Dear Family of our Lord Jesus Christ,
We all here in New Mexico are mourning for the Loss of Pastor Greg Griego, his wife Sarah and three of their 10 children, 2 year old Angelina, 5 year old Jael, and 9 year old Zephania. They were all killed by gun fire from the Griego’s 15 year old son Nehemiah.
Jesus wept…….. John 11:35
We see in Luke 19:41, that as Jesus approached Jerusalem right after the wonderful Palm Sunday reception He received, it says, “When he saw the city, he wept over it.”
He went on to explain that it was because the people of Jerusalem were blowing it and a day of reckoning was coming. It pierced His heart.
Sharon and are in mourning for the loss of the Griego family, as we mourn for our Country. Have we blown it for our children? What kind of world have we given them to grow up in?
Yesterday when I was preparing to leave to Preach in Los Lunas at the Open Door Church of God I got the news from Pastor Steve Stucker and newsman Peter St. Cyr It shook me to the core. I nearly vomited. I awoke last night gasping for my breath. We are killing our children with the world we have created.
Experience has shown this to be true. But after you walk through the storm in His calm, He brings the storm to an end – once He has accomplished His work in you. Those changes in you would only happen in the storm.
Thanks Karen Roberts
Sometimes God calms the storm…
…Sometimes He lets the storm rage and calms His child.
I have been through that storm, and I am better for it! PRAISE GOD!
“Many of the disciples dropped their nets to follow Jesus; we can hardly get men to drop their remotes to follow Him today. And then we wonder why we are not seeing more of heaven on earth and why our wives are not supportive or willing to submit.” Kingdom Man, Tony Evans.
Here is what Pastor Steve Stucker posted………….on the tragic deaths of the Griego family………
Heartbroken over the deaths of my Friend Greg Griego & his beautiful family! Praying for our Calvary family, and all who knew and loved this One of a Kind Man. His death will be a real blow to the hundreds of men in lock up, who he helped turn around through the love of Jesus. Pastor & Chaplain Griego set a high bar for each of us to reach for.
Newsman Peter St. Cyr sent this………..
Fire Chief’s statement on shooting victim: The Albuquerque Fire Department mourns the senseless loss of one of our spiritual counselors, Greg Griego. Chaplin Griego was a dedicated professional that passionately served his fellow man and the firefighters of this community. His calming spirit and gentle nature will be greatly missed. Our thoughts and prayers go out to Greg’s extended family.
James Breen
Fire Chief
Albuquerque Fire Department
Pastor Steve Stucker also had this to say today…………
Morning Inspiration: We try to live in such a way that no one will be hindered from finding the Lord by the way we act, and so no one can find fault with our ministry. In everything we do we try to show that we are true ministers of God. We patiently endure troubles and hardships and calamities of every time. 2nd Corinthians 6:3-4
Most people would be shocked at what those serving in Ministry (and their families) face on a daily basis. I thought I was pretty well aware of it before, but the past few years as a Chaplain & Pastor have really been eye opening. Please take time today to pray for your Pastors & Ministry Leaders, and especially their families. They are attacked repeatedly, in a wide variety of ways, including all out Spiritual warfare. For those of you Serving, take heart in these words from Paul. He stayed filled with faith all the way through…and with Jesus as your guiding light, you will too. Lord, help us to minister to others, in a way that reflects beautifully on you.
Great words from Pastor Steve.
I concur with Steve’s words about seeing more and more spiritual attacks. Love your Lord more than ever, Love on your family, treasure your family. Do not go to bed at night mad…..mad at anybody, make sure your Children, even if they are adult children, that they are safe in our Lord.
I continue my study of Sermon on the Mount aided by Pastor Steve Hickey. This is what I have been studying the last few days and it fits so well with what has been happening in America and just what happened in Albuquerque…….
Our society has become to hard headed, hearts are hard. President Lincoln said in the midst of his battle against slavery, “I feel sorry for the man who can’t FEEL the whip when it is laid across another man’s back.” I just look at some of the posts here on facebook from other Christians and get sad.
People become so callous and numb, they never let suffering touch them. Somehow many have bought into the lie that the better life is the pain-free life—that sorrow and suffering are not “spiritual.” I fear this lie has crept into the church. Somewhere along the line, we picked up the faulty notion that if you are filled with the Spirit of God you will have a perpetual grin on your face. That is not so. The closer we grow to Christ doesn’t mean the further we drift from the pain of sorrow in life. In fact, it is opposite. Jesus was a “man of sorrows, acquainted with grief” Isaiah 53:3. The more we grow into His likeness, the more we experience the pain and sorrow He experiences.
As we enter into the pain and sorrow of life, we become all that God intended us to be, experiencing the fullness of life that God has for us.
Our society vales freedom from pain and sorrow. Please read about the life of Paul and what he went through, and became the greatest Evangelist for our Lord.
Our society is an age addicted to keeping the good feelings rolling.
Yet, Jesus taught pain serves a purpose, that pain isn’t wasted in God’s economy. Jesus pronounced the blessing of heaven on those who “mourn.” This is the harder but higher road of the Kingdom.
The world’s beatitude is, “Happy are those who are never sad.”
Matt. 5:4 Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.
The “mourning” Jesus was stamping the blessing of God on was not just for mourning at times of death or physical pain. It referred to the times of spiritual death and pain when we realize our poverty of spirit, that we are bankrupt before God, spiritually dead outside of His mercy and grace. These facts pierce us to the core of who we are, causing spiritual grief.
In 2 Cor. 7: 8-11 Paul writes about two kinds of sorrow…….
Even if I caused you sorrow by my letter, I do not regret it. Though I did regret it—-I see that my letter hurt you, but only for a little while—-yet now I am happy, not because you were made sorry, but because your sorrow led you to repentance. For you became sorrowful as God intended and so were not harmed in any way by us. Godly sorrow brings repentance that leads to salvation and leaves no regret, but worldly sorrow brings death. See what this godly sorrow has produced in you……
We will continue to be in mourning for the Griego family, and for our Country.
1 Samuel 30:4 ESV
Then David and the people who were with him raised their voices and wept until they had no more strength to weep.
Let me leave you with this AWESOME News out of Minnesota! A Church EXPLODING at the Doors! bringing Salt and Light to the World! Being from Minnesota this is very exciting to see you! May other Churches EXPLODE in the HOLY SPIRIT! AMEN!
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Anthony Richards (center) campus pastor at River Valley Church worshipped with member of the congregation on Sunday Jan. 13, 2013 in Eden Prairie MN. River Valley is part of The Assemblies of God and it ranks as one of the fastest growing denominations in Minnesota.
Jerry Holt, Star Tribune
Assemblies of God tends to a rapidly growing flock
- Article by: ROSE FRENCH
- Star Tribune
- January 19, 2013 – 9:12 PM
Hands up and eyes closed, Ashley Ingram sways and sings along with the live band playing contemporary Christian music at River Valley Church.
The largest Assemblies of God congregation in Minnesota with close to 5,000 people, River Valley recently opened its sixth Twin Cities area campus, located near the Vikings headquarters in Eden Prairie, where Ingram and her fiancé worship on Sundays.
“It’s very emotional for us,” said Ingram, 23, who grew up attending traditional Lutheran services but now prefers the charismatic style at River Valley. “Especially the first couple of weeks we were here, I wasn’t used to it. I would cry at every service. The teachings just touch you.”
River Valley sits at the epicenter of growth in evangelical Protestant groups while the larger Catholic, Lutheran and other mainline Protestant populations slide. The Assemblies of God ranked as the fastest-growing religious body in Minnesota between 2000 and 2010, according to religious census data. The denomination gained the largest number of worshippers during that decade, increasing from 56,028 followers and 212 congregations, to 75,302 and 234.
The Rev. Clarence St. John, district superintendent of the Assemblies of God churches in Minnesota, says the growth is part of a concerted effort to “plant” new churches. Since 1990, it has started 134 new churches throughout the state, and plans to add 70 more by 2020. Twenty more should be added this year.
“We kind of have a church-planting fever,” said St. John. “I think it is our responsibility to spread the faith as much as we can. If we really think what we have in our faith is something that helps people live and prepares them for life and for eternity, then we have a responsibility to do our best.”
‘We’re the best-kept secret’
Senior Pastor Rob Ketterling established River Valley’s main campus in Apple Valley in 2000, when attendance was close to 500. That number now swells to nearly 5,000 every week, counting the new campuses in Eden Prairie and Burnsville the church started this past fall.
Ketterling attributes much of the church’s steady growth to an active ministry for children that attracts young families, vibrant contemporary worship services and a pastoral approach that applies the Scriptures’ significance to everyday life.
“People have said we’re kind of the best-kept secret in church growth in Minnesota,” Ketterling said. “We’re just finally starting to get noticed.”
The church raised more than $1.5 million for ministry projects around the world, he said. It supports a campus in Spain and is preparing to open a church and orphanage in Swaziland, Africa, in February.
“They [congregants] feel like they’re going on a mission to do something, that we’re here to change this world, and they actually feel like they’re making a difference,” Ketterling said. “Our giving went up 29 percent last year at a time when most churches would have been thrilled to be flat or barely above that. To me that shows people are believing in it.”
Ingram and her fiancé, Steven Claiborne, 23, started going to River Valley’s Eden Prairie campus after learning about it from one of the pastors, whose children attended the day care where Ingram worked.
Besides enjoying the contemporary worship style, Ingram says the congregation has been welcoming and hasn’t judged her and Claiborne for having a child out of wedlock. The couple also like the children’s ministry at the church, where they bring their 16-month-old son each Sunday during worship.
“Although they encourage us to read the Bible, it’s not just strictly teaching of the Bible,” Ingram said. “It’s taking a verse from the Bible and relating it to our life, and how we can use it in our life. So that’s what I think is really cool.”
A changing church scene
The Assemblies of God has seen significant growth in other states as well. It ranks as the third-fastest growing religious body in the United States, with close to 2.94 million followers, according to the census. Data for the census was collected by the Association of Statisticians of American Religious Bodies and includes statistics for 236 religious groups.
While the Catholic Church remains the largest denomination nationally and in Minnesota, its membership has dropped sharply since 2000. Minnesota had 1.15 million Catholics in 2010, down 8.7 percent from 1.26 million in 2000. The ELCA, Minnesota’s second-largest denomination, saw membership dip to 737,537, a 13.6 percent decline from 853,448.
Scott Thumma, a researcher at the Hartford Institute for Religious Research in Connecticut who helped compile the data, says evangelical Protestant denominations like the Assemblies of God offer a more expressive, physical kind of worship that’s dramatically different from the more traditional worship services of Catholic and mainline Protestant faiths.
The influx of Hispanics in the United States and Minnesota has also helped boost charismatic faith groups like the Assemblies of God, Thumma notes.
Sergio Aranda is senior pastor at Taller del Maestro, an Assemblies of God congregation on the East Side of St. Paul with a predominantly Hispanic membership. He said he started with about 11 followers in 2008 and now has close to 130. Minnesota’s growing Hispanic population — which numbers around 250,000, based on 2010 U.S. Census data — has helped boost membership in the Assemblies of God and other evangelical churches in the state
The big faith groups like Catholics and ELCA Lutherans “still kind of dominate the field,” said Thumma. “But these smaller groups — all the Pentecostals together, the evangelicals, the nondenominationals — are really filling in the gap where these larger groups traditionally very prominent are in fact losing dramatically.
“It’s only a matter of time before the balance of power really changes. At the very least what it does is take something that was very homogenous … and it’s making it much more diverse. For some place like Minnesota, that’s pretty dramatic.”
January 21, 2013. You are at a critical point in your life. Where you are right now physically is the result of past decisions you or others have made. Very important assessments lie in front of you. As in times past, you have the choice to accept or deny opportunities set before you. Seek Me first. Search for wise counsel. Strengthen yourself deeper into My word. Consider fasting with proper humility for the fast approaching times ahead of you. Know that testing will come your way at a rapid pace. Prepare your heart and mind wholeheartedly. Satan is about to test you in surreal areas. My Spirit will guide you at every junction.
Matthew 4:1 (NKJV) “Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil.” Kevin Robinson
I leave you with this, Along with the Griego family and our Country please keep Karen Rowe and Jolene in your prayers.
We also ask for prayers for our little Reno who goes to the Vet today. He has a growth.
For God’s Glory Alone in the Love of our Lord Jesus Christ, Dewey Sharon and Family
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