CSI West Memphis

Just a little video from our archives I ran across this morning....
This is the intro to a video Brad did for West Memphis for a study on the Holy Spirit....
I clipped it to just the intro for the blog.... I just like the theme/effects!  :)

Prayer Update

How can you continue to pray for us?

1.  Pray that God will make me WHOLE.  I have come a LONG way with the healing of my nervous system - but without medication I am not well.  Pray for that complete healing to come.  GREAT NEWS IS: I have turned a corner since New Year's Eve and have made HUGE steps to recovery!

2.  Ironically, God HAS used this time of illness to work in me (Glenda). Pray that he will be able to complete this inner work on my heart.  Lots to share in future posts about insights He's given me to myself and to His Word.  I didn't realize how broken I was not just in body....but in Spirit too.

3.  Pray for Brad as he's been working on testimonies for different evangelism websites with our media team.  He is having to learn a whole new editing software program with them.  Pray that God gives him supernatural wisdom and anointing to fly with it.  :)

4.  Pray for Brad to have favor with all people he comes into contact with.  Pray that we can be a voice to our missions organization as a whole as to how we can take media and excellence to a whole new level.

5.  Pray for our children.  Pray for Macy and Mia to flourish in school and catch up on all the curriculum gaps that have surfaced b/c of the many moves. Pray that God will bring GODLY friends into their lives.  Pray that they, along with Micah, will be world changers and passionate for God from an early age.

6.  Pray for your pastors.  No one realizes the weight, the burden, and the discouragement that faces our pastors.  Pray that you won't be a reason for their burden either!  :)

Dreaming Again

The realization struck us about 2 weeks ago... that we left everything we knew on January 24, 2012 - boarded a plane for a new life in Spain... and mass chaos descended...

:/

Would we still have gone had we known all we would face?  If we had known the difficulties that lay ahead?  Had we known that things would not turn out like we had "dreamed"?

I am not sure that we would have gone if we had known the path before us.

However, yet do we trust that our lives and our days are in the hands of our maker.  And it is HE that directs our steps... and it is HE that ordains each day of our lives and our paths for us.  I can say that now...

...but a few months ago when I was scared, sick, overwhelmed, lost, angry, and desperate - I just kept asking God, "WHY????"

I do "know" that God DOES work ALL things together for his good.  That there is a plan in the mess.  There is a purpose.

And we are beginning to see more and more light shining on our path.

Brad received an invitation this week to be a part of a small team that redefines the way we use media within a certain missions group.  Had we not walked THIS journey, the journey of our entire ministry,  and arrived PRECISELY at this place and this moment - would he have the opportunity to be a part of something of this magnitude?  Not sure.  But I believe GREAT things are coming.

I posted this to twitter and Facebook today:
@glendamcmath 
I dream of using media to accelerate the powerful truth of how we can have a real relationship with Jesus... to people who have not heard of His awesome love #mediathattransformsKnowing God has CHANGED my life! So thankful God rescued me from the world and then He rescued me from MYSELF! Ugh! And Yay God!


DREAMING that God is about to blow up some barriers to reaching the unreached through media - and so humbled that we get to be a part of it!

Quick New Year's Update

Wow!  I can not believe it has been 2 1/2 months since I last updated anything on the blog!  I'm so thankful that I am connected via email and Facebook with so many of our prayer team - or you may have thought I had fallen off the cliff (well.....I kinda did....not literally speaking...)
:)

I usually send out an email letting you know an update is on the blog at least every 4-6 weeks.  Sorry this one has taken so long...  but I am SO thankful for the love, support, and PRAYER that we have been the recipients of!  Our email prayer team has 1800+ people... and we KNOW without a doubt - that is has been your prayers that have sustained us through this difficult fire we have walked through this year.  Most of you do not leave comments on the blog - but email us personally - and we save and treasure every word of encouragement! I plan to make a book of all of the emails we've received!

THANK YOU.

May God richly bless you as you give, as you pray, as you remember us.  We are trusting God to do something so incredibly new in our lives and through our ministry this year - that we will not even be able to believe it!  More to come soon on the amazing ways God is using technology through our ministry partner N211...  and maybe, JUST MAYBE - I can get back to blogging on a semi/at least periodic however random it may be schedule!

And how am I?  Doing better. Making progress.  Two steps forward, one step back.  And so goes the dance.  But we serve a HEALER - and He is making me whole again.  Thank God for where he has brought me from...both in my life...and in this season...

More to come soon!

Daring to Believe there's a Message in the Mess!

"Following God's plans can be extremely challenging sometimes. Gut-wrenching and intense.  Perhaps you've never faced anything this daunting before, a situation that asks so much of you or hurts in such deep places.  But with the Red Sea in front of you and Pharoah's armies barreling down close behind, you get to find out what the Lord can really do.  He's put you in a tough spot so you'll get to see just how incredibly strong and sufficient your God is.

And others will see it too.  Your life is God's story being told and His character being displayed.  So how does it read?  What does it tell others about the God you serve?  WILL YOU DARE TO BELIEVE THERE'S A MESSAGE IN THIS MESS?  It's quite possibly the best story some people will ever read." -Priscilla Shirer in "Life Interrupted"

Life Interrupted

‎"My friend, this is not an interruption {in your life}. It's a divine intervention. It's the privilege of walking in fellowship with One who will take you to a hopeless place so you can see the hope of God in it's rawest, most redemptive form. 

He'll take you to an ungodly place so you can see the Holy Spirit rising up within you, transforming an impossible situation while transforming lives in the process. 

We don't want to go to "Nineveh". Nobody does. But by running and hiding, we miss being part of what God is doing in our day and age. Like Jonah almost did..." -Priscilla Shirer in "Life Interrupted"

Boy this has spoken volumes to my life!  We are still in the middle of major transition....

The past 3 weeks since my last post have seemed like 3 MONTHS!

Seriously.

Hope to get a chance to do an update very soon!  Until then - thank you to all who have prayed and prayed and prayed for us.  We see God's hand in the midst of our chaos!

WE ARE STILL AGWM MISSIONARIES!

Hey everyone!

We just wanted to make sure that all of our prayer team and supporters know what INCREDIBLE doors God is opening before us.  

We are still Assemblies of God World Missionaries.  We will continue to be AGWM Missionaries.  We are transferring from the "Europe" region and the work with IMM - to working with the "International Ministries" region - working with Network 211.

Joseph said to his brothers in Genesis 45:5: "But don't be upset, and don't be angry with yourselves for selling me to this place. It was God who sent me here ahead of you to preserve your lives."

This verse has resonated with us.  We have found ourselves in a "pit", just like Joseph, and have struggled with understanding the "why's" of it all.  However, we are beginning to see that God is working it all towards HIS purposes.  We really believe that it is GOD who has brought us back to the states... to do a work within World Missions that will change the destinies of hundreds of thousands of people.  And we needed to be back here - at this moment.

A few people misunderstood and thought this was a paid ministry "job" transfer.  Not so!!!!  We will  continue to be Missionaries!  And we need the continued financial support and and commitment of our prayer team to accomplish this work!

There is a "people group" represented by the internet now that is the largest unreached people group.  People in "closed" countries are now scouring the internet in search of information about who Jesus really is....  Other people are searching on the internet for HOPE for their desperate situations.

This is where Network211 uses 21st century technology to present the 1st century Gospel.  It was founded by Dr. George M. Flattery, the founder and President of ICI University and current Chancellor of Global University.  

Since Network211's evangelism sites were launched officially on October 15, 2008 they have been visited by 5,100,462 unique web site visitors!  They just hit over 5 million THIS WEEK!  Of this number, 381,435 made an evangelism response and 118,858 are in a discipleship connection!  These people come from 236 countries and territories.  Can you say, "WOW"!?

Presently, the Network211 evangelism sites are offered in English, Easy English, Indonesian, Spanish, Mandarin Chinese, Arabic, Farsi, Filipino, and Vietnamese.  Soon, they will add American Sign Language.  Projected language sites will include the remaining top ten languages of the Internet: Japanese, Portuguese, French, German, Russian, and Korean.  Other evangelism web sites in development are Marriage and Family, The Hope Road (topics include HIV/AIDS, Domestic Violence, and Human Trafficking), and sites targeting those of other religions such as Hinduism and Buddhism.

There is where Brad comes in.  They have the sites - but they desperately need someone to create the video content.  He will begin working on this soon and will travel abroad at times to create the video material that they need for special language groups.  

The Network211 office is located strategically in Springfield, MO so that they can work closely with AGWM leadership and Assemblies of God General Council.  All of those who minister at Network211 are missionaries, General Appointed or Missionary Associates, and raise their financial and prayer support form AG churches in the US.

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A lot of you are asking: "What about your family? "

We had a dream.  A dream God had given us.  Just like Joseph.

And just like Joseph - that dream has taken us down a road we did not anticipate.  Yet do we trust Him.

And just as God worked all of the trials in Joseph's life towards good and towards a purpose - we are seeing Him do this for us.

Miracle #1 - We have a friend that has let us borrow one of his cars until we can get a new Speed the Light vehicle!

Miracle #2 - One of our fellow missionaries down the street from us in Spain contacted us over the weekend.  They own a house in Nixa, MO, (just outside of Springfield) and just lost their renter.  They offered for us to rent their house for less than a normal price.  Thank you Jesus!  We have a roof!  We moved in 4 nights ago with our 2 suitcases and a borrowed mattress!  CRAZY!

Miracle #3 - A friend has offered to help us with rent while we are still paying rent on our house in Spain!  Hopefully, we can be out of that lease soon!

There is a still a lot of chaos before us... we have to ship our belongings back to the states and that may take until December.  However, we got Macy and Mia enrolled in school this week and we are making it!

Please keep praying for our family.  I have been showing improvements with my health - but I still have a long ways to go.

HOWEVER, WHAT THE ENEMY MEANT FOR HARM - WE BELIEVE GOD IS GOING TO REDEEM AND USE FOR HIS GOOD!

We will keep you updated as things progress!

Much love,

Brad, Glenda, Macy, Mia, & Micah McMath