Figure I might as well give an update on what's been going on....emailed the General Superintendent of the A/G churches and waiting on his reply...my brother and i want to create a website using the A/G website creator program but to do that you need an account number, which we do not currently have. basically, the program was designed for huge organizations or churches.......not two people with a massive dream...so we're gonna need some help (and prayer...) with that....
however...
we decided to try and create a website that would be like a "rough draft" to the website we want to create. www.givebyfaith.weebly.com ...yeh, not the most professional sounding website in the world, but it will work for the time being and it's a little more professional than this blog! =)
patience is really key here...since it's Thanksgiving week, i think all the pastors have generally taken a vacation to spend time with family and everything....great except that means no email will be read until next week, and even then a reply might not be immediate...now, im not one known for having a lot of patience (i think it's because i email as much as i blog lol...) so it's a learning experience... =P
so yeh, that's kinda what's been going on around here....not a lot of progress is being made but baby steps are being taken so it's a start....there's 12,367 A/G churches in the United States and we're currently trying to figure out how to contact all the churches that DON'T have an email address or website posted....even by calling them (my brother's idea...) that's a ton of churches to call...
well, that's pretty much it for now.....in case i don't get to say it tomorrow, Happy Thanksgiving everyone!!! =)
Wednesday, November 21, 2007
Sunday, November 18, 2007
one dom?
so yeh, i've been doing some thinking...and i would like to try and see if just my dom (Assemblies of God) can get to this 4 billion mark...*thinks* i will have to go through the list of each state and count how many churches there are per state and add it all up...then i've got to get permission to see if i can start a website specifically for OMS...i mean, a blog is great and all but...it lacks professionalism...(is that a word....?)...i mean, sure my brother and i are just two people but there's no reason why we can't turn this into a legit organization....
*random sidenote to self* do we need a "better sounding" name? more professional? catchy? hmmmm....(don't get caught up in the insignificant stuff like that though...)
*random sidenote to self* do we need a "better sounding" name? more professional? catchy? hmmmm....(don't get caught up in the insignificant stuff like that though...)
Saturday, November 17, 2007
List of Churches...
okay little brother...and anyone else who might be reading this.... =)
here's a list of churches....turns out there's over 38,000 doms that consider themselves under the branch "Christian"...*bangs head on desk* but these are the ones that i found to actually line up with the basic beliefs...a.k.a. the Bible...(not much use in asking them to send money to help send Bibles if they don't believe in it...ya know?) so anyways...
Protestantism ·
Lutheranism ·
Adventism (Advent Christian Church)
Calvinism ·
Anglicanism ·
Baptist ·
Methodism ·
Evangelicalism ·
Fundamentalism ·
Pentecostalism
Unity Church ·
Oneness Pentecostalism
so yeh...those are the church doms...i figure if i can just Google those in i'll get like the home page for each dom....and then i can go from there....i LOVE dom websites that list all the churches lol...=)
okay...*sighs* im tired...it's been a long day...there's a lot of planning left to be done...sending out mass emails is way easy...but the real tough part is sending letters...i'd love to branch out to all the countries where Open Doors has "bases"...i haven't contacted my brother all day...i dunno what he's up to....so i gotta talk to him tomorrow when i see him at church...so what do i know now?
i've got this feeling inside of me, this solid feeling, like i know this operation is going to be successful...
i'll admit, it feels a little weird but it feels so cool too...i mean, i know for a fact that 1 billion Bibles are going to be delivered to my brothers and sisters in the persecuted church and i know im going to have a part in it, im getting to help spread the Hope...
im stepping out onto the water in faith...and i can see God right there to help me! =)
here's a list of churches....turns out there's over 38,000 doms that consider themselves under the branch "Christian"...*bangs head on desk* but these are the ones that i found to actually line up with the basic beliefs...a.k.a. the Bible...(not much use in asking them to send money to help send Bibles if they don't believe in it...ya know?) so anyways...
Protestantism ·
Lutheranism ·
Adventism (Advent Christian Church)
Calvinism ·
Anglicanism ·
Baptist ·
Methodism ·
Evangelicalism ·
Fundamentalism ·
Pentecostalism
Unity Church ·
Oneness Pentecostalism
so yeh...those are the church doms...i figure if i can just Google those in i'll get like the home page for each dom....and then i can go from there....i LOVE dom websites that list all the churches lol...=)
okay...*sighs* im tired...it's been a long day...there's a lot of planning left to be done...sending out mass emails is way easy...but the real tough part is sending letters...i'd love to branch out to all the countries where Open Doors has "bases"...i haven't contacted my brother all day...i dunno what he's up to....so i gotta talk to him tomorrow when i see him at church...so what do i know now?
i've got this feeling inside of me, this solid feeling, like i know this operation is going to be successful...
i'll admit, it feels a little weird but it feels so cool too...i mean, i know for a fact that 1 billion Bibles are going to be delivered to my brothers and sisters in the persecuted church and i know im going to have a part in it, im getting to help spread the Hope...
im stepping out onto the water in faith...and i can see God right there to help me! =)
faith
i just an email from two close friends...im teasing them because i've been telling them that im planning something but i won't tell them what im planning....i couldn't help but laugh at part of their email...
just remember faith can move mountains….
as i sit here typing this, all i can do is think about just how powerful faith is...like right now, i know for a fact that by 12-31-08 at 11:59pm, OMS will has successfully sent enough money to Open Doors for Open Doors to deliver 1 billion Bibles to the persecuted church around the world.
huh....i think i might have stumbled onto what it feels like to have faith...like deep in your bones, running through your blood, fueling your very heart kind of faith....
cool... =)
okay, i can't keep my brother having to do all the research and stuff...im going to see if i can find listing of all the churches in the United States....yesssss as much as i hate it, im going to Google search by dom names....ugh...*groans* but whatever...i'll do whatever it takes to contact every church i can...
i'm still working on the details on how to get the money....now obviously nobody's gonna just hand over money to me and my brother...let alone 4 billion dollars...im thinking of just asking the pastors of each church to email us and tell how much they're giving to Open Doors, and my brother and i can add it up as we go along, asking each church....
4 billion dollars....whew, that's a lot....if my brother and i had that, we'd be set for life, each of us...from now until the day we die...if we had that kind of money, we'd be financially sound and confident of that fact....something pretty rare these days...
but you know what?
making sure Christians have the Bible, the Words of Hope, Love and Life....that's more valuable than anything...in fact, having that is priceless.
and that's faith. =)
just remember faith can move mountains….
as i sit here typing this, all i can do is think about just how powerful faith is...like right now, i know for a fact that by 12-31-08 at 11:59pm, OMS will has successfully sent enough money to Open Doors for Open Doors to deliver 1 billion Bibles to the persecuted church around the world.
huh....i think i might have stumbled onto what it feels like to have faith...like deep in your bones, running through your blood, fueling your very heart kind of faith....
cool... =)
okay, i can't keep my brother having to do all the research and stuff...im going to see if i can find listing of all the churches in the United States....yesssss as much as i hate it, im going to Google search by dom names....ugh...*groans* but whatever...i'll do whatever it takes to contact every church i can...
i'm still working on the details on how to get the money....now obviously nobody's gonna just hand over money to me and my brother...let alone 4 billion dollars...im thinking of just asking the pastors of each church to email us and tell how much they're giving to Open Doors, and my brother and i can add it up as we go along, asking each church....
4 billion dollars....whew, that's a lot....if my brother and i had that, we'd be set for life, each of us...from now until the day we die...if we had that kind of money, we'd be financially sound and confident of that fact....something pretty rare these days...
but you know what?
making sure Christians have the Bible, the Words of Hope, Love and Life....that's more valuable than anything...in fact, having that is priceless.
and that's faith. =)
denominations...
just got an email from my brother...seems he and i had a little miscommunication.....i set down 1 billion as our goal....he set down 10 billion as our goal... =)
sweet...btw i looked at our goal of what 10 billion Bibles...well according to my research the approximate number of those outside christianity in the top 22 religions is 4,767,700,000...if u add that to the number of Christians (2,100,000,000) you get approx. 6,867,700,000...thats about the number of people in the whole world...10 Billion Bibles would make every person in the world get almost 2 Bibles per person! Thats just plain INSANITY!!!! i like it :)
*laughing* hey brother, i love the insanity of it all too....but that's something we'll have to leave for a future date....*thinks* i wonder why i think 10 billion is too much but 1 billion is just fine....*shakes head* aih, something for me to think about at a later time....
ANYWAYS....
so there's just over 2 billion Christians in the entire world...my brother is the math genius half....he's good with numbers and everything...whereas i will have a calculator and i will still be triple-checking what i already double-checked! =)
but i think Open Doors is non-dom so i figure...why should we have denominations play a part in who we do (or do not...) ask for support...?
my brother and i attend and are members of an Assemblies of God (A/G) church, so therefore we should technically be part of the A/G denomination......but for this operation?
denominations are stupid.
ESPECIALLY when you consider the point of our entire operation; we're sending Bibles to the persecuted Church. okay so the different denominations here in the United States, we've got these differences in our beliefs (sometimes nothing more than just minute differences...) that are, for some reason, big enough to seperate us. you know...
Baptists
Methodists
Lutherans
Protestants
Evangelicals
yeh, the list goes on...however, we're not trying to send missionaries or anything....just Bibles! sure, we can have our differences in beliefs but after our "special little" denomination name, we've still got the word "Christian" in there...
so even though im technically a Pentecostal Evangelical (the Assemblies of God falls under that category), im ignoring and completely erasing the dom-boundaries...
*shrugs* hey someone's gotta do it sometime.........what better way to do that than to give our brothers and sisters in Christ Bibles???
brother...you and i are going to help change the world!
=)
sweet...btw i looked at our goal of what 10 billion Bibles...well according to my research the approximate number of those outside christianity in the top 22 religions is 4,767,700,000...if u add that to the number of Christians (2,100,000,000) you get approx. 6,867,700,000...thats about the number of people in the whole world...10 Billion Bibles would make every person in the world get almost 2 Bibles per person! Thats just plain INSANITY!!!! i like it :)
*laughing* hey brother, i love the insanity of it all too....but that's something we'll have to leave for a future date....*thinks* i wonder why i think 10 billion is too much but 1 billion is just fine....*shakes head* aih, something for me to think about at a later time....
ANYWAYS....
so there's just over 2 billion Christians in the entire world...my brother is the math genius half....he's good with numbers and everything...whereas i will have a calculator and i will still be triple-checking what i already double-checked! =)
but i think Open Doors is non-dom so i figure...why should we have denominations play a part in who we do (or do not...) ask for support...?
my brother and i attend and are members of an Assemblies of God (A/G) church, so therefore we should technically be part of the A/G denomination......but for this operation?
denominations are stupid.
ESPECIALLY when you consider the point of our entire operation; we're sending Bibles to the persecuted Church. okay so the different denominations here in the United States, we've got these differences in our beliefs (sometimes nothing more than just minute differences...) that are, for some reason, big enough to seperate us. you know...
Baptists
Methodists
Lutherans
Protestants
Evangelicals
yeh, the list goes on...however, we're not trying to send missionaries or anything....just Bibles! sure, we can have our differences in beliefs but after our "special little" denomination name, we've still got the word "Christian" in there...
so even though im technically a Pentecostal Evangelical (the Assemblies of God falls under that category), im ignoring and completely erasing the dom-boundaries...
*shrugs* hey someone's gotta do it sometime.........what better way to do that than to give our brothers and sisters in Christ Bibles???
brother...you and i are going to help change the world!
=)
the number 1 billion
*sighs* okay, i gotta confess…i have a SERIOUS blogging problem =P
*shrugs* what can i say? God blessed me with the gift of writing so i LOVE to write…
i was thinking about this number, 1 billion. now, you've got to understand that each Bible costs $4. 1 billion Bibles X $4 per Bible comes out to… $4,000,000,000. That's…well jeez, no matter how you look at it, that's a pretty massive number. now i've got another brother, he's a little younger than me. this is the conversation we just had…
me: hey, do you think 1 billion is a big number?
him: compared to what?
**side note: my brother's really smart so sometimes i just wanna whack him… =)**
me: *after thinking for a moment and letting him know that he's a dork* compared to God…
him: no. (NO hesitation whatsoever…)
~~~after a moment of silence he turns from watching the tv~~~him: *laughing* well compared to you, it's really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really big…
but honestly, it's how fast he said "no" when i asked him if it was a big number compared to God that really strikes me…
to God, 1 billion is a really small number. (my brother chose to say "really" nine times cuz "there's 9 zeroes in a billion")…so i've decided to think like God and 1 billion is a small number to me now. unreachable without God, yeh…but it's still a small number. it's reachable, it's totally reachable with God's help.
of course…there's the details to still work out…like…how do we channel 4 billion dollars to Open Doors….but hey…
big dreams come with a lot of planning… =)
*shrugs* what can i say? God blessed me with the gift of writing so i LOVE to write…
i was thinking about this number, 1 billion. now, you've got to understand that each Bible costs $4. 1 billion Bibles X $4 per Bible comes out to… $4,000,000,000. That's…well jeez, no matter how you look at it, that's a pretty massive number. now i've got another brother, he's a little younger than me. this is the conversation we just had…
me: hey, do you think 1 billion is a big number?
him: compared to what?
**side note: my brother's really smart so sometimes i just wanna whack him… =)**
me: *after thinking for a moment and letting him know that he's a dork* compared to God…
him: no. (NO hesitation whatsoever…)
~~~after a moment of silence he turns from watching the tv~~~him: *laughing* well compared to you, it's really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really big…
but honestly, it's how fast he said "no" when i asked him if it was a big number compared to God that really strikes me…
to God, 1 billion is a really small number. (my brother chose to say "really" nine times cuz "there's 9 zeroes in a billion")…so i've decided to think like God and 1 billion is a small number to me now. unreachable without God, yeh…but it's still a small number. it's reachable, it's totally reachable with God's help.
of course…there's the details to still work out…like…how do we channel 4 billion dollars to Open Doors….but hey…
big dreams come with a lot of planning… =)
a peek into the persecuted church...
Okay, so im starting to think that i may have a slight blogging problem here… =)
it's all good though…..so yeh, i thought i'd give you some more background info on the whole OMS deal here….there's this organization called Open Doors that helps persecuted Christians around the world.
persecuted Christians? wait….i thought Christians are okay now. you know, Rome was forever ago…Christians don't die anymore…
Reality check?
Christians still die.
that's the truth. the two major driving forces for helping persecuted Christians around the world are Voice of the Martyrs (VOM….www.persecution.com) and Open Doors (OD….www.opendoorsusa.org ). Secret Believers (www.secretbelievers.org) is an amazing site that is partnered with OD that gives you a glimpse into the world of persecuted Christians, especially those in Muslim countries.
All around the world, throughout South America, Africa, Europe, and Asia, Christians are being persecuted for…well, for being Christians! what's persecution?
it's anything from people looking down on you because you're a Christian all the way to killing you because you're a Christian. like i said before…
Christians still die.
it's absolutely astonishing and mind-boggling to read about these people. when they make the decision to become Christians, they do so knowing that they may very well die because they have chosen to be Christians. you may be a Christian, you may not be. either way, it's something that just makes you sit back and go whoa… some of my favorite books about persecuted Christians are Jesus Freaks V. I and II as well as Extreme Devotion and even Under God all by dc Talk. Regular subscription to VOM keeps me updated on what's going on around the world.
Persecuted Christians are all non-doms. (remember, that means "non-denominational") See, persecuted Christians are all part of something called the Underground Church…a single huge church, its members all persecuted Christians around the world. it's not a physical church, with one pastor and a weekly sermon. it's thousands of groups of people meeting in secret around the world.
so many of these Christians don't have a Bible; some have bits and pieces, others have become Christians and don't have a Bible at all and don't have any way of getting one anytime soon. this is where my brother and i come in. we're not interested in sending Bibles around in America; there's so much freedom here…not a lot of faith (more on that later…) but there's a lot of freedom. in the "world" of the persecuted Christians, it's the complete opposite.
the persecuted church is HUGE, the persecuted church is REAL, and the persecuted church is ALIVE…my brother and i know that all too well and we're determined help it grow, help keep it genuine and help keep it living.
it's all good though…..so yeh, i thought i'd give you some more background info on the whole OMS deal here….there's this organization called Open Doors that helps persecuted Christians around the world.
persecuted Christians? wait….i thought Christians are okay now. you know, Rome was forever ago…Christians don't die anymore…
Reality check?
Christians still die.
that's the truth. the two major driving forces for helping persecuted Christians around the world are Voice of the Martyrs (VOM….www.persecution.com) and Open Doors (OD….www.opendoorsusa.org ). Secret Believers (www.secretbelievers.org) is an amazing site that is partnered with OD that gives you a glimpse into the world of persecuted Christians, especially those in Muslim countries.
All around the world, throughout South America, Africa, Europe, and Asia, Christians are being persecuted for…well, for being Christians! what's persecution?
it's anything from people looking down on you because you're a Christian all the way to killing you because you're a Christian. like i said before…
Christians still die.
it's absolutely astonishing and mind-boggling to read about these people. when they make the decision to become Christians, they do so knowing that they may very well die because they have chosen to be Christians. you may be a Christian, you may not be. either way, it's something that just makes you sit back and go whoa… some of my favorite books about persecuted Christians are Jesus Freaks V. I and II as well as Extreme Devotion and even Under God all by dc Talk. Regular subscription to VOM keeps me updated on what's going on around the world.
Persecuted Christians are all non-doms. (remember, that means "non-denominational") See, persecuted Christians are all part of something called the Underground Church…a single huge church, its members all persecuted Christians around the world. it's not a physical church, with one pastor and a weekly sermon. it's thousands of groups of people meeting in secret around the world.
so many of these Christians don't have a Bible; some have bits and pieces, others have become Christians and don't have a Bible at all and don't have any way of getting one anytime soon. this is where my brother and i come in. we're not interested in sending Bibles around in America; there's so much freedom here…not a lot of faith (more on that later…) but there's a lot of freedom. in the "world" of the persecuted Christians, it's the complete opposite.
the persecuted church is HUGE, the persecuted church is REAL, and the persecuted church is ALIVE…my brother and i know that all too well and we're determined help it grow, help keep it genuine and help keep it living.
intro from (one of) us
Hey everyone! well, you've found our website, Operation Mustard Seed. yes, this is our website because there are two authors to this blog. i'm one of the authors and co-designer of this (seemingly) insane operation. my brother may not be posting for a little bit (i haven't sent him the info on how to log into this blog yet haha...) but he and i are on equal ground here. for the sake of time though, let me explain to you the rough sketch of what this operation is all about...
Operation Mustard Seed (or OMS for short...cuz it's a really long name to type over and over again...) is a dream. a BIG dream, that my brother and i have come up with. our dream is to send 1 billion Bibles to the persecuted church starting on January 1st, 2008 and ending on December 31st, 2008.
*sighs* no, i did not mis-type...i am a writer so i check my work frequently...YES!!! i typed that correctly!!! 1 BILLION BIBLES...
but that's crazy you might be thinking....that's absolutely insane! there is NO way two people can get 1 billion Bibles to the persecuted church...it's just not possible!...
and guess what? you're 100% right! it ISN'T possible...my brother and i are two people who want to send 1 billion Bibles at $4 per Bible to the persecuted church in the course of 1 year. it's absolutely impossible. which is where the name "Mustard Seed" comes into focus...
Passage Matthew 17:20 (NLT):
20 “You don’t have enough faith,” Jesus told them. “I tell you the truth, if you had faith even as small as a mustard seed, you could say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it would move. Nothing would be impossible.
Aha! Did you catch that last line? here, lemme retype it so that you understand it clearly...
NOTHING WOULD BE IMPOSSIBLE
(i'd type it bigger but it doesn't get any bigger....)
this is something that will only get done with God as our driving force. Matthew 17:20 is our driving verse but God is, without question, our driving force. we're crossing every boundary you can think of....for this entire operation, my brother and i are just a couple of non-dom Christians a.k.a. non-denominational Christians because personally, i have yet to see any way that denominations have helped further the Kingdom of God....(but that's just my opinion...)
ANYWAYS...
so yes, that is our absolutely insane, absolutely impossible plan....we both know that it can work and it WILL work because we both know that God is more than capeable of making this work.....
we're not pastors....we're not Bible scholars...we haven't been Christians for years and years and years....we're just a brother and sister (in Christ) and we know the power of God....
so that is my intro...i have a habit of not being able to write short blogs... =) .....but yes....we will be planning this thing out and on January 1st put the whole thing into action.......i guess the real question i've got to ask you is...
you want in?
=)
Operation Mustard Seed (or OMS for short...cuz it's a really long name to type over and over again...) is a dream. a BIG dream, that my brother and i have come up with. our dream is to send 1 billion Bibles to the persecuted church starting on January 1st, 2008 and ending on December 31st, 2008.
*sighs* no, i did not mis-type...i am a writer so i check my work frequently...YES!!! i typed that correctly!!! 1 BILLION BIBLES...
but that's crazy you might be thinking....that's absolutely insane! there is NO way two people can get 1 billion Bibles to the persecuted church...it's just not possible!...
and guess what? you're 100% right! it ISN'T possible...my brother and i are two people who want to send 1 billion Bibles at $4 per Bible to the persecuted church in the course of 1 year. it's absolutely impossible. which is where the name "Mustard Seed" comes into focus...
Passage Matthew 17:20 (NLT):
20 “You don’t have enough faith,” Jesus told them. “I tell you the truth, if you had faith even as small as a mustard seed, you could say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it would move. Nothing would be impossible.
Aha! Did you catch that last line? here, lemme retype it so that you understand it clearly...
NOTHING WOULD BE IMPOSSIBLE
(i'd type it bigger but it doesn't get any bigger....)
this is something that will only get done with God as our driving force. Matthew 17:20 is our driving verse but God is, without question, our driving force. we're crossing every boundary you can think of....for this entire operation, my brother and i are just a couple of non-dom Christians a.k.a. non-denominational Christians because personally, i have yet to see any way that denominations have helped further the Kingdom of God....(but that's just my opinion...)
ANYWAYS...
so yes, that is our absolutely insane, absolutely impossible plan....we both know that it can work and it WILL work because we both know that God is more than capeable of making this work.....
we're not pastors....we're not Bible scholars...we haven't been Christians for years and years and years....we're just a brother and sister (in Christ) and we know the power of God....
so that is my intro...i have a habit of not being able to write short blogs... =) .....but yes....we will be planning this thing out and on January 1st put the whole thing into action.......i guess the real question i've got to ask you is...
you want in?
=)
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