We just finished our international mission conference here in Vero Beach, Florida. Our week started out with two days of stimulating teaching by Dr. Phil and Dr. Judy Byler. Dr. Phil spoke about apostolic churches, transitional times in ministries, and funding ministries; he also gave a great teaching on intimacy in the Body of Christ and how vital trust and intimacy are within a mission team. The following days of the conference were filled with fantastic teachings by Seth Barnes, director of Adventures in Missions, on discipleship, forgiveness, fundraising, as well as several meetings and discussions by Mary Alice Isleib, director of COI, on a wide variety of practical issues concerning missions in general and our service with Christian Outreach International. We were also blessed to have times of worship led by guest minister Audrey King.

The conference was attended by nearly all of COI’s full-time staff and was a great time of fun and fellowship as we gathered together from our various places across the globe. The thought was expressed by many was that this past week felt much more like a family reunion than a conference. Mid-week we welcomed people interested in possibly joining COI as missionaries in the future to come join us and find out more about who we are, how we work, and what’s in our hearts.

The theme of this conference came out of a verse that God gave Mary Alice, Matt. 9:17. “Neither do they put new wine into old wineskins, or else the wineskins break, the wine is spilled, and the wineskins are ruined. But they put new wine into new wineskins, and both are preserved.” After 23 years, COI is still boldly proclaiming the same message as the day it was founded. While the message NEVER changes with the times, the most effective ways of presenting it are ever-changing. Much of this past conference was spent reviewing our various ministries and methods, and how we can make them even more effective. God is doing a new work through COI, and we need to be prepared to handle what God is doing! Glory!

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I really enjoyed the send off week that we just finished. What a great time of learning and fellowship.

Something struck me as we were leaving On Sunday. Chris and I often marvel at how cool the body of Christ is that we can be family with strangers when they come to serve with us for a week, but often its sad because then they leave and go back to their "real" homes and families and Chris and I are left alone again.

What I love about this last week was as missionaries we all came together as family, and it wasn’t just Chris and I that felt that way, it was mutual. When you become a missionary you do have to sacrifice, going out on your own and leaving loved ones, but then at the same time you get the true blessing of joining a new family, and experiencing a new dimension of the body of Christ.

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Change, the mere word can bring a variety of emotions; excitement, fear, stress or hope. Some people simply thrive on change and are eagerly pressing for it constantly. But in reality, only about 3% of humans really like change at all. Most of us know it is inevitable, but resist it anyway, trying to hang on to what we have or are now with everything we can! But God is determined to change us! He loves us right where we are now, but it’s been said before, “He loves us too much to leave us like we are.”

Transformation: another word for change – yet when we say ‘transformation’, we are not so anxious or fearful. We know that God is working to transform us into His image – from a “worm” to the secret place in His “cocoon” and finally to a beautiful butterfly. We all look forward to getting out of our ‘wormy seasons,’ and the confining ‘cocoon seasons’, and being released into being what we were created to be!

What we don’t always realize is that God works that transformation in us by and through the changes that we don’t like! New ways of thinking, new ways of doing things (we’ve never done it that way before –what’s wrong with how we’ve always done it?), maybe new areas of responsibility or even a geographical relocation!

We must learn to embrace change, no matter the discomfort we feel. Otherwise, we’ll never be all that we could be; we’ll never complete our full destiny. That should bring a greater fear to us than any thought of change ever could!

We know that God never changes, but we have found that He continually changes His ways of doing things. That should be a tip-off for us – after all, we are to be imitators of Christ!

Romans 12:2 (NLT) “Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will know what God wants you to do, and you will know how good and pleasing and perfect His will really is.”

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" You are the Light of the World. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your father in heaven." Matthew 5:14-16

In New Orleans, we have the awesome opportunity to partner with Free Church of the Annunciation. After hurricane Katrina hit, and the flood waters came, Annunciation’s facilities were unusable and many from their congregation had evacuated to places around the States. Instead of focusing on themselves and using money to get themselves back into their buildings and replacing what they lost, Free Church of the Annunciation went into their community and reached out. A distribution center was put up, people went door to door in the neighborhoods surrounding the church to see what people needed and mission teams were welcomed. Annunciation was a light in the darkness. God was glorified and praised through them.

Recently I heard that Church of the Annunciation was featured in an article in Time magazine. Right away the verse from Matthew 5 jumped to my mind as I thought not only has this church pointed to God in their neighborhood, and their city, but now God is being glorified through them around America.

How cool that God’s plan was for COI to partner with this church. COI’s heart is to reach the nations for Christ and to bring Him glory. In New Orleans, God brought us to Annunciation and allowed us to join Him in His work there. Our teams are still utilized to the fullest in N.O. as the work is still not close to being done.

Jesus said " a city on a hill cannot be hidden…a lamp on its stand gives light to everyone in the house…in the same way let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in Heaven." As individuals we are called to be bright lights that point to Jesus, how much brighter are we when as the body we come together and shine. I love the thought. If you have never left your home mission field and joined with others to serve God and love His people away from your comfort zone, I challenge you to do so. It is like nothing else. Go Light your World!

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God is clearly impacting lives through ESL ministry in Ukraine. Current and former students see Christ lived out in the examples of their teachers and gain a better understanding of His love for them during extracurricular activities and other times spent with teachers.

Cornerstone has been serving the people of Uzhgorod, Ukraine for more than eight years and has developed a very good reputation in the community. Many people come to our office before or during any given semester to find out how and when they can register for classes.

We find ourselves consistently short of teachers. Those who do come for a semester or more are met with warm reception by their Ukrainian students and receive strong support from the team of long term missionaries and teachers who are here. While not always easy, the experience is definitely positive.

Unfortunately, the shortage of teachers we face limits the amount of ministry we are able to do, and many potential students are turned away each semester.

Students at Cornerstone are ten years old and older, and range diversely in background and in purpose for learning the language. This diversity makes ministering to them collectively a unique and interesting challenge.

The local public schools are very open to have Cornerstone teachers visit their classes and share with the students. School directors have invited Cornerstone teachers to attend their conferences and to hold seminars for them. This is a wonderful opportunity to impact teachers in a secular setting with Christian values. I believe this can help to reshape and expand current perspectives on the role of a teacher in teacher-student relationships.

There is also a great deal of potential in the business sector of the community. Government agencies and company employees alike stand to benefit from learning English. One big advantage Cornerstone has over other schools in the city is that our teachers are native English speakers, and this has given us credibility. While students don’t necessarily realize it, though, the fact that our school is a ministry rather than a business is the real reason they are drawn to us. We have heard many students comment about the difference they see and feel in our school and in our teachers. It is a lot of fun listening as they try to describe this difference. We know without a doubt that this difference is Jesus Christ.

Following are glimpses into ESL life:

Students hard at work

ESL Activity - Thanksgiving

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