local bookstores.”

Please share an excerpt from Praise & Paraphrase.


Baked Potatoes


All discipline for the moment seems not to be joyful, but sorrowful; yet to those who have been trained by it, afterwards it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness.- Hebrews 12:11

I love baked potatoes. Not nuked potatoes, but baked in the oven at 350 degrees, for an hour – BAKED potatoes. If you only bake them for 10 minutes they will still be hard. The potato cannot yield to the heat of the oven in just a few minutes. It needs the full baking time to be perfectly done – crispy skin, fluffy on the inside.

Sometimes as Christians we don’t want to stay in the heat very long. We want God to perfect our faith with a microwave instead of the fire. But there is something different about a Christian that tries to take a short cut around the fire. Just like those microwaved potatoes aren’t the same as a REAL baked potato.

What I really love is a great twice-baked potato. To be twice baked the potato spends an hour in the heat, then it is taken out, cut open, its insides are scraped out and crushed. Good things are added to it and finally everything is put back into the shell. That potato has to go back into the oven at that point; back into the heat. Finally it is perfected and ready to serve.

I want to be like a twice-baked potato; perfected by the process God requires, having all of myself removed and having the extra things that come from the Holy Spirit added. I want to be yielded by His refining fire again and again. I long to be ready to serve the glory of God.

Thanks, Pamela! Friends, you have a chance to win a copy of the book over at Pamela’s blog. Visit Fresh Cup Ministries to find out how to enter. I’m definitely looking forward to getting the book and reading more!

Carol

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Just the Beginning – continued


And now, for the rest of the story…

(From Friday) – The car slowed in front of me with its blinker on, but quickly sped past after surveying the situation. One look, and I understood why. The armed guards blocking the road were enough to frighten even the innocent. But they didn’t scare me. Nothing could have kept me away that day.


I turned my vehicle towards the guards to explain my arrival. They let me pass only to be stopped by a second group of armed guards in menacing black uniforms. I glanced upward and saw eyes following me from the overhead tower. My eyebrows rose as I took in the amount of guns in that one parking lot. After I was directed to a parking spot, I searched for my drivers’ license and hopped out of the van. I couldn’t hide my smile…


It was graduation day at the prison. Twenty-eight men were about to make history. Twenty-eight convicted felons were on the verge of receiving their associates’ degree in Christian ministry from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary. This was the first graduation for the Phillips Extension Center of the seminary.

Kevin, who entered the Georgia prison system at 18, quoted Burl Cain, the warden at Angola State prison. “Educate a prisoner, you get a smart prisoner. Lead a prisoner to God, you get a changed man.” I watched as 28 changed men filed in the prison’s gymnasium with cap and gowns. Those gowns covered their blue and white STATE PRISONER jumpsuits; it was a dichotomy.

As Brian neared the stage to speak, he caught his foot and stumbled up the stairs. There was an audible gasp in the room. He righted himself and grinned. “I bet you won’t forget that entrance,” he gushed. Then he got serious, “I hope you don’t. You see, that fall represents my life. I stumbled, but God reached out His hand and pulled me up again. The steps of a good man are ordered by the LORD: and he delighteth in his way. Psalm 37:23” That tumble will forever stick in my mind.

You see, I’ve fallen, too. We’ve all tripped. For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. Romans 2:23 But, like Brian said, God picks us up again. If you don’t believe it, just ask any of the twenty-eight changed men in Philips State Prison. I just bet you’ll get an answer that will change you, too.

December 15, 2009, I watched these men walk across the stage and receive their associates’ degree in Christian ministry. They have completed a chapter in their lives, but friends, it is just the beginning. If you were to walk away from these men now, it would be like walking out of a movie during the last action scene, like tossing a book in the fire before you read the last chapter. You’d be left hanging. Today is just the beginning.

Today is also the beginning for you. Forget about what happened yesterday, last week, last month, or last year. Maybe you’ve stumbled and are lying in the dirt – broken. Just reach out your hand. The Lord has your steps ordered, too. He can and will pick you up, if you allow Him. And if you think you have stumbled so great you cannot recover, call me. I’ll put you in touch with some men who just might change your mind.

Congratulations to the New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary, Phillips Extension Center Graduates. Men, this is just your beginning…

James, Robert, Chris, Stanley, Larry, Johnny, Jack, Jerrell, Joe, Brian, Alton, Jerome, Thomas, Kevin, Jamel, Charles, Jacob, Hugo, Darrin, James, Tim, Derrick, Farah, Marco, Christopher, Nolan, Gerald, and Pat, I’m so proud of you!!!!

You can also read about these men HERE and HERE.

Carol

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A Journey to Africa – Part 3

This is the 3rd part to my interview with Heather Ricks. Her family of four is getting ready to follow God’s call to Africa. If you haven’t read the other parts of the interview, please don’t miss them. I don’t know about you, but just reading Heather’s responses gets me excited about missions.


CAROL:  How long will you be spending in Africa?


HEATHER: Initially, we were going to Tanzania for long term (however long it took to get the school up and running and turned over to nationals. Which could be about ten or so years).

           

When we signed up with SIM (Serving In Mission), we signed up for a two-year term. However, God must’ve had different plans.

  

After trying to raise support again, we got up to about 49 % before Jason lost his job. (The ministry was hit by the economy and had to let all the office staff go). When this happened, we had a decision to make. SIM was not paying us yet, and Jason again was put in the position of having to make money to provide for his family. It was kind of hard going to an interview saying that we were planning on leaving for Africa whenever we got enough support raised—which we we’re hoping would be less than a year from then. You can’t find too many jobs, making more than unemployment, that way.

            

We looked at different options to get us to Africa and provide for the family (a difficult thing to juggle). One option was the possibility of Jason getting a Bible teaching job here at a high school, and us going to Africa during the summer to teach. We already had enough money raised for that, but Jason could neither get a teaching job here nor did any of the African countries need someone during the summer at their universities at that time. So, we nixed that idea. The other idea was to see how much money it would cost us to go to Africa for a year. Because they treat one-year people as ‘volunteers’, we were able to get paid differently, thus cutting our costs by over half. When this happened, we had enough to go this summer. All we had to finish raising was our one-time expenses.

            

So, we are technically going for a year, but we are available for whatever. I’m through trying to figure out what’s going to happen after a year!

  

CAROL:  Do you have any reservations about leaving?

 

HEATHER:  Whew, do I ever! It’s always scary leaving the known and going into the unknown. What keeps me going is knowing we’re doing what God has made us to do.

 

What keeps me going is knowing we’re doing what God has made us to do.

 

CAROL:  What do your boys think about the move?

 

HEATHER:  Although we’ve kept our boys involved with the process the whole way, it hasn’t made it any easier for them. They’ve had to say goodbye to friends a lot, especially Jeremy. We were hoping we would be able to make the transition from Wyoming to Africa quickly enough that they would not grow ‘roots’. But, during this two-year waiting period, they’ve made close friends, and it is hard.

            

On the flip side, they do understand what we are doing. This has given us many opportunities to talk to them about how God has something special planned for them, as well. God didn’t just ‘call’ dad to go and the rest of us have to be dragged along. If I didn’t feel our boys were on board, I would feel this enough reason to abort the move. I don’t want to plow over my family because I feel like we’re doing God’s work. Our family has to be healthy before ministry can be done. We’ve had many conversations about how hard it is to move. Jason and I allow them to cry and grieve.

           

One thing that has helped is we’ve been in contact with other SIM missionaries that have boys around Jeremy and Jonathan’s age. They’ve been emailing Jeremy and Jonathan, so they are establishing friendships even before they move.  Jason and I have learned that kids are more resilient than they look.

Don’t miss the final part to this interview on Friday! 

   

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Carol

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