Welcome to the GMAF Newsletter! We pray it will encourage you in your Martial Arts and Outreach for Christ.
"Say not ye, There are yet four months, and then cometh harvest? behold, I say unto you, Lift up your eyes, and look on the fields; for they are white already to harvest."
Jesus Christ
"And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins."
The Apostle Paul
" All the ways of a man are clean in his own eyes; but the Lord weigheth the spirits."
Proverbs 16:2
As large and complex as the Bible is, God has a way of getting to the point in a few words. He inspired the Apostle Paul to write in Ephesians 2:1: "And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins." The word "quickened" means "made alive." Paul was writing to people who had been dead in the past, but were now alive because of the Power of God.
Everyone in this world is either dead or alive. Paul taught that everyone is born into sin and death. Everyone is dead until something makes them alive. That something is God's Love, Mercy and Grace.
"But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us, Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved)." Ephesians 2:4-5
It's interesting that with all the knowledge and information that is flooding the world today through high-speed computers, high-tech communication devices, satellites and the Internet, the Truth about people hasn't changed an inch. People were dead in their sins 2,000 years ago and people are still dead in their sins today. While the world has learned so much, it understands so little. Great advances in knowledge and information don't change the facts about a person's spiritual position. They are dead or they are alive.
That is our message today. The Industrial Revolution didn't change the message. The Computer Age didn't change the message. The Communications Revolution didn't change the message. The Information Age didn't change the message. The world does not have the power or influence to change our Message. The Message remains the same through all time. People are dead or alive. They are dead in sins or alive in Christ.
We don't need to concern ourselves with what's going on around us. We don't have to fear the next scientist's discovery. We don't have to worry that someone will learn something that will alter the Truth. Truth is Truth. It has always been Truth and it will always be Truth. People are either dead in sins or alive in Christ. The world will run itself absolutely insane trying to disprove the Truth, but it's a waste of time. God said it, so it's True.
Comfort yourself in knowing that the Message you share is True and unchangeable. Your Message of God's Love and Grace and His Gift of Saving Faith and Eternal Life is what this old world needs. The world does need love. It needs God's Love. You have it. Share it. Make a difference in someone's life today. Most of the people you meet in an average day are dead in sin. Share with them that they can be alive in Christ.
I asked God to grant me patience.
God said, No.
Patience is a by-product of tribulations; it isn't granted, it
is earned.
I asked God to give me happiness.
God said, No.
I give you blessings. Happiness is up to you.
I asked God to spare me pain.
God said, No.
Suffering draws you apart from worldly cares and brings you closer
to me.
I asked God to make my spirit
grow.
God said, No.
You must grow on your own, but I will prune you to make you fruitful.
I asked for all things that
I might enjoy life.
God said, No.
I will give you life so that you may enjoy all things.
I ask God to help me LOVE others,
unconditional as He loves me.
God said... Ahhhh, finally you have the idea.
You'll find every newsletter at http://www.gmaf.org/gmaf_newsletters.html . These newsletters are a gold mine of information about Christianity and the Martial Arts.
Many GMAF members have told us their favorite part of the monthly newsletter is Fellowship News. It's wonderful to see Christian martial artists praying for each other across the United States and around the world. No distance is too far for Christians. The instant we pray, God hears. We can impact the lives of our brothers and sisters through our prayers. God answers prayer. It is pleasing to Him. Thank you for caring so much for each other!
This note comes to us from our friends at International Network of Christian Martial Artists.
"Greetings! We have had
a slight lull in our forum. I would like to encourage everyone
to take advantage of this great benefit whether you have a question,
answer, comment, prayer request, idea, etc. This forum is
a great resource for new members to see what is being discussed.
Following are just a few of the topics that have already been
discussed in our forum:
Class Marketing
Class Retention
Games in the class
Discipline
Attaining the splits
Bowing in a Christian TKD program
How young is too young?
School recognition
Type of floor
Belt clip art needed
To train w/ shoes, or to train w/out shoes?
Christian Motivational Sayings
If you have any comments or
helps in these areas of if you would like to add a new topic,
please utilize this great forum. You can find the forum by going
to:
http://pub8.bravenet.com/forum/show.asp?usernum=683626485
I look forward to seeing your new forum posts."
Thanks & God bless,
Jeff McLaughlin
http://incma.tripod.com
Don & Char Engelhardt of Faith Fighters for Christ sent us a request for prayer.
"Dear Friends,
We got two rough pieces of news today we would like to ask you
to pray about. The first: Don's sister's son, Ben Harter (age
16) was lifeflighted to a Toledo Hospital with a severe head injury.
He is in a drug-induced coma so his brain can begin healing. He
was goofing around with some other teen boys last night. He jumped
onto the hood of a moving car. The driver slammed on the breaks,
throwing him from the car. He hit his head on the pavement.
The second: Don's second cousin, Ralph Shadley, died today from cancer. His wife, Anna Mae, is in charge of the missions conference at her church this weekend. She is so stressed and grieved. He is survived by 2 sons, 2 daughters, and 5 grandchildren.
Thank you. God bless."
---
In Christ's Service,
Don & Char Engelhardt
We always enjoy hearing from our dear friend Vasile Filat from Moldova. He sent us two notes in October. We'll share them in the order we received them. I know you will pray for the ministry needs in that part of the world.
"Today we had a very important
meeting with 6 sisters who know English well and all together
decided to use for the Gospel the big interest for English of
young people of our country and to teach them the
Bible using English. The firs meeting I initiated at 7th of September
and I was so glad to see how wonderful God worked and will today
there are 9 groups with 137 students in Chisinau and Hincesti.
We found some materials for beginners and for intermediate students
we use English inductive study materials and it works so well.
Today we decided to make a English studying camp next summer knowing
from the experience of Taekwon-Do how big impact this have on
the students and how many of them make decisions for mission and
ministry and pray that after that camp many other will decide
to the same we are doing now.
Tomorrow we will have at the Taekwon-Do Club a big competition and we are praying that this competition will be a good motivation for many other young people to come in our club to study the Bible and Taekwon-Do. Till now there started many groups in the villages of our country. In the village of Petrovca the director of the school refused to give us the sports hole when he found that we believe in Jesus and will teach the Bible but Gheorghi Duminica, our student and instructor decided to make training just in the street and then the director changed his mind. Praise the Lord for all this marvelous things He is doing and for giving us this opportunity to be a part in it. It is a so big joy that can not be compared to any other to see how sinful people come to Jesus and God make them to be light.
Monday morning we start the next session of Precept Institute in Moldova where Mia and Costel Oglice will teach us How to handle a difficult subject in the Bible. Pray for our hurts to absorb all the Word will be given to us and that this will bring a big fruit for the Body of Christ.
Thank you for your prayers and may our Lord bless you abundantly! "
Vasile
"Just three days ago we
finished the session How to handle a difficult subject in the
Bible at the Bible Institute in Chisinau and it was a big blessing
for all of us. Mia and Costel Oglice where teaching and all the
students learned not only what the Bible explain the baptism of
the Holy Spirit but also how to handle a difficult subject. There
came 120 students from Moldova, Ukraine, Russian and Uzbekistan.
At the moment they went for the Institute they all had 122 bible
study groups which include 1394 disciples and during the session
they decided to start 124 groups with 1217 students in all that
countries. Now we pray for a possibility to rent a place for the
institute and it is about $350 per month. So pray with us for
this urgent need. I was very glad to see how this time came 7
students of my Taekwon-Do club to the institute and they enjoyed
the teaching very much and studied hard. Saturday, after the institute
one of them went to the village Onesti to teach the Bible and
a group of unbelievers beat him hard and made him many traumas
and broke teeth. Pray for his health and also for the situation
in that village. People from other villages are asking to send
them a instructor to start a Taekwon-Do group and we really need
to involve more the instructors we have and to train other. Pray
that God will provide support for them and for the seminar I am
planing to teach them in January. God is blessing very much the
English project! Last week other two sisters joined our team and
started groups in other 2 schools which include other 60 students
to whom they preach the Gospel teaching them English. We need
more materials. If you think you can contribute some way or you
know good English materials based on the Bible place, let us know.
Now, I am writing this letter from the Budapest Airport on the
way to Macedonia where next week I will assist Mia and Costel
Oglice, my teachers and teach there seminars of Inductive Bible
study. Pray that God will give us a good time there. "
With love in Christ,
Vasile
Bill Pitcher contacted us about an exciting martial arts ministry he's involved with in Latin America. Please remember this ministry in your prayers.
"Regarding your commentary "The Battle" in the latest newsletter:
One of the things I do with
my skills is participate in short term mission trips to Latin
America with Peace Officers for Christ International. We train
police officers in defensive skills and then, after meeting some
of
those needs, give them the Gospel. It is a wonderful ministry
which God has blessed greatly. Often, the officers, and members
of the community, even the local churches, have the opinion that
fighting of any type is ungodly, therefore Christians should not
be police officers.
On my last trip, this past June, I was doing my daily devotional reading and ran into PS 144:1: <<A Psalm of David.>> Blessed be the LORD my strength, which teacheth my hands to war, and my fingers to fight:
That about said it all!"
Bill Pitcher
www.pofci.org
Bill is on a ministry trip to Guatemala and Honduras as we write this newsletter. We'll have an update on his latest trip next month.
Police Officers for Christ International has seen scores of police officers receive Christ as their Savior this year. We can rejoice together in the great things God is doing! Bill said his group is requesting donations of used or no longer used martial arts supplies: pads, bags, gloves, headgear, virtually anything still serviceable. It will be used for training the police officers in Latin America.
We received this note from Dean Siminoff in Canada. Please let him know how you might be able to help him start a new Christian martial arts school.
"I'm looking for help
to go about starting a new Christian martial arts school. My name
is Dean Siminoff, 1st Degree BB, Tae Kwon Do (itf) will do 2nd
degree soon. I am located in Nelson, British Columbia, Canada...belong
to an Evangelical Covenant Church. I am looking for info, help
and to associate with a Christian Martial Arts instructors association...Also
I will be looking for a Christian Master to train under to keep
my own training moving forward and current...So far I don't know
of anyone in Canada...California seems to be the closest...that
may work...Any help would be appreciated....
thanks
Dean
Erik Akutagawa asked for our help in finding a good book to give his students. Please let him know what you have used with your students.
"I need some help: I am
looking for a book to be able to give to my students for Christmas
this year. Specifically, I would like to find a rather small book
that doesn't require months to read, yet is still full
and rich in content. I have fellow church colleagues that run
a golf ministry who found books that parallel the game of golf
with life, as well as give little biographies of Christian pro
golfers on the PGA tour. I would love to find something similar
for my students that somehow can relate to our martial arts training.
If you or any of the other GMAF members have any suggestions, please let me know!"
Thanks,
Erik
Kevin Schaller sent us a great update about his ministry's latest tournament. He has a martial arts outreach at the Carson Valley Christian Center in Minden, Nevada. We've edited the note for length. We know Kevin appreciates your prayers.
"WOW! What a weekend. For those of you who attended, thanks for your support and from the looks on your faces, you had a grand time indeed! For those that missed it, make SURE you make the next event.
We had about 30 instructors and 90 participants for the 2 day event. We ran 3 groups per session for Dan ranks and separate sessions for Adult Kyu and Juniors (who had a ball!) Channel 2 in Reno came by for the demo's and the cameraman/reporter is a martial arts fan! He filmed for 40 minutes, but due to a major car wreck (if it bleeds, it leads) we got a 15 second spot, instead of the "weekend in-depth segment" he was planning on running. Just the same it was great that Boomtown (& Sharon) made the contacts to make it happen!
The sessions were excellent for all involved, no injuries noted, lots of smiles, sore muscles and inspired education. Jujitsu, Judo, Taekwondo, Kenpo, Kifaru Jitsu (wow!), Tai Chi, Kung Fu, Nakamura Sword work, pressure point theory(wow!) plus much more. So much great information, it was like taking a drink from a fire hose! The presenters shared their thoughts on teaching and there is a very positive direction going in ATAMA. 16 new members, just in this chapter, as a result of this event. As we continue to grow, expect to see more events of this type, in a regional format to save on traveling expenses. Also look for more information soon on ATAMA's instructor certification program for both existing instructors and those students moving toward teaching.
Triple D Productions shot about 12 hours of tape and will be fervently editing the tape to produce a series of tapes available for purchase. I will get out more information shortly when they get me an ETA for the highlight tape many of you pre-purchased. They may also include and in-depth series covering more of the sessions in detail.
SIERRA CHAPTER: We will be coordinating some additional sessions this Fall/Winter as a result of our rapidly growing ranks, we're over 40 members now with more coming on. Look for instructor development sessions for Kyu ranks, along with our monthly sessions.
Thank you again for your participation and support. If you didn't make it, you really missed a great event, so be sure to attend the next one!"
Warmest Regards,
Kevin Schaller
We recently asked about Christian martial arts instruction in Ft. Worth, Texas. We heard from a Christian teacher in the area.
At present I just teach Kenpo. This is a brand new YMCA and they are still working the bugs out. I hope to share Christ with many people in the community and at the local USMC/Navy Air base. Sincerely, Wes
Marc England would like some help for a paper he's writing. Please respond if you have some information for him.
"I was hoping that you
may be able to help me. I have to write a paper on ying yang and
its relationship to kunga. Kunga is a Korean word that describes
a man who is wise and courteous almost to the state of
perfection. When I wrote a paper on kunga I wrote it from a Christian
point of view. I was hoping that you or any member of gmaf may
offer some insight or some research pointers. This would help
me greatly. "
Thanks,
Marc England
(I know you will join us in praying for each of these Christian martial artists and their ministries.)
Dean Siminoff is a 1st Degree Black Belt in Tae Kwon Do. He will soon earn his 2nd Degree. Dean lives in Nelson, British Columbia, Canada. He belongs to an Evangelical Covenant Church and is interested in starting a Christian Martial Arts school.
Please let us know if you have moved, changed jobs, received a belt promotion, started studying a new martial art, started a Christian martial arts ministry, etc. We want to be sure your listing in the GMAF Internet Directory is all you want it to be.
We appreciate your Fellowship in the Gospel of the Grace of God. We are praying for you and your opportunities to serve Christ. Please let us know about ways GMAF can help you in your service. If you know of anyone who might be interested in receiving this monthly newsletter, please ask them to e-mail Mark McGee. We'll be glad to put them on our monthly mailing list.
You are invited to read previous GMAF Newsletters.
If you would like to join Grace Martial Arts Fellowship ©, contact Mark McGee.
Grace Martial Arts Fellowship is a service of GraceLife Ministries.
Taking God's Grace to the World!