OUTREACH
This section is dedicated to some of the ministries, missionaries and service oriented groups that CSL supports. Your tax deductible donations allow us to reach out and touch many lives, bringing immediate blessings. Thank you for your continued prayer and support to this ministry.

Smile today! You are blessed beyond measure. But pastor, you don't know how broke I am...I know you're more blessed than 95% of the world by simply living in America. But, you don't know how bad my car is...I know you could be riding a bike. But you don't know I have to pay rent and don't own my house...It's better than a tent or a homeless shelter!

The fact is I DO know that God is great and he deserves our praise. He deserves thanks for what he has already done...and He deserves praise for what he has yet to do. Stop whining, complaining and crying about what you can't, don't or won't and start praising for what "shall be done" in the name of Jesus!

Instead of misrepresenting the joy of the Lord...walking around with a sad-sack expression all day like a cover-girl on the book of Lamentations; give thanks to the Lord for HE is good!

If you have trouble praising the Lord, I challenge you to get out a piece of paper. Write down things you have to be thankful for, things you know God has done. Then do this...say it out loud..."God, thank you for _________". Repeat often and see if the joy of the Lord doesn't begin to overflow in your heart.

For some of us we are limiting God by not praising until we see / receive the FULL blessing. Instead of saying...."Oh my arthritis", how about saying, "thank God I'm not blind, I can hear, I can walk, I can speak, I can eat, I have LIFE EVERLASTING!"

Now...you try it and know that someone believes in you!

Pastor Joe Cook
Hope Church/BA

• Outreach with Shane
  
  
  
• Dear Family and Friends,
  
  “The true light that gives light to every man was coming to the world.”
  John 1:9
  
  These past few months it has been the cry of my heart for God to lead and guide me into his plan for my life. I am only asking for one step at a time. I believe the following story is an unfolding of the next step.
  
  The time to start the service had come and gone. Slowly people began to file in. Luli, pastor David’s wife, began to lead the small crowd in worship singing. More and more folks made their way in and sat down. After a few songs I noticed a teenage boy came in and sat in the back. I cleared off a bench for him and the elderly woman who followed him. He looked very much out of place but was there.
  By the time the singing was over the building was full. Pastor David began to officially welcome the people and us as well. He introduced Jim Frazier, Larry Heitz and me. We had come to lead a businessmen’s seminar. I was also along to seek the Lord’s leading to see if this is the place God would plant me to serve him. We didn’t know each other and were really an unlikely trio to put together a business seminar. But none the less I have learned through the years God is not so much interested in your ability but your availability.
  
  A friend of Jim’s had donated a complete system for showing the Jesus film for us to give to the church. We de-cided to use the projector to show a portion of the Matthew video. We played the Scripture section from Chapter 5, verses 13 - 16. The audience loved it.
  
  I was to give the message that night. The text I was using was Matthew, Chapter 5, “You are the Light of the world; you are the salt of the earth.” The gist of the message was “You are or You are not.” I opened with a funny story about how I was teaching a kid how to drive at night, and also taught him how important God’s word “our light” is to us by flipping off the lights for a few seconds. I told the kid you have to feel where you are because some times your vision can instantly be reduced. The kid realized how important “the light” was. I screamed a few times just like the kid did. The audience was laughing and listening. Moving right into the body of the mes-sage, I talked about how important light is in our lives and, if we claim to have Christ in us, we can’t help from being the salt of the earth and the light of the world
  
  I ended the message with the truth, Jesus said you are the light of the world if you know him. I posed the question if you are not shining the love and truth of Christ by your life there is a reason, you may not have the light of the world in you and may be in darkness. In my emotions I felt I had not communicated very well. It is always diffi-cult to work through an interpreter. But when I gave the invitation, several responded. When I asked who needed to begin a relationship with Christ and receive his light, several people responded with hands raised. One of the first hands to raise was the young boy and then the older woman with him. I invited the folks to the altar to pray with the pastor. The young man was one of the first to come. The elderly woman came as well. Soon the front was full. I asked the pastor to lead the boy and woman in a prayer of salvation. He prayed with them and many others as well. It was a powerful time.
  
  Over the next few days we were able to travel throughout the city and met lots of people. Every afternoon we pre-pared for the evening seminar. We really didn’t know what we were doing, but God swooped in and rescued us. We taught on what to do in difficult economic times, leadership principles, and use of the internet.
  
  Somehow, God took our inadequacies and blessed the people who came. The event was not promoted as a Christian event but as a busi-ness conference. They kept coming back to what seemed to us like a clown show, but God took it and somehow made it something useful for them. Pastor David acted as host and was excellent. Rony, our interpreter, was excellent as well.
  
  Because the folks had enjoyed it so much the first three nights, we talked with Pastor David and decided to be bold and share our faith in Christ the last night. It was pretty clear these people didn’t know the Lord, but we believed the pump was primed. After a fun ice breaker I introduced Larry and Jim and they told the story of their business lives and personal lives. They actually gave their testimonies of what God had done in their lives. Jim had been reared in the Catholic Church and really connected with where many of them live. He clearly explained his life wasn’t complete until he came into a relationship with Christ. The gospel was clear. Our mission was to reach out into the non churched community, make some friends, and empower the local pastor. It worked with smashing success. We were also able to clearly share what Christ had done in our lives as well. As an extra bonus we were also invited into the folk’s homes and businesses to help them. God allowed us to bless the people and share Christ and pray with several of them. It was a blast.
  My secondary mission was to see if this could be a place God would plant me to begin to establish an orphanage. Hon-estly, I absolutely loved it. I loved the town and had a blast getting to know the people. The land and area are beautiful, and I was very impressed with the pastor we ministered with. There was an opportunity to go on another mission in Janu-ary, but I wanted to talk to a local missionary who has been in the area for 20 years. I wanted to ask him if there was a need in the area for an orphanage and does he think it is possible. I finally contacted him and his answer was yes and yes.
  
  As far as we know there is no orphanage in the town of Santa Cruz del Quiche or its vicinity. The need is there. So in re-sponse to the Lord’s leading I will be returning to Santa Cruz in January on a second missions trip with a local church from our area, Fredrick Boulevard Baptist Church. I also believe I need to begin my language education. So I am planning to go to language school for the months of February and March in Antigua, Guatemala. I will be living, eating, and breathing Spanish. I firmly believe this is my next step in this process and plan. I really need your prayers. I am completely trusting the Lord for it all.
  
  We have the true light in our hearts only because of that special time when the true light came into the world, clothed in flesh as a baby, “God with us.” Christmas is a special time to remember what God has done. The whole world knows it is special. Take time to stop and think about that special time when the true light came to us - Christmas.
  
  Merry Christmas,
  
  
  Joseph Shane Sanderson
  
  
  
• Randy & Naomi Jones
  
  
  Please pray with us...
  
  
  

  
  
  Grace and peace,
  Randy and Naomi and Nugget
  

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• Pastor Phillip Barnett
  
  
  
• New Life Ranch
  
  
  
  Thanks for your prayers for the ministry of New Life Ranch. Among the things we ask for your prayers are:
  
  1. Continued work on the Soderquist Conference Center (see first attached picture). As you know, God provided the $1.4 million to build it and now our team and the JBU Construction Management students are busy working on it. We found out last week that our crane used by our regular crane company is not big enough to place the large trusses in place (see second attached picture). It appears that we may have to make special arrangement for a large crane to be brought in from Tulsa. Obviously that will be considerably more than we budgeted for the crane service.
  
  2. Rhett as he leaves to spend two months in Australia for his sabbatical. Rhett, who is our Summer Camp Coordinator, will serve in several camps (it is summer in Australia) and other ministries while he is there. You can follow his adventure here http://rhettpierce.wordpress.com/. He will also be finalizing the hiring of his summer staff and other summer details from long distance.
  
  3. Community Ministry has ended its fall semester. They will be having a Christmas Party December 14 and the older ones are raising money for a mission trip in December. Here are more details on the kids and mission trip from Kerri Brown.
  
  H____, age 17and living with K____, finally worked up the courage to break up with her 22-year-old boyfriend. She feels very good about this, but now her mother is very upset with her because she had hoped Hilda would marry him. Please pray that she would be able to continue to do what she believes is right before God.
  
  D_____, J____, H____, L______ and T___ - These teen students will be going on a mission trip to Cincinnati, OH to share their experiences of Right Lead and encourage others who are interested in starting something similar in their area. They will also be working in several rescue missions along the way. They spent Wednesday, November 25th riding horses for eight hours or more on in a Ride-A-Thon to raise the money needed for the trip. They still have a ways to go getting all the money together; the actual trip will be from December 26-January 3rd.
  
  E___, age 12, has been working through a lot of fear and panic issues this semester. She wants to develop the skills to be able to handle her emotions in a helpful way.
  
  H______, 12, was sent to a residential behavioral treatment center. Pray they will be able to help him. Harley had been doing very well in Right Lead and Right Quest, but was still getting in a lot of trouble at school and home.
  
  The H_______ sisters, ages 11, 13, and 14, are going through a lot of family troubles. The parents are having trouble getting along and often seem to take out their frustration on the girls by telling them they can't come to Right Lead any more. They all came on the last week of the semester. Please pray that the family will get the help they need. Also pray that the girls will be able to continue to come to Right Lead and their growth groups. The Ranch is just about the only positive place they can come and get away from all the stress at home.
  
  Thanks again for your prayers for the ministry of New Life Ranch.
  
  
  
  
  
• Crisis Pregnancy Center