Wrap up of November

Hello Everyone, 

These past few weeks have been crazy busy for Carli and I as we are spending most nights sharing with small groups about what the Lord is doing in Budrio. Last week was such a great encouragement for us as we shared Thanksgiving with several friends in Houston. This picture is an example of how our core group is reaching out to our friends from Budrio for Thanksgiving. Even though Italians don't celebrate this holiday it was great to see our people living out Gospel community with folks and talking about our Thanksgiving tradition. 

We want to encourage all of you that keep up with us to continue praying for the Lord to open doors with partnerships with individuals and churches throughout the States as we are at our half way point here before we head back. Carli and I both have been reminded daily that our trust is in God who promises to provide all that we need. 

We want to thank again all of you who are praying for us during this time and we hope to be able to see you all at some point before the end of the year. We pray that as we get into Advent season that we remember truly what the coming of Christ means for us and the reconciliation that He brings every Christmas. 

What is the next step with Immigration?

We have seen over the past several months a shift in the demographics of western nations. Much of this shift is due to mass migration from people who have had their homes destroyed by war, famine etc. Many of these refugee's ways of life have come to a complete stop as a result of the tumult throughout the world, but mainly in Islamic countries. Due to militant Islamic groups such as ISIS and Al Qaeda, millions of Muslims are fleeing their homes and trying to find a better and peaceful life in places such as Europe and North America.

Germany, the largest economy in Europe is pledging to bring in more than a million syrian refugees while most European states will be taking in some 1-2 million collectively. As of last week the majority of American governors have blocked the recent request by the Obama Administration to bring in a proposed 10,000 Syrian refugees into Asylum here in the United States. Despite the efforts that have been made to enforce back-ground checks with these individuals, a good number of Americans and other mainstream media outlets are calling for a complete halt on accepting any refugees. This opinion is based on ideas that some of these Syrians could be sleeping cells for terrorism and create a bigger threat to the security of our nation.

I understand these concerns especially in the wake of what just happened in Paris, however we as Christians must not rush into this matter with decisions made without first thinking about the implications of the Gospel. Yes, I believe that we as Christ-followers should first think, reflect and pray about what Christ would want and not be overly zealous for our political and idealoglical persuasions. If I can, I'd like to give you some statistics of about Christianity to shed light on the so called problems we are facing. Also, when I say an (unreached) country I mean a country with less than 2% percent evangelical.

1. Christians make up 33% of the worlds population, but receive 53% of the world's annual income and spend 98% on themselves. (Barrett and Johnson 2001,656)

2. Of foreign mission funding: 87% goes for work among those already Christian. 12% for work among already evangelized, but Non-Christian. 1% for work among the unevangelized and unreached people. (Baxter 2007, 12)

3. 90% of foreign missionaries work among already reached people groups. 10% work among unreached people groups. (Winter and Koch, 543)

4. American Christians spend 95% of offerings on home-based ministry, 4.5% on cross-cultural efforts in already reached people groups, and .5% to reach the unreached. (The Traveling Team)

Now, these migrants are coming from countries who have war torn zones brought about by radical Islam. These people are now migrating to historically Christian Europe and now North America. Now my question is this. Do you think that this vast migration is only a secret plan by ISIS to take over the world? Or do you think that the God of the Universe is bringing His people from around the globe to areas where they can hear the message of the Gospel of Christ? If we will not take advantage of this amazing gift to share  the Gospel to the unreached among the nations, then Christ will bring them to our shores. Will we take advantage of this gift or continue to use excuses of terrorism to not give our lives to the unreached?

Remember Christ says in Matthew, "In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world." Matthew 16:33

Why Italy?

Ciao a tutti, 

I wanted to give you all this Reformation Day a glimpse into why Carli and I have a heart for the people of Italy. As many of you know today we celebrate Reformation day. It was this day that Martin Luther wrote to the Archbishop of Mainz protesting against the sales of indulgences. The letter that he sent the Archbishop later became known as The 95 Theses that changed the world. If you study the history of this day, you will find that Luther did not want to confront the church, but wanted to respond to doctrinal false church practices. 

Luther's response was intended for the work of Johann Tetzel, a dominican friar who was sent to Germany to raise money for the building of the present St. Peter's Basilica in Rome. Johann was known for saying, "As soon as the coin in the coffer rings, the soul from purgatory springs."

Now, many of us who were born into Protestant churches here in North America sometimes don't realize the affect that the Reformation had on the church. We grew up experiencing some of the most precious doctrines that had been covered up for more than a millennium. This present day in Italy, many people are without the doctrines that we hold so dear. Their conception of grace, faith and sanctification are nothing like the Bible defines them. 

Please pray for the Italian people and their hearts. Pray that the Lord opens up a beam of light as it happened 500 years ago. There is a true need that the Italian hear the true Gospel of Chris according to the Scriptures alone. We invite those of you who support and pray for us to take a minute this Reformation day and pray for another Reformation Day, one that doesn't just hit the Germanic countries but, that goes to the bottom of Sicily. 

Here is a link to show you some of what God is doing. 

https://vimeo.com/124201843

We love you all!

Thoughts for October

Hello all,

This afternoon I was reading Psalm 145 that spoke to my heart and I thought I'd share some thoughts about it.

"The Lord is gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love. The Lord is good to all, and His mercy is over all that He has made...The eyes of all look to you and you give them their food in due season, you open your hand: you satisfy the desire of every living thing." (Psalm 145:8,9,15,16)

This chapter really convinced me of the gracious steadfastness of the Lord that He puts forth day to day on mankind. I do not deserve this crazy amount of grace despite my most doubtful days. We always try to preach the fact that God is gracious and merciful but when the realities of life hit us or we experience days which don't go our way, our hearts say differently. We might not overtly say that God's not there but our responses to those problems are usually full of doubt and lack of faith.

Charles Spurgeon wrote concerning this Psalm, " Even those who refuse his grace yet share in long suffering. When men do not repent, but, on the contrary, go from bad to worse, averse to let his wrath flame forth against them. Greatly patient and anxious that the sinner may live, he "lets the lifted thunder drop", and still bears. "Love suffereth long and is kind", and God is love. And of great mercy. This is his attitude towards the guilty. When men at last repent, find pardon awaiting them. Great is their sin, and great is God's mercy, need great help, and they have it though they deserve it not; for he is good to the greatly guilty." (The treasury of David)

Now, Spurgeon speaks to the patience God has on the lost and the unrepentant. Can we just imagine for a second the love that God has for us His children? The next time we have a bad day and our actions speak to our lack of faith in God's favor and graciousness on us, we should take a close look at this Psalm.

We love you all very much,

Justin and Carli

The glory of God in the midst of fund raising

Hi Everyone,

We have now been in Houston for 4 weeks. During this time, we have learned a lot, whether it be in our marriage, networking with others, fund raising and church ministry. We are starting to understand that our timing in life may not always be what God allows. We came to Houston with a fixed idea you could say, to raise funds for Impatto Budrio over the next 6 months. We can say that tentatively and we hope for that time frame, however we must not think that if we stay longer that something is wrong. The Lord will bring the increase to our needs and will see to it that everything is met.

 I was reading this morning from the book of Romans where Paul is closing his letter to the church in Rome. He writes in chapter 15, "For I will not venture to speak of anything except what Christ has accomplished through me to bring the Gentiles to obedience-by word or deed..." (Romans 15:18) Again, I'm astonished at how many times the apostle reiterated the reason why he could not boast in anything other than was Christ accomplished in and through him. I have found this incredibly encouraging as we invite brothers and sisters to participate in this vision and mission for Italy. No matter the time it takes to get back in Italy, I'm called to make much of how Christ is bringing about that good work until it's completion.

I wonder sometimes if this is part of the reason why God may not allow us to leave or come when we project times but that we allow His perfect work through His spirit to finish what we cannot. I'd encourage those of you who read our blog to think about that with what you have planned in your life. Are those plans changeable? Do you hold things with open arms? My prayer for Carli and I this week is that we rely on Jesus and venture to speak of nothing other than what He has done through and in our lives and put our trust in His timing.

What does faith look like?

George Mueller was a native German born in 1805 and lived until 1898 dying at the age of 92. In 1834 he founded the Scripture Knowledge Institute for Home and Abroad. He was known for his immense orphan ministry. Over the period of his life, his 5 orphan homes took care of more than 10,000 children whose parents had died. At the same time, he preached an average of 3 sermons a week until he was 70 years of age. At 70 he fulfilled his life long dream to become a missionary. He traveled to 42 countries speaking on an average of at least once a day until he was 87. Out of all the money he raised, he never ask anybody directly but prayed that the Lord would provide for all of the orphans and ministries that he looked over. George died at the age of 92 years old the morning after he had led a prayer meeting. His life was a life that was given to the Gospel and he looked to God to provide all of his needs.

This past week has been trying and difficult to say the least. Carli and I have been convicted about our lack of faith in God's provision for our lives. Instead of taking each day as a blessing from God and relying on Him to take care of all of our needs both spiritual and physical, I tend to stress and worry that I may not be doing enough to make things happen. I want to do more to help God's plan come to pass so my plans come to pass. What I need to be doing is praying more like George and be still and know that He is God. (Psalm 46:10) It's been helpful for Carli and I to look to others' lives who through faith, trusted God for His provision. George Mueller is one of those people.

All of those accomplishments happened not because George had the ability to do all of that from his own energy, but the energy and finances came because He trusted a God that was bigger than him and was able to provide all that he needed.

In Houston

Hello Everyone,

We have just recently arrived in the city of Houston and have already been blown away by the hospitality of the brothers and sisters in Christ out here. We are in the process of looking for some jobs and a more permanent place to stay for the remainder of our time here.

This morning we went to Sojourn Heights for our first Sunday. This church will be helping both Carli and I in our assessment as missionaries and also our training over the next few months. Please pray that we have clarity as we settle down here and that the Lord brings folks into our path who can be a part of the ministry with Impatto Budrio (our church) in Italy.

Each week we will continue to update this blog so that you all have an idea of what the Lord is doing with our lives in this process so that you know how to pray for us in this journey. The sermon from this morning was very encouraging and eye opening on this path that we find ourselves on. Pastor Brandon spoke from Matthew 28:16-20. Something that is interesting about this passage is the fact that when the disciples went up to meet Jesus many of them worshiped him, however some doubted. The point of the sermon was the idea that even though we can be close to Jesus in our lives and in our daily struggles, we can also doubt His ability to show Himself sufficient over our lives. Doubt doesn't mean that we are always far from God. It just shows our inability to trust Him and His character by ourselves without His spirit helping us and bearing witness to the truth.

That is where we find ourselves in Houston. We are joyful that we have this opportunity to worship Jesus and be close to brothers and sisters of the faith for the next months. At the same time, not having all of the future figured out can make us doubt the Lord's ability to handle every situation as He sees fit. This is something that we need to give to Him as His children.

The promise of his authority in the next few verses, 18-20 make it quite clear to us that everything in life, no matter how bad it can get, Jesus has everything in control. Christ tells His disciples, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me." This should give us a peace and comfort to live our lives for the Gospel and not look back. The confidence of that verse gives me the hope that even though I don't have everything figured out, Jesus does and He will have His good work in our lives. We just have to let Him lead.