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Wednesday, September 20, 2006

Evangelism Training Seminar in West Chester, PA on Saturday Oct 7

Dr. Stanley Gale is conducting an evangelism training seminar at the Reformed Presbyterian Church on Saturday, Oct. 7th from 8:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. The cost is $10 per person and includes materials, refreshments and lunch. Register by calling the church at 610-696-3482 or emailing at rpcwc@ccil.org, leaving names, phone numbers, and email contacts. The registration fee can be paid on Saturday.

Click here to view PDF flyer now!!!

The target audience for the seminar is not just church leaders but the person in the pew, with any eye to equipping them for sharing their faith in their life-spheres. It should be a practical and profitable time. This seminar is designed to equip Christ’s disciples for sharing their faith. Participants will:
  • learn practical ways to communicate the gospel
  • map out their personal mission fields
  • be introduced to tools to help them in carrying out their Christ-appointed commission
Dr. Gale has 20 years of pastoral experience, is the developer of Community Houses of Prayer (www.CHOPministry.net) and is the author of Community Houses of Prayer Ministry Manual: Reaching Others for Christ through Strategic Prayer (2002) and Warfare Witness: Contending With Spiritual Opposition in Everyday Evangelism (2005).

RelevantMessage.org launches first Internet Bible study

While Bible studies themselves can vary immensely and my exposure to them has been minimal, I am inspired to see the launching of this new approach towards ministry and sharing of the Gospel. William Lehman, with whom I have recently begun to get acquainted, has just posted his initial audio/video Bible study. The subject matter in this study is the 10 Commandments from Exodus 20.

Please take a moment to view this 6.5 minute clip which glosses over the original commandments from God as delivered to Moses on Mt Sinai. Your comments and feedback are welcome on both blogs.

Trackback: RelevantMessage: First Internet Bible Study

Sunday, September 17, 2006

ADF Dinner Event - Thursday 9 Nov in King of Prussia, PA

Dave Weidis, ADF Director of Development in my area, is hosting a huge dinner event for ADF members and guests. Dave has asked me to host a table with up to 10 guests. The dinner will be at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Valley Forge, PA and there is no charge for the dinner. Seats will fill up fast.

If you are interested in attending please RSVP by October 15 by sending an email to ryan@yhurhere.net and I will send you the official evite. Thanks and I hope to see you there.

Below is a description about the dinner and keynote speaker Jordan Lorence.

Official Dinner Event Info

Please come hear Jordan Lorence, Esq., the Alliance Defense Fund's Senior Vice President of Strategic Initiatives, as he gives a behind the scenes account of what God has done in the last year through the work of ADF. Jordan has argued before the U.S. Supreme Court and has made recent appearances on multiple media outlets, including Fox News' Hannity & Colmes.

Official Alliance Defense Fund Website

Bio of Keynote Speaker Jordan Lorence

Jordan Lorence is an attorney who specializes in constitutional law and has litigated religious liberty and free speech cases around the nation since 1984. Jordan has worked for the Home School Legal Defense Association, Concerned Women for America and the American Center for Law and Justice. Currently, Jordan is Senior Vice President of Strategic Initiatives and Senior Counsel for ADF.

In November 1999, Jordan argued the Southworth case before the U.S. Supreme Court, involving mandatory student fees at public universities. Jordan earned a B.A. in journalism from Stanford University (California) in 1977, and earned a J.D. from the University of Minnesota Law School in 1980. Jordan is licensed to practice law in Minnesota, the District of Columbia, Virginia, before the U.S. Supreme Court and various federal courts throughout the nation.

Jordan is a native of Mound, Minnesota, and worked from 1980 to 1982 at the Minnesota State Senate as the administrative assistant to a Senate committee chairman. Jordan traveled to Honduras in 1983 with a medical missionary group and aided Nicaraguan refugees in Costa Rica in 1987. In 1974, Jordan studied for almost one month at L’Abri in Switzerland under Francis Schaeffer. Jordan has written opinion pieces for the Wall Street Journal, the Washington Post, the Minneapolis Star and Tribune, the St. Paul Dispatch, Pioneer Press, and the Miami Herald. Jordan has appeared as a contestant on Jeopardy!



Jordan and his family reside in Phoenix, AZ.

Sunday, September 10, 2006

Remembering 9/11, 5th Anniversary

This entry is not going to be a long and winded recap or search for deep meaning of the 9/11 tragedy. There is one important message that I care to share plus I would like to make a simple kind gesture for those that suffered great loss from the event.

The Morning of: When news broke of the first tower being struck by an airplane I was at work and on the phone with my boss. Like probably most of us, my gut feeling was that this was no accident. After the second tower was struck I called my Grandma who lived in Queens at the time and told her to turn on the news. Her response was, "oh, that crazy city." She did not realize the impact of what was so obvious to me and I could not convince her to stay in the apartment for the day. My grandmother was born shortly after WWI and had seen a lot of terror and violence in her day, but this was new and extreme for me.

Aftermath: During the next several months my heart remained heavy and I couldn’t help but think that this was a wake-up call for the American people. In fact, I recall Alan Keyes suggesting it was God’s response to our widespread abortion tendencies as a nation. But this is only the tip of the iceberg. We can all search for meaning and question God’s reasoning for allowing such an act to occur, but the simplicity of it is this…

America today is a land of fornication.

In the Old Testament there are seemingly endless accounts of Israel, God’s chosen people, falling in and out of grace with God. During the times when Israel did fall, devastating things occurred both naturally and from surrounding peoples.

Things are no different today and I am grateful that I now see and understand this. I do not just mean that I logically understand what is in the Bible and recognize that history repeats itself. What I mean is that by God’s grace I can now see His hand in our lives.

For me, this is what 9/11 is about. It is about God carrying out His will on this earth which He created. It is about recognizing our sin and depravity and accepting God into our lives so that He can restore our faith in Him through Christ.

Please read the following Prayer of St. Francis, which I feel compliments the tragic necessity of 9/11.

Lord, make me an instrument of your peace,
Where there is hatred, let me sow love;
where there is injury, pardon;
where there is doubt, faith;
where there is despair, hope;
where there is darkness, light;
where there is sadness, joy;

O Divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled as to console;
to be understood as to understand;
to be loved as to love.

For it is in giving that we receive;
it is in pardoning that we are pardoned;
and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.



In closing I leave you with the following Scripture verse from Jeremiah 29:11

"For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the Lord, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end."

May God Almighty bless you and those who perished, and those who suffered great loss as a result of 9/11.

In Peace, Ryan G

Saturday, September 09, 2006

MarketplaceLeaders.org - Daily Workplace Inspiration

MarketplaceLeaders is a ministry run by Os & Angie Hillman, whom I know little about, and which is a ministry I know little about. What I do know is that my boss introduced me to its daily devotional last year called TGIF, or Today God is First. Each day I get an email sent to my inbox that contains reference to a Scripture verse and a memo written by Os. The memos are extraordinary and these daily devotionals have become an important part of my work day.

Os seems to have a real-life story for almost every devotional sent. The quantity and quality of his content is extraordinary and a blessing from God. If you seek guidance in how to apply your ministry, especially in your job or the marketplace, subscribe today to TGIF by clicking the banner below...

Meadowcroft Presbyterian Church of America

[www] www.meadowcroftchurch.org

Meadowcroft attracted me for several reasons, but most importantly, Meadowcroft came in to my life at the discretion and authority of God. My wife and I had been attending various church services for many months but we had not settled down with any one congregation. The need for consistent attendance at the same church was thickening.

After consulting with my C12 group, I was counseled to go with a congregation that suited me while my wife continued on with her search. Almost immediately I had come in to contact with Dave Weidis from ADF who invited me to visit Meadowcroft where he is an active member.

My first visit was solo and it was more out of courtesy than anything. My wife is Russian Orthodox and a Protestant church would not work for her. Knowing this, I attended anyway and instantly felt God calling me to return.

The congregation had been meeting in the auditorium of Cheyney University because it was on a 5-year journey to restore an old barn in the area with its own dollars, time, and labor and the university was providing the church with a place to meet during this period. The church was rich with families which for me were important being a new dad and husband. The worship music was contemporary but real and homegrown for a musician like me to appreciate. Most importantly, the sermon hit home for me with the vigor, boldness, and the truthfulness that I needed.

I continued to attend Meadowcroft on a regular basis and also began playing guitar with the worship group led by Dave Weidis. My calling to the church had grown to a point where it began to cause conflict with my home life as my wife felt that I was putting too much time into church and other ministry-related activity such as C12. As a result I pulled out of the worship group.

Today I am a regular attendee at Meadowcroft but I am not a member. My wife does not participate but I do bring my son to most services and he now enjoys his time in the nursery. The church has been more patient and supportive with my challenges in a Protestant faith than I could ever imagine. The level of gratitude I have for Meadowcroft members is probably not noticeable, and I pray that in time it can be.

I am no longer playing with the worship group but I have recently begun participating with the Youth Group as a leader. I am excited about this unexpected change in participation with the church because it is important for me to be part of the church and give back to the people. The Youth Group is just that. Watching these kids interact with each other in the name of our Lord Christ Jesus is awe inspiring, as this is not something that existed in my life as a teen.

Praise be to God and may God always bless Meadowcroft and its members. When you step back and look at all the ministry activity going on at Meadowcroft you realize that only by the grace of God is so much goodness able to protrude from a group of this modest size.

Shouts out to Dave Weidis for inviting me and sticking with me all this time; shouts out to Pastor Dan Kiehl for being a steward to God’s word and for his deep commitment to Meadowcroft. These two men alone have inspired me to step up my faith with the Lord and give back to Meadowcroft however He sees fit.

The C12 Group – Business with a Biblical Perspective

Website: www.thec12group.com

My Story: C12 has become one of the most impacting activities in all my life. It has opened my eyes to a whole new way of doing business and approaching my career, literally under the authority of God.

C12 is a network of groups around the country that meets once a month for fellowship, devotion, prayer, workplace ministry, and running a profitable business. There are two group types, C12 and Key Players, each with a target participation of 12 members, thus Christ’s 12 Disciples. C12 is for CEOs and Owners that are well established in their Christianity; Key Players is for the organization’s “key players”, i.e. managers that may or may not be as established, if at all, in their faith.

I started attending the Manasota, FL C12 group in July 2005 per invitation from my boss Jesse Biter who himself had only recently been attending. Within the first 2-3 meetings I began having revelations about my lack of faith and what can and should be done about it, plus how. The members of the group and the group Chairmen, Chuck Frary and Don Light, became significant mentors, brothers, and ambassadors of Christ for me.

Today I am working with Doug Warrington to help establish a C12 base here in the Philadelphia area. C12 is a for-profit business format and it takes at least 4-6 groups and at about a year for the area Chairperson to realize monetary gain. Being a C12 Chairperson is not about striking it rich. It is about workplace ministry and profitable business.

If you are serious about workplace ministry or if you are just curious to what workplace ministry is all about, talk to me about C12. Much of my success and ability to succeed in my role as COO of HomeNet can be attributed to being a part of C12.

Alliance Defense Fund (ADF) - Defending Our First Liberty

Website: www.telladf.org

My Story: ADF is a legal alliance defending the right to hear and speak the Truth through strategy, training, funding, and litigation for religious freedom, family values, and the sanctity of human life.. It was founded in 1994 when the leaders of 35 ministries came together to launch ADF and has been a leading force in countering the efforts of the ACLU.

I first became exposed to ADF during the 2005 autumn season when Ambassador Ken Blanchard and CEO Alan Sears attended one of my C12 meetings in Sarasota, FL. The meeting was Providential in a way because only a few nights before I had seen Alan on the O'Reilly Factor and I was impressed with the aggressive action ADF seemed to be taking. Suddenly Alan was sitting in the room with me sharing his story.

Ken got me in touch with Dave Weidis who is the regional director in my area. Dave and I quickly became friends and brothers in Christ and I became a member of ADF almost immediately. My involvement with ADF has not been as active as I would like, but I trust that God will utilize me as He see fit with the organization.

If you want to put your time and money behind a sound and worthy cause, consider ADF, which is doing worldly wonders under the authority of God.

PocketPower – Resources for Sharing the Gospel

The Pocket Testament League is a wonderful ministry supporting over 100,000 members with only 3 full-time employees, 7 part-time, and a few volunteers. For more than 110 years, the PTL has motivated Christians to read, carry and share the Word of God. Begun in 1893 as the vision of a teenage girl named Helen Cadbury, the League provides free resources empowering people to develop a lifestyle of personal evangelism.

I first became exposed to the PTL when one of their ambassadors visited my C12 earlier this year. The PTL prints pocket-sized Gospels of John with various covers designed to appeal to different people and lifestyles. Click this link to get a taste for the different covers.

The core objective is that as a member you can order up to 30 Gospels a month at no cost. Naturally, as a member you would be donating money to the ministry but it is not required in order to receive the 30 a month. Anyway, the idea is that you would give away a Gospel a day by calling on God to lead you to someone to which you would give one. Of course, this is one strategy but ultimately it is up to you how you distribute the Gospels.

Along with each order you are provided with stickers that contain your member ID which you would apply to the back page of each Gospel you give. This way when someone registers with the site they would enter your member ID and the site can track the growth and expansion of your distribution efforts.

So, if you are looking for a fun and simple way to expand your ministry, go to their website by clicking the link below and entering my member ID: 218459

Click here now to sign up