LA State Capitol Ministry and New International Accessibility of Action Steps for Expository Preachers in English and Spanish

The Mission Foundation

April 30, 2016

Dear friends and supporters of The Mission Foundation,

It’s been a pretty challenging two weeks: diagnosed with partial seizures (i.e. focused on a certain part of the brain) and having a lesion cut out of my tongue and sent off to see if its cancerous yesterday. I will not receive the results from the lab for about a week. I have appreciated every text, every email, and every prayer. 

But there is plenty of encouraging news.  The ministry at the State Capitol is going extremely well.  Many members of the House of Representatives and the Senate, as well as Governor John Bel Edwards and his immediate team of leaders (all former legislators), are coming to our weekly Louisiana Legislators’ Bible Study / Prayer Breakfast, which is now in its 17^th year!  Soon we will have our annual reunion breakfast as former legislators will come from various parts of our state to be with us again for what has always been our most highly attended meeting.  I should add that this gathering is completely private (no guests at all) and our continual emphasis is on unity – the true oneness of our state leaders who are quite diverse in their backgrounds and in their politics.  My hope and prayer is that every senator and representative (for whom it is logistically possible) will be a part of this fellowship – this community of governmental leaders.  Please pray for the protection of the fellowship that these men and women are experiencing.  Our Lord has watched over us for seventeen years. I trust that, as we pray, He will continue to provide that protection.

GREAT NEWS! I have very encouraging news to share about the international accessibility of my book, Action Steps for Expository Preachers, A Method of Sermon Preparation.  In addition to our present printing facilities in the U.S., The UK, and Australia, I have just signed a Global Connection Agreement (at no additional cost) that will extend our network of printing facilities to include Brazil, Russia, Germany, Canada, South Korea, and Poland.  This will be extremely helpful as it will reduce the cost as well as the time to respond to orders for my book (and any future works) in every part of the world. 

Also, as you may remember, Action Steps is available through Amazon in both English and Spanish.  In East Africa, our Swahili version is being printed in Tanzania, and I just received an email from my dear friend and colleague, Rev. Tony Swanson, long-time missionary to Tanzania who gave oversight to the translation, that he has recently used my book in a seminar there.  He has arranged for printing for past seminars that we have done there, and it is wonderful to know that he and the other leaders there are continuing to use a Tanzanian printing facility to produce and use Action Steps. I was of course very happy to hear of this.

Maybe I should explain the primary use of Action Steps.  It is to provide national pastors, denominational leaders, Bible college instructors, parachurch leaders, as well as expatriate missionaries with a manual for instructing others in expository preaching – showing how to go through the entire process of going from the reading of the Biblical passage to the writing of the sermon.  First, the preacher/teacher seeks to understand the meaning of the Bible passage – writing notes on the context and the content of the passage and then developing the outline and main idea of the passage, which is stated in one sentence.  Then the preacher/teacher writes the sermon outline and sermon theme statement.  Finally, he writes his sermon manuscript, which includes explanations, illustrations, and applications.  This is all covered in the three foundational lectures of Action Steps.  Actions Steps also includes worksheets, outlines of lectures to be given out to the students/delegates, examples of sermon outlines, and an example of the whole process which culminates in an actual sermon manuscript.  Also, there are two additional lectures in the appendix on hermeneutics (principles of interpretation) and application of the Scriptures to our lives.– I think I should clarify that Action Steps (first published in 2011 in English) has been produced with our own personal funds and has been of no financial profit to us.     

You are ones who make our work possible.  It is you who have supported Becky and me in our ministry so that we can write and teach and lead conferences and seminars and disciple others and help and encourage others in their efforts to establish new ministries, such as men’s ministries in Central and North Louisiana and in Ethiopia and The UK.  Thank you so much!  I do most sincerely pray that our repeated expressions of our gratitude will in some measure impart to you our feelings about what you have done and continue to do to do to enable us to carry out the ministry to which we have been called.    

In the love of our Savior,

Rod and Bec

P.S.  We are need of monthly supporters.  Would you please consider joining those who make our ministry possible?  You can contribute online CLICK HERE TO MAKE A DONATION  

Dr. John Wood, newly appointed Chief of Surgery at Ochsner Hospital in Baton Rouge

Dr. John Wood, Chief of Surgery
Ochsner Hospital, Baton Rouge

We are giving thanks to our Lord for all of your prayers.  Exactly 25 years ago (in June), our son John was admitted to Ochsner Hospital in New Orleans and was diagnosed with leukemia.  Now a quarter of a century later, the young boy for whom many of you prayed is Chief of Surgery at Ochsner Hospital here in Baton Rouge.  Congratulations, John Boy!  And thanks again to all of you, our dear friends, who have prayed for John!


Video --  http://www.healthgrades.com/physician/dr-john-wood-gdybg

LAST DAY OF SPECIAL SESSION, March 9th: Senate President John Alario speaking to members

Senators meet with Senate President John Alario, R-Westwego, on the Senate floor ahead of the voting on the final day of a special legislative session on the budget and taxes, on Wednesday, March 9, 2016, in Baton Rouge. (AP Photo/Melinda Deslatte)

Senators Dan Claitor, Conrad Appel, Barrow Peacock, Norby Chabert, Eddie Lambert, Sharon Hewitt, Jack Donahue (seated), Mike Walsworth, unnamed (back turned to camera) 

Louisiana Legislators and Governor Edwards at Bible Study / Prayer Breakfast which is in its 17th year!

The Mission Foundation

P. O. Box 46358

Baton Rouge, LA 70895

February 19, 2016

Our dear friends,

I would like to begin by saying that Bec and I are profoundly grateful to each one of you who have sent financial gifts to The Mission Foundation to enable us to carry out our work.  Thank you!  Thank you very much! 

This morning, as I was sitting in the back corner of one of the legislative committee rooms, I took a moment to try to begin this letter.  I have come home at lunchtime to put my fingers to the keyboard to bring a few of my scrawled notes (and some other thoughts) into some order on this page. 

The legislative committee meetings at the Capitol have been numerous, lengthy, and intense.  All day every day, hour after hour (including last Saturday and Sunday afternoon), our legislators and Governor John Bel Edwards and his team have worked tirelessly in their effort to find solutions to the incredibly difficult financial situation of our state.   I have been there with them every day, and sometimes into the evening.  They greatly need your prayers!  They want your prayers!  

LEGISLATORS AND GOVERNOR IN BIBLE STUDY AND PRAYER:  This past Tuesday morning, we held our first Legislators’ Bible Study / Prayer Breakfast of this session, which included approximately one third of our legislators and our governor and four members of his immediate team (all five of them being former legislators).  I am very thankful to our Lord for the wonderful spirit of oneness and peace that was evident throughout the room.

In my introductory remarks, I focused on the words of Jesus in His prayer to His Father on the night before He was to be crucified.  He prayed for you and me, asking “that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in Me, and I in You, that they also may be in Us, so that the world may believe that You have sent Me.”  The oneness among us, for which our Lord prayed, must be a oneness that is clearly observable to “the world”, the lost society that is all around us. For it is by our oneness that they will come to know that what we believe is actually true, that is, that God the Father really did send God the Son into this world!  Do the people around you and me see our oneness and marvel and become convinced of the truth of the Incarnation of the Eternal God?! 

Whereas it is true that our legislators and our governor and his team will be more effective in serving us if they are “one”, there are more fundamental reasons why they (and we) must live in oneness:  Jesus prayed for it!  And it is our testimony to the world!  And please hear this: it is inextricably connected to our oneness with God the Son and God the Father!  Jesus says, “. . . that they also may be in Us.”

So please pray for the men and women of our legislature and for Governor Edwards and his team that they will all be one!  Also, please pray for yourself and for me that we will all be one!  And may the world see it and believe in our Lord!    

Your brother and sister in the Savior,

Rod and Bec 

Mike Jones to speak on "The Glory of Humility for the Rich Man and the Poor Brother" (James 1:9-11)

MIKE JONES holds a Masters of Divinity degree from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary and has taught courses in Church History in Kenya for a number of years.  As many of you know, Mike has been a businessman in Ruston for many years and has been very involved in men's ministry since his days as a student at LA Tech back in the 1970's.

"I am looking forward to the opportunity to teach my brothers in the Christian faith at Monday Morning for men this spring. Through the book of James God is eager to teach us all how to apply our faith both practically and meaningfully. It doesn't just make "a" difference. It makes "all" the difference."

 

Mike Jones

Managing Director, Investment Group

Argent Advisors, Inc.

Byron Moore to speak on "The Ministry of Work" on February 22nd, at Monday Morning for Men

Byron believes God can be joyfully glorified in every area of life: individually, in marriage and family, at work, at play, in the community and as a world Christian.  He works as a financial planner and writes a regular personal finance column syndicated in Louisiana. He and Melinda met in 1984 and married eight months later. He’s been smiling ever since. They have four children (three post-college and one in college).

About speaking on work to Monday Mornings for Men

Ever since I can remember, God has put a special place in my heart for the glorification of God in and through work. As a new Christian I was longed to be a man who served God congruently in all facets of life, not just those traditionally known as “ministry.” God answered the longing of my heart by bringing into my life a man who would become not only a powerful example of this, but also a dear friend and powerful mentor, Rodney Wood. As he and Becky graciously invited me into their lives, they shared the gospel, the Word of Christ, their family and his work with me – Rodney even hired me right out of college to work with him – toughest two years of my life! But I would not trade them for anything. I am excited to share some truths from God’s word on this wonderful topic of work. After all, it is the thing to which most of us give much if not most of our energy all day long. We desperately need to find God is the midst of our work. Good thing for us…He’s been there all along.

BYRON MOORE

Managing Director, Planning Group