Miscellaneous – Page 9 – Tomorrow's Forefathers, Inc.

Visit to ICR

July 22, 2013 Grace Mally2 Comments

Hello everyone! We’ve had a good week at home getting caught up and preparing for coming trips. Here are a few more pictures from our time in Dallas that I didn’t fit into my last post.

On one of our free days in Dallas we visited ICR – Institute for Creation Research. We received a tour from our friend Brian Thomas.

ICR has a lot of fossils on display in their office, and Mr. Thomas has a lot of interesting insights about the fossils, how to interpret them, and what we can learn from them.

I met Mr. Thomas at a home school conference last year, and he agreed to help me with a few chapters of Will Our Generation Speak? which I was getting close to publishing at that time. I will always be grateful for the suggestions he contributed to chapters 14 and 15 on creation science and apologetics! It was very encouraging for me to see the Lord’s perfectly timed provision.

Dr. Jeanson shared a very interesting presentation with our group of Bright Lights leaders on how to witness to evolutionists. I appreciated his comments about how it is through seeing God’s glory that we begin to understand how bad sin really is.

Dr. Jeanson received his Ph.D. from Harvard in 2009 and then joined ICR as a Research Associate. We’ve enjoyed getting a little acquainted with him and his wife and are grateful for the ways the Lord is using them.

Your Origins Matter is a new ministry of ICR that is focused on reaching the younger generation. They gave us all shirts so this was a very commonly-worn shirt during our trip!

Miscellaneous

Please Pray for Mr. Biegler

July 9, 2013 Grace Mally9 Comments

We would appreciate prayer for Nickie Biegler and her family at this time. Nickie’s dad has been fighting cancer for about two years now. Because the cancer returned in a more aggressive form, he has begun chemo. He started the treatments last week and is now beginning to experience the side effects. As you can imagine, this is a very difficult time for him and his family. We are praying that the Lord would use chemo to reduce the size of the tumor.

Here’s an excerpt from Mrs. Biegler’s last e-mail update:

Todd asked for specific prayer. When Jesus was before Pontius Pilate, Pilate asked the question, “Do You not know that I have authority to release you, and I have authority to crucify You?” Jesus answered, “You would have no authority over Me, unless it had been given you from above…” Todd recognized that chemotherapy would have no “authority” over the cancer unless God’s power was in it. He is asking for God to give His power to the chemotherapy to fight this cancer. Will you join us in that prayer?

Bright Lights Conferences/Miscellaneous

Free Days in Houston

July 5, 2013 Grace Mally4 Comments

We have had a few free days in Houston in between conferences. They have been fairly relaxing with many good times of fellowship. Our Radiant Purity conference here in Houston starts tomorrow. After that we have another week of conferences in the Dallas area and then we go home.

Some friends (the Moffitts) generously let us stay in their house for a few days while they were away.

Our computers and printer come in just about everywhere because there is always a lot of office work to keep up with.

Tuesday we spent several hours at NASA. It was pretty interesting.

In one of the buildings they have a Saturn V rocket.

After NASA we took a Ferry ride and watched the dolphins.

And then we had dinner and a 2 Corinthians study on the beach.

We have lots of “van time” on Bright Lights trips. They usually consist of sleeping, talking, or singing. On this particular van ride we decided we’d go around and everyone say one of your favorite verses and why you like it. It turned into many mini sermons [smile].

Yesterday we set up at the church for the conference this weekend.

Happy Birthday Natalie (left)! You’ve been a huge blessing on the team, and I’ve appreciated your sincere love for the Lord and others.

Creation Museum/Miscellaneous/Witnessing Stories

Cincinnati

June 19, 2013 Grace Mally4 Comments

About two weeks ago I flew to Cincinnati for a reunion with some good friends who I met during a 7-week music theory class we took together in Indianapolis about 6 years ago. In the above picture we are eating lunch at Noah’s cafe at the Creation Museum.

It is great to have old friends. When you do something hard together you bond, and our class has stayed in touch all this time. Our reunion was 3 days. It was difficult to arrange but it was worth it. There were some good times of special fellowship in the Lord.

And here is a picture of some new friends! On my flight to Cincinnati, I met a girl from Saudi Arabia who will be attending the university in Cincinnati. We are both 24 and hit it off right away. She explained how it was very sad for her to leave all of her friends at home, so she was glad to have now met her first friend in the States. After we got off the plane, she introduced me to her whole family. It was so obvious to me that the Lord had coordinated that meeting, and I hope it works for us to meet up again next time I am in Cincinnati. Praise the Lord for the good conversations He arranges on airplanes!

While I was in the Cincinnati area I took a couple days to volunteer at the museum. If I didn’t have other obligations at home, I’d do this more because I am always blessed by the time I spend helping out at the Creation Museum [smile]. Here in the warehouse we were working on materials included in the VBS curriculum.

Here’s a behind the scenes glimpse of a brainstorming session in an Answers in Genesis office. They were discussing ideas for the banner that Dan Lietha (AiG Cartoonist) is designing for the AiG booth at the National Educator’s Convention this year. Each year they create a different banner, and I think this one is going to be great. (Please pray for that outreach, by the way.) See last year’s report here.

One of the highlights of my trip to Cincinnati was spending time witnessing at a park with this group of young people. Most of them had never done anything like this before. We had a quick training time, paired up, and went out to try to get into conversations. We used questionnaires and/or gospel tracts or to help in starting discussions. I admit, I was a bit apprehensive about how it would all turn out, but everyone came back with smiles, laughter, and good reports. Praise the Lord!

I was paired together with Aaron, a fourteen-yr-old with a real enthusiasm for learning to witness. This was the first time he had actually gone witnessing in a public place, and I was praying the Lord would give us a good conversation that we could learn from.

Aaron and I found a guy who was willing to talk and called himself a “Deist.” He had some Bible knowledge and a lot of “issues” with what he saw in the Bible. He kept bringing up topics such as the Levitical dietary laws, making comments like “remember you’re quoting from the book that calls shrimp an abomination.” [smile] While not wanting to entirely avoid his arguments, I was also trying to get to the heart of the matter—sin and the good news of the gospel—because I knew we had limited time. So we began discussing sin, and I tried to gently convince him of his need for a Savior.

As we were discussing this, several other guys came and sat down on the grass to listen. Eventually, I turned to them and asked what they thought.
One of them stood up and stated, “I’m an Odinist.” He seemed to enjoy this opportunity to see my response to his beliefs.
“Oh. What’s that?” I asked, looking up at him.
“She doesn’t even know,” they laughed.
“I worship Thor,” he explained.
“Oh… I think I kind of get it now,” I said, smiling.
I decided he looked kind of like a Viking, the more I thought about it. [smile]
Hmmm….. this conversation just keeps getting more interesting.
“Your people killed thousands of my people,” he continued, looking down at me with a stern expression. “And you are just the same as they were … judgmental.”

I guess my emphasis on explaining sin to the Deist guy was making the Odinist guy very uncomfortable. That was probably a good thing, but all the same, I felt I should clarify my motives.

“You know, I think I may have given the wrong impression, because that’s not my heart at all,” I explained. “I’ve sinned too, and I’m just trying to explain how much we need a Savior. I’m really sorry if I came across wrong!”
“You’re fine” the Deist said coolly.

“So. You believe the world is 6,000 years old?” the Odinist asked condescendingly.
“Uh, yeah! I do! Have you guys been to the Creation Museum? It’s right here in town … ” I smiled.
“Well, there are ancient documents in China that are 12,000 years old,” they replied.
Of course, I challenged that, but they were insistent, so I said we’d look it up.
I left them with a few tracts and a DVD. Although they didn’t act receptive, who knows what God is doing in their hearts!

As we were walking away, I told Aaron, “I hope this conversation doesn’t intimidate you, because not everyone is like them…”
But you know what, I think the opposite was true. It didn’t intimidate Aaron, it actually aroused excitement for all of us. We knew the Lord had been arranging our steps.

It’s a relief to realize that there’s no need to be afraid of encountering new beliefs or arguments. (There will always be more of them!) And there’s no need to answer every question we are asked. We can simply enjoy the process of interacting with people, learning about them, asking them questions, and sharing the truth that we do know with humility and graciousness.

Back home at the Bright Lights office (where I am now), we have a lot going on as we are leaving in 5 days for a 3 week conference trip. We are VERY grateful for the help of Anna and Michelle (pictured above) who flew in early to help us before the conferences. (We are also very grateful for Claire who was here earlier.)

Miscellaneous

Israel Became A Nation 65 Years Ago Today!

May 14, 2013 Grace Mally2 Comments

Sixty-five years ago today, Israel became a nation. It is exciting to know that God has a very special plan for Israel – with great things yet to come!

“The return of Israel to her land, still in unbelief, is one of the amazing phenomena of these latter days.” – Henry Morris

“I say then, God has not rejected His people, has He? May it never be! … Now if their transgression is riches for the world and their failure is riches for the Gentiles, how much more will their fulfillment be!” (Romans 11:1 and 12)

“For I do not want you, brethren, to be uninformed of this mystery — so that you will not be wise in your own estimation — that a partial hardening has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in; and so all Israel will be saved…” (Romans 11:25-26)

“If anyone wishes to know whether or not the God of the Bible exists, one of the strongest reasons he can examine is the Jewish people. An honest inquiry into this question will provide more than an adequate answer to the truthfulness of the Christian faith … Have you ever heard of a Swedish Moabite? A Russian Philistine? A German Edomite? An American Ammonite? No! These people have been totally absorbed into other cultures and races. However, have you ever heard of a Swedish Jew? A Russian Jew? A German Jew? An American Jew? Yes! As prophesied, they have not lost their identity.
– Josh McDowell

“Pray for the peace of Jerusalem: May they prosper who love you. May peace be within your walls, And prosperity within your palaces. (Psalm 122:6-7)”

Miscellaneous

“Herein is My Father Glorified…”

April 16, 2013 Grace Mally6 Comments

Last week we were blessed to host the Martin family in Cedar Rapids for a few days. They told us that they like to cram their schedule as full as possible, so Dr. Martin spoke 10 times in 7 locations in 3 and a 1/2 days while they were here. I could hardly believe it!

In every location they loved him (and his Power Points [smile]).

He spoke on Sunday evening for 1 and a 1/2 hours. Then, even after another 30 minutes of eager questions, still no one seemed to want to stop.

It was fun seeing even kindergartners learning so much.

I felt very blessed to be able to tag along and listen to most of his talks. He covers so much information, I learned new things each time he spoke. I almost felt like his presentations kept getting more interesting the more I heard them.

In almost every location the principal or school director talked to us about how they could get Dr. Martin to speak again “next time” for a longer amount of time. [smile]

Stephen appreciated having Dr. Martin teach his Light Shop group.

Sarah and I were excited to spend some time with Taryn and Mirren. In this picture they are leading a discussion with students at Emmaus Bible College called “Resting in God’s Promises: Finding Fulfillment in the Seasons of Singleness.” We love Taryn and Mirren’s ministry mindset, Christ-glorifying joy, and good insights.

A verse that was resonating in my heart after the Martins left was John 15:8 which says, “Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit.” The Martins choose to pour themselves out day after day to strengthen believers, and the eternal fruit that is being produced for God’s glory will one day be seen.

On that note, recently I’ve seen the hand of God working in people’s lives in some extremely clear ways. It has reminded me that though there is much of the Lord’s hand we may not see right now, He is working. He is answering prayers! May we praise Him as we ought, and never stop abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that our labor is not in vain in the Lord (1 Cor 15:58)!

Miscellaneous

Light Shop Fishing

March 14, 2013 Grace Mally2 Comments

Stephen’s group, the Light Shop, doesn’t get mentioned on this blog much since I’m never there to take pictures. (I’m always at Bright Lights, which meets simultaneously.) But the other night I sent my camera along with my dad and he took some pictures to document what was happening over there.

They’ve been going through the ROOTS witnessing DVD series and talking about witnessing. The other night they also did “role-play” witnessing, where each guy picked someone else in the group and had 4 minutes to share the gospel with them.

For an activity, they did some paper-fishing …

Each fish is sticky (there is tape on top of it) and the goal is to throw out your fishing line, hope a fish sticks to it, and see how many you can catch.

“And He said to them, ‘Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men.’ Immediately they left their nets and followed Him.” (Matthew 4:19-20).

What an honor that Jesus still calls us today not just to salvation, but to actually help with His work here on earth.

Miscellaneous/Thoughts/Witnessing Stories

1,600 Years Later

March 8, 2013 Grace Mally8 Comments

Can you imagine living a life that makes such an impact that the world still remembers you 1,600 later?

Of course, most people don’t know who St. Patrick really was or what he did. They don’t know that he was a missionary whom God used to bring the gospel to Ireland in 400 AD. However, since Christians use his legacy as an open door to share his true story AND his message, St Patrick’s life is not just being remembered by the world, it is still being used by God today!

St. Patrick’s Day is 9 days away. Here’s are four ideas of ways to communicate the gospel either at the parade in your area or simply to people you meet anywhere:

1) Pass out tracts. Click here for a tract you could print double-sided on green paper and use if you’d like.

2) Start talking to someone. Gradually gear the conversation to spiritual things. (“Nice day for a parade, isn’t it? … Do you come to this parade every year? … So do you know much about who St. Patrick was? … He was actually a missionary and he wasn’t even Irish–he was English! … So do you have a spiritual background at all? …What are your beliefs?”)

3) Take a questionnaire Click here for a questionnaire you could use. You can also go to the resource page of www.willourgenerationspeak.com and see the other questionnaires available.

4) Open air preach right after it ends. A friend might do this in our town this year and we’d appreciate prayer for that outreach. [smile]

Above all, let’s pray that Christians everywhere take advantage of this useful day and share St Patrick’s message on St Patrick’s Day, 2013!

And we don’t have to wait until then! This whole next week is a great time to be giving out St. Patrick’s tracts and bringing him up in conversations.

Miscellaneous/Thoughts/Witnessing Stories

What Has Jesus Done?

February 26, 2013 Grace Mally4 Comments

Last Saturday, Sarah and I helped with a youth conference at Bethany Bible Chapel, about an hour away. We had a great time. We did a girls’ track on witnessing, and they recorded it and gave us the CD. If anyone is interested, you can listen to the session here. But we will only be leaving it up for about a month, so download it now if you want it.

It was nice to have some free time to get to know people in the afternoon.

The theme of the conference “What Has Jesus Done?” with WHJD bracelets (instead of the WWJD message and bracelets). The funny thing was that Sarah and I had to explain what the “WWJD movement” was to the 14-yr-olds at our table because they hadn’t even heard of it. Wow, was that craze that long ago?!

Anyway, I like the “What Has Jesus Done?” slogan better. [smile] The emphasis of the conference was on what Jesus DID for us – the gospel message – and how the power of the gospel is what transforms us every day.

“For the death that He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to God. Even so consider yourselves to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus” (Romans 6:10-11).

Miscellaneous/Thoughts

1 Peter Weekend

February 21, 2013 Grace Mally5 Comments

Last weekend a group of friends joined us for a concentrated time of studying 1 and 2 Peter. Though it was our first time to plan something quite like this, I don’t think it will be our last! It was such a rich weekend, and when we finished we were more in awe of those books than we have ever been before.

Lilly texted Sarah afterward stating, “I benefited from the retreat sooooo much. If I could, I would like to study the Bible with believers all day, every day, forever =)”

Augusta asked me, “You are going to keep doing this at least every three months, right?”

Maybe some of you would like to do something similar in your area! Here’s what we did: We designated specific chapters to different people to study in advance in order to lead a discussion on that chapter. We also encouraged everyone to spend time in both books before they came.

This is how our schedule played out:

Friday:
6:00 Soup dinner together
7:30–9:30 1 Peter 1, singing and prayer

Saturday:
9:15 1 Peter 2
10:45 1 Peter 3:1-12
Lunch
1:00 1 Peter 3:12 – 1 Peter 4:9
3:00 Ice skating, and time for one-on-one conversations
6:00 Chick-fil-A
7:30 1 Peter 4:10 – 1 Peter 5:19

Sunday
1:00-2:30 Prayer time and brief look at 2 Peter (1 Peter took longer than originally planned [smile])

A few gleanings from our time together:

Intro: 1 Peter was written close to the time of the great fire in Rome (AD 64). The citizens of Rome blamed Nero for setting the city on fire, so Nero blamed the Christians. This ignited great persecution across the Roman empire. So we see that God’s encouragement to the church through Peter’s words on suffering were greatly needed at this time. This is a reminder to us that the Shepherd and Guardian of our souls will strengthen us through suffering.

1 Peter 1:4-5 “to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who by God’s power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time .”

God is keeping our inheritance for us and keeping us for our inheritance!

1:8 “and though you have not seen Him, you love Him, and though you do not see Him now, but believe in Him, you greatly rejoice … ”

Notice this is not a command — this is a statement. You love Him! Likely, Peter doubted his own love for Christ after he denied Him, but Jesus restored Peter and gave him public opportunity to state and then demonstrate his love.

1:6 “In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials”

Our trials may seem very long to us as we are going through them, but they are actually very short!

1:18-19 “…you were not redeemed with perishable things like silver or gold from your futile way of life inherited from your forefathers, but with precious blood, as of a lamb unblemished and spotless, the blood of Christ.”

Though we were rebellious and filthy in our sins, the Lord placed the highest price-tag imaginable on us – and then He bought us! Our salvation is free to us, but it cost God terribly. Being redeemed at the highest possible cost makes our redemption secure. (No one can out-buy God!) It also shows us how bad our sin was – that Jesus had to pay such a high price to redeem us.

2:12 “Keep your behavior excellent among the Gentiles, so that in the thing in which they slander you as evildoers, they may because of your good deeds, as they observe them, glorify God in the day of visitation.”

Lilly pointed out that our goal is not to keep our behavior excellent so that our accusers will realize one day that we were innocent after all. No, the goal stated here is that they may glorify GOD!

2:21 “For you have been called for this purpose, since Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example for you to follow in His steps…”

The word example here is referring to something like tracing paper that children would use when learning to write the alphabet. Peter’s first and last personal command from Jesus was to FOLLOW ME (Mt 4:19, John 21:22). That’s why Peter was such a great leader — He had learned to follow. In this book, Peter points to Jesus’ example in a number of areas, especially the areas of suffering and shepherding. He also points to Jesus as the stone both in 1 Peter 2 and Acts 5. This is significant since Jesus named him Peter which means rock.

2:10-11 “…for you once were not a people, but now you are the people of God; you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.”

Peter is quoting from Hosea 1 which brings a deeper meaning to these statements.

2:25 For you were continually straying like sheep, but now you have returned to the Shepherd and Guardian of your souls.

I think we girls especially have a desire to feel safe and cared for. Knowing that the Lord is both our Shepherd and Guardian, brings ultimate security and rest!

4:7 “The end of all things is near; therefore, be of sound judgment and sober spirit for the purpose of prayer.”

When have a correct perspective of the nearness of the end, we are more purposeful in our lives and priorities, and pray with more concentration and fervency.

4:9 “Be hospitable to one another without complaint.”

Don’t you love how Peter adds those two words to the end of this command knowing our natural human tendencies?! Philippians 2:14-15 emphasizes the same command (no grumbling) if we want to be lights in this world.

4:10-11 “…each one has received a special gift, employ it in serving one another … so that in all things God may be glorified through Jesus Christ.”

Nickie pointed out that God has given us each gifts, and we can rejoice not in the fact that we have extra ability to do something well, but in that we have extra ability to glorify God through this ability He has given us. (THAT is a gift to us!)

Category: Miscellaneous