*.....Live the mission as holy witnesses, demonstrating the awesome power of God in their lives.

*.....Be effective and victorious in spiritual warfare.

*.....Confidently develop their mission and/or participate in a myriad of business opportunities.

*.....Become a financial blessing to their families and communities.

*.....Provide significant financial funding and strategic support for Holy Spirit led Kingdom works and evangelism.

*.....Work together in unity to establish Jesus Christ's rule, mission, and reign throughout commerce worldwide.

*.....Bring the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ: to their sphere of influence by living their faith through a marketplace mission calling.

Once equipped, our mission with these mighty group of warriors will be released into the front lines of the marketplace battlefield. Together, we will take back the gates of commerce, and establish the Kingdom of God in the marketplace, worldwide.

All of this mission will be accomplished through the power of the Holy Spirit... under the direction of our Commander, the Lord Jesus Christ... and for the glory of our Almighty Father, whose Kingdom will reign forever and ever. Amen!

Dear Workplace Ministry Leader,

As a leader in the Faith and Work Movement, I think you will agree that it is vital that we understand the signs of the times and what these signs mean to our respective organizations.

On August 27 and 28 we came together in Virginia Beach as a coalition to examine a few core areas of ministry in an effort to get the pulse on where things are and how we as leaders need to respond. Following are a few of the key topics we addressed.

Tell Others About Your Ministry

One of the things we did at this meeting was to hear from every participant by way of giving everyone an opportunity to share a few minutes about their work so that others know what you do. Tables will be available to share resources with other ministries in a further update.

Round table Topic Considerations

Transformation of a Workplace or City: Pipedream or Reality A look at what it means to really impact a workplace for Jesus Christ and how some are doing it. Establishing quantifiable information that is an indicator of transformation. Panel Member: Dr. Ron Jenson, Life Coach Foundation Doug Small, Project Pray Brett Johnson,The Institute for Innovation, Integration & Impact, Inc

The Next Generation: Are We Missing the Boat? A look at the next generation and what we need to do to equip them.

Panel Member: .Mike McLoughlin, YWAM Marketplace Ministries, .Charis Hillman, Christian City Church/Nordstrom Dept. Stores .Denton Cormany, Priority Associates

The Local Church: Are we making progress in penetrating the local church?

Recent case studies and progress being made at the local church level.

Panel Member:

·Doug Spada, His Church at Work; .Rick Boxx , Integrity Resource Center;

The Secularization of Nations: Can the Tide be Turned?

There is a growing trend of secularizing nations. Can we turn the tide? What will be required?

Panel Member:

.Steve Hall, Kingdom Fellowship .Gerry Organ, CBMC Canada (tentative) .Professor Jim Bechtel, Regent University

Theology of Work: A focus on Educational Institutions to Establish a Course of Study

ICWM committee on theology of work reports on recent progress toward establishing a theology of work course of study for academic institutions.

.Kent Kusel, Marketplace Network

15 Minute Presentation

The Jeremiah Lanphier 150th Anniversary Celebration

September 21-23, 2007 How workplace ministries can be involved.

Brief overview and invitation to workplace ministries.

These are just a few of the topics we addressed.

The next session for two days, March 16-18, in Atlanta. To learn more and to view our

two minute video about this two day workshop/retreat, go to:

http://www.marketplaceleaders.org/pages.asp?pageid=41217

Can I really experience God in my work? How?

Why do most of us tend to segment our spiritual life from our work life?

Why do most Christians in the workplace live defeated lives?

Is there really a move of God in the workplace today?

How can I make Godly decisions in my work?

What if I work for a non-Christian boss?

How does the Bible define "ministry"?

Are there really people who are transforming workplaces, cities, and nations? (In China, over 10,000 people a DAY are coming to Christ)

How do I hear God's voice in my work life?

How can I transform my city?

os@marketplaceleaders.org

www.MarketplaceLeaders.org

P. S. Our groups will be small to allow a great deal of personal interaction,

but spaces are limited. Please register early to insure a spot.

Sincerely,

Os Hillman

Director

ICWM

YOUR PERSONAL MISSION: KNOW GOD

Did you know that you were created to have a loving relationship with God? He is patiently

and lovingly waiting for you to respond to His invitation to Salvation. Yes, you can receive

forgiveness for your sins and assurance of Eternal Life through faith in His only Son,

the Lord Jesus Christ. "God so loved the world that He gave His

only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should

not perish but have everlasting life.

For God's mission was not to send His Son into the world to

condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved" (John 3:16-17).

"Now this is Life's Eternal Mission, that they may know You, the only true God, and

Jesus Christ whom You have sent" (John 17:3).

You may be asking yourself: "How can I know God?" What is my mission? Man is able to know the true

and living God through His Word (that is, the Bible). The Bible reveals God's character and

His plan for mankind. It is through reading His Word that we come to a knowledge of

the righteousness of God and that which He requires of us.

What is it that prevents us from personally knowing God?

Our sin has separated us from God — our corruption is to such a degree that

we cannot know Him personally and cannot experience His love. God's

Word says, "All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God" (Romans 3:23).

Man was created to have fellowship with God, but because of his sin

(i.e., anything that is against the righteousness revealed in God's Law) he is prevented from that

fellowship. This includes anything less than perfect obedience to God's Commands.

"The wages of sin is death" (Romans 6:23a).

The ultimate result of this death is an eternity in Hell. This spiritual death forces a separation from

God. Man is sinful and God is Holy. This

creates a gulf unbridgeable by man making that intended fellowship impossible.

The only mission solution is a Divine Bridge — that bridge is Christ.

God created a way by sending His Son to pay the price for our sin. "God demonstrated

His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us"

(Romans 5:8).

He died in our place; He who knew no sin became sin

for us. This removed our burden of sin and allows us to enter into that desired fellowship if we follow His way and mission. He is the only way. Jesus

said "I am The way, The Truth, and The Life. No one comes to The Father except through

Me" (John 14:6).

The mission is not just enough that you know these Truths. To fulfill our mission we

must individually place our trust in Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior.

It is by repenting of our sins and believing on Christ that we can know

God personally and experience His Love.

This is the glue that holds us together in the Market Workplace. Our web-site designs and marketing

plans become our mission, and become even more clearer as we understand that just as the Eternal

Creator designed man, our web page designs and efforts will be the result of our focus on Jesus and

HIS designs for us in the market workplace

"But as many as receive Him, to them HE gave the right to become

Children of God, to those who believe in His name"

(John 1:12). "For by Grace you have been saved

through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the Gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast.

For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for

good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them" (Ephesians 2:8 10).

"Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ

for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit" (Acts 2:38).

You can receive Jesus Christ right NOW by faith. "If you confess with your

mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God

has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart, one

believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made to salvation" (Romans 10:9-10).

If you now believe on God and place your faith in His Son,

congratulations — and welcome to His Family. We, all

being His Children, share in a Heavenly Inheritance! We are Heirs to

Heaven and are promised the eternal pleasure of glorifying God. As our life here on earth progresses, God

will continue to work in our hearts.

Calling, Equipping and Releasing God's Kingdom Business Warriors into the Marketplace Worldwide

Mission will become a realty for you the New Believer". To get equipped check out our resources .....

International Coalition of Workplace Ministries, click here

mission means be conformed to image of Christ

We are daily being conformed to the image of Christ Himself.

We will begin to live lives of Righteousness. Obedience to God will not be a burden to us, but rather a joy.

You may wonder, now that you are a Christian, "What now?" Our mission and

greatest recommendation for believers, new and old, is fourfold:

1) Find a church so you might hear the preaching of the Word and rejoice in the fellowship of other Christians

2) Study The Bible for that is where we learn of God and His Plans and a personal misson for us.

3) Pray to Him to strengthen your faith and increase your love toward Him.

4) Enjoy the Blessings given by God in the Heavenly

Ordained Sacraments: Baptism and the Lord's Supper. All of these will work to encourage and build upon

your mission of faith. If you have any questions, search the Scriptures, ask your Pastor, or please feel free to click here and ask Greg on our PlainTruth Page


The Mission Work of the Church

Essential to an understanding of the nature of the church is an understanding of the work (mission)

of the Church. Scripture likens the church to a building belonging to and indwelt by

God. Ephesians 2:22, 1, Corinthians 3:9, 17. The builder,

foundation and cornerstone of this building is the Lord Jesus Christ as

attested to by the apostles and prophets who are part of the church's essential foundation and mission.

Matthew 16:18, 1 Corinthians 3:11, Ephesians 2:20.

The building mission takes full shape as believers, called "living stones," are placed together by

God on this one, enduring foundation (1 Peter 2:5).

The principal work of this building, the church, is to bring glory to the name of Jesus Christ by taking part in His Kingdom-building mission "to seek and to

save what was lost" (Luke 19:10), bringing healing to a world sick with sin and

cut off from God (Luke 4:18-19,2 Corinthians 5:11-21). Jesus, through

the Holy Spirit, invites, equips and commissions His followers to

participate with Him in this mission as harvest-workers

(Luke 10:2-3), "fishers of men" (Matthew 4:19) and

color="red">His "ambassadors" (2 Corinthians 5:20) - those called to

live and share the gospel of Jesus Christ.

The nature of the participation of Jesus' followers with Him

in this mission is brought into focus by one of the Lord's final commands before

His ascension to the Father. On a mountain

in Galilee, Jesus gave His followers what has come

to be called The Great Commission with its central command to "Make Disciples"

(Matthew 28:19).

This mission command is further defined by Jesus' instructions to

"go" (to all peoples), to "baptize" (in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit) and to "teach"

(all that Jesus commands). This commission to Make Disciples is to be the focus or the church's work until

Jesus returns in glory as implied by the Lord's promise to be with His followers "to the very end of the age"

(Matthew 28:18-20).

The WCG is committed to participate actively with Jesus Christ in His disciple-making work through His body, the church, in fulfil1ment of His Great Commission.

Note: In the thirteenth century a man named William Wallace became the instrument of freedom from England's tyranny over Scotland. A very wicked king ruled England. A tragedy in the life of William Wallace launched him into living for this cause. Initially his cause was revenge, but soon his cause turned to something bigger than himself - freedom for a nation.

When he challenged the commoners to fight for this freedom, they responded that the enemy was too great and that they might die on the battlefield. They also refused to fight for the nobles, the knights and leaders who had a vested interest in gaining more land for themselves versus a pure cause of freedom. Wallace's response: "Yes, we might die. We will all die sooner or later. But we will die for a cause worth dying for. So that our children and their children might live in freedom." This story was popularized in the movie Brave Heart (Sherman Oaks, California: Paramount Pictures, 1995).

Today we find many Christian workplace believers living a status quo relationship with God that is more characterized as "business as usual" than a life demonstrating God's power. Our focus is often more concerned with improving our standard of living than improving the Kingdom of God through our circle of influence.

While this takes place, millions upon millions die without the saving grace of Christ. Many other Christians die never experiencing the freedom in Christ that His blood paid for. God has called each of us to live for a cause greater than ourselves - a life that is dependent on His grace and power to achieve things we never thought possible through our lives. This is His plan for your life.

The apostle Paul prayed that He might experience the power of the resurrection in his life. This power is available to you and me to live for a cause greater than ourselves. Ask God what He wants to achieve through your life today. And consider yourself dead already to the consequences of what that might mean for you. (from Os Hillman Devotionals)


VOICE OF THE MARTYRS UPDATE (VOM)

Prayer Mission For The Voice of the Martyrs, see the Voice of the Martyrs page on the Ventures In Success Home Page.

"If you believe in God, you go to Heaven when you die. If you don't, you go to North Korea." Pastor Lee, a former prisoner of North Korea

If you've been watching the news, you know President George W. Bush and other world leaders are now working through diplomatic channels to address the North Korean government and its people, led by Communist dictator Kim Jong Il. While we pray for the success of these negotiations and for a just peace agreement, VOM continues to present the only hope for true peace that exists for North Koreans: the Prince of Peace, Jesus Christ. There is a spiritual war taking place in North Korea as our enemy seeks to destroy the souls of North Korea's citizens. Millions have starved to death in the past 10 years. Following "the God of Heaven" is considered treason, punishable by imprisonment or even death.

Caught in the middle of this spiritual battle are our persecuted brothers and sisters, bearers of Light in a terribly dark country.

We invite you to stand with their mission, to shine the light of Truth in the darkness of North Korea. Much of The Voice of the Martyrs' work in North Korea cannot be discussed publicly. However,we can tell you that we are supporting the spread of the Gospel, training leaders in the underground church and providing Scriptures to the mission workers of North Korea. Your financial contributions make this vital work possible.

Please follow the link below to see how you can get involved in this mission work and for a special offer on Soon Ok Lee's book, Eyes of the Tailless Animals: Prison Memoirs of a North Korean Woman. Also posted are links to a recent article by The Voice of the Martyrs and the horrific footage of how North Korea treats its "disobedient" citizens.
Join with us today in standing with our brothers and sisters in the spiritual battle for North Korea. Click here to learn more.

mission apology to the world

Open Letter of Apology to the World

Please bear with me, this is long overdue and there's lots of ground to cover. I want

to make sure that I get it all out. Not just for me, but because I think you need to

hear it. Maybe there are other Christians out there as well that need to make apologies

and will find courage here. I appreciate your mission time, I know it's valuable.

Dear Members of the World,

I'm just a guy, nobody really. Son of a preacher and missionary. Years and years of Vacation

Bible Schools, summer camps, youth ski trips, puppet shows, revivals, choir trips - you

name it. Even went to a Christian college and got a degree in religion. I ended up in the

business world, but I spent two decades tithing, sitting on committees, teaching Sunday

School, going to seminars and conferences, etc. I even met my wife in the single's class

at church. I'm not a bad guy, I've been mostly behaving myself and everybody seems to like

me. I do some good stuff here and there. But lately I've been trying to understand Jesus

more and stuff I never noticed before has really started to bug me. I've been taking a look

around and I'm having a hard time making sense of what it is we've built here. So, it

just seemed like, whether anybody else says it or not, I need to take responsibility for

the part I played and say what I have to say.

Here we go...

I know you think that Christians are a big bunch of hypocrites. We say we're more "religious" and we're going to heaven and you're not, and then we drive our big shiny cars with little fishes on the trunk and cut

you off in traffic as we race by the homeless guy on the corner. We average just 2% of our money to church and charity, despite that we say the Bible is the word of God and its mission says we're supposed to give everything.

On average, we buy just as many big screen TVs and bass boats and fur coats and makeup and baseball cards and online porn as anybody else. Maybe more. You've seen leader after leader end up in jail or court or a sex

scandal of one sort or another. Well ... you're right. We're guilty of all of it. We've done it all. And, I'm really sorry.

You see our cheesy TV shows and slick guys begging for money and you get that there's something seriously sneaky and wrong here. A high-pressure call for money so they can stay on the air? Were we supposed to use Jesus's mission

as just another form of entertainment? Who do we think we're kidding? Where's Jesus and our mission in all this? Aren't we supposed to rely on him? Isn't He going to meet our needs if we're inside His will?

What happened to sacrifice

and suffering and helping the poor? I'm just sick about this. I mean, the church leaders, they're not all bad guys, there are lots and lots of really hard-working well-meaning folks who love and care and are meeting

real mission needs in the community. Some of them understand and love Jesus - but I'm just real sure those pastors don't drive Bentley's, have multi-million dollar homes and their own lear jets! I mean, what "god"

are we worshiping? Money? Ego? Power? You see our massive shiny new buildings all over the place. Heck, maybe we even kicked you out of your house so we could expand our parking lots.

You can't figure out why we need four different Christian churches on four corners of the same intersection. We've got playgrounds and bowling alleys and basketball leagues. We've got Starbucks coffee in the

sanctuary. We've got orchestras and giant chandeliers and fountains out front. We've got bookstores full of "Jesus junk" with every imaginable style and flavor of religious knick-knack. But where's Jesus? Is

this His mission HE wanted?

Oh, sure, there are good folks all over and not every church is such a mess, but Christians are the ones that say we're supposed to be "One Body." So even the good ones are guilty of not putting a stop to it sooner.

We were supposed to keep each other in line and not tolerate factions and dissensions and greed and idolatry and all this other bad stuff. Man, we really blew it! We've got 33,000 denominations and most of

them won't talk to the other ones. We lose over $5 million a day to fraud from "trusted" people inside the church! We spend 95% of all our money on our own comforts and programs and happy family fun time shows and

we let 250 MILLION Christians in other countries live on the very edge of starvation. Not to mention the billion or so that have never even once heard of Jesus - or the homeless guy downtown we almost ran

over when we cut you off. We're as guilty as we can be. All of us. Nobody is exempt. We should have put a stop to it a lot sooner. But I can't apologize on behalf of anyone or their mission work or anyone

else. This is about me.

I know that you might have gone to church as a kid and stopped going as soon as you could. I know that you might even have been abused by somebody in the church! Maybe we got you all fired up about mission work and then just let

you drift off like we didn't really care. Maybe you just don't fit our "profile." You might have piercings and purple hair or tattoos or been in jail -- and somewhere inside you just know that even if you

wanted to go to church one Sunday, it would not go well. I'm sorry for that. Jesus loves you. He always hung out with the most unexpected people. He had the biggest heart for the folks everybody else tried

to ignore. What have we done? We've told you to put on a sweater and some loafers or you can't go to heaven. I just want to throw up. Look, I know you're mad. And you have a right to be. We've done you wrong for a LONG time now.

There's some things about Jesus that people need to hear, His mission for us, but we've buried a beautiful masterpiece under hundreds of layers of soft pink latex paint. If you have a Bible handy, look up Matthew 23.

(If you don't, you can look it up here - www.BibleGateway.com .) Find it? Read it carefully, the Pharisees were the "religious" people of the day, the leaders of the faith. In this chapter Jesus SEVEN times

says how pitiful and wretched and cursed they are for what they're doing to the people they're supposed to be leading. He even calls them "white washed tombs of dead men's bones" and a "brood of vipers"!

I don't have time here, but read it and see if we're not doing EVERY single one of those things. Jesus can't possibly be happy about what we've done to you.

Sure, we like to kid ourselves and pretend everything is OK - but it's not. We're hated. Now, please understand, Jesus was hated, too. But that was because he said hard things and sometimes people don't

like hearing the Truth. And he promised we would be hated if we were like him. But that's not why we're hated at the moment. We're hated right now because we're a giant pack of lying hypocrites that say

one thing and do something else altogether. If we were hated because we were like Jesus, that would be one thing, but that's not it at all. You see right through our happy music and fluffy services and you can

tell there's something desperately wrong here. We're no different than anybody else - except that we say we're better than you. It was never supposed to be like this. Jesus asked us to care for the widows and orphans,

to feed the hungry, care for the sick, visit those in prison, reach the lost. He wanted us to love our enemies and pray for them. He cared about human justice and suffering, the lost and lonely. But I don't think

He would have marched on a picket line - He had His mind on much bigger problems. He wanted us to focus on the eternal things, not the everyday. He never once said to go into all the world and build big buildings

and divide up into factions and buy Bentleys. Just the opposite! I get that you're mad at us and I think you have a right to be, but please understand, you're mad at what we've made under our own power, you're mad

at "Churchianity." That's different than Christ and His mission He wanted. Don't be mad at Jesus! This mess wasn't His idea! Look, I'm really sorry. I accept responsibility for my part in having hurt you. But

I'm committing to you all, dear Members of the World, that I'm not going to do it any more. Not a single penny more. I'm not going to put my faith in "Churchianity" or any leader or program or TV show --

but in Christ Jesus and His salvation mission. That's when I was set free and began to see that God wants and expects more of us than this. And I'm not helping anybody that's not fully committed to the same thing.

It took centuries to build this monster, so it's not like it's going to just turn around overnight. But the times are changing and we're way overdue for something new. Big bad things are happening - like the

tsunami in Asia - and I think more are coming. I don't want any more time to go by without having said this. I'm sorry for all the time and money I've wasted. But Jesus saves. Really. The church itself isn't

even the point. Jesus is the real deal. He lived and He died for my sins and He rose again. He is who He said He was and He cares about me - and you. He's our only hope. We need places you can go that will only

teach Jesus and will not be swayed or tempted or distracted by anything else. God willing, that's coming. Please don't think all Christians are just posers. Some of them really mean it when

they say they belong to Christ. The problem is mostly in the West where we're all comfy and complacent and seem to like it that way. The Christians in China and other places are deadly serious. There's no

room for anything but Jesus when you're on the run from the government. They are dying every day for their faith and doing crazy hard things because they're absolutely committed to Christ. These are

martyrs. People willing to crucify little pieces of themselves every day to be more like Christ. People willing to set aside everything they want to do what Christ wants. People willing to rot in prison or take a

beating or die if that's what it's going to take. People that act in pure love and never back down. I'm not worthy to tie their shoes. And there are some like that here, too, and I hope we can get a lot more

people to start living that way. It's way overdue. If you're talking to someone and they tell you they're a Christian, ask them if they're the kind of Christian that really means it all the time or

the kind that just means it on Sunday. The Bible says we'll know them by their "fruits" - by the faith and purity and love in their deeds and words. When you find one that proves Christ is in them by how much

they love you, ask them to tell you all about Jesus. If you know one of those fearless martyrs that speaks nothing but pure, clean, hard Truth - ask lots of questions. Truth is a lot more rare than you would think.

But don't settle for soft, fluffy and comfortable anymore - that's not in the Bible.

As for me and my house, we're really sorry. From now on, our mission is going to serve the Lord, not "Churchianity." We're going to try to call together as many of those martyrs as we can and start doing what Christ wanted.

If I run into you someday, please give me a chance to shake your hand and apologize in person. I'm going to try harder from now on, I promise. I think there are lots of others feeling the same way, so don't be surprised

if you start hearing stuff like this more often. Thanks for your time. I hope it helps.

Doug Perry - Liberty, Missouri, USA www.FellowshipOfTheMartyrs.com fotm@FellowshipOfTheMartyrs.com


Mission and what we believe at Christian Life On-Line Fellowship, click here