ABC's of Godly Character - D

D is for Devotion!  Devotion is committed deep love great dedication and loyalty, strong enthusiasm and admiration for somebody or something. Who or what are you devoted to? Are you devoted to your team? Are you devoted to your family? Are you devoted to God and your relationship with Him? Devotion requires work and commitment.  In 2 Corinthians 11:3 Paul says “I am afraid that as the serpent deceived Eve by his cunning, your thoughts will be led astray from a sincere and pure devotion to Christ.” (ESV). Paul knew that Satan would attack our commitment to Christ. The moment we get saved, the attacks will begin. From that point on, we are forever in a battle with Satan for your devotion and your soul. We should first and most importantly be devoted to a life for Christ. It is hard, but look at the great reward we will receive. Heaven is where we should desire to live, and we can only get there by confessing our sins and asking Jesus to redeem us. He was devoted enough to pay the death penalty for us, so we should honor and thank Him by returning such devotion. We serve a jealous God. Exodus 20:5 commands that we have no idols. “You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I the Lord your God am a jealous God.” (ESV). We will be either devoted to things or people of this world or to God. Where is your devotion? Jesus made it clear that we can’t have it both ways. If we are going to have God in the center of our lives, nothing or no one can share that unique position with him. Are you devoted to Jesus more than money, the pleasures of this life, recreation, entertainment, sports or even another person, including a family member? Mark 12:30 says “And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.” (ESV). 

        Prayer starter: Dear Jesus, forgive me if I have given my first love and devotion to someone or something other than You. I know you deserve all honor, glory and praise.  Please help me to become 100% sincerely devoted to living my life for you. Help me to love you with all my heart, soul, mind, and strength. Guide me, show me, and teach me how to live totally devoted to You. In your name, amen.

        Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to start becoming more devoted to God today. Make it a priority to pray and read His word every day.

ABC's of Godly Character - C

C is for Confession! Confession is the admission of wrongdoing or sin, admission of guilt, a voluntary written or verbal statement admitting you have done something wrong. None of us like to be wrong. It is difficult to admit when we are wrong, however, as a Christian that is exactly what we are supposed to do. James 5:16 says “Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working.” (ESV). When we are honest enough to tell God where we have sinned and ask other believers to pray for us, we can have the power of the Holy Spirit to overcome that sin. 1 John 1:9 says “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” (ESV). We all need forgiveness when we do something wrong. We will mess up in friendships and relationships but we should try to correct those mistakes. No sin is allowed in heaven so we must confess our sins and sincerely ask for forgiveness. Also, we should ask others for forgiveness when we do wrong to them. Be specific when seeking forgiveness from God or from people. We need to be willing to specifically say what we have done wrong and then make it right. With confession of sin, relationships will grow stronger. Our relationship with God and others gets stronger when it is based on honesty, surrounded by confession and forgiveness. When you seek forgiveness from another person, remember you can’t control that person or their response. Keep focusing on God and trying to live for Him, then leave the outcome of the relationship in His hands. It is also good to confess your sins to a faithful, Godly friend if you are struggling. That way they can hold you accountable to move forward out of that sinful stronghold. Christ knows what is best for you, confess where you need help today. 

         Prayer starter: Father, You are a wonderful God, mighty to save and forgive when we ask You. Please forgive me for _____________, which is wrong in Your eyes. Help me to be honest enough to seek forgiveness from the people I have done wrong to also. I need your Spirit to guide me in my life and to help me not sin against you. Let my words and deeds be more pleasing in your sight.  Amen.    

        Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to confess your sins to God and to those you have wronged so that you may receive forgiveness today.  

OCC December Prayer & Burundi

DECEMBER IS FOCUS ON PRAYER MONTH AT OPERATION CHRISTMAS CHILD. 

Keep an eye on OCC’s national Facebook page for a prayer takeover in the month of December! We will be sharing daily prayer requests and praising God for the gospel opportunities collected during National Collection Week.

 

YOUR PART – share, share, share! As a Prayer Network Partner, we ask that you like, comment, or share these posts. This helps more people be exposed to what we’re doing and allows more people to be involved. Don’t forget to use #praywithOCC on your posts!

 

Mid-South prayer request:

· Praising God for a wonderful National Collection week and for all of our amazing volunteers!

· Prayers for Mid-South staff who are working in the Charlotte and Dallas PCs over the next several weeks and their families while they are away.

· Prayers for safe travels for volunteers going to serve in the PCs.

· Please pray for several of our Mid-South volunteers who are going dealing with serious health concerns.

· Prayers that all gift filled gospel opportunities will arrive safely to children all over the world.

International Prayer Requests

General Prayer Requests each country faces:

· Wisdom to recruit, select and lead new and/or transitioning volunteer leadership team members.

· Provision of resources to reach their God-sized goals for the current year.

This week our requests are for Burundi. 

Pray for Burundi. It is a mountainous, fertile country in Africa. It has 12 people groups with 25% of them unreached. 27% of the population is Evangelical Christian. Young people and children suffered the brunt of the violence, upheaval and poverty of the last decades. Lift these issues up in prayer:

-The physical needs of children. Around 560,000 children have lost at least one parent, 45% of children under five are undernourished and many thousands suffer from malaria and AIDS. Violence against children is common. Only half of children attend school; but praise God for debt relief, which allows the government to offer free primary education to all children. This should raise enrollment significantly. Pray for the many ministries and government agencies that focus on caring for children and providing them with life opportunities.

· Pray God will bring an end to the political instability.

· Pray for the strength and endurance of the leadership teams. Pray that God will provide more engaged team leaders on each level.

· Pray that more children will participate in The Greatest Journey (TGJ) discipleship program and that God will provide more TGJ teachers and Ministry Partners who are completely engaged in OCC.

ABC's of Godly Character - B

B is for Boldness!  Are you ever a chicken to speak up? Boldness is not hesitating in the face of real or perceived danger.  Ephesians 6:19-20 says “words may be given to me in opening my mouth boldly to proclaim the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains, that I may declare it boldly, as I ought to speak.” (ESV). Paul, while he was in prison wrote these words. He didn’t ask for the church at Ephesus to pray for him to get out of jail, but instead, that he would continue to BOLDLY speak about Jesus. We, like Paul, should pray for God to help us be bold, regardless of our circumstances.  We should speak boldly for His honor and His glory about what is right in His eyes.  Acts 4:29,31 says “And now, Lord, look upon their threats and grant to your servants to continue to speak your word with all boldness, And when they had prayed, the place in which they were gathered together was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and continued to speak the word of God with boldness.” (ESV). Boldness is not running your mouth just to be heard. It requires courage to speak when we are afraid and courage to do what is right. How do we become more bold? Like the disciples, we should pray for boldness. To gain boldness we need to ask the Holy Spirit to give us courage, search for opportunities to tell others about Jesus, and realize that Satan will try to make us feel rejected, embarrassed, or uncomfortable. Boldness is hard, but we are all called to speak boldly about God.  

​Prayer starter: Dear Lord, please fill me with your Holy Spirit and give me the courage to speak boldly about You and Your mighty power. Give me the passion to speak Your words of truth in love. Help me to not be ashamed to take a stand for what is right and pleasing in Your sight, even if it means I will be standing alone. In your name I pray, amen.  

​Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to speak boldly about Christ to someone today!

ABC's of Godly Character - A

A is for attitude! Attitude is the expression of your feelings or emotions about a person or thing evident by your words and actions.
Are you a positive or negative person? Is life all about “you” or about how God can use you to make a difference in the life of others?  Are you a bragger or a gossip? Philippians 2:5 says  “Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus,” (NASB). Is your daily attitude like Christ? We can become impatience, frustration, quite, upset, angry, sad, happy, excited, hyper, the list could go on and on and on. These are attitudes, but not excuses to act ungodly. Psalm 19:14 says “Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, my rock and my redeemer.” (ESV). God doesn’t excuse our attitudes because of what He has allowed in our life. He has allowed everything for a reason. He’can and will use whatever is happening in your life, if you will let Him. Are your thoughts, actions, and words pleasing and acceptable to God? When our attitude is right, like that of Christ, then all we say and do should be honorable, truthful, and pleasing to God. God knows we can’t fix our bad attitudes without His help. Ask Him to help you. Take your every thought to Christ, lean on Him, because His grace is sufficient for you, His power is made perfect in our weakness. (2 Cor. 12:9)  God wants us to do life with Him, through Him, in Him; then He can redeem the pain, limitations, and even our attitudes for the glory of His Kingdom.  

​Prayer starter: Father, teach me to willingly surrender to Your will. Grant me courage to take up my cross daily and follow You, then my life will honor and glorify You, and whatever You allow will be well worth the cost. May I learn to walk worthy. Amen.  

​Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to ask God to give you an attitude adjustment today!

Barnett Year in Review ~ 2015

Merry Christmas!

It has been a few years since I have typed a letter about our year, but we have had such a great year, I couldn’t let this one pass!  So here we go…

January 2015 had lots of excitement.  Kevin went on his first mission trip to Panama, January 8-16^th.  He had a great experience.  He does not like coffee, but he tried it in Panama, just to be polite…didn’t like it there either.  I don’t know what’s wrong with him—I am like my Mom and my Papaw Gillis, I really like coffee.  During January our boys won lots of basketball and Matthew turned 16 on January 20^th!  At the end of the month I enjoyed a little weekend get-away at Camp Paron for the Ministers Wives Retreat.  Then on January 25^th, our bonus son, Dustin, joined our church as a member!  He has lived with us for a year now. 

February had lots of excitement.  I am the Regional Prayer Coordinator and Kevin is the Collection Center Coordinator for NEA Operation Christmas Child.  We had a Global Day of Prayer and Fasting in February.  In the middle of the month, we had junior high and senior high district basketball tournaments.  Our boys won!!!!  Bay Yellowjackets were advancing to Regionals!

In March the basketball team advanced to 1A State Tournament and won!  Dustin and Matthew both played and Michael was the Team Manager, so all three of them got State Championship Rings…ask them to show you the next time you see us!  On March 8^th Kevin turned 42.  Can he really be that old?!?  We took a short Spring Break trip to Branson and Lake Norfork.  We had a blast, except for Dustin, who doesn’t like roller coasters.  We all enjoyed skiing and fishing at the lake.

April brought on more basketball for the boys, as they played AAU Basketball.  They boys also ran the March for Missions 5K in Walnut Ridge and won their age groups!  On April 4^th, I done something I have wanted to do for a long time…I started a Blog called “As For Me And My House”.  I spend lots of time blogging about Operation Christmas Child and my family, but those are the things I’m very passionate about.

In May I got to go to a Mother-Daughter Banquet at Corners Chapel with my Mom and Leiandrea; it was very nice.  School ended in May with the boys being exempt from their Semester Exams!  Summer didn’t start for Dustin and Matthew because we made them take Driver’s Education.  They both passed which means an insurance discount!

June brought on summer jobs.  Matthew and Dustin spent most of their weekends working at the baseball park.  Michael worked around the house.  They spent their weekdays at basketball camp for school.  Then on June 8^th Kevin, Matthew, Dustin and some more friends went to Camp Beaverfork.  This is where our summer turned REALLY GREAT!!!!  At camp Matthew surrendered to ministry.  He feels like he is being called in to Children’s Ministry or Youth Ministry.  On June 14^th we had our 6 year anniversary at First Free Will Baptist Church.  We ended June with Vacation Bible School and the boys helping with the classes.

On July 8^th Matthew arrived at Welch College for his 2^nd summer as part of the Truth and Peace Leadership Conference.  He really liked Welch and decided that is where he wants to attend college.  He wants a degree in Ministry.  July 19-23^rd we had our National Convention of Free Will Baptist in Grand Rapids, Michigan.  It was beautiful there.   On July 29^th Michael turned 13!  It feels a little like a dream watching our sons grow and mature so quickly.   

August 6^th Kevin and I had our 21^st wedding anniversary; I can’t believe it has been 21 years already.  School started back way to soon, summer is never long enough.  The boys went to a Youth Retreat at Camp Beaverfork August 28-29^th.  On August 30^th I had my first speaking engagement for Operation Christmas Child at the church I grew up at.  The church was so excited to take part that they ended up packing 92 shoeboxes!  Matthew also had some of his 1^st preaching engagements, but he liked to call them “devotions”.  Now he preaches every 3 weeks in our Youth Services and Michael runs the projector every Youth Service. 

September brought on the D6 Convention in Louisville, Kentucky.  It was a great conference, as always.  We need to always be intentional about discipling the next generation.  Michael, Matthew and Dustin faithfully read scripture in front of the church, serve as ushers, sound and PowerPoint technicians.  We are so thankful to see them serving the Lord.  In September Matthew applied to E-TEAM, a summer mission trip experience.  In October we found out he got accepted to E-TEAM CUBA!  Also in October, deer hunting and putting up Christmas trees began! 

November has been great.  November 1-4^th Kevin was in Revival at Victory General Baptist and they let Matthew preach the 2^nd night; both of them done a wonderful job speaking.  We had our Operation Christmas Child Packing Party at FFWBC with a total of 184 Gospel Opportunity Shoeboxes!  On November 20^th I turned 40!  We were almost too busy to celebrate because it happened right in the middle of National Collection Week for Operation Christmas Child.  November 23^rd, our 3 boys and the rest of our youth group cooked and served dinner at the Salvation Army and really enjoyed it.  Now it is Thanksgiving weekend and I’m reflecting on how very blessed we have been in 2015.  Just today, we found out that Matthew got accepted to Truth and Peace 2016.  God is blessing our family and working in our lives so much.  I have been invited to go to Lima, Peru on a Medical Mission Trip during June of 2016 for a week.  If my health will stay leveled out and my lungs healthy hopefully I will be able to go.  Matthew will be traveling for 6 weeks during June and July 2016.  Hopefully Michael and Dustin will decide to apply for Truth and Peace next year and step out of their comfort zones. 

During December our bonus son, Dustin, will turn 17.  We will soon be celebrating the Haag Christmas on December 12^th, the Gillis Christmas on December 24^th, and the birth of our Lord and Savior on December 25^th.  Another year will have passed and I hope each of you can say 2015 was a year to be thankful for also.  Psalm 136:1 says “Give thanks unto the Lord, for HE is good”.  I am thankful for all of you being in our lives and I am so thankful for what God is doing in our lives!  I can’t wait to see what all we will go and do in 2016.  Pray for us on this adventure we call life!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year,

Jennifer, Kevin, Matthew, Michael & Dustin

Blast From The Past ~ November 2007

November 23, 2007

Happy Holidays to All,

I know I have been awful about keeping everyone up to date on us lately…please forgive me!  Now that Thanksgiving is over and Christmas is on the way, I look back and I realize we have so much to be thankful for this year.  Let me recap just a few wonderful moments for you.

January - Matthew turned 8 and played his 1st season of basketball thru the Upward program that the area churches do. Kevin helped coach his team.  

February – Michael told our pastor on Valentine’s Day that he wanted to get (in his words) bab-a-tized. (Baptized)!  We are so thankful that both of our boys received Christ as their Lord and Savior at such a young age.

March – March 4th we borrowed First Free Will’s Baptistery and Michael was baptized.  That was the best birthday present that Kevin could have ever received.   Kevin turned 34, started his usual “traveling season”, and we spent spring break at the Lake.  Oh, I almost forgot, like Kevin’s usual traveling, I had my usual spring asthma/bronchitis fits.  This time it was only for about 3 months.  The doctors finally figured out (after many visits to my general physician, lung specialist and allergy doctor) that we needed to increase my reflux medicine.  It worked and I haven’t been sick since this spring!  Praise the Lord!  That is a major accomplishment for me!

April – Matthew was in baseball full force… His team placed 2nd in district.  They were in several tournaments and were always 1st or 2nd place.  I learned to “watch” the game instead of TALK!  You know that was hard for me, but I kept the stats and official book while Kevin was coaching.  Michael played in the dirt many hours!  We had so much fun.  The best of April was April 22ndwhen Kevin surrendered to preach.  We have always been active in church and tried to do as God wanted us to, but I think we both knew this was a decision Kevin had delayed for a while.  We have been amazed at how much better things have been since he did this.  Life was never bad, but it falls into place so much more wonderfully when you totally give your life to Him and do His will.  The funniest I guess, was when everyone that loves us so much pointed out that we had “preachers kids” now!  Michael has probably filled those stereo-typed shoes very well.  He is our little comedian.  I wish I had enough time and pages to tell you all of his funny moments and comments, but you would be reading for a while.

May – Kevin preached is first sermon and did very well.  “Thanks” to all of you who were able to attend… and “sorry” to all I forgot to tell.  At this point I was a little stressed at the idea of being a “preacher’s wife” and what the future held.  Anyway, it meant so much to Kevin to see you there or to know you were praying for him.  Please continue to keep us in your prayers. Mother’s day was eventful; Michael decided to draw my grandmother a pretty picture for the special day.  The problem was that he chose to use a rock as a writing utensil and her car as a piece of paper.   He decorated the whole passenger side very well.   (Waylan Deen…I know you are dying right now, do you want him to draw you a picture?)  That is the wonderful thing about Grandmothers (their hearts are huge)…she asked the next day if any of us knew what happened and Michael told us all about it. She forgave him, of course, and didn’t think he should be punished because of his honesty.  Well, needless to say, he did not get out of trouble, but we told him we were proud of him for telling the truth.  Then Matthew had to have his turn at acting like a heathen.  He and 6 other kids decided to play dodge ball with rocks at recess!  I about had a heart attack when the principal called requesting permission to paddle him.  I totally freaked out.  We discovered that we think he will be a “crowd follower – wanting to fit in” and Michael will be the “instigator” in events.  I learned that boys do not behave like girls and will most likely cut up at school sometime.   I’m still a little clueless about raising boys from time to time.

June – Kevin preached his 2nd sermon.  He was surprised to find out that our pastor was going to be out of town and he even had to do our communion services.  We do them the 1st Sunday of each quarter.  He was nervous but it went great.

July – Michael turned 5.  We spent 10 days at the lake for vacation.  Michael learned to ski and Matthew improved his skills.  At this point Kevin was only having the opportunity to preach about 1 time per month, so he was really missing getting to do it.  He wanted more experience so badly that he drove home from our vacation for the day to fill in for our pastor.  Five hours on the road to preach for 20-30 minutes.  He is so dedicated and excited.  I am so proud of him and blessed to call him my husband.  I finally got a new cell phone… I shopped around for months and found just what I wanted.  My old phone was so worn out that I had rubbed all the numbers off of it and some quit working.  I know it is hard to believe I could wear out a cell phone, I hardly ever talk!  - Just joking!  Anyway, I was so proud of it, had it 2 days and ran over it!  I guess God taught me a lesson about material things!  After I cried over it, Kevin replaced it!  We started going to the public library weekly and Michael learned to read.  We decided he was ready for school, we just prayed school was ready for Him!  

August – God continued to bless us.  We had our 13th wedding anniversary.  We had a wonderful gift.  Our anniversary was during Vacation Bible School.  Our church was running is the mid 30’s and we had over 60 each night of Bible school and 93 the last night!  We were so excited.  Kevin had the wonderful opportunity to preach at Bro. Dale Blackwell’s church in Bono while he was away.  He is really looking forward to being the pastor of a church one day.  Michael spent Sunday School under the table because girls were in the class.  We did some serious praying because school started the next week.  At the end of August, it was a little unusual, but Kevin was ordained as a Deacon.  I say unusual, because he was set aside to be ordained last August, but surrendered to preach after he was asked to be a deacon.  Being a small church we only had 1 deacon (Kevin’s Dad) so they wanted him to go ahead and get ordained and serve as one until he completes the ordination and licensure process for pastor.

September - Matthew still gets stressed out very easily.  He wants everything to be as perfect as possible and is always concerned about what is going on.  The school year brought out more of his uncontrollable desire for perfectionism and stress trying to achieve it. (I think he and Stephanie Deen are brother and sister some how!)  After several weeks of headaches, he was diagnosed with Migraines.   We can’t say much about his personality, because he is a lot like Kevin and I.   Thankfully, Michael is laid back and doesn’t fret over much.  He pretty much laughs his troubles away.

October – Once again full of blessings.  Our pastor and church board met with Kevin and asked him to talk and pray with me and the boys about becoming associate pastor!  Parent/teacher conferences informed us that that both boys had wonderful grades.  Michael’s kindergarten teacher taught Matthew and Kevin also.  She told us that Michael was an excellent student, but he was definitely a rambunctious little boy and nothing like Matthew! Like I said, they are different from one another.  

November – Kevin accepted the church’s offer and was appointed as Associate Pastor.  Everyone is so supportive.  Our pastor is in his 70’s and is planning to retire a few years down the road, so this will be a wonderful way for Kevin to learn and get experience.  That was a wonderful 32nd birthday gift for me.  Our church has grown from the 12 that were there when we started going in 2006 to averaging in the 50’s.  We had 9 people join last month!  We are praying to have more come that are out of church in the community.  I know this was a long letter, but I told you we have so much to be thankful for this Holiday Season.  

December 16th at 5pm we are having our Christmas Program.  Matthew still takes piano lessons and will be playing the music in the play while the rest of the kids sing!   Michael told me last night that he is ready to start taking piano.  We will see if Matthew’s teacher is brave enough to conquer two Barnett Boys!

We love each of you and wish we could see you more often.  Maybe I will be able to keep in touch better in 2008.  Please keep our family in your prayers as we continue to try to do God’s will.  We hope you have a wonderful Holiday Season and hope to see you soon.

Love,

Kevin, Jennifer, Matthew and Michael