“The Earth Is flat”

“If humans were meant to fly, they’d have wings”

“It is impossible to run a mile in under four minutes”

These are just a few “truths” people believed through the ages. Sometimes it seems humanity loves to point out its limitations and revel in what cannot be done. I’m sure you’re not like that, right? You’re still sharing the gospel and coming alongside people, yes?

“Well, we’d like to, Tony and Kim, but with social distancing we’re supposed to stay away from people? COVID-19 prevents us from discipling.”

Another “truth” of our times. And it is totally untrue. Now, please understand, we in no way are minimizing nor denying the seriousness of the COVID-19 pandemic and its profound health hazard to our citizens. But do you believe that a virus can stop God from reaching people? Do you believe adverse circumstances can stop you from discipling to others?

No. On both counts.

What if we told you that we are taking away your smartphones, your computers, your car, your electricity, your indoor plumbing… everything you count on day in and day out and then told you to go share the Gospel, could you do it? Yes. Easily? No. 

The 12 Apostles were a dozen dudes in sandals with no means to support themselves who went wherever they were needed to fulfill the Great Commission they were given by Jesus himself. Jesus told them to go and make disciples. It is because of their commitment and obedience that you and I are followers of Christ today. They encountered hardships far more severe than we’ll ever know and they got the job done… they just had to get creative and be resourceful.

Think of how our lives look now with social distancing. People are attending church services in their homes because technology allows online platforms including Facebook and YouTube to carry the message directly to people. Could you share your church with people in their homes? You bet. Could you call people on the phone or text them to check in on them and share the love of Christ, to be Christ in a time of great fear and anxiety? You bet. 

Can you connect with people you know on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and other social media platforms to offer an encouraging word or something to brighten their day? Absolutely. 

Sharing the Gospel is not about being in front of people and giving them “the sales pitch”. 

Sometimes sharing the Gospel is living the Gospel and being that person that comes alongside people from a social distance. Tony and I are blessed because we have each other but can you imagine how alone and maybe scared someone is who lives alone and has no one to be with? Can you imagine how powerful a testimony it is when you become the Gospel for someone else?

Don’t think of COVID as a limitation but an opportunity God has given us to be even more bold in being His hands and feet, to be like Christ as He Himself came to Earth to teach us in person? We have so many tools literally in our hands to reach out to people, to connect with people. Think of the people you can reach out to who may need an encouraging word right now. Or and encouraging Word.

We are continuing to reach out to people who we are used to seeing face to face in a regular meeting place. You may ask how we can continue a prison ministry when we’re all in “lockdown” during a pandemic. That’s easy to answer. We don’t have a prison ministry. The Bible calls us to “free the captives” but not necessarily physical captives. We are to set free spiritual captives. 

Earlier we referenced the 12 and the Great Commission. The Great Commission didn’t just apply to them, it applies to all who follow Christ. We are expanding our ministry inside and outside prison walls and our ministry focus IS on fulfilling our part of the Great Commission and the mission God has given to us all… to be disciples who make disciples who make disciples. We are part of the Disciple-Making Movement, the DMM, locally and globally.

Do you know who had a prison ministry? Paul. Except Paul was IN prison. How can you create disciples and minister to people? He wrote letters. Lots of letters. Paul used his imprisonment as an opportunity to connect, to guide, to instruct, to continue to lead people while not being able to be in front of them personally. Talk about social distancing! We and you can still connect with people whether it’s writing physical letters or emails, no matter where people are located or their current level of “freedom” is. 

We don’t look at the pandemic as an obstacle or as a discouragement. We prefer to look upon this time as one of reset and rest. God has opened doors for us to take a closer look at how we are reaching the world for Christ, and we are prayerfully stepping through those doors God provides in faith and obedience.

As our ministry grows, we know that God wants to stretch us beyond what we think is possible. We know that we worship a God that is so much bigger than we are. He sees things we cannot. He knows what we do not. 

After praying and seeking God’s direction and the leading of His Holy Spirit, God is leading our ministry even deeper into the virtual world, and we believe this is only the tip of the iceberg of things to come. While we cannot currently go inside prison walls due to COVID-19 restrictions, that doesn’t mean we can’t continue to extend our reach beyond our “backyard”. We believe God is leading us to extend our mission and our vision in a way that stretches us and His work through us. 

We have been asking God for His direction on how we are meant to serve, how our ministry partners will need to be involved in our “extension” as well as those who need to be involved more in a “movement” to free the captives, no matter where those captives may be. What we have done is to invest in tools that give us the ability to do live streaming on YouTube and Facebook and holding 3Thirds Discipleship Study Groups on platforms such as Zoom to broaden our reach. Imagine how deep and wide this “movement” can go… other prisons, halfway houses, and transitional houses, not to mention the homes of the loved ones who are incarcerated and other people’s homes in general, WHOEVER GOD WANTS to hear and touch through our ministry. 

Tony and I are part of a disciple-making movement that started with only two men four and a half years ago. Today, there are 268 groups in this city alone and over 2 million groups around the world. That’s exciting!! Again, we are blessed to have resources that allow us to still gather with people no matter where they are or how far away they are physically from us!

We also set up a mobile hotspot device inside one of the facilities we were going into on a weekly basis, so the men who are incarcerated can continue to participate in our 3Thirds Discipleship Group Study every Saturday night from 5pm to 7pm Eastern and we invite you to join us as well so you can learn more about the movement, the 3 Crucial Habits every Christian needs to know to grow spiritually, and the #1 fruit-bearing tool in the world multiplying God’s Kingdom. If you SUBSCRIBE to our channel on YouTube and LIKE our page on Facebook, you can get notifications to join us when we go LIVE. 

The first week we held our Saturday night live stream that aired inside one of the halfway houses we minister to, we had 27 men attend online with 9 new 3Thirds Discipleship Groups that started. These are exciting numbers considering that the state released almost a third of those men inside the facility into society due to the pandemic crisis. This raises a whole new level of concern for the men we are ministering to; men leaving the prison system prematurely who are not ready or fully equipped spiritually to handle it. 

We are fasting and seeking God’s will for this next season of our ministry as we are asking God to provide a place where we can help ex-offenders continue growing spiritually as they are seeking God’s direction for their lives. We will be sharing more on that over the next several months in our e-Newsletter. If you are reading this article and not receiving our e-Newsletter, you can sign up here. 

We have been blessed to be allowed to train up these men while they are incarcerated so they can learn the 3 Crucial Habits we teach in our 3Thirds Discipleship Study as we train men how to model and how to lead – a group.  Because we are training these men to be leaders, we have been equally blessed to stay connected with those men who have recently been released and plugging them into groups outside of incarceration. We are developing even deeper bonds with these men because of this crisis, and for that, we thank God daily for what He is doing during this pandemic.

This pandemic is also showing us HOW we can do MORE in our ministry, not only learning ways to teach online but ways to connect with the men as they are released into society, ways we never explored before such as creating online groups so men can share the struggles they are facing and encouraging one another to do what’s right in the eyes of God by helping them stay connected to Christ and to other believers outside of our reach locally. 

Another new group Tony started online is with Pastor Moore who owns a sober living house in Owensboro, Kentucky. One of the men who participated in our 3Thirds Discipleship Study while he was incarcerated, Eli, connected Tony to Pastor Moore. Each week Tony has been modeling the 3Thirds Discipleship Study via a Zoom meeting with Pastor Moore and there are 11 men from the house who participate. Soon Pastor Moore will step into that leadership role and Tony will assist him as he takes the role of Model in the M.A.W.L. process.

Teaching the 3Thirds Discipleship Study online is helping us to more clearly understand how to better communicate and deliver the information on a larger scale. Not everyone is tech-savvy – and not just ex-offenders, some of the folks in our other groups that we started online have similar challenges when it comes to technology. But we are deeply thankful every day for the resources and the technology God has given us to reach the world for Christ through our ministry efforts.

Our excitement is not limited to those incarcerated or ex-offenders, but to anyone willing to dive deep and become “disciples who make disciples who make disciples.”  If you would like to jump on one of our 3Thirds Discipleship Study calls and check it out, there are plenty of different groups to choose from or we can help you start a group.

Here’s what one of the former residents had to say about the 3Thirds Discipleship Study

I love the structure of the group training which gives me a guide to follow and a better understanding of God’s Word as I gain insight through the eyes of others in my group. ~Joshua

We meet online via Zoom several times during the week with other believers, many of whom are volunteers in our 3Thirds Discipleship Study Groups that go with us inside the facility. We have groups Monday through Thursday nights and would love for you to come check out what we are doing. You can sign up for one of those here or contact us to start a group of your own.

We are exploring and exhausting every opportunity God is putting in our path to do our part in multiplying God’s Kingdom and training men to be soldiers in God’s army and to be men of honor and integrity, as we patiently seek the Lord’s guidance as He expands our territory and our ministry grows.

PREVIEW OF COMING ATTRACTIONS

God continues to work and He has us on the move – literally. Stay tuned for a future newsletter when we’ll be able to share details about FREEDOM LAKE. Yes, we’re ending this featured article from our newsletter on a cliffhanger but, you’ll see, it’s totally worth it!