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Meet the
Staff
Here is the
Finishers Staff based in Gilbert,
AZ.
L to R : Tom Adelsman,
Colleen Erdmann, Paul Erdmann, Renee Ladd, and Don
Parrott |
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Coming Events
Click on
these links to find more information about each
event.
Chicago, IL -
Apr 24-26
Dallas, TX - May 29-31
Philadelphia, PA - Jun
26-28
Atlanta, GA - Oct 16-18
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Affiliate
Organizations
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 www.GOCASA.org  www.SignificantLiving.org  www.TheJourneyDeepens.com | |
The Bridge serves to keep you
connected with the amazing ministry and impact of
Finishers Project. We welcome your feedback, so
please call or write.
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Spread
the Word!
Several
Forum locations are being developed. If they are
near you, we sincerely request that you volunteer some
of your time to help provide this opportunity for people
to connect with opportunities for significant
impact:
- Cleveland/Akron Ohio,
September 25-26
- Ft.
Collins, Colorado
- Albuquerque,
New Mexico
- Phoenix,
Arizona
- Seattle,
Washington
- Tyler,
Texas, January 29-30, 2010
Click here to let us know
you would like to help make one of these Forums
happen.
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Six "Challenges" or "Benefits",
depending on your perspective.
As mentioned last
month, over the next few editions of The Bridge I would
like to identify six "challenges" Boomers face when
considering ministry in a missions-related role.
The six are: Faith, Finances, Family, Fit, Future
and Fight. The purpose of examining these benefits
is to help us see that God is really carefully managing
our journey, and not getting in the way of a desired
goal with all these obstacles.
FAITH:
The first "challenge", "obstacle", or "opportunity",
depending on your perspective.
Can I trust God with my
future? This question captures the essence of this
challenge. At first blush the obvious answer is
"yes!" Of course we can trust God. He is in
control. He is trustworthy. He only has our
best in mind. He knows better what we need than we
do.
But...have you
noticed how second and third blush begin to color our
response? Shades of what if...what about...how can
I...I can't...quickly condition our trust
response. We begin to evaluate the unknown future
in light of the known past. How we feel about our past
strongly affects our thinking about the future. In
that subtle moment we shift our trust to our own ability
and experience.
That
shift can create a dual track in our mental processing.
On one level, the spiritual, we still love and trust
God. On the other, let's call it the practical level, we
are trusting in our own strength, our perspective, our
evaluation of the future. As a consequence, we develop
an inner tension with questions we cannot easily answer.
We want to completely trust our Lord, but...don't we
have to be practical? We want to be all out for God,
but...He certainly wants me to be responsible.
So - Can I trust God with my
future? Maybe we should change the question. Can I
trust God with His future? After all, who am
I? I've been bought with a price. I'm a
child of the King. I am his masterpiece, created
to do the things he has already designed for me to do
and equipped by him to do exactly those things. He has
promised to never leave me. There is nothing in
his future that could possibly separate me from his
love.
Faith is actually a wonderful gift
afforded us by God himself. The dimension of time makes
faith possible. We are bound by time. Because we
cannot see the future we need to exercise faith. If we
were not time-bound, faith would not be necessary. God
does not need faith. He sees it all, past, present and
future, in his eternal present. Because we cannot see
clearly into our future we are uncertain as to which
direction to go. Our great, incredible privilege is that
the very God who created it all and sees it all is
simply saying, "Trust me. I can see where your next step
should be. I'll help you get there if you just trust
me...just have faith." Not faith in your abilities or
past experiences. Faith in the one who can see the next
step he has carefully designed for
you.
If
you desire to make a difference in your future and you
sense God is leading you to do that in a
missions-related role, may I encourage you to take the
next logical step in that direction. It may only be a
small step, but take it. If you're heart is right, you
will not make a mistake.
Faith
is stepping onto the invisible, not the non-existent. We
may not see it all clearly. We may come up short when we
compare our abilities with future challenges. Hindsight
can be
our weakness. Foresight is God's specialty.
What we cannot see, he designed. Where we have not
gone, he is waiting. Can I trust God with my future?
Yes, because it is my small part in his grand and
perfect future.
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Spend
a Weekend with an Experienced Cross-Cultural
Worker!
These
unique weekends offer a valuable experience of meeting
with others seriously considering cross-cultural work
and being mentored by others who have lived and
ministered in other cultures. The group is
relatively small, enabling individual time with these
mentors, allowing participants to ask their particular
questions and gain from the wisdom and experience of
fellow-travelers on the journey.
Dates
and locations for these weekends called THE JOURNEY
DEEPENS:
- April
24-26, Elgin, IL
- May
29-31, Dallas, TX
- June
26-28, Philadelphia, PA
- October 16-18, Atlanta,
GA
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50
Million Over 50!
Right
now there are just over 50 million Baby Boomers in the
U.S. who are over 50 years old! Of those 50 million,
approximately 7.5 million are Christ-followers. As a
Boomer, you are either one of those, or one who will
join that unique number sometime in the next five years.
Think about it...seven and one-half million people who
are looking to make a difference in their remaining
years. And that number will keep growing until 2014!
What an impact we can make!
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Don
Parrott
CEO,The Finishers Project
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