April was an incredible month for Awakening Church. As we celebrated the resurrection, we’ve had countless conversations with people who have never heard the glorious good news of the death and resurrection of Jesus. This is a natural time of year for gospel conversations to occur. Easter Sunday was a beautiful day filled with many relationships that God has been building over the past couple years. You can listen to the message here. By God’s grace, we were able to lead several people to faith in Jesus this month. 

After one of our ESL classes, one of our regular students from Iran approached Kathy after the class. With a smile on his face, he wanted to thank her for teaching the class and shared that he had been in America for about 5 years. However, today he finally understood what Easter was all about. What an encouragement to see people grasping the truth of Jesus. For faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.

A few months ago, God brought a young lady named Amanda Into our lives. The week that we met, I had just begun reading a new book by Paul Tripp entitled, Suffering. I had not been in a season of suffering personally, but still I felt compelled to read the book. Not three days after beginning this book, I received a phone call telling me that Amanda was just diagnosed with stage four cancer. Things didn’t look good. We knew that Amanda didn’t have a relationship with Jesus so we began to pray for her physical healing as well as her spiritual healing. I bought the book for Amanda and had one of her friends read it to her in her hospital room. At times, she was angry with God, and didn’t want to hear it…but she began to become more open to the conversations about Jesus. Through the countless prayers, fasting, conversations, late nights in the hospital, and the roller coaster that suffering brings she said YES to Jesus. Our hearts are rejoicing. That same week we saw two other young ladies that have faced tremendous hardship say yes to Jesus! Thank you for your support that allows us the opportunity to bring the gospel to people that need Jesus.

This summer we will have an opportunity once again to serve our partners in China. Our partnership in China involves equipping and encouraging those on the ground that face increasing challenges of persecution. It’s my passion to help others that are not mobilized for the great commission. As we prayerfully build this team, YOU may feel led to partner with us or be able to connect other people that may be interested in partnering together for this amazing opportunity.

A quick contextual scope…Since 2013, The Chinese Communist Party reversed course and embarked on a 3-phase, 14-year plan to “suffocate” Three Self churches and “annihilate” underground churches. During the first 2-year phase, it further eased persecution of the underground church, enticing more of them to surface and be identified. During the second 2-year phase, it invited and then pressured the identified underground churches to register and become Three Self churches.

In the current third, 10-year phase, the gloves have come off as both the remaining underground churches and even Three Self churches are being persecuted using Mao-era brute-force, as well as mass surveillance, artificial intelligence, and big data.

The greatest need of the underground church in China today isn’t free Bibles or even protection from persecution, which tends to purify, spread and grow the church, but Biblical teachers, including missionaries, who can exegete the Bible and share the True Gospel.

The foundation of our partnership is just that…better equipping those that serve on the front lines every day. I hope that you will pray about joining us as we deploy across the world in the name of Jesus.

Click HERE for more information. This could be a great way for us to join hands and serve together. The applications need to be submitted by May 5. The application can be found at here.

One of the questions I often get from partners is, “how can we be praying for Awakening Church?”  The response is typically three-fold.  One, pray for partnerships.  Without partnerships, this work is not possible. We are continually asking God to bless our partners so that we can continue to be blessed and empowered through them.

Secondly, we are always asking for prayer for new believers. It is why we are here!  We are praying for death-to-life stories. Many days, the only thing that keeps us going is that Jesus told us His fields were white and ready for harvest. We believe there is a harvest in the Northwest.  We long to see more baptisms in 2019.

Thirdly, we pray for laborers.  We need people to come be a part of Awakening Church both locally and others to relocate to serve alongside us.  Whatever it takes for God to build His church and multiply disciple-making churches, we say yes!

Alongside that third prayer request, we always praying for the unity of our team and the endurance it takes to fight the spiritual attacks we so often experience.

Thank you again for your partnership and commitment to going the journey with us. That support is the wind in our sails!

“And he made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place.” Acts 17:26

It’s pretty amazing to think about life. We have no control over when or where we were born. There is so much we have no control over. However, somethings we do control are our passions, our friends, and many other daily choices. There are things in our life that only Jesus can fix. It’s been said that the two most important days of your life are the day you were born and the day you figure out WHY you were born. We didn’t have control over the circumstances surrounding the day we were physically born, but through our second birth, salvation in Jesus, we then discover why we were born!

God, in his sovereignty, has placed us right here, right now, with our abilities and gifts to bring glory to Him and show the joy of the gospel to those around us. In his book Start With Why, Simon Sinek shares how successful leaders don’t focus on HOW to do something… Instead they focus on WHY they are doing it. Sharing Christ with those around us begins with our understanding God’s grand story that centers on Christ. That is our WHY.

In Philippians chapter 3, we see Paul’s WHY was to know Christ and to make him known. His why was big enough to endure overwhelming persecution with glorious joy. If you are alive today (you are if you are reading this) and you have a relationship with Jesus… He has given us the responsibility of a missionary.

“Where you live doesn’t make you a missionary; the mission you are on does, regardless of your vocation or location.” Alvin Reid

As a church, we have been focusing on living out the gospel in our daily lives as missionaries. We are praying daily that God will give us opportunities to share the good news of Jesus, wisdom to know how to approach those around us, and boldness to speak up. We have to remember that we are not selling something people may or may not need. Instead, we are offering the gift of grace that is the most vital news a person could ever know.

We continually look for ways to serve our community and bring joy to those around us. We are beginning to see the fruit of displaying the love of Jesus to our community. Through our displaying and joy bringing, we are able to declare the gospel message of salvation in Jesus. I’m excited about two new opportunities that God has opened up for us this past month.

The first opportunity is a Bible Club for an after school kids program. This club is focused on learning the Word of God. We incorporate prayer, crafts, games as well as memorizing a weekly Bible Verse. We’ve added a prayer mailbox where kids can write a prayer request that we pray over (which can be entertaining). Each week children from many cultural backgrounds attend the Bible Club. They are hearing the truth of scripture and asking amazing questions as their worldviews are being challenged and enlightened. A muslim boy asked, “What does it mean to be a Christian?” We shared what it meant to be a follower of Jesus and studied Romans 10:9 that says, “If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.” The hearts of these children are being stirred! 

The second opportunity God has given us is a weekly ESL Bible study. Over the past several months, God has continually brought us new relationships with the multi-ethnic people groups of our city. While this class focuses primarily on the basics of the faith, we are able to incorporate the basics of English at the same time. We are teaching basic Bible studies in everyday English in an easy-to-understand discipleship course. This class is specifically designed for people who are exploring the fundamentals of the faith. Each week has been filled with incredible discussion and a stronger craving for God’s word. We’ve been able to give out many dual language Bibles and develop new relationships. On top of that, a couple of the students have begun attending our Sunday worship service. They are being enraptured by the truth of the gospel and their hearts are being transformed by God’s grace.

Thank you for continuing to partner with us. We pray that you are encouraged just as we are. We also pray that through our journey, you will be stirred and challenged in your faith. 

Please join us in praying for…

• …these two new ministry opportunities that God has given us. Pray for the salvation of those without Christ and that they would realize their WHY.
• … our calling as missionaries. This calling can be challenging with unexpected circumstances…but Jesus is worth it. God is continuing to bring families and individuals into our lives that need to experience the grace that Christ is offering them.
• … a handful of mature believers to come alongside of us to partner in growing new disciples and developing leaders.