True Fasting

Or why we need housing units…
One of Pastor Art’s favorite sections of scripture to teach from is Isaiah 58 - the question of “true fasting” - the type of fast that YHWH finds acceptable (Isaiah 58:6-7), which parallels nicely Matthew 25: 35-36. We’ve been working on feeding the hungry, with our food pantry and nutritious refreshments after each service. And clothing the naked is taken care of with the abundance of donated clothes we have been receiving. So what about shelter for the homeless?
We need housing units.
We recently had a very nice visit from some folks from Phoenix who are the overseers of this ministry for the conference. By the end of this month we will have a newly remodeled fellowship hall, thanks to them and a team from Jackson Michigan that is coming down next week. And we’re getting new heating units for the Sanctuary building. Soon we will be able to convert the main building back into classrooms and offices. Praise the LORD! But the two existing housing units in the back, which are unusable at this time, are destined for the bull dozer. And they need to be replaced.
It was suggested that we ask for donations so that we can get some nice double-wides. But, I have never felt comfortable with asking for money. I kind of feel that that is the LORD’s business. Someone once coined the “cute” saying “The LORD’s will, the LORD’s bill”. I guess I think that if someone is supposed to give to our ministry, the Spirit will move them to do so, without my urging.
And we are trying to lease out some of our extra land, so that there is more money coming in. One of the problems with preaching good news to the poor - Isaiah 61:1 - is that there isn’t that much money in the offering basket.
I’ve been sending out monthly news letters (if you want to receive one, email me your snail mail address - artandme@juno.com) but I try not to exaggerate what we are doing, or specifically ask for funds. We invested in an online travel business, planning on using the commission we received to help support our ministry - but it turned out to be sort of a pyramid thing, probably not the wisest move - fortunately we invested in our name with our money, not the churches. If you want to check it out - http://www.ytbtravel.com/psalm1810 We also produced some C Ds. Which we though we might be able to offer for donations. But to be honest, they donations are not pouring in.
The real reason I am writing this post this morning is to express in words, for myself as well as for anyone who cares to read it, just why we need housing units. Is buying a few housing units really a wise use of the LORD’s resources?
Over the past year there have been at least three specific cases of us having to turn away people in need of temporary shelter. One was a woman whose son had been trying to find a job and housing in Phoenix. He was in the process of getting together enough to bring her there, but she had been evicted and was living in her car while she waited for him to send the funds. Another was a young man - an aids victim - who had a bus ticket to Albuquerque for treatment in a hospital there, but had no place to spend the night before the bus left. Praise God we had enough funds at that time to put him up in a small motel for the night. Most recently was a young man named Michael. When dealing with people in crisis, one needs to count on discernment. Pastor Art is pretty good at that, especially with his years of experience working at a homeless shelter in New York. It nice to be able to offer a safe and comfortable bed to those in need - after all, Hebrews 13:2 says not to neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for by this some have entertained angels without knowing it.
But there are other reasons we need housing units. In the past, housing was available for the pastor, the caretakers, visiting speakers, and visiting mission teams. When the team comes from Michigan next week, they will be staying in dorms at the United Methodist run Navajo Prep School, since we have no place to put up 30 guests. It would be great to have a Men’s and Women’s unit - two three bedroom double wides.
And one of our plans is to sponsor teaching seminars and retreats for the pastors and ministry teams of some of the small churches on the Rez. With the nice “new” fellowship hall, and the main building set up as classrooms again, all we would need is a place to house them.
And it would have saved our recent guests from Arizona, two groups who brought donations of clothes, toys, and school supplies, some money if we had a place for them to stay.
2Kings 4:8-11 and Matt 10:11-13 are the verses I found this morning about providing shelter for prophets and apostles. I always look for scriptures to support something that I think “would be nice.”
We are striving to be more than a church. This ministry was set up 56 years ago to be a mission to the Navajo - the Dine‘ . It may not be a mission in the traditional sense of the word, but we will be more than a place that 20 people come to worship and fellowship. We already are more. We will share what we have. We will grow up disciples. This place will be restored (Isaiah 61:4) all to the glory of God, and for His purpose!
If you do feel led, you can sent donations to The Free Methodist Church at Farmington, PO Box 6132, Farmington, NM 87499. We’ll send you one of our CD’s if you ask.
Well, I’ve got work to do, errands to run, prayers to pray. Thanks for taking the time to read these posts. May God bless You! May God bless us everyone!

Road Trip Summer 2008 - To God Be The Glory!

Five Thousand Miles
For you will go out with joy and be led forth with peace, The mountains and the hills will break forth into shouts of joy before you…Isaiah 55:12
Yet, isn’t it annoying how the enemy can make us doubt, second guess, and fret even when we fully believe it’s a God thing. This journey was a God thing from start to finish. We were doing Kingdom business. And even now, when I am tempted to think “was it worth it?” He reminds me of Psalm 37:4 “Delight yourself in the LORD and He will give you the desires of your heart”
that’s from what I call the “Fret Not” psalm.
And then of course there is Proverbs 3 :5-6, the gist of it being - Trust, do not lean on your own understanding, acknowledge Him and He will make your paths straight.
All this to say, this was a delightful trip. The mountains and hills, rivers and trees, declared His glory! And we were blessed with many joyful encounters and peace filled moments.
It was not exactly what we had planned. When we found out that Julia wouldn’t be able to go with us, we decided to use the money we had budgeted for her part of the trip to produce a CD of “our” music. We felt it was important to take a sample of the sound of the land, this land, Dine’Tah, - ToTah. To bring a blessing with us to the Native American Prayer Gathering in Lancaster, NY. I used the first two songs on the CD to go with a power point slide show of images of the people and places that mean so much to our Ministry.
We thought maybe we could sell a few to help finance our work, but that was not the main reason for investing in it. This music, these new songs and dances, with native flutes and drums, sung in the Spirit and Tongue of the land, are an important part of the vision and promise of our Church. Liberty and a garland of joy and praise to a people who were denied the right to worship the Creator with the songs He put into their hearts. (we do have CD's for sale - $12 donation - make checks out to Farmington Free Methodist Church)
We were happy to share those songs and that vision with the team in Michigan who will be here this month to help remodel the fellowship hall and do some other work in the area. They are a wonderful, enthusiastic group and we are trusting the LORD for big things to happen when they are here. I wish we had a place to house them on the property and we are very grateful to the United Methodist ministry here that is going to put them up. From Michigan we headed for Lancaster and the Prayer gathering.
The event took place at the Tree of Life church, a beautiful church with some awesome art and a heart for Native style worship, all to the glory of God, Yahweh and His Son, Jesus Christ. God bless our new friend and brother, Carmen, who had the heart to call this gathering, the first of what will surely become a regular event. It began at Midnight, Friday June 20. For several hours, our slide show was running while a series of Native Worship CDs played. Our CD was one of them, and they were happy when we gave it to them. Not only did we get a chance to pray , but we also got to learn a lot about the uniqueness of the Seneca, Mohawk and the Iroquois Confederation, their stories, their culture, and the lives they live. There were not a whole lot of people in attendance, but they very pleased that we made an effort to be there.
We were hoping that we would have a chance to speak at several churches on the trip. Sort of like doing deposition - like real missionaries. But this trip wasn’t about collecting money or earning support. We did speak at Aldersgate, United Methodist Church - again sharing the pictures and sounds of the land. We had numerous chances to visit with small groups and old friends, proclaiming what God was doing here on the Bisti. We were planning to leave on June 25, after a few quick visits with my family and some very dear friends. But then the vehicle began to clunk and whine, and our stay was extended. Dealing with a small car dealership in New Mexico and a repair shop in New York was a very frustrating challenge. Waiting for the part, running out of money, missing another Sunday at our little church - fretting seemed unavoidable. But Carol and Chris opened their home to us and we had more precious time to share with them and their family. I had time to find out that my great aunt, who I hadn’t seen in over 20 years was alive and well at the Sister’s of Saint Joseph Mother House - at the wonderful age of 101 - she’ll be 102 in October, and we had a nice visit. We worshiped with friends at Bethel Full Gospel Church, walked on the beach of the great lake Ontario, and cooked marshmallows around a back yard campfire. I got to spend some more time with my mother. When the vehicle was finally fixed it was hard to say good by. But we were very glad to be on the road again, heading south west, with the LORD leading the way. The long, peaceful drive gave us time to reflect and pray. Here are some random things that we realized on our trip:
Three year olds are very interesting people. We met quite a few along the way…from almost three to not quite four (6 in all) and they were delightful.
Even when you are 102 years old and a bit forgetful, you can still pray fervently.
There is an incredible amount of beautiful things in this country of ours. Many of the cities we drove through seemed old and tired but between the cities there are miles and miles of mountains and hills, fields and valleys, and a lot of cows to remind us that our Father owns the cattle on a thousand hills.
Life on a Reservation back east is a lot different than live on the Navajo Nation. And the non-natives don’t know much about it. They don’t see many “Indians” and don’t often recognize them when they do see them. It’s all about cheap cigarettes and casinos. But as he is here in Dinetah - the Holy Spirit is moving and people of all tribes, tongues, and nations - even the “white” people, are beginning to realize at long last, that Jesus is not the WhiteMan’s God.
On Sunday, June 29 - the pastor of Bethel Church, a large and Spirit filled church, talked about walking the path and running the race. This sounded familiar as I wrote notes down in my prayer journal. As we talked about it on the way home, I remembered that our Bishop, Matt Thomas spoke on a similar theme at annual conference. I flipped back pages in my journal and found the notes I had taken during that talk. At the top of the page I had written the words “Remember Bethel” I don‘t even remember why, but it proves to me that God knows where we are, and where we will be when we trust in Him and don’t lean on our own understanding.
I am looking forward to worshiping in our little Church tomorrow. It too is a Spirit filled church. I am remembering what the Pastor in Rochester New York said about being church by living together. I am remembering what Bishop Thomas said, like running a marathon - growing a small church isn’t hard, its just painful, as you strain to put one foot in front of another.
And we are committed to continue the good race, one simple step of obedience after another. Thank you all for your prayers.

Blessings along the way...

Where We Prayed - Tree of Life Church - Lancaster,NY

The Genesee River - Rochester,NY

Nature Reflects the Awesome Beauty of the Creator