Phil Powers Lead Pastor phil-powers@forcey.org Ron E. Jones Pastor of Community ron-jones@forcey.org Lonnie Harris Pastor of Outreach lonnie-harris@forcey.org We all admit that prayer is important, but I find that we all struggle with making prayer a natural and essential part of life. Perhaps one problem is that we underestimate the power of God in response to prayer. Here is a true story from Louis Destiné, Technical Director at radio station 4VEH, Cap Haitien, Haiti: Mike Maslin Pastor of Student Ministries mike-maslin@forcey.org Jonathan Ford Minister of Worship & Arts jonathan-ford@forcey.org 2130 East Randolph Road Silver Spring, MD 20904 301-622-2200 (office) forcey-office@forcey.org CONNECT WITH US ONLINE WEBSITE www.forcey.org FACEBOOK www.facebook.com/forceyconnects TWITTER https://twitter.com/forceyconnects Zacharia, a Christian, holds a very responsible position with a factory in Port-au-Prince, for he must carry the payroll from their office to the factory. He ties it on the back of his motorcycle to transport it across the city. One day he had a payroll of $15,000, and on the way he did not notice that the sack had loosened and fallen off. When he arrived at the factory, the sack was gone! He was overwhelmed at the implications of this accident. Not knowing what to do, he rode home and threw himself by his bedside to pray. At last, when his heart was calm, he got up and went back over the route he had followed on his previous trip to the factory. And there beside the road, he found the sack, with all the money still intact! As he stood there, an old man ambled across the road. Young man, he queried, just who do you worship? What saint do you honor? Or do you have another god? I am a Christian, Zacharia replied. Jesus Christ, the Son of God, is my savior. Ah! exclaimed the old man, that is a strong one yes a very strong one. I saw that bag of money and knew it was money. Four times I tried to get up, to go get it. Four times I was paralyzed and could not move. I saw people walking right by it. They saw it too and kicked at it. But nobody stopped. Young man, your God is the strongest! Zacharia went on his way rejoicing, carrying the payroll. He told his employers what had happened and gave God all the glory. NEED PRAYER? You may fill out one of the prayer cards in the pews or go online www.forcey.org/prayer-requests Would you have done what most people do immediately retrace your route looking everywhere for the lost money? When we have a need, we are quick to come up with a plan. Maybe it s sending out resumes for a job, studying for final (Continued on page 2)
(Continued from page 1) exams, meeting with a retirement planner, starting a new ministry, contacting a lawyer or looking for a good doctor. When we do something with just our planning and hard work it will end up looking like something we did, and it may or may not work. But when it s the result of much persistent prayer, it will look like something only God could do, and He gets the glory. That is so much better. We need to pray! Now! ~ Pastor Phil Powers, Lead Pastor SOUL WINNING - EVANGELISM how blessed you will be, sowing your seed by every stream (Isa 32:20a). Soul winners should be ever alert to seize opportunities (divine appointments) provided by the Holy Spirit to sow the seed of the gospel. Often Christians, if they have a soul-conscious mindset, will be able to present the gospel to prospects that come across their path. A recent experience by a Forcey member illustrates this principle. Recently during Tuesday night visitation, the Forcey evangelism team set out on an appointment to visit a young lady, a Christian, who had filled out a Forcey Visitor s Card. Once at the apartment complex, the Forcey team called this young lady to inform her of their arrival. She came down to greet them and to lead them upstairs to her apartment. As the team entered the building, another tenant entered as well. One of the Forcey team members greeted this young woman and struck up a conversation with her. This Forcey member then asked her two teammates to go on upstairs and she would join them shortly. She then proceeded to present the gospel to this young woman in the hallway of the apartment building. As she explained the gospel to her, the Holy Spirit opened this young woman s understanding to see her need of Christ. With a thankful heart she called upon the Lord Jesus to be her personal Savior. When the Forcey member then rejoined her teammates in the topfloor apartment, she shared about this young lady s salvation. Her Forcey teammates, along with the one they were visiting, rejoiced in this good news concerning this divine appointment. ~Ralph Zimmerman, Evangelism Ministry MISSIONARY UPDATE! Here s a note from Steve and Katie Smith: Due to the abrupt change in the ground situation in the country where we were serving, we are back in the States and humbled to see how the Lord moved our hearts to return at this time. Upon our return, Steve was invited to join the staff of our home church in Florida, and Katie continues to work with our Asian ministry partners on a daily basis thanks to the miracle of technology. In addition, Katie has applied and been accepted into a Masters of Biblical Counseling program that will start in early summer. Lord willing, we will continue to support both our country-side and city-side ministries through shortterm trips to Asia during school breaks. Please pray for the believers in Asia to count it all joy (Jas 1:2) as they face both a new phase and new forms of trials from their government.
GLOBAL CONNECTIONS - SPRING MISSIONS CONFERENCE Our recent conference provided many opportunities to get to know our missionaries better to connect. Events included 11 group meetings in homes, the men s breakfast, Adult Bible Fellowship visits, worship services, potluck luncheon, and an evening with Julius Murgor. Discovering New Ways to Connect with Forcey Missionaries The Forcey Missions Team also had an opportunity to discover new ways to connect with our missionaries during a special seminar on April 7 th. Dave Shive of Frontier Ventures, facilitated a twohour seminar in which 13 Forcey missionaries were encouraged to share real world obstacles they face in their missionary service for Christ. Forcey Missions Team members were encouraged to share obstacles they face in serving the Forcey missionary family. After a full roundtable discussion by four groups of missionaries and one group of Missions Team members, various obstacles were listed by each group, and then prioritized by the larger group. Clear patterns emerged, which were discussed and clarified further. The most common obstacles Forcey missionaries face are: Limited funding Opposition to the Gospel Recruiting new staff Other obstacles included, apathy towards the Gospel, the need to develop relationships with local churches, lack of prayer support, busyness, lack of communication from supporting churches, difficulties with the foreign governments in the countries in which they serve and challenges learning the language where they serve. (Continued on page 4)
GLOBAL CONNECTIONS - SPRING MISSIONS CONFERENCE (Continued from page 3) Missionary strategies to address these obstacles were: acknowledging the obstacles so they could be addressed head on, mobilizing serious, focused prayer for our missionaries, informing Forcey of special short term needs, connecting with younger missionary candidates sooner when first expressing interest in missionary service, and relationship building with supporters. The most common obstacles faced by the Forcey Missions Team include: Too few missions team members who are able to serve on a regular basis Difficulty engaging the Forcey congregation Limited financial resources Many ministry opportunities at Forcey besides missions Aligning the missions program and future missionaries with our focus - to reach the unreached people groups, both here and abroad Difficulty remaining closely connected with Forcey missionaries, especially after their visits to our church. The group suggested that Forcey Bible Church could begin to address these obstacles by regularly communicating with our missionaries via the Forcey Focus newsletter and weekly prayer sheet, and especially informing them of happenings around the church particularly related to the pastoral leadership transition. Making missions part of Forcey s DNA would also help, as would sharing more about Forcey s missionaries and program from the pulpit on Sundays and having missionaries participate in small groups when they are in the area. Encouraging informal volunteers to help with the Forcey missions program activities would also help identify and prepare future members of the Forcey Missions Team. Around missions weekend, our Wednesday night Children s Ministry, TeamKID, celebrated our diversity with a small international night. Some of our participants are pictured in authentic Nigerian outfits. Both the missionaries and the Forcey Missions Team found the seminar to be very valuable, practical, and enjoyable. Attendees could identify the obstacles faced by our missionaries and Forcey in advancing the Gospel around the world some of which had not been thought of before. Beginning to address these obstacles will help us all make more effective global connections with each other as true partners serving Christ around the world. Comments from a couple missionaries: The time with Dave Shive was really appreciated. Rarely do I attend a conference where they actually have something that ministers to the missionary. Having a workshop on Saturday morning is a very good idea. We appreciated having that time with other missionaries and the missions team. You should keep this on the schedule for future conferences. (Continued on page 5)
WHAT IS 30 HOUR FAMINE? HOW CAN YOU GET INVOLVED? (Continued from page 4) What steps are you taking to make a connection with a Forcey missionary? Are you receiving prayer letters? Praying regularly? Sending notes? For help in taking the next steps, contact Pastor Lonnie, lonnieharris@forcey.org or Ann Hunt, ann-hunt@forcey.org. Or consider this summer opportunity: Engaging the Nations, July 25-28. This is a stay-at-home mission trip reaching local unreached people groups in Montgomery county. Cost $75. For more information or to register, contact Tammy Stoy at tstoy@globalgates.info. UPCOMING OUTREACH EVENT For 30 hours from May 25 - May 26, the Forcey Teens are going hungry to raise funds to help hungry children around the world. Volunteer. Do you love Jesus? Are you willing to invest in young people? We need volunteers to lead small groups of teens in discussion We will spend time in worship, prayer, Bible study and service as we fast together. We desire to grow closer to God and better and prayer throughout the weekend. Contact Shara Chong, sharahart@aol.com, 240-354-8134 to let us know if you are available. understand His heart for the hungry as we take action to obey Him in loving others! Pray. Ask God to bring us together and prepare our hearts for what He wants us This is an 8 th -12 th grade event BUT anyone can commit to fast with us and donate to World Vision. Teens can sign to meditate on during the weekend. Pray for each teen to draw closer to the Lord through this event. up in the Teen office.
MISSION POSSIBLE 2018 Please be in prayer for our Mission Possible teams. Mission Possible is a ministry that has sent out hundreds of students over the last 20+ years. The goal of Mission Possible is to equip, empower and embolden students to know and make known the Gospel of Jesus Christ as they serve in a existing Gospel ministry. God has put together two teams for this summer - one will be serving locally, and the other will be serving internationally. During the summer, these teams will be exposed to a variety of different settings for ministry, including children s ministry, drama ministry, inner city service, open air evangelism, service projects, and camps. The purpose of these settings is to challenge students in their personal growth in Christ as they contribute to the various ministries and practice sharing the Gospel. LOCAL TEAM (Led by Zane Dempsie & Joan Fountain) Team Members: David Annan, Miriam Berklaar, Dylan Bradley, Kim Christian, Jared Haftel, Ana Idler, and Lauren Walston Locations: DC/Baltimore Metro Region, Altoona, PA, and Ocean City Dates: June 24 - July 21 INTERNATIONAL TEAM (Led by Paul & Carmiña Adams) Team Members: Cameron Adams, Garrett Bradley, Christian Conway, Max Keen, Meredith Keen, Jonathan Kraus and Katie Mackie Locations: Albania & Greece Dates: June 15- July 12 Come to the next Mission Possible Car Wash May 12 10-1:00 FBC Parking Lot or make a donation. Checks should be made out to Forcey, include your contribution number (if you have one assigned to you), and indicate in the memo section that it is for Mission Possible.