Amazing News Article

Well, I'm on my way back from a whirlwind, three-week trip around the globe.  Literally.  

I'm in the Hong Kong airport waiting on my flight home.  I've recorded several interviews which I plan to post within the next week.  One from Vietnam which I know you will not want to miss.

While looking at the news today I came across something that I really can't believe would ever be reported.  After just spending some time in the Middle East, I understand how impossible this news story really is.  It is nothing short of absolutely amazing.  I am thrilled at what God is doing in the Middle East right now, and believe that it points to an upcoming awakening.

Check it out.  And, "way to go Fox News!"

JBS

Son of Hamas Leader Turns Back on Islam and Embraces Christianity

Interview with the Archbishop Harry Goodhew

I've spent the past week in Australia working with the Rev. Rod Story and Dr. Ron Tyler.  Both are Senior Vice Presidents with the global ministry of Evangelism Explosion.  We had good meetings as we planned the ministry (as God makes us able!) for the coming months.

Rod is on his way to the middle east.  Ron and I are in Manila today to meet with Dr. Rene Atienza.  Tonight, by God's grace, we fly to Malaysia.  I hope to do an interview with Rene to put up later today.

While in Australia, one of my favorite things to do is spend time with the Archbishop Harry Goodhew.  He, out of the kindness of his heart and a desire to serve the Lord, mentors me.  We spent last Friday together and I conducted an interview.  I've included is here:

Interview with Harry Goodhew

I hope you enjoy it.  And have a great day in Christ!

Yours in His service,

John

Update

Dear staff, partners, and friends,

An update on Tom Stebbins:  Tom has been released but forced to leave the country.  He has returned home and is safe back in the United States.  Needless to say, this was a very difficult ordeal for Tom and the whole team.  While Tom was granted an official Visa for entry into Vietnam, the government did not honor it.

Please pray for the events of the coming weeks.  Many things were scheduled for Tom and now we must continue without him (frankly that is hard to imagine).

I covet your prayers...

John

Tom Stebbins

Please be in prayer for Tom Stebbins.  He arrived in Vietnam last night and was detained by the authorities.  We have received no additional news regarding his safety, but will continue to pray that he will be released today.

He had been granted a Visa for entry by the government, so it doesn't make sense that they would detain him.  But, as is often the case, when power plays are allowed to enter into the public arena, sense is not something that you encounter.

Please pray for the leaders there.  And pray that Tom will remain healthy through the ordeal.

Your in His service,

John

Interview with Drew Dickens from Need Him

Sorry for the weeklong absence.  I took a week of vacation and traveled up to North Carolina with Ann and the kids.  It was a great week in the mountains and a wonderful family time.

Right before I left on vacation, I had the chance to visit Dallas, Texas to work on a new project that I can't wait to tell you about.  I'll be able to share it with you in another month or so.

While there, I spent time with Drew Dickens, President of Need Him.  Drew is a great guy and a terrific Christian leader.  He is passionate about sharing Christ.  I'm glad he's on our side.

I interviewed Drew and placed the podcast up on the podcast site (you'll note I've added a link for the podcast site on the side of this page).  You can hear it at:

Drew Dickens Interview

God bless you this week as you serve Him.  I'll be traveling overseas on Wednesday and appreciate your prayers.

Yours in His service,

John

America: A Christian Nation

Dr. Kennedy's devotion for the 4th of July is a classic.  I've included it here.  Just having been in Washington, speaking to this nation's leadership, I can testify to the daily struggle to keep God's name in our public arena.  We need to pray diligently for our Christian leaders for vision, wisdom, and strength.  Would you say a prayer today?

Have a great 4th of July and let freedom ring!

John

From D. James Kennedy's New Every Morning:

If the foundations are destroyed, what can the righteous do?  

PSALM 11:3

Do you ever wonder about the direction in which the United States is heading, worried that the fabric of our society is fraying around the edges? If you’re like me, you may read the newspaper headlines and shake your head in dismay at the choices our fellow citizens make.

Our country wasn’t always this way. Take an honest inventory of our history, and you can have no doubts that America began as a Christian nation. The early settlers of America clearly intended to advance the Christian faith when they came ashore in New England. Before stepping foot off the Mayflower, the Pilgrims drew up what became America’s first contract of government—the Mayflower Compact. This compact clearly states the Pilgrims’ purpose in making their historic voyage: “…undertaken for the glory of God and the advancement of the Christian faith…” 

Jumping ahead to the founding fathers of this country who framed the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution, we find that the book they quoted most often in their political writings was the Bible. And in 1892, after a thorough review of all of America’s foundational history, the Supreme Court declared this country a Christian nation.

America was founded upon Christ and His Word. But this foundation is under siege by those who would have our history otherwise. These people have rewritten our history books, erasing God from the pages. They’ve removed the Bible and prayer from the classrooms, only to replace any hint of Christianity with policemen and metal detectors!

Ah, my friends, Uncle Sam needs your prayers. I urge you to pray for the leaders of this nation—not only on the Fourth of July, but every day. Pray with me that we as a nation might return to Him. Pray and work as if our very future as a country depends on revival. After all, it does!

The highest glory of the American Revolution was this: that it connected in one indissoluble bond the principles of civil government with the principles of Christianity. 

JOHN QUINCY ADAMS

 

Interview with Dr. George Roller

While in Washington D.C. for the Christian Statesman of the Year award dinner at the D. James Kennedy Center for Christian Statesmanship, I had the privilege of interviewing George Roller, the Executive Director for the Center.  You can find the interview here:

http://web.mac.com/jbsoren/Multiply/Podcast_Home/Entries/2008/6/30_Interview_with_Dr._George_Roller.html

I'm sure you'll enjoy it.

Yours in His service,

John

Center for Christian Statesmanship

This past week my wife Ann and I spent time in Washington, DC at the Center for Christian Statesmanship.  It was a wonderful week spent with George and Linda Roller, Anne and Jennifer Kennedy (Cassidy), Shirley Beattie, Dr. Tom Stebbins, and several interns spending time at the Center.

One of the highlights of the week was an award dinner on Wednesday night where Representative Mike Pence of Indiana was presented the D. James Kennedy Christian Statesman of the Year award for 2008.  Anne and Jennifer were both in attendance, as was Rep. Todd Akin, last year's recipient.  Mike gave a wonderful speech which I hope to include here at a later point.  It was very obvious how deeply respected the Kennedy's are on Capitol Hill.

We have a terrific outreach in Washington D.C.  Many are being reached and encouraged to stand in their faith and be salt and light in a very needy place.

In the next few days, I'll post a podcast interview with George so that you can get to know him better.  So keep checking back.

For now, I'll post the press release from the dinner.

Yours in His service,

John

REP. MIKE PENCE IS DISTINGUISHED CHRISTIAN STATESMAN OF 2008

Center for Christian Statesmanship honors Indiana Congressman

The D. James Kennedy Center for Christian Statesmanship (CCS) honored Rep. Mike Pence of Indiana on Wednesday evening at a dinner in the Cannon Caucus Room on Capitol Hill.  Dr. George Roller, Executive Director of the Center, along with the Rev. John Sorensen, President of Evangelism Explosion International, and Anne Kennedy, widow of the late D. James Kennedy, presented the Distinguished Christian Statesman award to Pence, thanking him for his exemplary conduct in public office. 

A Christian Statesman is one whose commitment to Christ and love of country compel him or her to stand for truth and righteousness in government. Pence is the thirteenth recipient of this award. Previous awardees include Rep. Marilyn Musgrave, Rep. Mike McIntyre, Sen. Dan Coates, Judge Roy Moore, Director of U.S. Office of Personnel, Kay Coles James, Sen. Sam Brownback and Rep. Todd Akin.

In accepting the award, Mike Pence said he had been greatly influenced by the ministry of D. James Kennedy.  "The Center for Christian Statesmanship is a model of faith in action - action which has been and continues to be a blessing to scores of Congressional  staff as well as Members of Congress,” said Pence.  "I am deeply humbled to be chosen as the 'Distinguished Christian Statesman of 2008.'  To join the company of those statesmen who have been chosen in the past is a great honor."

The Center for Christian Statesmanship is a part of the international outreach of Evangelism Explosion International, the first Christian ministry to reach into every nation on earth.  Sorensen said that, “the work on Capitol Hill fits perfectly into the vision of Evangelism Explosion, which is fulfilling the Great Commission and spreading the gospel to all people in this generation.”

# # # 

For more information, or to schedule an interview with George Roller, please call him at 703.899.4161 or email: roller@statesman.org.

News from Fiji...

This morning I received an email from our director of the youth work for Oceania.  He is in the middle of a two month missions experience for young people considering missions as a calling.  It is being conducted at our D. James and Anne Kennedy Center for World Evangelism in Fiji.  I'm copying his letter here for you to read.  If you know of any young people considering missions, this is a wonderful immersion course that teaches them evangelism and missions in a real-world environment.  Have them contact Langdon, Scott Carson, or Shirley Beattie for more information.

Praise God for Langdon and his team and pray for these young men and women as they seek the Lord.

Have a blessed day,

John

Hi John,

Thanks for your continued prayer for our group of young Americans and Fijians who are currently at our training centre in Fiji for 6 and a half weeks. They are a great group of young people, and in their first week have already been involved in learning about themselves, EE, theology and doing a service project in a local village. Please pray for them as they ask God the question: "What do you want me to do with my life in missions?"

One of our Fijian participants came to Christ last year. When asked how that happened she told how two girls visited her village and shared the gospel with her family and she prayed to receive Christ. It turns out those two girls (Emma Wade & Kelsey Cole) were part of last years Figtree Anglican Mission trip. Not only did she accept Christ, but wanted to learn how to tell stories that will help her share with her own friends, which she has been doing, and now wants to do it in a more full time way. Its a great reminder what God says about His word "..it will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it." Isaiah 55:11 

Please pray as we are doing our very first XEE workshop in Australia this week (Friday 20th / Sat 21st June) at Eagle Vale Anglican in Sydney. We have 5 churches participating and they will have opportunities to connect with the local community during the training. Pray it will go well and see those churches go and equip others to share their faith! 

Thanks & God Bless, 

Langdon

Your Testimony Counts

Yesterday, my wife sent me a link to a video on YouTube. The video is called "Cardboard Testimonies."  I'll embed the video at the bottom of this post so you can watch it.  It's powerful and moving.

It shouldn't surprise us that testimonies have so much effect.  The Bible tells us that we will overcome Satan, "by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony." (Rev. 12:11)

We in EE have long believed in the power of a personal testimony.  All of our products contain tools for building and sharing your testimony.  Literally millions of Christians have been trained to share their testimony through EE.  It's part of what makes EE so effective.

 In the coming days and months you will see EE develop some web tools for helping people develop their testimonies and share them with others. We're dreaming of a website where people can build their testimonies online and then share them by simply putting a link to their testimonies at the bottom of every e-mail they send. And if somebody reads their testimony, and goes into the Gospel, and makes a decision to trust in Christ, that person who placed their testimony online will receive an e-mail letting them know what has happened. 

This website will even allow people to print out business cards containing the link to their testimony that they can give away to friends. It's simply an effort to help people be more effective in developing and sharing their testimony with people that they meet.

Please pray for the web team as they develop this tool and I hope to have an exciting announcement about its launch soon.

May the Lord richly bless you this weekend as you worship Him and study His word.

Yours in His service,

John

Godly Dads

I find it interesting how events align.  This morning the devotion from Dr. Kennedy's New Every Morning (you can find it here) was on godly dads, in honor of Father's Day, which is coming up on Sunday.  In this devotion, Dr. Kennedy quoted James Dobson when he said, "I believe…that husbands hold the keys to the preservation of the family."  I couldn't agree more.

But as a husband and a father, I can read that kind of statement and feel a bit overwhelmed. Have I done enough?  Have I trained my children the best I could?  To be honest, there's some stress in this kind of thinking.

And to top it off, it isn't just Dr. Kennedy's or James Dobson's idea. This thought comes from the Bible and is found in Ephesians chapter 6 and verse four. It reads, "And you, fathers, do not provoke your children to wrath, but bring them up in the training and admonition of the Lord."

Karl Marx once said that in order to take over any nation, one must create a breach between one generation and the next, preventing the transfer of strong values, morals and beliefs. We've certainly seen this happen in our own nation. But there is hope. The Bible says in Malachi 4:6 that God will turn the hearts of fathers to their children and the hearts of children to their fathers. Fathers and children will bond together once again and we'll see these values imparted from one generation to the next.  Sounds wonderful, right?

But, as I said,  I'm a little stressed over the idea of of whether I've done enough in the upbringing of my children in the fear and admonition of our Lord. Have we had enough Bible studies?  Have we prayed together enough?

This morning I got up early and took my children to the Miami airport to leave on a week choir trip to Northern California. They'll sing in a number of churches and minister to people. They plan to assist in several ministries with some work days. Most importantly, they will build Christian friendships that will last the rest of their lives. And in the process, they'll have an opportunity to share what it is that they have learned over these past 15-18 years.  I pray that it is a wonderful week for them and that they will see the glory of God in their lives in a very real and personal way.

I think the key thing beyond teaching our children the Scriptures and living out the Christian life in front of them, is that we as parents pray for our children daily that the Word of God will not be merely words to them but will be powerful in directing their steps and giving a life full of joy.

So as we get ready to celebrate Father's Day this year, my prayer for all that are fathers is that we will be godly dads, passing on to our children the most important truths about eternal life that starts now and goes on forever.

May it be to the glory of God,

John

XEE Promo

Recently, EE launched a new version of EE for the Gen. X/Y age group called XEE.  It was developed by Gen. Xers to assist them to be active in sharing their faith in a very relational way.  You can take a look at a promo for XEE here:

New Website!

It's a pretty exciting week as EE jumps into the 21st century with our new web look (www.eeinternational.org).  I know that some people might be uncomfortable with what might appear to be boasting, but my heart is so full of gratitude that I can't help but tell you about it!

There have been a bunch of people who have worked have on this site.  The team leader for the crew is Tony Castro, our head web minister.  Tony is a great blessing to the ministry of EE and to me.

Mike Ferraguti is responsible for most, if not all, of the content.  While Cheryl Phillips did all the graphic design and artwork.  Richard Kalehoff and Joshua Sorensen (my son) have put in a lot of hours into the details of loading up every graphic and page.  Way to go guys!

EE is blessed to have a tremendous group of talented people.  And they make my heart cry, "Praise the Lord!"  I look forward to the coming days as they take the site out for a test drive and see what she'll do!  We plan to have podcasts, blogs, links to national sites, and more in the coming days.

If you get the chance, say a prayer for the web team.  They're doing a great job.  To God be the glory!

Yours in His service,

John