“Jesus spoke, saying,‘I am the light of the world. He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life.’” John 8:12 Years ago, when we were still pastoring in Terre Haute, Indiana, the Calvary Full Gospel church choir performed the Christmas musical, “He Started the Whole World Singing” by Bill and Gloria Gaither. This season, as we celebrate the greatest Gift mankind will ever know, I thought I would share just a few of the words from this musical: “Before the song started, the world, broken hearted, was dreamlessly passing along... In the very beginning, all creation was full of the glory of the Lord, and His glory flooded everything with the shining light of openness. There was beauty; there was trust. Every moment was pregnant with the seed of the Eternal. Dreams were not a fantasy, but an everyday reality, and  music filled the air with the song of the free. But man misused his gift of freedom, and traded the Eternal for things he could taste ...

Greetings from snowy Juneau... More than 4 feet of snow in November! That’s a lot, even for Alaska. Almost a record in fact.  But we’re dealing, and even having some fun with it. Julie and I went snowshoeing at Mendenhall Glacier this past weekend and had a lot of fun. Really feel sorry for those of you stuck in warm and sunny climes.  You are missing the myriad joys of shoveling snow and driving on icy roads.  Don’t be too envious! As promised last month, here is my (Mark’s) detailed report on the India trip. After spending the night in Delhi, we loaded up the bus and left for Jaipur.  The bus ride was actually fun, we got to know each other, lots of laughter, lots of fellowship.  Just outside of Jaipur we stopped at a spot overlooking the city and prayed. We prayed for freedom for Jaipur, we prayed that her people would come to the Lord, we prayed that city would become a light for the region… mostly, though, we prayed for His presence, His love and H...

“By Him (Jesus) therefore, let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of our lips giving thanks to His name.” Hebrews 13:15 It’s “Thanksgiving” time again. Can you believe it? Already we are making plans to celebrate this special day with family and friends, and when it’s time to declare all the things we are thankful for, you will be included. It’s going to be a great day, and we trust it will be for you as well. No matter what we may have encountered so far this year, God has been faithful to us all, and He will continue to be faithful all the way to the end. Praise His name. My heart is full of rejoicing today. In fact, it’s running over! I see a bright future ahead, and I am full of expectation. God has good things in store for those who love Him, so rejoice, and be exceedingly glad, and again I say rejoice! For the Lord takes pleasure in His people (Ps. 149:4), and He will not withhold any good thing from those who walk uprightly before Hi...

Greetings from the stormy North... Can you imagine traveling about as far from home as you can get without leaving the planet, meeting 11 strangers, and the closest you can get to describing it is a family reunion? And that was just the beginning. What a trip! In meeting after meeting, the Father showed up, and showed up in power. So many got healed, I (Mark) lost count. In fact, healing became so normal, I actually remember only two people that I prayed for who didn’t receive their healing. The grace and love of the Father flowed through the teaching and preaching, setting many in the Church in Jaipur, India free. Relationships were forged and cemented, both within the Global Legacy team, and with the locals.  We really have an amazing Father: One who loves to see His love, character, and power shown to the world by His sons and daughters. Bhalchandra and I spent most of a day together, dreaming, and planning and fellowshipping. We covered a lot of ground, discussed pla...

“And he (Jesus) said, ‘The things which are impossible with men are possible with God.” Lk. 18:27 In the 1960’s I learned of a wonderful gospel artist and song writer named Doris Akers. I love her music. Somewhere in time, she and Mahalia Jackson wrote a song entitled, “Lord Don’t Move The Mountain,” and right now the lyrics of that song depict where we are with the Radio Station Project. They read like this: “Lord don’t move the mountain, But give me strength to climb it. Please don’t move that stumbling block, But lead me Lord around it. The way may not be easy, You didn’t say that it would be… (But) Please don’t move that stumbling block, (Just) lead me Lord around it.” For the past few months, we at LTI have been wrestling with a mountain looming on our horizon, while asking God to give us His wisdom and direction for how to deal with it. In the natural, we are facing an impossible task, and LTI is a small organization, much like Gideon…the least of t...

Greetings from the frosty North, Yep, we here in Alaska have already seen our first frost. This is my (Mark’s) favorite time of the year. Cohos are in, duck hunting season, deer hunting season… ahhhh, paradise on earth. The India trip is nearly here. Wow, time flies. I can’t wait to see what the Father has in store. This trip will not only be an opportunity to minister, but to build relationships with likeminded brothers and sisters in Christ. It will also be a time to learn, grow, and participate in the revival that is taking place in various parts of the world. It’s also a chance to meet with Bhalchandra and Vilas, our lead men in India. I’m looking forward to hearing their dreams, what Jesus has placed in their hearts, to disccover ways in which we can build on the foundation that has been laid over the last 24 years and help them fulfill their visions, thereby growing LTI’s ministry presence in the process. I wanted to share with you a taste of what the Father is giving m...

“To everything there is a season, a time for every purpose under heaven:….A time to keep silence and a time to speak…” Ecclesiastes 3:1,7b I have sat down many times this month, determined to write for the newsletter; but the words just won’t come. The passage above, written by King Solomon, seems to be exactly where I am right now. As you probably know, I almost always have something to say, but I believe this a time for me to keep silence. For the past week, now, it is as though I have been drawn away from the cares of life in order to give myself more completely to waiting on the Lord. As a result, I thank you for your understanding. I do, however, encourage you to prayerfully read Mark’s column. We believe God has some good things in store as a result of his upcoming trip to India, which, for us of late, has been rather like a pot simmering on the back burner of the stove. It’s there cooking, but we have had other things more in the forefront. We covet your particip...

Greetings from the Soggy North. This months letter is going to be a little different. This is about vision, dreams, and opportunity. DREAMS AND VISIONS Let’s start with the dreams and visions. Most of you know that LTI has always been about raising up leaders, training, equipping and sending people out to fulfill their calling, their destiny. When LTI started, being a missionary meant you were going into a culture to evangelize. Very few saw the wisdom in going into a culture to train others to evangelize. But that was the mandate, and the wisdom, of Bud and Mary Ann, decades before it became common. The vision I want to share with you is in this tradition. What is on our hearts is to combine two ministries… (1) training, equipping and releasing revivalists, missionaries, reformers, church planters, and (2) creating a place of rest and respite for church leaders who need to recharge. Picture this if you will. Somewhere in the west there is a lodge, a place where solitude is e...

“Therefore know that the Lord your God, He is God, the faithful God who keeps covenant and mercy for a thousand generations with those who love Him and keep His commandments.” Deuteronomy 7:9 Greetings to you in Jesus’ wonderful name. I trust all is well with you and all that pertains to you. God is so good to watch over every aspect of our lives. His love is without measure, and His faithfulness extends to a thousand generations of those who love Him. The month of July was filled with travel in regards to the ministry of LTI, and all of it was quite good. This month we will be traveling again to attend a wedding. Ryan William Groth, the firstborn of my firstborn daughter, Jennifer, is getting married on August 13th, in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. This is my first grandchild to marry, and we are all very excited. 2011 has been an unusually busy year thus far, and it will continue to be so all the way to the end. We ask that you keep us in prayer as we carry on the work God h...

I love the interaction between Moses and the Lord in Exodus 33 & 34, but this last week the portion where the Lord passes by Moses has just stuck with me. Exodus 34:6 says "And the Lord passed before him and proclaimed" okay stop right there....God passed by Moses and basically starts bragging on Himself, and this is what He chooses to lead out with, not words of might and power and majesty, oh no, but this: " The Lord, The Lord God, merciful, and gracious, longsuffering, and abounding in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity, transgression and sin..." He then goes on to talk about judging the guilty, etc., but since we live on this side of the resurrection I'm just going to stop there for now. The part that has just been ringing in my heart all week is "keeping mercy for thousands", in particular the word keeping, because it implies a purposeful intention on His part. Like a grounds keeper tends a garden or a beek...

It was wonderful to be back in Nigeria! Everyone of our team members had some kind of difficulty getting there. Jennifer, Mark, and I experienced delays in getting visas because the application process has been changed and the new instructions are not clear. Jennifer and I were able to make our scheduled departure time, but Mark was delayed a full week. Glenn didn’t even get a visa. David missed his flight due to very unusual last minute changes by the airline, delaying him by a day. Larry’s son and one daughter were in a serious wreck (thankfully without injury), delaying his departure a full week. All of us arrived in Nigeria at our various times, believing God had something great in mind for our time there. And He did! Why else would all of us have been troubled like this? The Pastors and Ministers Conference was exceptional. Even though the attendance was small (200+ swelling to 300) due to the violence that Jos has experienced the past two years, everyone who spoke t...

Greetings from warm Alaska! There’s an old saying, “The best laid plans of mice and men often go awry”, that describes perfectly what happened to the plans I had made for my trip to Nigeria. You have already learned of the delay in my departure, and as you might expect, my schedule for ministry got scrambled somewhat. That didn’t stop the blessings of the Lord, though. God has a way of working all things together for good, and this case was no exception. I taught two class sessions at Christian Institute on the subject of Religiosity vs. Relationship, during which many of the students realized for the first time that there are differences between the two. Of the 50 in attendance, a good number of them expressed their gratitude for this teaching, along with a personal determination to pursue a closer relationship with the Lord. In addition, I ministered in four different churches on the subject of Our Relationship with God. During these times I emphasized the spiritual nature of ...

On Tuesday afternoon, the 17 th of May, we were strolling through Amsterdam’s Schiphol airport, and wound up at the Tourist Information desk to ask whether the tulips were still in bloom this late in the season. The answer was, of course, “No,” but we ended up in a rather enjoyable conversation nonetheless with the two beautiful young ladies who worked at the counter. Before the conversation ended, we were asked whether we were adventurous Americans travelling all over Europe or what. To which we answered, “No, we are on our way to Nigeria.” Their faces were puzzled, and after they looked at each other for a moment, they asked us, “What do you do in Nigeria?” My answer was, “I am a missionary.” To my amazement, the next question was, “What is a missionary?” What is even more amazing to me, is that I get asked this question over and over again. Sometimes, even by church folks. I thought everyone had some sort of mental picture in their mind when they thought of the word “missionary,...

Everyone loves missionary stories, right! Before our trip even began, we were already biting our nails. As we reported in our last two newsletters, the Nigerian government has changed the process for visa applications, and confusing doesn’t even begin to describe the new process. Jennifer and I had to resubmit ours a second time for processing, but we finally received them at 12:30 on Saturday afternoon before our departure on Monday. Mark, on the other hand, is on his third submission and still waiting for his to be approved. On our way to the Orlando airport on Monday afternoon, Delta called to tell us that our flight to JFK had been delayed ½ hour (sound familiar, all you David Smoot Facebook friends?). That’s the only similarity we share. Our flight really was delayed. We arrived at the airport in plenty of time, even without any flight delay. The Skycap took our luggage to his counter and began to check us in. Now, enter the problem.   The details of the story are long a...

For all you blogger junkies out there, and for all you folks who just like up-to-the-minute reports on what’s going on in the world, we’re going to try something new while we’re on this trip! Provided that we have internet access, we are going to post a new blog every few days giving you a quick view of the trip, complete with photos and video clips! Most of the blog posts will be about ministry time, but we may even post a few about the joys and fun of travelling as well. You’ll see a new “itorch report” like the one above, with one of our pictures next to it with each new post from the field. We invite you to "follow us" and be sure to subscribe (over there on the right) to get the latest updates! Because there are over 4.4 billion people in the world who still need Jesus, we remain Yours in missions, Leadership Training International

It’s Saturday, May 14th. Jennifer and I are wrapping up everything that must be done before we begin our journey to Nigeria on Monday, the 16th, and this early-sequence newsletter is one of those things. We’re sending it out early because it has information you need to know about while we are gone, and we won’t be home to send it at the regularly scheduled time. ABOUT THE TRIP Six of us are going on this trip – our Associate Missionaries Larry Koontz and David Smoot, Glenn Beiersdorfer (a member of our home church who will be travelling with David), Mark, Jennifer and I – and all of us are excited to be going. As you know, Nigeria has gone through two years of terrible strife and bloodshed, but things have settled down with the election of their new President. We are so thankful for this improved situation in the country. Now it’s time for the country to heal and repair itself. We believe God is going to use us to help this process along as we minister in our various venues. By t...

Greetings from the beautiful, sunny North! Huh, big surprise, the “new, improved” visa process turned into a major ordeal, but I (Mark) should have my visa back in time for departure on Saturday. And everybody said....  AMEN! During this trip, I will be ministering in several venues around the Jos area. My itinerary is as follows: May 23: Arrive in Abuja May 24-26: Ministry in Fobur, East Jos May 27-29: Conference in Jos (this is a new venue) June 1-5: Outreach in Rayfield June 5-7: Followup in Fobur June 8: Depart Abuja Wow, God has really blessed me with a full ministry schedule. Please, pray that the Father shows up in power, and that I hear and share His heart, what He is saying and doing in the moment. I’ll try and update from the field on our blog. Thanks again for all you give to make this happen. Yours for the Kingdom, Mark and Julie Fellowship with God leads straight to obedience and good works. This is the divine order and it can never be reversed. A....