new iberian mission association (nima) mission of faith

August-September 2013 Update

Articles / NIMAPosted by agape on Sep 25, 2013 - 07:26 PM

This is the New Iberian Mission Association (NIMA) Update for August-September, 2013.

NIMA is the outreach of Agape Christian Church of Las Cruces, New Mexico, and friends aroundthe world. Our main outreach in Guatemala is the Community Christian Hospital, Morning GloryChristian Academy that includes the primary school and the college preparation secondaryschool located on the Llano de la Virgen properties near San Raymundo Guatemala. There arenow several Christian churches that are under the direction of NIMA with the mother churchbeing Sacsuy Christian Church. We partner with Casas por Cristo in serving the people of thearea in many ways.

Read more [1]

August—September 2013 Update

NIMA is the outreach of Agape Christian Church of Las Cruces, New Mexico, and friends aroundthe world. Our main outreach in Guatemala is the Community Christian Hospital, Morning GloryChristian Academy that includes the primary school and the college preparation secondaryschool located on the Llano de la Virgen properties near San Raymundo Guatemala. There arenow several Christian churches that are under the direction of NIMA with the mother churchbeing Sacsuy Christian Church. We partner with Casas por Cristo in serving the people of thearea in many ways.

New Iberian Mission Association (NIMA) :: Mission of Faith http://www.missionoffaith.org/PrintArticle104.phtml

1 of 20 10/1/2013 10:22 AM

If Things look a little different this month, they are. Shannon had a beautiful little girl, and she ison maternity leave for the next few months. Believe me, I understand the need for that; with aboy just reaching one year old, and a new baby girl, this has put both Shannon and Jordan into“full time gear” as a mama and daddy.

Herb Pinney, Agape Christian Church

I do a lot of counseling at my office in Las Cruces, and as all churches should, we havegood insurance from a national company. When we first moved to this side of LasCruces, our insurance company wanted to know what we were doing on the highcrime side of town. I told them that "I thought that described the whole world." Finallygetting insurance to cover the high liability type of ministry that we do, we had toagree to some very strict rules. We had to add a video camera and recorder for

constant verification of certain activities, and the counseling that I do must be in front of thesolid glass wall of my office. This opens everything that is done in the office to the whole world.The glass is from just below the ceiling to near the floor level, from wall to wall. At times I canlock the door for privacy, but all that is going on in the conference is open to the all thosepassing by. This has saved my neck a couple of times when there was the possibility of chargesthat were not true.

There is no paid help here at the offices of Agape Christian and the New Iberian MissionAssociation. I have a few very faithful part time volunteers that come and go in my offices.Several of these are women, and I so appreciate Billy Graham’s moral stand of never beingalone with a person of the opposite sex at work or travel; I do not have that luxury. Billy, withhis “multi-buck” ministry can afford to hire all the people necessary to accomplish that goal. Thatis not a possibility for me. Thus from 6:30 AM each morning to around 8 to 9 PM each evening,my doors are unlocked and I work out of my office right at the big picture windows. I am thefirst one you see coming through the office door. This makes my life transparent and an openbook for all to see.

Over the 62 years of my ministry, I have tried to keep the whole of the ministry just as open,transparent and accessible to all as my office is. The walls of the office are lined with largenotebooks with hard copies of all the financial records of both Agape Christian Church and NewIberian Mission. Now, I have to tell you, I am always running late with mailed out financialstatements, with the very full time work of a very complex and active church (the work is muchlike when I was a student in geology at the New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology. Icaught rattlesnakes for a medical company. I could catch the snakes very easily, but I soonfound out, I had to be very good at what I was doing to turn one of those suckers loose, thesame with most of our church activities; they are hands-on sensitive), also the work as the localtrustee of Spanish American Evangelistic Ministries, and the fundraising, local directing and aseditor for New Iberian Mission Association, I get far behind often. So, what I want to do in thisUpdate is just pull back the curtains, and give you a front seat in what goes on, what I wouldlike to go on, and what is going to have to go on, in the direction, support and growth of MorningGlory Academy and all associate works in Guatemala, as well as the home base of AgapeChristian Church here in Las Cruces.


2 of 20 10/1/2013 10:22 AM

When Lori finished with her graduate work in Ohio, she came home to the First Christian Churchin Vidor, Texas, and mama and daddy. She was ready to be the leader of a Christian schoolsomewhere in the United States and sent out all the necessary letters; she sat home and waited.Nothing was happening. A call from Dean Cary at Colegio Biblico started her on the roundabouttrail that got her right where God wanted her, at the right place, at the right time with the rightenvironment to build the school that God wanted in Morning Glory.

Since I believe in long church building ministries, all the time that Lori was at Colegio and in SanRaymundo, I have ministered at First Christian in Vidor, and then building the new church plantthat started around Melba and my dinner table here in Las Cruces. As a full time partner withLori and Queno, and my grandchildren, great grandchildren now, I took on the fullresponsibilities to work at raising the money necessary, the equipment needed and the buildingsto do the job. All this on land that we would own and work with the view of being on the groundworking for the Lord in this place for the next couple hundred years, if the Lord tarries. My goalwas that as the local church, that would be the sending church for Lori and Queno, we would beable to pay the local office expenses, for Morning Glory, so that all the gift money that came incould go for raising the money and for the work in Guatemala.

This has worked well until now. Agape church is a church for all people; we have those thatflunked pre-school and PhDs; we have a smattering of all races and you see all shades of skin inour leadership in front of the church as well as in the “pews”. The challenging part for me, theoffering envelopes of perhaps 75% of this congregation range weekly from $1.25 to $6.00. Thisdoes not cover the lease, utilities, insurance, operating costs for a church even with a bullheaded minister that has not taken a salary during the 62 years for his ministry (there havebeen times that I received housing allowance and some expense money). I preach and doministry for the sheer love of the work and ego satisfying results of kingdom work. It may be asin, but I find great pleasure in what I do, and I admit to a certain amount of prideful joy in whatI do. If I took a vacation, this is what I would do on vacation. That is the Agape story; now addwhat has financially happened the past few years, and you have a recipe for financial disaster.

The great story over the past ten years has been the fantastic growth and scholastics, drama,music, successes of Morning Glory.


3 of 20 10/1/2013 10:22 AM

(Trophies honestly received are an indicator of the success of the educational program and theeducational philosophy of Morning Glory. The exciting thing is that the winners of these trophies

mostly come from poor Mayan and Latino families where the children travel by bus from thecirca 1890s at home to the 2013 and beyond as they come through the gates of Morning Glory.)

At the same time, we have not had a six month period that we were not building on theproperty, expanding the property, and improving the educational equipment on the campus,expanding teachers, and adding new schools. The best news is that the vast majority of oursupporters are good old American, garden variety, hard working, common folks that give to theLord for the love of it, not for a tax deduction. Or, if for a tax deduction, that is the leastimportance of their giving. I am talking about you great folks that have financed this exponentialgrowth and development of Morning Glory on the Altiplano of Guatemala. Every year you havestepped higher and higher up the financial scale to cover all the expenses of thisfantastic growth, expansion and accomplishment. And we really appreciate it.Especially since during this period of time the economy of the United States has been taking anose dive. I am going to give you some figures not to gross you out, but so you can patyourselves on the back for being the kind of Jesus loving, hard working, gift giving, sacrificingChristians that preachers are always dreaming about. While we have been growing rapidly, inthe United States, where all but a thousand or so dollars come each month, "The economycratered, crashing the real estate and stock market, destroying $18.9 trillion of householdwealth and wiping out more than 8 million jobs..." And hitting the working class and gardenvariety Americans with the sub-prime loans on home, credit cards, autos and living expenses; atthe peak, there was $2.5 Trillion in such loans that crashed from the Atlantic to the Pacific andhome values dropped an average across America by 41% and 31.4% of home owners owedmore than their homes were worth. And at the same time, lost their jobs or were moved backto part time employment.

At the same time at the grocery store and the gas station, just an example of what washappening while pay checks were plateaued or moving up at 1 or 2% a year. In January of 2003,a dozen large eggs cost $1.17, a pound of the best ground chuck was $2.13 and gasoline cost$1.55 a gallon. This past January on average in the United States, large eggs cost $1.93 andground beef 80/20 was selling at $3.40 a pound, and gasoline was $3.41 at the better stations.Are you beginning to see why I am so proud of you folks that are the backbone of MorningGlory?

Add to that the shrinking value of the dollar everywhere else and the sequester that has hitmany of our business managers and organization so they have had to cut back or drop out of thegiving column at Morning Glory’s account.


4 of 20 10/1/2013 10:22 AM

(Lori’s philosophy of education, hard work, and excellence, has paid off. They are the recipientsof the highest scholastic scores across the board in every corner of education, in Guatemala and

perhaps all Central America. The money you have invested in Morning Glory has producedtremendous results. This certificate that Lori is holding is the highest scholastic marks for

Morning Glory and is national accreditation for 5 years.)

Also, for us, the giving churches across America have seen their offering tray giving falling by 20to 40% as their expenses as a church have gone up. I receive letters all the time from broken-hearted friends of Morning Glory. Some have had to cut back their sponsorships, giving or puttheir minister on part time and encourage him to go find a part time job to care for his family. Ihave sent each one a thank you letter for all they have done, prayed for them, and told them tohang on.

Major businesses have had to lay off or "vacation" employees to meet the demands ofgovernment. What I have seen from my Christian business men friends, they have cut their ownsalary, cut expenses, cut giving, to keep their workforce together and from going on welfare. Ithas been tough times, and you have kept on supporting Morning Glory at a fantastic rate, but wehave hit a wall the past few months.

Now, as a Christian "tent maker" and earning my living in the business world as Igave Christianity away, I was not paid the big bucks to make excuses, but to findanswers.

Several months ago, I shut my doors of the office and locked them, shut off the appointments,handled the phone on a "I only have a minute, make this quick" basis, and spread out before methe economic growth and problems of the middle class Americans, the debt problem, the comingpolitical and economic walls that will have to be scaled, and the possibility of the economic worldpicture to see the USA dollar cease being the basis of world trade as the Pound Sterling of GreatBritain did in the 1960s and the BRIC take over. What problems do I need to solve that I cansolve, what steps should I take and what do I see as the financial future for Agape ChristianChurch and Morning Glory and NIMA "en todo."

As a result, I am excited. First let me list the problems that are not your fault, nor mine. Thenlet’s look at some answers.

) My 80th year on this planet is crashing down around me every day. Many of the folksthat started off with us decades ago have gone to be with the Lord and in many casestheir widows are carrying on, and doing a wonderful job in memory of their spouses. Justthis week my dear friend, past professor, and constant encourager and financer wrote me

1.


5 of 20 10/1/2013 10:22 AM

that his wife, and love of his life, Helen Warren, has gone to be with the Lord, and shehad kept Morning Glory before her and Ralph’s Bible school. Also, with this year, in his80s, Ralph has retired from Atlanta Christian College (Point University). Today I receivedan obit, from Peggy Norman, that her husband, and long time supporter, Joe, passed tobe with the Lord early in July. This is the story in my mail week after week. The dearfriends that have been so much a part of my life are going home to be with Jesus inrecord numbers.) These folks will need to be replaced. I am excited for them, but it leaves a hole in the"bucket." I have a new program for reaching the millennial generation and their parentsto replace us old folks. More on that in a minute.

2.

) At Agape Christian Church we are paying bills just ahead of utilities being shut off, andrunning slow on everything but insurance and lease payment. Our income is running a$1,000.00 a month behind. The income for Morning Glory is running $5/6,000.00 a monthslow. Now, we are not planning to replace any of you; we need you and more just likeyou; we just have to make up for a faltering and struggling economy in our society. Youhave been and are doing a great job; we just need you to keep it up, but at the sametime, you need some help. I know that it is not love for the Lord, or love for MorningGlory that is the problem.

3.

) I am so committed to the Bible as the source and answer for all of life’s problems. Iam no friend of fundraisers for churches or missions. I am just not looking to car washes,for special dinners, bingo, or cake walks as the method to raise money for the Lord’swork. I have tried making shopping programs available to save our supporters money inthe spending of money that they are already going to spend, and by working with the GVshopping [2] program we would get a kickback. A workable plan that over the yearswith everyone running the other 2direction, we got two checks, both under $50.00. So,the solution to me is putting our folks back to gainful employment and teaching them totithe, giving in proportion as the Lord has blessed them.

4.

) My concern is that if the worst case scenario in the United States, and our people hitthe financial bottom, and as a historian of some little experience, this is a real possibility.I want the work at Morning Glory to be far enough along that if the American dollarstopped for a year or decade, the work of Morning Glory could go on at a sustained butmore modest pace totally self supporting. This goal is a ways from being reached rightnow.

5.

So, here is what we're doing.

We are bonding and licensing to establish two work forces in Agape, and nationwide for churchesthat need to see their minister making his needed living expenses while being able to beavailable to the church as if he were full time. As well as putting their people who want aworking job, not just a pay check, to work in a child protection and child saving business that is100% in harmony with our gospel and church biblical methods.

If I can put my current unemployed and underemployed men and single mothers to work ingainful employment and they give out of love to the Lord, Agape’s financial problems are over.We will be able to continue to pay all the State side office expenses for Morning Glory, NIMA, andpick up one of the needed work expenses for SAEM, and soon will be able to pick up the expensefor the printing and mailing of the Update, and all our promotional, advertizing and thank youmaterial.

The local phase of our work force is putting our talents and abilities to work at jobs createdthrough our church advertizing and promotion. This will be babysitting, mechanical work, oddjobs. House cleaning, and already we have a widow that is working our phones and doingbookkeeping for the work force. This big job here is finding the work and assigning it to the rightperson. This also allows us to put some of our restricted people on parole and with limited abilityto mix with society to work, training them to get back into the productive work force and selfsupporting, as well as supporting the church.

The most profitable and financially available for us and all our friends is that as a church we havebought into a partnership with Child Shield, USA. This partnershipwill allow us to put people to work, working with their skills, andmaking money by offering a needed service, then supporting theirchurch with their tithes and thankful giving. I don’t know anyfinancial plan that is more biblical. To take a real close look at thisprogram go to www.childshieldusa.com/pinney [3] orwww.agapechristianchurch.net/childshieldusa [4].


6 of 20 10/1/2013 10:22 AM

Here is the program; as you read your newspaper and watch TV, you are aware that manythousands of children are kidnapped, run away, molested and taken into situations where theyare emotionally and physically injured and damaged. Over 2,000 children a day go missing.Child Shield is an educational program that began in the 1990s and to date has prevented over9,900 cases of child abuse, kidnapping and molestation. They offer their clients the following if achild is kidnapped, a $50,000.00 reward for the arrest and conviction of the kidnapper. Theparents, who at the time of the child missing are distraught and confused; the parents are hireda private detective to aid in the recovery and to handle all relations with the police, FBI andother law officials. They place videos nationwide to aid in the recovery. Since beginning, withover a million clients, they have never lost a child that was kidnapped. The most importantthing, they provide monthly newsletters that are an alert to parents to how molesters aregrooming them to steal, molest or harm their children. This is a program that is designed tokeep parents and youth all alert to what and what for, and how to respond.

Having chosen to earn my living for well over 50 years from basic salary and commissions, I canrecognize a commission program that is profitable to the representative and honest and not atime hog.

For Agape, we have chosen our young adult teacher, a recovering car salesman to head our localprogram. I will be setting up associates all over America to work through us and to makemoney. We will present this program to PTAs, PTOs, child care centers, home schoolers, schoolboards, and to local schools. The program is designed to make the professional presenterhundreds of dollars per presentation. The presenter does not have to close a single deal. Hepresents people with the printed material that I will provide. They go to their own computer as ahusband and wife team and if they like the program, they sign up on their computer with theirmoney card. Within a week their lifetime expense of signing up for the whole family, a fee of$199.00, a commission of $140.00 is deposited in our account. We will send a 10% tithe to theschool, PTO, or organization for allowing us to present at their meetings, a tithe will go to Agapefor providing you the license, all the material and legal ID badge, bond and record keeping andforwarding your commission weekly. If in a presentation of thirty minutes, three families signedup, your take-home for setting up and presenting at the meeting as a private contractor is over$300.00.

The field is not saturated; today there are 1 Million associates that are very happy. There arealso 49 million with children to be reached. My goal is to help ministers all over America that arehaving trouble making it, perhaps even on a reduced salary. They can make money and still bethe full time minister of their congregation and make many new contacts for the Lord while theyare at it.

I also know there are some professional appearing Christians out there that would love to getinto a money making business and not have to invest a dime. You pay for your material, and alltraining from the tithe of commissions that you will make.

We are living in difficult times, and as the national economy gets worse and worse, more andmore of the criminally minded will be looking to kidnapping and extortion to make a living. Thiswill just convince people that they need Child Shield to protect their home.

You may not be aware of it, but there are websites that train and help the criminally-minded toworm their way into families to attack their children. Child Shield has professional detectivesthat keep an eye on these first amendment-protected criminal sites to keep you informed ofwhat you have no idea concerning.

That is where we are going to solidify our base in Las Cruces to care for the full needs of MorningGlory, and provide honest and profitable work for Christians here and across the country. Thatseems to me to be something that would please a hard working God and Jesus Christ. You workand make money, pay your fees and expenses out of your commissions, and then can begenerous with the Lord by giving back to your church and Morning Glory.

Rob Courtney has been doing a magnificent job of reaching younger couples, and middle agedcouples, and his work in reaching out to new sponsors has kept Morning Glory going along withall our faithful supporters. The one thing I did not want to do was to pound on the door of thefaithful and keep asking for more and more. I want them to give more out of love, not out of mydesperation. So, we are going to work.

The next way that we are reaching out is through the music concerts of the NEELY family. Theyare at home in Nashville right now, meeting with their home Christian church, and planning a


7 of 20 10/1/2013 10:22 AM

new year that will include a MORNING GLORY DVD that is 4 minutes long and an excellenttri-fold brochure that Rob Courtney designed and was printed by SAEM. I am including my lateste-mail from Jeremy. I hope to have final information on their fundraising by the time I mail thisUpdate.

"On another note. We have spoken to our Pastor, Randy Cordell, and we areinvestigating the possibility of visiting Morning Glory in Guatemala end of January,first of February. Randy is possibly going to come with us so he can see the workfirst hand and possibly get Lakeshore Christian behind your work! So be in prayerfor that!"

Right now, Jeremy and family are working in Nashville on a fundraising project of their owncalled "kickstart." They are seeking to raise $100,000.00 to finance this winter the production ofa music DVD, a new CD of their family friendly songs, and to make several singles that they canuse for radio play and for families that can’t afford a CD or DVD when they are on tour.

Their goal is to kick off representing Morning Glory on their new spring tour that will be allacross the United States. I am asking you to be in prayer for our partners in the kingdom workin Guatemala. As I have said many times the trying to raise money by a representative drivingall over the country, seeking a meeting with churches, living in motels and eating in cafes wentout with the Edsel. Our job is to take all the tools that the Lord is placing at our hands. It is our

goal that with the excellent work with theworkers of Casas por Cristo that Lori andRob are doing with our outreach with ourfaithful supporters, sponsors and dearfriends that have worked their hands andtheir prayer bones to a frazzle, we will seethe completing of the projects at MorningGlory, and the Sunday school rooms forSacsuy Christian Church, the high school,college prep, school building will becomplete and with the fundraising plansthat are in the works now will over the nexthalf of decade, this will allow us to see thefirst of the adult education buildings and theBible college where our local preachers canbe trained be up and going.

Again, it is my dream and plans thatMorning Glory, if the Lord tarries, will go oninto the 22nd century with a mighty impacton all Central and South America. God isnot broke, and he has worked through you

folks to bring a miracle on the Llano property that was a few years ago a shack being used forstoring chicken manure. Let me tell you how God is taking our hard work and cooperating to getthe job done.

For the past several months we have not had the $16,000.00 at one time for the total budgetwire each month. This is not the money being sent for buildings or work funds for short termmissions; this is the working fund to keep the school operating. Each month I have sent themoney as I have banked it so Lori can pay the bills as they come due; this has been recently inthree different bank wires instead of one. Each wire costs us $45.00 to send; so, two extra wirescosts us $90.00 extra; that is about one of the minor salaries on the campus. Each month untilthis last month I got the money there by the 1st, the day the final checks must be made. Thismonth it was on the 6th. That meant Lori did not have all the salaries on time. I am veryconcerned as a good steward for my Master that we pay workers on time. I apologized to Loriand she told me that on the last couple days of August, money due to Lori and the school camein from all over Guatemala and by the time on the 31st 0f August, she had every salary covered.The faithfulness of the Lord just makes me want to work harder. I hope I have not bored you totears by pulling back the curtains and giving you a peek at what has been going on, and what wehope to be going on for decades and centuries. I am firmly committed to be transparent in allthat we do. At the same time, this is a big job for a major mission that is having worldwideinfluence for our King Jesus. I am so glad that you all are such faithful partners. It sure makesmy job easier.


8 of 20 10/1/2013 10:22 AM

Let me be very honest with you, the idea of Agape businesses is not to help Christians to havean improved level of income and style of living, but to meet their needs, and so they would havemore to be generous to the Lord’s work, investing their new income in eternal blessings.

Here are some good words from our team in Guatemala.

This is just to remind all that paid for their student sponsorship last year by the annual,semiannual or quarterly method, your time to re-up is at hand. Send checks, bank drafts,PayPal® [5] in at your convenience. You sponsors have been our lifeline this past year with therapid growth of the schools and expenses. God bless you each and everyone; no matter if youpay monthly, quarterly, semi annually or annually, you are a blessing. There was promise ofmajor funding from a major supporting church that fell through just as we made the updates andimprovements that they recommended; so, my dear friends, it has been the old timers, andsponsors that have keep us going this past year.


9 of 20 10/1/2013 10:22 AM

With this Update, we have deleted several hundred addresses and added more than onehundred from the good lists that we have made and Rod Courtney has sent me from hiscontacts. We had several folks request that they be moved from the print edition to the cyber,web site edition; I believe that has been done correctly. If you hear of anyone that feels theyhave been left off the mailing list that wants back on, let me know at 575-650-3915 [email protected] [6]. Also, they can go to web site at www.missionoffaith.org[7] for current Updates, and for past editions. Be a Morning Glory missionary, forward oure-mail notification of this new Update to all your friends and lists, and with the print edition passit on to a friend.

Lori Delle Nij, Morning Glory Academy

As I came to school this morning it was incredibly quiet. After weeks ofpractices and special activities, school was back to normal. The fivehundred plus Morning Glory kids were in class and busy learning. Mymind traveled back to the last few months. Incredibly, this school year isbasically one month from over. More than ever this has been a year ofgrowth and adaptation. Secondary School has been a learningexperience, both for me (learning to deal with adolescent drama) and forthe students (learning that Miss Lori knows drama when she sees it andit plain doesn’t work). It seems like this year has been one non-stopwhirlwind of activities.


10 of 20 10/1/2013 10:22 AM

In January we were notified that we had been approved for secondary school after several yearsof trying. We began the year with a push to get everything set up and ready with just a fewweeks’ notice. I had been working all November and December planning for the possibility so wewere able to start school on time. We began January with several groups from Casas por Cristo,medical clinics and activities that stretched pretty much non-stop into March and April. Addingthree new grades, a whole new level and a hundred plus new students jumped our budget uplike never before. We stepped out on faith believing the promises that the funds would beforthcoming. The ministry gave us a year’s grace to begin the next level which will take us allthe way up to university level. We turned every available space into classroom and doubled upon office space. The new levels required me to hire three new principals, one for each level. Ourprior principals had worked free of cost, signing the necessary papers for Guatemalan law.

In April, thanks to a very generous donor, we were able to buy two large pieces of land toexpand our available room. These lands basically double the space for Morning Glory. Fromabout April onward the emergency mission funds ran out and we began to face monthly deficitsand battles to make ends meet. We sent out an emergency update and received a good onetime response, but we continue to battle to make ends meet, robbing from Peter to pay Paulevery single month. The biggest problem is that I am tied into one year contracts for allemployees so I can’t cut salaries even if I wanted to.

All through the summer we hosted many different groups for Casas por Cristo. I am in charge ofarranging housing, food and transportation for all the groups. For most of the summer we rantwo full time kitchens in order to feed all the people. I also was blessed with four young ladieswho came to help out: Jessica Moore, a student at DCC; Kate Thompson, a student at OzarkChristian College, Maddie Bush, a high school student from Olney, Illinois; and Sara Macnamara,a high school student from Carrollton Christian Academy. These girls helped with English classesat school and with the logistics of housing so many people. This was basically a glorified title fordoing laundry and making beds. All during this time school carried on as normal. In July andAugust we had three groups that visited the school and held Vacation Bible School classes andworked around campus. Mt. Gilead Church renewed our mural on the playing field. Then one ofthe Casas groups chose to not take a tourist day and stayed and help work around campus. Theydid a deep cleaning of the dorms and cafeteria and finished painting around the field. They alsoprepared the last wall, where Cornerstone from Dallas painted their contribution to the murals.The last group to visit us was a family group from Northside Christian Church in Houston, Texas(Spring). Several groups during the summer helped me raise funds to build a shade shelteroutside my office so I can sit outside when the kids have special activities. My skin has becomevery sensitive to the sun and even just a few minutes causes severe sun burns. For some reasonsun block does not help much. We were able to buy a special roofing material that filters out allthe harmful rays from the sun. It is wonderful to be able to be with the students once againwithout getting burned; a big thank you to the men from Northside that did the guy thing andbuilt it for me. Due to extreme penny pinching and creative economics we have been able tomeet all our financial obligations even if a bit late. These next two months are going to be a realchallenge and I ask for your prayers.


11 of 20 10/1/2013 10:22 AM

In July and August our band and dancers once again began to attend national band meets. Thisyear we had way more invitations than we could possibly accept. Every time we move the bandit is an extra 200 dollars that I have to figure out where to find. The parents help to the best oftheir ability but for many it would be a financial hardship and I just can´t find the heart to tell akid, you can´t go because your parents can´t pay. Since we added students this meant that wehad to add new uniforms as well, and of course, our secondary students all decided to grow sotheir uniforms from last year did not fit. We passed those down to the smaller kids and I had tobuy over thirty new uniforms, plus new dance uniforms for the same reason. The ones from lastyear were so short that they looked ridiculous. I still owe a lot of this money, but our uniformmaker is a very patient man who believes in what we are doing. He will let me pay a bit everymonth. Our parents are starting fundraising activities to help me out. A lot of the funds for newuniforms came from the sale of Morning Glory "I am part of the story" tee shirts. Once again ourband was outstanding and won again several first place recognitions, including the nationalchampionships for the second year in a row. All the judges mentioned how much they haveimproved. This year with the help of parents, people from the US we have been able to add windinstruments to our band. We have twelve trumpets, two saxophones, three flutes, and threeclarinets. Some of our parents have signed two year letters with the instrument company inorder to buy an instrument for their child. We are still pushing for more instruments, so if youhave a student instrument gathering dust in your closet please contact me and we will figure away to get it here and into the hands of a future musician. Right before the national contest thejudges suggested that we add color guard to our band so with ten days notice Tabi, one of myteachers and I developed a routine and taught eight girls how to wave flags. The day before thecompletion I was still making the last uniforms for these girls. Tabi and I worked long into thenight getting them ready. We went from this right into the preparations for the IndependenceDay celebrations here in town. So, basically, I feel like I have not stopped to catch my breathsince December. I took a couple of days off between activities in August to spend some time withGod and catch-up. But after two days the world began to fall apart and I had to go back to work.This year for Independence Day I totally delegated responsibilities to my employees and toldthem they had to stand or fall on their own, but I was not going to step in and do the job. Forthe most part they all did excellent jobs and I am really proud of them.


12 of 20 10/1/2013 10:22 AM

That brings us to today. If you have been following my Facebook [8] you will know that wehave faced incredible battles like never before this year. Satan is on a rampage. He has attackedus like never before. He has attacked our health; all three of my grandchildren have had to haveemergency surgery within the last year, and Megan twice, once for a very bad broken arm andjust a few months ago for appendicitis. Kenivan had to have his tonsils removed because theywere swelling so bad they were cutting off his airway, and Melody had emergency appendicitis,plus we discovered that her incisors were eating away at the permanent roots of her teeth andshe had to have braces. All of this totally depleted my savings and personal funds. By God´sgrace and the natural supplements that Clifford and Judy Shaw so generously provide my healthhas held and I have not been sick at all this year. Satan has attacked our finances, and basicallyanywhere he thinks he can get in edgewise. It has been your faithful prayers and words ofencouragement that have kept us going. I have applied for a two-year extension before going tothe next level and it has been authorized. I am already trying to figure out where I can cutbudget to get it into our financial reality. These next few months I am going to have to makesome very hard decisions. We have already publicized that we will not be accepting any newstudents next year. We just don’t have the space or finances to grow again. There have beenmoments of deep discouragement when I just can´t face the day, yet somewhere I find thestrength to get up and keep plugging away. And there have been special moments where Godgives a glimpse of His Glory and reminds me that He is still in charge. All said and done,basically, all the bills are paid and the electricity has not been turned off. My children have notgone without food, and God has been good. The end of the year balance sheet is in positivecolumn. Over forty families received houses this year, we doubled our available land, ourchildren excelled once again, and we made many new friends.

The young people from Mt. Gilead introducedus to our favorite new song in English. It iscalled "I Need You To Survive." [9] Thelyrics are at once prophetical and relevant towhat Morning Glory is all about. The songbegins: "I need you, you need me, we are alla part of God´s body. I need you to survive."It so truthfully portrays that we cannot do thisalone; without the help of God´s family wecannot stand. There is no truth more real tome tonight. I cannot do this alone. I need yourhelp, I need my teachers, I need my family, Ineed God´s body. The children cannot standalone, they need me, need their teachers,need their parents and most of all need you.The song goes on: "I love you, you love me,

we all stand together, I need you to survive." The scripture says the world will know us by ourlove. We must love each other and that love requires giving and sacrifice. Because so many ofyou love our children and want the best for them, Morning Glory survives. Again we cannotstand alone, we need you. The song finishes, "I pray for you, you pray for me, I need you to


13 of 20 10/1/2013 10:22 AM

survive." Without the faithful prayers of God´s warriors, Satan would win the battle anddiscouragement would overcome. It is because I know that so many hold us up daily in prayerthat I can get up, face the pain and face the day and know in the end God will win.

Sometimes late at night when I can´t sleep, I question God. I wonder if I am really doing Hiswill, if He really wants Morning Glory to continue. I question why it has to be so hard, why I losebattles, and my heart breaks over and over. Sometimes it is as if God is silent holding off Hisanswer. When I have to close the doors of Morning Glory to a rebellious child that I love dearlybut so needs to face the hard consequences of his own decisions, I cry long into the night. Whenlove has to be hard and tough, it hurts so much. Then morning comes and a slobbery kiss from afour-year-old or a word of gratitude from a parent who is struggling or I sit in Bible class andwatch the children go into the Holy of Holies with their praise and God speaks in a still quietvoice, "Hold on my child, just keep trusting." Then I have to bow my head and hide my tears asI hear the children sing: "I need you, you need me; Stand with me, we are all a part of God´sBody, I need you to survive."

So, I stand before you with my heart in my hand. "I need you, you need me; Stand with me, Ilove you, you love me, I pray for you, you pray for me." I NEED YOU TO SURVIVE.

Lori mentioned a number of her summer workers, and we have some pictures as they wenthome to share what they were doing all summer. This morning as I was opening my e-mails, anumber of new PayPal® [10] gifts were ready to be printed and added to income from thearea of Olney, Illinois. This Summer a mother and daughter team, Rebekah Bush and DianaBush, and others from this area were a blessing.


14 of 20 10/1/2013 10:22 AM

Interns and summer short term workers are a blessing each year and as with Rob Courtney,often they fall so in love with Morning Glory and the people of Guatemala that they became aregular full time part of what we are doing for the Lord.

One of the blessing that I receive in being older than dirt, ever so often a young man or younglady that is a grandchild or great grandchild of men and women that I have worked with indecades past, comes on the scene and is a dividend of shared work from years ago and it is déjàvue.

The twentieth century was a time of growing up in Christ for the Christian churches that werenot wanting to be a part of National Council of Churches and seeking to find fellowship at thelowest possible common denominator. We, also, did not want to isolate ourselves from fellowBible believing Christians as many of our non-instrumental brothers were doing, and we built abrand new centralist position in the Restoration Movement of the Stone Campbell fellowship. Mymentor, Dr. C.C. Crawford, was involved in the west as was a pioneer named Vernon Newland. Ibelieve that he was involved in starting five of our Bible colleges now that have moved intoaccredited colleges and universities. His Son, Melvin, was President of Dallas Christian Collegewhen we moved from Aztec, New Mexico, to S.E. Texas, and became very involved with D.C.C.Today, I am taking Lori’s word from a phone call last night, a granddaughter and greatgranddaughter of these men, that has been an intern with us before, is applying to be anapprentice at Morning Glory for one year to decide our future together. . .

I have been hearing raving review about her work, both from Guatemala and from the Dallasarea for over a year now and I am excited that now that she is back from a second summer inIndia. Allie Border is in the process of coming on board under the direction of New IberianMission Association. For me to have this family move back into our circle of joint fellowship andwork is like a cool mountain breeze blowing in off the snow-covered Sierra Nevada Mountainsonto the hot and dry Mojave desert as I prospected for desert gems many decades ago.


15 of 20 10/1/2013 10:22 AM

Here, Allie is with Sarasue at an India leper colony this past summer. Sarasue has lived over 50years in this leper colony, and has not seen a family member in that 50 years. Two Years ago,Allie visited with Sarasue and they remembered each other after the two years. Sarasue couldnot believe that the girl from American would remember her when her own family has forgottenher.

At Moring Glory we are looking for people that love people and will make a difference in theirlife. Ms. Allie has the heart and the pedigree to make a wonderful addition to Morning Glory asan apprentice as of now. You will be hearing more from her and from me about her in themonths to come.

Allie’s coming is not written in stone yet, but Lori and I are excited about the possibility; pleasepray for Allie and her family.

Someone rang the wake-up bell for Mr. Rob, and with a time mark at 11:50 PM on a Fridaynight article, he made the deadline of Friday by ten minutes. I found it amusing that he wroteabout kids and time schedules. I love this guy; he is my alter ego and a bright and rising star,even if he is deadliner just like me.

Rob Courtney, teacher, Morning Glory

Ok. I’ll confess. When we have short-term groups come to visit Morning Glory, I often have to


16 of 20 10/1/2013 10:22 AM

clench my teeth to not ruin their experience. When I hear, "Oh, all the kids are so precious andinnocent," I hold back a smirk. Granted, our kids are something special, very special. And theydo some awesome things. I am often surprised by the level of maturity in many of them. Butthat doesn’t mean they are ALL innocent ALL the time.

I have had to grow A LOT in my patience this year. Some of the kids are at "that age" wherethey just want to push buttons. And some of my adolescents are so incredibly "in love" that theycan stay up till 2 am writing their intense feelings in Facebook, but can’t turn in a singlehomework assignment. Just today I caught a group of older kids throwing rocks at each other.After I told them to go sit in front of Lori, they went to the other side of the building to playsoccer (which at the moment is also prohibited). You can imagine the words "sweet" and"innocent" weren’t in my vocabulary at that moment. I have recommended to Lori on more thanone occasion that, as a Christian school, we are well within our curriculum to perform an objectlesson of an Old Testament stoning.

I don’t mean to talk all about the negative. I repeat that we have some GREAT kids who doGREAT things. I am so proud of the progress of one of my sixth grade classes for their immensegrowth this year. But I have some hard days, too. There are days when I want to go into Lori’soffice and tell her that I am not teaching that class again. There are days where I really questionour work: why and what for? If these kids (only some of them, of course, but you know how abad day is) are so bent on blatantly breaking rules and sabotaging my class, what can I possiblyhope to accomplish? How can I change the desires and behavior of 40 teenagers at a time? Is itreally worth it?

Then God reminds me: Just one.

And then I get it. I remember that if I can impact the course of just one student’s life, it’s worthit. If I can help one student move further into the Kingdom of God instead of away from it, allthe hard days mean something. If just one child learns and develops a desire to continuelearning English (hey, at least it will make their University education easier) then I’ve donesomething worth doing.

And it’s not always easy. But I think back to what all the groups say. They are right when theysay that the kids of Morning Glory are Children of God. And Jesus did die for the little bratshooting spitballs. Guess that means I’m called to live for them.

But I, Lori and the thirty-something staff members can’t live for these children if we can’t earn aliving. That is to say we all have families to take care of and mouths to feed. And simply put: wearen’t getting what we need. If we can’t make budget, we have to downsize, and that means welose opportunities to impact kids’lives. How many "just ones" could we lose?

I moved to another country to minister, if nothing else, just one student. Lori has spent themajority of her life and been through struggles I can’t even imagine to change the lives ofnumerous young ones in the name of Jesus Christ. But we don’t have the resources to continueahead without your help.

So again, I ask you to please consider praying and giving. You are our provision. You can evensponsor a child to help us so you can build a relationship with a student, too.

But essentially it boils down to this question:

How much is one life worth to you? We have over 500 of them that all need your help. Go towww.morningglorychristianacademy.org [11] for more info. [Donate here [12]]

I told you at the beginning ofthis Update that I would giveyou the scoop on Jordan andShannon Slee and family.Shannon & Jordan have been ablessing both in Guatemalaand here in the States as myeditorial assistant. She is onmaternity leave. She is going ahundred miles and hour nowwith a boy and a girl as well as


17 of 20 10/1/2013 10:22 AM

a husband to look after. I sobelieve that good Christianpeople need to have extrachildren now, to make up forthe lack of children and thestreet children that a secularsociety is fostering on us.Melba and I had nine birthchildren. And one by A-section(adoption). We have 29grandchildren and 29 greatgrandchildren and dozens thatwe have reared in our home.

This is Diana Makayla Slee, such a sweet heart. Welcome to a new missionary of one kind oranother.

As I read over Rob’s article, I wondered how many spit balls he shot with a rubber band over hisschool years.

Herb Pinney, Agape Christian Church

I started this last Saturday


18 of 20 10/1/2013 10:22 AM

morning early, and I left myoffice doors locked as I camein the dark. I wasn’t worriedabout anyone, just neededtime. I had our weeky20-page Sunday Epistle, ourSunday magazine for Agapeto print and corrolate, the AMworship PowerPoint to designand build for Sunday morningworship, and this Update toorganize, get proofread andready to print on Monday. Iwas blessed with help, anelder and an elder-in-trainingcame by to clean the churchand stayed to help corrolate

the Epistle. Melba came by to print off some Sunday School material (we write all of ourmaterial), and stayed to help for a little while. My accountant helper, Mel, is on her way. Achurch that wants to give us an offering, and we sure need it, wants an origianal copy of our501(c)3 paperwork from the IRS. The original copy from years ago has long since disapeared,and Mel is going to help me dig through the cyber mess and retreive a copy to get it back on fileand off to the requested church. (It turned out she has to call on Monday.)

I got a call last night that the Haulks were coming to help with setting up proper computerprograming the weekend of the 19th of Oct. This will help the expansion that we are goingthrough. This smoke signal guy has never had any computer training, and these kids areexperts. It stays super busy around here; no one uses the term bored.

I am sure that I will get some flack for seeking to offer some work and business opportunitiesfor our Christian Family; "for not relying on the Lord" (and I really am). I come from the oldhard liner Restoration background. I have several personally held prejudices that I try not to letget in my way working with Christians and non-Christians.

One, I am not sure you can scripturally support a clergy/layity relationship in the Biblicalministry of the church. I believe that the minister, pastor, should be an elder or at least a deaconin the local church and a permanent part of the local Christian family. Not just ministering on hisway up, a hired hand. So, I firmly believe that ONE of the methods of supporting a good ministryis to allow the one that is properly wired by God to work 70 or more hours a week to be a "tentmaker." I am totally dedicated that a man should work, and that he should be generous withGod, I mean really generous, from the first fruits. The first check he writes each week is to theministeries that he suports.

Thus the secret to the Lord’s work getting done, on Biblical scale, is to put everyone to work,and teach them, guide them, to be generous with the Lord. I realize that they name streets inevery town in America after me, you know, ONE WAY!

We have a million dollar campus on the Llano right now, and we have a nuther couple or threemillion to go. I like the thinking of Ol’ Huey Long, senator years past from Louisiana; he said, "Inever steal from the poor; I make them rich first, then I steal from them." Well, I don’t want tosteal from you, but I want to make it where you can be really generous with the Lord at yourlocal church and with Morning Glory. So, let's work together and just see what the Lord can do.

To point out why I am so concerned, I am very serious about what we do, I just sent the wire forthe $16,000.00 budget, and all I could send this week when it was due was $7320.00.

New Iberian Mission AssociationPO Box 15133Las Cruces, NM 88004-5133

Office: 575.647.2168


19 of 20 10/1/2013 10:22 AM

Mobile: 575.650.3915Home: 575.386.0032

www.morningglorychristianacademy.org [13]www.missionoffaith.org [14]

This article is from New Iberian Mission Association (NIMA) :: Mission of Faith http://www.missionoffaith.org/

The URL for this story is: http://www.missionoffaith.org/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=104

Links in this article [1] http://www.missionoffaith.org/Article104.phtml#nima [2] http://www.missionoffaith.org//ourgvmall/ [3] http://www.childshieldusa.com/pinney [4] http://www.agapechristianchurch.net/childshieldusa [5] http://www.missionoffaith.org//page.php?show=donate [6] [email protected] [7] http://www.missionoffaith.org/ [8] http://www.facebook.com/amglory.lori [9] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LUUHPDUsLJ0 [10] http://www.missionoffaith.org//page.php?show=donate [11] http://www.morningglorychristianacademy.org/?ref=NIMA [12] http://www.missionoffaith.org//page.php?show=donate [13] http://www.morningglorychristianacademy.org/?ref=NIMA [14] http://www.missionoffaith.org/


20 of 20 10/1/2013 10:22 AM

new iberian mission association (nima) mission of faith

Spiritual