Handing Out Manna!

On Sunday after the church service we handed out all 100 Manna! That's Good Bread packages. There were people even asking for more packages after they were all gone. I have to think that is a good sign. Once people had the Manna! package in their hands it was all up to them to deliver and share Jesus Christ with their neighbor's, family, co-workers or who ever else they felt lead to give it to.

I know the distribution of these packages can lead to some very amazing encounters. For example, last year there were stories of people receiving the freshly baked bread with much joy and some even wept over the fact that someone thought enough of them to give them the package. For me, when I handed a package out last year it lead to an opportunity to give a clear gospel presentation to my next door neighbor which was a couple of weeks after the package was given to them.

This year, when I handed my three packages out, all who received one did so with great joy and appreciation. I even verbally invited each person to our churches Easter service understanding they may not be able to come and they were still apprecative of the package. One package I handed out actually started to lead to deeper things where I was able to mention I have been praying for this particular family due to some very hard issues they are dealing with.

Now, this was just the beginning and I'm very exited to see how God contiues to work with and through this project.

Baking & Packing Manna!

Well, Saturday morning came fast, but being tired was quickly overcome with anticipation and excitement. Anticipation of what the bread was going to look like when we first walked into the kitchen. Will it be raised enough? Will it have stuck to our plastic overlay? Will enough people show up to help? Then there was the excitement of what God was going to do with the project. From the fellowship of everyone coming together to bake and package to sharing Jesus Christ with those outside the church walls (by giving a load of bread and a New Testament).
As it turned out, the bread rose and rose and rose. They were huge and ready to be baked!!

We starting baking bread at 8:00 am.

YUM!!! It looked and smelled soooooo gooooood!!!!!

Once it got to around 11:00 am I know I was starting to feel pretty tired, but I believe I was able to press on because I knew that Jesus Christ was going to be shared. To me, that's all that mattered (people were going to hear about Jesus somehow). The crew that showed up for baking and packaging was great!

We even had a chef show up to help with the baking.

We had such a great time and everyone did such an amazing job. I am so thankful for everyone. This project would not have been as successful as it was if it were not for His people coming together and doing the little things to ultimately share the biggest thing (Jesus Christ).

Manna! Outreach Project Begins.

Our first outreach project for the 2010 year (at our church) started on Friday, March 26th when I walked into the local grocery store (Super One) to get some frozen bread dough, butter and non-stick cooking spray. After explaining to the front desk why I was there and some confusion in back freezer area as to where the 100 loaves of bread were, in about 30 minutes I was walking out the door with the right number of frozen bread loaves and ready to get the project underway.

I would like to stop here for a moment and share something amazing God did while working with the local grocery store (Super One). Now, last year when we did this same project we paid ~$0.95 per loaf and we had to pick up the frozen bread at many different Super One locations around town. This year, in order to help save freezer space, I contacted the main Super One in town and made arrangements with the Store Manager to pick up 100 loaves on Friday evening. When I put the order in the Store Manager asked if he could connect with me later and let me know the price. I stated that would be no problem and tried to patiently wait for his phone call. It never came, but I didn't think it was too big of a deal for I was figuring and planning to pay around $100.00 for the 100 loaves. However, when I checked out God did His amazing work and blew me away when I was told that they were only going to charge us $40.00 for 100 loaves of bread. I humbly stated $40.00 that is good deal and thank you.

Now, there is no doubt in my mind that God was at work overseeing and blessing this outreach project. Ohhhh! May He get the glory!

By the way, the bread was set out by three people at the church from 11:00 pm to 12:10 am in order for it to raise and ready to bake at 8:00 am on Saturday. Whew...late night and early morning, but we'll just run on excitement.

Sharing My 9th Re-Birthday!

Today is Wednesday, March 17th, St. Patrick's Day, as far as the world is concerned. However, for me the day has far more meaning because it is my 9th Spiritual Birthday! Yup, nine years ago on this very day I repented and trusted Jesus Christ for my salvation. It is hard to believe that time can fly by that fast. Every year when this day comes around I get so excited. Just like when I was a little kid for my birthday. Mostly because it seems God does something a little extra special on that day for me. As I look back over the nine years one cool thing that God has done is supply a free lunch for me. I believe I have received 8 free lunches out of the 9 years. Many times I didn't even know where it would come from and then all of a sudden...BAM...free lunch. That has been so cool to see and I know it is a gift from my Creator. He blesses his children in so many different ways doesn't He.

Now, because I am so excited about my re-birthday I often create opportunities to mention it to those I am around. This day was no different. Today I was out of town for work (hey, thanks to my boss for a free lunch on my re-birthday) and created the opportunity to mention to some of the workers at the facility that today was my spiritual birthday. Now, you may be thinking that may be weird to just blurt out because they mostly likely wouldn't understand what I was talking about, but the first worker I actually mentioned it was my re-birthday to was a Christian. I, therefore, knew they would understand and it wouldn't be too weird. However, later in the day that Christian worker stated I should share my special day with a different worker (the manager of the department). Whoa...wait, now that could be weird.

At this point I had a choice to make. Do I keep my mouth shut and not say anything about my re-birthday for fear of what they would think of me and potentially having what I shared get back to my boss because it was unprofessional. Or, I could share my spiritual birthday with weakness, fear and trembling all while demonstrating the Spirit's power so their faith wouldn't rest on my wisdom but on God's power. I chose to share my re-birthday and give a very clear gospel presentation by just sharing my testimony. This little situation ended with me finding out that they agreed with what I shared and that he even thought the fact that it was my re-birthday was pretty cool. At that very moment, the workplace environment changed completely for the better and I wouldn't have been able to experience that if I kept my mouth shut. Now, I didn't know where that individual was at and I also know that not all situations will turn out that way, but I know I must chose to trust God with the results every time and continue to use everyday situations to share the gospel of Jesus Christ.

All in all, I want to encourage you to share neat opportunities like this with those you are around and come into contact with. If you remember your re-birthday, what I great opportunity to share your testimony with those God puts in your path that day. Remember, "as it is written, 'How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!'"

Hotel Tract Placement Ideas.

From time to time for work I need to go on the road and at the end of the day I end up staying in a hotel. These times can be lonely and one can start to think that time spent in the hotel is time lost for sharing Jesus Christ. That is when I starting taking advantage of the time God has given me at many different locations to share the good news of Jesus Christ with people I may never meet by leaving tracts in various locations within the hotel room. This ends up being fun because you never know who is going to get the tract and what impact it will have on their life. In this situation one gets to share Jesus without actually having face to face interaction. It is a great way for someone to do something for Christ. Below you will find some examples of where I might leave a tract in a hotel room. On this particular trip I left the tract in all places. Enjoy the ideas and have fun!This picture shows a tract on the back of the main door to the hotel room.
This picture is a close up of the back of the hotel room door to show how a tract can often fit within the plastic holder many times used to hold the privacy please or maid service needed label.

This picture shows the placement of a tract within the bible often times located within the hotel room. To take the extra step open to the actual passage the back of tract refers to and place it within that specific page. Close the bible and place it back within the drawer. This can help the individual who goes to open the bible, but does not know where to start reading.

This last picture shows a tract (a little 1 million dollar tip) placed next to the rooms keys that are left in the room due to an express checkout.

Manna! That's Good Bread Outreach Project.

Today at church our outreach ministry kicked off our first project of the 2010 year. It is called 'Manna! That's Good Bread." This project helps encourage the church body to share Jesus Christ with friends, family, co-workers or neighbors by signing up for 1 or 2 loaves of fresh baked bread packages. The package includes a loaf of freshly baked bread, an invitation to the Easter activities at church as well as an ESV Outreach New Testament. The cool thing about these packages is that when people sign-up for a package or two (or more if they would like) it is all for free. Now, if people don't have the opportunity to hand out a package there is an opportunity to sponsor a package for $2.00. Lastly, there is a sign-up for those interested in helping bake and/or package the bread, invitation and New Testament. The packages will be distributed on Palm Sunday which gives individuals a week to deliver their gift before Easter arrives. This is a very exciting event that is very well received by the entire congregation.

Corn Roast Outreach Meeting with the 'Jungle Boy'

At the church my wife and I are members at, I am currently the Outreach Ministry Chair where I have the flexibility to set up a number of different outreach projects (I intend to blog those different activities in order to help give ideas of different outreach projects the reader can do on either a large or small scale). One particular project that I have been working on is a community outreach project entitled 'A Community Corn Roast Event'. We have had this event for the past four years (last year was my first year organizing it) and it really ends up being a huge community BBQ that is free for the whole family. There is live music, carnival games, blow-up jumpy things, a car show and usually some other special activities.

For this years Corn Roast (5th Annual) there are some very exciting things moving into place. For starters we have lined up our event speaker: 'The Jungle Boy' Zach Walters. He is a recently retired professional boxer who has won many titles and was ranked as high as #12 in the world. Yesterday 'The Jungle Boy' and I had an opportunity to meet over coffee and talk about this years Corn Roast event where he had some very good ideas to help make this years Corn Roast the best ever (and last year we had well over 500 people attend). He stated he was open to signing autographs and allowing people to have their picture taken with him and his title belts. This is very cool and generous of him considering for most of his boxing career he has remained secluded. This is a great opportunity for the community to not only get a free meal, but also learn more about what has enabled 'The Jungle Boy's' success. Please stay tuned for future blogs regarding this event, for there is much more exciting information in the works...

Meaning Behind This Blog's Title

The first time I actually used this title was for my 2009-10 fantasy football team the 'Freeticket Ambasadors'. The term 'freeticket' was originally developed from one of the first tracts I purchased. It was a tract from Living Water's (see the link under helpful tools to check out this ministry) and was a free ticket to heaven tract which stated it would admit one person. If someone felt they did not need the free ticket, they could just tear it up...or so they thought. The catch was that the ticket was made with a special paper that made it very, very difficult to tear in half. Actually, it was nearly impossible to tear which helped get the point across of one needing a free ticket to get into heaven. The information on the back lead the individual to the understanding that the free ticket is Jesus Christ who offered himself freely so the individual could go to heaven.

The term 'ambassador' is biblical in that we are called to be God's Ambassadors as 2 Corinthians 5:20 states, "Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading through us; we implore you on Christ's behalf, be reconciled to God."NKJV As I contemplate that verse and realize that I am to be an ambassador, I began to wonder what the definition of an ambassador actually was. In Webster's Dictionary, I learned that an Ambassador is the diplomatic agent of the highest rank accredited to a foreign government or sovereign as the resident representative of his or her own government. As I thought about the definition I began to realize that God's Kingdom is the foreign government and we were the agents of the highest rank sent out to represent Christ. This is just a little picture of how God sees us...one of the very best ways to share His very important message. That's cool!

So, in case you were wondeing that is where the title "Freeticket Ambassadors" came from. Oh, and in case you were wondering how my fantasy football team did in it's first season under the team name 'Freeticket Ambassadors'. I went 14-1, took 1st place in the season standings and also won the championship.