The Treasure: The Great Commission and Sponsorship

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calendarFebruary 11, 2015

Several months ago a ministry known as World Mission contacted me to help them assemble a team of Christian music artists to help with one of the most incredible ministry tools I have ever seen.

While I have always financially and prayerfully supported missionary work in Third World Countries, I have never been directly involved with mission work. And then God revealed The Treasure to me. Nothing has ever moved me so powerfully.

Manufactured on the Sea of Galilee, The Treasure is a field-tested solid-state digital audio Bible! The unit, which fits in the palm of your hand, has a built in solar panel with rechargeable batteries. It is very portable and lightweight at just 2.5? x 4? x 0.75?. Headphones and A/C adapter are optional.

The Treasure can literally go anywhere, and has been to rain forests, deserts, mountains and islands! It is practical for any country and climate.

The best part of The Treasure has nothing to do with its impressive physical attributes, but rather the content of what gets placed on its internal memory. To use layman?s terms?it is what?s under the hood that makes it so powerful. Each unit can hold more than 60 hours of audio material.

We currently have over 185 New Testaments recorded in an audio format that can be placed on The Treasures. Along with our partners we are adding new, fully recorded New Testament languages every month!

World Mission has access to around 5,000 languages. More than 200 languages have an entire New Testament available. As requests come in, more and more languages are being readied for The Treasure.

According to field studies, 70% of the world prefers a non-literate form of learning. The utter tragedy of this statistic means that more than half of the world does not have an adequate way in which to fully engage with the life transforming Word of God!

We realize the opportunity to distribute these powerful units to villages and rural areas is unlimited. In fact, we are witnessing an army of national leaders currently being empowered by this tool, enhancing their ministry efforts to unreached peoples.

Thousands are hearing the gospel for the first time, and many are coming to Christ. Each experience is unique but in most instances an oral learner will listen to The Treasure within a group of 8-12 people. (more…)

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Lessons From My Brother

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calendarFebruary 27, 2014

I just spent a week in Jacksonville, Florida with my older brother. He is dying from cancer. Watching him struggle with this awful disease, here’s what I realized about life:

  • Hug your brother
  • Spend time with your family
  • Make people smile
  • Make people laugh
  • Be nice
  • Play fair
  • Plan ahead
  • Read books
  • Call your friends
  • Pet your dog
  • Kiss your wife (often)
  • Love your neighbor
  • Tell the truth
  • Hurt no one
  • Respect your parents
  • Don’t hate
  • Don’t steal
  • Don’t lie
  • Tell people you love them
  • Pray (often)
  • Pray out loud
  • Share
  • Love God
  • Give generously
  • Look people in the eye
  • Do not covet
  • Don’t be selfish
  • Make a difference
  • Be courageous
  • Take your turn
  • Swing for the fence
  • Carry on
  • Dabble in something
  • Sing
  • Daydream
  • Think big
  • Have character
  • Study the Bible
  • Help out
  • Be humble
  • Serve
  • Learn new things
  • Do new things
  • Rotate your tires
  • Save money
  • Take Sundays off
  • Remember your life
  • Live with passion
  • Don’t always doubt
  • Be an encourager
  • Trust yourself
  • Be happy
  • Love your children
  • Renew your mind
  • See what’s beautiful
  • Embrace the ordinary
  • Scream sometimes
  • Wash other’s feet
  • Teach
  • Get shed of some things
  • Practice patience
  • Seek clarity
  • Be careful what you worship
  • Trust people
  • Believe in eternity
  • Live like you were dying
  • Trust in Jesus
  • Defend the weak
  • Practice regularly
  • Be disciplined
  • Don’t annoy
  • Pick up trash
  • Catch and release
  • Curse carefully
  • Be reverent
  • Relax
  • Be real
  • Entertain strangers
  • Don’t criticize
  • Be strong
  • Lift up people
  • Be proud
  • Say please and thank you
  • Clean up after yourself
  • Clean up after others
  • Expect the best
  • Anticipate disappointment
  • Be forgiving
  • Write something profound
  • Be in a play
  • Be a musician
  • Read a good poem
  • Change your hairstyle
  • Stay hip
  • Be faithful
  • Lay out in the shade
  • Go to church
  • Strive for holiness
  • Let things pass
  • Let things go
  • Be free
  • Don’t worry
  • Be happy
  • Let love flow
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The Butterfly Circus

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calendarJanuary 9, 2010

The Butterfly Circus ? a short, award winning film you must watch.

?The greater the struggle the more glorious the triumph?.

Watch It Here

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Tough Times Secret

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calendarAugust 20, 2009

Everywhere I go today it seems as though everyone is talking about how tough times are. I certainly have felt the economic crunch in my business. I try to keep a good attitude about the future but the reality is, times are tough. It would be hard to find someone who disagreed with that statement these days. However, I remember something I learned years ago about going through hard times from a very wise counselor. The truth is, this is not the first time I’ve been through difficult times and I imagine it will not be the last. So, the advice from my old friend has helped me weather many storms over the years.

One day as I was complaining to him about a particularly tough season I was going through with my business he asked me a question that literally changed my outlook on life. He said, “Mike, finish this sentence; ‘life is a _____________’ you fill in the blank.” I pondered my answer for some time before I spoke. He had used this questioning technique as a way of teaching me some important lessons in the past. I knew better than to ask him to repeat the question so I blurted out the first thing that came to my mind, “A journey”, I replied. “Great answer”, he said. “Here’s what you need to understand. If life is, indeed, a journey then the secret of life is to learn to fall in love with that. It’s not about arriving at your destination or reaching your goals that matters. It’s the struggle, the pain, the bloody noses and skinned knees that provide us with the real joy in our life. Believe me, realizing your biggest dreams will seem somewhat empty when you finally accomplish them. When you survey your life you will realize that the real juice of life came from the journey and not from what you accomplished.”

It took a while for the wisdom of that lesson to sink in. Eventually I came to realize that the hard times, the in-between times and the good times are equally good. That lesson has served me well over the years. I have to remind myself of it in hard times and I usually don’t remember it in good times. Nonetheless, it is a valuable truth that we all should learn.

Answer the question for yourself. No matter what your answer the secret is to learn to fall in love with that.

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering?Gal. 5:22

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Discipline

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calendarMarch 31, 2009

Almost three years ago I took a personal retreat at a Trappist monastery in the hills of Kentucky. The Abby Of Gethsemani is a 150 year old austere monastery located east of I-65 and south of the Bluegrass Highway out in the middle of nowhere. The Abby was the home of Thomas Merton, until his death in 1968. Merton is arguably the most influential American Catholic author of the twentieth century. His autobiography, The Seven Storey Mountain has sold over one million copies and has been translated into over fifteen languages. Reading his book helped prepare me for the week of silent reflection I experienced.

The monastic milieu offers a place apart ?to entertain silence in the heart and listen for the voice of God ? to pray for your own discovery.? Merton wrote. I assumed God needed to speak with me on matters of great importance so I was not surprised when I got the call that someone had cancelled their reservation. There is usually a year wait to get in. I jumped at the chance to take my annual personal retreat at such a spiritual place. The truth is God didn?t need me to spend a week in total silence praying with monks so that He could speak to me. He told me what He wanted me to know on the drive up. Honestly, the rest of the week was really a time for me to feel like I was a good and faithful servant and to have a few cool stories to tell my friends at church.

There is no cell phone reception in that part of Kentucky. Nor is there any television, radio, newspapers, or any of the other modern technology or communications devices we take for granted. Mostly there is silence. Peace and quiet. With the exception of six worship services a day (beginning at 4:15 AM) with the monks chanting, there is plenty of time for meditation, reflection and prayer. But try as I might I could not hear a word from God. He had already spoken to me. Back to the drive up. The weather had delivered one of those misty rains that causes near invisible road conditions. It was nighttime and my nervousness led me to pray the whole trip long for my safety. I don?t know if you?ve ever had a long conversation with God but it was like a phone conversation where neither one of you hangs up. There were times of not speaking but I knew that He was still on the line the whole time. And then He spoke, ?YOU ARE AN UNDICIPLINED MAN?. It stung – I guess because of the truth of His words. Conviction is a powerful thing if you let it sink in and yield to the honesty of it. ?Of course I am, Lord. I know that, but I?m on a mission to hear something from you that will change my life and allow me to share it with everyone I influence?. I heard nothing more during the drive up nor during the five days of life with the Cistercian monks.

It?s pretty embarrassing when God ignores you. I was proud of the commitment of time I had carved out for communion with the Creator of the Universe. I was certain He would accept my sacrifice and bestow some cosmic secrete understanding on matters of faith or something equally impressive upon me as a reward for my piety. Aside from a lesson on humility all I got was this discipline stuff. Two years later as issues with my health and business took their toll I finally understood that most of my problems were caused by a lack of discipline in my life. The simple solution was to become more disciplined. I am now studying and applying the science of discipline to every area of my life and the results have been amazing. I?m still on the discipline journey and will have to stay committed to studying and applying it from here on but now I understand that you better be careful about what you pray for. I also understand that God is not impressed with our spiritual showboating.

I think we all ask God too many questions at one time. I think He knows we can?t handle everything we ask for much less what He wants us to work on. But He?s always right. It?s hard to impress Him and even harder to follow Him.

Mike

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