Heartcry Missionaries to Partner with Mission Surge

Dear Friends of Mission Surge,

I have sent out two previous emails this week introducing you to our new ministry partners:  Peter Vimalasekaran (Vimal) with Refugee Ministries International in Germay and Pastor Jerry Marcellino with ECCI, a ministry to Italian and Philippine pastors.  I hope you took time to read those reports.  If not you can go to kevinivy.com and read the previous 2 blog posts and get the news.  I want to share two more partners with you today that we are very excited about as well as a couple of other reminders/announcements. 

First, I want to ask you to pray for an unreached and unengaged group of more than 3400 Haitians on the small island country of Martinique.  These people have no church and no gospel witness.  We are praying that God would raise up one of the Haitian pastors/church planters that we worked with over the last two weeks to go to them as a missionary/church planter on Martinique.  This will take God calling a pastor and his family to go.  It will require the Haitian churches in the Dominican Republic pooling their resources together in order to help send and support this couple.  And it will require us helping to fund, administrate, and assist the effort in Martinique.  There is a very tentative plan for Gene and I to incorporate a brief visit to Martinique the next time we teach in the Dominican.  We are praying for God’s guidance and providential hand to work out His perfect will in this endeavor.  Please pray with us.

Second, I want to remind you that I will soon be posting quotes and notes from John Paton’s 500 page autobiography.  I have read through the entire autobiography notating those things that really hit me.  I want to share those insights with you and hopefully encourage myself and others to be more of a missionary in our own families, communities, and ultimately to the ends of the earth.  I will be posting these notes and quotes at kevinivy.com and I hope you will make it a point to keep up with them as I post them.  If they are of half the benefit to you that they have been to me, I know you will be encouraged.

Finally, I want to introduce you to our newest partners in our effort to reach the world with the gospel of Jesus Christ.  Meet Andrea Artioli and Giacomo Lerici. They are the founding members of Coram Deo Ministry and are planting a church (Chiesa Sola Grazia – Grace Alone Church) in Porto Mantovano.  (learn more at www.chiesasolagrazia.it ) The province of Mantova boasts a population of approximately 417,000 people, but there is little evangelical presence.  At the present, HeartCry Missionary Society is providing partial support to these two church-planting pastors.  Mission Surge will be partnering with HeartCry to support Andrea and Giacomo by handling the remainder of their support.  

You can learn more about this work and Coram Deo at:

http://www.heartcrymissionary.com/italy

We, at Mission Surge are excited to partner with Vimal (RMI), Jerry (ECCI), and now Andrea and Giacomo (Coram Deo)!  We will be helping to promote their ministries, raise awareness for their work, encourage prayer support, and financial support for their works. 

You can learn more about Andrea at:  http://www.heartcrymissionary.com/andrea-artioli

You can learn more about Giacomo at:  http://www.heartcrymissionary.com/giacomo-lerici

Please keep praying for us!  We are working through details with two other potential partners with Mission Surge and could use all of the prayer support that we can get.  

We are in the process of building a brand new website at Mission Surge where you can easily read updates about RMI, ECCI, and Andrea and Giacomo’s work.  You will also be able to donate online through paypal and/or secure instructions on mailing your donations.  We are excited to be a part of what God is doing around the world, and to be able to share it with you!  We covet your prayers.  Please pray for the work, and spread the word.  

If there is anyone that you think would benefit from receiving our email updates, please send me their email addresses!  I would love to keep the informed.  

In Christ,

Looking for Suggestions

This is a blog looking for suggestions or ideas, but...

I want to begin this blog post by reminding you that there is only one mission agency in existence.  I know that there is the International Mission Board, the North America Mission Board, Mission to the World etc. etc.  However, these are simply organizations that help facilitate missions.  They are not the mission agency itself.  I fear that sometimes we get confused and assume that they are the agencies, but there is really only one mission agency in existence and that is the Church.  No one else is going to do the job for us.  No one else is responsible but us.  And no one will be held accountable other than us.  If you are a born again believer then you are called to the mission, responsible for the mission, and you will be held accountable for the role you played in the mission.  The Church is it!  There is no plan B.  We have been commissioned to make disciples of all nations and we will answer for it.

Are you praying?  Are you giving?  Are you going?  If you are part of the church you are part of the only mission agency in existence.  You don't have to wait for the IMB to commission you.  Christ already has.  You don't have to wait until you can join Mission to the Word.  You have already joined the only mission agency when you came to Christ in repentance and faith.  You are a missionary and you cannot forget that fact.  It is so easy to get sidetracked and focused on making a living, following our favorite team, playing our favorite sports, and pursuing the prosperity, possessions, power, and prestige of the world.  Do not forget, that God did not create you and redeem you (assuming you are redeemed) in order for you to blend in with the rest of the world or even to stand out in the world as one who is successful by the world standards.  He created and redeemed you to be His missionary...his discple-making disciple and you will be held accountable for how you have responded.  If you are part of the Church, then be faithful to pray, to give, and to go.  There is no other way.

While the church is the only mission agency in existence, God has raised up organizations that help mobilize, support, and send people to the mission field that you can follow and/or get involved with.  There is the International Mission Board and Mission to the World, but there are also smaller scale organizations that are making a big impact like Heartcry Missionary Society and Life Outreach International among others.  Pray for the organizations that help facilitate missions.  Support them by giving.  Support them by going.  After all, you are already part of the missionary sending agency itself (the Church).  Now, be obedient.

I am looking for creative opinions, just for fun:  If you were leading an un-named organization that sent missionaries to unreached people groups around the world and supported missionaries on the field, what would you call that un-named organization?  I am looking for original, creative, thought provoking names for such an organization.  If you have any ideas, respond to this blog or email your suggestions to kevin@kevinivy.com

Thanks.  Until next time...