Tuesday, March 30, 2010

I Corinthians 15:17

Dear Friends,

What a glorious week in the history of mankind! We celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead! The entire story is a revelation of the heart and mind of God. The miraculous story of His Son coming to earth, His thirty three years of life, His death, His burial and then His resurrection form the rock solid foundation of, and for, living lives of faith in HIM!

When Paul wrote the statement in I Corinthians 15:17, "And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins," he was in the middle of his defense for the validity and authenticity of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Because Jesus was raised from the tomb of burial and death, our faith is NOT futile and because we have personally received HIM as Lord and Savior we are NOT still living in our sins!

The reality of the resurrection is why we carry this Good News about Jesus to all people- and especially right now to those people who have never heard about this Jesus- the One who is the Savior of all humanity...if they believe in HIM! But, before they can believe they must hear. That is our mission...our purpose...or goal...our vision!

Thank you for your prayers and your support as together we accomplish this global mission of "going into all the world and preaching the Gospel to all nations!"

Have a great celebration!
Graydon and Judy Jessup
714.488.7922
gjessup@stadia.cc
graydonandjudy.blogspot.com
www.facebook.com/graydon.jessup

Monday, March 8, 2010

Partnerships!

Dear Friends,

I trust this post finds you well and looking forward to Easter and Spring! The hills in Southern California are an incredibly beautiful emerald green. The trees are just beginning to bloom. Birds are singing. You can sense the newness, the birth, the opportunity. I watched a small House Wren busily looking for food this morning. If you have ever watched a Wren you know what I mean- they are flitting, looking, jumping, hopping, always on the lookout for some tasty morsel which is usually some unsuspecting bug!

Without getting into the "bug analogy" too deeply I would like to think the Body of Christ is like that little Wren. The Church, busy, looking, jumping into places that you would not normally think to jump into while looking, always moving, eager...ready and responding to whatever you might find! The Body of Christ has a mandate to "ever be on the lookout" in all things and that would be especially true in the spread and propagation of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

That is why I believe "partnerships" are so important. We can be busy like the little Wren, but we are able to accomplish much more when we are a team, a partnership, sharing the same intensity and desire of "searching" as that little Wren does individually. So we ask, "what does a partnership look like and what are we searching for?"
  • First, we recognize and acknowledge without a moment's hesitation that Jesus is Lord and that really this is HIS game.
  • Second, we know our target. In our specific instance we are looking for the "least reached people groups" living on the planet right now, today! That is who we are searching for!
  • Third, we have trained JONATHANS who are ready and eager to go to the "least reached people groups" and tell the story of Jesus Christ.
  • Fourth, we have "Armor-Bearers" behind the scenes pulling for the JONATHANS. AB's adopt a people group. They commit to pray for that people group specifically. As they are able to contribute financially to see that the Gospel is preached, taught and devoured by that people group. "AB's" make sure the JONATHAN is able to accomplish the mission, (I Samuel 14:6-7), even as JONATHAN'S Armor Bearer did in I Samuel 14.
  • Fifth, we are looking for a five year commitment from Armor Bearer's in these partnerships to carry the Gospel to a least reached people group.

Just like that little Wren, you can see that there are a whole lot of people who are connected together, who are partners, who see that this fulfillment of the Lord's Great Commission to "go into all the world," is really carried out! This spring time if I could come and meet with you, your church group, your global team, your entire church, I would be happy to schedule that opportunity and share with you in even greater detail what this ministry is all about! I promise, I will sit still long enough to tell the story and answer your questions! We only go so far with our Wren comparison!

God's Peace on you all!

Graydon Jessup

714.488.7922

gjessup@stadia.cc

graydonandjudy.blogspot.com

www.facebook.com/graydon.jessup

Tuesday, March 2, 2010

Expanding the Vision

Dear Friends,
As many of you know I have been given the responsibility to enlarge the understanding of what this JONATHAN Ministry is all about here in America! Essentially what this means is I am to speak and represent STADIA INTERNATIONAL-JONATHAN PROJECT to anybody and everybody. I can tell you that that is happening...all over the place. Let me explain.
  • Whenever I speak someplace I represent this global vision and ministry. I wish you could ride along with me as people are very engaged in getting the Gospel to the "least reached" and are very excited when they know they can make an eternal difference in the lives of an unreached people group...an eternal difference! Think about that!
  • Conventions are a very important place to meet a whole lot of people very quickly. Our first such convention this year will be in Orlando, FL, where 3,500+ church planters will be gathering. We have a strategy all prepared to end up with all 3,500 attendees giving us their email addresses...happily and gladly! The purpose for securing these emails is so we can send out a regular "email blast" talking about STADIA INTERNATIONAL-JONATHAN PROJECT! It is a cool idea we have and once we get back from that Convention I will let you in on the secret! But just think of it: In three days time, 3,500 new names to our email list, reading regularly about SI/JP! Pretty incredible!
  • I meet with CPN's. CPN's are "Church Planting Networks." Essentially this would be a group of church planters in a shared geographical area. The Planters get together on a regular basis. I attend those meetings when they get together. Once again, it is telling our story to a group of folk who are decision makers and who have a heart for starting churches. And once their churches begin to think globally, we are there. The DNA that started the church here in America is the same DNA globally! There is a shared vision!
  • I meet with individuals. We do this whenever and wherever we can. In a short time Judy and I will be traveling through parts of the USA we have never seen before. We will be meeting with Church Planters we have never met before, telling our story. They then in turn tell others the story and thus it spreads and expands.
  • Finally, we are training the leaders of a very large Mission Agency in the JONATHAN model of planting multiplying churches in very difficult least reach people groups. This Agency with over 300 missionaries in 40 different nations around the world also specializes in preaching the Gospel to the least reached. We have a shared vision for the world. In training the leaders in this Agency we are saying, "now you train the rest of your people." That is our overall model: We train people who train people who in turn train people who themselves can train others. That is how the church exploded in the First Century and that is how we want to see the church explode exponentially in our lifetime!

So, there you have it. What I have just written about is what we are doing...and gladly. If you would like to hear the story give us a call and we'll be happy to set a time and share this vision with you, or your Global Team, or your church...you get the point!

Prayers for covering the earth with the message of Jesus,

Graydon and Judy Jessup

714.488.7922

gjessup@stadia.cc

graydonandjudy.blogspot.com

www.facebook.com/graydon.jessup