About Us

Christview Ministries E-mail Update

January 31, 2005

Greetings from the Ozarks!

Some of you have wondered what it is like to start a ministry from scratch. Experienced hands who have gone before us tell us that the hardest part is in the beginning months. We aren’t going to argue. Here is a picture of what has happened here in just over a month since our first newsletter. We have:

We have been busy, but we have also been blessed beyond our imagining.

All this has been possible only with God’s help and your faithful support!

Judy and John

John Begins Mentoring

I have begun mentoring my first regular weekly Bible student, an artist wanting a solid understanding of Jesus.  I had to decide where we should start.

The first week we looked at a few selections from John’s Gospel to arrive at the understanding that the purpose of the Four Gospels is to enable us to receive new birth as children of God through faith in Jesus Christ.

The second week we looked at the first two chapters of Luke in order to see (1) that the conceptions and births of John the Baptist and Jesus were marked by the return of the Holy Spirit’s prophetic inspiration after a period of absence (Zechariah 13:2-6), and (2) that women (Elizabeth, Mary, Anna) were among those who prophesied. With the first two sessions, the student quickly grasped, as I thought she might, that the availability of the Holy Spirit is a vital part of the New Testament message, and that the Spirit might speak to and through her.

From the third week and continuing for as long as it takes, we will do a straight working-through of Mark’s Gospel, looking at Mark’s presentation of Jesus as, on one hand, “Royal Son and Anointed Agent of the Reign of God,” and, on the other hand, as “Suffering Servant of God.” We will also focus on Jesus’ message to his followers about servant discipleship, and we will discuss how the Risen Lord is present with his servants in their fields of mission. We covered only fifteen verses of Mark in the third week because we spent a great deal of time on the Old Testament prophecies that were being fulfilled. How exciting it was for the student to discover how much the Holy Spirit foretold through David, Isaiah, and Malachi in anticipation of the ministries of John the Baptist and Jesus!

I chose Mark as the first Gospel we cover in detail because it is action-oriented and succinct and because it serves as a foundation on which our study of the other Gospels can build. I felt that it offered a good match for the learning style of the student.

The sessions are free-flowing, giving ample opportunity for the student to raise questions and pursue applications of what we are learning. I plan the sessions to cover ninety minutes, but we haven’t come close to holding ourselves down to that yet.   

Judy Recommends Books on Christian Spiritual Life

This list has been updated and is now on our Website .

Don’t Forget the Dedication Service

Saturday, April 9

We hope that friends from near and far will all come for a special service of dedication. If you will need lodging, we may have space available here or can recommend other nearby lodging to meet your needs.How to get here: http://www.christviewmin.org/contact/index.php

Open House Was Helpful

We entertained 29 guests at our January 9 Open House. They came from Harrison and Rogers as well as from the Eureka Springs-Berryville area. We met some of our neighbors, learned about new resources, gained supporters, and had opportunities to talk about our ministries. Guests included members of Assembly of God, Episcopalian, Southern Baptist, Christian (Disciples of Christ), Christian (independent), and various non-denominational churches [Note: On other recent occasions, we have entertained Roman Catholic and Methodist guests; we expect that people of a diversity of Christian traditions—Presbyterian, Vineyard, Church of God (Anderson), Lutheran, Evangelical Covenant, Pentecostal, Mennonite, Anglican, Nazarene, Freewill Baptist, etc.--will relate to our work].

Board of Directors Meeting

Our first Board of Directors meeting was held January 12. Five of the six Directors and all three Incorporators participated, most by conference call. The Board elected Vivian Potee of Rogers, AR, as Vice-President (and designated her as acting President) and elected Bill Grant of Harrison, AR, as Treasurer. Following IRS recommendations, the Directors followed conflict of interest procedures and then employed John and Judy Turner as Executive Officers and agreed for Christview Ministries to lease facilities from the Turners. The Directors approved a 2005 budget of $110,000 and set a fundraising goal of $130,000. The Directors also discussed the philosophy of fundraising and the methods of handling funds. 

Finances

A number of you have asked about how Christview Ministries’ finances are doing. Christview Ministries has received $16,600.00 as of January 31. We hope to have raised at least $32,500.00 by March 31. Can we get by with less? Yes. Can we use more? Yes. But the goal seems a responsible one that combines faith and reason. Whatever ways you are able to help reach this goal will be appreciated.  In answer to your question, if God continues to act in the extraordinary ways that he has through people like you, the finances will be fine.

Adding Bedrooms

When we bought the property we intended to become Christview Ministries Center, the biggest need we saw was for additional bedroom space. The best place for two more bedrooms was a two-car garage on the lower floor. Three men from the New Palestine Christian Church, near Indianapolis, Indiana, volunteered a week of their time to get the remodeling well underway. We are greatly indebted to Mike Sams, Steve Glass, and Jerry Gimple for the time, expertise, energy, and resources they poured into this project. We are also extremely grateful to Nelson Stalnaker of First Christian Church, Harrison, AR, for working with them and for continuing their work approximately three days per week since. Our friend Warren Dexter of the Wildflowers Church in Eureka Springs added a day working hard on the project. And, of course, we cannot forget Warren’s wife, Sally Ann Dexter, whose famous baking and experienced counsel helped us feed the crew. In the first week, the crew planned the project, removed the garage door, framed, wired, installed drywall, and prepared the finish wood. No doubt, some of you will benefit from their labors and sacrifices. They brought this project within reach of our personal budget. We trust that it will pay off over and over in ministry.

We asked project director Mike Sams why people would give so much, travel so far, work so hard, and sleep so little, without getting paid. He said that he and his wife saw God’s blessing at work in our lives and in their own and felt that they were to help in making the work of Christview Ministries possible. Asked what it was like to work at Christview, he said, “We enjoyed good fellowship while we worked, beautiful sunrises and sunsets at the beginning and end of the day, and valuable learning experiences with Bible studies on several of the evenings.”

You Can Help Us with Our Website

One of the marks that will indicate when we have a successful Website is that it will show up on search engines such as Google. And one of the keys to our showing up on search engines is persuading other Websites to link to our Website. You can help us with this. Do you have a Website? Do you have influence over any Website? Clue: How about the Website of your church or Christian organization? Ask the Website host to establish a link to www.Christviewmin.org .

As we increase the content on our Website, it will become a more and more useful tool for churches. We hope that churches will be glad for their members to have easy access to it.

Keep Your Eyes Out for the Next Update

Our February Update will emphasize our new Website features. Watch for it.

It will have links to help you find what you are looking for.

Newsletter Subscriptions Extended

We appreciate those of you who have taken time to send newsletter subscriptions. All who by March 31, 2005, have subscribed to the Christview Ministries Newsletter and e-mail updates will have their subscriptions run through March 31, 2006.  Beginning April 1, 2005, all subscriptions will run one year from the time we receive them. In the meantime, the February e-mail update and the March newsletter will be sent free to as many as we suspect may be interested, providing we have their addresses. If you do not want these communications, just don’t send a subscription, and they will stop with the March 2005 newsletter. Strong hint: If you do want these communications, please subscribe. We have set the value of a year’s subscription at $15.00 because this is what we estimate it costs us to produce and distribute.

In order to subscribe, copy the form below, paste it into your word processing program, print it, fill it out, and mail it to us at:

Christview Ministries,

992 CR 309,

Eureka Springs, AR 72632.

****************************************************************************************************

___ Check here to receive the newsletter (4 print editions in 2005 and 8 e-mail updates)

___ Check here if you are not ready to subscribe but would like free copies of the next Update(s) and next Newsletter.

Name:___________________________________________________________________

Address:_________________________________________________________________

City, State, Zip:____________________________________________________________

E-mail address: ____________________________________________________________

Checks should be made out to Christview Ministries. Any amount above $15.00 will be credited as a tax-deductible donation to Christview Ministries.

 

****************************************************************************************************