June 30, 2007

Last night we did our first event under the name of our new ministry - The Free Methodist Church at Farmington. We performed music ministry at a little park in the middle of town. There were some glitches at the beginning with a brand new - still in the boxes - sound system (not ours) and miscommunication with the event coordinators. And part of the group didn’t show up, so it was just Art, me, and Julia (a Navajo sister whose group it was, who has agreed to be part of our worship team at church PTL) and two other guys who do country and western hymns. The audience more or less came and went, passing through to other places and stopping to listen. But a handful stayed for the whole thing. There were some street people, one in particular who spent a long time talking to Art as he was setting up, and then to me as they were tearing down the equipment. He was pretty drunk when the music started, but hung out for the whole 2 hours and asked for prayer. I was thinking of the poem I wrote over a year ago, which I am posting again. He said he’d come to church Sunday. We’ll see. At least the seed was planted.
Most of the songs we did were original and several were in Navajo. A challenge for me, but Julie says I’m doing pretty good. We’ll be doing a couple of them tomorrow in Church. Psalm 150 - Let everything that has breath praise the LORD!

Written January 2006

I see you
You are not invisible to me.
I see you all
Walking with your head down,
Dragging you feet, wearing out your souls.
I see you
Vacant men walking past Vacant houses
Men of the Land, who don’t seem to care anymore
about the Land around them
Dry, like the Land you are born to
I see you
Making your way into town
For a drink, for a job, for a change
And making your way home again
To the old mother who still cares
To the old grandmother who still prays for you
To be greeted by a long sad sigh and an open door
I want to say, “hold your head up high”
I want to say, “be the brave you were born to be”
I want to say, “I am sorry.”
I want to cook for you, and sing you songs, and tell you stories
Great Stories, Living Stories
I want to give you a hot cup of coffee on a cold night,
With lots of sugar and a dash of hope.
I want to drive you home
To the son that needs you
To the woman that loves you
And I want to say…
Look past the moon, Look past the stars.
Look past the tent meetings and revivals
Seek God!
He is there waiting
He sees you.
Learn to sing His songs
He is calling you.
Believe His stories
He has a plan for you!
All of you. Each of You.
Walking this Land for a Divine purpose.
He is not the White Man’s God
He is every man’s God
He is not the missionary’s God
He is the People’s God
He formed you, He knows you, He sees you.
You are not invisible to Him.

Morning Has Broken

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit…
As I woke up to greet the dawn today, to listen to the chorus of birds singing their early morning praises, drinking my coffee and doing my devotions…I realized that it has been just one month since we got the phone call about the “mission”. Were we still interested? Did we think maybe we could? Perhaps this…could be…might happen…we’ll see…
Since then we’ve run into several people from “back then”, had several encounters with people that God obviously sent our way, took a nice trip to Phoenix to meet with the powers that be and it looks like a sure thing. We are humbled, encouraged, and just a wee bit scared. It looks like we have two other couples that might walk this path with us. One of the husbands is capable of handling the money, thank God. The other is very knowledgeable about things like plumbing and heating and septic tanks, thank God. On Wednesday night, since there has always been a Wednesday night service of sorts scheduled, we were at the site. I was puttering around with banners and plants. The one couple stopped by to introduce themselves and see what we were all about. They had helped/served there in the past, but certain events led to their leaving a while back. As we were sharing our vision a gentleman drove up. He was just going to park in our lot to wait for his son to get out of work, but ended up having a nice long chat with Pastor Art and asking for prayer. That is one way this ministry is going to happen. One wanderer at a time. A cup of coffee or a glass of ice tea. An open door and a light in the window. Yeah, we are going to “do church”. It will be interesting to see how the services will evolve. Old time Free Methodist, Navajo, Liturgical, Contemporary, Traditional… We’re also planning on having an emergency food pantry, family night outreaches, and workshops for area (reservation) pastors. And even as I write this, I can’t believe it is now more than just a dream or vision. The LORD is constantly reminding me, He is behind these events, and we can not do any of this outside of His will. So I pray for wisdom, provision, and shalom. I pray, Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. I say, Glory be to the Father, Son and Holy Spirit…amen

The Church at Farmington

In the foreground is the church building. The building in the back ground houses the fellowship hall, the future food pantry, Pastor Art's office and our apartment. Now that I know how to post pictures, more will follow. To God be the Glory!

Close Encounters

Today we went out to eat at Golden Corel, and our server was an old student of mine. I remember him well. He had a long beautiful braid down his back, and I was glad to see it was still there. His father was an artist, and had some of his pieces displayed in Washington DC. This kiddo used to get all stressed out whenever his father had to travel to show and/or sell his work. I'd have to show him on the map where he was going and the route he was probably taking. That was back when he was a fourth grader. He graduated from high school this year.
One of the things I remember most is that one time he had a real bad ear infection. He was feeling really sick, and I felt so sorry for him. I told him to tell his mom, so she could take him to the doctor. His reply was, "That's ok, Mrs. Brokop, my parents are taking me to a medicine man this week end." Back then, when I shared that story, some of my friends asked didn't they have enough money to take him to a "real" doctor. They didn't understand that medicine men were much more expensive than a regular doctor. These men sing songs and burn grasses, and often "remove" bones, teeth, arrow heads, and rocks from the bodies of their patients. Matt was from a very traditional family. So imagine my thrill when he proudly told me that he was going to Bible College to become a preacher of the Gospel. On Arpil 13, 2005 I posted an article about another of my students from a very traditional family who was leading a Bible Study in his junior high school. Thank you Jesus for rescuing these beautiful young men from the deep darkness...and for divine appointments. For the last couple of weeks we've had several enounters that have encouraged us. We are closer to going back into ministry now than we have been for years. And we've just barely been able to keep the foxes of anxiety and stress at bay.
So first we run into a family that was part of our first ministry here, the one we may be going back to - nice chat. Then we find out our son's roommate works with a girl that was also part of that church and is excited to hear we may be going back. She doesn't go there anymore, but if Pastor Art is there, maybe...Then we run into a whole pack of folk who were part of Gateway of the Rock Church...and Pastor Art is talking about one of the guys he worked with on the propane trucks, wondering if he could find him and invite him to come to the church, since he had expressed some interest back in December...and who do you suppose knocks on our door Thursday morning, out of the blue? And now Matt. Now that I'd expect him to come to our church, He's happy where he is and doing well...it's just encourageing you know, and like God reminding us, He's there, and He's working things out...Yeah God!

update

I cut and pasted the posting below from the Gateway of the Rock site. On Tuesday, June 11 we will be in Phoenix AZ, meeting with the Superintendent of the Arizona Free Methodists to discuss our proposal for ministry on the "mission". I've been "seeing" this and praying this for many years. I know some of you are already joining us in prayer over this...Thank you, and amen.

Monday, August 22, 2005

Isaiah 61
Prayed over Pastor Art and Maryellen as they became leaders of an Open Bible Standard ministry in the Four Corners region of the USA. Revisited so many times that the page from Maryellen's Bible has fallen out. To Bring Good News to the afflicted, to Proclaim Liberty, the radio minitry could do that, but we lost our sponser last year...the ability to do better desk top publishing would help get the teaching out...we're working on that. To proclaim liberty to the captives and freedom to the prisoners, to comfort those who mourn.That "mandate" means more to us now because of the situation with our own son. We are more sensitive to the needs of the repentant and redeemed felon who faces a world of rejection, and to the mothers (family) of prisoners who live with shame and frustration. There is freedom in Christ for all, and comfort - 2Corinthians 1:3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. But we aren't sure how that will manifest itself in ministry.Perhaps if we actually had a facility, a place from which to minister. A church were freed prisoners could feel safe and accepted, a church where mothers would get the word, your sons have value. Jesus valued them so much that He died on the cross for them. What greater value is there than that?Then they will rebuild the ancient ruins, They will raise up the former devastations and they will repair the ruined cities. So, Maryellen always sees "the mission" when she reads that verse. A facility established in 1952, where we first ministered when we came to this part of the world. There's a tiny church, a fellowship hall from which we could operate a soup kitchen (mutton stew and fry bread?),offices, a workshop and store house, a few run down housing units, and room to expand.But - it's not for sale, and we have no money...Maryellen has seen the run down mission restored...and the vision returns everytime she hears Isaiah 61, But - it's not for sale, and we have no money. We heard a teaching on Isaiah 61 this weekend at a prophetic event, a camp meeting on the Navajo Reservation. And we are still waiting for direction as to where Gateway of the Rock isheading. So, the Lord God will cause righteousness and praise to spring up before all the nations - for all the nations - well, the Four Corners of the USA is a place of gathering of the Navajo Nation, as well as the Hopi, Ute, Apache, Hispanic and ofcourse those of us of European descent - a place where every knee shall bow and every tongue (many tongues) will confess - That Jesus Christ is LORD. Soon and very soon!