Happy New Year from the Haumschilt's

Joan and I want to wish you and your family a blessed New Year.

We are sure God is putting many hopes and dreams in your heart for this upcoming year.  As you abide in Him and walk in His truth know that He will be honored and by His promise you will find blessings.  (Psalms 1)

Pray for us as we head to Haiti with a team of ten.  Our goals will be to erect a building in La Saline so the pastor can serve in the community.  We will work to advance the young ministries in La Saline and Jerusalem.  Much evangelism and training for both locations will be needed.  We will also be establishing a new church in Canaan.  Leadership development will be key as well as finding men and women of peace through which to build the work. 

Heading to Haiti is always an opportunity to trust the Lord.  Pray for our team as six of them have never served on the mission field before and sharing their faith in that environment will be new for most of them.  Oh Spirit of God bring a harvest for your glory! (Matthew 9:37-38)

In the past few months Co:Mission has established partnerships that will allow us to plant churches and make disciples in many areas around the world.  God has opened doors in Africa, China, Southeast Asia, the Middle East, Europe, Brazil and other South American countries. We look forward with great anticipation at what God will do through all of us in fulfilling His heart for the nations in 2012.

Until the Nations Hear,

Mark and 

Having the Fathers Heart

Over one hundred times Jesus makes reference to “the Kingdom”.  He tells us “The time is fulfilled, and the Kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel”.  He goes on to say,  “follow me, and I will make you become fishers of men”.  (Mark 1:15, 17)  A genuine heart for the Kingdom means I will follow Jesus and I will fish for men.  Jesus teaches us to pray, “thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven”.  (Matthew 6:9-10)   Getting the kingdom right will cause me to get ministry right.  Getting the kingdom right will cause me to get church right and everything else right.  Ministry can at times be selfish.  Church can at times be man-centered.  You and I know  that impure motives can be a battle with everything.  The Kingdom of God is always King Jesus centered.

We preach a King centered Gospel not a man centered Gospel.  If I am going to catch the wind of God’s Spirit I must set the sails of my life to get in on building His Kingdom by following Jesus and fishing for men.  God’s heart is to see the nations of this world come to the saving knowledge of Jesus.  He instructed us to do this in Matthew 28:19.  He has told us that it is the one thing that must happen before His return, “this Gospel of the Kingdom shall be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all the nations, and then the end will come”. (Matthew 24:14)  As a child of God, I can not be content doing only what I like or what I might be good at.  As a Christian I must do that which pleases the heart of my Father, follow Him and fish for men.

It is exciting to report of the many moves of God going on around the world. Churches are multiplying and thousands are coming to Christ in unreached people groups.  People are choosing to follow Jesus and fish for men all over the world.  Joan and I had the opportunity to have dinner with two key Church Planting Movement strategists last week.  Ying Kia is  the gentleman responsible for over two hundred and fifty thousand churches planted in the past six years in China and Steve Smith, a student and facilitator of Church Planting Movements responsible for the South East Asia Region.  Both are seeing God’s Spirit move and work like no other recorded time in Christian History.  

When asked why this is happening both responded the same, “people are fulfilling the heart of the Father by following Jesus and fishing for men”.  I am asking God to help me see the big picture.  I want a Kingdom heart.  I know that within the big picture I must stay intentionally focused.  I know that following the King means walking by faith expressing obedience through my life.  I also know that if God took the time to step out of heaven, die on a cross, resurrect from the dead so that He could live in man’s hearts I must have as the highest priority a passion to fish for men.  

Join us at Co:Mission Ministry as we set sail to serve the King and His Kingdom by following Jesus and fishing for men.  “Seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you”.  (Matthew 6:33)

Until the Nations Hear,

Mark

Mark and Joan with Ying and Grace Kai

Mark and Joan with Steve Smith

With Grateful Hearts This Thanksgiving

We pray you and your family are prepared to have a wonderful Thanksgiving Celebration.  Joan and I are overwhelmed with grateful hearts to God for His goodness and grace toward us.  This year has been the biggest test of faith of our lives.  However, we have never grown more and scene the hand of God more evident.  1 Thessalonians 5:18 tells us that “in everything give thanks, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus”.  We know this to be true in the depths of our souls. 

God has done a deep work in our hearts of healing and renewal.  He has kept us on our faces praying and crying out to Him every day.  Dependence and trust are wonderful gifts when they are centered in Jesus.  Thank you for your prayers for us and know we have been praying for you.  Let us know what God is doing in your lives.

We are also thankful that God after breaking us is using us in greater ways than ever before.  We will be partnering with so many in 2012 to begin Church Planting Movements in strategic places around the world.  We will be trained in December with the most effective Church Planting Movement strategy in history.   In Asia, Europe  and Africa there are hundreds of thousands of churches being planted through this movement.  Co:Mission will be in partnership with the International Mission Board to assist churches in the U.S. to be part of this global movement.  We will be attending this conference in December in the windy city of Chicago.

Sunday November 27, we will be worshiping with our friends at Dorrisville Baptist Church in Harrisburg Illinois.  On December 4^th we will be at  Eldorado First Baptist church.  Pray for the time as we challenge these church families to strategic involvement to fulfill Christ’s command to go make disciples locally and globally.

Final details are coming together for our team going to Haiti in January.  Pray for the details to come together for building the house in La Saline.  We also need wisdom on the communities we will be planting more churches when we return with our team in March. 

Finally, pray for provision for this ministry.  We need a great deal of funding to do the work God has called us to do.  We are stepping out on blind faith and scheduling our trip to the Amazon in February.  This will launch our partnership with IMB and World Wide Church Planters to establish a Church Planting Movement in the region.  We know God has called us to this effort.  Pray about giving to this effort that promises to plant hundreds of churches and reach thousands for Christ. 

We love you and pray your hearts are filled with thanksgiving for the goodness of our God.

Until the Nations hear,

Mark and Joan

Charles Stanley addresses the need for what Co:Mission does!

The way they do missions today is totally different from the way it was done when I grew up in the Philippines.

Forty years ago, it worked like this. An evangelist would go out and share the faith. Some would respond. After they responded, the evangelist would gather these new Christians into churches. (This order is important as we will see in a moment.) The churches would take on an approximate form to a church in America. They would have a choir and a Sunday School and a constitution. (How can you run a church without a constitution?) They would have committees and Wednesday night supper, church counsel, & visitation. In the early days we even built buildings with red bricks, a tall steeple and white columns out front.

Then, we grouped churches together in Associations, State Conventions and National Conventions. We created institutions, seminaries, agencies and so forth. We sent our young ministers to our seminaries and they received degrees that duplicated the kind of degrees they can get here. In short, we not only exported the gospel, we also exported the whole form of the way we do church in America. We exported not only the wine, but the wineskins as well.

Around 20 years ago, we started experimenting with a different model, one that is now known as Church Planting Movements. It is the dominant model of missions around the world these days. I found this statement on the International Mission Board's web page:

International Mission Board’s Overseas Leadership Team adopted a vision statement: We will facilitate the lost coming to saving faith in Jesus Christ by beginning and nurturing Church Planting Movements among all peoples.

Now, the phrase "Church Planting Movements" is probably not all that clear to you, as it was not to me. I think of "Church" as "Church as I know it." These are more like house churches, as was made clear to me on a recent trip to Richmond and a conversation I had with an IMB executive there. These are not churches as we think of churches. The executive clarified this to me adding, "In fact, we try to keep them small and continually reproducing."

These Churches in the Church Planting Movements are more like Sunday School classes than they are Churches as we think of them. They are small groups led by laymen that meet in homes. They are house churches.

I am curious what comes to your mind when you think of the phrase "House Church." It has always had a bit of a negative connotation to me. It has always spoken to me of people who could not get along with the people in traditional churches and decided to just do church at home. But, these are not rebels. This is an intentional strategy. Those who follow this strategy are following the top leadership of the IMB.

One other caveat. I don't see an essential difference between a Sunday School style group and a home group. To me, a group is a group is a group. Whether the group meets on campus on Sunday morning or off campus during the week does not change the essential character of the group. There  are pluses and minuses for both home groups and Sunday School style groups. One is not essentially superior to the other. A group is a group is a group.

I have done a little reading on House Churches in America. I was surprised to learn that many who participate in House Churches in America actually attend a traditional church on Sunday morning. This raises an interesting question. What is the difference between this house church and any other home Bible study? One word: attitude. They see this house church as just that, a church. It is just as legitimate as the traditional church, it just takes on a different form.

Church Planting Movements

This change of strategy is resulting in unprecedented world-wide growth of the church. For example:

Southeast Asia

When a strategy coordinator began his assignment in 1993, there were only three churches and 85 believers among a population of more than 7 million lost souls. Four years later there were more than 550 churches and nearly 55,000 believers.

North Africa

In his weekly Friday sermon, an Arab Muslim cleric complained that more than 10,000 Muslims living in the surrounding mountains had apostatized from Islam and become Christians.

City in China

Over a four-year period (1993-1997), more than 20,000 people came to faith in Christ, resulting in more than 500 new churches.

Latin America

Two Baptist unions overcame significant government persecution to grow from 235 churches in 1990 to more than 3,200 in 1998.

Central Asia

A strategy coordinator reports: “Around the end of 1996, we called around to the various churches in the area and got their count on how many had come to faith in that one year. When they were all added up, it came to 15,000 in one year. The previous year we estimated only 200 believers altogether.”

Western Europe

A missionary in Europe reports: “Last year (1998), my wife and I started 15 new church cell groups. As we left for a six-month stateside assignment last July, we wondered what we’d find when we returned. It’s wild! We can verify at least 30 churches now, but I believe that it could be two or even three times that many.”

Ethiopia

A missionary strategist commented, “It took us 30 years to plant four churches in this country. We’ve started 65 cell churches in the last nine months.”

Abdul

Abdul came to faith in 1987. The team found more than 350 evangelists serving in 29 districts, nearly 2,300 pastors serving among some 4,000 churches, and 89,315 baptized members—all direct spiritual descendants of Abdul. More than 23,000 of the baptisms had occurred during the previous year alone. And that’s only part of the overall church-planting movement now spreading through Abdul’s people, who number in the tens of millions, comprising one of the largest unreached groups in the world.

Consider this chart I found at

By AD 1430, (1%) were Bible believing Christians. 
By AD 1790, (2%) were Bible believing Christians. 
By AD 1940, (3%) were Bible believing Christians. 
By AD 1960, (4%) were Bible believing Christians.
By AD 1970, (5%) were Bible believing Christians. 
By AD 1980, (6%) were Bible believing Christians.
By AD 1983, (7%) were Bible believing Christians.
By AD 1986, (8%) were Bible believing Christians. 
By AD 1989, (9%) were Bible believing Christians. 
By AD 1993, (10%) were Bible believing Christians. 
By AD 1997, (11%) were Bible believing Christians.

Source: http://www.missionfrontiers.org/newslinks/statewe.htm

It took 1430 years for 1% of the world population to become Christian. Now, we are gaining 1% every 3 or 4 years. The percentage of Christians doubled between 1970 and 1993 from 5% to 10%. WOW!!

If this doesn't seem quite right to you, consider this. I heard a statistic from George Barna years ago that said that North America is the only continent on the planet where the church is not growing. It feels like we are not making progress because we are in the United States. But, in many places around the world we are making rapid progress.

I'd invite you to do some reading up on Church Planting Movements. Do a search on www.google.com and start chasing down the links. It is exciting.

Let's experiment together with how to make Church Planting Movements a reality in America.

We recently had the privilege of hosting Josh Hunt for our mid winter Sunday Morning Bible Study leadership conference. The emphasis on investing and building relationships is the key to reaching our society today. Fellowship is premium in a world where we face an epidemic of loneliness. People are looking for more than a "friendly" church. They want a place where they can grow and develop lasting relationships that will assist them in building a biblical foundation for life. If you have not had the opportunity to have Josh Hunt in your church or attend one of his conferences, make plans to involve your leadership. His concepts will make a difference in your thinking about how simple it really is to reach out to people.

Sincerely,

Charles F. Stanley
Senior Pastor First Baptist Church Atlanta

Missions Exists Because Worship Doesen't

John Piper probed our minds with this truth that missions exists because worship does not.  I understand the truth but I think it needs clarifying.  Man does worship.  However, the glory often worshiped is not God’s glory. In Romans 1:23 Paul tells us that man “exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man”.  Verse 25 tells us that man “exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator”.  

Every time we break the first command by making other things as more significant than God we live out the foolishness of this text.  God longs to be worshiped.  He knows that worship is the highest call His creation can respond to.  We are at our best when we adore the king of kings and Lord of Lords.  David tells us that praise is becoming and that God inhabits the praises of His people.

Missions is telling others about how to get connected to this awesome God!  It brings liberty to people who are in bondage to false gods both here and abroad.   That Testimony is not something that is shared only when we cross the ocean but even when we cross the street.   David expresses God’s heart in Psalms 86:9, “All the nations you have made shall come and worship before you, O Lord and shall glorify your name”. 

In Revelation John sees the results of centuries of the church being on mission when he declares; “After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands, and crying out with loud voice, Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the lamb” Revelation 7:9-10

Update from Co:Mission

It’s fall and the leaves are beautiful in St. Louis.  The St. Louis Cardinals are world champs and God continues to open doors for Co:Mission Ministry.  Life is good!  We are thankful that the opportunities to stand before God’s people and share God’s heart for the world keep coming.  The global strategy God has given us continues to stir believers as the army of great commission partners keeps growing.

God also continues to open up new opportunities around the world.   Knowing we can’t go everywhere we are selecting those places that have strong leadership, great openness to the Gospel and little or no Gospel presence.  Two exciting new areas He has opened up for us to harvest souls is the Amazon Basin of Brazil and Kenya, Africa. 

When the former International Mission Board President, Dr Jerry Rankin, was asked what the most fertile harvest field in the world was?  His answer was the Amazon Basin of Brazil.  At present there are no missionaries working this area of over fifty thousand tribes.  Only a few ministries like Co:Mission are laboring in this huge harvest field.  God is creating a partnership that will join this ministry to key leaders in the region.   Together we believe we will see thousands come to Christ this year.

We have also been praying for an opportunity to get to Africa.  Several opportunities came up but none seemed right.  However, recently Joan and I were able to meet with a strategic leader and his wife from Kenya named Pastor Titus and Rose.  Titus has a network of thirty leaders with whom he would like to plant churches.  He shared with us that he needs the strategy, energy and focus of sharing the Gospel that Co:Mission can provide.  We are very excited about building a long term relationship whereby we can reach tens of thousands for Christ and plant hundreds of churches over the next several years.

We continue to be amazed at the faithfulness of our God.  Thank you so much for your prayers.  We are convinced God is only opening these doors and building these partnerships through the prayers of His people.  Please continue to pray as we dedicate November and December to raising the financial resources needed to fulfill this God honoring vision.

Until the Nations Hear,

Mark and Joan

Co:Mission Expands It's Partnerships;

Joan and I spent a couple weeks on the road seeking to build partnerships for the great commission with churches here in the U.S..   A vital aspect of Co:Mission Ministry is to work with pastors and churches to fulfill the great commission. 

In the past few weeks, we have had the opportunity to sit down with five different churches and many pastors.  I am so encouraged to see in every man a heart to make a difference for God’s glory.  However, I also see the stress they feel in making it happen.   Having pastored for so many years, I know the burdens these men of God are under.  What a privilege it was to listen and pray with each of them.  May I encourage each of us to lift up the arms of our pastors.  Pray for them and be a friend.   It is very lonely at the top.  

Another aspect of our trip was the mission’s conference Co:Mission Ministry was asked to lead at Cross Point Church in Raleigh, North Carolina.  What a joy it was to spend time with our dear friends, Dave and Kara Guinn and to see how God is using them in their new ministry.  God ministered in a wonderful way as the Church unveiled its Great Commission Ministry plan.  We will be partnering with them in Haiti next April.

We also had the opportunity to train eighteen new leaders in mission’s ministry.  Thank you Pastor’s Randal and Dave for your leadership and heart for the kingdom.  

The month of September was very special for both Joan and I as we spent quality time with so many dear friends in ministry.  Relationships have been rekindled and I believe many hearts greatly encouraged.   The goals of  September were to build partnerships in the U.S. and establish our Harvest Prayer Ministry.  We come to the end of the month and can say, “ Lord; you have been so faithful once again!”

As you pray for Co:Mission Ministry pray for our partnering churches by name.

August Gate

Cross Point Church

Dorrisville Baptist Church

Eagle Pointe Community

Eldorado First Baptist Church

Harrisburg First Baptist Church

Little Chapel Church

Until the Nations Hear:

Mark and Joan

A God moment in Haiti:

Jesus informed us that we will know them by their fruits.  I often wonder when sharing the Gospel, through a translator, in another culture, if they get it.  When you see the fruit you know they do!

Matt and I were frustrated to say the least.  We were sorting out what appeared to be thousands of parts to a house church we were building in Haiti.  It  quickly became evident we did not have enough parts and some appeared to be miss- numbered.  We finally decided the best way to redeem the time was to share Jesus with the twelve on lookers.  These were high-school age boys.   Why not?  Nothing else seemed to be working at the moment. 

The boys quickly got engaged.  The translator seemed relieved that he wasn’t  having to carry heavy medal anymore.  Matt, our lead contractor on the project still looked bewildered.  But God began to work.  You could sense the hopefulness in the air.  These boys were not only open but also eager to hear what we had to share.  To the praise and glory of God,  ten of the twelve turned from their sin and put their faith in Jesus. 

What an awesome moment!  However, it doesn’t stop there.  The next day while I was sharing the gospel in their community, two of the boys followed along wherever I went.   In the background,  I noticed someone  speaking broken English as I would share the gospel with people.   It happened to be two of the young men who had given their lives to Christ the day before.  I inquired as to what  he and his friend were doing.  They told me they were practicing  so that one day in the future they could become translators to tell people about Jesus.   They followed me for the next two days.  Their names were Jackson and Louvin.  A few posts ago I told you about giving up my translator so two guys could have the privilege of leading a woman to Christ.  Now I was without a translator and standing before ten people.  Struggling to communicate Jackson spoke up.  “I will try to tell them”,  he said.   And that he did.   As I spoke,  Jackson translated the gospel and God did a work not only in him but  also in the ten who heard. 

The apostle John in his third epistle said,  “I have no greater joy than to hear that  my children walk in truth.”  Although these were not my birth children they were spiritual children walking in the truth of their newfound faith.

May God get all the glory!  I can’t wait to see what He does with these two new young soldiers of His.  In case you were wondering, we did finally figure out the numbering system and found all the parts to the home we were building.  As we put first things first , somehow, God took care of the rest.

God is Faithful!

Today I want to give testimony of God’s faithfulness in Haiti.   A core value of Co:Mission Ministry is walking with the expectation that God is always at work.  God can do more in a moment than I can do in a lifetime.  He is able to do exceedingly abundantly beyond all we could ask or even think up, Ephesians 3:20.  I want all of us who participate in this ministry to experience this as we walk by faith. 

While waiting for our team from Texas to arrive in front  of the Port au Prince airport God spoke to my heart that He was wanting to work.   There were five  very rough looking Haitian men standing close to Matt and I.  The Spirit prompted me to share the gospel with them.  We faced two challenges.  One, our translator at the time was not really qualified to translate  the plan of salvation due to limited vocabulary.   Two, we have a strong conviction in Co:Mission ministry to see all who receive Christ also have proper follow-up. 

As I reluctantly but obediently began sharing with our disinterested Haitian friends, God showed up.  First,  we watched their countenances change before our eyes as God opened their hearts to want to hear the Gospel.  Secondly, while struggling with the translation two Haitian brothers showed up like angels excited that American missionaries were there sharing Christ.  As God would have it they were the only people around who were bi-lingual.  To our knowledge, they were the only believers around as well.  These guys made sure the gospel was clear to our new friends as we took the lead to share.  There in front of the Port au Prince airport all five men gave their lives to Christ. 

However, God was not finished yet.  It just so happened that the two “angels” who appeared took it upon themselves to invite these new believers to their church nearby and committed to follow-up our new brothers in Christ.  God is so faithful!

Seek first His Kingdom and His righteousness and all the things you and I need will be taken care of.  May the earth and all His people declare His glory.

Sharing the Gospel

As Co:Mission Ministry finds God’s unique purpose in His awesome kingdom Joan and I are learning a lot.  We  continue to be overwhelmed in our hearts with the responsibility of helping to lead the Church to lead with the Gospel.

Years ago I memorized a definition of successful witnessing given by Bill Bright, founder of Campus Crusade for Christ; taking the initiative to share Christ in the power of the Holy Spirit and leaving the results to God.  It seems we are taking the initiative to share a lot these days on the mission field, however, little sharing of Christ seems to be happening.  We seem to have bought the lie that people coming to Christ are a by-product of our ministry and not the purpose of our mission. 

While in Haiti I had the privilege of working with seven young people all eager to learn on the mission field.  They arrived in Haiti with a passion to work and make a difference.   They were not quiet sure how to share their faith but hoping their lives would count and communicate Christ’s love. 

Wanting them to have the experience of leading others to Christ I gave two young men access to my translator one day.  They came back rejoicing that a woman was interested in giving her life to the Lord.  I asked them if they had led her to follow Christ.  They indicated that could happen later but she was very interested in becoming a Christian.  I instructed them to immediately go back to her house and lead her to faith in Christ.  I only wish everyone reading this could have been there when these young men returned.  They had stepped past their comfort and lead this women to turn from her sin and put her faith in Christ.  They were literally skipping back almost floating above the dusty road beneath their feet.  Why in the name of missions do we find it so hard to take the initiative to lead people to the saving knowledge of Christ?  Proverbs 11:30 reminds us that he who wins souls is wise.  Romans 1:16 tells us that the gospel is the power of God for salvation.  Paul encourages us with the fact that God has placed this life-changing message in clay pots, that is, He entrusts the gospel message into our lives and expects us to share it.

I hear of testimonies today of hundreds coming to Christ through dreams and visions.  God can and does do miracles to draw others to Himself.  Every conversion from sin to salvation is a miracle.  I want it to be said; it is a privilege to carry out the mandate of winning souls by taking the initiative to intentionally lead others to Christ.

As Mark Driscoll shares “when it comes to the gospel we tend to be gun collectors and not hunters”.  Though we love the gospel we treat it like a gun  from our gun collection.   We admire it but never take aim and shoot.  We love the Gospel but seldom call others to respond to it. 

We want to encourage all of you to get out your gospel gun, polish it up and take aim and fire to the glory of God.  Remember to leave the results to Him.  Rejection may come but probably won’t.  You may do it less than perfect but God won’t miss your heart.  Take the initiative to share Christ in the power of the Holy Spirit and leave the results to God.