Networking

To our many Friends...and to those of you who are just discovering this blog and whom we do not yet know! Greetings in the Name above all Names- Jesus!

As you continue to get your arms around THE JONATHAN PROJECT, just like we are, you will discover that there are others out there doing similar ministries- maybe not exactly like THE JONATHAN PROJECT but very close in vision and mission. And we discover that there are those areas we can work together and accomplish way more in partnership than if we just kept everything to ourselves! This is "teamwork" and "networking" at it's best!

In my last blog I asked you to send any email addresses or contacts you might think of as you connected THE JONATHAN PROJECT with what you had heard from other ministries. Let me show you specifically how that all worked in just one week:

1. Judy and I had lunch with Dave, a person whose ministry is to manage a website you will want to know about. It is http://www.goconnect.org/ This web site is incredible for networking purposes. We discovered a friend in Dave as well as a person whose heart is to capture the world for Jesus Christ. Our paths, our energies and our ministries will intersect in the future. Dave was recommended to us by one of the families out of Eastside Christian Church. That is what networking is all about.
2. This week I have scheduled a breakfast with a man I have never met- except through email. He was recommended to us by another family from Eastside. What I know thus far is that the vision of THE JONATHAN PROJECT, "to plant multiplying churches with national indigenous leaders, among difficult unreached people groups, within the context of who they are and what they have, without the continued financial support of the American Churches," is his vision. And in fact he has been doing this kind of ministry for sometime. Once again that is what networking is all about. I am looking forward to the breakfast!
3. Judy and I attended three different churches this past weekend, February 8th. (I have kiddingly said that I need to be in at least two church services on Sunday mornings to get my "church fix" because of the four to five weekend services I have preached over the years!) We met the pastor of one of the churches. A few years ago he and his wife were living as missionaries in the Ukraine and they were doing there what we see God calling us to do with THE JONATHAN PROJECT. His eyes immediately lighted and I knew we would be getting together. And that is exactly how we left it- we would be networking together in the next couple to three weeks, not only to share a meal but to also see how we might be able to collaborate in shared ministry.

The three illustrations above are from one week. We believe God really has some HUGE projects out there for us. As we continue to press forward we'll "network" with many, many other people who have a shared vision in the spread of the Gospel to unreached people groups.

Keep us in your prayers. And if any recommendations come to your mind of other people or of other ministries, in light of THE JONATHAN PROJECT, get contact information to me and I'll follow up and see where it all goes.

This Sunday, February 15th, I preach at Wilshire Community Church in Fullerton. They have two services, 9 AM (Traditional) and 10:30AM (Contemporary). The church is located at 212 E Wilshire Ave, Fullerton, CA 92832. One of the reasons I am speaking at Wilshire is as a result of "networking" with Pastor Kirk Mackie over ten years ago.

Yours for Networking!

Graydon and Judy Jessup