Moving Forward In Ministry
Mag. Claudia R. Wintoch
February 23, 2002

 

 

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"Come, make us gods... Aaron answered them, "Take off the gold earrings... He took what they handed to him and made it into an idol... He built an altar... "Tomorrow there will be a festival... the people... [had] so become a LAUGHINGSTOCK to their enemies.(Ex 32:1-5, 25)
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Moses had been away for a while, up on the mountain with God, and Aaron stayed with the Israelites. When they come to him asking to make them gods, what is Aaron's answer - righteous indignation? Fury at such a suggestion? Or even the attempt to remind them of the Lord God, asking them to reconsider their request? No. Aaron IMMEDIATELY responds by giving them directions what to do and fulfilling their request. Aaron, who had been there from the very beginning, who had seen all the miracles the Lord had done in Egypt, who was at Moses's side when standing in front of Pharao, trusting in God's protection before this most occult, powerful leader; who was at Moses's side when the Red Sea parted, who saw the glory cloud and the pillar of fire. Yet, not a single objection.
What was the result? Israel became a laughingstock to their enemies. Israel had been watched on their journey by their enemies every single minute. All peoples feared them because of their living God who was mighty. They watched the Israelites closely. And now the great I AM had become a laughingstock to all peoples. God had been dishonored - because a single man, the leader, didn't care about Him and gave in to the people.
Today God is being mocked and laughed at by the people and religions of this world - we have made Him a laughingstock. His church, who is supposed to represent Him, has dishonored Him. Revival is about restoring His honor again, so that the fear of the Lord will fall on all peoples; so that they won't dare mocking the creator of the universe but fall on their faces crying out for mercy and turning to Him. Let's examine ourselves - will people who watch us have reason to mock the living God? Or will they fear Him and want to have what we have?

WORSHIP LEADING

Every morning before school starts at 9, we worship the Lord for an hour. We used to put in a CD, but a few weeks ago we started live worship two days a week. God then led the way, so that the second-year students do two mornings, and the first-year students do two mornings. That way I ended up leading worship every Tuesday morning - praise God. I immediately jumped at the opportunity! What a great way to learn and grow! My guitar class is over by now; the last few weeks having been a little frustrating because of the limits put on me by a classical guitar. I've been praying for an acoustic guitar now for a long time and God answered my prayer: in a few weeks a fellow-student will give me his when he buys a new one!
I've led worship two mornings so far. My goal is to lead the students into the throneroom of God, to see His glory come down, and He is faithful - when we draw near to Him, He draws near to us. I'm very excited to grow in this area!!

EVANGELISM

This is a totally fresh testimony. Many of you know that years ago God laid "Servant Evangelism" on my heart in a big way. I started going out with people and we did lots of great things, sowing seeds and showing God's love practically. By the time I left Vienna, the "Tutoring Club" (helping kids with problems in school) was the only part of this ministry left. People hadn't caught the vision and I had gotten weary. When I came to Kansas City, I avoided the subject of evangelism and pushed it aside. WRC has a pastor of evangelism and every Saturday morning they are going door-to-door. Well, since Christmas the church has been pushing for evangelism more and more. I knew all along that the day would come that I had to give in and go, but somehow I wasn't ready. Maybe I had subconsciously decided 'no more evangelism' when my heart's dream and vision died back then. Over the last few weeks it got more and more difficult to push it aside and I was praying that the Lord would make a way for me to get past this and come back to my calling. I didn't expect Him to answer that quickly.
Last night at the service, the pastor of evangelism spoke about the outreach the following morning. I closed my ears. Then senior pastor Steve Gray came back, one of the most wonderful men of God I know, and he said something about evangelism and your calling and future ministry. It pierced my heart to the core! Evangelism is gonna be a big part of my ministry and here I was in Kansas City to get ready for ministry... I had a hard time concentrating on his sermon as the Holy Spirit was dealing with me. I finally gave in and the Lord touched me powerfully, restoring to me the passion for evangelism and the lost. I felt like I was made complete again.
This morning I went out with the evangelism team. I was so excited - not only is it much easier to evangelize in America, but now I have more than ever to give! We had awesome conversions, prayed with people, and God touched them (one backslider said he was dizzy when we prayed for him :-)).
I'm excited because a new chapter has started - and I wanna go preach the good news, pray for the sick and brokenhearted and I know He will work and confirm His word as He has promised.

INNER HEALING

Last weekend I had the next training session for the inner healing ministry I'm about to start of in. As you know, I attended a 10-week counseling school that changed my life 6 years ago and I've always desired to move on and give away what I have received. Now God is opening those doors and I'm so excited to walk through. Last weekend I had the joy of being on a team with the leader and pray for people for 3 hours, seeing the Lord move mightily to set the captives free and heal people's hearts. Thank you, Jesus!

SCHOOL OF MINISTRY

One third of the trimester has already passed. What an awesome school, awesome teachers, awesome teaching! In our 'Spiritual Development' class we have to memorize Scripture verses every week, and I've been enjoying learning them not only in English, but also in Bambara and sometimes in Fulfulde (both major languages spoken in Mali). In our 'Luke' class we are presently giving a 5-min inspired speech - my turn will be Tuesday. The Lord has given me a great message to pass on. I'm so amazed to see how the Lord is changing me and making me more and more spontaneous, how He's making me more into a speaking-person (I've always been the writing-person), and how He's speaking to and through me.
I have lots of papers to write, and I'm a little concerned about how (WHEN) to accomplish it all. I've only just finished the first one (on the levitical sacrifices) - but I just LOVE doing them!

WRC HIGH SCHOOL

Our church has a school for its church members, all grades. I've been asked to help out there and will be doing so two afternoons a week. I love doing it!

LANGUAGE CLASSES

After Christmas I relaunched the French and German class and at first it was very encouraging to have a good number of people. Unfortunately one after the other left and now the continuation of the German class is questionable and three people are left for French class (2 families). I've invested a lot of work and time into them, getting hardly any return (financially). I thank God for the way He's provided for the February rent and tuition, but March is at the door and I don't have a single dollar (needing $440). Please pray that He will move people's hearts to give - and they'll be blessed abundantly themselves.

APARTMENT IN VIENNA

The never-ending... no, soon-ending story! In January everything fell apart and I was finally told by the house management, that I had to vacate the apartment and return it. The burden was on my Mum's shoulders. Thanks to my e-mails and word of mouth, people have come and taken all my furniture, electrical equipment, etc. with them. Some said they'd give me money for it - please pray that the Lord will remind them!
And then the Lord moved on a friend's heart to take care of the rest, which is taking away the trash and actually returning it. So if everything goes right, the February rent will have been the last one to pay! Thank God!

FINANCES

Please consider supporting the work the Lord is doing here in Kansas City - in me and through me - and sowing into the ministry He is preparing for me. I cannot do this without you guys. I'm not allowed to work in the US and I don't have any money or supporters.

Well, time to get ready for church... another awesome night in the presence of God that will change lives forever!

Come and visit - the guest room is ready for YOU!

Abundant blessings,

Claudia

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Mag. Claudia R. Wintoch
Linguist ~ Teacher ~ Translator/Interpreter (also via e-mail)
8488 Lane Drive
Kansas City, MO 64138
USA
(+1)816-353-6125
claudia@healing2thenations.net
www.healing2thenations.net
www.healing2thenations.injesus.com

Talk to me online - I'm "healing2thenations":
yahoo! messenger
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Your support - whether by prayer or giving - is greatly appreciated:

Europe: Bank Austria - bank number: 12000
account number: 509.101.468.00
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