WFA 2012 World Missions Convention – The World Experience

We have an incredible World Missions Convention ready to begin this Sunday here at WFA! On Sunday morning and evening, as well as Monday through Wednesday nights, our special guest will be Missionary-Evangelist Christopher Alam.

Born in a Muslim family with Middle-Eastern origins, Christopher Alam received Jesus Christ as his Lord and Savior in 1975. He was immediately confined in a mental asylum for his faith in Christ. Christopher responded quickly to the call of God and began to preach the Gospel. He was arrested several times and imprisoned for preaching the Gospel. After being threatened with execution, Christopher finally escaped to Sweden, where he was given political asylum, eventually becoming a Swedish subject. It was in Sweden that he met is wife, Britta, in the church that he attended. They were married in 1979.

Christopher first attended the Torchbearers Bible School in HolsbyBrunn, in Sweden, then, together with Britta, attended RHEMA Bible Training Center in Broken Arrow, Oklahoma. Christopher also served with Operation Mobilization in the Benelux countries. He taught for several years as a full-time teacher at the Word of Life Training Center in Uppsala, Sweden, which was the largest Bible school in Europe at that time.

Dynamis World Ministries started as a missions organization with Christopher Alam's preaching behind the Iron Curtain long before the fall of Communism in Eastern Europe. From there, it spread to Asia, Africa, and Latin America. In 1993 the Alams and the ministry's headquarters moved from Sweden to Lancaster, PA.

Christopher Alam has preached the Gospel in over 60 nations so far, and hundreds of churches have been started as a fruit of this ministry. The preaching of the Gospel is accompanied by signs, wonders, and miracles.

Dynamis World Ministries has full-time crusade teams at bases in Africa and Asia. These bases are located in Zimbabwe and a 'closed' country in Southeast Asia. In addition to this, there is a full-time team running the Training Center for church planters and pioneers in Southeast Asia.

You do NOT want to miss a single service of this great missions revival! Invite your friends, neighbors, relatives, co-workers – everyone!

Reflections on New Year's Resolutions a Month Later

by Tim Wesemann

Someone has said that by February most of the resolutions people made in January have fallen by the wayside – someone else has said that a New Year's resolution is something that goes in one year and out the other!

In January, a lot of people resolve to lose weight. By February, that's an easy resolution to abandon. Of course, the older you get the tougher it is to lose, because your body and your fat have come to be really good friends. One lady noted that if she could watch her life story played backwards she'd see a great weight loss success story!

Health and lifestyle improvement aren't always in the eyes of the beholder. The other day I pointed to a couple across a restaurant and said to my wife, "That's us in ten years." She replied, "That's a mirror."

Then there was the little boy who watched with fascination as his mother rubbed a revitalizing beauty cream into her skin. He asked, "Mommy, why are you rubbing that stuff all over your face?" She explained that it would make her look younger and more beautiful. After a few minutes, she took a tissue and began removing the cream. Her son asked, "What's the matter, Mommy? Are you giving up?"

Keeping our New Year's resolutions all year long would be possible in a perfect world. In a perfect world . . .

• A person would feel as good at 50 as he did at 17 and would actually be as smart at 50 as he thought he was at 17.
• Doing what was good for you would be what you enjoyed doing the most.
• Pro sports players would complain about teachers receiving contracts worth millions of dollars.
• The better the food tasted, the fewer calories it would have.
• Warranties would be for 13 months, and products would fail at 12.
• The more governments spent, the more they would accomplish.

Delight Yourself in the Lord

Throughout our lives we will experience the joy of "birthing" many things – starting families, launching careers, founding ministries. We will also endure seasons of pain. Not every question will be answered; not every wound assuaged. But there is a focal point that will see us through. It is the wonder of God himself!

Understanding and delighting in God is the headwater of life. Everything flows from a relationship with God. Today, there is a great deal of attention being given to prayer, reaching the unreached, and the church's desperate need for revival. But it is only a passionate relationship with God that will fuel our prayer campaigns when we bear little fruit; only a passionate relationship with God that can protect our worship from becoming mere emotional release; only a passionate relationship with God that will guard us from executing lifeless strategies; only a passionate relationship with God that will lace our ministry with joy for a lifetime.

Excerpted from "I Am," by Steve Fry. Steve is an avid conference speaker and has recorded four Christian worship albums, including the Dove Award – nominated We Are Called. He is the founder of Steve Fry Ministries and the producer/director of the Storyteller Project, a resource to get the teaching of Jesus into the hands of millions worldwide. He is actively involved with the Lighthouse Movement of Mission America. Fry authored the key prayer song for the Promise Keepers "Stand in the Gap" conference in Washington, D.C. He lives with his wife, Nancy, and their three children in Brentwood, Tennessee.

When Troubles Come

Often when a hard time hits, when a crisis hits, when a tragedy hits, we want out. We ask God for an airlift out of our problems. But many times God wants us to learn in the midst of those difficulties – and to learn especially about His love for us:

Can anything ever separate us from Christ's love? Does it mean he no longer loves us if we have trouble or calamity, or are persecuted, or hungry, or destitute, or in danger, or threatened with death?...No, despite all these things, overwhelming victory is ours through Christ, who loved us. (Romans 8:35, 37 NLT)

Notice that phrase "all these things." This passage isn't saying we won't face some of these struggles, but that in them we're "more than conquerors."

If you're seeking to obey the Lord, expect opposition. Expect obstacles. Expect difficulties. But also expect God to see you through.

Excerpted from "Beyond," by Greg Laurie, senior pastor of Harvest Christian Fellowship in Riverside, California, one of the eight largest churches in America. He also leads the Harvest Crusades, attended by more than three million people since 1990. Greg is the author of more than thirty books, including "Because" and the Gold Medallion Award winner, "The Upside-Down Church." He's also heard internationally on his radio program, A New Beginning.

How to Identify (and Handle) a Fool in Your Ministry

by James MacDonald

There are seasons of incredible joy in ministry, and there are inevitably seasons where conflict rears its ugly head and needs to be dealt with.

I have come to believe that failure in the season of conflict – failure to deal with it, failure to learn from it, failure to move beyond it – prevents entrance into a new season of joy. For that reason alone, I have tried to handle conflict in the best possible way.

Two verses tucked away in Proverbs 26 have been very helpful to me, and I have been reminded about them again just recently. On the page, they look like a contradiction, but in real life, they work together like hand and glove, if you let them. Here's the first one to master:

Proverbs 26:5 "Answer a fool according to his folly, lest he be wise in his own eyes."

Answer the fool – he thinks he's so smart, has it all figured out in his brashness, and needs to be set straight. Do your job; don't fear the fallout. Tell him directly and with kindness what his folly is and why his insolence or block-headed pride or denial are destroying him. Step up to the plate and take one for the team.

There is nothing worse than a fool on the loose, and they can devastate any organization or ministry. Do your job, stop the fool in his tracks, and set the fool straight. OK? Just do it!

The problem is fools do not like to be set straight. Which leads to the all-important balance of the proverb in closest proximity.

Proverbs 26:4 "Answer not a fool according to his folly, lest you be like him yourself."

Fools are fools for a reason, and it's not because they are deaf or blind; it's because they are dull of hearing. Just one verse earlier we are told, "A whip for the horse, a bridle for the donkey, and a rod for the back of fools." And knowing that we cannot bring the rod to bear upon a fool in our churches, we try to 'bring the rod' with many words.

This has been one of my greatest errors in ministry. Becoming a fool to try to get a message to a fool about their foolishness. Have you ever heard yourself doing the same? Have you seen yourself stooping to the level of foolish arguments? Have you felt yourself allowing the intrusion of pride? Have you heard your own tone rising to meet the challenge of a fool? Beware your noblest attempts to get a fool what he wants least of all, truth!

Sometimes, we care too much and end up playing the fool while trying to help a fool. I know that I have tended to overestimate my ability to change the behavior of others. One thing we have learned through much pain and many failed attempts to fix a fool: "When you want it for someone more than they want it for themselves, it's not going anywhere good."

Putting these two verses together, I have returned often to this principle: "Tell them once with clarity and brevity. Anything more than that draws us into the web of folly."

I have known this for a long time, but an emergency meeting Saturday night, a surprise conversation in the hall between services, an e-mail that should not have been sent, no matter how well intentioned – all dealing with different issues in the church, all together reminding me of a lesson I return to again and again.

Say it once, clearly and lovingly. Anyone seeking wisdom will get the message and benefit. Fools will argue, debate, and blame-shift – and if you don't get off that train in a hurry, you will become a fool trying to help a fool, and that doesn't help anyone.

Proverbs 26:4-5. Put them together in a season of ministry conflict, and you can look forward to another season of joy just ahead.

James MacDonald (D. Min. Phoenix Seminary) is the founding senior pastor of Harvest Bible Chapel, leads the church planting ministry of Harvest Bible Fellowship, teaches the practical application of God's Word on the Walk in the Word radio broadcast, and is a gifted author and speaker. Visit James at jamesmacdonald.com/blog/

Losing By Intimidation

Just over 80 years ago, as Notre Dame was preparing to play USC in college football, Fighting Irish coach Knute Rockne was aware that his opponent had a far better team, so he devised a plan to intimidate the Trojan players. Rockne scoured the city of South Bend and hand-picked 100 of the largest men he could find – each at least six-foot-five and three hundred pounds. He put them in Fighting Irish uniforms and at game time marched them onto the field ahead of the real team. (Obviously, this was before the days of limited rosters and eligibility restrictions.)

As USC watched these giants line up on the sidelines, they forgot about their talent and their undefeated record, and they began mentally preparing themselves for a beating. Though none of the specially recruited men played during the game, their presence on the sidelines was enough to knock Southern Cal's game off balance. Knute Rockne's trick had worked; he had intimidated the Trojan players into giving up before the game even started, and Notre Dame won.

Our "opponent" tries a similar trick. He tries to intimidate us by appearing larger than life – but we must remember that he, too, has been sidelined. John said..."Greater is he that is in you than he that is in the world" (1John 4:4)

Don't let your problems intimidate you. No matter how big the enemy may seem to be, remember that you have God's power on your side. And he is greater.

The Last Impression

Two preachers and a deacon decided to go fishing. The deacon looked up to these men of God, thinking that they were so holy that they could walk on water. They gathered at the lake and shoved off from the shore in the boat.

When they arrived at the middle of the lake, one pastor asked the other, "Where's the bait?" The other pastor said that he didn't bring any, and the deacon replied the same.

"That's okay," the first pastor said, "I'll just walk over there to the bait shop and buy some worms." He then stepped out of the boat and walked across the lake to the little store, bought some worms, and returned, walking on the lake.

"Wow," thought the deacon, "he really can walk on water. I hope to have faith like that some day."

Later the other pastor asked if anyone was thirsty. They both replied with a yes. "I'll be right back with something to drink for us all." He stepped out of the boat and walked across the water to the store and returned with drinks for everyone.

The deacon again thought, "Wow, I hope to have faith like that some day." As he fished, the deacon thought much about his faith. He then jumped to his feet, informing the two pastors that he was going for some snacks and he'd be right back. He stepped over the boat and sunk to the bottom.

As he came up gasping for air, the one pastor said to the other, "Should we tell him where the rocks are?"

God is doing so many miraculous things around the world. The church is growing exponentially, and multiple thousands of people are finding Christ as their Savior on a daily basis. Beginning Sunday, we will have the opportunity to share ministry with Christopher Alam, one of God's choice servants, who ministers overseas and regularly sees these miracles as he speaks to tens of thousands of people each night. I am believing God for an overseas missions revival here at WFA! Don't miss it!