Hey our friend

We hope you have a wonderful week while getting ready for Christmas. We will have a Christmas celebration at our house on the 25^th with friends from the neighborhood. It will be awesome!! And Thursday we will got to Pennsylvania to spend time with family there and also share with churches and friends about the work here in San Francisco. We want to wish you a blessed Christmas and hope our Christmas message video makes you think and challenges you.

Also if you are looking for an end of the year tax write off or would like to support what God is doing in San Francisco, think about supporting us in our work here in San Francisco! You can find more info on how under this link. Thank you for all your support and for considering us.

What is Christmas really about?

Enjoy the video.

God bless you

your friends

Markus and Jen

Hey our friend

We hope you are doing well. Last week we celebrated our annual YWAM Christmas party which was amazing. We had lots of fun. It is crazy to think about the fact that Christmas is almost here. Remember to spend some time thinking about the one who is the reason for the season. Also today our DTS is leaving for there Outreach to Thailand. Please keep them in your prayers. This is a picture of our North Beach students.

We also want to ask you to pray about to join our monthly or one time gift support team. Pray about it. You can click on this link for more info on how to support us. Thank you for considering us. It means a lot to us. May God bless you richly.

What are we running after (or the organ part 2)

Last week I wrote about an organ that I saw in a very old church. In that church I noticed something else, a second organ. It actually looked identical to the first one. But when you looked closer you saw that it was just a copy of the other one and that it was not functioning. I think that is another great picture of how important it is to be connected to God. There are many things in this world that promise you a lot. On paper many of them look great, but as more you look into it, as more you see, how they are not that great. Money, power or fame are some of them, but when you talk to people that succeeded in them without Jesus you see that it didn’t fulfill them. You see how it was just a cheap imitation of what God actually intended for them to have. I’m not trying to say that God doesn’t want to give you those things, but what I’m asking is:

What is your heart after? Are we running after Jesus or are we finding satisfaction in things that will never be able to fulfill us?

Jesus said once that He is the way the truth and the life and that no one comes to the father then through Him. So we need to get our focus right and ask ourselves this question. What are we running after and in which areas do we have to change our course? I think this is a question which we have to ask ourselves many times during our lifetime. Ponder on it and think about it.

Have a blessed week

Markus and Jen

Hey our friend

We had a great week in San Francisco. All our events went really well and we really saw daily Gods goodness again. We were invited to many different events and through that were able to make new friends in the neighborhood. God keeps opening doors. Keep praying for his guidance in this Christmas season. Thank you for all your prayers. We really appreciate you.

We also want to ask you to pray about to join our monthly or one time gift support team. Pray about it. You can click on this link for more info on how to support us. Thank you for considering us. It means a lot to us. May God bless you richly.

How can you be the most effective or the Organ part 1

While we were in Germany we visited a very old church. In the front part of the church they had a really big organ with big pipes. It was very impressive looking at the big organ, but then it was even more impressive to see the little keyboard on which you play the organ. It also didn’t look very impressive but the person that pushed the buttons controlled the organ. I think it is a great picture how God can use each one of us and there gifting. Just picture this. You bring Jesus to one person and that person becomes the new Billy Graham. You might not be remembered here on earth, but I promise you God remembers you. And the great thing is since God is the organ player He knows exactly how to use you at the right time. If you play the wrong tone at the wrong time the song sounds wrong, but played at the right time its beautiful. When we listen to Him He can share His heart with us and guide us. I promise you listening to God and his guidance is no wasted life, its actually the most effectively used life possible. We want to challenge you to start spending time listening to His guidance.

Have a blessed week

Markus and Jen

Hey our friend

Thanksgiving week went by so fast. We hope you had a wonderful time. We hosted a Thanksgiving meal at our apartment which was a wonderful time. This week we will have the whole DTS over to share more about the ministry and take them on a prayer walk. We are also going more towards the Christmas season. We want to encourage you to spend time in this season to really think about Jesus the man this season is about.

Also we send out our most recent newsletter this weekend. If you would like to receive it just sign up here.

We also want to ask you to pray about to join our monthly or one time gift support team. We lost a few supporters over the last few months and want to see if you would like to start partnering with God and us in the ministry we are doing here. Pray about it. You can click on this link for more info on how to support us. Thank you for considering us. It means a lot to us. May God bless you richly.

Unique is good

Recently I heard about an interesting phenomenon in the LA area. People pay a company to greet them at the airport as if they were famous. They roll out a red carpet and hire people that will wait for you and cheer at you. Then they drive you off in a limousine. The interesting thing about this is that this concept gains in Popularity. I think it is interesting how Salomon addressed this kind of situation in Proverbs 12.9

Better to be ordinary and work for a living

than act important and starve in the process.

He was talking about that it is better to be ordinary then to pretend to be something that we are not. I believe in todays society many people strive for being someone they are not. Maybe some want to be like a certain Hollywood star, a certain model or a certain successful person. But the thing is that they end up living there lives to become someone they are not and in that missing out on who God truly made them to be. I think many of those problems come from identity issues and not accepting who we are. Another one is from how we grew up and wrong things we believed that people and the enemy told us. I want to remind you today that God made you unique and wonderful. You and the world misses out if you don’t live out that uniqueness. You, the true you, brings a piece of God into this world that only you can bring. And always remember God doesn’t create junk but only unique and amazing things

Have a blessed week

Markus and Jen

Hey our friend

We want to start this off by saying how thankful we are for you. You are such a blessing to us and the ministry here. May God bless you richly. We hope you had a wonderful week. We had great moments in all areas of the ministry and are thankfull on how God is guiding us forward. Please keep our thanksgiving meal in your prayers.

We also want to ask you to pray about to join our monthly or one time gift support team. We lost a few supporters over the last few months and want to see if you would like to start partnering with God and us in the ministry we are doing here. Pray about it. You can click on this link for more info on how to support us. Thank you for considering us. It means a lot to us. May God bless you richly.

A day of Thanks

This week we will celebrate on of the big holidays with lots of Turkey, family and friends. With that special day coming up, I want to look a bit more at the impact of ungratefulness at the example of Israel. As thankfulness carries blessings I believe it is also true that ungratefulness carries curses and moves us away from God. When you look at Israel and the many years they were connected with God you can see over and over again how they were ungrateful.   Many times in the desert they complained about the situation they were in instead of thanking God for freeing them out of Slavery. They focused many times on the momentary short lived circumstance (walking through the desert and not having the good food of Egypt) instead of being thankful for what God has done for them. And every time they did that they end up slipping into sin and start walking away from God. But when they were thankful they were drawn closer to God.

 When you are ungrateful you have your focus on lack instead of God. But on the other hand, when you are thankful your focus is on the One that has everything you need.

But why is that? Because their focus changed. When you are ungrateful you have your focus on lack instead of God. That opens the door to all kind of things like trying to be happy through things you should not do. But on the other hand, when you are thankful your focus is on the One that has everything you need.

We want to challenge you this week with this little exercise. Find each of those days things you are thankful for in that topic: Day 1 friends, Day 2 things you have, day 3 the good things God did in your life (gave you a job, kept you safe etc.), Day 4 family, day 5 your church and the people in there. After you are done with that start looking into other areas in your life you are thankful for. Start every day of your week by thinking about 5 things you are thankful for.

Have a blessed week and happy Thanksgiving.

Markus and Jen