May 2016 News

Dear Friends of Mission Surge,

I know that it has been some time since I last wrote, but we made the decision back in December to begin sending out the newsletter once a quarter, instead of once a month, unless necessary.  However, if you have questions or want info in between, please do not hesitate to contact me!

I ask you to please, please take time to read the links below.  Please lift these requests to the Lord.

Please take time to read this Indonesia News and pray for the Johnson family.  This is a very serious and stressful situation.  They will covet our prayers!

Also please read this brief Italy News and pray for Andrea's son and his family as they go through this difficult time.

Also there is a report from the Rizley family found here: Spain Newsletter from the Rizleys

Mandy and I have been very busy as well sharing the gospel each week at the Abortion Clinic in Jackson, as well as leading a Bible study for almost 100 kids at the local YMCA each week.  We are also actively engaging a number of internationals who are temporarily in Clinton.  This is very exciting to us because they are from a country with virtually no gospel access.  It is illegal for anyone of this nationality to convert to Christianity, and if they do, they are put to death.  We are able to openly share the gospel with people from an unreached and unengaged people group in our own language in our own backyard!  I cannot go into detail about this due to the sensitive nature of the situation, but please pray for us as we are seeing God open doors and work!

Thank you for your prayers and your financial gifts.  God has been so faithful.  You are appreciated, your giving is bearing fruit, and your prayers are being heard.

In Christ,

Kevin

December News

Dear Friends of Mission Surge,

I wanted to write you on this first day of December to wish you a happy holiday season.  It is, in my opinion, indeed the most wonderful time of the year.  Thanksgiving is the perfect time to look back and remember all the ways that God has blessed us.  Christmas is the perfect time to look up and remember the gift of God in Christ that makes life worth living.  New Years is the perfect time to look ahead and recalibrate our lives!  I trust that your Thanksgiving was blessed, that you are getting in the Christmas spirit, and that your New Year will be better than the ones before.

I would like to ask you to pause during this busy season in order to pray for a few things if you would.

1.  We are getting moved in and settled in Clinton.  We are looking forward to investing more of our energy in leading Providence, reaching out to college students at Hinds, MC, and JSU, and we are excited about the relationships God has allowed to be formed with increasing numbers of internationals here that are from unreached, unengaged people groups.  We are really anticipating being missionaries to the international community here in the spirit of J.D. Payne’s “Strangers Next Door.”  If you haven’t read his perspective on missions at home you should do so.  Check it out here:  http://www.ivpress.com/cgi-ivpress/book.pl/code=5758      We are really excited about the multitude of opportunities and possibilities.  Please pray that God would lead, guide, direct, orchestrate, and work.

2.  It has become evident that one of three things must take place in my life.  I must either

A.  Raise roughly $600 a month in support so that I can continue pastoring and 

             leading the growing ministry of Mission Surge in a full time basis.

B.  Or I must find a job that will enable me to meet the needs of my family and 

             yet will be compatible with my ministry.

C.  Or, I must increase in faith and trust the Lord to provide for us in 

             supernatural ways.  God has been faithful to provide for us in 

             amazing ways again and again, especially since we started 

             Providence.  I could literally write an unbelievable book. 

So, I am in a position where I need guidance.  Maybe God would have us to press on and trust Him to provide in supernatural ways. There is value in seeing God work in that way.  There is also much in God’s Word about church planters, pastors, and missionaries being supported by multiple churches, friends, and fellow believers.   At the same time there is value and honor in being a tentmaker.  I am happy to take option A, B, or C.  Please pray that God would lead, guide, and direct me!  Please pray that if He would have me raise support that He would move people to give.  Please pray that if God would have me be a tent-maker for the first time in my ministry, that He would open the doors for the right job (I have applied for about half a dozen over the past month and have not had any offers).  Please pray!

3.  Finally, I have been invited to travel to Haiti in January, North India in late March, China in the summer, and the Philippines in late summer.  I also feel an urgency to visit all of our missionaries soon, which will be costly. Please pray that God would lead me to go when and only where HE wants me to go.  Please pray that God would provide, as He always does, for the work.

Thank you for Your faithful prayers and support.  

(SINCE ORIGINALLY POSTING THIS NEWSLETTER, I WANTED TO CLARIFY THAT OUR NEWS IS NOT MEANT TO BE A REQUEST FOR FUNDING, BUT RATHER SOLELY A REQUEST FOR PRAYER.  PLEASE, AS YOU READ THE NEWS OF MISSION SURGE, PRAY FOR US AND THE WORK.  GOD WILL BE FAITHFUL TO LEAD, GUIDE, DIRECT AND PROVIDE.  THANK YOU)

Kevin

Sowing the Wind, Reaping a Whirlwind

Sowing the Wind....Reaping a Whirlwind

I am not a prophet nor am I much on politics.  I am just a no-name pastor.  So, what I am about to say is not coming from a legal scholar, a lawyer, a politician, or anyone with any national influence.  What I am about to say however, I do believe comes from godly wisdom. 
Between 1861 and 1865 America was involved in a civil war, at least partially, over the issue of slavery.  Thankfully, slavery in the United States came to an end after the Civil war.  After the civil war ended however, the sovereignty of the state was swallowed up by the authority of the federal government.  Thence ends one form of slavery, and thus begins another form of slavery.  States lost, and continued to progressively lose their sovereignty.  Through a multitude of grants for education, social welfare, construction, transportation etc. the federal government bought the states (and the citizens of those states) over the next 150 years.  Now, all 50 states and their citizens, are enslaved to their new master:  the political “powers that be” in Washington.  This epidemic of subtle slavery has spread like wildfire and it is for this reason that I believe America is destined to fall.  Consider the following thoughts.

1.  Senior adults (65 and over) are enslaved   

Social security came into existence in 1935 and, since then, the senior adults of this nation have become more and more dependent upon the Federal government for their sustenance and medical care.  Caring for widows and the elderly is no longer a need for churches.  Uncle Sam has it “under control.”  If a politician wants to go down fast, let him mention touching social security.  Those of retirement age in America are, for the most part, totally enslaved to and dependent upon the federal government. 

2.  Adults (18-64) are enslaved

Consider the number of people who are working and how many of them are dependent upon the state for their employment.  They are city employees, state employees, or are employees of businesses that are subsidized and upheld by government grants etc.  (I am NOT implying that it is wrong to have a “state job!”  I am just stating the fact that those who work a state job are dependent upon the state and the tax revenue of the state i.e. federal government)  

Consider those adults who are not working, but who have learned to work the system!  The number of people who have been purchased by the federal government for the price of EBT cards, medicaid, medicare, disability, and a mosaic of welfare options is continually increasing.  Again, caring for the poor is no longer a job for churches.  Uncle Sam has it “under control.” As of 2011, almost 50 million people received food stamps and medicaid!  49% of the population received benefits from one or more government programs.  Now, not only the senior adults, but those of working age (whether they are working, or are working the system) are enslaved to and dependent upon the state.  How many people have been sold at the auction block of America for the price of an EBT card?  All along they thought they were working the system, when in fact the system has been working them! 

3.  Young people (5-17) are enslaved

Consider the number of children in public schools in the nation.  As of 2011 that number was almost 50 million.  Say what you will, but the whole “our schools aren’t like their schools” argument no longer holds water.  All of the schools belong to Washington.  Why do you think the administrators and teachers go into panic mode when test time comes?  Panic ensues because the scores determine the ranking of the schools which determines how much federal funding the schools get.  After all, they cannot function without the funding of the state.  They have been bought with a price and are now the property, not of the people of the school district, but of the powers that be in Washington DC.  Consider the philosophy of Karl Marx who said that, “in order to establish a perfect socialist state, you have to destroy the family.  You have to substitute the government and its authority for parental authority in rearing children.”  Washington is training the masses in America to look to the state for protection, provision, and permission in every area of life.  If you don’t believe this is reality today, two words should get your attention:  Common Core.  The Public schools, no longer belong to their communities. They belong to Washington.  Again, I am not denying that some of the administrators and teachers in the public school system are seeking to be salt and light.  I am pointing out however that, if they shine too bright they will be snuffed out by the powers that be because the schools are no longer community owned and operated, but are the property of the federal government.

4.  Food, Water, Electricity and More

Consider the fact that Washington owns, at least on some level our nations farms and food.  The government has its hand in our water and electricity production.  We look to the government to help us with climbing energy costs.  We look to the government for subsidies that will lower the costs of our food, water, and electricity never realizing that it is our tax dollars (and all the fiat money being printed) that provide the subsidies!  

Our enslavement has been so subtle, we don’t even own our own property anymore!  Uncle Sam does. Consider this.  If you paid cash for your home and property you would say that you are debt free.  You would have no mortgage and that would feel great!  You would own your own home.  However, what would happen if you did not pay your property taxes each year?  The home is “yours.”  The land is “yours.”  But if you fail to pay your property taxes, the state will “repossess” “your” property and sell it because you failed to pay your property taxes.  If the state can take my property because I failed to pay them rent (property tax), the question naturally arises: who really owns my property?  

Virtually every aspect of our lives, our schools, our employment or lack thereof, our retirement, our homes, our state governments….all are enslaved to Washington!  We are a society that is as much a victim of slavery today as we were in 1860, if not more so.  We are just no longer enslaved to a plantation owner.  We are enslaved to politicians!  But that is not all.

5.  China and Russia

The vast majority of Americans have willingly sold themselves into slavery for a bowl of lentil soup.  But…and this is crucial to see….our task-masters…the federal government, have sold themselves, and us, to another master!  We have all been carried to the 21st century slave auction and sold to China and Russia.  The federal government’s fiscal irresponsibility (Republican and Democrat) has so indebted this nation (we are more than 17.5 trillion dollars in debt) that the average American citizen owes the government more than 55,000 dollars!  If China and Russia pull the plug on America and cash in on this debt, what happens? (And with China’s economy heading south…we might want to be careful!)

Which leads to the obvious question: Who will Set us Free?

1. Not the Politicians!

The Republicans and the Democrats are on the same paths.  Sure, one path may move a little faster to the goal than the other path, but the paths lead to the same destination.  The politicians are not the answer…they are the problem.  Are  we naive enough to think they will save us?  

Please don’t be so naive that you think the state government and politicians will save us either.  All the buzz about standing up to the feds is a bad joke.  It is not going to happen.  Our states are enslaved to the federal government.  
The federal government funnels money to the states so that they can then use that money to keep their citizens comfortably satisfied with grants, social welfare, and smooth roads etc.  To stand up to Washington would threaten those funds which would then cause discomfort and displeasure to their clientele which would then threaten their political standing in the state government.  No, the state politicians will play the game.  And let’s not forget that most of the state senators and representatives long to become U.S. senators and representatives.  Standing up to the big boys in Washington isn’t the quickest way to the top, so you can stop putting your hope in the local guys either.  They have sold themselves and their districts into slavery too!

2.  Not the Citizens

Please don’t wait for the citizens to stand up and do anything either.  For the most part the men in this nation have been castrated.  Can you see the Revolutionary War being led by a bunch of guys in skinny jeans and flip flops?  The younger generation is so feminized that the only place they could even begin to fight any type of battle would be on their game console!  
And let’s be honest…griping radio talk show hosts don’t help at all!  A griping head is no threat to anyone.  They just vent and give room for others to vent.  And please hear me when I say that liking something and sharing it on Facebook is almost as useless as playing your video game or watching fox news all day!  Do you really think the government gives a rip about your Facebook post?  They know as long as you are glued to the television and to social media liking and sharing you aren’t doing anything.  Carry on! 
Liking and sharing a post that says, “Try and take my guns and see what happens!” is as productive as me parking my vehicle in a crime-ridden neighborhood, leaving the keys in the ignition, and leaving the doors unlocked only to go into my bedroom, shut the door, and post on Facebook, “Try and steal my car and see what happens!”  While you are on Facebook, they are taking the car!
To make things worse, Americans citizens are as fiscally irresponsible as the politicians we elect.  The average american is more than 225,000 dollars in debt!  With our big houses, fancy cars, four-wheelers, boats, credit cards and more, we are so financially strapped, we can’t point a finger at Washington.  The federal government is up to its eyeballs in debt and so is the average citizen.  Bankruptcy awaits virtually everyone and no one seems to notice!  We are all amusing ourselves while Rome burns!

3.  No other nation

The European Union will not come liberate us.  The UN is definitely not going to come to our aid.  And Russia and China, the new powers that be in the world, aren’t real interested in assisting us either.  Our own nation is on the verge of total anarchy and lawlessness, which makes us a perfect recipe for a heavy handed and brutal dictator to force his way onto the stage. 

Conclusion:

America is enslaved.  The politicians in Washington aren’t going to help us.  The politicians in our state governments aren’t going to help us.  The citizens aren’t going to help us. And no other nation is going to help us either.  Our only help and hope is from God, who is not too pleased with any of us right now.  So what can we do? 

1.  We must prepare spiritually.  We must humble ourselves, pray, turn to God, and repent in sackcloth and ashes for our own personal sins.  There are a multitude of them on the national level, state level, county level, church level, family level, and individual level.  Read the Bible, look in the mirror of God’s Word and get honest with yourself.  We have sinned greatly. We have sown the wind and are reaping the whirlwind.  

2.  We must prepare mentally.  We need to get our minds wrapped around the fact that the course we are on must someday come to an end.  We don’t want to be tossed off of the plantation and share-cropping for the next 100 years without at least mentally preparing for the difficulties and dangers ahead.  Get your mind prepared for trials.

3.  We must prepare financially.  Get out of debt and get out of debt fast.  Sell everything you have and start over with a 1970 model car and a 1970 model 14 by 60 mobile home on 1/8 of an acre if necessary.  Get over covetousness, greed, and the idea of the American dream and get out of debt!  

4.  We must prepare physically.  What are the necessities of physical life?  Make a list.  Try to prepare enough for your family, your neighbors, and so that you can offer hospitality to strangers during another depression-like era. 

5.  We must prepare socially.  One of the biggest needs that I see is community.  We live in an individualized, independent society where we park in closed garages and have privacy fences around our yards so that we do not have to see anyone.  If America falls, we will need each other.  Get involved in a church family where you can link arms with other men and women. Build a community of like-minded faith, family, and freedom lovers in your neighborhood.  

6.  Forget Hillary and Donald Trump.  Pour your efforts into learning the constitution, the bill of rights, and the declaration of independence.  Teach it to your county officials.  Hold them accountable.  They will be our first line of defense against the tyranny of the state.  If they don’t know the laws and their rights, we are toast.  Fighting for and defending freedom at the county level is doable and fruitful!  Read here, a real ordinance passed by a  real town in order to secure their local rights:  http://www.sedgwickmaine.org/images/stories/local-food-ordinance.pdf  Vote for presidents and representatives, but invest your energy on the local level.  Elect people that have a spine and will stand up for their communities!  Then, work together with them to demand the same from your governor and state representatives.

Maybe I am wrong in my unprofessional analysis of the situation at hand in America.  But, I hope that at least we can agree that we are not on a hopeful course in America or the world.  I fear the hand is writing on the wall and we have been weighed in the balances and found wanting.  My hope is that we will at least turn off the ball game long enough to realize it.