Category Archives: Markus and Jen News

We are Family

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Hello our friend

2013-07-12 18.08.50San Francisco was blessed last week through a team from Washington. A good friend of mine let a group of youth to San Francisco to help out at the boys and girls club and run a summer day camp at a church in Hunters Point. It was great working together with them to see more hope coming into the lives of many children in our city. Please keep praying that the work they started will keep moving forward.

We are Family

Jesus wont ask you in heaven how many people prayed the sinners prayer. But He will ask you, how many people did you disciple and be family to them.

When I think about family I think first of the family we are born in. But then second I think about our church family. So how many of us are actually seeing it as a family. I think many times people go to church and consume but then leave. I believe that is not family. If we are a part of a church we need to connect with people and invest in people. As an example if you prayed for someone to receive Jesus and they do so, that doesn’t mean its done. That means its starting. If you don’t walk alongside new Christians, many of them will give up their faith after a while and then it will be way harder to win them back.  Jesus called us to make disciples not converts. And how do you make disciples? If you walk alongside with people. If you are there when they need you and if you pray for them. Let them be a part of your life. Many people never experienced a true family where they are truly loved. But that is what we the church are called to give them. Just imagine this, you are going to church and you can share everything that is going on in your life with everyone and they will celebrate with you in your successes and encourage you in your failures. A place where you can be totally who you are and you are accepted. But to create a place like this we all have to do our part. We cant always expect others to come to us first, but we have to take the first step. So next time you go to church invest in people and become a family to them. Love on them and be real with them. You will see that when you do that you will get more back then you could have ever asked for. Remember these are your brothers and sisters and not competition

Have a blessed week

Markus and Jen

5 Billion people missing

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Hey our friend

Wow we had a crazy and wonderful week. On top of the normal weekly ministry times and tasks we had a team from China with us. They joined us in praying over our neighborhood2013-07-04 10.18.25 2013-07-04 20.00.39 and they also learned how they can impact the business community more with Jesus. One of the team members just became a Christian and prayed for the first time. It was a powerful testimony of the faithfulness of our father. We also had an old friend of ours come by for a visit which was amazing. During the weekend 2 couples which are good friends of ours got married. To get to both of the weddings involved a lot of driving since one of them was in Santa Barbara, but it was totally worth the drive seeing them start their lives together before God. And weddings are always a lot of fun too.

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This week we will have a team from Washington that will help out at the boys and girls club to bless them. Please keep them and the people we reach out to in your prayers this week. Pray for salvations and bigger breakthroughs in their lives. Also pray for an extra boos of energy for me and Jen. Thanks friend.

5 Billion people missing

When I woke up this morning I was spending some one on one time with God which is always wonderful and refreshing. He started to speak to me about His children and how he loves each one of them. When He started to share about that it made me think about how well I do in loving His children? God’s heart is to see all his children come back to Him. It’s not his heart to judge any of them without Jesus as a middleman.  Through Jesus all He sees is freedom since Jesus took on all of our and there sin to the cross and brought redemption. So how can we have a part in that plan to bring those children back to their father? Let’s look at the 3 examples Jesus gives in Luke 15. First he talks about 100 sheep and one of them got lost. He lets the 99 stay in safety in the open country just to search all night for the lost one. The same happened in the next parable with the coin. The woman in the story doesn’t give up till she found the missing coin. And then the famous story of the prodigal son. The son dishonors the family, spends all his inheritance and brings shame on himself as well as the family. What is the fathers reaction when he comes home? He runs towards him, hugs him and puts beautiful clothing on him and throws a party since he is so happy that his son is back.

We see in all 3 of those stories that it takes an action of either searching or going towards them. So our job is to find the people that don’t know Him and bring the good news to them. But it is important to not judge them because we see something wrong in their life, no but we have to show them that they are missed in the Kingdom. If a person truly feels that they are missed and loved they get a feeling of belonging, and that is what God wants to give them, a belonging to His Kingdom. And it talks about in Romans 2.4 that His kindness leads people to repentance. So think about ways how you can help 6 of your neighbors , coworkers, friends etc. experience God in this way. By doing this you bring more of Heaven to Earth and that is a really good thing.

Have a blessed week

Markus and Jen

Lets look back to look forward

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Hey our friend

We hope you had a great week. Jen and I were teaching last week 100 Mission Adventures Students at the base. It was really exciting to see God move in the lives of the students and leaders. We also had some wonderful times here in North Beach. I was able to visit one of our first friends in the neighborhood and spend some time with him. Keep praying that he finds Jesus. We also had the graduation of our DTS Students which was in some way a happy moment, but in another way a sad moment since it was hard to let them go. Pray for their time of transition that God will guide them and refresh them.

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Lets look back to look forward

Over the last 10 weeks we looked a lot at how to make true friends and change the world. There are many more things to say about this topic and they will be said in the near future. But I also believe that when God gives us something he wants us to steward it well. So I want to make sure that we all press in into the steps of the last 10 weeks (you can read them all by just clicking on the last few months).

  1. Pray for the 6 people God has put on your heart for 40 days.
  2. Make sure that you have a solid foundation (meaning be plugged in well at church and small group).
  3. Start building the relationships and start connecting with the new future friends
  4. Encourage and love on your new friends
  5. Invite them into your home and make them feel at home.
  6. Make it a safe place so people feel safe to share without fear.
  7. Ask the right questions that lead to the right conversations.
  8. Deal with fear in your own life as well as the lives of your new friends.
  9. Find out what influences your new friends and help them to find truth.
  10. Get involved in your community and serve together with your new friends.

These are all some easy steps but tie wise they can be different for each group. So be patient and don’t give up. Keep moving forward. There are 2 billion Christian on the planet. If each of them starts to reach out to 6 people and brings them towards Jesus we have pretty much reached the planet. Just a thought. Also when we look at the story of the talents in Matthew 25 we see that God really called us to use the giftings he gave us to bring fruit. Lets do this together and Make true friends and change the world!!

Have a blessed week and start to reach out

Markus and Jen

Get involved Week 10

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Hey our friend

Remember today and during this week that you are amazing and loved!! We had a wonderful but also really busy week here in San Francisco. It was awesome to see God moving in all the different areas of the work. Please pray this week for the kids from the boys and girls club that they are encouraged since they are all out for a weeklong camp. Please also keep all our sick friends in the neighborhood in your prayers. The coming weeks are going to be busier than usual for me and Jen since we have different helpers coming in and many speaking arrangements. Pray for Gods guidance for us in this time.

Get involved Week 10

During the last weeks we focused a lot inward, but today I want to focus outward. After you build a solid friendship with everyone, start reaching out together to your community or start to support a project that is on the heart of you and your new friends. Some probably will ask themselves the question how can I serve my community. There are many different things you can start with. If you live in a city start with a clean-up event or help at a local program (like a soup kitchen, shelter etc.). The great thing about serving together is that it brings even closer friendships. It will help each one to see that every person has something to give. It will help you and your new friends to see that God placed value on you and that he wants to partner with you. When you look at Jesus and the way he did things with his disciples you notice that many times some kind of service was involved. If it was handing out food, or going out and heal the sick. I’m sure he could have done another miracle so the disciples didn’t have to do any work, but he wanted them to be involved. And it also gives back to your community and people will see that God cares about them as well.

I want to encourage you to research and find places where you and your new friends can serve and with that think about what would work best for you guys. Have a blessed week.

Markus and Jen

P.s. this is a picture I took a few days ago in our beautiful city

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What influences our new friends Week 9

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Hey our friend

We hope you had a wonderful week. Our week was a week of training. Last Saturday we had a finance class for our missionary coworkers. We taught on how to make and live by a budget and save money on everyday purchases and some other topics. After that we had some great quality time with everyone. We also showed our summer interns around the neighborhood and talked to them about the work they are going to do over the summer. All in all it was a really good week. Please keep our friends in the neighborhood in prayer since 2 of them are dealing with severe sickness, one of them with cancer. Also keep praying for Gods guidance in everyday decisions.

What influences your new friends Week 9

When you look at our society today and how it gets influenced you will notice that the media and books have a big role in that. So it is really important to look at this area together with your new friends. When you watch a movie together you will have the opportunity to talk and discuss about it. There are many great movies out there that have a message of hope in them. And when you look at Jesus and his ministry you will notice that he often used Parables or stories to get his point across. Movies are the modern day story tellers. Of course not all of them are good movies to watch with your new friends, that’s why you have to pick one out beforehand.  Movies often open up a great conversation with your new friends and they will often open up the opportunity to connect it with your faith in Jesus. As an example, the last Superman movie had a conversation about why the world needs a savior. What a great opportunity to talk about Jesus. Also another way to go deeper is by reading a book together. Don’t pick a deep theological book but more of a story that gets people thinking. Something like a new York bestseller, which people recognize and have heard about before, like “The Shack”. It will also bring great discussions and opens up a door for a deeper talk. But again the same rule applies as with the movies; make sure you read the book beforehand.

So while still preparing look for some inspirational movies and books to get started.

Have a blessed week

Markus and Jen