A word from our sponsor... :)

Hi friends,
As we begin the process of laying out our next steps for you all I wanted to include a note (below) that has been written from Jeff AND encourage you to go to his website and see more about what The Berean Way does. Thank you for ALL of your encouraging words... it has been amazing, confirming and humbling... we have the best friends, supporters and family anyone could ask for!


On behalf of the Berean Way, I am so excited to announce the addition of Tim & Britany McDonald to our ministry family.

Tim will oversee the newly formed position of Discipleship Coordinator where he will be responsible for overseeing all discipleship activities both in-country and overseas. This will include our extensive pre-trip training programs, developing all training & discipleship materials and managing the team's adjustment back home.

As the ministry has grown, our needs have greatly increased. My passion has always been the Bible and to provide methods to understand and apply its teachings. The other half of our ministry is discipleship. We have been praying for years, that God will send us the right person to lead this most important aspect. Tim is the answer to our prayers! I believe God has given him the passion, the experience and the relational skills to take this ministry to the next level of effectiveness.

Tim and I first started working together a decade ago to form a new ministry to provide opportunities for training future leaders to train future leaders. The two main sections of this ministry were Bible study and Discipleship.

Well, God lead us into different directions (post-church Scotland & unreached tribal villages of India & Uganda) for awhile. However, we discovered is that we were both striving to improve that concept that we had originally started when we served together in the youth group many years ago. Ten years later, we find ourselves joining forces once again to take that same ministry and expand it throughout the unreached areas of the world.

The possibilities are endless and I believe God will use our individual experiences, our relationship, our vision and our passion to make a tremendous difference in both the world we live in and unreached areas that we are yet to discover.

Because of you, many people have been impacted for eternity. I invite you to continue your support with the McDonalds and continue seeing the great work God is doing throughout the world. Praise God and to Him be all the glory! Jeff Valdes, President

{For I am} confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus. Phil 1:6

the journey...

John 21:21-22

When Peter saw him, he said to Jesus, "Lord, what about this man?" Jesus said to him, "If it is my will that he remain until I come, what is that to you? You follow me!"

It has been an amazing journey these last 8 years... much like a trail on a hillside that you can't quite see around. Oh, you move forward in confidence because of the God you serve but in your heart you know that anything is possible just around the corner. I guess that is the challenge of James - continually living a life of faith filled movement WHILE living and speaking humble statements of, "if God wills". It feels like the consistent lesson of these last couple of years has been, "you follow Me!" Wherever I say to go, whatever I call you to do... "you follow Me!" Don't worry about what others will say or what others are doing... "you follow Me!" Don't worry about how I will care for your needs (because I will!)... "you follow Me!"

And that's what we are going to do.

As most of you know, the past couple of years have been bumpy for us. After a tough season and de-commissioning of the Glasgow site, Britany and I have been in an extended season of processing the past, present and future (all the while carrying on with missionary life). This has included MANY conversations with mentors, family, co-workers, counselors and LOTS of prayer. In the midst of all this God has clearly confirmed that He led us from Scotland to San Diego for a season of learning and listening AND to walk alongside Rob & Laurie and help them shape this new site. Though we always knew San Diego was not a permanent move for us, this fall God began doing something in our hearts that seemed confusing yet powerfully true... He was remaking our calling.

So a couple weeks ago we sat down with Rob and Laurie again and shared what we feel is the beginning of a new vision for us and our family. It is a vision that includes moving this summer to a new destination (Portland, OR) and a change to our ministry focus (The Berean Way). But we are hopeful that this new focus will involve a strong relationship with NieuCommunities and CRM. It has been a difficult process/decision because we love this ministry and the people. Honestly, if God had told us in Glasgow, "Move your family of six to San Diego for one year then I'll be moving you on," we probably would have never done it. But we're so thankful that God didn't reveal it then because we know that this is right where we are supposed to be and with the right people to work through this next step in our journey. In many ways it feels like we have been experiencing what NieuCommunities seeks to do with all those we apprentice.

So what are the pieces to this new calling? Well, there are a number of them but the two most closely tied to our mission are:

1. Teaching, encouraging, feeding and praying with indigenous church leaders in hard to reach places (like the barefoot pastors in India). As many of you know, I have been working alongside my brother-in-law's ministry called The Berean Way for the last couple years. This ministry has significantly impacted who I am... and in the process, what I wish to do.

2. One of the great features of The Berean Way is that it takes "short-termers" into these difficult settings as well and gives them a taste of God's power "in the field"... forcing people to wrestle with themselves. We believe that we can leverage these experiences with the leaders who go on these trips and help them craft their own discipling communities and expressions amongst their neighbors. It is this piece that I hope will have strong ties to what we have been doing with NieuCommunities and CRM.

Rob Yackley (my boss) has written a brief note on our behalf:

Tim and Britany are great friends and trusted colleagues. They have been around from the beginning and have given so much to NieuCommunities. I'll always be grateful for that. We will miss them dearly here in San Diego, but we also want to see them serving from a place of strength. We will certainly feel their loss, but we also have a sense of release that feels healthy and right too.

We're looking forward to seeing what God will assemble up in Portland and we're hopeful that the community they form there will be part of the NieuCommunities family.

Peace
Rob

We are SO excited to see what God is going to do but we are also a little afraid and a little unsure - and that's OK. We are feeling that sensation of faith (being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see) filling our hearts... and that feels good. Would you pray for us as we begin this new journey? In the next days I will post some more specific prayers requests BUT, for now, pray for courage to follow Him as He calls.

Thank you all for your support and prayers!
grace and peace,
The McDonald clan

good perspective...

I saw this clip on Desiring God blog page... it is worth taking a look at!

The latest!

^{Matthew 28:5-10}

...the angel said to the women, "Do not be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified. He is not here, for he has risen, as he said. Come, see the place where he lay. Then go quickly and tell his disciples that he has risen from the dead, and behold, he is going before you to Galilee; there you will see him. See, I have told you." So they departed quickly from the tomb with fear and great joy, and ran to tell his disciples. And behold, Jesus met them and said, "Greetings!" And they came up and took hold of his feet and worshiped him. Then Jesus said to them, "Do not be afraid; go and tell...

Where does the time go?

It seems like it was only yesterday that we were enjoying Christmas with a house full of family and yet here we are with Easter now officially behind us! Because we enjoyed our service with our community on Good Friday and The Rock on Saturday night, we were able to spend Sunday as a family hiking in the hills around San Diego... we spent time praying and imagining that the hills we were walking were just like those Jesus and His followers walked those many centuries ago. I pray you all had a AMAZING Easter together with those you love!

The passage in Matthew is an amazing (if not confusing) piece of scripture. Earthquakes, angelic beings rolling away stones, terrified guards passed out on the ground and... misinformation?! Have you ever wondered why the angels (messengers from God) would tell the women that Jesus would meet them with the disciples when Jesus himself KNEW that He would see them on the path? Did the angels have the wrong update in their iphones?

I have a theory... Jesus couldn't wait.

So excited to see those that he cared about... those He knew were afraid and confused... he rewrote the plan. Does that effect God's sovereignty? No, not if He knew he was going to do it in the first place. But isn't that missleading... Once again, No, because God loves to grab each and every moment to teach us how love works.

Britany and I have been in a season of Jesus rewriting plans. It has been difficult and confusing AND just like the women in the story we have experienced some fear... and joy. BUT, that IS the process of life and understanding the mission that Jesus calls us to.

Would you PLEASE be praying for us as we walk through big questions. It is our goal in the next week to give more details... but for now, pray for wisdom, the Spirits guidance and increased faith.

Thank you all!

Road Trip

Hi friends,

As many of you know our community occasionally does short term experiences and invites friends and potential apprentices to join us for an experience. We call these times Road Trips. Recently we had one of those experiences. This time though we were able to spend a portion of our "Road Trip" actually ON a road trip to Ensenada Mexico. SO, Duncan, Celtin, McKenzie and I were able to spend the weekend working at an orphanage and talking with another community down there doing many of the same things... it was pretty cool! There are some great pictures and thoughts about it on the NC San Diego blog.

Check it out!

kids + Passion story = great questions!

Matthew 27:32-54

As they went out, they found a man of Cyrene, Simon by name. They compelled this man to carry his cross. And when they came to a place called Golgotha (which means Place of a Skull), they offered him wine to drink, mixed with gall, but when he tasted it, he would not drink it. And when they had crucified him, they divided his garments among them by casting lots. Then they sat down and kept watch over him there. And over his head they put the charge against him, which read, "This is Jesus, the King of the Jews." Then two robbers were crucified with him, one on the right and one on the left. And those who passed by derided him, wagging their heads and saying, "You who would destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days, save yourself! If you are the Son of God, come down from the cross." So also the chief priests, with the scribes and elders, mocked him, saying, "He saved others; he cannot save himself. He is the King of Israel; let him come down now from the cross, and we will believe in him. He trusts in God; let God deliver him now, if he desires him. For he said, 'I am the Son of God.'" And the robbers who were crucified with him also reviled him in the same way.

Now from the sixth hour there was darkness over all the land until the ninth hour. And about the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, they offered him wine to drink, mixed with "Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?" that is, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" And some of the bystanders, hearing it, said, "This man is calling Elijah." And one of them at once ran and took a sponge, filled it with sour wine, and put it on a reed and gave it to him to drink. But the others said, "Wait, let us see whether Elijah will come to save him." And Jesus cried out again with a loud voice and yielded up his spirit.

And behold, the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom. And the earth shook, and the rocks were split. The tombs also were opened. And many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised, and coming out of the tombs after his resurrection they went into the holy city and appeared to many. When the centurion and those who were with him, keeping watch over Jesus, saw the earthquake and what took place, they were filled with awe and said, of God!" "Truly this was the Son of God!"

Questions from today's reading:

Why was Jesus so tired?

Why didn't Jesus drink? How would he have drank from a stick?

What was Jesus a King over? What did He conquer? What does "conquer" mean?

How dark was it? Like night? What could they see?

Was Jesus allowed to say "My God"? Why did he feel alone? Why was he sad? Where did God go? How did God turn away?

Was the curtain as big as our house? Did God use scissors?

Was John there? Did the disciples die too? Was Moses there? (Not sure where this one came from... there was also some chatter about cutting peoples ears off.)

PRAY... follow up!

Here is a follow up from your prayers... THANK YOU!

Dear Tim & family,

thank you for your prayers for us,

we were warned and sent out of the police custody, and we were all forced by authories to get out of the town on the next day, We arrived here at ... on the saturday. All of our 8 peoples names were in the news papers all the 4 districts, and english papers also. They framed a news liked this religious vigorous group came from ... to disrupt the religious harmony in the local people

please pray for the pastor ..., who is the local pastor could not able to live in the town any more and he has to vacate the rented house, this week, we are going back on the tuesday to help him to shift the house to different town.

Again Thank you, for the prayers, all the charges framed against us were dropped and we have given a written note signed at the police station that we will not come back and preach the christian religion, any more at ...

thank you for all you prayers

with love in CHRIST
SAM

PRAY!

Acts 4:29

Now, Lord, consider their threats and enable your servants to speak your word with great boldness.

I was wondering if you might be able to find a moment today to pray for my good friend (and brother) Sam. I got an email from him this am saying that he had just gotten out of jail. Sam the Indian and an evangelist/teacher who I have mentioned on this blog before. He is married and has 1 son. Him and 7 others were arrested for preaching the gospel. Though they have been released on bail there is a group of people trying to get them arrested again and they have had to be "evacuated".

Please be praying for:
- favor from the officials
- protection from false accusations
- courage for Sam and his wife

Pray also that the peace and comfort of Jesus would be with all of them.

Mighty God who hears all things and knows the plans of men's hearts - I pray first that Your name would be shown to be great among all people and all nations of this earth through Your children. Guide Sam this morning with all wisdom. Give him courage and love from Your Spirit. Protect him, his family and his friends. Grant him favor with the officials AND with the people around him... turn his enemies into brothers. Make Your name great in this situation and guard Your servant from evil. We love you Lord. Amen.