SUMMER MINISTRY OFFERING & PRAYER FOR LABORERS
(PLEASE READ LETTER FROM PASTOR JOE & ELDERS)

April 4, 2014

Dear church family or friend of Springs of Grace,

Grace and peace from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
Two weeks ago I got the privilege of going to lunch with one of the men who helped begin this gathering of Christians we call Springs of Grace Bible Church. It was a joy to be with that brother in the Lord. We talked about the Lord’s mercies on this church and recounted God’s grace and faithfulness to us through hard and sweet days. We spoke of many ways the Lord had blessed the ministries here but we agreed that, if the Lord tarries, the most significant impact Springs of Grace will make for the kingdom of God will be through the ministry to so many interns that God has given us the opportunity to love and train and send out for His glory.
If you are fairly new to Springs of Grace or don’t know much about the intern program and the summer ministry they play a huge role in, then I would encourage you to go to our website at http://www.onehopeministry.org/ and read the series of INTERN IMPACT which is a blog series that highlights past interns and gives them the opportunity to reflect on the way God has used their time at One Hope to impact their lives and ministries.
The passion to invest in lives through our intern ministry I believe is a central part of the calling of our church. For the past several years we have taken an offering in the spring to seek God’s provision for the special ministry opportunities of the summer. After prayer and seeking the Lord as elders we believe we should once again ask the Lord to provide for these ministries through this special offering.
During the next few weeks we want to ask you to pray especially for two things:
First, Sunday, April 13th, we will take a special offering that will go towards our summer ministry. We don’t do this often. We hope people will give willingly and joyfully and secretly as each one is led by the Lord. I hope,we will think of “the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you by his poverty might become rich” (2 Corinthians 8:9). And as we ponder His great mercy towards us, we will be moved in our hearts to give more – not because it is in any way required but because our love seems to demand it.
We will never sell the gospel. By God’s grace, we will never target the financially profitable groups as the main thrust of our ministry. We will continue to urge you to give in secret and we will trust the LORD to supply the needs of His body.
Over the past few years there seems to have been an awakening towards the need to be involved in the social issues of our day. Many Christians have begun to get involved in ministry to the poor and to those who are captives. Way too much of that social ministry happens outside of the context of the church. We believe that is a mistake. We value very highly the training of urban missionaries in the context of a God-centered church that goes after the head AND the heart for the glory of the Lord. We believe the giftings of the interns add greatly to our ability to demonstrate the love of God and build relationships that open the door to the declaration of His truth. Each year the Lord has provided amazingly for this ministry and we look to Him to do so again through His people.
The Lord continues to give us wonderful opportunities for increased ministry. We want to walk faithfully in the ministries the Lord has opened the door to. We are asking you to pray with us for $30,000 to support the summer ministry. If you look around Springs of Grace it is easy to see that is a staggering amount for such a small group of saints. It is beyond our ability, but we believe the Lord has placed these ministries before us and it seems right to pursue Him to supply the means to carry them out.
I want us to give out of a response to the love God has shown us. I have seen the tremendous fruit of the intern ministry and I am asking the Lord to let my family give towards it. Ask the Lord what you should give and who you should share this need with. It may well be that the Lord would not have you give to this special offering or share the need with others at all. He may have you express your love for Him and this church in other ways. That’s wonderful. We just want you to pray with us and give if and as the Lord enables you to give. You can give the Sunday of April 13th or you can make a commitment to give over the next few weeks towards this offering. You need to understand that this summer ministry need is in addition to our regular weekly needs for ministry so pray and ask the LORD if He would have you give extra for the summer ministry.
Secondly, over the next 9 months we are asking each family of our church to join us in prayer for laborers to join the ministry at Springs of Grace Bible Church. We are very grateful to the Lord for the people and gifts He is using to build His church here and we trust His wise leadership. However, if the Lord has these ministries for us and if they are to expand in effectiveness, then we need a larger base of laborers. Would you commit or renew your commitment to ask the Lord to enable you to reach at least one family or individual over the next 9 months who would come and join the body here?
One part of this would be making it a matter of regular prayer to ask the Lord to send more laborers to this ministry. Many of you are here as a direct answer to this type of prayer by others over the past years.
Hopefully, the Lord would see fit to reach more than one family through some of us but if each family or individual would reach one other family or individual by the start of 2015, this body would be in an even greater position to pursue our vision for training and sending out preachers and urban missionaries who might be able to partner with our medical missionaries as mission teams that might impact several continents with the gospel; addressing the educational crisis by continuing to enlarge our after school getAHEAD program; promoting adoption and foster care and supporting the families who have adopted or are caring for foster children; tutoring and skill development in the inner city; increased mission support; helping families raise up a godly generation; a medical mission to the families of our neighborhood through the Good Samaritan program; ministry to the homeless; ministry in the prisons and support for prisoners as they get out, the development of a curriculum we can take into the public schools that addresses the sex slave trade issues through HOPE918; a coaching ministry; intern ministry; strengthening godly, holy and passionate marriages; training and developing preachers; finding and providing real outlets for teaching and preaching the Bible throughout our city; outreach to the pimps and prostitutes and gangs of our city; ministry to the disabled; an increase in the preaching and shepherding ministry within the body; effectiveness in carrying out the one anothers as we seek to stir each other up to love and good deeds; and other opportunities the Lord may bring our way.
If the Lord answers these prayers, we might well add another 100 people for us to minister to and labor alongside of. It is my desire for you to prayerfully make a commitment before the Lord to pray for laborers. This is no small thing. Perhaps you have made this commitment in the past and it has slipped from your mind. This would be a great time to renew that commitment. On Sunday, April 13th you’ll be given the opportunity to make or renew this commitment.
In Ephesians chapter 3, Paul is speaking of the church and in that context he says, “Now unto Him who is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power that works within us, to Him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations forever and ever. Amen.” Our Lord is able to do far more than we think through the church for His glory. Please join us in these two great prayers as we continue seeking to be a church that collectively puts on display the perfections of Christ.

Your servant,

Joe Blankenship (for the elders at Springs of Grace)