In Alaska, October 2009

Dear Friends,

"I am a day late and a dollar short" but we are getting this blog out today- Wednesday the 28th of October! This journey throughout Alaska these past few days has been awesome! Let me explain:

• I have met with people who became our friends in 1969/1970 when we originally moved to Anchorage.
• I have met with people who became our friends over the 22 years we spent serving Parkside Church in Anchorage, Alaska.
• I have had the privilege of speaking in churches from Fairbanks to Homer and points in between. (For those of you who do not know the geography of Alaska, Fairbanks is at one end and Homer at the other end of the highway system! In round numbers they are about 9-10 driving hours apart!)
• I have had the privilege of telling the STADIA INTERNATIONAL-JONATHAN PROJECT story everywhere I have traveled.
• The people in Alaska tend to be world travelers and so they have a "feel" for what is happening in unreached people groups worldwide.
• I have discovered that the people I have met in this state want a "hands on relationship" with the unreached people groups.

There are other things I could say but these will need to suffice for the moment. Needless to say, we are building and rebuilding relationships for partnering up in the future. As churches and individuals consider this opportunity- to impact an unreached people group for eternity- their hearts are filled with optimism and possibility. And that really is the bottom line: People who have never heard the Gospel story are hearing. And as people in America hear and understand that the Gospel is moving forward into unreached people groups, they, then, are moved to pray and financially support the preaching and teaching of the Word to that unreached people group.

In the next five years we are praying for a "Movement of God!" We want to see the 1,000 churches that were planted in the past 12 years jump to 100,000 over these next five years! This is a God sized vision and goal- but when you follow Biblical principles it can happen. Remember II Timothy 2:2. When people train people who train people who in turn train people, the Kingdom of God begins to expand exponentially! When that happens you have a MOVMENT on your hands- not led or directed by anyone...other than God the Holy Spirit! "God Movements" are Acts 29, or they are beyond our comprehension. Let's get excited about doing something beyond our comprehension and understanding and control! Let's let God be God in the hearts and lives of the unreached people groups of the world.

Prayers for the exponential growth of the Kingdom of God in our generation!

Graydon Jessup

714.488.7922

gjessup@stadia.cc

From Thailand to Alaska and to Colorado

Dear Friends,

Judy and I just unpacked our bags from Thailand and then we repacked them to travel two different directions. Judy is in Colorado for about ten days with our youngest daughter and three of our twelve grandchildren. Matt, our youngest daughter's husband, is on his way with some others traveling to Brazil, SA to check out some strategic mission opportunites there. I headed North and I am traveling throughout Alaska the next three weeks telling one and all this STADIA INTERNATIONAL-JONATHAN PROJECT story. This past weekend October 16-18, I was in Fairbanks, AK. I was able to speak seven different times over the weekend! Made me feel like I was back at Eastside Christian Church preaching and teaching a full weekend. It was a real joy to be with friends I have known for many, many years. And it was further joy to meet brand new people who are pursuing the heart of God in the living out of life following Jesus...in Fairbanks, AK

So why are we doing this ministry and this travel?

• We believe that this is the calling of God upon our lives at this time.
• We believe that what we are doing has eternal consequences.
• We believe that what we are doing is an answer to the prayers of the Eastside Christian Church Elders when they prayed over us a year ago as we entered this new chapter in our lives- namely, THE STADIA INTERNATIONAL-JONATHAN PROJECT and all of the possibilities wrapped up in this global ministry.
• We believe that with the years of our Pastoral experience under our belts, we have a platform from which we can speak and influence others in regards to preaching the Gospel in very difficult unreached people groups.
• We believe firmly in the vision- from the heart of Jesus Christ to the implementation of that vision- "to go into all the world and preach the Gospel."
• We believe that the next few years of our lives can be used to make an eternal difference in many, many lives- specifically, the lives of men and women, boys and girls who have never heard the Name of Jesus Christ.

So, we travel and speak. We pray and we work. We never forget who our Commander is. We read and reread the Word of the Lord. We strategize. We plan. We dream. We implement. And as we move along we invite any of you to join this unusual parade!

I invite you to be in contact with us. Can we come alongside of you as you purpose to come alongside others who carry the Gospel to the far reaches of the planet? This JONATHAN model of ministry is the training of others from anywhere in the world, who will train others, who will in turn train others, so that indeed, a God sized Movement is unleashed and like a snowball gathering speed down a slope, the Gospel gains speed as it moves through the very difficult unreached people groups of the earth! We believe that God is up to some pretty BIG activities in the hearts and lives of many, many people. These people wear many different kinds of hats- some are like JONATHAN and some are like Jonathan's ARMOR BEARER. Many are in difficult unreached people groups. Some people are in churches in America and are waiting to be challenged by a God-sized global vision. Others are living in other places around the earth and they are looking for significance in serving Jesus Christ as their Lord and King! It takes all kinds of people from many, many different backgrounds who will team up together to accomplish that great mission and vision of the Lord- "...go into ALL the world and preach the Gospel."

I invite you! I implore you! Be in prayerful contact with me. As we talk together I know the Lord of All will open doors of possibility for you in some capacity, in some way, to impact some very difficult unreached people group for eternity! I look forward to your call or email.

May the blessings of the Lord be upon you!

Graydon and Judy Jessup

714.488.7922

gjessup@stadia.cc

graydonandjudy.blogspot.com

P.S. I will be speaking at:

• Homer Christian Church, Homer, AK, October 25th
• Baxter Road Bible Church, Anchorage, AK, November 1st
• Faith Christian Community, Anchorage, AK, November 7th and 8th
• I'll be attending the National Missionary Convention, Peoria, IL, November 19-22

Thailand- there and back!

Dear Friends,

OK! So you are wondering where we have been? Well we have been to Thailand and back! Took us around 17 flying hours to get there...on three different planes and just an hour or two less overall, on three differnt flights, to return home last night- Monday the 12th of October!

And what did we do while in Thailand? Bottom line, we worked hard and in the process met some great people in the Kingdom of our Lord!

• We had 10 and a half days of intense lecture, training, writing, praying, singing, conferring and dreaming...about HOW to accomplish the various VISIONS we each had for our section of Kingdom work! This was what the JONATHAN TRAINING was all about.
• We met folk from some pretty unusual places- sections of Turkey, the Tibetan Plateau which is located in China, from the mountain areas of the Golden Triangle- the central spot for growing much of the world's opium, from the high plains of Nepal to the crowded cities of central China.
• All of the folk we met had a common objective: they were, and are, committed to telling the story of Jesus to people who live in some pretty difficult areas! Almost all of the people in these areas have NEVER heard the Gospel story.
• So the stories we heard and situations that were described by our new missionary friends are not your usual stories of the advance of Christianity as important as that is. Rather these stories reflected the difficulties of the Vision: loneliness; frustration; fear; inability to sleep at night; isolation; weariness and perplexity to name a few of the "difficulties."
• But in the "difficulties" there was this "grace of the Lord" that was so present on all.
• "But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us. We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed. We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body." (II Corinthians 4:7-10)
• We were so blessed by students and instructors alike. All were not only able to discuss the "theories of reaching the unreached, " all were to some degree or another seriously and heavily involved in reaching these who have never heard of Jesus!" In my book that is and was pretty amazing.
• In fact Judy created a line that will become one of our "lines!" "Linking the REACHED with the LEAST REACHED until ALL ARE REACHED!" That sums up our personal story of what we are attempting to do in this global outreach of STADIA INTERNATIONAL-JONATHAN PROJECT!

There will be other stories that will come out of the two weeks we spent in Thailand, which you will hear from time to time. One of the most dramatic though was of a "Living Buddha" who read his way right out of his Buddhism and into faith and trust in Jesus Christ. Actually the person who led him to Jesus Christ was a Chinese woman who kept a little shop he would frequent from time to time. Because this 28 year old was identified as a "Living Buddha" his "Saul/Paul" transformation to Jesus Christ has led to death threats and persecution, even as was the case with Saul whom we read about in Acts 9. When this story was told at the Training there was not a dry eye in the room in Thailand and in fact the entire group ended up in prayer and the laying on of hands for the three missionaries who are working so faithfully in this very difficult field. Two of the three have an intimate working relationship with this 28 year old. His story will be told but right now it is in only one language! God is at work in BIG ways in the difficult areas of the world where people have never heard, and those in power do not want them to hear!!!

Well as you can imagine, we are thrilled to be involved in something this wild, this crazy this BIG! You can be involved also through prayer, through financial support, through encouragement. You too can be part of this global move of God!

In the meantime we send our love and prayers,

Graydon and Judy Jessup

714.488.7922

gjessup@stadia.cc

graydonandjudy.blogspot.com

Next travels: In Alaska: October 15 - November 9

National Missionary Convention, Peoria, Illinois, November 19-22