We confidently say this regardless of challenging news from our family in Spain – see below.
To us, mere mortals, it might feel as if the sky is falling when we open a newspaper or watch the news. But we know the One who is holding the sky and all of creation in place. So, as Christians, we can confidently say that the sky is not falling at all.
Science seems to be failing us because it could not prevent, contain or cure the unmentionable threat which we feel creeping closer every day (not to mention the threat we are creating by bowing to the god of fear.) Our money seems to be failing us. Governments of the world look helpless. The captains of industry are scrambling to reach safe havens because sound business principles and fear compel them to.
But we know that the God we serve is not bound by science, stock markets or business principles. At the Christ Center we are emboldened when we remind ourselves of the milestones along the path of this ministry:
- In 2008 (yes that year) God provided almost twice the money we asked to build the Grand Junction ministry center
- God provided the funds miraculously in response to the prayers of 5 women
- The source of the money was not at all what any of us expected. It came in large part from the gas and oil industry via the generosity of people we had never met before and whom we never asked to give. And it also came in the form of hundreds of small donations, the smallest of which was two wrinkled one-dollar notes – hand delivered to the door by a poor lady.
- We opened the Four Winds in 2009 at the height of a recession that should have doomed us. It did not and we are still here 11 years later. Not only are we still here, God created a sister coffeeshop in Spain, increasing the number of students this ministry serves from 12,000 to 52,000
- In Spain God moved powerfully just last year. We set a date to open the Cuatro Vientos Café y Té in October 2019, but in September we were still $48,000 short. During one single month before the target date God provided $50,000 and we opened
- Start-up capital is still coming in (after the fact) because a small number of people are responding to the call to keep that ministry going and God has been growing the new outreach. See below
- And then there are the many stories of the people God sent to make this ministry possible. They are the most unlikely and even unbelievable stories, but they happened. Without even one of these indispensable people in the past and the present, there would not have been, and could not be a Christ Center ministry
- There is no space in this letter to recount the stories of the hundreds, no thousands of students impacted by the “spiritual well” here in Grand Junction. And we are beginning to hear the same stories in Málaga
The Christ Center is all about our God who is not limited by human wisdom and skills, and who is not bound by disease or business principles, who will make His Kingdom flourish even when earthly kingdoms stumble.
Jesus himself gave this rather un-businesslike advice: “Don’t hoard treasure down here where it gets eaten by moths and corroded by rust or – worse! – stolen by burglars. Stockpile treasure in heaven, where it’s safe from moth and rust and burglars [disease and the stock market]. It’s obvious, isn’t it? The place where your treasure is, is the place you will most want to be, and end up being.” Matthew 6:19-21 The Message
Our “Business Plan” for 2020 include:
1. Activating a talented leadership team: Board Members are: John Jessup (Board Chair), Tom Motz (President), Adrian DeLange (Secretary), Gerda Marais (Treasurer), Terry Kraft, Mary Harmeling, Seth Rickard, Andrew Marais and in Spain: Dr. Nathanael Frugoni, and Amy Gibson. Director in Grand Junction: Will Kuhlman. Director in Spain: Seth Rickard
2. Implementing a plan to add $80,000 to the $425,000 in annual revenue which God provided to the ministry last year. We are praying for an increase of 19%. This will build the ministry in the following ways:
- Strengthening the general operating account and reserves to take the ministry to new heights: serving 52,000 students by pointing them to Jesus and discipling them to spiritual maturity – in partnership with churches, campus ministers and others
- Growing the Cuatro Vientos start-up fund
- Getting the support of Seth Rickard, who works extremely hard as a missionary/businessman in Málaga, to 100% ($260 per month needed)
- Adding $10,000 to Will Kuhlman’s compensation which is still at the 2015 level and has not kept pace with the ever-growing scope of the Grand Junction position
- Completing the support for the Marais’ to go serve in Spain. Their support is currently at 34.5%
3. Seeking partners who will pray with us and sacrifice financially with us to propel this ministry focused on our young people, to the next level.
It seems inevitable that there will be much suffering all around us in the near future. May God give us the strength to show mercy and grace to those (our family, neighbors and enemies) who will be suffering. May we not shut them out in the scramble to “save” ourselves.
May we also not falter when it comes to “being Jesus” to people who will need “watering holes” where they can quench their thirst for meaning and redemption which is found in Christ.
And, as we brace for what lies ahead, may we look forward to a time in the future when we will be telling the story of what God did in that year 2020.
Thank you for your prayer and support.
News from our Spanish family: Just this morning we made the painful decision to close Cuatro Vientos in Málaga for health and safety reasons. The Spanish Government just declared a “State of Alarm,” for only the second time in the last 42 years. This means school closings/ restrictions on movement of people, etc. There are eight Covid 19 cases in the hospital across the street from Cuatro Vientos and one medical student has contracted the virus.
Please pray for Seth and our baristas: Penelope (one child and elderly parents), Heidis (one child), Lucia (two children) and Aisha. The first three will be able to go on unemployment and Aisha still lives with her parents. This will be tough for all of them. Pray also for the church in that city. And for the people of that city and country.
We will reopen the shop as soon as it is safe to do so.
