Author: Grace Mally

Witnessing Stories

St Patrick’s Day Report

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Wednesday, March 17th was a full day! It started in our church basement where we folded 4,000 tracts while having an evangelism training time. We had two goals: 1) Distribute the tracts, 2) Get into one-on-one conversations with people in the crowd.

Getting into one-on-one conversations about the gospel isn’t as hard as many imagine. We watched some Way of the Master Youtube Clips for ideas, shared some stories, and printed up a “St Patrick’s Survey” to help with starting conversations.

Getting ready to head downtown!

It is so easy to pass out tracts at parades. Everyone is expecting to be handed stuff. We just announce “history of St Patrick!” as we’re passing them out and it’s a lot of fun. People are curious about who St Patrick really was.

Carissa talked with these three teens for over 20 minutes. She did an amazing job with one-on-one conversations!

I had to take a picture of Carissa with her survey paper because it was so wrinkled from use. Carissa is eleven, and she had never really done “witnessing” this way before. But wow, did she take off! From what I was told, she was explaining the gospel to people left and right and when it was over she didn’t want to leave. Praise God for how He is working through Carissa!

One of the highlights was working with a team of 9 college students who joined our group at the last minute. They were in the area using their spring break for service / evangelism projects. It was a huge blessing having the extra help!

During our sharing time afterwards, many reported about the neat conversations they got into and the thirsting hearts they were able to share the gospel with. We decided to add up how many people total we were able to actually talk with about the gospel. The total came to 160! That means that 160 people at the parade had a one-on-one encounter with a Christian about the gospel. Praise the Lord for how he arranged these conversations!

Afterwards we enjoyed exchanging ideas and tracts with the college students who joined us.

We concluded the day tired out, but so happy. It was encouraging to see some who hadn’t done very much witnessing catch a zeal for sharing the gospel. It was also neat to see how many more you can reach when you mobilize a whole team to go out. There is a fellowship in sharing the gospel together that doesn’t compare with anything else!

Thoughts

Are We Praying? Are We Praying Hard Enough?!

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Photo: Stephen Mally

“These are the times that try men’s souls: The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of their country; but he that stands it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman. Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered; yet we have this consolation with us, that the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph. What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly: it is dearness only that gives every thing its value.” -Thomas Paine

Many in our area are praying and fasting tomorrow (Saturday) for the urgent crisis we are facing in Congress. Please consider joining us!

“Therefore also now, saith the LORD, turn ye even to me with all your heart, and with fasting, and with weeping, and with mourning: And rend your heart, and not your garments, and turn unto the LORD your God: for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and repenteth him of the evil. Who knoweth if he will return and repent, and leave a blessing behind him…”
Joel 2:12-14

Thoughts

“Hast Thou No Scar?”

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Last week I went to an Emmaus Bible College extension class that’s held on Monday nights at a nearby church. The topic was Daniel. I’ve just been reading Hebrews, and the comments made at the class pulled together some thoughts for me…

Imagine the pleasant surprise that awaited Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego when they were thrown into the fiery furnace. Instead of feeling the flames, they found themselves in the presence of the Son of God! What incredible joy they must have felt. When King Nebuchadnezzar called them out, I wonder if they thought, “Aww…do we have too??!”

How often do we fear suffering for Jesus–when actually God richest blessings and joy fall on those who are “counted worthy to suffer for His Name”. (Acts 5:41) Paul expressed how he wanted to suffer with Christ so he could experience a closer fellowship with Jesus through it. (Phil 3:10)

This life is too short to live “comfortably” here on earth. Since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses (Heb 11:1 – 12:1) who have gone before us and found God faithful (even in great trial), let’s embrace their same faith–knowing that we have the same God. And may any wound or scar we receive along the way be counted as an eternal treasure. (1 Peter 4:12-14)

“Hast Thou No Scar?”

Hast thou no scar?
No hidden scar on foot, or side or hand?
I hear thee sung as mighty in the land,
I hear them hail thy bright ascendent star
Hast thou no scar?

Hast thou no wound?
Yet I was wounded by the archers, spent,
Leaned me against a tree to die; and rent
By ravening beasts that encompassed me, I swooned;
Hast thou no wound?

No wound? No scar?
Yet, as the master shall the servant be
And pierced are the feet that follow Me;
But thine are whole: can he have followed far
Who has no wound nor scar?

Amy Carmichael,
Gold Cord: The Story of a Fellowship

Photo: Abby Kramer

Miscellaneous/Witnessing Stories

St Patrick’s Day – Begin using it for the Lord!

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Karissa passing out tracts at the parade last year

St Patrick’s day is a time when crowds line the streets anxious to be handed anything. Candy, pencils, toys, or tracts:). It is such a great opportunity. The tract we use explains the story of St. Patrick and includes the gospel. St. Patrick was actually a great missionary and the two letters he wrote (that still exist) are mostly quoting Paul. We simply go up and down the streets passing out the tracts and saying, “History of Saint Patrick!” It’s so much fun!! 🙂 It’s also a great time to get into one-on-one conversations with people who are just standing around.

Our “St Patrick’s team” from last year

Sharing stories and reports after the parade

If you live near Cedar Rapids you are welcome to join us! This year, we are meeting first at our church at 9:00AM for some evangelism training. Then we will divide into teams and head downtown. It will be an exciting day. Contact us for more info.

For those who live further away, you are welcome to use our tract and distribute them at the parade in your city. Click here to view tract. Don’t forget to print it on green paper (preferably light green).

Even if you aren’t able to go to a parade, you can still print off some tracts to pass out to those you come in contact with between now and the 17th. Stores are already making a big deal of St. Patrick’s day–so we should take advantage of it too!

Note: The tract is a PDF file and will require Adobe Acrobat Reader to open it. Click here to download a free version of Adobe Reader.

If you’d like to see reports from passing out tracts previous years at the parade, click here or here.

Family News/Homeschool Conferences

Indianapolis Home School Conference

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The past three days have been jammed packed with action as our family has been at the IAHE (Indiana) home school conference!

We are very excited about the new wooden shelves some friends helped us build for our booth. (Quite an improvement to what we had before.)

My dad presented his session, “Learning from Dad”. We noticed how many more dads were at this conference in comparison to most home school conferences. It was neat to see so many couples shopping together–not just moms by themselves. My dad’s session accents on the point of how important it is that fathers play a role in teahing their children– not necessarily “academics” but more importantly the standards and convictions each family needs to have.

Sarah speaking on “Raising Pure Daughters in a Generation of Darkness”.

Things always get pretty busy, messy and crazy inside our booth at the end of the conference…!

Friday night we got together with some of my parents’ friends from college.

Stephen, Sarah and I came along for the entertainment. (And the food 🙂 .) No, actually, it was a very nice evening and it’s always fun hearing new stories about mom and dad. 🙂

Note the above picture was taken inside not outside. Our friends live in an old school they bought downtown Indianapolis and they use it for ministry, a home church, etc. Pretty creative!

Announcements

Mark Cahill Coming to Cedar Rapids!

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We are very excited to be bringing Mark Cahill to speak in Cedar Rapids in just over a month. His ministry has greatly impacted my life, and I’m praying that my city will be impacted in the same way. Each time I pick up his book or listen to one of his messages I get excited about witnessing all over again! I’m grateful for the practical steps and ideas he lays out for the rest of us who desire to reach the lost.


Click here to see an 8-min Youtube of Mark Cahill speaking.

To Download a flyer, click here.
Contact us for questions or more information.

Recent Productions

One-On-One Discipleship Tool

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Have you ever noticed how meaningful a good, edifying one-on-one conversation can be? Although discipleship groups or classes can be great, there is much value in the individualized attention received when someone is discipled one-on-one. With this in mind, Sarah developed a one-on-one discipleship program to use within our Bright Lights group. The older girls went through it with the younger girls and both were strengthened and encouraged. We’re excited to announce that it’s now available for others to use as well. (Thanks to graphic / layout work done by Sarah Smith and Nickie!) It’s called “4:12”, based on three theme discipleship verses: 1 Timothy 4:12, Ephesians 4:12 and Colossians 4:12. We have been very encouraged by the results we’ve seen each time we’ve used this material. It’s designed to help older girls or mothers spend one-on-one time with younger girls studying God’s Word, discussing important areas of life, committing to pray for each other, and holding each other accountable in Scripture memory and other disciplines and projects. For more information see our online store.

Click here to see pictures from the first time we did “4:12” last spring.

Bright Lights Local Group/Family News

Bright Lights / Light Shop Report

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I was working in my little cubicle the other day when I heard a very loud racket. I walked out and found my dad and Stephen in full combat…
They told me they were “testing” the armor they were going to use for an activity at Light Shop.

(For those who don’t know, “Light Shop” is Stephen’s boys discipleship group that meets every time Bright Lights meets. It stands for Leaders In Godliness, Holiness and Testimony.)

Dad and Stephen prepared 24 helmets, swords, and shields.

There were 12 guys in brown and 12 guys in red. The objective was to knock the newspaper breastplate off your opponent. As you can see, the activity was a big success.

Stephen (along with David Jones who helps him teach) taught the young men about Ephesians 6 and how we are in a spiritual battle and need to know our weapons.

In Bright Lights we try to be a little more feminine. 🙂 We’ve been going through a series of lessons on being “daughters of the king” covering topics such as femininity, modesty, inner beauty, joyfulness, etiquette, etc. As daughters of the King, we need to remember Who we belong to and Who we respresent! At one of our recent meetings we gave each small group 15 minutes to create a complete outfit with brown paper and tape. Everyone had a good time, and some of the outfits the girls came up with were pretty impressive!



The theme of the lesson last week was on “pouring yourself out” and learning to die daily for Jesus. (I Cor 15:31) Sarah told some amazing stories of great missionaries and martyrs who went through tremendous sacrifice to proclaim the gospel. Then she emphasized how God values not only the big sacrifices, but also the daily little sacrifices we make in serving our families and those around us. He sees and weighs the heart. It’s not necessarily the intensity of the suffering He rewards (we can’t choose our circumstances) but the response of our heart to whatever He allows. May we, like Paul and Silas in prison, sing praises in the midst of difficulty.

Witnessing Stories

Witnessing at the mall today…

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Today Sarah and I went to the mall to witness. I’ll admit, neither of us exactly felt like it beforehand, but afterwards we were SO glad we did. We were able to get into about six conversations with junior high kids and were able to explain the gospel to over a dozen kids. (We’ve found junior high kids are usually the most open and eager to talk.)

We started most of the conversations by using IQ quizzes. The kids thought they were really cool. Then as we walked them through the 10 Commandments and they realized their sin–and how God had to punish sin in order to be just–many began to get very sober. About six of the girls we talked to especially stand out in my mind. They were anxious to hear the way God provided for us to be “reconnected” with Himself. They told me it made sense and that they had never really understood that before. Many of them indicated they’d be interested in learning more and coming to a Bible study if I start one with teen girls there in the mall, and they gave me their phone numbers.

I was reminded — yet again– of how wrong I am to sometimes assume people don’t want to hear about God! These conversations were exciting. Most of the kids we talked with at the mall had no clue why Jesus died on the cross or what it means for them. One boy said, “Yeah, I knew Jesus died on the cross but I never understood why.”
But once they realized the seriousness of their sin (and reality of hell), they wanted to know! They agreed that God must love them a lot if He was willing to die for them.

As we were talking with one group, one of the girls recognized me.
“Remember? We met at Gordmans last week!”
Then I remembered. I had met this friendly girl at Gordman’s and I gave her a tract as we passed in the shoe aisle. How interesting God led me to her again.
“Maybe it’s a sign!” she said.
“Could be!” I agreed.
At least now she knows the gospel more clearly. This has been happening a lot recently–where I run across the same person I witnessed to at another time. It reminds me that we have a big God who is orchestrating everything. I pray I may be alert to His leading and directions!

Please pray for these kids we talked with… that Satan wouldn’t be able to snatch away the seed but that it will penetrate into their hearts and grow. I instructed many of them to kneel beside their bed as they were going to sleep tonight and talk to God about all of this– to ask Him for the gift of salvation, and acknowledge they believed in what Jesus did for them. Many indicated that they wanted to. Please pray they would and they would start reading their Bibles.

Sorry for the lack of pictures in this post. I forgot to take any. Maybe next time.

Bright Lights Internship/Bright Lights Office/Family News/Homeschool Conferences/Radiant Purity Conferences/Recent Productions/Strong in the Lord Conf.

2009: A Year in Review

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