September Updates

Intro to IHOP
Eduardo just finished his 3-month internship term to now become a part of the IHOP Staff as a Full-Time Intercessory Missionary.  These past three months have definitely been life changing for him.  He just graduated on September 19th, 2008, but the learning doesn’t stop there.  Becoming a friend of the bridegroom is not just a three-month journey, but a life-long heart response to the everyday call of having a covenant relationship with Jesus. It’s telling Jesus every day: “Yes, Jesus.  I trust you’re leadership and I recognize that you are worth it all”.

Latino Ministries / Proyecto Lucas 18
Both Eduardo & I are involved in this ministry which is in its beginning stages.  Eduardo will be working the majority of the time helping in the Administration and Project Management and I will be working with the Website as well as the Latino Worship Team.  We’re so excited about this, considering the fact that I had a dream about 6 to 8 months ago and it was so detailed about this particular ministry birthing.  It’s just amazing to see it unfold right before our eyes.

Love & Respect Marriage Seminar
About 1 month ago, we started a 14-week seminar for Married Couples, as well as singles, called: “Love & Respect” by Emerson E. Eggerichs.  So far, this seminar has transformed our marriage.  It focuses on understanding how God created us differently (male & female), therefore, undertanding how we communicate, and how we can live a life and have a marriage that is pleasing to the Lord, according to the Scriptures.  Eduardo and I would love to share what we’ve been taught.

onething
Eduardo and I are also a part of onething.  onething is one of the main ministries in IHOP, dedicated to the young adults.  Right now, we’re working on the onething08 website (www.ihop.org/onething08).  The onething staff is so awesome. They have been so nice to us.  It feels like we’ve been working with them for a long time.  Eduardo got the chance to meet Dwayne Roberts in last week’s meeting and he says that Dwayne was so friendly and encouraging.

Children’s Equipping Center
Eduardo continues to work with the Children’s Equipping Center (CEC) every Sunday morning and guess what? I’ll be joining him next week! YAY!  Unlike a typical “Sunday School” class or Children’s Chapel,  CEC has a very unique way to work with children. Its so great to see kids from 6 to 12 years old worshiping God the same way that adults do, praying and interceding for each other, singing the Word, preaching, etc.  The Holy Spirit works in their lives in such a powerful way.  And it’s not “playing church” or “pretending” to do what mom and dad do in their service, but it’s the same exact service to the Lord, just with smaller people.  It’s really impacting.  I’m definitely learning a lot from them.

Well, that’s really it for now.  As you can see, we’re working a lot Keeping ourselves busy but never busy enough for ministry to replace our personal intimacy with God and with each other as a couple.  Please help us pray so that the Lord would continue to grant us Wisdom in how to balance and use our time in the way that pleases Him.

We love you all!

Michal Ann has Graduated to be with the Lord this day..

At 7:32 AM Michal Ann Goll stepped into Heaven

This past weekend I ministered in a conference hosted at Mahesh and Bonnie Chavda’s church in North Carolina. It was a powerful time and I was blessed to be a part of it. However I was in contact with Kathy Colbert, who has helped so much with Michal Ann during this season, and she made me aware that Michal Ann’s strength was slipping and that I needed to come home.

On Sunday night I did return home and my good friend Bill Greenman picked me up at the airport and we began making our way to the house. Earlier that day Mickey and Barbara Robinson had come over and prayed for Michal Ann and as they ministered to her, a big smile came to her face as they prayed. They were still at the house when we arrived; Bill came in with me and as he prayed for her, again a smile came over her face and a peace invaded our bedroom. As I spent the night in the room with her, I knew that she was nearing the end of her journey. The next morning, after I ministered to my wife through the night, Michal Ann breathed her last breath on earth and stepped into heaven to be with her Lord, her first love!

Michal Ann fought harder than anyone could have believed, including the doctors. I was always impressed with her fight to live until the last! Her legacy of Compassion Acts is going to live on in the hearts of many – and the lives that it is changing will help change the world to move in the Compassion of Jesus!

We will be having two services for Michal Ann as she is worth the double blessing. HA! One will be in Nashville, TN on Thursday and the other is in the process of being planned in Odessa, MO this weekend (details will be forthcoming). Michal Ann will be buried at the Dover Cemetery in Dover, MO. Donations in lieu of flowers on behalf of Michal Ann may be made to Compassion Acts https://ww2.micahtek.com/nexolive/nDonations.cfm?theFund=1050&&VISIBLE=false&CFID=16610223&CFTOKEN=74748056 to support the dream that she carried in her heart for the poor and broken of the earth. The details for all arrangements are below.

Details for the Nashville, TN Celebration service for Michal Ann Goll:

Thursday, Sept 18th

Visitation @ 12:00 p.m. – 1:30 p.m.
Memorial Service @ 2:00 p.m.

Belmont Church | 68 Music Square East | Nashville, TN 37203

Please feel free to pass this information on to others.

Never, Never quitting!!!

James W. Goll with Michal Ann praying me on!

If you would like to give in honor of Michal Ann Goll, checks can be made out to Compassion Acts and sent to PO Box 1653, Franklin, TN 37065, or contributions may be made online as well. Gifts are tax-deductible as allowed by law and a receipt for your donation will be mailed to you. Thank you for your support. To donate in honor of Michal Ann Goll: https://ww2.micahtek.com/nexolive/nDonations.cfm?theFund=1050&&VISIBLE=false&CFID=16610233&CFTOKEN=29289904

by James W. Goll | Sept 15, 2008
1-877-200-1604 | www.encountersnetwork.com

Fireproof Official Trailer

 In Theaters September 26, 2008

European Driving at Worlds of Fun

Eduardo, Gedy, Alex, Chelsea and Jessica today (Sept 1) at Worlds of Fun in Kansas City, MO. It was fun!

I Cannot Please Everyone

So for the sake of your tradition you have made void the word of God. You hypocrites! Well did Isaiah prophesy of you, when he said: “This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me.” in vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men. Matthew 15:6-9

I become like a circus juggler when I try to keep everyone’s opinions of me high in the air. One person thinks I should be like this; another scrutinizes me for something else. Do you get it too? Before long, all the expectations of other people come crashing down around our feet. Playing to the demands of others runs in opposition to authenticity.

Jesus lived with that kind of pressure. In His Sermon on the Mount, He focused primarily on the Pharisees, the Bible-thumpers of His day. On the positive side, the Pharisees took the Bible very seriously. They confronted error, they separated themselves from the world, they were hypersensitive to the application of God’s Word. So what’s wrong with that? Nothing–that’s all fine. But Jesus identified their acute internal problem in Matthew 15:8, “This people honors me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me.” Ouch! Furthermore, Jesus was simply quoting His Father, recorded back in Isaiah centuries before, when He gave the same spiritual diagnosis to the people of his time.

The Pharisees put on a good show, but Jesus saw right through it. They wanted to look like they had it all together with God, but hadn’t privately done the heart business with Him. Looking the part was all they cared about. As Jesus said, “Beware of practicing your righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them . . .” When Jesus used the term righteousness here, He was talking about practical righteousness, the things you do as a believer to outwardly express your heart before God—read your Bible, pray, share your faith, be in a small group, work for the Lord, give to the poor. Don’t do these to impress others, He warns. Pay attention, be on guard, He cautions. Play to an audience of One.

Notice He didn’t say you should hide your spiritual disciplines from people or enter a monastery. Some people have misunderstood His point. The issue isn’t location, it’s motive. People are going to see you live your life; that’s not the problem. You don’t have to keep secret the fact that you go to church, raise your hands in worship, and get on your knees to pray. You don’t have to shield your Bible when you open it because you have written personal notes all through it. But when you do all those things so that people will see you–that’s the problem. Doing spiritual things so other people notice goes right to motive. If you’re acting godly with the desire to get attention, affirmation, or strokes from folks–you just got all the reward you deserve and lost God’s approval in the process. When you get that pat on the back from your neighbor, then God is like, If that’s what you were going for, man, you got it! There’s your reward, buddy.

We are called to be living for a higher reward–a reward from the Lord Himself. – James MacDonald

Death Brings Life

Jesus replied, “I tell you the truth, unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds. The man who loves his life will lose it, while the man who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life.” NIV John 12:24

What a vivid picture that is. Do you see it? You are holding the grain of wheat there in your hand. It’s got a hard little shell around it, it’s all by itself, it’s right there in your hand. It’s yours, it’s your life, you control it, you make the decisions. You can decide what you want to do to it. You can hold onto it and keep it. But if you keep it, Jesus says, it will remain alone. Nothing more will ever come out of it.

How many lonely people there are all around us in the world today? They are lonely just for that very reason. They are holding onto that little grain. They are not willing to let it go. And so they have it. It’s all theirs but it’s, oh, so lonely. What’s the alternative? Let it go, drop it. Hand it over to God. Let God take control of it. Be willing to drop into the ground, lose sight of it, and be buried even there in the dark. Maybe people will walk over it, but God’s promise is that a new life will come out of it: a life that’s worth living, a life that’s not just for time, but for eternity. – Derek Prince