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A Change of Direction for Unmerited Favor

If anyone has ever kept up with this blog much, you will have found that a majority of what has been written has been about what God has done through our ministry at Ridgeway! Sprinkled in among those stories have been blips and information about my incredible family.

A conviction came over me about how much I have written over the church and ministry....my job more than my family who so far outweighs what I do, yet it seems that I write more about my job than them. I guess I got into the hype of wanting to make my ministry and my name greater than anything else, hoping that from "wisdom" that I so selfishly thought I had would benefit the world.

From here on out, this blog will be more about my family. You will get a sneak peek into the heartfelt feelings of a dad who absolutely loves his wife and kids. You will see my struggles that I face as a dad, so this blog will remain as Unmerited Favor because I have done nothing to deserve the family that God has given me.

I ask myself many times, "What did I do to deserve such an incredible wife and kids?" The answer is, "Nothing." Fortunately, Sarah saw in me something that was worth marrying me and to her I am forever grateful. The children born to us are a daily reminder of God's goodness and grace.

Join me on this journey. I pray that you will learn from my mistakes, but also rejoice in what God is doing in the life of my family.

Falls Creek Update: Monday and Tuesday
(If you want quicker updates, I am able to update more frequently on facebook where I am able to quickly upload pictures....our internet connection here is not the greatest and we have to walk to Timbuktoo in order to post anything)

Monday
We had a great day of travel and everyone got settled into their bunks! There are 42 of us staying in the cabin OKC, Olivet....it's about 75 yards from the prayer garden and high on a hill so we are definitely getting our exercise.

• In our cabin devotions tonight, I spoke from the Scripture 1 Kings 19: 8-15. From this the challenge made to the students and I make the challenge to you is:

v. 11, --God says to Elijah, "Go out and stand before me". God is calling our students to doing this this week--to go and and stand before me. Not run, not walk, but stand. God simply wants us to be still.

As Moses was standing before God, there was wind, an earthquake, and fire, but God was not in any of these. It says in verse 12 that , "And after the fire there was the sound of a gentle whisper. When Elijah heard it, he wrapped his face in his cloak and went out and stood at the entrance of the cave.

This week is all about the gentle whisper. Yes, there will be "wind, earthquakes, and fire"--there will be great worship music, great sermons and yes God will speak through those, but God will speak mostly in a gentle whisper--through His Word. We substitute concerts, music, ipod sermons, tv sermons, devotionals for the incredible Word of God. God wants to speak to you through a Gentle Whisper--His Word. Students(and you adults) need to get alone and just read God's love letter to us.

It says next that Elijah went out and stood at the entrance of the cave. Where was Elijah? He was in a cave. Many of our you have been in a cave and God is asking you to go out of the cave and stand. What cave is it that you find yourself in? Family issues, friend issues, personal issues....whatever it is God is asking you to "Cast all of your care and anxiety on Jesus because He cares for You!"(1 Peter 5:7)

Finally, God tells Elijah to "go back the same way you came....." If I was Elijah, I would not want to go back the same way I came mainly due to the fact that there was a madwoman trying to kill me, but God tells Elijah to go back the same way that he came. It's interesting that God is telling all of us to "go back the same way we came". We are going to have to go back into the same world, the same family, so what do you need to prepare for? The good thing is that we get a chance to go back the same way CHANGED and given the opportunity for the CHANGE that Christ has done in us to effect our families and friends.

God is soooo good! May our students hear from God through the Gentle Whisper! (Check out the song by BlueTree called Life's Noise--pretty cool)

Tuesday

• Our Junior High Guys awoke to the sound, not of a trumpet, but of an air horn! That got their attention!
• The food has been excellent courtesy of James and Jana Purcell!
• Our girls played their first volleyball game and came in second(meaning they lost, BUT they did a great job)
• Our softball team did great but also came in second--should have seen Nic Meador's homerun--very cool!
• Our Sapulpa group made it safely around 7:30 just in time to join us for worship.
• God has been so evident and moving this week in our midst. The worship in our cabin has been awesome! The worship and Word in the tabernacle has been incredible. Tonight, we had two students who made professions of faith! We celebrated with them in the cabin by singing the song, "O Happy Day!" How cool is that!
• One of the coolest things this week is seeing our senior high students mentor our junior high kids in our family groups. I sooo appreciate these guys and gals learning to invest in the lives of those younger. These family groups meet together 2-3 times a day in prayer and discussion in applying the Word to their lives. Last night the family groups each shared their stories of how they came to know Christ!
• Because the prayer garden is only 75 yards away, we have plenty time to spend time in prayer(it doesn't have to just be a the prayer garden) but it has been a great place to spend one on one time with God and many of our students use this venue for their quiet time.
• Please be in prayer for us as the warfare will continue to increase as we go through the week. Please pray for me--kidney stones. It was interesting to explain what a kidney stone was to some of our junior high girls. Our students prayed over me last night and I was no longer "stoned" :)

Wednesday Morning

• The airhorn is my friend--I got Jase good this morning :)
• Our students are about to go and spend some time in the Word
• Check out my facebook page for more up to date status updates and mobile pictures--you can see our softball team, Cassie in our infamous mohawk wig, Nick in a nice "mustache"
• More updates coming later.....

God Sightings during Mission MyTown

Mission MyTown was awesome! If you have a story to share, please email me or comment on this blog! We will having a celebration service, Wednesday, March 25 at 6:30 p.m. to share what God did during Mission MyTown and the Nuevo Laredo Mission Trip.

On Friday, we had a group go again to help the ministry, Filling the Void! What an incredible opportunity we had to pray over individuals downtown. It was cool to see the willingness of our group to pray and meet the spiritual needs of those who are less fortunate than ourselves! It's amazing how God uses these opportunities to not only bless others, but He uses them to encourage and bless us!

John and Rebecca Williams and their two sons, Zac and Ethan, were able to hand out over 120 free hot chocolates and coffee at the River City Parks at the soccer fields as part of the servant evangelism day! They simply passed out cards that said, "God Loves You" and it also included info. about our church. People came to the concession area to collect their free hot chocolates/coffee! What a simple way to share the love of Christ!

We also had a great group on Saturday that came out to a home in Sapulpa and got so much accomplished and was able to share the love of Christ with a couple in our church! It was amazing to see the incredible attitudes of our church as they served with joyful hearts!

In an earlier blog post, I shared with you about our new brother in Christ. Well, he came to church on Sunday and he is so fired up about his new relationship that it is effecting his whole family. I talked with two of his family members today of the change they have seen in him and I am praying for these family members....again, I am blown away how God works!

Join us Wednesday night to hear more stories from Mission MyTown....in the next day or two I want to share some exciting things happening as a result of Mission MyTown!

Mission MyTown for Saturday

1. Servant Evangelism at RiverCity Parks in Sand Springs. Contact 671-6766. Will be giving out free drinks sharing the love of Christ.

2. 609 S. Poplar in Sapulpa...we are helping a great couple in our church
Bring "loppers", weedeaters, chainsaws, polesaws, rakes...wear gloves

Both begin at 8:30 a.m.

Zander in Nuevo Laredo

Wanted to pass this picture along--it's Alexander sharing his testimony after a drama----what an answer to prayer--you can find other pictures at http://www.awestar.org/ and look on the left side of the page under trip updates.

Update on Mission MyTown from Wednesday, March 18



Wow! What a great evening at Shannon Valley! We had approximately 130-150 people from our church and the Shannon Valley Community! Great food--burgers and briskets!

Ridgeway--thank you for coming out and loving on this community! You went beyond yourselves to share the love of Christ and that is our prayer--that they see Christ and desire Him!



We are starting to develop some great relationships through our partnership with Shannon Valley! It's great to see the same faces and see people being connected! Some of you have been a part of this ministry from the very beginning-over a year and a half ago--and we are seeing obstacles removed.



Thank you to everyone who helped set up, cook the meat, clean up, serve the food, play with the kids, and mingle with our new friends! I believe God was honored tonight!



If you have any stories, please email me at mike.lehew@ridgewaybaptist.com. My new brother in Christ that I shared about yesterday joined us tonight at the cookout as well. I am excited to see what God is going to do in his life.



What is coming up for the remainder of Mission MyTown:

Thursday---no official Mission MyTown activities, but still look for opportunities to share the love of Christ

Friday---Filling the void-ministering to the homeless.
Contact: Melissa Shepard
Meet at the church at 10:15 a.m.--arrive back at the church around 2 p.m. If you are meeting the group downtown, meet at the BOK Tower on the first street side(one way street). There may be free parking located near the Jazz Hall of Fame(be prepared to pay for parking)...when you go inside go up the escalator, take an immediate right and you will see an unmarked door by the UPS door). You will split into groups and hand out lunches and learn the ropes of this ministry.

Saturday--Servant Evangelism Project at River City Parks in Sand Springs
Contact: John Williams
Meet at 8:30 a.m. and plan on handing out simple cards that simply says God loves you. People can bring these by the concession stand to receive a free drink. For more information, please see John Williams

Code Ministry--we will go back to 609 S. Poplar in Sapulpa--bring chain saws, rakes, weed eaters. Meet at 8:30 a.m.--

Again, if you have any stories to share from this week, please email me at mike.lehew@ridgewaybaptist.com

ALSO, DON'T FORGET TO KEEP LIFTING UP OUR AWESTAR TEAM IN NUEVO LAREDO, MEXICO....CHECK OUT WWW.AWESTAR.ORG FOR TRIP UPDATES!

Update on Mission MyTown from Tuesday and Schedule for Wednesday

We had two groups go out today in the community. One group headed up by Cindy Sharp went to DaySpring Villa to minister through helping to clean up! We had a great group of men, women, and students go! They got a chance to be a blessing to the workers and women at the shelter and I'm sure they were blessed as well.

Today I had a divine encounter. The group going to DaySpring Villa was about to leave when a gentleman walked in and asked to speak to someone. Over the next 30-45 minutes he poured out his heart and he asked Christ into his life! What an amazing day for him and an amazing day for me. I am thankful for our new brother in Christ! I am hoping you will soon get to meet him.

Another group went to a house in Sapulpa to help some of our very own with some debris/tree removal! It was a great time! We removed quite a bit of debris which was quite a relief to the homeowners--what an incredible opportunity to give back to this couple who has given so much!We will be headed back to 609 S. Poplar in Sapulpa on Saturday at 8:30 a.m. till we get it finished!

What in incredible day! If you have not gotten a chance to be a part of Mission MyTown maybe you have had an opportunity to see God at work at your workplace. If you have a story either through Mission MyTown or your workplace, please email them to me at mike.lehew@ridgewaybaptist.com

We are in the process of getting stories from each of the days happenings and we will post them here as they come in.

Wednesdays Schedule:
For those that can, please meet us at 3 p.m. to get things rollin' for the cookout--cutting tomatoes, lettuce, onions, making koolaid, tea and water. We will head to Shannon Valley at 4 p.m. to begin setting up. We will need help making sure that the grounds are kept clean during the cookout as well.
Please park just east of the community--you will see the church van or bus along with John Williams white van. James Purcell is leading the charge in grilling the brisket and burgers.