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Bolcom February Prayer Letter
Happy New Year! We’re in 2016, and what a year we’ve just had! From drought then rain, to political debates, to terrorist attacks around the world, it feels as if the world is spinning out of control.
Not Your Typical Bible Study
It is an honor to experience so many God moments as we serve with World Impact. We love giving you a glimpse into what God is doing in the city, and this letter is no different!
Mediating Relationships
Two nights per week, a man named Carlo and I help lead two recovery meetings at different churches. I remember the first time I heard someone say that they stopped going to church on Sunday mornings and started going to recovery meetings instead. I did not understand it then, but I understand it now.
Leading the Charge
By 2021, World Impact has a desire to plant or partner with 300 new urban churches. We will accomplish this through facilitating church-planting movements by evangelizing, equipping and empowering the unchurched urban poor. That is an aggressive goal and challenges us with a much needed sense of urgency.
Connections and Reconciliation
Over the last two years, Abe and I have developed a friendship and recently I was able to meet his family and hear more of his story. He has been taking TUMI classes the past 3 years and the Lord is using him in a powerful way.
Inmate Confesses God’s Love at SeatKing
God uses prison to prepare Brad for ministry.
Portraits of Grace
The year 2015 was the most fruitful church planting year in World Impact’s history. As I thought about the year, a picture of an art museum came to mind. Imagine a gallery with three hundred spaces for pictures to hang, each space corresponding with World Impact’s vision to see 300 new church plants launched by 2021.
Prayer Drives out Fear
Prayers at the crack of dawn are not something I would call a routine, yet my heavenly Father occasionally wakes me up in order to call on Him on behalf of others. The morning of December 15, 2015, was a morning filled with gentleness and it permeated my prayers, it was prayer without urgency. I was directed to pray for my staff at Los Angeles Christian School without great concern or anxiety.
Spiritual Leaders Within the Walls
I really had no idea what teaching a couple of TUMI classes in a prison would lead to. We started with a room full of men who were nervous and overwhelmed. That was two years ago. Today this same group of men has been dispersed over three separate units of the Hutchinson Correctional Facility.
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and the Power of Love
As we celebrate the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. on his national holiday, I find myself reflecting deeply on his deep commitment to a transformative love. A revolutionary love found in Christ Jesus.
NCS Students Reflect on MLK
Newark Christian School middle school students were asked how Martin Luther King, Jr.’s teachings and demonstrations have affected society and their own lives.
The New Rosie
Imagine you are stepping into one of our Siafu Women’s Retreat sessions. You may be surprised by what you see and hear. If you were picturing a quiet and reserved group of ladies, you’d be mistaken!
Winter Camp Transformations
Winter Camp is a key element of urban youth ministry on the West Coast. The Oaks provides a dynamic, experiential, Christ-centered weekend program, hosting around 400 teens among World Impact and other urban partner ministries.
#BlackLivesMatter and Evangelicalism
Since Michelle Higgins’s stirring and uncomfortable message delivered at Urbana15, questions have been raised and statements are being made about whether or not evangelicals should support the Black Lives Matter Movement.
Worth the Work
Newark Christian School (NCS) is part of World Impact’s Focus Area to Demonstrate Compassion and Justice. The school began more than 30 years ago; World Impact missionaries saw the failure of the local public schools and responded to the academic needs of the Bible Club children we were working with.
Partnerships Make Leadership Homes Possible
One of World Impact’s initiatives is Incarceration to Incorporation (I2I), which utilizes Siafu leadership training homes to turn prisoners into pastors. This bold move has expanded our church planting efforts and opened new ministry opportunities across the board – from prison personnel to local urban pastors.
A New Year with Future Vision
Great things are happening through the efforts of our missionary staff who continue to labor in the trenches of under-resourced, urban neighborhoods. Incarnational and relational ministry still works when it comes to bringing the love, truth, and justice of God where it is so desperately needed. I am looking forward to this New Year, seeing continued growth and new fruit.
