Michiana Christian Home Educators

Interesting link -- hoping to 'connect' with these folks shortly... stay tuned.

Michiana Blog

Michiana Christians .com

Transform Michiana?

A historic connection was made on June 24, 2005, when representatives of CBMC Elkhart, The Sixth Man Foundation, and John 17 Network met in Goshen to discuss topics of mutual interest.

The John 17 Network serves the Body of Christ in Michiana as a catalyst for unified prayer, reconciliation and works of compassion through ministry partnerships resulting in Community Transformation. The primary contacts are Cal Kaufman cal.kaufman@juno.com

CBMC Elkhart www.cbmcelkhart.com has been a part of CBMC (Connecting Business Men to Christ) www.cbmc.com

CBMC Elkhart also has an Interactive Bible Topics discussion every Tuesday, 6:30 AM, Exchange Bakery (upstairs), 109 W Lexington Ave, Elkhart. The Bible teacher is Denny Speas.

The Sixth Man Foundation, www.sixthmangames.com, begun in 1999, through the vision of Patrick Glynn, provides funding and prayer support for cancer victims, through its annual Sixth Man Games, which were held this year at Goshen College, on May 27-28, 2005.

This meeting was effected by Transform Indiana, www.transformindiana.com, a coalition of Bible-based ministries, seeking to bring about Christ-centered change in the lives, neighborhoods, and communities of Indiana.

A subsequent meeting is scheduled for Monday, July 25, to discuss further topics of mutual interest.

Eldon Kibbey
Moderator
Transform Indiana

Dr. John Perkins... CCDA Founder... Coming to town...

Subsequent Note: Apparently Dr. Perkins flight plans got changed, and the event may necessarily be moved to Ft. Wayne.... Mondy night, July 18th.

Stay tuned.

*******************************

[Details are being firmed up... so stay tuned.... but...]

Mark your calendars...



Dr. John Perkins, Co-founder of CCDA will be coming to the Michiana area on July 18th... before proceeding to Indianapolis... host city of the national convention in November.

Stay tuned....

For further information, contact Scott Truex.

National Day of Prayer Gathering... May 5th

[email from John Wilson]

Join us for our third

John 17 Michiana Prayer Gathering

• May 5, 2005 (National Day of Prayer)
• in the Great Hall of the Century Center in Downtown South Bend
• Worship begins at 6:00 pm • Prayer begins at 7:00 pm • Questions? 574•291•5230 x10
Empowering the church through prayer • Mobilizing the church to make a difference.



Acompananos a la tercera

Juan 17 Reunion de Oracion de Michiana
• 5 de Mayo, 2005 (El Dia Nacional de Oracion) - Sera Traduccion
• En el “Great Hall” del Centro de South Bend en el Century Center
• La Alabanza comenzara a las 6 pm • La Oracion comenzara a las 7 pm • Preguntas? 574•291•5230 x10
Emposerando a la Igl ia mediante la oracion • Mobilizandola para marcar la diferencia

Insights on Compassion Ministry Toward Our Region...

[Here's Daniel's new book "City Impact". When you click it, be sure to notice the guarantee.]


[Per email received from John Wilson, "John 17" group]


“Highlights of our 2/28/05 meeting with Daniel Bernard -Somebody Cares Tampa Bay”


INSIGHTS ON COMPASSION MINISTRY TOWARD OUR REGION

“If nobody else will do it, I will because I know how the church should be.” Daniel Bernard

Unity is the deliverer of the city. Ps 5:12

Without compassion the door to our community stays closed to the Holy Spirit.

Reaching out to the poor brings credibility back to the church. One of the distinguishing marks that Jesus used to identify Himself as the Messiah was that He preached the gospel to the poor.

Prayer is the key to heaven; compassion is the key to the city.

Compassion is an extension of our prayers.

The church of Jesus Christ is the gift to each community.

We need to be about moving the heart of the church on behalf of the heart of the community.

When the church sends people away to a social agency, we send away our credibility with them.


ABOUT BEING A PRACTICAL EXPRESSION OF COMPASSION TO OUR REGION

We are called to be more and to do more – more success and significance as the church.

We need to maintain high expectations and anticipation of God.

We will always have more need than resources- no supply other than God’s miraculous supply. The power of unity is awesome, even when we don’t have buildings. One example is giving away 10 million pounds of food without a building. He started with no supply but lots of desire.

Work on reconciliation- but then you need to do something. We can’t continue to do reconciliation every year. Reconciliation often happens in the midst of working together to do something good for the community.

It takes partnerships with business and government leaders to impact the city.

Take a survey of the holes in our community where compassion is needed.

Focus on those leaders and churches whom God has given us to be in like-minded partnerships together in order to love our city.

We need the different roles of people for our community efforts: networkers, coordinators, creativity gifts, administrators, prayer teams, compassion teams, procurement, promotion and publications workers ; along with a board of business men and women.

At some point after the reconciliation meetings, we need to walk out that reconciliation by working together to solve problems and be a blessing to our city through compassion.

Community Impact Workshop...

Bible-believing pastors, leaders and community-reachers of all types...

Regional workshops are now in motion throughout our great state. St. Joseph County and surrounding counties will be one of those areas hosting a "Community Impact Workshop"... [date/time to be announced]. The workshop will be a forum facilitated by other community-reaching types like yourself. So come connect and let's see what God may do extraordinarily in our midst, as we humble ourselves and pray and seek His face... for our communities.

Stay tuned for details. Or if you already know you'd like to get actively involved in such a concept, please do contact the growing Transform Indiana ministry network coalition.

St. Joseph - Elkhart County Christians...

Hi. Christ-followers all over Indiana have started using this great new tool God has given us, called the Internet, to connect as a 'net' to fish our cities together, rather than separately. [Only sport fishermen use poles. **smile**]

Typically, it's easiest to connect and work collaboratively with other Bible-believing pastors & leaders community-by-community, neighborhood-by-neighborhood even. So city clusters of networks are now beginning to form if they haven't already.

Transform Indiana ministry network is simply an initiative to connect city-clusters to other city-clusters throughout our state, for increased communications in the Kingdom.

So this St. Joseph - Elkhart County Christians blog will be to simply help connect all these communities within the counties, let 'city-reaching' types of leaders emerge and identify themselves with other city-reachers around the state, and provide for some city-reaching conversation within the area.

So tell your 'driven Christian friends' about the concept, and let us know where the best links in the county are... Bible-believing churches, ministries, pastors, and leaders of all sorts... all the way down to neighborhood-reaching prayer warriors & small-group leaders.

For the moment, drop by Transform Indiana's site and drop us an email -- tell us you found us via St. Joseph - Elkhart Christian blog. Let us know how interested YOU are, in advocating for Christians working together in YOUR communities, and what you might be willing to do, to bring other city-reachers together.

Blessings All.