10/2011 Be A Good Minister Of Christ Jesus

NIU UBF October 2011 Mission Report                       Shp Kevin Jesmer NIU UBF

1 Timothy 4:16,

“If you point these things out to the brothers, you will be a good minister of Christ Jesus, brought up in the truths of the faith and of the good teaching that you have followed.”

      The highlight of this month’s ministry was the Leadership development conference, where young leaders from across the USA and Canada came together to learn how to be good ministers of Christ Jesus from the book of 1 Timothy. Julie served as the overseer of the catering and Kevin could deliver a message. The kids took stewardship of our housechurch by hosting DuPage ministry and DuPage Ministry showed God’s love by bringing the word of God and good fellowship to our kids and co-workers. As you read the report, keep in mind how God has been helping is to grow as good ministers of Christ.

Part l: People In Your Fellowship

Jenn is praying more earnestly about the university she should go to. She cares about the quality of the institute but she also is also concerned about maintaining her spiritual life. We pray for her to find God’s choice and follow that choice. Jennifer tries to teach the Bible to one of her friends, but gets stood up. She was accepted into madrigals and acapella. This means a lot of practice and also taking leadership roles as it is her senior year. But she seems up to it. May God grant her strength.

Sarah also joined madrigals and Accapella singing groups. Last month she decided to pursue her gifts rather than sports.  She and Jennifer went to tryouts for IMEA, (a gathering of northernIllinoisstudents who are gifted in singing) They are continuing to memorize 20+ international songs for the Winter Madrigals concerts. May God use their singing for the glory of God.

The Bible study group that was initiated in Hope’s middle school met this month. Hope and Mark attended. Mark taught a lesson on the death of Jesus. Hope taught about Jesus clearing the temple. It was initiated after a “See You At The Pole” event last month, by a student and a teacher at the school. We thank God for starting this middle school group. It is an actual student led Bible study on campus. Mark and Hope pray to be faithful and build it up. Hope continues to study Revelation with her friend Emma. They meet after school. Hope continues to practice her piano for church. She even composed a song on her own. Mark is practicing electric guitar and percussion for the school band. May God help them all to utilize their musical talents for the Jesus’ glory.

Augi finished up a successful soccer season at DHS. It was a grueling regimen. Sometimes taking up 4-5 hours a day. As a result his marks dropped and he spent this month trying to get them up. May he discover the reason to study hard and get good grades is for the glory of God.

The kids are being tugged by the world in one way or another. Because of the world’s attractions they loose their joy in the Lord. But Jesus, by his grace always brings them back and restores their spirits.

Steve S. is studying hard to finish the last part of his GED. He also joined a martial arts studio. He is very faithful to worship with us on Sunday. We pray for him to continue to grow in the word of God.

Gus, an NIU student that Julie studies with, is faithful to meet with Julie every week in order to study Genesis.

Julie worked hard, at the beginning of the month to gather catering bids for lunches and dinners during the Leadership Development Workshop. She is also overcoming the difficulties of change in her job as it was taken over by a new company.

Kevin had lunch with Dr. John Armstrong and Pastor Steve fromKishwaukeeBibleChurch. In 25 years of Christian life he was never invited to lunch by a spiritual leader outside of UBF and now twice in one month. God must be planning something great. Pastor Kevin also attended the Pastor’s Bible study fellowship at Chicago UBF.

Part ll:  Co-working With Other Chapters

Julie, Jennifer, and Sarah flew to Montréal this month to look at university choices Montreal and to visit the Montréal UBF chapter. They joined the Tyrannus Bible academy on Friday night. They visited Concordia andMcGillUniversities. On Sunday they joined theMontrealSunday worship service. They were very encouraged by the love and faith of ourMontrealco-workers.

      This month, Julie also attended the UBF’s Annual Founder’s Day at Chicago UBF. There she had opportunity to meet with Pastor Abraham Lee of Cologne UBF, who agreed to carry our gifts for the Gross family back to Germany.  She also met with many coworkers from all over Chicagoland and around the nation.

At the end of the month we attended the 2011 Leadership Development Conference. Julie co-ordinated the food catering. Kevin was a messenger. He went to the ChicagoCenteron Tuesday night in order to prepare his message. The following is a report that appeared on the UBF.ORG web site….

     “Thank God for blessing the 2011 Leadership Development Workshop (LDW) with the title, “Be a Good Minister of Christ Jesus,” from Oct. 27-30 at Chicago UBF. The total number of attendees was 101, from 30 USA chapters and 3 Canadian chapters. The highlights were 7 messages, 2 panel discussions, 2 group Bible studies, and 2 sessions of testimony sharing.

The following were the 4 messages:

Lesson 1: Jeremy Hajek, “God our Savior,” and Steve Stasinos, “Jesus our Mediator”

Lesson 2: Greg Lewis, “God’s Household: The Church of the Living God”

Lesson 3: Kevin Jesmer and Joshua Jeon, “How to Grow as a Good Minister of Christ Jesus” (It covered six points to growing as a good minister: 1) know Jesus’ grace and God’s calling, 2) hold on to faith and a good conscience, 3) develop integrity in one’s person, family, and social life,  4) train yourself to be godly, 5) grow in love and purity, and 6) be content with material things.)

Lesson 4: Andrew Christopher and Bob Henkins, “How to Serve as a Good Minister in God’s Household” (It covered 6 points: 1) dealing with false doctrines, 2) making an environment of prayer, 3) installing godly leaders, 4) carrying out the ministry of God’s word, 5) managing relationships and church finances, and 6) helping people have a godly view of money.)

The first panel discussion was led by P. Teddy Hembekides with Kevin Albright, Gustavo Islas, Paul Choi, and Dr. Henry Park followed by free discussion in groups of 4-6 people. The second panel discussion was led by P. Ron with Daniel Yang, Dr. Mark Yang, and Jose Ahn. 

Special music programs were served by Elder Jim Rarick, Matthew Groters, Kristen Weed, and Paulina Cho.

We thank and praise God for enabling all the North American chapters, the HQ Bible study material committee, senior staff, food and transportation servants to work hard to make 2011 LDW possible. To watch the entire video messages, click here: http://chicagoubf.org/messages/pta/662. May God make all the attendees grow to be good ministers of Christ in each chapter.”

Part lll: Networking In The Community

Kevin joined the cohort group on missional/ecumenalism that was host by Dr John Armstrong’s Act 3 ministry. A short description of his ministry is on the Act 3 web site. It reads, “ACT 3 is deeply committed to enabling Christian leaders to exegete both culture and Scripture in order to speak into our present context in ways that are faithful to the missional purposes of the God as revealed in Holy Scripture. We do this by teaching leaders how to connect Jesus’ prayer for unity (John 17) with his commission to make disciples of all nations (Matthew 28).”

The co-hort group met at Wheaton College with about 17 members, 12 of which were UBF leaders. Dr John is basically mentoring people to share in his vision for unity within the body of Christ. I really believe in his vision because the only way to show the world that God is love is through our unity in the love of God and the mission of the church. If we can not look past our own differences in order to forgive and bear with one another, how can we tell the world that Jesus loves and bears with us? Also, in order to preach the gospel effectively we need to learn to co-work together, not just within our own denomination, but with other churches. What an honor it is to be part of this co-hort. Kevin thanks God that it is making him read books and expanding his intellectual horizons. It is also opening many doors to future co-working.

In this month we were also accepted by the DeKalb Christian Church to use a small room for our Sunday worship service. This actually a very historical event. It is not easy for churches to open their doors to us…to anyone. There must be a trust relationship established. It has take 2 ½ years to build up this relationship together. They are allowing us to use their facilities free of charge. We thank God for his grace in helping us to worship in a church setting.

While we attended the Leadership development conference, the DuPage UBF came to our home in order to worship together with our family.  Dr Gideon Bahn delivered a message and they had a pizza lunch together. I thank God for the kids who took charge of the worship service. They showed a sense of stewardship. I also thank God for the love of our DuPage UBF co-workers who cared about the spiritual life of my family and co-workers here at NIU UBF.

Part lV: Reaching Out To Others

This month FCA, (Fellowship of Christian Athletes)  Usually about 9 people attend. They meet every Thursday morning, before school, for about 20 minutes. They discuss a passage of Nehemiah together and pray. We pray that FCA may grow and that they may even  have a form of outreach.

Hospital Bible Study Group finished Job and started on 1 Thessalonians. It is led by Jenn K. RN. There is about 35 healthcare workers following the manuscripts. We have a our group study every two weeks in the Cafeteria. Many staff members see us studying and praying together. It is great witness. I pray that theKingdomofGodmay grow among the employees of Kishwaukee Hospital.

Part V: Repentant Topics And Vision

I thank God for slowly reviving our hearts. Our hearts remained locked in the dungeons of despair thinking that no one will respond to the call the discipleship. We are repenting of our lack of desire to even try again. Up to now I have been living with the idea that if people reject Jesus and the gospel, I will go on living my life. But we need to repent and reach out if we are ever going to have new growing disciples of Jesus. Lord, please revive our hearts.