david on December 21st, 2009

As we move closer to Christmas I was reminded that it’s year-end and that people who care about us would like to know how the ministry is going.  We are sending out a mailing, but thought we should send out a pdf as well.  Thanks for caring about us.

If you would like to download our family/ministry Christmas letter, you can do it here.

Please continue to pray as we move into 2010.  There are some exciting things coming up and we know it will all fail unless our partners are praying.

If God has been talking to you about giving, we’d like to give you that opportunity.  You can donate online here. For whatever you can do, thank you.  We are 100% reliant on God’s people to give.  We are very close to closing out this year on budget, we are about 75% there ( about $9,000 away from the year budget).  Please know that every dollar you give helps more people live their life on mission, and therefore people that have never heard the name of Jesus are able to experience the Gospel for the first time.  Would you stand with us?

david on November 5th, 2009

The beginning of last week was shaping up to be a very “productive” week. Then at noon, I received an email from Saint Child, a ministry in the US Digital Outreach Center who needed some help. The email stated that they have a new maternity home that was almost ready to house four young, pregnant teenage girls who are homeless. I thought to myself, “Man, I really wish we had a team that could help them.” But we didn’t.

Would you believe it that later that day at about 4pm, I received a call from Clark Blakeman, with Second Stories in Portland, Oregon. He asked me if we could host 80 YWAM team members who were here in Portland serving the community. We quickly worked to connect the dots of these 80 people willing to serve and a service opportunities in the Vancouver, Washington area.

We served at Saint Childs new maternity house in hopes to get it ready for 4 new residents. We also served at a house in North Vancouver that was in deep need of cleaning. The owner has Alzheimer’s and is now in a nursing home. We filled up an huge dumpster of trash and stuff. The team was dirty and gross at the end of the day. Both teams engaged in prayerwalking in each respective community that they served in.

“I wanted to personally thank you for all your coordination, hard work and effort in helping Saint Child prepare for the work that will be soon to follow. I know that getting 80 young people and all the materials and cleanup takes time and work. GO Connect is very much appreciated by us!” Jackie Pride, Executive Director of Saint Child.

It turned it was a very “Productive Week”, Just not how I had planned.

The total cost for this work was over $250 and at least 50 staff man hours to prepare and manage. What an amazing opportunity. Thank you for partnering with us to provide missional opportunities for different kinds of groups. Whether it’s a family, a youth group, a college group, a Bible study group, or any group we can facilitate a local mission trip that will challenge and transform the team members.

Donations Welcome
If you would like to give to this effort, please click the link below or mail a check to GO Connect, 1400 NE 136th Ave #201, Vancouver, WA 98684. If not, please continue to pray for effective outreach and life change through these teams.

CLICK TO GO CONNECT

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david on October 28th, 2009

You may think to yourself. What? Halloween? Yes, I say Happy Halloween. Is there any other holiday that your neighbors come knocking on your door? It’s the best time of year to meet your neighbors and to get to know them. It’s time for Followers of Jesus to be intentional about living where we live. Use this holiday to immerse yourself into your community rather than segregate. Have fun with it and get to know your neighborhood kids.

Last weekend I had the privilege of speaking at two workshops at Rolling Hills Community Church for The Next Mile Conference.  Both workshops were entitled “Becoming A Neighborhood Missionary”.

The word ‘missionary’ typically conjures up thoughts of extreme sacrifice, selling your belongings, buying a plane ticket, and moving to a third-world country.  Certainly there is a huge need for people to go over-seas and live among another culture that has no one sharing the good news of Jesus.  It’s estimated that are over 6,000 unique groups of people around the world that are still ‘unreached’ and need the touch of Christ through His people.

Let me suggest that we all need to act like missionaries right here at home.  The “Becoming a Neighborhood Missionary” workshop offered a simple, effective plan to intentionally invest in your community.

We talked about the need to plan the ministry, just like any missionary would.  But before that, pray.  Prayerwalk.  Pray at the park.  Pray with the family.  Pray for direction and guidance. Once God provides that direction, IMMERSE yourself into the community.  Instead of being separate, get to know who you are living with.  This is not easy but it is doable.  DISCOVER the community.  Discover who they are, where they live, where they hurt, what they do for fun.  Then become a resource CONNECTION.  As you rub shoulders with people, know what they need. It may be a helping hand, a shoulder to cry on, or help from a local ministry.

We will help you make this concept a success for your own neighborhood, or perhaps you would like to bring this seminar to your church.  You can become a missionary — right in your own neighborhood.

Financial Update: David and Diana are short about $1,750 in monthly budgeted need. Thank you for praying and for giving financially to us. Your investment will help this ministry of “helping people live On Mission everyday” thrive and grow. GO Connect is making an impact, in part because of your help and prayers. The link to invest is http://goconnect.org/donate. Thank you for being a part of GO Connect.

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