Partnership Team Building

Hello friends and family,

With more than half of the summer over, it feels strange knowing that I won't be returning to school in September.
This summer has been spent working part-time as a home health care provider and completing the application process to become an official staff-member with VVMI which I'm happy to announce has been completed.
This next year or so will be considered a 'training' phase that will require me to travel and become acquainted with our partnership organizations overseas while we work on developing a training program here in the US.
This means that I have started with building my partnership team that will be support me in finances and prayer.

A highlight of this summer was a visit paid by my supervisor during which we were able to finalize paperwork and the job description in person. Since he had his display along we were able to have my first display table set-up at my church and hand out prayer cards and pr-dvd's. This was very exciting but I was also a little nervous even though it was my own church! My supervisor's visit proved to be fruitful as he was able to be an encouragement to two of my closest friends here in GR who are an integral part of my support team.

I would appreciate your prayers as this is arguably the most difficult phase of becoming a missionary and I would appreciate your prayers.
A very specific prayer request that I have is one for a vehicle. Thus far I have been using my roommate's car to get around, but as I will need to do quite a bit more traveling for partnership building I will need a vehicle of my own. Please pray that God will provide with either the finances to purchase one or that one might be donated to VVMI.
Thanks for praying!
Zach

Baccalaureate whaaaat?!!!

Hello dear friends,

It's been almost two months since my last post, and for good reason, I've been busy getting graduated and adjusting to the 'real world'. So what's been happening lately?
The major prayer points for my life at this point are in the little prayer box to the right, but first of all you can praise God that He has provided me with an awesome place to live this summer. I moved in with a friend that I have grown very close to this past year. Our friendship is mainly based on prayer and though we aren't perfect at it, we experience the presence of God together as we pray, often while driving we will pray aloud for long periods of time. Praise God for times of fellowship such as these and His provision.
Not only has He provided me with a place to live but my friend has taken the time to teach me stick-shift and let me use his car! I have been learning more about cars in these past two weeks than I ever did as we have worked on upgrading his car with the (free!) help of a man from our church who just 'happens' to specialize in the exact type and model car my friend drives.

Another praise-worthy mention is that I was asked to speak and share a part of my testimony at the Senior Worship Commencement Service held in the Chapel (see the picture below). Praise God for the impact it had on the parents, students, and according to the VP of Student Life, the Board of Trustees as well. Pray that God would continue to use me to speak His Word in people's lives everyday.    

The past two weeks I have been in contact with the exec. director of VVMI discussing my hopeful employment and partnership-building for a trip to the Philippines in the Fall and longer-term, providing the Lord leads us in that direction.
Please pray as I will be seeking to build partnerships with churches here in GR and with whomever God 'zaps' to become involved in our ministry!
Meanwhile, I am job-searching for summer employment and continuing to be involved with my local church family here in G-Rap.

Lately I have been reading the book 'Radical' by David Platt and am challenged about how comfortable we have grown in our churches and that we have become less dependent on the power of God and more on programs and 'entertainment' to attract people. I recommend this book to every believer who is seeking a genuine and radical commitment to Christ!
I have also been challenged to think about the Great Commission to go and make disciples of all nations and how it applies to every single Christian, not just a select few. We are ALL called to be disciple-makers, yet we often feel inadequate or weak in our faith and limited in our knowledge to lead others. But that's exactly why we must! Because when we disciple others it forces us to take initiative in our relationship with God and others and seek to serve and grow instead of being content with our stagnant spiritual life.
So pray for discipleship opportunities. Remember, even Jesus picked merely twelve men to pour into for three years and look how the Kingdom has spread!  

Well, that's all for now.
Praise God and Pray without ceasing!

Zach Fisk

The Cost of the Call

"When Christ calls a man, he bids him come and die." ~ Dietrich Bonhoeffer

Give it all up.
Those four simple words still ring in my ears 8 years after first hearing them spoken by the Holy Spirit at a youth group meeting. We were asked to get on our knees and invite the Holy Spirit to speak to us, and I still remember doubting that God would choose to speak to me, surely there were so many other more righteous and spiritual people to speak to. I didn't doubt God could speak to people, I just doubted that He would speak to me.
And as these thoughts flitted through my mind's eye like a movie played at triple speed, suddenly those four simple words cut straight through and penetrated my soul. I was stunned. Had God really spoken? And if He did, what did He mean?
A cryptic message, one that I'm still learning to crack in my everyday life. But 8 years on, I'm seeing all the ways in which Christ has been beckoning me, and continues to do so every day.
Our journey with Christ is a step by step process, a continuous call to strip away everything that hinders. The initial call is bold, and our first response is often bold, like Peter who at the Last Supper declared he would rather die with Christ than betray Him.
But as we all know, Peter did end up betraying Christ. And like Peter, there are many times in our spiritual journey when we betray Christ, refusing to let go of our own life, our own safety and comfort, our own desires and dreams.
But Christ does not abandon us.
Boldly, once more, He called to Peter from the shore. This time, at the sound of His Master's voice, Peter jumped in the water, not waiting to row back. There, by the fire, Christ restored Peter to Himself.
Three times He asked him if he loved Him, until finally Peter was hurt by Christ's question.
Do you love Me?
Christ asks us all, again. And again. And again.
Our declaration of love must never cease. Each day anew Christ asks us, 'Do you love Me?'

Do I truly love you Lord? Am I truly willing to give it all up?
As I'm preparing for entering a life of missions, providing that's where God is leading me, I feel this question impressed upon my heart.
Lately I have been convicted of my love of self and my preoccupation with image. I have noticed that there is a certain image I am trying to portray of myself, a group of people that I want to be identified with. I want to be seen as a 'world-conscious' person. I take pride in my international experience, and the fact that I want to help people across the world. There is a certain appeal to missions that involves adventure, living in the rough, associating with the lowly, making a difference, helping the poor, living super-spiritually, etc.
To be sure, these are all good things and it's a good thing people are still being drawn to missions, but I question whether we are truly responding because we are being called by Christ or if it's the appeal of an adventurous life style.
 'Do you love Me?'

One of the most stirring letters in all of the New Testament is, in my opinion, 2nd Corinthians.
In it, Paul pours his heart out to one of his churches, the fruit of his devotion and response to God's call in his life. If you read it in its entirety you are suddenly hit by the emotional weight that the letter carries. Paul's letter is a desperate plea to be loved by those for whom he poured out his life. Yet, despite all he did for them, they did not reciprocate.
To a missionary, this is the ultimate blow. Christ calls, Paul responds and faithfully risks his life and plants a church, and then...they turn their back on him.


In a stirringly poetic portion of the letter, Paul gets carried away as he recounts the countless sacrifices he's made for them:
"We put no stumbling block in anyone’s path, so that our ministry will not be discredited. ⁴ Rather, as servants of God we commend ourselves in every way: in great endurance; in troubles, hardships and distresses; ⁵ in beatings, imprisonments and riots; in hard work, sleepless nights and hunger; ⁶ in purity, understanding, patience and kindness; in the Holy Spirit and in sincere love; ⁷ in truthful speech and in the power of God; with weapons of righteousness in the right hand and in the left; ⁸ through glory and dishonor, bad report and good report; genuine, yet regarded as impostors; ⁹ known, yet regarded as unknown; dying, and yet we live on; beaten, and yet not killed; ¹⁰ sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; poor, yet making many rich; having nothing, and yet possessing everything."
To those who are feeling led to missions, have we counted the cost? Have we answered the question 'Do you love Me?' with complete honesty?  
Where are you at?
Are you standing at the shore for the first time hearing Christ's call?
Or is Christ, after so many years and so many betrayals, once more standing at your shore, boldly calling like He did at first? 

Wherever you are, "I tell you, now is the time of God's favor, now is the day of salvation." - 2 Cor. 6:2


Grace and peace,
Zach

Springbreak Update

Mbote - ('Hello' in Lingala)

Lately there have been a lot of exciting things happening, and I will try to summarize some of what God has been doing.
Two weeks ago I spent my Springbreak with Colin Edwards, Executive Director of VVMI (Vernacular Video Mission International) as a sort of 'extended interview'. I appreciate all your prayers for this week, it went very well. You'll be happy to know I passed the 'dog-and-kid test' in that their dog liked me and so did their two-and-a-half year old grandson. Apparently this is an important part of the interview. Nothing is written in stone yet, but it appears that God has been working behind the scenes and moving other people to be a part of this exciting new process as well.
We discussed the idea of developing video production workshops in conjunction with local churches as a way of mobilizing and empowering the Church here in the US. The workshops would be an excellent way to reach out to the community and develop significant relationships as well as provide the Church overseas with more trainers in video production. Lord willing, I will help put together a 'prototype' program this summer with a church in Watseka, Illinois in June.
This is an exciting new step for VVMI and an answer to the prayers of those here in the US as well as many overseas who have been requesting more trainers in video production.
If this is where the LORD is leading us, then we are confident that He will provide the people with the necessary skills and resources to 'do the good works He has prepared in advance for us to do'.
So, please continue to pray for the opportunities that these video workshops would provide and for the 'prototype' training program that I will help put together and lead, providing God wills it.

Thanks for praying and partnering in the Gospel.
Grace and peace,
Zach

"And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, ² fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. ³ Consider him who endured such opposition from sinners, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart." Hebr. 12: 1b-3

Hearing the Voice of God

"When I said, "My foot is slipping, your love, O LORD, supported me. When anxiety was great within me, your consolation brought joy to my soul."
~Ps. 94:18

For the past couple of months I've been seeking His face, crying out to Him with outstretched arms and on my knees. But I always came away feeling dry and disappointed. I asked "Is the Lord among us or not?" I began testing God and quarreling with Him.

And finally, last night, God led me to this verse:

"Today, if you hear his voice,
⁸ do not harden your hearts as you did at Meribah, ^a]">[a]
as you did that day at Massah ^b]">[b] in the desert,
⁹ where your fathers tested and tried me,
though they had seen what I did.
¹⁰ For forty years I was angry with that generation;
I said, "They are a people whose hearts go astray,
and they have not known my ways."
¹¹ So I declared on oath in my anger,
"They shall never enter my rest."
~Psalm 95:7-13

Meribah means 'quarreling', and Massah means 'testing'. This verse refers to the incident in Exodus 17: 1-7.

Water From the Rock

^"1 The whole Israelite community set out from the Desert of Sin, traveling from place to place as the LORD commanded. They camped at Rephidim, but there was no water for the people to drink. ² So they quarreled with Moses and said, "Give us water to drink."
Moses replied, "Why do you quarrel with me? Why do you put the LORD to the test?"
³ But the people were thirsty for water there, and they grumbled against Moses. They said, "Why did you bring us up out of Egypt to make us and our children and livestock die of thirst?"
⁴ Then Moses cried out to the LORD, "What am I to do with these people? They are almost ready to stone me."
⁵ The LORD answered Moses, "Walk on ahead of the people. Take with you some of the elders of Israel and take in your hand the staff with which you struck the Nile, and go. ⁶ I will stand there before you by the rock at Horeb. Strike the rock, and water will come out of it for the people to drink." So Moses did this in the sight of the elders of Israel. ⁷ And he called the place Massah ^a]">[a] and Meribah ^b]">[b] because the Israelites quarreled and because they tested the LORD saying, "Is the LORD among us or not?""
~Exodus 17:1-7
Just like in this passage, I knew what God was saying all along but I chose not to listen because I wanted to hear what I wanted to hear. It didn't matter what God had done for me in the past, I was thirsty now, and if I wasn't satisfied, it's like all the things God did for me in the past never happened. It's like God never parted the Dead Sea because I was thirsty now, and I wasn't hearing from God now.

But God never forgot me, even though I had forgotten Him.

¹⁰ "You have forgotten God your Savior;
you have not remembered the Rock, your fortress.
Therefore, though you set out the finest plants
and plant imported vines,
¹¹ though on the day you set them out, you make them grow,
and on the morning when you plant them, you bring them to bud,
yet the harvest will be as nothing
in the day of disease and incurable pain."
~Isaiah 17:10-11


I had forgotten God the Rock, and no matter how much effort I put into bearing fruit, my harvest was coming up empty. I realized that no matter how much effort you put into your ministry bearing fruit, if you don't remember God and what He's done for You, 10-20 years down the line your harvest will be nothing. You can make an effort into having your ministry bear fruit in one week and yet fall short 20 years from now.

¹⁸ "You deserted the Rock, who fathered you;
you forgot the God who gave you birth."
~Dt. 32:18

It is God who gave us birth, it is God who fathered us. Surely He will not forget us, while we most certainly forget about Him.

How interesting that I forgot about God who is mentioned as the Rock. What happened to the rock in Exodus? It was struck and water flowed. (for more on God being the Rock see Dt. 32:4,15,18,31)
Well, we have a Rock as well that was struck and from whom water flows, and that Rock is Christ.

¹"For I do not want you to be ignorant of the fact, brothers, that our forefathers were all under the cloud and that they all passed through the sea. ²They were all baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea. ³They all ate the same spiritual food ⁴and drank the same spiritual drink; for they drank from the spiritual rock that accompanied them, and that rock was Christ. ⁵Nevertheless, God was not pleased with most of them; their bodies were scattered over the desert. ⁶Now these things occurred as examples^a]">[a] to keep us from setting our hearts on evil things as they did."
~1 Corinthians 10:1-6

All of the Israelites drank from the Rock and yet some of them died. I have to ask myself if I'm drinking from the Rock and if I have that Living water in me or not.
In John 14 Jesus talks to a Samaritan women who is thirsty as well and longing for Living water, wondering where she can get this water.

¹³"Jesus answered, "Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, ¹⁴but whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life."
¹⁵The woman said to him, "Sir, give me this water so that I won't get thirsty and have to keep coming here to draw water.""
~John 14:13-14
So, how can we tell then whether or not we're drinking from the Rock and not from an earthly well? The expression 'living water' also means 'running water'. Running water is water that is going somewhere, it is flowing. When there is a difference in elevation water moves, it flows, just as it did from the Rock. Water needs to move in order to give life and for it's nutrients to be stirred up and produce oxygen. Water that is standing still becomes a bough or a swamp, it traps and kills whatever ventures into it whilst emitting a foul stench.
Believe it or not, the Bible uses exactly this image concerning the River of Life, and God brought me there.

The River From the Temple

¹ "The man brought me back to the entrance of the temple, and I saw water coming out from under the threshold of the temple toward the east (for the temple faced east). The water was coming down from under the south side of the temple, south of the altar. ² He then brought me out through the north gate and led me around the outside to the outer gate facing east, and the water was flowing from the south side.
³ As the man went eastward with a measuring line in his hand, he measured off a thousand cubits ^a]">[a] and then led me through water that was ankle-deep. ⁴ He measured off another thousand cubits and led me through water that was knee-deep. He measured off another thousand and led me through water that was up to the waist. ⁵ He measured off another thousand, but now it was a river that I could not cross, because the water had risen and was deep enough to swim in—a river that no one could cross. ⁶ He asked me, "Son of man, do you see this?"
Then he led me back to the bank of the river. ⁷ When I arrived there, I saw a great number of trees on each side of the river. ⁸ He said to me, "This water flows toward the eastern region and goes down into the Arabah, ^b]">[b] where it enters the Sea. ^c]">[c] When it empties into the Sea, ^d]">[d] the water there becomes fresh. ⁹ Swarms of living creatures will live wherever the river flows. There will be large numbers of fish, because this water flows there and makes the salt water fresh; so where the river flows everything will live. ¹⁰ Fishermen will stand along the shore; from En Gedi to En Eglaim there will be places for spreading nets. The fish will be of many kinds—like the fish of the Great Sea. ^e]">[e] ¹¹ But the swamps and marshes will not become fresh; they will be left for salt. ¹² Fruit trees of all kinds will grow on both banks of the river. Their leaves will not wither, nor will their fruit fail. Every month they will bear, because the water from the sanctuary flows to them. Their fruit will serve for food and their leaves for healing.""
~Ezekiel 47: 1-12
(see also Zec. 13:1; 14:8)

This vision has, in part, been fulfilled by the arrival of the Kingdom of God which Christ inaugurated at His incarnation and ministry here on earth. It is yet to see it's full completion upon the return of Jesus Christ. (for more on Christ being the final, life-giving King see John 7:37)

But, when drinking from Christ, the Living Rock that was struck and from whom Living water flows, the water must continue to flow from us as well. If it stands still and we keep it to ourselves, we become a marsh or a swamp, a trap to all those around you and a foul stench.
But when the water is flowing, when we are sharing God's Kingdom, it becomes a River of Life that empties into a great Ocean where Life thrives.

To return to Psalm 95:1-7, the 'if' at the beginning is there not indicating that God might speak and you happen to hear, the 'if' refers to the condition of our heart. 'If' you circumcise your heart, you will hear Him.
I had to circumcise my heart before I heard God speak. I had to admit that I was taking pride in my humility and that I wasn't using my gifts because I was afraid I wouldn't be humble any more. Once I recognized that, I could hear His voice again because I chose to listen.

In summary, what we need to do is:

1. Listen to His voice and not harden our hearts. TODAY!
2. Realize that God hasn't forgotten us, but admit that we forget Him all the time, both in times of need (great thirst) as well as in time of blessing (when we're fat and sleek).
3. Drink from the Rock that is Christ.
4. Let His water flow from us resulting in a fruitful Ocean, not a stagnant pool.

And finally, I'd like to present the last piece of Scripture that was actually the very first Scripture God showed me.

⁷"But to each one of us grace has been given as Christ apportioned it. ⁸This is why it says:
"When he ascended on high,
he led captives in his train
and gave gifts to men."
~Ephesians 4:7

God gave us gifts to carry out His ministry, so don't let your hearts be hardened, listen to God, trust that He is speaking, trust that you have that wellspring of water within you and you will see it by the fruit that it bears resulting in a great harvest, not forgetting God and what He has done.

The Prayer Chapel

Luke 18:15-17

Just recently I was at camp Timber-Lee walking around on the grounds when I passed our tiny prayer chapel tucked away on the side of a hill that borders some woods. I felt compelled to take momentary refuge in the little sanctuary. Upon entering I was surprised to find the walls covered with drawings by Junior-aged campers. I was so overtaken by the sight of it that the dead silence and musty smell of the chapel didn't register until after a few moments. Leaning my walking staff against the single wooden bench I decided to scrutinize these taped crayon drawings more closely. A simple cross, a stick figure, and lots of misspelled words, all of them were attempts at worshiping God, and the question that immediately arose in my mind was whether or not we could really encapsulate God and what He has done for us in a simple drawing. How futile our attempts at worshiping God, how miserable our best efforts!
Yet, 'from the lips of infants you have ordained praise'. With my adult eyes I looked condescendingly down on the misspelled prayer scribbled in crayon, a prayer so theologically simple that it was almost laughable. Yet here was I, sitting in the musty, silent prayer chapel surrounded by scores of earnest expressions of gratefulness. It was at that moment that I heard God tell me: "Listen, I don't need your opinion, nor do I require your 'mature' form of worship. Stop trying to impress me with all your knowledge of theology. Though these little ones may be limited in knowledge, there is more authentic worship in this room than in all the halls of cathedrals and seminaries."
So there I was, sitting on the floor surrounded by crayons and scraps of paper. So I grabbed a sheet from the pile, crawled over to the crayon box and dug around until I had found my favorite color, green. Taking the blank sheet I stared at it for a moment, not knowing how best to approach this. I could hear my 'adult' mind start to insist on writing something theologically profound, but I resisted and simply put the crayon to the paper and wrote. What came from my hand was "God loves me" followed by a red heart and a green cross under which I wrote "I love God". Content with my handiwork I hung it on the wall amongst the others with some masking tape. Stepping back, I noted that one couldn't even tell that it was made by an adult male, it could have been a 5th grader for that matter. But even as I was noting all of this I suddenly felt a sigh of relief wash over me and a burden lifted, it was an emotion that I had not anticipated. I realized that of all my acts of worship, this one had felt the most genuine. Grabbing my Bible I turned to Luke 18:15-17 and read the words of Jesus with a renewed understanding.
"Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. I tell you the truth, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it."