Come Listen To Michele Perry

We encourage you to come visit The Chapel on June 3rd @ 10:00am to hear Author/missionary Michele Perry. Michele is the author of "Love Has A Face" and is a missionary yo South Sudan. Come and have your faith stirred and your hearts warmed by this faithful servant of our Lord Jesus. We look forward to seeing you there!

What Do Angels Look Like?

Do you believe in miracles? Do you believe in angels? I don't know about you, but there have been times in my life when I have questioned if God really takes notice of the little things in my life. It was just a few days ago that I returned from South Sudan and the testimony I am about to share erased all doubt from my mind and I hope it builds faith in you as you read it.


It was the last day of the trip and we were in a hurry to get to the capital, Juba, for me to catch my flight to Kenya and make my way back to the States. We had struggled with our truck almost every day of the trip and it seemed like no matter what we did, our efforts were in vain. We purposefully rose early that morning to take the truck to a nearby mechanic to look over the truck before making the four hour trip to Juba. After a few major repairs, they assured us that we shouldn't have any more trouble and wished us "luck". I don't know about you, but I don't like setting out on a four hour road trip, in 100 degree heat, on rough dirt roads, in the middle of NOWHERE and have our mechanic wish us LUCK.

We had been on the road for a few hours when we started to feel the left front wheel start to wobble. We jumped out of the truck to check things out and noticed that three of the four main bolts which had been replaced that morning had fallen out and all the oil had poured out of the crank case on to the wheel and all over the road. There was only one bolt holding the whole wheel assembly together. We got back in the truck and decided to inch our way down the road. We were literally in the middle of NOWHERE, with no spare parts and no help. We were still 30 miles from Juba and there wasn't a person or village anywhere. As we crept down the rugged dirt road about only 100 feet, a small truck passed us with the driver hanging out the window pointing vigorously at our front wheel. He motioned for us to stop and he kept going.


When we stopped the truck, we were under the only shade tree along the road as far as the eye could see. Again, this was NOWHERE! As we stood under the tree, Global Response Network's (GRN) (My wife, Elli, and I founded GRN many years ago and currently direct it) field coordinator, Dickson Mutiso said, "Brother, what are we going to do?" Trying to sound confident I declared, "We're going to trust God, that's what we're going to do!" I said the right words, yet, I must admit I was asking myself the same question.

Within less than two minutes the truck that had passed us had returned. When the truck stopped, six guys jumped out and headed straight for our truck. Two guys were putting on coveralls while one guy was carrying a jack. Without asking permission, they started jacking up the truck and passing wrenches to each other. They did not speak the local language, so Dickson could only pick out a word here and there. We just couldn't believe what was happening. They worked as though it was fun and their expressions were almost playful. 


After about twenty minutes they lowered our truck and rushed over to their truck and began jacking it up. The guy who was driving the truck climbed underneath it and removed one of the bolts holding his wheel on. With that, he lowered his truck and vigorously began to jack ours up once more. He took the bolt from off his truck and put it on ours. He now had three and we now had two.

After tightening the bolts, he motioned for Dickson to give him the keys. He jumped in the driver's seat, started her up and put her in gear. He drove down the road, turned around and moved slowly back toward us. The other guys squatted down with their hands on their knees and looked intently to make sure the wheel was no longer wobbling. When he reached us, he put it in park and jumped out and threw the keys to Dickson. With a big smile, he gave us two thumbs up and started joking with his friends. Dickson then tried communicating with them and trying to give them money but they refused. I went up to the main guy and said "Thank you", he looked me square in the eye and in perfect English said, "God loves you!" I almost began weeping right there. 


I took their picture and then they jumped in their truck and took off laughing, smiling and waving at us. Dickson and I climbed quietly into our truck and sat stunned with tears in our eyes. Dickson turned to me and said, "It was a miracle. God is with us!" He started the truck and we made our way toward Juba. All along the last 30 miles to the capital, we couldn't help but just keep saying, "It's a miracle!" We made it to the airport with time to spare. 


I don't know what angels look like, but to us, just a few short days ago, they looked like six happy African mechanics. God was so kind to show us that He cares about the "little" things in our lives and He made it clear that yes, He is with us. 


So if you think God is too busy to help you, let this simple story plant a seed of faith in your heart and remember... God still does miracles.


By Tom Zurowski

A Wake Up Call

Persecution Report (April 2012)

There Is A Cost!

All I Have is Christ Animation from Grace in Cranberry on Vimeo.

The Revival We Need... Thoughts From A Weeping Prophet

“An astonishing and horrible thing
Has been committed in the land: 

The prophets prophesy falsely,
And the priests rule by their own power;
And My people love to have it so.” (Jeremiah. 5:30-31)

Though these words were written thousands of years ago, they plainly ring true to God’s people today. Jeremiah, the weeping prophet, could stand in most churches on any given Sunday and declare these same words and we would be forced to plead “guilty”.

My good friend Dr. Michael L. Brown once said, “The majority of what we see in churches across America is simply man’s best effort to make up for the lack of the presence of God”. How sad it is that his statement was and is right on.

Perhaps one of the most difficult things that church leaders do is discern the spiritual climate of the people they oversee and then listen for the voice of the Lord on how to steer them toward a deeper life with God Himself.

As church leaders, we are simply “friends of the Bridegroom” and nothing more. Our main objective is to prepare the bride for her wedding day with the Lord. We encourage her to keep oil in her lamp and to run the race set before her. We cheer her on to fight the good fight and finish the race well.

This is no "walk in the park" and perhaps this is the main reason why it is imperative for church leaders to live a life of prayer. The bride needs leaders who take serious the practice of spiritual disciplines such as solitude, reflection, fasting, study, worship and so on.  The church, once again, needs leaders who walk with God and who can teach others to do the same. If ever there was a need in the church today it is for leaders who know God and not just leaders who know about Him.

Today, more than ever, we have:

·      Christian radio and music

·      Christian movies and entertainment (even Christian comedians)

·      Christian books, audio books and magazines

·      Christian TV networks

·      Countless Bible teachers and preachers

·      Hundreds of Bible schools and seminaries

·      Thousands of children involved in Bible quizzing

·      Untold numbers of Bible translations

·      Untold numbers of Bible commentaries

·      We have an ever increasing number of Christian homeschoolers

·      We have Vacation Bible Schools without number

·      We have Bible studies galore

·      And countless home groups

Without a doubt, we know more about the Bible today than any other generation in history and yet our carnality runs as deep as the ocean. How is it that we have so many people boasting of theological knowledge, yet the majority of Christians live like spiritual babes? Our knowledge has produced more pride than purity. What’s the problem? I believe God’s words to Jeremiah may give us some insight.

“For My people are foolish,
They have not known Me.
They are silly children,
And they have no understanding.
They are wise to do evil,
But to do good they have no knowledge.” (Jeremiah 4:22)

Now, we could spend all of our time pointing out what is broken with the church (remember, finding fault with something is a cheap gift and everyone has it) or we could go to what I believe is the root of the problem: “They have not known Me.”  It seems that in every generation there is a need to return to God Himself. Our generation is no different.

As evangelical Christians we are so quick to declare that, "Christianity is not about religion, it’s about a relationship!” And then we spend the rest of our lives religiously reciting the “Romans Road” and memorizing scripture to back up the validity of the prayer we prayed to “accept Christ” (the miracle is that He has accepted us). But wait a minute, what about the relationship part? When do we get on with knowing Him and not just knowing about Him? When do we stop feeling like victims of false advertisement?

This is perhaps the greatest failure of the church and the very reason for our shallow living. The truth is that we can only give what we ourselves have. I don’t fault people, for to do so I would have to fault myself. For many years, I thought that Christianity was all about memorizing scripture and avoiding sin. Though I still believe strongly in both of these, I have come to understand that these are byproducts of something far greater. That’s right, you guessed it, the “relationship”. The relationship that I have with Him makes me hungry to read His word and reflect upon it. In fact, the more I read the Bible the more I understand where our evangelical statement, “It’s not about religion, it’s about a relationship” came from. The Bible is lovingly laced with verse after verse that woos, “Come know Me!”

And as for avoiding sin, it’s only natural not to want to flirt with my Groom’s enemies. I don’t want to sin, because I love Him and I want to keep myself clean for my wedding day. I don’t want to come to the altar with stains on my wedding gown. He washed me with His blood and clothed me in righteousness (I’m sorry to say that He has had to launder my gown with patience, forgiveness, and mercy many times).

It has taken me and my generation far too long to understand that God alone is enough. It is in Him that we live, move and have our being. I believe if there is going to be a revival, it must be a revival of knowing Him; a drawing near to the God who whispers to us in the secret place, “Come know Me!”

By Tom Zurowski 

Am I Defensive?