Tag Archives: investing

Ministry in Mozambique

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The summer is flying by, and with it we are thick into preparations for our fall ministry trip to Mozambique.

Pastor Daniel and nine churches have been waiting for over a year and a half for us to be there, and we are deeply glad that the time has come for fellowship in company of each other.

The plan is that I (Cyndy) will head there on October 16th for 15 days on the ground. We have received donations enough to cover about two-thirds of the ticket price, and half of the total cost of the trip.

Thank-you to all those who have donated so far – The work of Capturing Courage is dependent on the donations and prayers of ordinary folks like yourselves.

A few specific things to keep in prayer about:

– Clarity in our final communications as we near our travel time.

– Full funding so that we stay on budget for this trip.

– Heart preparation for a work of the Lord, for both Cyndy and the people in Mozambique.

– All details coming together.

art auctionThere are also five evangelists and pastors from Kenya and Uganda who would like to travel and join us in Mozambique – please pray for clarity, direction, and funding to work for them as the Lord leads.

The work of Capturing Courage continues to solidify and expand. As we are faithful with the depth the Lord continues to increase the breadth.

Please be in prayer for us beyond this trip to Mozambique. The question of ‘which country next?’ is playing in the back of our minds and we wait on the Lord’s specific direction.

The choices forefront in our minds at this time are India, Kenya, Myanmar, & Uganda.

Your prayers for clarity and wisdom and guidance on our behalf are very appreciated.

If you live in the Vancouver area mark your calendars for our Open House & Art Auction Fundraiser coming in late September.

If you are new to the work of Capturing Courage Click HERE.

“Make every effort to respond to God’s promises. Supplement your faith with a generous portion of moral excellence, and moral excellence with knowledge, and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with patient endurance, and patient endurance with godliness, and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love for everyone.”  2 Peter 1:5-7 NLT

To support this work around the world Donate HERE

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More Favor in India

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093More favor in India. This comes from Pastor Ravi,

“Dear sister till now, I and church members distributed Capturing God’s Heart studies,1456 to church Reverends and Presidents, c.s.i.Deans, Chairmen, Evangelists, Roman Catholic Catechist’s Pastor’s and many people.

They are reading and understanding the love of God and many local and non-local persons and non-local churches Director’s are asking me to distribute the God’s Heart studies.

We are using and understanding, very gracious and very comforted with holy ghost. Thank you dear lord Jesus.”

We simply give God the glory for the impact of the Holy Spirit via these simple Capturing God’s Heart studies.

Spiritual Authority Course Begins in India

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Timothy in IndiaPastor Timothy in India reports:

“My Dear Sister in Christ,

Heartily Greetings to you in Jesus precious Name!

Thank you for CCI School of Discipleship – Part ONE.

I am Studying and understanding every sentence, very useful to our ministry.

I and our ten pastors we all are studying and praying every day.

Thank you for your kind prayers for our ministry

May God bless you and your ministry

Yours brother Timothy www.tribalevangelisttimothy.org”

You can find out more about Timothy and the work he is doing HERE

As the Walking in Spiritual Authority material begins to make its way around the world we simply pray that students are personally touched by the power of our Living God.

Please pray for these eleven lead pastors in India, for both provision and for clarity about how to take this course to other pastors and to congregations.

They are hungry for training and discipleship material. Timothy writes weekly asking for further materials as he has been one of the primary distributors of Capturing God’s Heart, having already passed them on to 1000 pastors.

We are just trying to keep up with him! We declare the Lord’s blessing and peace over him this day.

You can support the work of Capturing Courage HERE

Ministry of Presence

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P1230297 compressedThere is something to be said for a ministry of presence.

In our North American culture it is all too easy to think we must be always doing something, accomplishing this, managing that. But what if we don’t?

Trained as a coach one of the most powerful paradigm shifts I came to learn was to consider that just maybe, everything right now, exactly as it is, is just the way it is supposed to be. Just consider for a moment that nothing is wrong. What might that change for you today?

Now, the technical answer is that there are many things wrong in our world. Justice demands that we do in fact enter into everything that has gone wrong and in the name of the Lord set it straight.

At the same time, what if we could do this work in the peace that comes of God having everything in hand, and the knowledge that we are in the exact right place this very minute.

What might that change for you today?

Because of my own journey through immense difficulties, and the subsequent profound presence of the Lord in the midst of them, I learned that everything need not rush to be fixed. I learned that God is in our messes just as much in our cleanness.

Once we have learned this in our own lives. Once we’ve stopped frantically trying to assuage our own comfort, once we’ve ceased from controlling our outcomes we are well equipped to come alongside others in a gift of presence.

Instead of speaking into the matter we can just sit alongside.

Rather than finding ourselves distraught we can hunker down and be a companion.

A friend of mine had cancer a few years back, and my favorite thing to do was to just climb up onto her bed beside her and simply be there with her.

We had such rich times of prayer and whispers and silence.

In many ways, this is the ministry of Capturing Courage around the world. We are climbing in alongside hard and difficult circumstance and simply bringing a ministry of presence.

With rich times of prayer and heart whispers heard by God and profound silence found in his glory.

None of us are the same afterwards, and we are simply so much richer.

For nothing has changed, and yet everything has changed, once we’ve been in the presence of the Lord together.

 

Investing Mommyness

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real emotions and strong livesI began my own mothering journey some twenty-five years ago. At the time I had no idea the years to come and the full hearts and years of being a Mom.

Today I look back and I am simply so glad that I invested years into the lives of my children. I’m also deeply thankful for the profound strengths that they built into me.

The journey of motherhood is fraught with emotion and momentum, with service beyond what we think we can do, and with the unaccountable at every turn. Mothering is hard work.

Yet the privilege of carrying lives in our hearts is just that, a profound privilege.

And it is not unlike our opportunity in service to others around our world. All ministry is the heart of a mother’s heart. It is the courage to carry another in the heart, to resonate with dreams and priorities different than our own.

Being a Mom simply makes our hearts bigger – and into this expanded place of love we have much to pour out into other lives. Once made strong we have strength to give to others.

This is the privilege of being a Mom.

It is meant to take us beyond ourselves, and into the world.

Our bodies, as women, are prohibited from bearing children for our entire lives. It appears that the Lord set it up so our years as Mom would in fact be limited, for there is just so much more of the world that needs the strength of Moms.

The lessons learned as Mom are to be taken out there. While we are nurtured in our homes and with our families, the goal of all nurturing is to make strong people, to instill confidence and skill sets that can serve a wider audience.

This applies to Moms as well. The most resilient and strong people on the planet are Moms.

So, harness up your life, and invest it in something bigger than yourself. You’ve already been doing this for years no doubt, where might you like it to go now?

CCI School of Discipleship

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P1320433 compressedI’m near the finishing line. For over a week I’ve been in my cave writing and editing and praying over our Course One – The King’s Heart. I’ve a deadline to send it off to Madudu, Uganda later this week.

While I’ve written the course for us western folks previously, it needed quite a bit of re-crafting to ensure it is in fact useful for our overseas pastors.

There is a lot of my heart in Madudu. And it is here that I so felt the thick presence of God, and have been so compelled to pour into the pastors and lay-leaders there.

All of our activity in Madudu is overseen by Geoffrey, our lead hand in Uganda, and Pastor Kakuba, the lead guy on the ground in Madudu.

The picture accompanying this post is from our School of Discipleship that met in August of last year.

And as they meet again in a weeks time we ask your prayers for their good success.

We also ask that you consider donating to the gathering – for help with food, transportation, and printing costs.

You can see more about that HERE

 

Fasting Unto the Lord

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P1290233 compressedThis is the fasting that God wants: Free those who are wrongly imprisoned; lighten the burden of those who work for you.

Let the oppressed go free, and remove the chains that bind people. Share your food with the hungry, and give shelter to the homeless.

Give clothes to those who need them, and do not hide from relatives who need your help.

Then your salvation will come like the dawn, and your wounds will quickly heal. Your godliness will lead you forward, and the glory of the Lord will protect you from behind.

Then you will call, the Lord will quickly answer, ‘Yes, I am here,’ he will quickly reply.

Remove the heavy yoke of oppression. Stop pointing your finger and spreading vicious rumors! Feed the hungry, and help those in trouble.

Then your light will shine out from the darkness, and the darkness around you will be as bright as noon.

The Lord will guide you continually, giving you water when you are dry and restoring your strength.

You will be like a well-watered garden, like an ever-flowing spring.

Some of you will rebuild the deserted ruins of your cities.

Then you will be known as a rebuilder of walls and a restorer of homes.

Isaiah 58:6-12

Come and See

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Jesus Christ SavesThis is a reminder to those living in the greater Vancouver area that tomorrow we are having our Capturing Courage Tea, Story & Prayer gathering.

At 2pm – 4pm, Sunday April 21st, we are gathering to share and pray for God’s heart around the world.

It’s been about six months since our last event, and there have been a lot of things going on in that time – Come and get caught up.

Our last few weeks at Capturing Courage have carried some sorrow and loss – Come and honor with us.

The investments are increasing, relationships are expanding, growth is slowly yet steadily taking hold – Come and celebrate with us.

A trip is in the wings, we are praying and planning – come and look ahead with us.

  • Sunday, April 21
  • 2-4 pm
  • 10082 160St
  • Surrey

“Then they were on the road. They preached with joyful urgency that life could be radically different; right and left they sent the demons packing; they brought wellness to the sick, anointing their bodies, healing their spirits.” Mark 6:12-13 The Message – And the task we are about

Capturing Courage Stories & Prayer from around the World

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You are Invited - April 21st

What’s The Fight About?

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the body of ChristAre we fighting with people. Are we fighting against people.

What if there was another completely different vantage point. What if we might fight for people.

Fighting with people has us choosing sides, using either/or language and sometimes blindly acquiescing in ways that are not beneficial to anyone.

Fighting against people also polarizes and separates, creating divides and a conquer and a take all kind of thinking. No one wins.

And often, with each of these options on opposing ends of a continuum we bounce back and forth between fight with and fighting against.

Sometimes we are fighting with and sometimes we are fighting against. Bi-polar in our positions we are not stable people, our life manner cannot be counted on, we swing from one way to the other depending on who we are with, depending on what buttons they are pushing in us, and depending on our frame of mind on any given day.

Might I suggest this is a crazy way to be in the world. And yet, how else might we do this?

Well, in contrast to either of these two ends of a continuum the servant-leader (and anyone can be one of these) brings those two opposite ends of the continuum up and around joining the two polarities, creating something brand new.

Instead of with or against, we have for. Fighting for others is a much different entity.

It is a place whereby we are in fact for people. We hold ourselves in honor to others, we give benefit of the doubt while simultaneously giving push back.

Fighting for others requires that we bring a lot more of us to the table, than fighting with or against ever does.

Fighting for requires that we have the best interest of those we are serving at heart. It requires a bigger picture kind of thinking, a life that seeks to be part of the solution and not part of the problem, and that quite simply breathes life instead of death.

It doesn’t mean we won’t disagree; we will.

Yet fighting for is a strong place. It does not require acquiescence, it does not create false fronts, and because of this only in fighting for can we engage true unity.

Fighting with or against are both passive states that masquerade as action, they look alive and meaningful, but its all a ruse.

It is so much easier after all to take a polarized position than to truly enter into the dirty messes of reality and invest in listening, and humility, and seeing things differently than we have ever seen them before.

Only in fighting for do we really engage all the difficulties and the uncountable realities, only in fighting for are we part of the solution, and only in fighting for are we able to truly serve those around us.

Workers Needed

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Pastor KakubaWhen Jesus said, “The harvest if plentiful, but the laborers are few” he wasn’t kidding.

I’ve come face to face with this again and again. The hunger just for what Capturing Courage is bringing to the table is more than we can keep up with.

I can only imagine other more larger organizations.

We need a few (actually a lot) more laborers:

  • Are you interested in standing alongside indigenous leaders around the world?
  • Can you speak from your heart?
  • Have you experienced loss and failure and disappointment?
  • Have you experienced the power of God through it all?
  • Do you know the Holy Spirit?
  • Are you interested and willing to learn and grow in Spiritual Authority?
  • Are you able to invest some of your life overseas?
  • Can you work hard?
  • Do you want to impact redemptive change all over the world?
  • Can you leave niceties behind and find yourself at home no matter where you go?
  • Are you interested in standing alongside leaders in support and strength?
  • Would you be willing to make lifelong friends from all over the globe?
  • Are you interested in being mentored and equipped to minister around the world?
  • Can you wait on the Lord’s explicit leading and direction?
  • Are you equally comfortable with children and leaders and men and women and the elderly?
  • Have you known your own poverty of soul?
  • Are you sensitive to the Holy Spirit?
  • Do you love leaders?
  • Do you love?
  • Do you know Jesus?

Are you willing to grow in love, to be challenged and equipped and empowered, broken down, refined, and then built back up in the power of God?

Then do we have an opportunity for you.

Seriously.

The invitations from Pastors and Evangelists and Bishops from various parts of the world just keep coming in.

But they are not just invitations. There is a hunger and a heartfelt eagerness for training and equipping that is both beautiful and humbling.

These Pastors are doing amazing work. Hard work. Constant work. Consistent work. They are continually stretching out beyond themselves, and leading and reaching and enveloping their countrysides for Jesus Christ.

And quite simply,  they themselves need to be strengthened.

As a leader, when I am feeling overwhelmed and out of my element, when I need a dose of encouragement and tools of strength and strategy and additional wisdom added to my leader-tool-belt I go to the nearest Chapter and buy another half dozen books to build me up.

Rural indigenous Pastors do not have this same luxury.

Their faithfulness astounds me. As I receive letter after letter, email after email coming into my inbox explaining and telling of the work they are undertaking I am simply honored to be meeting them and so blessed by their lives.

Simply put, we at Capturing Courage simply want to be faithful to them.

It is our privilege to serve them. Will you join us?

While there is always a need for funds for the work, what is really so absolutely necessary are simply more people willing to give their lives away, willing to invest themselves in something that is bigger than all of us.

While Capturing Courage’ headquarters are located in Vancouver BC Canada, if this invitation strikes a cord with you, if the Holy Spirit resonates this in your life, then we are interested in speaking with you no matter where you are located.

Take a look at our Spiritual Authority syllabus for this is the core training we are taking and what you would be required to immerse yourself in for a time.

Beyond this you would be expected to be sensitive to the Holy Spirit and keen enough to bring your own expertise and experience of our Lord to the table. Are you gifted to heal emotionally? Can you touch and bring physical healing? In your presence are others encouraged and uplifted? Are you okay with team and are you able to mutually bless and come under another’s blessing? Do you understand the challenges that leaders face?

What are your particular passion and gifts of the Spirit and how do you see them fitting in with the mandate of Capturing Courage?

Contact Me and lets begin a conversation.