by Aarron Pina | Oct 23, 2015 | Uncategorized
Every Year
This time every year, our church, (NPCC) runs a massive giving campaign, raising millions to benefit really worthy causes. And, I love to see what happens to the charities they support; unfortunately, we’re just not one of them.* Not a complaint. Just an observation… and a challenge.
The Consequences…
Every year after it happens one or two people tell me – “I wish I could have given Seasons of Life more, but I just gave North Point a bizillion dollars…”? Um… yeah, we only needed a few thousand…
My reply to them has to be “It’s not your fault North Point asks before I do!” My bad. I need to plan further ahead. Again.
So here’s me, asking you: before you consider the big guys (who actually do take care of a lot of really important little guys), would you set something aside for the cause of discipleship?
Would you consider Seasons of Life Ministries, the men, women, and couples we’re caring for, marriages we’re partnering to restore, the Clean Slate and That Day projects we’re nurturing to maturity, and our very family in your year end or even monthly giving? We don’t need millions of dollars to finish the year. Maybe only a few thousand.
In 2016, Seasons of Life may look very different – already scaling back, it may:
- Scale back even further to very part time while I seek a traditional job to keep the lights on. No problem. Whatever God wants.
Or,
- That Day and Clean Slate may transform into an engine that funds the non-profit side of people-care and biblical counseling.
But, those outcomes are in God’s hands, your knees, and your response to this appeal. My job is just to get the information out in a timely manner. So, here we are… Before you write a huge check to any huge church, would you cut a small one to Seasons of Life Ministries?
Our current giving need is always listed on the website, (just look for the menu tab in the top right corner under “Give Online”) or, you can give by clicking here. We hope to have your prayers and support however God chooses to move us forward. Thanks!
AP
* We are registered with the program for the first time ever this year, but have no way of knowing if we’ll “make the cut”. If we do – we’ll not only make a big, public deal of it, we’ll even refund everything we raised in affiliation with this post!
By the way, we have a friend who works for another ministry that is very bible based counseling, too. She’s undergoing chemotherapy right now and can’t work as much as she used to. If not Seasons of Life Ministries, would you consider supporting Anne’s work at www.woundedheartministry.org?
by Aarron Pina | Feb 9, 2012 | Uncategorized
The Big “However”
Several years ago, God called us into full-time vocational ministry. As most fans of Seasons of Life Ministries already know, His call was a touch vague: “be available”. Most fans will also tell you this has allowed me a lot of room to get into trouble – overextended, wiped out, overcommitted trouble. However, last quarter – 4th quarter of 2011, it seems like (and I hope, this is in humility) both Cristine and I were in full agreement with what God wanted us to do, more importantly what He wanted us to not do. We did our best to stay out of His way.
The Result?
In 2011, God used us to reach hundreds of people through one on one discipleship, couples discipleship, DivorceCare, DivorceCare 4 Kids, through existing environments like ONE TH1NG and Men Step Up, our Speak Life programming, and That Day production. This is pretty mind blowing to me as I type it, because while I know I’m a pretty high capacity guy, to see all of this done despite going through what we went through personally is clearly an act of God. Me? Not capable of all of that in one year. Him? Able to do abundantly more than all we could ever ask or imagine.
- For Q4, our goal was God sent – “only do what I tell you to do”. We were able to train two leaders for ONE TH1NG and several more for service at FreeChapel for their DivorceCare and DC4K program. But, again, only by God’s grace and not because we’re anything special. Totally “a God thing”. Goal met. As we’ve heeded God’s call to do less stuff for greater impact, He’s seen to this kind of impact:
- More important than the numbers is the depth of effect – to have a guy call me on the phone or text me to say “we need to get together” or “thanks, for your prayers” is a humbling honor.
- To see a man who’s been in the word, active in his church, and obedient in the marketplace finally break through the wall of “prays regularly with his wife” is a milestone. To watch a woman respect her husband when he’s not being respectable so that he may be “won over
- As we look at God’s mission for Seasons of Life “Realigning lives with the Way, the Truth, and the Life of Jesus Christ”, we saw a great ROM (Return on Mission) in last year – God repositioned Cristine to speak into the lives of women who’ve undergone emotional and physical abuse, struggled with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, and now is able to speak out boldly about how God has redeemed the abortion she had over a decade ago. God has widened her ability to minister to the broken because He’s God and “in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. (Rom. 8.28)”
- God has called me to begin the process of duplicating myself – in a few unique ways, He’s begun to bring that process to fruition as we’ve released a few leaders to shepherd others in pastoral care and men’s ministry. Where that may lead through the use of technology and improvements in our Social Media strategy is entirely up to Him, but we stand just past the threshold of 2012 with our ears open and feet “fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of Peace”. What does that mean? We’re awaiting His next orders and you’ll hear about it both online and offline.
