A taste of heaven...

I love to raise my voice and hands with a couple thousand equally passionate followers of Jesus. #expectation2017 @jonathanhesler

News from Jim in Vietnam...for the month of October!

Forward “After last training, very excited! Many, many new!”  In Vietnam last Thursday, I was having dinner with pastor Neil and his wife Christy, after a week of training.  They had a happy glow. It came from gaining new ideas and skills and vision. Pastor Neil had been with me for two other trainings this year. His wife had asked if she could come this time too, because he was so motivated by what he had learned. They had traveled with two others on a 10 hour bus ride from their province. The majority of the two dozen participants had traveled 4-10 hours, some by bus, some by car.  Those who lived closer came by motorbike. Three quarters were pastors, some were lay leaders. This was the third training we have done together this year. I asked Christy what the role of the pastor’s wife was in the church. "All the women come to me for counseling,"  she answered. She has no training for this.  She has taken online Bible training, but she has not found any counseling training in Vietnam. She asked me if I could arrange some counseling training. She would love to bring together pastors’ wives for the training.  Anybody able and willing to join me next year and lead a training like that? Training Topic: Teamwork and Listening The month of October has me back in Vietnam again. Two CRM Asia colleagues joined me on this trip. We are training in teamwork, and the coaching skills of listening and asking questions. Leaders too often rely on one way communication: talking. We often miss the opportunity to develop our people and develop greater trust with them. Being a better listener is an important skill for a good leader. One pastor / 48,000 people! In Pastor Neil’s province, there are 42 churches and 25 pastors among a population of 1.2 million people. This means one pastor for every 48,000 people. Pastor Neil pastors two churcheswith a combined 7,300 people. He alternates weeks preaching in these churches. Another participant this week is Pastor Moe. He and three other pastors came from a province with 200 churches and 50,000 Christians, but only 67 pastors.  Pastor Moe rotates between three churches, going to one each week. These dear brothers and sisters love the training opportunity. They show us tremendous affection and appreciation for what we bring to help equip them for leading a growing church! This week I received so many invitations to visit various provinces and speak in churches. One invited me to travel to Cambodia. They want me to meet with denominational leaders of Vietnamese churches in Cambodia. They also want training for youth ministry leadership. Another invitation was to start a new mentoring group for mid-career pastors in Vietnam. Current denominational leaders believe these pastors may be the nation's key Christian leaders in the next 5-10 years. Please pray for continued growing relationships and wisdom in bringing training. Also pray for the Lord to give me strength and discernment in which opportunities to pursue. I will be here until the end of October.  And please pray for Kimberly while I am away, and for our parents in Orange County. Thank you and may God bless you for investing in the true hope of the world: The Gospel of Jesus Christ! Jim & Kimberly Creasman If you would like to donate to our ministry, please click here: https://give.crmleaders.org/staff All of our salary and benefits (like medical insurance), as well as our ministry expenses (like my plane tickets), comes from donations, and 85% of the donations come from individuals like you. Without your support, we could not be serving to develop churches and leaders in Asia as we have been for these past 20 years. Church Resource Ministries: 1240 Lakeview Ave, Ste. 120, Anaheim, CA 92807 USA. You may sign up for EFT, or designate on a check: "preferenced for Creasman-acct 5651" (800) 777-6658 ext. 122 Kimberly has always been a cheerleader. She's encouraging, connecting people, writing & mobilizing. Not for sports, but for outreach & ministry. She's blogging at charminfullbloom and helping theriverhopes. She's missing all THREE of her men in October! Jim and Cameron recently met up in Tennessee to attend a UCLA football game. Hosted in the parents section for the Memphis Tigers. Football player Zane was one of Cameron's teammates in High School Football at King's Academy. K's mom the retired PE teacher and Women's Ministry director still loves watching sports and reading the Word of God! Dad Chuck took a trip to visit family in GA, so Kim and Sue had 5 days alone together!

Hearing from God and How Sin Affects Us

(Written for The River Women Prayer Prompt Text Devotional)

John 14:26, 27 Jesus said:

But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, WILL TEACH YOU ALL THINGS and will remind you of everything I have said to you. Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.

We've had a week of lament after the tragedy in Las Vegas. It brought us to our knees, and caused us to grieve so many of things wrong with our world. 

On this Sunday, a new week has begun, and we had a wonderful morning of worship both at the beach and Norris. Happy kids and families experienced "the conservatory," our new venue for them.

Yesterday we know of 31 in our community were involved in outreach (because that's how many were at the LA Mission and Young Life Great LA training Summit). 

My guess is that many others were elsewhere bringing hope, being a light for the truth of new (meaningful & eternal) life in Jesus Christ.

We know that the Holy Spirit is at work in and through us!

Lynn and Denise told me this week: Three of our women's Bible studies INDEPENDENTLY chose to focus on the topic of hearing from God. 

Hmmm…

I'm not in any of these Bible studies right now. But, Susan Litwiller (another prayer prompter) and I are reading a book on this topic. Anyone else reading/studying hearing from God?

We have united hearts in desiring to be so intimate with God that we can "hear" him speak - or know when he is leading/guiding!

Here's some more about hearing from God…

Psalm 66:18 says,

"If I had cherished sin in my heart the Lord would not have listened."

If we are living in a way where our thoughts and actions are contrary to God's ways (made clear for us in his word and through our conscience), 

all we will "hear" from God is his prompting to give up those things which have entangled us. 

Sin keeps us from hearing. 

The last couple years I've been doing a lot research about spiritual strongholds of sin. That's why Lyn asked me to write prayer prompts to reveal and lead us to confess different ways we may be sinning.

But now you must put them all away: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and obscene talk from your mouth. Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator. Colossians 3:8-10 ESV

The Brave Woman Manifesto* addresses confession and being transformed and renewed by his cleansing power:

• I will allow God to transform my life through renewing my mind in the Word each day. (Romans 12:2) (#7)
• I will confess my sin before God daily before bringing my requests before Him. (Hosea 14:2; Psalm 5:3, 66:18) (#8)
• I will be honest about my issues with God and seek His help (and counseling when needed) for
  overcoming sin, strongholds, and addictons. (Psalm 51, Romans 12:3) (#11)
• I will seek God for a changed heart before trying to change my circumstances. (Ezekiel 36:26) (#18)
• I will allow God's power to be made perfect in my weaknesses. (2 Corinthians 12:19) (#40)
• I will put on the full armor of God as I fight against the enemy of God and not the people of God. (Ephesians 6:10-19) (#51)
  

*Our recent prayer prompts have been inspired by The Brave Woman Manifesto. You can download the 52 "I will…" statements from "The Brave Woman Manifesto" (Elisa Pullman) @ www.moretobe.com/brave-woman/" #putoffputon

A checklist for everyday

From the Brave Woman Manifesto:

"I will remember that God gives life to the full, the abundant life, but the enemy comes to steal, kill, and destroy.” John 10:10 (Jesus promise that in him we can have an abundant life)

I am a recovering perfectionist, with the ANTS that come with ADD (Automatic Negative Thoughts). I can ALWAYS use reminding about my abundant life if I abide in Christ. Jesus offers us an abundant life. AND we have so many other reasons our life is abundant…

…when we choose joy.

"I get to ___." Rather than "I have to ____."

There seems to be a resounding YES in my community of girlfriends to put aside the compulsion for being perfect.

We instead are learning to be present, mindful that we can trust the Holy Spirit to guide us. 

We will accomplish all that HE has for us today. 

Romans 12:12 is a list we can check off today, and everyday:

Be 
__ joyful in hope,
__ patient in affliction,
__ devoted to prayer

It is meaningful to do nothing but abide in Christ. But I do love work, and promoting the work of the gospel. What a joy to find meaningful "kingdom work" I can contribute to while in this season living in LA. It is meaningful to be a caregiver.  A project this year I've enjoyed diving into is helping The River Church coordinate and organize and mobilize for mission. The River Hopes is the name we gave to it. So thank you River for allowing me to dive in!

You can download the 52 “I will…” statements from “The Brave Woman Manifesto” (Elisa Pullman) @ 

More Mayhem. How do we respond to God?

Psalm 116: 5-9

Gracious is the Lord, and righteous; our God is merciful.

The Lord preserves the simple; when I was brought low, he saved me.

Return, O my soul, to your rest; for the Lord has dealt bountifully with you.

For you have delivered my soul from death, my eyes from tears, my feet from stumbling;

I will walk before the Lord in the land of the living.

These senseless tragedies happen regularly on our planet,

far away;

or nearby, affecting us personally.

And when it does, humankind created by our Father in heaven

will always ask:

"Why God? How could you let this happen."

Do you have an answer?

Why?

Because he loves us, we are free to follow righteousness or evil.

To worship him, or…not.

Why?

Because some — no most of us — have chosen evil.

He cannot force us to choose righteousness.

When these things happen, it is a reminder of his grace:

Be amazed that it doesn't happen MORE.

Be amazed that in the midst of such an evil world,

we don't all have to live in mayhem as a way of life.

(Though some in other countries do.)

While we are in the "Land of the living,"

(before the best and eternal part of life)

our earth is temporarily ruled by forces of darkness intent on destroying us.

We are a generation has grown up rehearsing hours a week of such violence with movies and TV and gaming.

How indeed, does this kind of mayhem not happen more?

As we grieve today, dear friends, let's remember Psalm 116.

"Gracious is the Lord, and righteous; our God is merciful."

K!Mberly Creasman

charminfullbloom.blogspot.com

BTW, You are Incredible!