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"IT IS GOD WHO ARMS ME WITH STRENGTH AND MAKES MY WAY PERFECT" - PSALM 18:32

  This week I’ve been thinking a lot about what we can bring to our partners in South Asia. As we prepare to go as a church to work with Genesis of Hope (GOH) there are always questions near in my mind. Is the cost worth it? Is the time and money worth our travel halfway around the world? Do I have anything to offer our friends, our partners in the gospel, or the lost who have never heard the gospel? 

  God has answered this question many times in my life. My relationship with God is always deepened as I see that His faithfulness does not just cover my tiny corner of the world and my small life. I also believe we are better partners in the Gospel with those living in difficult places when we have walked where they walk. I love the logo for missions at Mountain Christian, “Bring Change, Be changed.” I have always come away changed. 

  I first went to South Asia (SA) in college and I fell in love with so many things about the country I was in. What really took a hold in my heart though was the open worship of false gods and the darkness that prevailed. During this time I realized how inadequate I was for the work that needed to be done. I turned to the only place I could - I began to pray. I had learned about prayer walking during previous mission trips and every time I went I saw some answered prayers and more insight into needs. Prayer walking is just praying as you are present in the world. It’s easy to turn your thoughts towards prayer when you do not understand the local language. As you begin practicing prayer God opens your eyes to strongholds, struggles, needs and ways He is working. 

  Pastor Frank’s sermon last Sunday reminded me of the power of prayer for our partners in the gospel. As we are able to look in their faces and understand the environment they are living and working in, God moves us to pray. We can pray for our brothers and sisters in Christ that their “love may mature in the real knowledge of God.” We can lift up to the true God the false gods and the barriers that hinder this real knowledge.  

  I see God’s hand guiding what felt like a pretty rushed trip in 2019. When we were invited to participate in a huge VBS in SA our small team took a few short months to plan and fundraise. This trip laid the foundation for MCC’s partnership with GOH. We visited several Hope Centers and met many partners in the gospel. Through this we adopted Shahabhad Hope Center and were able support the work done there even through some pretty crazy times of the pandemic. Looking back and seeing that 2020 changed so much and really cut off the possibility of travel, it is even more beautiful that God put all the pieces together so easily for our team to travel to SA. Being able to pray for specific friends and the Hope Center that we support in SA has been such a blessing. 

  Please be praying for the team that will travel this fall to South Asia. Please pray for their families and all the details surrounding the preparation to go. The country we will be traveling to is becoming increasingly hostile to the gospel. Please pray for open doors. Pray for encouragement for our partners, some of whom have been forced out of their homes by angry mobs and threatened by the police. Pray for Ravi as he travels extensively leading teams and encouraging GOH workers. Pray for his family as they are not together during these trips. If you took notes from Pastor Frank’s sermon please pray Philippians 1:9-11 for our faithful partners in the gospel working in a country where they are the minority (less than 2% Christian). 

Micah and Nicole met and married at Mountain Christian Church in 1997. It was a match made in Heaven – Ha Ha!

Nicole’s family found MCC through the daycare that was that meeting at MCC in the early 1980’s, and has attended MCC since about 1983. Micah’s family started attending MCC when they moved to the East Mountains in 1991. They have served MCC through a variety of ministries over the years: leading the middle school youth group, teaching preschool, participating in Bible Studies and Fellowship Groups, serving on the Safety/Security team, and helping to lead Vacation Bible School.

The Barkers have three children who were raised at MCC. Tristan is 21 and serving in the Army at Fort Campbell, KY. Emily is 17 and homeschooling her Senior year, and Katie is a 15-year-old sophomore at East Mountain High School.

Micah is in his 24th year as a deputy with Bernalillo County Sheriff’s Dept and currently patrols the East Mountain area. Nicole has transitioned from a home-school mom and works part time at Kefauver CPA.

In their off time, Micah enjoys hiking and mountain biking. Nicole enjoys sitting in the sun and reading when not puttering around the house working on odd jobs.

They are looking forward to serving you on the Deacon Council!

*Photo credit - Mosey Photography

ISI exists to show God’s love to international students attending school at over 900 university campuses across the US. In fact, many university registrars encourage their new international students to reach out to ISI for assistance with settling and acclimating to their new school campus. MCC teams with the local ISI chapter serving the University of New Mexico.

ISI ministers to our local international students at UNM in a wide variety of ways. Just this past January over 350 students were blessed through airport pickups, temporary homestays, free lunches, free furniture, and apartment finding help. An additional 350 students were served in August. There have been between 50 and 60 international students participating in Home Group studies. Many more students participated in sponsored hikes/sight-seeing/social activities, English as a second language classes, and Friendship Partners. During the Spring and Fall Breaks approximately 30 students traveled to Colorado and the Grand Canyon, respectively, taking part in the Discovery Bible Study Series while experiencing new parts of the US. These efforts saw two women make professions of faith, one from Japan and another from Brazil, and an Iranian man come to faith. There are several more students that are at various levels of exploring faith in Jesus.

MCC has been an important part of the ISI ministry in this past year. We provided meals in January and August. We invited students to our Christmas Eve service and an Old Town Luminaria tour. We collected several trailer loads of furniture from MCC donors and helped on numerous occasions to deliver furniture to students. We have provided short-term home stays and developed deep relations with students as Friendship Partners. We were also able to make financial donations to support ministry planning and the Fall Break trip.
With ISI we have a unique opportunity to do cross-cultural ministry right in our
backyard. If you are looking for a new opportunity to serve there are a lot of
different ways to get involved with ISI. Below are a few examples:

1. Sign up to provide food in January or August and/or help serve the food at UNM.
2. Donate unwanted furniture and/or help students take furniture to their new apartments.
3. Volunteer to host a student for a short-term homestay. This involves picking the student up at the airport and then housing them for a day or two until they can move into their apartment.
4. Become a Friendship Partner where you meet monthly with an international student and do fun things with them to help them acclimate to New Mexico.

If you are interested in helping or want more information contact Vince Tidwell at
(505)413-2647.

“We love, because He first loved us.”

1 John 4:19

“For God so loved the world that He gave His only
Begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him
Will not perish but have eternal life.”

John 3:16

During these weeks of Advent we have talked of Peace, Joy, Hope and now - Love. The only way I know how to talk about love is through Scripture. This is where I first found love and learned that I could love.

I Corinthians 13:4-7 describes love. “Love is patient; love is kind; and is not jealous; love does not brag and is not arrogant, does not act unbecomingly; it does not seek it’s own; is not provoked, does not take into account a wrong suffered, does not rejoice in unrighteousness’ but rejoices with the truth; bears all things; believes all things, hopes all things; endures all things.” Verse 13 says “But now faith, hope, love abide these three;but the greatest of these is love.”

God’s love for us and how we can show our love for Him is repeated and taught throughout Scripture. In fact, we are commanded to “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind. This is the great and foremost commandment. The second is like it. You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”

Jesus Christ, the Son of God, King of Kings, came as a baby in the humblest of surroundings, to grow into manhood, to walk among us, teach us, love us. He then would walk willingly to the cross as the perfect sacrifice, loaded with all our sin and shame to die on a cross, to rise from death and sit beside His Father in Heaven….all to give us eternal life with Him. We have been given a precious gift.

“…this I call to mind, and therefore I have hope. The steadfast
love of the Lord never ceases, His mercies never come to an
end; they are new every morning, great is Your faithfulness.”
Lamentations 3:21-23

Rejoice, brothers and sisters, in this peace, joy, hope and love
we share with each other.