We have had several questions about the financial aspects of this mission opportunity. Because we are focused on the DTS (Discipleship Training School) portion of our ministry right now I will let you in on the secret of exactly what we need an what it's for.
$410
Passports (Already purchased)
$4000
DTS (Mark and Kim's Schooling, includes lodging and food)
$400
Extra cost of feeding the kids (Apparently you have to do that daily!)
$1900
Plane Tickets, Round Trip (We have to have round trip tickets so that they'll let us into
the country on the visa that we'll be getting)
$1000
Extra Money for spending/ "just in case" fund
After taking into consideration the pay checks that Kim will still receive and the items that we have already sold, we are about $3000 away from being "fully funded." We know that God has called us to this mission at this time and that He will provide (even if it has to fall from the sky!)
Tuesday, June 29, 2010
Monday, June 28, 2010
What does God's Voice Sound Like?
In the fall of 2009 Mark began taking a “Spiritual Gifts” class on Sunday mornings with our church. He went through the study that outlined all the spiritual gifts and how each one works with the others. At the end of the study the participants are asked to fill out a questionnaire to determine where God may have gifted them. They are also asked to employ other close friends and family to fill out the same form to determine what gifts they exhibit in everyday life. Mark pined over the evaluation, and even took it more than once, just to see if anything had changed. He contacted his mentor, who was the teacher of the class, to discuss the outcomes of the evaluation as well as look over the surveys that friends and family completed. He began to fervently pray about what was to come next for him. All in all, he basically got weird on me!
A couple of weeks later I was at work, reading McManus’ book ‘The Barbarian Way’ and something struck my heart. I don’t know if it was residual from the chapter that we were on in the small group study of Chan’s ‘Crazy Love,’ or what I was reading that second, but I just couldn’t shake the word missions.
I immediately put the book down and went on search for Mark. (We were working at the same call center) I just stood there dumbfounded until he finished the call. Then I asked “Really, MISSIONS???” He chuckled and tried to hold back tears. And that’s where it all started.
We started to pray that if it was really missions, Where? When? How? Mark said that Panama (where he had spent a good deal of his youth) was heavy on his heart. But he wasn’t sure if it was because that’s ‘home’ or because it’s God. So we asked God to be clearer.
December 14 Mark opened our daily devotional bible to do his quiet time. He was greeted with the title “Take Courage From Him.” As you read on the devotion tells the story of St. Patrick. You see, contrary to popular belief, St. Patrick isn’t Irish. He’s English. He was kidnapped by pirates when he was sixteen and taken to Ireland. After six years of being a slave he escaped back to England. But God had already begun a work in his heart. Because in about 400 A.D God called him back to Ireland to preach the gospel.
For us, this was a confirmation that God was calling us to Panama. First....St. Patrick's Day isn’t in December!!! WHY in the world would our devo for that day tell THAT story? A story about a boy who spent 6 years of his life in a foreign country....just to be called back to minister there again? Yeah....but I needed more. After having bad experiences with jumping too quickly before, I prayed that God would show us again that Panama was where He desired us to be.
Christmas time came, and every year our kids get the same thing: An ornament, a movie, and stocking stuffers. This year we became the proud owners of VeggieTales Story of St. Nicholas. I thought it would be great to show the kids that even Santa gives because he wants to show the world Jesus. (Considering we don’t actually ‘do’ Santa.) We popped it in one night and before the movie started there was a commercial for Samaritan’s Purse Operation Christmas Child (which you can read more about here.) In the commercial the French peas were packing a shoebox full of stuff to send off to another country for a child for Christmas. (Samaritan's Purse Ministry is a way for us to tangibly show God’s love as well as send the message of the gospel.) Guess where they were sending this shoe box???? Any guesses….YUP! Panama! Out of the 100 countries that they are involved in….PANAMA!!!!!
The next Sunday we were reading a passage and only 1 word stood out to me. Go! It was that GO exclamation point that just “flew all over me.” We knew that God was not only calling us to Go! but that He was indeed calling us to Panama. But with who? How does one get involved in foreign missions anyway? Again we prayed. While Mark was living in Panama he was involved in “King’s Kids.” A drama ministry of YWAM (Youth With A Mission). So we looked into what it would take for us to join up with YWAM. We learned that to join as YWAM staff we would first need to complete a Discipleship Training School (DTS). We looked at YWAM’s webpage and immediately I was struck with this:
“The Discipleship Training School (DTS) is designed to help you understand God more deeply, live more like Jesus and identify your unique gifts and purpose to use in missions. DTS is an intensive, residential training course which begins with an 11 or 12 week classroom phase, followed by an 8-12 week outreach. DTS emphasizes cross-cultural exposure and global awareness, preparing students to answer the call to "Go!”
There it was again. That GO exclamation point. God was clear. We were to Go! We were to go to Panama. And we were to go with YWAM.
We knew then that we were to Go! We were to go to Panama. And we were to go with YWAM.
A couple of weeks later I was at work, reading McManus’ book ‘The Barbarian Way’ and something struck my heart. I don’t know if it was residual from the chapter that we were on in the small group study of Chan’s ‘Crazy Love,’ or what I was reading that second, but I just couldn’t shake the word missions.
I immediately put the book down and went on search for Mark. (We were working at the same call center) I just stood there dumbfounded until he finished the call. Then I asked “Really, MISSIONS???” He chuckled and tried to hold back tears. And that’s where it all started.
We started to pray that if it was really missions, Where? When? How? Mark said that Panama (where he had spent a good deal of his youth) was heavy on his heart. But he wasn’t sure if it was because that’s ‘home’ or because it’s God. So we asked God to be clearer.
December 14 Mark opened our daily devotional bible to do his quiet time. He was greeted with the title “Take Courage From Him.” As you read on the devotion tells the story of St. Patrick. You see, contrary to popular belief, St. Patrick isn’t Irish. He’s English. He was kidnapped by pirates when he was sixteen and taken to Ireland. After six years of being a slave he escaped back to England. But God had already begun a work in his heart. Because in about 400 A.D God called him back to Ireland to preach the gospel.
For us, this was a confirmation that God was calling us to Panama. First....St. Patrick's Day isn’t in December!!! WHY in the world would our devo for that day tell THAT story? A story about a boy who spent 6 years of his life in a foreign country....just to be called back to minister there again? Yeah....but I needed more. After having bad experiences with jumping too quickly before, I prayed that God would show us again that Panama was where He desired us to be.
Christmas time came, and every year our kids get the same thing: An ornament, a movie, and stocking stuffers. This year we became the proud owners of VeggieTales Story of St. Nicholas. I thought it would be great to show the kids that even Santa gives because he wants to show the world Jesus. (Considering we don’t actually ‘do’ Santa.) We popped it in one night and before the movie started there was a commercial for Samaritan’s Purse Operation Christmas Child (which you can read more about here.) In the commercial the French peas were packing a shoebox full of stuff to send off to another country for a child for Christmas. (Samaritan's Purse Ministry is a way for us to tangibly show God’s love as well as send the message of the gospel.) Guess where they were sending this shoe box???? Any guesses….YUP! Panama! Out of the 100 countries that they are involved in….PANAMA!!!!!
The next Sunday we were reading a passage and only 1 word stood out to me. Go! It was that GO exclamation point that just “flew all over me.” We knew that God was not only calling us to Go! but that He was indeed calling us to Panama. But with who? How does one get involved in foreign missions anyway? Again we prayed. While Mark was living in Panama he was involved in “King’s Kids.” A drama ministry of YWAM (Youth With A Mission). So we looked into what it would take for us to join up with YWAM. We learned that to join as YWAM staff we would first need to complete a Discipleship Training School (DTS). We looked at YWAM’s webpage and immediately I was struck with this:
“The Discipleship Training School (DTS) is designed to help you understand God more deeply, live more like Jesus and identify your unique gifts and purpose to use in missions. DTS is an intensive, residential training course which begins with an 11 or 12 week classroom phase, followed by an 8-12 week outreach. DTS emphasizes cross-cultural exposure and global awareness, preparing students to answer the call to "Go!”
There it was again. That GO exclamation point. God was clear. We were to Go! We were to go to Panama. And we were to go with YWAM.
We knew then that we were to Go! We were to go to Panama. And we were to go with YWAM.
Friday, June 25, 2010
Partner in Prayer
Dear Friends and Family,
We are writing today to share some exciting news with you. And before you get too excited…NO…we are NOT expanding our family!! We are inviting you to join us in prayer as we answer the call of God for us to serve Him with Youth With A Mission (YWAM) Panama. Yes, we know this is a drastic step! Mark began to feel called to full time ministry in October of last year. We have been praying very hard about what this call on our lives means and how we are to go about fulfilling it. God placed Panama on Mark’s heart and again we began to pray. God has revealed in some interesting ways that this is the path that he has for our family at this time.
Youth With A Mission is an international volunteer movement of Christians from many backgrounds, cultures and Christian traditions, dedicated to serving Jesus throughout the world. YWAM is involved in many ministries touching the lives of millions of people in over 150 countries. Their purpose is simply to know God and to make Him known. The doors in Panama have recently been more open than before to the gospel. YWAM Panama is working in the schools, with orphans, with the disabled, through children’s ministries such as Kings Kids, and reaching out to indigenous tribes.
To qualify to be on staff with YWAM you must first complete a Discipleship Training School. The Discipleship Training School (DTS) is designed to help its students understand God more deeply, live more like Jesus and identify their unique gifts and purpose to use in missions. DTS is an intensive, residential training course which begins with an 11 or 12 week classroom phase, followed by an 8-12 week outreach. DTS emphasizes cross-cultural exposure and global awareness, preparing students to answer the call to "Go into all the world and make disciples of all nations" Matthew 28:19. This is our first step. Mark and I (and the children) have been accepted to spend 5 months in Central America attending the DTS offered through YWAM Panama. We will board a plane in January and make our way to Panama for training. Where God will lead us from there, we are unsure.
We are excited and terrified. We know that God is able to do AMAZING things through a willing vessel and we want His spirit to flow through us. You can read more about YWAM Panama and the ministries that it’s involved in at www.ywampanama.org.
Thank you in advance for your prayers! We know that “the Lord hears the prayers of the righteous.” (Prov. 15:29)
In HIM,
Mark, Kim, Camber, and Cooper Thomas
We are writing today to share some exciting news with you. And before you get too excited…NO…we are NOT expanding our family!! We are inviting you to join us in prayer as we answer the call of God for us to serve Him with Youth With A Mission (YWAM) Panama. Yes, we know this is a drastic step! Mark began to feel called to full time ministry in October of last year. We have been praying very hard about what this call on our lives means and how we are to go about fulfilling it. God placed Panama on Mark’s heart and again we began to pray. God has revealed in some interesting ways that this is the path that he has for our family at this time.
Youth With A Mission is an international volunteer movement of Christians from many backgrounds, cultures and Christian traditions, dedicated to serving Jesus throughout the world. YWAM is involved in many ministries touching the lives of millions of people in over 150 countries. Their purpose is simply to know God and to make Him known. The doors in Panama have recently been more open than before to the gospel. YWAM Panama is working in the schools, with orphans, with the disabled, through children’s ministries such as Kings Kids, and reaching out to indigenous tribes.
To qualify to be on staff with YWAM you must first complete a Discipleship Training School. The Discipleship Training School (DTS) is designed to help its students understand God more deeply, live more like Jesus and identify their unique gifts and purpose to use in missions. DTS is an intensive, residential training course which begins with an 11 or 12 week classroom phase, followed by an 8-12 week outreach. DTS emphasizes cross-cultural exposure and global awareness, preparing students to answer the call to "Go into all the world and make disciples of all nations" Matthew 28:19. This is our first step. Mark and I (and the children) have been accepted to spend 5 months in Central America attending the DTS offered through YWAM Panama. We will board a plane in January and make our way to Panama for training. Where God will lead us from there, we are unsure.
We are excited and terrified. We know that God is able to do AMAZING things through a willing vessel and we want His spirit to flow through us. You can read more about YWAM Panama and the ministries that it’s involved in at www.ywampanama.org.
Thank you in advance for your prayers! We know that “the Lord hears the prayers of the righteous.” (Prov. 15:29)
In HIM,
Mark, Kim, Camber, and Cooper Thomas
Wednesday, June 23, 2010
All About Mark
I grew up in church and was saved when I was 4 while in the car driving home from church with mom and dad. I was 12 or 13 before mom and dad felt I was ready to be baptized. It was around that time that I started in the youth group and really began to understand what it meant to be a Christian. Through Godly friends and leadership at our church I learned a lot over the next number of years, it truly was a neat group of young people we where thirsty and loved to study and learn.
My growth continued though my high school years even after I moved back to the states, a strong foundation had been built. In my HS years I was given the opportunity to play in the praise band and orchestra at church which helped me understand more about true worship. After high school I had a number of lukewarm years, lots of excuses of why not to goto church or spend time with God, from time to time I’d come back to him but it always felt forced, perhaps it was out of guilt. I knew from what heights I’d fallen.
It pains me to think about the wasted time but even though that God provided and showed himself to our young family frequently. A few years ago we moved to Milton. My wife and I had wanted to get out of where we were (looking back both spiritually and the city itself), it always felt like a dead end. We eventually found a church that “fit” us and growth began once again. We got plugged in and we began to see the great things God was doing.
I’m excited that God is allowing me to be part of his awesome plan. Now he’s had me go full circle, I’m mentoring/discipleing a young man who’s a new believer, I can only pray that I have even a little bit of the impact that some of those early leaders I had in my life. This is what God has made me for, to help grow others. God has put Panama on our hearts, and seemingly opened the door for us to “GO” little things that many people would consider “coincidence” can’t fall under that label, where this journey is leading I don’t know but I can’t wait to see how God allows me to be used (as if he needed me for any of this) which is still the most amazing thing.
My growth continued though my high school years even after I moved back to the states, a strong foundation had been built. In my HS years I was given the opportunity to play in the praise band and orchestra at church which helped me understand more about true worship. After high school I had a number of lukewarm years, lots of excuses of why not to goto church or spend time with God, from time to time I’d come back to him but it always felt forced, perhaps it was out of guilt. I knew from what heights I’d fallen.
It pains me to think about the wasted time but even though that God provided and showed himself to our young family frequently. A few years ago we moved to Milton. My wife and I had wanted to get out of where we were (looking back both spiritually and the city itself), it always felt like a dead end. We eventually found a church that “fit” us and growth began once again. We got plugged in and we began to see the great things God was doing.
I’m excited that God is allowing me to be part of his awesome plan. Now he’s had me go full circle, I’m mentoring/discipleing a young man who’s a new believer, I can only pray that I have even a little bit of the impact that some of those early leaders I had in my life. This is what God has made me for, to help grow others. God has put Panama on our hearts, and seemingly opened the door for us to “GO” little things that many people would consider “coincidence” can’t fall under that label, where this journey is leading I don’t know but I can’t wait to see how God allows me to be used (as if he needed me for any of this) which is still the most amazing thing.
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