During Ponraj’s recent trip to Tucson and Pantano Christian he told us about how God grabbed his attention while traveling through the Los Angeles airport. Are you bargaining with God for the people he has sent you to tell about Jesus?

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Thanks to everyone who helped to Make a Difference in Southern Arizona on Make A Difference Day 2007!.

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Kirstie Leonard in her own words:

For the first few years of our marriage, my husband and I were focused on each other and our careers.  We were not attending church regularly, and neither of us had a relationship with Christ, although we both believed in Christ, and I had been confirmed in the Catholic Church at age 17.  When I got pregnant, we were ecstatic, if not a little scared.  I was blessed with an uncomplicated pregnancy and birth, but it was a few weeks after we brought our beautiful little boy home that things began to change.  Austin had really bad colic, and neither Brent or I were getting more than a couple hours of sleep each night.  I had to return to work when Austin was two months old, and it was the hardest thing I had ever done, I cried for the entire hour and 15 minute drive to work.  Austin’s colic continued, and I was trying to work on 2-3 hours of sleep.  Brent and I were getting frustrated and not talking like we used to.  When Austin was 4 months old, Brent and I made the snap decision for me to quit work and become a stay at home mom.  I loved being home with my son, but I started to resent Brent because he got to go to work and have adult conversations, while I was stuck at home with a colicky, fussy baby.  We had  no family or friends in the area, as we had moved just before I got pregnant, and the friends I had made had all been at my work.  Brent started to play sports as an outlet for his frustration, but I had no outlet, for which I started to resent my husband even more.  Brent and I were hardly talking anymore, it seemed we either yelled at each other or just ignored each other. 

My sister-in-law told me about MOPS, so I went on the web-site and found a group just 12 miles from our house in rural Colorado.  The first day I showed up, dropped Austin off in the MOPPETS child care rooms, and walked tentatively into a large room full of chattering women, where I was immediately welcomed into the group.  I was stunned to find so many women struggling with the same issues as I was.  Through this wonderful group of women, I was re-introduced to Christ, and learned the power of prayer in healing my own heart.  Within weeks, I started to see a change in myself, I had more patience with Austin, I wasn’t snapping at Brent anymore, Brent and I started talking again, and I was happier with myself.

At MOPS, I learned all kinds of useful things, from child CPR, to child and mom nutrition, xeriscape landscaping, and how to make beautiful inexpensive Christmas gifts and crafts I could do with a one year old.  I also learned that I had a heart to serve other moms.  In my MOPS group in Colorado, I began to serve as the Publicity Coordinator, which involved raising funds with, and writing our monthly newsletter, making a photo directory of our members and keeping up the contact list, as well as reporting to the Steering Team, and being a liaison with our Chartering Church.  When my husband and I decided to return to Tucson for a better quality of life, and a less stressful job for him, I was sad to be leaving the wonderful friends I had made at MOPS, but excited about the chance to meet moms in a new MOPS group. 

To our surprise and delight, after being in Tucson for just 3 weeks, I found out I was pregnant with our second child.  This pregnancy was harder on me, and my only mistake during this time was not finding a MOPS group to join.  Then one day when our second son, Joshua, was about 4 months old, a friendly woman in McDonald’s started talking to me.  Her children were older than mine, but we were still able to share stories and talk while our children played together.  This wonderful woman, I don’t remember her name, but I remember her has my Tucson Angel, invited me to her MOPS group!  I went, and as soon as I walked in the door, I felt at home, as if a great weight had been lifted from my shoulders.  Again, I found myself in a room full of chattering women, and was once again welcomed with open arms for who I was; a mom on the edge.

The women I have met at MOPS have truly been the answer to my prayers.  God has brought strong Christian women to me  who have come along side me to be my cheerleaders in my walk with Christ, friends I can call on with the littlest problem, or a major life issue, friends who are willing to babysit so I can go shopping all by myself, or have a night out with my husband, friends who can help answer all my child-rearing questions, or at least tell me their stories so I know I’m not the first mom to go through this.  Because of MOPS, Brent and I started looking for a church where we felt comfortable, where we would find friends to walk the narrow path with, and a place where we could grow in Christ.  Through a dear friend God brought to me at MOPS, we found Pantano Christian Church, and have found a home here.

When Pantano wanted to start a new MOPS group, I jumped on board with joy in my heart!  Now I would be able to serve other moms again!!!  I started out as the Publicity Leader, but now am the Finance Team Co-Leader.  MOPS has given me the perfect place to use the talents God gave me, to serve other moms, and help lead moms on the edge to a closer relationship with Christ.  MOPS has taught me so many things from practical issues such as  biblical discipline techniques, budgeting, living happily on one income, to more serious topics such as how to rediscover the intimacy in my marriage, how to balance being a woman, wife and mother, how to talk to my children about molestation and inappropriate behavior, and becoming the woman God intends for me to be.  MOPS has so many resources for it’s members in the form of the other moms, speakers, books, weekly emails, bible studies, and leadership training opportunities, there truly is something for EVERY mom with young children.

I know that MOPS has helped me to become the wife, mom, and woman I am, and that I  wouldn’t have the strong marriage and the Mom-abilities I do if it weren’t for MOPS.  MOPS has literally saved my life, my husband’s life, my children’s lives, and my marriage.

Kirstie Leonard on Video:

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In 2005 there were almost 500 refugees resettled in Tucson, 2100 in the state of Arizona, and as many as 70,000 across the entire US. They come from countries like Africa, Iraq, Iran, and most recently Russia and Cuba. Some of them speak English. Most of them are Muslim. Many have lived through terrible trauma. All of them need to hear about the hope of Jesus and see His love in action.

Most refugees have suffered from terrible trauma. Add to that being moved to a new country with a totally foreign culture – away from family and anything familiar. Does that sound difficult?

A life group here at PCC is reaching out to love our new neighbors to Jesus. The Refugee Outreach Life Group is active in helping refugee families assimilate to life in the US. This includes simple activities like teaching them how to grocery shop, open a bank account, take them to appointments, help them learn English.

For more information contact:  Frank or Caroline Martin

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I got up this morning dreading the day ahead of me. I have been working so much for the past three weeks, I have lost my way. I can’t feel happiness or sense God’s love. I can’t read or pray. I get done with work and many nights I fall asleep on top of the covers fully dressed.

It came to a head this morning, I was despairing more than I can remember. I made myself eat breakfast and shave. I was driving to work to work on a machine that I had already put 70 hours into and had no idea what was wrong with it still.

I came to a stop light at the corner of Broadway and Wilmot in Tucson and there were two young people, a girl maybe 18 and a man maybe 22. They were hurrying to pull bottles of water from a cooler stationed in the median of the road. They had a sense about them. I tool a bottle and thanked the girl. She said, “God bless you.” She handed me a card and it said, “Just for you, just because…We hope this small gift brightens your day. It’s just our way of saying, “God loves you – no strings attached.””

I began to cry. I felt God’s love again. You really can tell a Christian by their love. That simple gift of water changed me and my feelings of despair were vaporized.

I went to work and poured myself into this miserable machine. I worked hard focusing on what I was doing and noticed a small part not moving smoothly. I put a drop of oil on the slide and the machine has worked since. I had already replaced 5 major assemblies and had run out of ideas and hope. A Q-tip and a drop of oil fixed my problems. But it started with a gift of water. For it healed my spirit and gave me the strength to press on.

Thank You Jesus

This man went on to explain to me that the peace he found from that bottle of water continues to this day. He recently had surgery to remove a blockage in his heart but he was able to lean on God in a way he was not able to before Serve Tucson. The world is a different place for this man from Mesa - way to go Pantano!

Praise God !!!!!

Karen had the vision to start this group back in 2002 before Life Groups were even popular at Pantano.  She was looking for a place to gather women to share ideas and resources in creating scrap book pages.  She looked at libraries and other places to gather people for no cost.  This was around the time that the PCC facility expansion was being completed and Pastor Coop challenged Pantano with “What are we going to do with these new buildings to love people to Jesus?”  Karen had a great idea!

Karen’s group began meeting in the Modulars and 15 women attended their first scrapbooking night.   The group meets on a Friday night once a month with other special events planned throughout the year.    It was not long before the group outgrew the modulars.   Karen has 250 women on her mailing list and an average of 65 women attend the Friday night events which take up every inch of the PCC volleyball court!

The group has become an incredible outreach to our community.  Approximately 25% of the group are PCC attenders.  The other women have found out about the group primarily through word of mouth.  Women have been invited to the group while shopping for supplies at Michael’s and other craft stores in Tucson.

The group values grace and lives it out in their attitude of sharing and fellowship.   Many of the women are surprised to find out that there is no charge to be part of the group.   Others ask “It’s ok if we don’t go to church here right?” as they are welcomed in with open arms.  The group sets up a special table that the women use to swap magazines and other resources for free.  The women share their tools and supplies freely and Karen told me that she has never had anything stolen but sometimes tools are broken due to overuse, which most of the time are replaced with a new tool the next week!

The group has also become a place where people are finding God.  The group does not hold a Bible study or prayer time during their meetings.  However, new women are often invited to attend other events at PCC, for example mothers with young children are invited to MOPS.  Several of the women in the group have started a Monday night Bible Study through which they spend 30 minutes studying the Bible and then the rest of the time making a scrap book page related to the lesson.

The Apostle Paul wrote to Titus that older women are to teach younger women to love their husbands, to love their children and to be wise and pure.    Karen explained that one night a divorced mother of two who was struggling asked if she would pray with her in private.  After they prayed Karen introduced her to another woman, a grandmother that was in the group.   Karen later found that they had become great friends and that they shared similar stories and the grandmother was able to offer her support and advice for dealing with her struggles.

God is working through this group of women who get together each month to  cut paper.   Grandmothers, mom’s and daughters of all ages are sharing life together and sharing their journeys with God.   Jesus truly has been found cutting paper!

In 2001 Dennis and Lucy began attending Pantano Christian Church and quickly became involved in the Mexico life group. In June 2004 they took a trip to Penasco, Mexico to build homes and God began to work on their hearts. A few months later they returned to Mexico with Dave and Patti Piper and met several of the local Pastors and ministry leaders who call themselves “Samaritans.” They fell in love with the Mexican people and began to pray how God could use them in greater ways to share His love in Mexico.

Dennis explains that God had blessed them financially through their home business to enable them to begin their mission to Mexico. Being self-employed allowed them to set their own schedules and give them the time they needed to take trips to Mexico. They soon purchased an RV and stored it at the Playa Bonita RV park in Mexico to live in on their weekend trips. Through these trips God began to reveal how they could be his hands and feet to assist the local “Samaritans” in their ministry.

In 2006 they began to see how their home business was getting in the way of mission work or was it the mission work getting in the way of the business? They knew something had to go and they decided it was time to sell the business and focus full time on their mission in Mexico. They were told it would take at least two years to sell the business and they would need to lower their asking price but when God is involved big things happen and the business was sold for their asking price within 4 months.

Now able to focus all of their time and energies into their mission they have created a non-profit agency Manos De Dios, which means the hands of God, to support the mission. Dennis explains that their mission is to get their hands dirty and the feet dusty as they support the “Samaritans” in Mexico. Following the advice of the Samaritans, they have worked together on building relationships with the people in Mexico as they discern their spiritual and physical needs and put together a plan of action on how to best meet those needs. They have built credibility and trust among the people through being there in the freezing cold and extreme heat as well as the more mild touristy times of year.

Working alongside the local church through the leadership of the Samaritans they have been able to make a huge difference in Mexico. They have started two new food banks in El Diamonte and Desomboque and support three others in Penasco. They have provided clothing and blankets for prisoners to stay warm in the winter and continue to provide food and plastic cups. They are working to open a library and at the request of the prison warden are planning to create a medical team to provide medical care at the prison. Lucy has been active in the women’s prison leading Bible studies and providing clothing and feminine products which are not provided by the prison.

Recently Dennis was able to purchase a 2001 bus with 65K miles for only $5500 at a local auction. Dennis raised the funds literally overnight through the support of the Mexico missions and Serve and Be Served life groups. The bus was donated to Pastor Ruben who plans to use the bus as a part of his youth ministry. The youth plan to travel throughout northern Mexico ministering to other youths and sharing the love of Jesus Christ.

God has truly blessed Dennis and Lucy and their desire is to be a blessing to the people of Mexico. This spring, along with the Serve and Be Served life group, they will be building another house for Pastor Manuel that will also be used for his church. They are also planning to build a community center to provide a safe place for children and youth to meet and for people to create and sell goods. They have a dream of providing a mobile medical vehicle and are investigating potential micro-enterprise projects.

Dennis and Lucy’s passion for the people of Mexico is making a difference in the world! To find out how you can support their mission, visit their website www.manosdedios.org

View Dennis and Lucy’s launch video here:

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Okongo’s journey to Tucson began in 2001 when Pantano member Shauna MacFarlane took a short-term mission trip to East Africa. Shauna worked alongside Okongo on her mission and for the next three years Okongo and Shauna traveled back and forth cultivating their relationship. On November 5, 2004 they were married at Pantano by Pastor Tim Coop and they chose to follow wise counsel and stay in Tucson for the next three years to focus on growing their marriage before returning to the mission field Okongo and Shauna have an adorable 13 month old daughter Victoria and they are expecting their second child in March.

Okongo and Shauna are praying and preparing to return to the mission field in Africa possibly later this year. Okongo recently returned from an exploratory trip in nothern Ghana to the Hausa people group and discovered that God opened doors in a very big way for he and Shauna to begin a church planting movement. During this trip God opened doors for Okongo to meet the local Islamic Imam and speak about God in their mosque. Okongo’s trip was an incredible act of faith and an inspiring work of God. (Hear more about this trip on Sunday Jan 14 at 1:30pm in Mod-E) Okongo also continues to support his ministry to 36 orphans in Kenya which is currently being overseen by his brother and will be a big part of their ministry in Africa.

Okongo has had many very personal experiences with persecution throughout his 16 years as a missionary. He believes that the only reason he is alive today is his humility, brokenness and complete surrender to God. He explained that God works uniquely in every place and situation and we can not expect that what worked in one place will work everywhere. He has learned to be humble and allow God to use him however God needs him in whatever way God chooses to uses him.

I asked Okongo to compare how he is able to talk to people about God in Africa to that of Tucson. He explained to me an interesting phenomenon. He has noticed that when he is dressed as an American, in a polo shirt for instance, that people rarely approach him. However, if he wears his native African dress to a local store in Tucson people automatically assume that he is a Muslim and will begin speaking to him about Jesus and their Christian faith without realizing that he is a Christian pastor. Okongo’s experience challenges me to consider how presumptuous I am in assuming that the people in the local stores I frequent know God because they dress like me and are often more polite than I am. How humble and broken am I to allow God to use me in my grocery store?

Okongo is very excited to be part of PCC because we are not just about bringing people to church but about meeting people where they are at. He believes that PCC is making a difference in Tucson and the world. His encouragement to PCC is to remain humble and obedient to God and to watch where God is leading us both locally and globally. Okongo and Shauna are asking PCC to continue to pray that they keep dieing to Christ and that God will grant them wisdom, understanding and the knowledge they need to continue to love people to Jesus.

On Sunday January 7 we will celebrate the ministry of Tim and his wife Sandy and the impact they have had on PCC as our Senior Pastor. You can’t help but think about Tim and picture him with his arms spread wide reaching out to everyone. Some have tried to avoid getting a hug from him but few have succeeded. How many of us have warned a visiting relative or friend that if they meet Tim he will hug them? Our friend at first says “no way is anyone hugging me” but then Tim approaches with arms open wide and you can’t help but to melt in his embrace.

Many of us know Tim for his preaching and teaching. Tim has a deep longing to teach the word of God in relevant and meaningful ways. Tim is arguably best known for his teaching on transformation and his stories of stripe and yellow. Just how many of our lives have experienced life changing transformation from Tim’s messages? His messages end with “So What?” because he doesn’t just want us to gain knowledge but to gain wisdom that will transform our lives.

Tim has also had an impressive impact on people around the world. Tim has been to the Ukraine countless times teaching and encouraging local pastors to be bold for Christ. Tim is the leader of the Peru life group and he has a desire to see a powerful church planting movement transform the people of Peru! He has been to Africa and most recently I had the privilege of traveling with Tim to India. I discovered that Tim loves to travel and is willing to eat anything (and I do mean anything!) and that on the mission field he finds incredible life and energy to boldly proclaim the good news of the transformed life found in Jesus Christ.

Tim is also a grace-filled leader. He has helped to mentor countless pastors and Christian leaders throughout his tenure as Senior Pastor. I think of incredible people and men of God like Tim Brock, Steve Shaw, Jonathan King, Tim Brown, Mike Blevins, Chris Reed etc. etc. etc. Tim is a leader who empowers and encourages the people around him to become all that God has designed them to be. Tim’s leadership has never been about him but always solely focused on what is best for the kingdom of God.

The leadership transition that we are witnessing this weekend is unique. It is the culmination of a three year process through which Tim has poured his knowledge, experience, grace, love and encouragement into Glen Elliott. How many churches (how many companies?) could effectively transition the top leadership position so gracefully without a hint of ego? This transition is a model for the world and is only possible because of the heart of a great man of God!

Video:  Tim as our Senior Pastor 1992-2006

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Video: Launching Tim into the Community January 7, 2007

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