•
Serving with Global Media Outreach
•
2953 Tikimber Way
St. Cloud, FL 34772
(321) 766-4602 (home)
(407) 536-9528 (office)
●
mike.skinner@gmomail.org
www.thefieldistheworld.com
give.ccci.org/give/0543730
Dear Family and Friends:
On August 6-9, four co-workers and I went to a “T4T” discipleship conference in Houston. This is being called today's fastest-growing Church-planting movement.
I started using some of the ideas I learned there in our Live Chat outreach as soon as we returned. Here are a few of the principles I have been thinking and praying about. I would like to have you join me in prayer that I could gain greater proficiency in gathering and training groups of disciples.
- Broader sowing is one principle that really hit home with me. In our February prayer letter, I was already thinking about the parable of the Sower and how he seemed quite careless in scattering seed. Rocky ground…thorny ground… packed earth… it didn’t matter: he sowed seed without preparing the soil first! This is very unlike the farmers I have known. The leader of the group discussion warned us, “don't miss anybody. We never know... we can’t miss any chance.”
As a result, I have been trying to be even more gospel-centered in my direct approaches and urging the other Online Missionaries to do the same.
Building Bridges to Spiritual Conversations
This requires sensitivity to opportunities to bridge to the gospel:
- When a visitor is asking for prayer about marriage, along with prayer I also talk about marriage as a picture of Christ and the church. (Ephesians 5:32) For this reason, a husband subjects his own selfish preferences in order to present his wife spotless and holy, unwrinkled and unblemished, to her Lord. (Eph. 5:25-29)
- When a visitor is asking questions about a sin with which they struggle, I talk about being filled with the Holy Spirit. If a visitor believes himself to be a Christian but is mistaken, doing this will result in their salvation.
- I am always looking for opportunities to ask the question, “Suppose you stood before God today, and He asked you, ‘Why should I let you into my heaven?’ What would you say?” But sometimes, I ask it in a round-about way. For instance, Rhoda from Mauritius has a competitive relationship with her older sisters. It ended up being easier to ask her how she thought they would respond.
Jonah in India asked about the Bible's view of marriage, because of his daughter's upcoming marriage. This allowed him to become comfortable enough to share that he was no longer attending church himself.
And Favour in Nigeria sounded pretty brazen as he asked what he would get in exchange for giving up fornication:
Mike: Hi, I'm Mike! Welcome :-) I'm here to help you with your questions.
Favour: good day.
Mike: Great day, thank you! :-) I hope for you also
Favour: i need to know more about the gains of been out of fornication.
Mike: the gains?
Mike: You mean what do you get in exchange? For giving up fornication?
Favour: yes i mean benefits. spiritual benefits.
Mike: :-) Well, how about this - fornication is something that will send you to hell
Mike: If there's a chance of avoiding that, that is a benefit, right?
Favour: ok
Mike: Let me show you [note: I felt I needed to shock him at this point!]
Mike: (Quoted all of Ephesians 5:3-7 - this listed among reasons the wrath of God comes on unbelievers).
Mike: Can I show you how to avoid being a partaker of that wrath of God?
Favour: yes please
Mike: Please read this site
Mike: http://4laws.com/laws/text/
Mike: We are sinful and separated from God by our nature and by our deeds, like fornication
Mike: those deeds deserve death (spiritual separation from God in hell)
Mike: The only way to bridge that separation is by the cross of Christ
Mike: Jesus died for our sins and was raised to life again
Mike: Only by giving up sin and trust in your own righteousness can you be saved.
Mike: Will you trust in Him today?
Favour: thank you so very much. i have learn a lot now.i will visit the site and learn more and also trust in the most High God alone.
Mike: You do that by personal request to Him, OK? not so much reciting a prayer you may not understand or mean
Favour: ok
Mike: But if a prayer like this one expresses what your heart says to God:
Mike: Lord Jesus, I need You. Thank You for dying on the cross for my sins. I open the door of my life and receive You as my Savior and Lord. Thank You for forgiving my sins and giving me eternal life. Take control of the throne of my life. Make me the kind of person You want me to be.
Mike: You might pray like that.
Mike: Did you pray to receive Jesus, Favour?
Mike: I hope you will trust him and if you do He will give you power to resist the fornication that brings God's wrath on the unbelievers
Favour: yes i just did.
Mike: Praise God! That's great!
Mike: Would you like to join me for a group meeting with other believers?
Mike: It's going on right now
Favour: yes
Mike: Come to http://GodLife.com/chat/openchat I will see you there, OK?
Favour did join me, and in the the next hour's study, his concerns changed! He went from calculating how worthwhile chastity was to him to planning his outreach to his own family with the love and grace of Jesus.
I believe that describes how we must learn to mobilize new believers if our outreach is to eventually move beyond the first generation of faithfully sharing the gospel message toward sparking revival in remote areas around the world. I believe that is God’s heart! Please join me in prayer that we can become part of the first step in a world-changing, chain-reaction movement of God.
Thank you for your faithful prayers and support of our efforts. We could not serve the Lord in full-time ministry without precious partners in ministry like you!
Love, in Christ,
 |
 |
P.S. Please see our latest photos! |