The Cost of Dreams

Proverbs 29:18 Where there is no revelation, the people cast off restraint; but blessed is he who keeps the law. (NIV)

Proverbs 29:18 Where there is no vision, the people perish: but he that keepeth the law, happy is he. (KJV)

Definition of Vision: khawzone (Hebrew) – sight, a dream, revelation or oracle, to have a vision of- behold, see.

This past week in Phoenix was nothing less than amazing as we saw 6 dreams come true! Our God powerfully worked as we saw 5 new disciples baptized, one fallen away sister restored and 114 in attendance! It was so moving to see two families have God “turn the hearts of the fathers to their children, and the hearts of the children to their fathers” Malachi 4:6 as Julia was baptized and then Judy was baptized. Julia is the daughter of Mark Garrido and had been separated from him for years due to many consequences of sin and has been restored to him as a daughter and now even a sister in Christ! She had felt nothing for Mark most of her life but hatred and even thought of him as evil. Amazingly, she had never told Mark that she loved him until Sunday morning right before she was baptized. Julia moved in with Mark’s new family a few months ago and was amazed at this “new Mark” that she had never seen before. After a few weeks, she was moved to begin studying the Bible because she saw the radical changes in her father. All of us were in tears Sunday morning as she said, “Mark (dad), this is the first time I have ever said this- I love you.” Right afterwards she said, “Jesus is Lord”, and was baptized!

Julia Garrido is baptized by her father

Mark and Cherise Schnieder.

A few minutes later, after 3 more awesome baptisms of Melissa, Alphonso and George; Judy was able to share from her heart about how God had been working on her for quite some time. Judy had been a member of some other churches in town for many years and yet said, “I called myself a Christian but didn’t do a cotton-picking thing for God.”

Chris Chloupek joyfully baptized his mom

Judy Morris this past Sunday!

Judy is Chris Chloupek’s mother and has seen radical changes in him and Sonja, as well as the tiny church they stepped out to start. After attending Bible Talk for quite some time, Judy realized from the Word that she had never really lived as a disciple and was very broken and willing to do whatever it took to become a truly sold-out disciple! It was so exciting to watch Chris baptize Judy and then hear the congregation explode in applause.

In the same way, Melissa had given up her entire life and changed her thinking to put Jesus first instead of people and the world. Melissa is part of our exploding campus ministry and is committed to helping other students put God first. George is a wrestler at ASU and was invited by Kelsey Campbell. At first he seemed skeptical and yet in time as he experienced the love of the disciples and saw the love of God, his mind radically changed. With great humility we are excited to see our campus grow from only 3 last March to now numbering 20 fired up radical disciples! ASU and SCC are seeing a revolution as these few are redefining Christianity on their campuses, so that the truth of following Jesus can be known.

Melissa (second from right) is rejoicing with

Kelsey, Danielle and Stephanie who studied with her.

Alphonso was also baptized and has radically been transformed. God used a fallen away sister, Kinji to bring him to church almost 1 ½ years ago. Kinji and he were living together and they each shared how God had been working on them for months. Alphonso decided to move out of their apartment in order to be righteous and has changed their relationship to put God first. This was radical and literally cost them both financially. God kept moving and by Sunday Kinji was ready to be restored. Early on in the service she was introduced and then and shared her gratefulness to God and the sisters. At the end of service Alphonso shared (with tears) how he didn’t look like a guy who would be crying in front of a church, but that he was so grateful he didn’t care. We barely fit him into the horse trough, but did in fact get him totally immersed! These 6 added to our number in one day each paid the price for God’s dream to be realized. Everyone was on their feet as we celebrated the victories of changed lives. God is powerfully growing our congregation!

Kinji (second from left) is fired up to be restored

to the fellowship and is with Sonja, Caroline (from L.A.) and Jenny who helped her.

George Montesdeoca (top middle) is a wrestler from ASU and celebrates with the brothers. Alphonso (lower middle) radically changed as Rob, Chris and Scotty studied with him! Both were baptized this past Sunday.

In perfect timing, my children this week learned a valuable lesson. We were out cleaning up the backyard and found a small bird that had fallen out of its nest. Sadly, I had to tell them that there was nothing we could do and that he might die and gave them a real life example of survival of the fittest. The cool part is I was able to talk to them about the cost of a dream. This bird had a dream to fly and may have failed his first attempt and so fell. His instinct is to get out there and fly- well, because he is a bird. This dream though is very costly. If he fails on his first attempt, it could very well cost him his life. Yet, if he is willing to keep on trying and gets stronger- he could do it! The little guy wasn’t looking so good and so I gave him about a 2% chance of making it. The next two days were amazing as I went to check on him (I’m an old sap for victory stories) and he seemed to get stronger and stronger. By the fourth day, the bird was able to outrun my little Chihuahua and was flapping and getting some air (dumb dog didn’t understand the moral of the story). Now I’ll give the bird a 90% chance because he is a fighter (hopefully the little guy will make it)!

In the same way, each of us has to answer the call of God- risk it all and get out of the nest (so to speak). Disciples are going to suffer (Philippians 1:29) and it takes all we have (Luke 14:33) but it is so worth it to have a relationship with the best Father a person could ever have and then to see others saved. Matthew 13:44-46 The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field. When a man found it, he hid it again, and then in his joy went and sold all he had and bought that field. Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant looking for fine pearls. When he found one of great value, he went away and sold everything he had and bought it. The cost is extreme but the rewards are amazing. Our brothers in the 1^st Century died spreading the message of the cross around the world. Birds will fly- risking it all and in the same way, disciples will evangelize the world- risking it all! That is just what disciples do… Are you willing to pay the price to see God’s dream for you become a reality? In the same way, are you willing to keep paying the price to build God’s kingdom on earth- His church? The cost of this dream is very expensive and yet all worth it as we see more and more people added to the fellowship and God’s dream realized of an evangelized world!

He stoops down to make us great,

Matt Sullivan