Thanks
to our Sponsor for this Third Edition of The
Bridge!
Paraclete Mission Group
Please visit their website to become
acquainted with this unique ministry.www.paraclete.net |
Sponsoring Info
Paraclete
is a group of experienced harvest workers who seek to expand
the Kingdom of God through assisting mission agencies and
churches in their mission to reach the least reached peoples
of the world.
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Meet the
Staff
Nelson
Malwitz, Founder & Chief Innovation Officer, Finishers
Project
Nelson projects himself as the generic Evangelical
baby-boomer. Born in 1946, he had a career as a Chemical
Engineer in research and development for 33 years. Nelson also
had formal training in methods of Creative Problem Solving and
was a founding elder at Walnut Hill Community Church in
Bethel, CT in 1982.
In 1998 Nelson founded the Finishers Project, a national
ministry of WHCC, now with scores of partner mission
organizations. Due to the exceptional growth of the Finishers
Project, the ministry was handed off for new leadership to
take the startup to a new level. Nelson now serves as Chief
Innovation Officer (CIO). Nelson is working to expand the
influence of the Finishers Project internationally and among
occupational niches like Educators and Health Care
workers. | |
The Bridge serves to keep you connected with the
amazing ministry and impact of Finishers Project.
We welcome your feedback, so please call or
write.
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 Walnut Hill
Community Church - Where it All
Began!
One of the little-known stories about Finishers is
the significant role Walnut Hill Community Church
in Bethel, CT has played in the development of
this ministry.
Since the first days of The Finishers Project
until this year, the church has handled all of the
accounting and fiscal responsibility for the
ministry. In addition, they have (and still
do) financially supported the work from their
missions budget!
This has been an incredible blessing and benefit
to Finishers and today we are offering this public
acknowledgment to the church for their sacrificial
investment of time, personnel and finances.
Walnut Hill, you have
blessed us, enriched us, and have provided a foundation
on which to build the infrastructure of The Finishers
Project.
All of us on the Finishers Staff say
"Thank
you"!
to the congregation, to
the finance staff, to the missions leadership and to the
church leadership, for providing this necessary support
to launch The Finishers Project!
You have served well. You have blessed
many people. You have helped extend the kingdom and you
have contributed strongly to an area near to the heart
of God - that of sending workers to the
harvest. |
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Office Space
Needed!
Finishers is growing! This is good
news! Our
desire is to build capacity in order to serve
individuals, churches and mission agencies better and
God is adding quality people to our number. This has
produced another need, that of office space. Those of us on
the Finishers staff are praying consistently that God
would provide quality, donated office space. Please join us
in that prayer request. Thank
you.
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Boomers are Bridge
Builders!
Marc Freedman, in the
book, The Boomer Century states, "I think one of the
big issues for society over the next twenty or thirty
years is whether Boomers are going to give in to a trend
to cut ourselves off, to protect ourselves, to play
it safe.
Whether we're going to retreat to gated
communities, where we only encounter people who are like
us, or whether we reach beyond ourselves and try to
become part of something larger, and try to connect with
people who're different than we are in a society that's
much more diverse than it's ever been before.
"Many people are out
there building bridges. Not only for
themselves but for their peers. They're
bridging generations, bridging ethnic boundaries,
bridging education levels, and I think that they hold
the hope of society that makes a lot more
sense."
It is exactly this
"bridging" desire that is the foundation of
Finishers.
We are a bridge. We help connect
Boomers with, in Freedman's terms, "something larger",
that being the opportunity to make a significant global
impact for God!
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Missions Fest Seattle - October
12-13
If you are in the Northwest be
sure to take advantage of the powerful Mission Fest
weekend, being held at Overlake Christian Church in
Redmond, Washington October 12th & 13th. Scores of
valuable workshops, energy-filled plenary sessions and
personally enriching encounters can help connect
you with kingdom-stretching opportunities
worldwide!
To register and gain information:
www.missionsfestseattle.org
Finishers will be there holding
several workshops and will be available for
one-on-one times to answer your questions about this
journey to significance. Look for us at
the Finishers display area and in our workshops!
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Hurrying Past Throw Away
People
We drove past a garbage
pile on the drive out of Kampala last week. Garbage
heaps are a common sight throughout Uganda streets. This
one caught my eye because a woman was sitting on top of
this mountain of garbage. She looked so dignified
perched atop a mound of rotting vegetables, plastic
water bottles, ripped cardboard boxes. Stuck in traffic
with black exhaust fumes billowing and horns honking, it
took me several minutes to realize this beautiful young
woman had turned grey and stiff - she was dead.
This is
not the first dead person I have seen on the side of a
Ugandan road. Yet, the sight of her broke my heart. She
seemed to symbolize the "throw away people" we hurry
past every day. How fast do we have to go? The whole
world rushing by, did no one else notice? Did anyone
miss her? Did anyone care? I am still trying to sort
through all my feelings.
Perhaps seeing that
young woman so casually thrown away with the other
refuse was a reminder to me of how important the work we
are all doing here in Uganda is; that a vocational
school training Ugandans to work in an industry that is
dominated by another country due to lack of training is
sorely needed. I had not really considered that a little
school up in the bush of Uganda could have a great
impact. I am beginning to reconsider that
paradigm - And to understand that with God all
things really are possible.
Maggie Josiah with African Hospitality
Institute, Uganda, East
Africa
Note
from Maggie: "I did find the
ministry I am partnering with in Uganda through
Finishers. I was their first 'internet' short term
mission volunteer 5 years ago. Since then we have hosted
many other volunteers through the Finishers
program."
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| Serve in Missions?
Why?
By Nelson Malwitz,
Founder
Well, the Lord's parting words were
"make disciples of the nations." There is a sense from
Scripture that the first thing He may ask us in glory is
"What did you do with my last request?" Of course, with
all the needs overseas and many that have never heard,
why would you stay here? Especially in light of the
promise that anyone that leaves houses, lands and family
for my name's sake will receive 100 fold in this life
and the next. In spite of all the financial planning
adverts that fill the airwaves, no one else gives this
rate of dividend return.
But you say, I have aging parents to
take care of; I am uncertain about issues of how will I
make ministry service work financially; what about my
kids education; what about medical services? I just
don't think I can do it.
No, we can say we would go, as
long as we can do it in light of the Lord's
sacrifice for us. We live in an era where we are the
most mobile, the healthiest and the best educated
generations ever to walk the face of the planet. The
question back to us from all people that ever lived will
be "What did you do for Jesus?"
There
are good answers for each of the life issues that stop
us from going. John Piper
says there are three kinds of Christians: Those that go,
those that send, and those that are disobedient. I am
not sure I would go that far, but after all we are
bought with a price. We all have to answer the question,
"What kind of a deal did the Lord get when he bought
me?" | |
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Don
Parrott
CEO,The Finishers Project
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