Friday, September 03, 2004
DOWN TO THE LINE
9-3-04
Paying the three months rent is coming down to the line.
God is using this season to do many things. The following bottom line section gives a summary of the current prayer needs. Then the details follow.
BOTTOM LINE
Here are the prayer needs for you to pray over today:
Continued grace, mercy and patience by the landlord.
Provision for the all rent ASAP.
System to help me keep track as I make the MANY fund raising phone calls.
Courage to make those calls.
Favor with each one that I call.
Work well with accountability partners as I develop good fund raising habits.
Technical breakthroughs to publish audio over the web.
Completion of the proposition for Greenville in due season.
Balance in all areas of life.
Ever improving prayer life.
UPDATE
I have talked and prayed with many people over the recent weeks. Some have testified of how God met their needs for tuition or funds for a mission trip right at the last moment. They gave God all the glory for His grace and told of how He had used that process to perfect their faith in Him.
A minority of people on this distribution list has personally experienced this kind of provision. I have been blessed like this many times over the years. I cannot tell you haw many times my phone bill was paid one day before they were going to disconnect it.
However this currently 1,341 dollars is the biggest challenge I have had. It is not the kind of testing that one actively seeks. It comes from following Jesus in trusting obedience.
For example there is a dear sister that has recently arrived in Sir Lanka to receive additional mission training before going on to Pakistan on a long-term assignment. Over the last few years her faith has been tested and purified repeatedly. She has come to TOTALLY depend on God for EVERYTHING.
The same is true of most missionaries and international students that I know. I have been blessed to hear first hand of how God developed their faith in amazing ways. I have sought to share that with you and others over the web. I have come very close a few times. God is prompting me to go down that path again. I got more than 95 percent of the way last time. There were technical challenges that I now think I can solve. May The Lord grant that the testimonies and lessons can be published over the web very soon?
PURPOSE DRIVEN LIFE
The following two paragraphs are quoted from today’s reading from Purpose Driven Life page 100.
God wants all of you.
God does not want part of your life. He asks for all your heart, all your soul, all your mind and all your strength. God is not interested in halfhearted commitment, partial obedience and the leftovers of your time and money. He desires full devotion not little bits of your life.
I believe that we have all know this principle at the core of our heart. But we rarely venture far enough out of or comfort zones to have it tested to the max.
As a single man I have not had the responsibility of a wife and children to take with me as I have pushed the limits of various envelopes over the years.
EARS TO HEAR
Back in 1997 I began to have a desire to record and share testimonies of answered prayers. During that year God brought into my life various people that had experienced remarkable answers to prayers. I took time to ask them to tell me all about it. And I was blown away. In our hyper busy life styles we rarely have time to share much one-on-one. So I suggested that they make an audio tape and give it out to others. They recognized how that would glorify God but after many months none of them did. I came to recognize that they said so much because I was asking all kinds of open-ended questions. And I was genuinely interested.
As a planner I have come up with hundreds of pages of plans and lots of Power Point slide shows about this over the last seven years. Also the Internet has become more universally used. The personal computers have gotten more powerful and thus the cost of audio over the web has kept going down. MP3s of sermons on CDs are just plain CHEAP.
Those who have been tracking with me for a long time have heard much about the project named Ears to Hear. That includes the three-minute teachings and sermons. Instead of that being the main name of a brand new nonprofit corporation the ministry it is one facet of the existing one named Our Metroplex Vision. I will ask the banker next week if checks can be made out to Ears to Hear yet put into the ministry account if we get a DBA Doing Business As
TODAY the prayer need is for God to confirm or correct this direction. I need strong signals from His either way. Today I am strongly favoring this but willing to not go there now.
BALANCE
I have briefly put my hand to retail sales. Out of three presentations I had no sales. I learned that it takes MUCH time and energy to get the ball rolling in terms to setting the appointments and making the demo placements. I still believe in the products and company. I will go back down this path if I get a red light from Greenville to work at the home office.
In the short term I feel led to do fund raising for the ministry to make up the 2,700 dollars in back wages and develop the Ears to Hear avenue. As I approach prospective donors I will have a way to demonstrate the kinds of ministry that their funds are helping to create.
After this rent fire it put out I will need to balance my time and energy to ALSO prepare an EXCELLENT proposition for Greenville. Today I could send an email attachment today that would be bunch of disorderly junk. After 2 or 3 weeks I can have a professional quality proposal. Even that will not have all the details but enough overview to lead to an invitation for us to meet face to face in Greenville.
JUGGLING
Modern life is all about juggling. My tendency is to try to juggle too many things at one time. Thus I do a poor job. So I am back to FOCUS on a FEW.
The bottom line is that I need to not seek to be only in ministry but also have a tent making trade. I am convinced that tent making trade for the future is with EcoQuest either at the home office or in the field.
Kindly pray for the completing and publishing of a new mind map on web site that shows the possible flow chart including the forks in the road. Soon you check it out and let me know if you can read it. Do not be concerned with the details. Do you get the Big Picture? That will be the link I will be sending to prospective supporters.
NEXT
Over and over I have heard from those going to the mission field that often the funds come form those you least expect. Well that must be true because the hand full I most expected have said no.
I have told my board members and accountability partners that the next step is for me to call on ALL the one that God may use and ASK THEM TO PRAY about if God will use them in this way. My fear has been in ASKING. I am not directly asking for a donation but for prayer. That is a way for me to get over this next hump.
I will point them to the web page where they can use Pay Pal buttons on contribute 5, 10, 20, 50, 100, 200, 500 dollars. Or they can mail a check to my home. If it is more than 100 then it can be made out to the apartment Morningside Property. Please pray over this page http://www.osuonline.org/Feedback_Form.html
LESSONS
Many that I have talked with recently have said how important it is LEARN their lessons while going through the valley. May God help me to learn and apply these lessons.
Various people have sent words of encouragement and key verses. Plus God has made alive biblical principles. I have begun a special folder to collect what I call flowers from valley. Like Charles Stanley teaches there are lessons you can ONLY lean in the valley.
Some lessons I have learned are to put all the possible tasks on the computer in a mind map kind of day planner. Then for the FIRST time I have been assigning PRIORITIES each morning to help keep me focused. What does not get done is moved to the next day or some items just deleted.
May prayer life has improved. I recall a sermon on prayer that gave a memorable illustration. There are many kinds of prayer and all are valid. SO I spend some time each morning bowed down on my face just humbling my self and calling upon the names of the Lord. I cast all my cares on His and come to Him just as I am. My theology informs me that He knows everything; He wants what is best for me and has a way out of these troubles. Then I move to me knees and do the asking, seeking and knocking kinds of petitions. Then I stand up in my prayer closet, read bathroom, and raise my hands. I just thank and praise Him for Who He is. I seek to worship Him apart from my needs and wants. I go through each of these positions three times a morning. This is like a weigh trainer that does a circuit. It gives me balance and keeps me alert. I no longer get stuck or drift off to sleeplike I had for years.
My Bible study habits have been terrible for 30 years. Yet when I am going through a book with a group I keep up. God uses that to instill keep me on track.
The HUGE lesson that is just in front of me is to set up a SYSTEM to cal on prospective donors and then follow up on them. I have learned from many sources that like sales fund raising is just a numbers game. A small percent will say yes. So you must go through a large percent of that say no. Rejection comes with the territory. O well that is the price to be paid. When asking many people over the phone and face-to-face it gets down to a data management challenge. There are a zillion details to keep track of like contact information and status of each prospect. I have several software programs that can do major parts of this I need to get organized and get into use.
The tendency for others and me it to procrastinate and find other thins to do like writing long emails. SO I will begin to work closely with a few accountability partners to share with them the numbers of calls, contacts, commitments, dollars etc.
SALUTATION
Kindly forgive me rambling. You are a dear friend if you have read this far. God uses your reading and praying to assist me during these challenging times.
May your support network grow larger and stronger.
THANKS
John 5:04 PM
Thursday, September 02, 2004
TUESDAY BRIEFING from John S. Oliver on September 1, 2004
BLESSINGS
ALL glory to God in Jesus Name!
May you be receptive, responsive and responsible.
May you consistently improve in your stewardship.
May you love God and express that by loving others.
Amen?
COMPLETED
· THANKFULLY God prevented credit fraud due to the loss of my identity through a tricky email. Again if you EVER get an email asking for your confidential information do NOT reply. Call the source at the phone number listed on the company web site or Yellow Pages if you are not sure.
· Negotiated favorable terms with two credit card companies. Still need to come to terms with a third creditor. Contact person there is Becky.
· I am increasingly convinced that it is the will of God for me to move to Greenville TN and work from the home office. When I pray and get still images and thoughts of relocating come to my mind vividly. When I show the latest mind map with the possible options that part is the most exciting.
· The burden to minister to seminary students is still absent. I notice how big it was.
· Continuing to fast and pray. The SLIGHT weakness reminds me of me spiritual dependence on God all the time. There have zero hunger pains and that is how I know God has called me to this fast.
· Been confessing sins and repenting as the Holy Spirit convicts.
· Giving thinks for the little things and blessings long ago.
· I was exhorted to praise God much more. I need grace to improve in this area when in the prayer closet and in the car alone.
· Faith has conflicted with reason inside of me many times. SO I keep leaning on Jesus and asking for prayers.
· Doing 40 days of Purpose Driven Life with an online group. Today is day 12 Developing Your Friendship with God. Pray for God to use each lesson mightily in my life and the dozens from all over the globe.
CURRENT
· Now focused on paying the rents and electric of 1,341 dollars. Kindly pray for God to make a way for this to be paid in full right away.
· Getting into my heart the belief that I am worthy of financial support. My Heavenly Father will use His children. I have a track record of for previous ministry and plans for future ministry over the web. This is just a season of transition like that of missionaries.
· My biggest need now is courage and strength from God Almighty to defeat the internal giants while going to ask many people for donations.
· Back when I gave the presentation to the mens breakfast the emerging ministry owed me 1,400 dollars in back wages. Currently it owes me 2,700 dollars. That would take care of all my needs. Let us believe God to supply that much money even this month.
· Been convicted that I need to get back on top of my financial record keeping including setting up and regularly using Quicken. I used that program briefly long ago. I am in the process of starting fresh by setting up a new file. I will share a weekly report with a few accountability partners.
UPCOMING
· The fund raising seminars taught me that there are essentially three ways to raise funds. One is just to pray and I have done that for years with very poor results. The D. L. Moody way was to let the needs be known and that is what I have done before with little result. The third way is go ask and that is what I must do to defeat my giants.
· If you have EVER been blessed by my ministry over the web or in person let me ask you to pray about sending a contribution at this my greatest hour of need.
· I rarely ask for donations in a Tuesday Briefing but these are unusual times for me. If you feel led to assist financially then here is link to a way to give online or mail a check http://osuonline.org/Feedback_Form.html
RESOURCES
An amazing ebook online about creationism www.biblicaldiscipleship.org/Creation_vs_Evolution/TheEvolution_of_aCreationist.pdf These sites give a peek at things to come http://www.oddcast.com/home/ http://www.oddcast.com/sitepal/
Here is an archive of previous Tuesday Briefings and updates between Tuesdays http://tuesdaybriefings.blogspot.com/
If you wish to unsubscribe then just let me know by reply email.
John 7:02 AM
Monday, August 30, 2004
THREE BLESSINGS
8-30-04
THANKS for your many prayers. I can feel them.
God has been ministering to me my His Holy Sprit and making His Word alive in fresh ways.
Various people responded letting me that they are out there. They send words of encouragement and verses. These are lovely and helpful.
Three great blessing have arrived.
a friend forwarded me a message from Zalome Yahoo Group It concerns prayer and brief words of encouragement http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Zalome_Bridge_eml
I subscribed to it and today received the following essay about the Bible.
THE BIBLE.
This book contains —
The mind of God, the state of man, the way of salvation, doom of sinners and happiness of believers. Its doctrines are holy, its precepts are binding, its histories are true and its decisions immutable. Read it to be wise, believe it to be safe, and practice it to be holy.It contains light to direct you, food to support you, and comfort to cheer you. It is the traveler's map, the pilgrim's staff, the pilot's compass, the soldier's sword, the Christian's charter.
Here paradise is restored, Heaven opened and the gates of Hell disclosed. Christ is its grand subject, our good its design and the glory of God its end. It should fill the memory, rule the heart and guide the feet. Read it slowly, frequently, prayerfully. It is a mine of wealth, a paradise of glory and a river of pleasure. It is given you in life, will be open at the judgment and be remembered for ever.
It involves the highest responsibility, rewards the greatest labor, and condemns all who trifle with its holy contents.
I learned about t www.injesus.com a place that has links to MANY online prayer support groups http://injesus.com/Groups/?Cat=PR&UCD=lgg May God guide me in which prayer groups to work with and how.
I talked with the apartment manager this morning. She said that the owner has not pushed for action. Yet the rents need to right away.
I have a meeting with a key church member tomorrow night. Maybe God will provide then.
I have talked with several candidates but they have financial troubles. Some how God will make a way where there seems to be no way.
John 4:52 PM
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