Praise God! We've had a bit of relief from the "lean times". Though we certainly are not out of the woods, so to speak, we are definitely getting a little bit of reprieve. We continue to struggle with the finances since we are far below budget, but oftentimes, the summer brings lean months. Pray that things will pick up and we will be able to move forward in the direction we believe God has called us.
There's a bit of a snag in our plans as well. I was informed that Wiltsee Community Church is behind schedule with the new building. We were going to have the privilege of being one of the first events in the new building, but there have been delays in the construction. This morning, we find ourselves scrambling to find a new place to have our New Leaf Cafe. Once again, I call upon you to pray for God's answer to this "glitch". Wiltsee Church still wants to host the Cafe, but it looks like now we are talking about the spring. I'll keep you posted.
Sincerely,
Mark
Wednesday, August 27, 2008
Tuesday, August 26, 2008
These Lean Times
Wow. We are certainly seeing some lean times in these days. I'm sure many other non-profit organizations are struggling as well, but it seems that even though we're making every effort to try and alleviate this little problem very little has seems to be making much of an impact in putting a dent in the decline of donations to the ministry. God is faithful, however and we are called to trust Him in the trials of life as well as the triumphs and it is the intention of New Leaf Ministries to "stay the course". We are called to provide quality Christian counseling at an affordable price. This will not change. And because of efforts to strive to remain faithful, we have seen an incredible outpouring of the Holy Spirit these past few months. People's lives are being forever touched by the matchless grace of God. Praise God! And isn't this what it's all about? We have projects coming up in September (Caring for People God's Way and New Leaf Cafe) and October (New Beginnings Divorce Recovery Workshop) to look forward to and help us keep focused on the reason we are here.
Keep New Leaf Ministries in your prayers. Pray for us to keep focused on what is most important here and staying on track for the calling He has placed on us. Pray for the upcoming Divorce Recovery Workshop. It is embarking on new territory and I'm praying that it will prove to be a huge blessing for many hurting people. Also, our New Leaf Cafe is geared to be an evening of praise and worship. Pray for the guidance of the Holy Spirit was we take this time to just enjoy God's awesome presence.
Blessings upon you this day.
Mark
Keep New Leaf Ministries in your prayers. Pray for us to keep focused on what is most important here and staying on track for the calling He has placed on us. Pray for the upcoming Divorce Recovery Workshop. It is embarking on new territory and I'm praying that it will prove to be a huge blessing for many hurting people. Also, our New Leaf Cafe is geared to be an evening of praise and worship. Pray for the guidance of the Holy Spirit was we take this time to just enjoy God's awesome presence.
Blessings upon you this day.
Mark
Monday, August 18, 2008
Paypal Donations Finally Working
We've gone "Techno"! Finally all of the details have been worked out and we are up and flying with Paypal donations. Unaware that Paypal had such a valuable program, I have been looking for a way to utilize the technology we have at our fingertips today, utilizing emails and the internet for keeping our ministry growing. There have been a few glitches along the way. With increased security and the red-tape we have to deal with because of the government, it took a few days to accomplish our goal.
Paypal is easy to use. I had the privilege to being the first to donate this morning as I got the bugs worked out to make it all possible. If you use the "Donate" button in our website or blog, it will enable you to include a short note to us to tell us where you would like your donation to be designated; our Assistance fund, the new display board being developed now or to the general fund. Once you have donated, you will get a confirmation number and an option to print the transaction off for tax purposes. Mine's in my tax file already. It was that easy.
We are hoping that this is going to make a huge difference in our current financial struggle, but more importantly, we are praying this will help us to focus on Phase II which is having our own office space and ultimately to Phase III which is the development of a facility of our own complete with a retreat center, counseling offices and classrooms. Praise God for all the opportunities He's given us through New Leaf. May God be truly glorified as we press forward in this direction.
God bless you,
Mark Hurst
Paypal is easy to use. I had the privilege to being the first to donate this morning as I got the bugs worked out to make it all possible. If you use the "Donate" button in our website or blog, it will enable you to include a short note to us to tell us where you would like your donation to be designated; our Assistance fund, the new display board being developed now or to the general fund. Once you have donated, you will get a confirmation number and an option to print the transaction off for tax purposes. Mine's in my tax file already. It was that easy.
We are hoping that this is going to make a huge difference in our current financial struggle, but more importantly, we are praying this will help us to focus on Phase II which is having our own office space and ultimately to Phase III which is the development of a facility of our own complete with a retreat center, counseling offices and classrooms. Praise God for all the opportunities He's given us through New Leaf. May God be truly glorified as we press forward in this direction.
God bless you,
Mark Hurst
Wednesday, August 13, 2008
Praise God for His Marvelous Works
Recently, I answered the telephone and a woman with a great deal of heaviness in her heart spoke to me concerning a situation in her family. She had informed me that she had read about New Leaf Ministries in one of the posts I had placed in the Classified ads. I had originally posted the ad because we are struggling with income right now, or at least I thought that was the reason for the post. It is quite obvious now that God had other plans in store. Although we need income to be able to continue grow this ministry, God continually reminds me (and amazes me in the process), "Do the ministry, Mark, and I'll take care of the finances."
Having grown up as a "P.K." (Preacher's Kid), I grew up being somewhat of a miser. I recalled in a recent premarital counseling session of a story where I used to hoard the lunch money my mother gave me then eat like a "little pig" when I got home from school. Athough I remembered that I saved the money to buy my family Christmas presents, it became a pattern that in some ways follows me to this day. It's a "control thing", and I have a tendency to think I should be the one in control. Old habits die hard.
This ministry has taught me a great deal about finances on a whole different level. God is in control (and needs to be in control) of the finances. Trust becomes a huge factor in this. God has plans, according to His will and purpose for this ministry. In many ways, I need to do my job and allow God to do His. I've learned that lesson in a much more direct way than as a pastor serving the local church. Teaching and preaching about trusting in the Lord is very different than actually doing it. Praise God for His marvelous works.
Having grown up as a "P.K." (Preacher's Kid), I grew up being somewhat of a miser. I recalled in a recent premarital counseling session of a story where I used to hoard the lunch money my mother gave me then eat like a "little pig" when I got home from school. Athough I remembered that I saved the money to buy my family Christmas presents, it became a pattern that in some ways follows me to this day. It's a "control thing", and I have a tendency to think I should be the one in control. Old habits die hard.
This ministry has taught me a great deal about finances on a whole different level. God is in control (and needs to be in control) of the finances. Trust becomes a huge factor in this. God has plans, according to His will and purpose for this ministry. In many ways, I need to do my job and allow God to do His. I've learned that lesson in a much more direct way than as a pastor serving the local church. Teaching and preaching about trusting in the Lord is very different than actually doing it. Praise God for His marvelous works.
Sunday, August 10, 2008
Excellent Story on Faith
I happen to stumble on a story this past week that became an illustration for my sermon this morning. I thought in many ways, it is probably one of the best illustrations on faith I've ever seen. I thought I'd share it with you today.
An old pump offered the only hope of drinking water for a very long and seldom-used path across the Amargosa Desert. Attached to this old pump was a little baking soda can wired to the handle with a note in the can that read this: "This pump is all right as of June 1932. I put a new sucker washer into it and it ought to last five years. But the washer dries out and the pump has got to be primed. Under the white rock I buried a bottle of water, out of the sun and cork end up. There's enough water in it to prime the pump, but not enough if you drink some first. Pour about one-fourth of the bottle and let her soak to we the leather. Then pour in the rest medium fast and pump like crazy. You'll git water. The well has never run dry. Have faith. when you git watered up, fill the bottle and put it back like you found it for the next feller. (signed) Desert Pete. P.S. Don't go drinking the water first. Prime the pump with t and you'll git all you can hold.
Source: Internet - Edge of Adventure, by Keith Miller and Bruce Larson, www. sermonillustrations.com
How many of us would be tempted to drink the water instead.
But, what a powerful illustration this is of what faith is all about. God has promised us Living water, all the living water we'd ever want to drink, but it's a matter of having the faith to draw upon the source, Jesus Christ. Too many of us are too interested in drinking the piddly offerings of this world and not trusting in the one who created it all. Perhaps this little story can help us get a better handle on what God is offering to us all, if we but only have the faith to trust him.
Good night and may God bless you,
J. Mark Hurst
An old pump offered the only hope of drinking water for a very long and seldom-used path across the Amargosa Desert. Attached to this old pump was a little baking soda can wired to the handle with a note in the can that read this: "This pump is all right as of June 1932. I put a new sucker washer into it and it ought to last five years. But the washer dries out and the pump has got to be primed. Under the white rock I buried a bottle of water, out of the sun and cork end up. There's enough water in it to prime the pump, but not enough if you drink some first. Pour about one-fourth of the bottle and let her soak to we the leather. Then pour in the rest medium fast and pump like crazy. You'll git water. The well has never run dry. Have faith. when you git watered up, fill the bottle and put it back like you found it for the next feller. (signed) Desert Pete. P.S. Don't go drinking the water first. Prime the pump with t and you'll git all you can hold.
Source: Internet - Edge of Adventure, by Keith Miller and Bruce Larson, www. sermonillustrations.com
How many of us would be tempted to drink the water instead.
But, what a powerful illustration this is of what faith is all about. God has promised us Living water, all the living water we'd ever want to drink, but it's a matter of having the faith to draw upon the source, Jesus Christ. Too many of us are too interested in drinking the piddly offerings of this world and not trusting in the one who created it all. Perhaps this little story can help us get a better handle on what God is offering to us all, if we but only have the faith to trust him.
Good night and may God bless you,
J. Mark Hurst
Thursday, August 7, 2008
Changes: We Hope They Make a Huge Difference
If you read the first entry in our Blog, you already know that we've implemented some changes here on the Internet. Challenges have been rather big this year as we have struggled financially in rather sizable ways. The gas crunch and struggling economy has hit New Leaf Ministries like many other non-profit organizations are doing right now. The New Leaf Ministries board met on Tuesday evening and we have been searching for ways to generate much needed revenue. We are going to be setting a new Paypal account that will enable us to receive donations via Paypal Donations. This very well may be the avenue we are looking for. We have never been able to rise above the $27,000 plateau annually for total income. And since our total budget comes in somewhere around $52,000, it has hampered us greately over the past six years. We've survived on that amount, thanks to some very generous people who have donated their time to help stretch that income for us and a God who works miracles, but we've never have we been able to truly pursue the vision we believe God has in store for us. We ask you to please keep this matter in your prayers. We are stepping out, believe God is going to supply all of our needs.
In Him,
Mark
In Him,
Mark
Wednesday, August 6, 2008
Leaflets: The Official New Leaf Blog
A New Beginning
Today we start a point in history. To you it may not seem like much. You most likely got up this morning, got dressed as you always do and went to work or got busy working around the house. Whatever you were busy doing, you didn't even know that there was change in the air. To the people who make up the board and friends of New Leaf Ministries, Inc., it is a great day.
Almost seven years to the day, New Leaf Ministries became a passion of mine. In a gathering of clergy in the Russell area, I requested prayer for an idea I had to start a counseling ministry in our area, to minister to the Warren and Jamestown areas. I had no idea at that moment what that would encompass, but I could feel a tugging on my heart to do something about it. I wanted the decision to be fully motivated by God, not Mark Hurst. That really marks the beginning of New Leaf Ministries, although the name never materialized until some seven or eight months later.
Since that day, I have been amazed, though I probably really shouldn't be because our God is an awesome God, how many opportunities have materialized since then, and how far reaching this ministry has become. In six short years, speaking opportunities have taken us as far away as Venice Florida and back and ministry to hurting people as far away as Bemus Point in New York and Erie, Kane and Marienville in Pennsylvania.
Today however, New Leaf starts a whole new oppportunity. We introduce this Blog as a whole new avenue to helping people in the Jamestown/Warren area. Please enjoy this, but more importantly, please use this as a way of seeking God's truth and direction for your life. Though I can see this as a potential overwhelming part of the ministry, my committment is to use this as a way to minister to even more people in more ways than I could ever imagine possible without the internet.
God's richest blessings on you this day,
J. Mark Hurst
Executive Director
Today we start a point in history. To you it may not seem like much. You most likely got up this morning, got dressed as you always do and went to work or got busy working around the house. Whatever you were busy doing, you didn't even know that there was change in the air. To the people who make up the board and friends of New Leaf Ministries, Inc., it is a great day.
Almost seven years to the day, New Leaf Ministries became a passion of mine. In a gathering of clergy in the Russell area, I requested prayer for an idea I had to start a counseling ministry in our area, to minister to the Warren and Jamestown areas. I had no idea at that moment what that would encompass, but I could feel a tugging on my heart to do something about it. I wanted the decision to be fully motivated by God, not Mark Hurst. That really marks the beginning of New Leaf Ministries, although the name never materialized until some seven or eight months later.
Since that day, I have been amazed, though I probably really shouldn't be because our God is an awesome God, how many opportunities have materialized since then, and how far reaching this ministry has become. In six short years, speaking opportunities have taken us as far away as Venice Florida and back and ministry to hurting people as far away as Bemus Point in New York and Erie, Kane and Marienville in Pennsylvania.
Today however, New Leaf starts a whole new oppportunity. We introduce this Blog as a whole new avenue to helping people in the Jamestown/Warren area. Please enjoy this, but more importantly, please use this as a way of seeking God's truth and direction for your life. Though I can see this as a potential overwhelming part of the ministry, my committment is to use this as a way to minister to even more people in more ways than I could ever imagine possible without the internet.
God's richest blessings on you this day,
J. Mark Hurst
Executive Director
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