Coming Activities: Last Quarter of 2013

We are now on the slope rushing to the end of the year.  I remember as a kid running up the side of a hill and then the exhilarating feeling of rushing down the other side trying to stay upright while my legs pumped at a maximum rate.  I am feeling that way now as we move rapidly towards 2014.

Major Transition in Process

It became clear over the past couple of years that we had to either increase our staffing or find an alternative to handle our financial processes.  After reviewing all the options we decided to partner with Vision Quest Alliance.  Its primary purpose is to help ministries like ICM become more efficient while ensuring compliance with the ever increasing regulations at the state and federal levels.  Starting October 1 all donations will be sent to ICM, PO Box 129 Monument, CO 80132.  VQA will process the donations but our ICM will monitor them online. If you have questions and/or concerns please do not hesitate contacting us at: 661-832-9740.

Schedule 

Here is our schedule (see the calendar on our web site for more information).

October 4th and 5th   Sheryl and I returned from teaching in Ethiopia in time to prepare for the past weekends teaching on "Experiencing Spiritual Formation."  We had a good turnout of people wanting to discover how to move forward and deepen their walk with God.

October 9th - Stephen Mairori will be at the office along with Crispin Juma

October 10-12 - Sheryl is speaking at Mt. Hermon Conference

October 14th - ICM Board Meeting in Bakersfield

October 17th-22nd - Missions Conference in Seattle (Bowes and Phil)

October 28th - November 17th - Phil to East Africa
         Phil and Darryl speaking at an Alumni event in Kitale, Kenya

October 9- 16  Burundi team from Bakersfield

November 23rd - Perspectives in West Los Angeles (Phil)

Thank you for your prayers and partnership!

Equipping for Service - Ethiopia 2013

October 3, 2013

Dear Friends and Family,

“Give thanks to the Lord, call on His name; make known among the nations what He has done.” I Chron. 16:8. Thank you so much for your prayers for our Fall 2013 Ethiopia team. Excited to share how God provided for our teaching, travel and even trials! I loved making this trip with my daughter-in-law, Megan Giesbrecht. It was a joy to share Africa with her. She is a wonderful woman of God and servant for His people. I am so proud and overjoyed to share our journey.

Purpose Driven Seminar #5 completed in Addis Ababa, pastors and leaders are released to teach the same scriptural principles to their own groups.

“We are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works which God prepared in advance for us to do.” Ephesians 2:10

 Megan and my translators, Britukan and Ensalle were an encouragement and a delight to share in ministry.

Our Hawassa translators, Ensalle and Britukan have a heart for the women, asked for my full set of teaching notes and powerpoint. Britukan said, after the Fall 2012 conference, shared the message I gave, “Being a Woman God can Use” with a group of a couple of hundred women. A month later attended another conference, my same message was shared there by the speaker. This time the audience was over 10,000 women! We anticipate this same impact with our messages going forth.

 

Pastors and leaders in Hawassa share in small group discussion about how to apply God’s word.

“Sing to him, sing praise to him; tell of all his wonderful acts. Glory in his holy name; let the hearts of those who seek the Lord rejoice. Look to the Lord and his strength; seek his face always.” I Chron.16: 9-11

 Through her translator, Britukan, Megan shared how we must trust Christ when we need healing from Him, he will help us take care of the soul and body.

Megan’s contribution to our Africa trip was first aid kit training -- it was an experiment to see if teaching is one of her spiritual gifts. (It definitely is!) We still have an outstanding bill for the first aid kits. (The kits cost $2,500.00. If you are able to donate any additional funding, please earmark your gift Team Giesbrecht Ethiopia 2013.)

                                                    Women at Addis conference receive love gifts from America.

 

 

Hawassa woman receives a first aid kit after Megan's training.

 

Just having fun while serving -  Megan prepares to hand out necklaces from USA.

“To prepare God’s people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up.” Eph. 4:12 It was thrilling for me to see my sweet daughter-in-law serve the Lord in this way. Not only was it an honor for me to have her join me, but it was wonderful to see her love the women!

 

“Remember the wonders He has done, his miracles and the judgments he pronounced.”  I Chron. 16:12 We praise God for BIG answers to prayer: Our luggage was recovered in Addis, we remained physically and spiritually healthy throughout the trip, through the Biblical teaching women were released from fear. African leaders were transformed to train and equip their churches to maturity. We give God the glory for His wonders! Much love and prayer,

Sheryl

Please earmark your financial gift: TEAM GIESBRECHT FALL 2013 ETHIOPIA

This Present Age

I am a sworn optimistic pessimist.  I am optimistic because I know who has won the greatest war ever fought: the war over Sin, Satan and Death.  Jesus came the first time as the suffering Messiah to make clear the war will be won.  He will come a second time to judge the nations and all those who have turned their back on Jesus.  Thus the pessimistic side.  You see when Jesus comes as the reigning King He will judge those who rejected Him and followed their own plans under the tutelage of Satan (whether they know it or not).  Evil will be in this world until the day Jesus returns.  We are unable to control or stop it.  This does not mean we cease trying to mitigate against it.  As messengers of the Good News we are also purveyors of justice where and when possible.

There are many pundits with many ideas of what needs to happen: "we need to share the Gospel with the terrorists" or "we need to make a parking lot out of the hideouts where they plot to put feet to their hatred. "

 The reality is we are in a war whose end will come when Jesus returns.  We are not going to "fix" it or make the world into a heaven on earth.  I say this because we must be realistic and determined. Yes, let's focus on sharing the Gospel with those who hate us, no we will not be the wrath of God on our enemies.  As the armies marched towards Berlin after the Normandy landing they suffered many casualties.  The end was never in question, but the need to fight the battles was essential.  Let us be ready day and night to take the message of God's love to all, but make not mistake there will be plenty of men and women who are deceived by Satan ready to confront our love with anger, hate and violence.  We are at war and need to understand each battle is fought in the spiritual realm even as we put feet to the Good News.

Let's marshal our forces to storm the heavenlies in order to take the Good News to the whole world.

For the latest update on Kenya check out Renita Reed's blog: Click Here

Annual Banquet

Mark the date on your calendars: August 20th!  That is the date for this years annual ICM conference in Bakersfield California.

Get your tickets: Call the ICM office for more details:  661-832-9740

Our special speaker will be the President of Walk Thru the Bible, Philip Tuttle!

Extra Special Bonus:  The many of the ICM country leaders will be attending the event!!

People are Puzzling

Are you a mind reader?  Actually we are all mind readers.  Rebecca Saxe is a researcher focusing on our ability to understand other people, their motives and feelings.  She did a talk for Ted.com (click here to view).  What we often take for granted is a complex process of learning.  Understanding people is a little like trying to put a puzzle together without the picture on the box.  We make assumptions often based on ourselves and how we see the world.  But all of us see the world a little bit differently, or sometimes a lot differently.  This is because we have different glasses on called personality.  These glasses cause us to see and understand the world around us from different viewpoints.  This potentially can be a challenge when we misunderstand each others motives.  But it can be a big advantage in helping us, together, understand the world around us.

I would like to invite you to come and participate in the People Puzzle training.  Learn how together we are better and develop some important skills and knowledge that can help you at home or at work understand how to move from people conflict to team building.

Where: Across the hall from the ICM Office, 4201 Ardmore Ave., Suite 2, Bakersfield CA

When:  Friday May 31, 2013, 6:00pm-9:00pm and Saturday June 1, 2013, 8:00am-1:00pm (light lunch provided)

Instructor:  Dr. Phil Walker

Cost: $35 (includes workbook and lunch)

Preregister by calling the office:  661-832-9740

May 2013

May 2013 has been a full month.  Sheryl Giesbrecht, Executive Director, represented ICM USA at the graduations in East Africa.  She also led a team to take part in a number of activities in Kenya and Uganda.  I (Phil) went to Nigeria to teach and participated in the dedication of our new training center in Akure, Nigeria.  On Sunday I will teach a Perspectives class in Turlock, CA and on Tuesday teach another Perspectives class in Livermore, CA.

If you are in Bakersfield or surrounding area do not miss the "People Puzzle" on Friday evening May 31 and Saturday morning June 1.  I promise a great time of fun learning and challenge to some preconceived ideas about working together.  We will be using Walk Thru the Bible's course along with some other materials I have put together to give you first hand experience with team building.  If you are able to attend register now as space is limited.  Call the office (9am-1pm Mon-Thurs) to register.

May was busy, but June is going to be a bit crazy in regard to travel.  Please keep the following in your prayers:

June 2-4 - ICM office team travels to Denver
June 9-13 - Phil and Emmanuel Chemengich travel to Hong Kong for a theological educators conferenc
June 15-22 - Phil will be teaching at two sites in Egypt
June Sheryl will be going to Florida

Thanks for being part of the ICM Team!

Phil

Honors

As I write this our ICM Executive Director Sheryl Giesbrecht is in Kenya leading a team from the US and attending the Kenya Graduation.  We in ICM are blessed to have her leading the US operations of ICM.  We are not the only ones who recognize her worth and contribution to ICM and the Kingdom of God.  On May 21st she will be honored in Bakersfield at a High Tea.  If you are available why not join us as we celebrate her achievements and faithfulness!  http://www.gardenpathways.org/District/1678-High-Tea.html