Monthly Archives: September 2014

A community that stands with you

Hey our friend

Another week went by and another week to be thankful for. Last Monday we got some much needed rest after a busy weekend with Block party and Loren Event. God knows exactly when we need those times and just guides us perfectly. We also had the new DTS school start working with us. They are helping out at the boys and girls club and do Prayer Walks in the neighborhood during their time here. Please keep them in your prayers for this season especially for after DTS that they can take home what they learned in ministry time and reach their own communities. Thank you for praying.

A community that stands with you

DSC_0145San Francisco has the most famous prison in the world, Alcatraz. When it was still in service it was one of the highest security prisons in the world. One of the advertisements for the tourists today says: “Break the rules and you go to prison, break the prison rules and you go to Alcatraz.” I got reminded of Alcatraz when we were reading in Acts the story about how Peter got arrested and put in jail. 2 things that stuck out to me in that chapter: standing for each other as a community and faith in God that He actually answers Prayer.

Acts 12.5 So Peter was kept in prison, but the church was earnestly praying to God for him. Peter was put in jail but he was never alone. His community was standing with him in Prayer. Through that time of Prayer the community worked together with God and through that angels were released to free Peter out of a high security prison. It shows to me that when we stand together in unity God will move through us. It doesn’t matter if it is a famous apostle or someone that is struggling in their faith. We are called to stand with them as a community in unity. We also saw that with the YWAM building in the Tenderloin. Many believers stood together in Prayer as well as financially to make the impossible possible and see God move in powerful ways. Since September 23rd YWAM San Francisco owns the Tenderloin buildings!! Of course there is still a mortgage that has to paid off but God will make a way for that too!!

The second thing that really stuck out to me was the fact that after Peter was freed from jail; he came to that community that prayed for him which didn’t let him in because they couldn’t believe that he is actually free (Acts 12.13-16). That stirs up the question are we actually believing that God will move in areas that seem impossible through our prayers or do we just pray because we feel we are supposed to? I believe that when we start praying in the authority God has given us we will actually see more and more miracles happening. That didn’t just count for the Apostles during bible times, no that is still relevant today.

Start this week with praying for someone in your community in faith that God will change their circumstances and bring hope. See what’s happening.

Have a blessed week

Markus and Jen

Are you in focus?

Hey our friend

TH_calhoun terraceWow what a week and weekend. Last Friday 20140919_11023220140919_200212_Richtone(HDR)20140919_220428_Richtone(HDR)we had the founder of YWAM Loren Cunningham share with all the staff and then after with many people from the bay area about Global Missions and mission in the bay area. It was amazing to see all the different ministries that participated in this event and to see what God is doing in the big picture in the bay area. God is on the move worldwide and he wants to use you as well. And if you wonder if you are called, the only reason that you are not is if God told you that you are not, since He already called each one of us (Matthew 28.18-20).
And on Sunday we had a big block party (which Jen helped to organize) where we met many more of our neighbors. It was an amazing event!!

Focus

I don’t know if you are into video or Photography, but if you are you know how important focus is. When you take a picture you need to make sure that you set your focus on the object that you want to be the center and blur out the rest. This example is also true for our relationship with God. When we sincerely read our bible, spend time in worship or Prayer something in us changes and our focus starts to be on God. But to achieve that it is good to break down distractions beforehand. As an example you have this thought of work that you have to do, instead of keeping it in your head, write it on a piece of paper so you don’t forget and then you can deal with it after your time with God. Also silence your phone or any other gadgets that could distract you. Make sure you also set a good amount of time so you don’t have to worry that your time is limited. When we put our focus on Him it will actually help us to connect with Him in a deeper way. But not just that, it will start to transform our time with God and us, because we start living like Jesus who said that he is only doing what he sees His Father doing (John 5.19-20). And we can only see and hear what God is doing by focusing on Him and learning from Him.

We want to challenge you to look at your life and see where you are out of focus. Find those areas and put the focus back on God. It will transform you and many others.

God bless you

Markus and Jen

Get involved

Hey our friend

Our week in San Francisco was great. We hope yours was wonderful too!! Our month of September is really busy. Please keep us in your Prayers in this coming week. Friday night Loren Cunningham the founder of YWAM will speak at a big event close to San Francisco and Sunday we have a big Block Party which Jen helped to organize. Thank you for all your Prayers! We really appreciate you!
loren event

Get involved

When we look at our communities we often see things that aren’t going so good. In our neighborhood as an example we have a street which attracts the most crime in the whole city. This is not Gods Kingdom on earth as it is in heaven. No He has a different plan. God called us to bring his Kingdom into this world.

How can we do that? We can do that by getting involved into our communities. We can serve on committees or programs for our neighborhood, like a neighborhood watch or helping at local events that are going on. We can just help out with little things like cleaning up in our neighborhood.  It is important that we as Christians get involved in events outside of the church, because that is actually the place where we meet the people that still don’t know Jesus. We need to get out of our 4 walls and start showing our presence in our communities.

Loving your neighbor needs to be tangible.

I want to challenge you to find a place in your community where you can serve and invest in. Bring Gods love to the people that don’t know Him yet.

Have a blessed week

Markus and Jen

Invest your most precious gift, your time

Hey our friend

20140902_101641_Richtone(HDR) 20140902_085513_Richtone(HDR) 20140901_095028_Richtone(HDR)We hope you had a wonderful week. Jen and I got really blessed with a trip to South Carolina. Last year a good friend from the neighborhood passed away and he told his son that he should do something special for us so his son flew us out to his home in South Carolina. It was an amazing time with also remembering this wonderful friend. Thank you friends for that wonderful time.

While we were gone everything else just kept moving forward. One of our Staff started to give Computer classes for seniors in a local neighborhood center. Through that we are able to connect with more people and also bring hope to some of the elderly by connecting them for some to their far away family by email.

Invest your most precious gift, your time

When Jesus talked about to love our neighbor in Mark 12.31 it was not just a good advice, not it was a command. So in a practical way that means: To love someone we have to invest in them. If you want to see an outcome in anything you are doing you need to invest into that area. If you think about your finances, if you put all your money in a box under your bed you will not have any gain. But if you invest it you hopefully will see a gain. The same is true for relationships. When you spend time with family or neighbors and invest in them as an example by encouragement, bringing them closer to Jesus, help them with garden work, just spending time with them, you show in a practical way that you care. You are showing them by your action that they are loved. Over the years I met many fathers, but I have to say the best ones where the ones that took time out of there busy life to spend it with their child. Sometimes it doesn’t even matter what you do in that time, just you showing up already makes the difference.

I want to challenge you this week to make your most precious gift available to further the Kingdom, your time. Pray this week and seek God on how and who you should invest in. I promise you none of that time will be wasted.

Have a blessed week

Markus and Jen

Learn from your Heavenly Daddy

Hey our friend

20140823_214604We hope you had a great week. One of our highlights this week was a house concert at a friends house. It was amazing listening to them play. We also had a wonderful time at the coffee shop. The last few weeks have been a little bit slow and it might be because of summer time, but please keep praying with us for an increase of attendance

Learn from your Heavenly Daddy

When you read through the bible you see many times how God is choosing people that were mostly not the most educated. Just look at Jesus and some of his disciples. Some of them were fishermen and there family was probably doing that for generations. Fishermen was not a highly educated job at that time,so for them being asked by Jesus a Rabbi to follow him was a huge honor. But along with that Jesus didn’t keep them were they were at, instead he kept teaching them and they kept learning, and more important they wanted to learn. Most of the time he didn’t teach them in a traditional sense of a classroom, but more in the way of showing them how to do it and then have them do the same (Luke 10 Jesus sends out the disciples).

I believe this is something each one of us has to think about. We always have to position ourselves in an attitude of learning. Yes God chooses us the way we are. But to know Him better and also represent him well in this world, we have to learn from Him. We always have to live our life with an attitude and openness to learning something new. It can be through studying the bible, through spending time in God’s presence, reading books as an example on Gods character or by doing something that God called you to do and learning in the process. These are just examples, and there are many more ways but it is important that each one of us keeps learning from our father. Just remember Paul and how he talked to the studied people in Athens and how he used the unknown God as a way to bring Jesus to them. Of course he had to learn about that culture before he went and through that he was able to share with them in a way they understood. I want to challenge you to start looking this week on how to learn more from God.

Have a blessed week

Markus and Jen