Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: Foreign.
We are going to praise our God.
[00:00:08] Speaker B: Who is so worthy of praise with the song.
[00:00:10] Speaker A: Praise.
[00:00:11] Speaker B: But we're going to do it a little different today. We're going to do it in Spanish and English in honor of missions emphasis week. Don't let that scare you.
Do the best you can. Sing it in English, dance, have fun. The goal is that you're focused on our God who is so worthy of this praise. Amen.
Okay, let's do this.
[00:00:28] Speaker A: All right, so repeat after me, okay? Yeah. Here we go.
Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord as long as I'm breathing I gotta God.
[00:02:44] Speaker B: Put your hands.
[00:02:45] Speaker A: Together.
[00:02:49] Speaker B: Praise the Lord.
[00:02:58] Speaker A: I'll pray cuz you're sovereign Pray cuz you, you reign Praise cuz you rose and defeated the grace I'll praise cause you're faithful Praise.
[00:03:08] Speaker B: Cause you're true Praise cuz there's nobody.
[00:03:11] Speaker A: Greater than you I love what healing.
[00:03:15] Speaker B: I love what.
[00:03:21] Speaker A: Is Praise the Lord of my soul Praise the Lord of my soul I won't be quiet My God is alive how could I keep it inside? No no, no, no.
Praise the Lord.
[00:04:23] Speaker B: Put your hands on together.
[00:04:48] Speaker A: Praise the Lord.
[00:04:48] Speaker C: Praise the Lord.
[00:04:49] Speaker A: Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord.
[00:04:59] Speaker B: All of Jesus for all the world takes all of us let's say it together all of Jesus for all the world takes all of us that is our prayer this missions emphasis week that we will just capture this big idea of who Jesus is and how big the world is and that it's him for all. And then we will have a posture where we get to pray about what that means for each of us as we are part of the story. So this is the second week of our missions emphasis week. We kicked it off last week. You saw in this video, we had an awesome time of worship with Mauo and Janet and learned about Nigeria. We've been having treats and sights and smells and sounds of these different worship languages and things. And then as well, we have just had a great week of prayer just talking to God together as the church. And so it has been an amazing week and we are so glad each of you is here for our week two. Again we say missions emphasis week is just our rally, our.
Our. Our time together to celebrate. But it's really something we do every day, every week, year after year because God's the big deal here. And so we are so glad that you guys are here again. Today we will get to hear from our international workers that of the Christian and missionary alliance that we're not saying the name of until after the offering and then we will cut the live stream and go to the Alliance World Tour for people online and then we'll be able to talk freely about our people serving in Central Asia. But we are so excited that each of you are here and just praying that you guys will be blessed to take our next step as we figure out when we talk about all of Jesus for all the world, taking all of us and we get to do that together.
If you are new here, my name is Julianne and I get to work here doing outreach admissions. Best job ever. And I really do love getting to come here each Sunday worshipping with you guys and our church.
A little bit of how we work is we have sermon notes available on the tables as you come in and that is also available online and in our app. So you can take notes in the app livestream. Friends, feel free to do that as well. Well, and we would love for you to follow along with our day.
And then also we have a connect card in the pews. We would love for each person to share if they have something they need more information about or a prayer request. You can drop this in the offering bucket or live stream. Friends, you can fill this out online as a way to connect. And if you are a guest and ready to make to learn the next step of Westgate. We do have a guest services team out in our main lobby and we would love to answer any questions, pray with you. We have a gift for you, give you a tour of the building, whatever's on your mind. We would love to make that connection. So we have our connect card and then just one other thing is that it's a communion Sunday and so shortly into our service we will have a time of communion. If you want to grab those elements and be prepared. We're excited to just be the church together.
So with that, let's have everyone stand up and say hi to somebody and maybe share the highlight of your week. Whether it was something with missions emphasis week or or something else, just share what something good has been this week.
[00:08:18] Speaker A: What a privilege it is to get to worship together.
Amen.
The first service, we had a lot of technical difficulties and I was just reminded how we don't need any of this stuff to worship God.
Right? It's not a need. It's cool to have it, but it's not a need.
And then I'm also reminded today that the person we're hearing from in the message is from a country who is not free to worship Jesus. That's why we have to cut out the live Stream, think about that for a second.
Something we do every Sunday, every Sunday in here, free to do. We come in with our coffee, we're comfortable, and we walk out these doors and we're good to go the rest of our week without any fear of being killed or persecuted for what we just did in here.
It's kind of humbling, isn't it? It's a sobering thought to think that there's still people in the world today that don't have freedom to worship Jesus.
So for a moment, I just want you to bow your heads and close your eyes.
Just quietly in your own way. Thank God.
Thank him for this opportunity to worship freely.
I'm laying down my life I'm giving up control I'm never looking back I surrender all I'm living for your glory on the earth this passion in my heart this stirring in my soul to see the nations bow for all the world to know I'm living for your glory on the earth for the sake of the world burn like a fire in me light a flame in my soul for every eye to see for the sake of the world burn like a fire in me Awaken my soul awaken my soul this passion in my heart this stirring in my soul to see the nations bow for all the world to know I'm living for your glory on the earth may that be true for the sake of the world burn like a fire in me light a flame in my soul for every eye to see for the sake of the world burn like the fire in me for the sake of the world burn like a fire in me Light a flame in my soul for every eye to see for the sake of for every knee to bow down for every heart to believe for every voice to cry out Burn like a fire in me for every tongue to to confess you alone are the king you are the hope of the earth Sing that again. Let it be your prayer for every knee to bow down for every heart to believe for every voice to cry out Burn like a fire in me for every time to commit confess you alone are the king you are the hope of the earth live for the sake of the world burn like a fire in me light a flame in my soul for every eye to see for the sake of the world burn like a fire in me for the sake of the world burn like a fire in me light a flame in my soul for every eye to see for the sake of the world burn like a fire in me for every need to bow down for every knee to bow down for Every heart to believe.
For every voice to cry out Burn like a fire in me. For every tongue to confess.
You alone are the key. You are the hope of the earth.
My life, I'm giving up control I'm never looking back.
I surrender all I'm living for your glory on the earth.
Hallelujah. Give him praise around.
[00:15:34] Speaker D: You may be seated. We are going to take communion together at this time. And if you didn't receive any elements, our team's going to come forward and you can slip up your hand and they will bring those to you.
But as we've been going through our missions emphasis week together, for me, I think the most exciting part is the reminder for us that we have the absolute best news ever to share with the world. Amen.
The best news ever of what Jesus Christ did for us by going to a cross and dying for our sin, to reconcile us to God. And because of that, we have the privilege, even as those who at one point had rejected God, we have the privilege to go out and to share with the world the great news that Jesus saves.
And this morning, as we come to our time of communion, it is a time for us to, as a church, to remember all that Christ has done, to worship him and to give him thanks.
And part of that is to get our hearts and to make our hearts right with him as we go to him, to continue that surrendering of our lives, but also to allow his death and his resurrection to be the very thing that inspires us to continue to go out and to share the good news of His Son with others. And. And so this morning, as we enter into this time of communion together, I would just invite you to bow your heads and close your eyes with me. And I'd like us to take the next few moments together, just allowing God to kind of search our own hearts. And maybe there's some sin or something you've been holding onto in your own heart, in your own life, unforgiveness of another person or something you've been wrestling with.
And as we come to this time of remembering what Christmas done, we want to come with pure hearts. And so let's just use this time to let God for the next few moments to search our hearts.
And if we find that there's a place we need to ask for forgiveness for, let's do it.
Remembering his grace and his love and his mercy that he poured out on the cross so that we could receive forgiveness and be reconciled to God.
Let's take these next few moments to pray together.
We thank you Lord, for Jesus, we thank you that we can come to you and approach your throne with confidence to know that you are for us even when we fail, even when we wrestle with sin.
You wait longingly for us, God, to come to you to confess our sin and to surrender our hearts and our lives to you. And so we do that this morning as an act of worship.
Thank you, God, for the gift of Jesus, his death on the cross that covers over our sin. We confess that to you this morning and ask God that you would continue to transform us and to make us into the people that you desire for us to be.
But even more God, as we reflect on the gift of your Son, that wouldn't just be about our forgiveness, but it would be about sharing that same forgiveness with a world that desperately needs you.
And as we'll talk about the this morning, God, parts of this world that don't have people to tell them.
May you give us a passion to be those who would spread the good news of your son.
Paul says in First Corinthians, chapter 11, that on the night that Jesus was betrayed, he took bread and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, this is my body, which is what broken for you.
Do this in remembrance of me. Let's take together as we remember his death on our behalf.
Paul continues, and he says in the same way, Jesus took the cup and he said, this cup is a new covenant in my blood.
Do this whenever you drink it, in remembrance of me. Let's take together, Lord, may our hearts be filled by your love.
And may your love be the very thing that inspires us to go and to share with the world around us, whether it be in the place we work, in our schools, in our homes, with our families, in our neighborhoods, in our city, or, Father, even to the uttermost parts of this world.
May your love inspire us to be a part of your mission.
And because of it, may you receive glory from our lives in Jesus name. Amen.
[00:21:11] Speaker A: Sad Far beyond what hearts could ever dream the God who set the galaxies in motion would descend to give his life for me.
For what could make perfection bleed for sinners what leaves needs a king to pay so great a cost all my life my heart will sing the answer only the love of God Amen.
Singing oh, how great is the love of God he paid our debt on that rocket cross for all our days we will sing our Savior's praise How great is the love of God.
[00:22:51] Speaker D: It'S.
[00:22:51] Speaker A: So kind it leads Leads us to repentance it's so bright the Darkness has to flee Hallelujah. It cleared my guilty sentence For I was bound but now I stand redeemed for what could break the stone saints of any prison what force could rob the power from the grave?
Oh, I would train my racks were heaven's riches Only the love of God Hallelujah Singing oh how great is the love of God he paid our debt on that rugged cross for all our days we will sing our savior's praise how great is the love of God thank you, Jesus and though I try my mind can't comprehend it it's so high too marvelous for words I could sing a million songs about it and barely scratch the surface of your worth this all my life this banner I'll be waving my anthem cry no matter what may come and when I rise to walk the streets of heaven I'll still be sinking Song all my soul Song for everything that you done how great the love of God Sing it oh, how great is the love of God he played our death on that R For all our days we will sing our savior's praise how great is the love of God we're singing oh how great is the love God Cross for all our sa we will sing our savior's praise Hallelujah.
How great is the love of God how great is the singing give of God how great is the love of God thank you, Jesus. Thank you, Jesus. Amen.
[00:26:39] Speaker D: You may be seated.
Just want to say to all of our people that are at home or traveling and watching on our livestream, we are thankful that you chose to worship with us this morning. As we mentioned last week, because of the sensitive nature of what we're going to talk about in our service this morning, we have something special that we have planned for you. And so here in just a moment, we are going to have you cut away to a couple of announcements and then a really incredible message from Tim Meyer who worked at our national office and is going to be sharing the latest update of the alliance global tour. And so we are excited for you to get to hear about what God is doing.
So goodbye for now and we're going to get back to what's happening here in this room. So good morning and I want to thank you again for joining us today online for the second week of our missions emphasis week. Before we jump into the message portion of our service, there are a couple of things that I wanted to take a moment to remind you about. All week long, we have been talking about the five different ways to engage and participate. Participate in missions. You'll see this insert in your sermon notes this morning if you download them online.
But in it we list five ways to engage, to pray, to welcome people, to mobilize, to send and to go. And we would love for you to take time to not only read through this, but to pray through and to ask God, God, how would you have me be a part of reaching the nations with the good news of the Gospel as well this morning? If you were with us last week, you'll know that we're going to be collecting our all of Jesus for all the World commitment cards for people that want to give financially to the Great Commission Fund of the Christian Missionary Alliance. This fund enables all of the international workers that we support as a church with the alliance, but also many worldwide to be able to do what they do in taking the Gospel to the least reached parts of this world. If you would like to participate, you can fill out one of these commitment cards for adults, but we also have them here for children and so we would love for you to check those out and if you would like to make a commitment, you can bring them back with you any Sunday to make that commitment and then you can give through, check or even give online.
So thank you for prayerfully considering how it is that God would have you be a part of the move to take the Gospel to the nations now this morning we're excited because while we have a great thing that's going to be talked about in our service, we aren't going to be able to show it simply because we're going to be talking with international workers from a creative access country.
However, we have something equally exciting for you. We're going to have you listen in to Tim Meyer who at our last General Counsel shared the the worldwide global update of what is happening with alliance missions all around the world. It is new information but will give you an opportunity to immerse yourself in the ways that God is working all around the world to take the Gospel to the least reached places. And so sit back, grab your coffee or drink and enjoy this really awesome journey to hear about how God is moving.
[00:29:58] Speaker A: The world.
[00:29:58] Speaker C: Story is one of chaos.
[00:30:09] Speaker D: Russia has launched a full scale invasion of Ukraine.
[00:30:12] Speaker C: One of the worst massacres in the history of Burkina Faso. Al Qaeda militants gunned down around 200 residents. Wildfires rage across the Los Angeles area.
[00:30:21] Speaker A: The Congolese government says what's already happened.
[00:30:24] Speaker D: Amounts to a declaration of war.
[00:30:26] Speaker C: Gunshots ring out.
[00:30:29] Speaker A: Where to run?
[00:30:30] Speaker C: Where's safe?
[00:30:34] Speaker A: Who can tell Gaza's children when their suffering will end?
[00:30:41] Speaker C: These realities are faced by people all over the globe, including many of our international workers. But you grateful that this isn't the end of the story?
That this isn't God's whole story.
The pain and the suffering and the stress of this world is real. And nothing I'm about to share this morning minimizes any of that. But Kingdom work is counter narrative to the world.
And when God gives us eyes to see this new story, we can see him at work in the midst of of the world's chaos, even when it seems impossible.
For instance, over the last 12 years, the world has not been a boring Place.
But 567 international workers have been sent by alliance missions, 421 churches have been planted and $754 million have been raised for alliance ministries in the US and across the world.
Praise God.
Together alliance family Our mission is to go and make disciples of all nations to see all of Jesus for all the world. And some seeds that were planted over 140 years ago are starting to sprout. New tender shoots can be seen in some areas and a bountiful harvest has sprung up in others. All because you make it possible for alliance workers to stay and do the hard work of sowing and nurturing and reaping in the middle of war and unrest. We have people planting churches.
The alliance continues to advance in unreached places. So the question for us this morning is are we the kind of people that continue to have eyes to see and ears to hear?
Our work takes place in the United States and in about 70 countries around the world through highly trained workers who serve via the four structures of Alliance Missions, Access Comma Envision and Marketplace Ministries.
Did you know that your alliance family has a nurse on the Nile, a Jiu Jitsu champion in the Persian Gulf, creative aquaponics developers, agricultural farmers in the Philippines, kids show creators in Cambodia, pilots, radio broadcasters, teachers, vet tech, business owners, all for the sake of proclaiming Jesus name.
That's what the Kingdom of God is like.
God is present in the chaos and he is above the chaos.
Before we jump into hearing about our regional stories of impact, let's take another quick look at the overall landscape.
We currently have almost 700 international workers sent from the US alliance. 82% of these workers are serving in the least reached part of the world, many of them among 200 unreached people groups. And last year alliance missions had 1.4 million gospel interactions with people.
54 new international workers were sent in 2024. That's more than we even prayed for. And we prayed for two open doors and God opened five.
So we give him praise.
After the first year of the Now Campaign, 50 new churches had been established since Council 2023. 58 new plant projects were added to the pipeline. We always praise God because we know that it's not from us. Every good and perfect gift is from above.
We celebrated this year the 50th anniversary of Alliance World Fellowship. And we continue to honor 100 year anniversaries of Alliance Gospel Access in Cambodia, in Mali, in Burkina Faso and in Colombia that have taken place over the past couple of years.
Also in our Alliance Missions World, as you know, comma services celebrated 50 years of transformed lives and restored communities.
It's our fourth Alliance World Tour this morning. I just want to share a few stories, some of what you've heard this week of God in our midst. And as we're aware, many of our workers serve in dangerous locations, so we can't put them at risk and we'll avoid specific country names and photos.
We'll start here. Latin America has become a sending continent. Over 180 workers from Latin America have now been sent to to countries around the world. And we praise God for meaningful. Yeah, Amen.
We praise God for meaningful, impactful presence that empowers local believers to share the gospel and go themselves to the nations. Hundreds of people in countries like Colombia, Chile and the Dominican Republic received training to sharpen and expand their evangelism skills through Bible storytelling and orality through just one mission conference. In Chile, over 200 people were involved in a biblical training through generous support of church planting and pastoral training. In Paraguay, over a dozen ministry leaders have been developed through the Alliance Ministry Institute of Paraguay. IMAP in Spanish this past year, over 200 pastors and church planters were supplied with bicycles in Cuba through bike evangelism efforts.
Also in Cuba, two shipping containers filled with food, medicine supplies, clothes and construction materials were distributed to hundreds of struggling families. In total, 18,000 pounds of food, 2,000 pounds of medicine, 900 pounds of toiletries, 4,800 pounds of clothes and shoes, and over 52,000 pounds of construction material and tools were delivered to people in need across Cuba.
The generosity of alliance people fostered the education of eight graduates this year from the National Church Seminary in Uruguay. And more than 40 other students are now enrolled in coursework that prepares them for pastoral and other key leadership roles in their churches.
5000 people in one region of Columbia now have reliable and safe access to clean water for the very first time, which strengthens the reputation of the local church even among the non believing community and among access ministry. In Mexico, a neighborhood prayer walk led to a mute six year old girl speaking for the very first time. And she's bilingual.
She started speaking in Spanish and in English.
Praise God.
Like Deuteronomy 10 tells us, God is the one we praise because he performed these great and awesome wonders.
Our work in Asia is also full of his goodness and his grace. In two Southeast Asian countries, theological education by extension has impacted 4,800 students, over 2,200 of whom are graduates prepared to lead vital ministries among their own people.
At three youth centers in a war torn region of Southeast Asia, education, shelter and food was provided to 98 children who are also nurtured in their spiritual growth.
We also have big changes happening. You've heard about it this week in Indonesia. The capital is moving. And if you haven't yet, imagine the chaos of moving a country's capital.
What does that even mean?
A lot of chaos. But our people are in it and they're picking up their lives to go and to be present. Why? Because the new doors opening there in this relocation give unprecedented, unprecedented access to five people groups that we've never been able to reach before.
We're grateful for our workers also who began to minister among a people group in Indonesia over 60 years ago.
They were the first known outsiders to enter the area this past year, through the support of a multi generational translation project that began in the 1970s, this community received the first copies of the Bible available in their native dialect in Gallic.
Also praiseworthy sustained gospel presence among unreached peoples in Cambodia that resulted in the baptism of new believers from three groups over the past year. For one of those groups, the baptisms of 12 people on Easter means the total numbers of believers in the group went from 6 to 18.
That's pretty cool.
In another Southeast Asian country, more than 50 refugee teachers attended a workshop this year to receive encouragement and vocational training transforming their communities with the gospel.
We praise the Lord for a sustainable presence and opportunities like a feminine hygiene training for over 90 Rohingya women in one South Asian country in 2020.
And we continue praying for areas like this one where the alliance is still at work amid famine and violence.
In 1975, the alliance was forced to evacuate Vietnam due to war. But the planted seeds continue to multiply and we currently have almost 2,500 churches serving over 1.2 million people in the country of Vietnam.
And we have 23 current workers in Japan. And a new online Alliance Bible Institute is equipping Japanese, Filipino and Latino students for ministry in the country of Japan. What amazing gospel fruit is being born in these places. The Lord is also doing incredible things through our people serving in Africa.
This past academic year in Cote d', Ivoire, the Christian Alliance Bible Institute had 63 student pastors receive their diplomas. In one West African country, over 40 students from an English center are studying God's Word, many for the first time this past year, One of our IW pilots sponsored transportation for Bungalow Hospital staff 99 times, four times for those seeking medical care, three times for Bible translators, 35 times for other collaborators. They only have one airplane. It's very busy.
Hope Clinic in Zaouan, guinea, receives between 80 and 120 patients a day for outpatient care.
During the first seven months of 2024, 305 people came to the chaplain for prayer, and 15 of them accepted Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior.
Throughout this past year, four men were ordained from an underground network of household churches in North Africa, becoming the first from their people group ever ordained by the Alliance.
And although believers in this displaced community are commonly ostracized or worse for professing faith in Jesus, over the last year alone, these house churches baptized 21 new believers.
The first West African regional Farming God's Way training was held this past year, May. 60 participants from 26 countries were represented, including many international workers serving with Comma. You've heard about the Fulani people group this week. One of the least reached people groups on the planet. They're scattered around certain regions of Africa and we're actively engaging with them, even right here in Columbus, Ohio. God has brought the Fulani to many areas of the world and we are leaning in and fruit is becoming more and more evident.
The world story of chaos tries to prevail in many instances, one being in Burkina Faso. The national church has been ravaged, as you heard from Andrew and Esther this week, by attacks and killing many believers.
An alliance people and over 200 churches have been displaced, but they're standing strong and the Holy Spirit continues to work and the church is trusting the Lord for his provision. But I do ask you to continue to pray for our friends and our colleagues in Burkina Faso.
In one Central Asian country where alliance workers have been present and faithful for years, there hasn't been much tangible fruit of gospel witness. But this past summer, during a sign language camp, a deaf tutor accepted Christ.
Not only is he the first person these workers have seen follow Jesus, he's a local, he's also deaf. An incredible double triple portion. As the deaf community is one of the least reached in the world.
Also in Central Asia, iws have been active in greenhouse planning, development and operations with a specialty in aquaponic and hydroponic growing systems. They're raising tilapia and catfish catering to local restaurants.
In a Middle Eastern country where our workers have been present for a very long time, there have been 12 baptisms in one city this past September alone.
There are more people that have come to faith over the past couple of years than all of the previous years of our international worker presence there combined. God is still at work.
GCF support enabled a Marketplace Ministries IW in the Middle east to provide a place of employment for a woman, eventually leading her to be taught and discipled by multiple iws. She was baptized this year.
Our alliance workers have been discipling leaders like Amir, who, after meeting our workers through ESL classes, deliberated for years about whether to become a Christian. But now he's led 13 others from his community to Faith in Jesus.
Gospel Presence was established in one Middle Eastern city where until this year, alliance workers had never been permanently present. Alliance regional leaders in the Middle east took exploratory trips to two new countries where they're seeking to send new workers.
Our desire for new open doors in the alliance is ongoing. We take that seriously and prayerfully.
One of those new open doors is in Manchester, England, an extremely secular environment, where we've recently launched new ministry, intentionally fostering community in creative ways among very diverse groups of people.
In Germany, where only 2% of people are evangelical, through the generosity of Alliance People and Alliance Church was provided a new facility where it has more room to house its growing ministries. Despite extreme resistance to the gospel in the region, the church is celebrating professions of faith, baptisms and ongoing discipleship for many who are tasting the goodness of God for the first time by sending and sustaining alliance workers. In northeast Germany, two new alliance workers were launched into Rostock this past year where God opened a new door for Gospel advance in that city.
In Eastern Europe, 31 alliance workers are present in eight nations. Because of them, thousands of people impacted by church planting, theological education, language classes, relief work, life saving, swim education, sign language education and community development.
This past summer In Kyiv, Ukraine, four local churches held a joint service and baptized 35 people ages 12 to 92.
And as we've heard, we praise God that the number of alliance churches in Ukraine has grown from 12 to 29 over the past three years. In the midst of chaos, this past year alone, eight new churches were planted. Praise God.
You don't see that on the news in the alliance we believe in partnerships as Scripture tells us, so we can't do anything alone. So the Ukrainian alliance hosted 22 camps this past year in which the Gospel was preached to the children of hurting and displaced families, some of whom live within five miles of war zone areas. As Galatians 6:2 says, we carry each other's burdens and in this way we fulfill the law of Christ.
Finally, we praise God that the church is advancing in the United states.
We have 378,000 worshipers, 84,000 folks attend online.
Here are some rapid fire stories stories for you. But remember, our churches are rural and urban, small and large.
Some meet in houses and others in very large buildings. And I wish we could tell every one of those stories. But here are just a couple this morning, Deaf ministries have been fueled in Waco, Texas where an alliance pastor who is deaf himself has begun meeting with community groups and schools to introduce his new church plan.
In 2024, Riverside Church in Minnesota baptized 16066 people after a decade of persistent faith and evangelistic zeal. If you know those guys, they grew through a multi site model and at one of their site launches this past year they had over 700 people attend this very first service and 44 people came to Faith in Jesus that day. Praise God.
The first ever Multicultural Ministry Summit took place place at the Hmong District office in Thornton, Colorado this past August. And we praise God for growing ministries and growing diversity in our alliance family.
Our ministry center space that we talked about yesterday beside the national office here in Columbus opened in May and has been the hosting spot for these three different ministries including a French speaking Congolese church plant and a Spanish speaking church plant. We are a Christ centered Acts 18 family.
The beauty of our multi ethnic family is on full display.
The alliance is honored to have 75 chaplains serving across all branches of the military. Last year our alliance chaplains had nearly 1,400 preaching opportunities, conducted 23,400 counseling sessions and we rejoice that through their service 492 decisions were made for Christ and 159 individuals were baptized. Praise God.
A Haitian church in Springfield, Ohio is growing so rapidly that they have attendees sitting in the parking lot just to attend services in person.
African American, Latino, Asian and Native American leaders establish new churches that speak directly to their own communities cultural and spiritual needs in places like La Mesa, California, Austintown, Ohio and Pahoa, Hawaii.
So what are we going to do next?
What new doors will he open?
Which workers will he call to the nations. Are we still listening to his still small voice?
We're grateful. I'm grateful today for Jesus reminder about chaos in John 16:33. In this world, you will have trouble, but take heart. I've overcome the world.
Praise God. So friends, what role will you play in the next phase of the story God is writing in this alliance family? Well, please keep praying. First of all, let's keep joining him in worship. Let's serve, let's engage. We are part, all of us, of God's story.
So may his kingdom come on earth as it is in heaven, and may we be faithful until King Jesus returns.
[00:50:44] Speaker A: Amen.
