Final "Post" for January 2010

Dear Friends,

I cannot believe it! One month is essentially gone...eleven more to go for 2010. And yes we did get our rain last week. It was wonderful! And we are suppose to get more this week...which is also "wonderful!"

Just a handful of days left and we begin living out of the suitcase for 2010! Our travel plans have taken shape for this year...up through August. As I write this I recognize it takes many different people with many different gifts to accomplish all that the Lord has in store for us. I Corinthians 12 is so true! "As it is, there are many parts, but one body." (I Corinthians 12:20) Our part is "connecting!" We "connect" UUPG's and/or UPG's with trained Global JONATHANS and with churches stateside. We have a "three-legged" stool if you please:

1. The first "leg" would be those least reached people groups around the globe.
2. The second "leg" would be those trained global JONATHANS who are ready to go to a "least reached people group."
3. And finally we have you- the "armor bearers" who are supporting the JONATHANS as they "enter the battle," or, as they go into the least reached people group whether that be a UUPG or a UPG!
4. When the three legs are up and running the team is moving forward and moving the ball towards the end zone. (Sorry, I just watched two football games yesterday and the teams that moved the ball over the goal line more times, were the teams that won! I had to go to college to figure that one out!)

All three legs are dependent upon the other. We do not move in our own little world separate from others. We need each other. So our role in this great venture is to "connect" the three legs together so that we can "move that ball towards the goal line!" Our definition of "moving the ball towards the goal line" is seeing multiplying churches planted; seeing people who have never heard the Gospel hearing it for the first time; seeing these people take what they have heard to others who have never heard!

You may be wondering to yourself, "How can I get involved?" Hit us with an email or a phone call and we'll tell you. That is what we are all about- "connecting" UUPG's and/or UPG's with trained GLOBAL JONATHANS...and YOU!

Blessings,

Graydon and Judy Jessup

714.488.7922

gjessup@stadia.cc

graydonandjudy.blogspot.com

www.facebook.com/graydon.jessup

P.S. I am preaching this week, Jan 31st, at Greater First Christian Church in Torrance, 4915 Emerald St, Torrance, CA 90503. Morning Worship is 10:45 AM

Feb 7th, I will be speaking at Central Christian Church in San Jose, CA.

It is RAINING in So Cal!

Dear Friends,

We so enjoy the rain! We have needed it here in So Cal and we are going to get it...BIG time! Other than any inconvenience or damage that might be done we are really thrilled that the rain is coming! The forecasters tell us we had our first big rain yesterday, that a second storm is coming on us right now (Tue the 19th) but that the really BIG one is coming tomorrow! We'll take all we can get to fulfill the total 12 inches of rain we need this year.

As I reflected on this I thought of some things. First, we really would like to have a "soaking rain" or a rain that comes very gentle like and falls over a period of time without any of the major inconveniences. The rain falls just enough to be absorbed into the ground without causing any damage, without messing up driving patterns, without flooding. The ground drinks it all in at the speed with which the rain falls.

Second, we do wish that the rain, no matter how hard it would fall, would come at night time when our natural pattern of living would find us at home sleeping away. If the timing was right then we wouldn't have to walk in the rain, drive in the rain or work in the rain. Why, we wouldn't even get wet! Let the rain come but let it come at the right time, preferably night time!

Third, we want 12 inches, no more and no less. Too little rain leaves us dry and too much rain leaves us wet. Twelve inches is what we need, what is normal and is the amount that will keep things green but not overly green nor barren and dry. So we set the mark and hope that is all we get!

Finally, we really want the rain, but overall we really do not want it to mess up our schedules or our lives. Getting all wet is no fun. Driving in it with a thousand other cars on a freeway is always a tension builder. If the kids cannot go out and play but they have to stay inside that might drive us nuts. You mean "it's raining and I might need to leave 15 mintues earlier to get to my appointment?" Ah, the inconvenience of rain...we want the rain but we don't want it to mess up our lives in any way, shape or form!

I thought to myself, "is this how I treat the Lord in my own personal relationship with HIM?" I want HIM, I know I need HIM, but do I only want HIM on my terms and do I only want HIM to fit in to who I am and my own personal schedule...because after all "I do have things to do and places to go!" Think about it:

1. "Lord, I want to SOAK in YOU!" Just don't stretch me. Don't jerk me out of my comfort zone. Only give me what I think, or want, to receive. Be gentle with me in what YOU might ask me to do or be!
2. "Lord, only come to me at the right time." You know Lord I am busy right now, don't ask me to do anything out of the ordinary. "Could you just show up in my life on Sunday mornings when I am in church and then sort of leave me alone the rest of the week?" Sunday morning would be the best time to come to me!
3. "Lord, 12 inches...no more and no less." Do I call the shots on the Lord? Do I put the parameters up as to what I want HIM to do and not do in my life? "Don't overwhelm me Lord, with YOUR power or with YOUR grace!"
4. "In other words Lord, please do not mess up my structured life and what I want to do!" I certainly would not want anyone to think I was "over zealous" or anything like that! I have it figured out. If you do what I am asking then I can live a life free of any personal hassles and discomforts!

Well, the rain caused me to think some of these things. I determined that just as I have no control over the rain, I really have no control over what the LORD may want to do in my life, or what the LORD may ask me to do! And so I will take HIM as HE comes...in all of HIS power and in all of HIS glory just like I must take whatever the rain might bring! Personally I am praying for a FLOOD of HIS love and power to overwhelm me and to carry me away into all that HE has in store for me!

Let it rain!

Graydon Jessup

714.488.7922

gjessup@stadia.cc

graydonandjudy.blogspot.com

www.facebook.com/graydon.jessup

Intense travel and visiting stateside churches

Dear Friends,

I will be traveling extensively through the rest of January/February and the first part of March visiting churches in the West. If you would like a visit or you know of someone who should hear the STADIA INTERNATIONAL-JONATHAN PROJECT story would you let me know. I will be happy to set up meetings, explain the vision, and answer the questions. Bottom line: we have trained JONATHANS ready to enter UUPG's and/or UPG's. We need to connect Churches with these JONATHANS as they enter UUPG's and UPG's around the world!

• UUPG- Unengaged Unreached People Groups- those who have NEVER heard the name of Jesus Christ!
• UPG- Unreached People Groups- those people groups where 1% or less of the population have heard the name of Jesus Christ.

You could have a significant part in this global vision just by giving us a name(s) of a Church, a Pastor, a Mission's Pastor, a Mission's Committee, an interested Home Group, an interested individual. Do not think to yourself, "oh, that Church, or that person would not be interested in helping some UUPG and/or UPG!" Don't talk yourself out of anything! We can make contact and set up appointments. It is amazing to me that as people hear this global vision they get all excited...and rightfully so!

"STADIA INTERNATIONAL-JONATHAN PROJECT is the assessing and training of global JONATHANS and then the releasing and empowering of these trained JONATHANS to plant multiplying churches in very difficult unreached people groups (or, "least reached people groups") in the context of who they are and what they have without the long term support of American dollars."

Everytime I tell this story you can see why people want to get on board.

1. People want to play a part in seeing that the Gospel is carried to all nations and all people groups.
2. People want others to hear just like they have heard.
3. People want to be in on the Great Commission of Jesus Christ when He gave the Commission: "Go into all the world and preach the Gospel..."
4. People sense that the "signs of the times" point to the soon return of Jesus Christ and they want to be part of that "telling/sending" community of believers preparing the way for the Lord!
5. People KNOW the power of the Gospel and the Presence of Jesus Christ...and they really want that gift for those who have never had the opportunity to KNOW the power or to have been able to receive Jesus Christ!

You can help us. Give us names! Give us phone numbers! Give us email addresses! We'll do the rest as we tell this story over and over again!

With many prayers,

Graydon Jessup

714.488.7922

gjessup@stadia.cc

graydonandjudy.blogspot.com

www.facebook.com/graydon.jessup

P.S. I'll be speaking in Torrance, CA, Greater First Christian Church, Jan 31st and then at Central Christian Church in San Jose, CA, Feb 7, 2010

It is a BRAND NEW YEAR!

Dear Friends,

Here it is a BRAND NEW YEAR and I am already two days late in writing this blog! What a great start! Seriously, Judy and I have been traveling and this past Monday when I should have been writing I was "riding!" We were traveling and I was not able to make the entry. I am thinking that this will not be the last time this happens in 2010!

OK, OK already! Enough whining!

2010 really looks like it is going to have "over the top" possibilities! I am speaking specifically about planting churches among those least reached people groups. Our goal and vision is to see that 100,000 new house churches are planted these next five years among the least reached people groups. Let's make sure we are clear on the definitions:
*UUPG would be an "unengaged, unreached people group." That means that particular people group has never heard the name of Jesus Christ, consequently no one in that group has ever heard the Gospel.
*UPG would be "unreached people group." This definition means that 1% or less of the population of that particular people groups have heard the name of Jesus Christ. In other words, somebody has been "engaged" in that group.
*"Least reached people group," would encompass both UUPG's and UPG's.

Once again, that is 100,000 churches- all house churches due to the inability to build buildings or have open meetings in these diffucult places where these churches will be planted. Our goal and objective is that by December 31, 2014, these 100,000 churches will be up and running.

You are thinking, "OK, Graydon can't even get his post to this blog every Monday so how will there ever be 100,000 churches planted in these next five years?" Great question! The only way this will happen is because God is in it! And we believe He is! We are praying for a "movement!" A movement is something that happens when the Holy Spirit takes over and the organizations and the strategies of men become secondary to the move of God among people. Following the biblical model of training people who in turn train people to the degree that they teach others who also will teach others is the key. And when we are not concerned about who gets the glory...other than that God gets the glory...you can see immediately how this can happen...over these next five years.

Enough for this Wednesday- I'll see you again this coming Monday...hopefully!

Blessings and prayers,
Graydon Jessup
714.488.7922
gjessup@stadia.cc
graydonandjudy.blogspot.com
www.facebook.com/graydon.jessup
P.S. I will be speaking Jan 31st at Greater First Christian in Torrance, CA, and Feb 7th at Central Christian Church in San Jose, CA.