Get Passionate about your Finances

By Jim Peterson

We have just completed the second session of Dave Ramsey’s Financial Peace University and I am here to report that it is having PROFOUND impacts on the lives of many of our families. Many of our graduates have accomplished that wonderful goal of becoming totally debt free (except for their homes). Others are still working on what we call the “Baby Steps” building an emergency fund and working on the “Debt Snowball” to get rid of all their consumer debt.


One of our favorite things to do as the class progresses is what we call “plastectomies” which is the cutting up of all of our credit cards. In our last class, we had over 60 credit cards destroyed and celebrated a number of families getting their budgets arranged on a cash basis.

In all cases, couples are reporting that they are “on the same page” regarding finances for the first time in their marriage and it is having a major impact on their relationship. In one case, a couple stated unequivocally that the things they have learned in this class have saved their marriage.

Over the years, I have heard from many families that they wanted to give more and tithe regularly but they just couldn’t because of so much debt. This class will teach you how to take control of your money rather than the other way around. It will show you a simple (but hard to do) system of moving from being a “slave to the lender”, to total Financial Peace. Doesn’t that sound wonderful?

If you want to get passionate about your finances, then I challenge you to enroll in our next Financial Peace University. Classes will begin on September 13th here at the Grace Chapel from 7pm-9pm for 13 consecutive weeks. I guarantee that it will change your lives if you apply the principles taught in the class. Look for more details in the days and weeks ahead.

Where the GodWind Blows

By Dr. Dan Haffey

Scott Brown’s message last Sunday on God’s love and plan for the Israeli people left me with a couple of burning thoughts.  First, I felt the immense love of God that he would allow me, a Gentile,  to be adopted into the family of his Chosen People, the Israelites.  In his sovereignty,  he could’ve only chosen Israel and rejected the rest of us but He didn’t.   Now I, and all other Gentile believers, have been grafted into the Tree of Salvation. Thank you Father God!

The second thought that I had was how God’s Spirit blows where He wants to go without limitation.  John 3:8 says  “The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.”  The Spirit of God leads us where he wants us to go,  where he is working.  For Scott Brown, God called him to New Zealand (Where is that?) because God is at work in New Zealand.  God’s love for His people, the Jews,  sent Scott Brown to New Zealand to give them the Good News their Messiah.  

Where is the Spirit of God blowing around you?  Where and what is He calling you to?  Are you willing to respond?  Will you pray for Scott Brown and his work with Israeli tourists in New Zealand?   

Discipling our children, some call it homeschooling…

By Susan Greeves

God has given us parents the awesome responsibility of raising His children that He gave to us to take care of and raise up for His purposes. I believe that we; as their parents, are primarily accountable for raising them, shaping them and preparing them for a life of service to Him. For my family that’s done by homeschooling (at least for this year and the previous years…God may have a totally different plan in the future, and if I’m truly in His will, then any avenue of education is still open to where He wants my children and us).

Deut 6: 6, 7 “These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up.”

This verse is one of the first verses the Holy Spirit led me to, to see God’s plan for our family to homeschool. I don’t think homeschooling is the answer, I know Jesus Christ is the answer! It’s not something I do for my kids to get a superior education, it’s a tool in which God works on all of us in the family, refining us, shaping us, and at the same time fulfilling what He has laid on my heart; to disciple my children for Him. I believe that Matthew 6:33 “But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well” means in EVERYTHING we do we should seek his righteousness.

I trust that God will bring the academics if I follow Him wholeheartedly. There WILL be holes in their education, but even in public or private education there is (I can attest that there are still holes in my education and I did go to public school). Jesus WILL fill those holes, and fill them in His timing, if we seek first His kingdom and righteousness.


Isaiah 61:1-4 resonated with me when I first read it. We are chosen to preach the good news to our children, they are the brokenhearted, they are the poor in spirit, they are captives to sin, with Jesus they are released from darkness.

Then Isaiah 61:3 states “They will be called oaks of righteousness, a planting of the Lord for the display of his splendor.” That’s what my children are, God’s gift to us for the display of God’s splendor, not for their own purposes or even mine, but God’s and they should be rooted deeply in Jesus. The whole point of our existence is to love Him more than anything else, and to love others more than ourselves. Out of that is born the great commission; which is to make disciples. I look at what we do as missionary work, just right here in our very own home.

Do You Believe in Angels?

By Steve Ranney

If you never even think about something, why would you even consider its existence?  It is like God.  Many people don't believe in Him because they haven't spent the time.

Have you ever just about fallen asleep driving a car - and you didn't end up in an accident?  Or driven on slick pavement or in icy snow when you lost control, but you avoided an accident?  How do these things happen?  Are we just lucky? 

Think again about the existence of angels - spread all around the world by God to protect us among other things.  Here is my proof:

1. My ladder got loose and I fell off the second floor -- about 15 feet to the ground.  I was extremely sore, but no broken bones.  What I can't explain is how I hit the ground.  I passed out on the way down.  One minute I was on the ladder, then I was on top of the ladder on my back. 

2. I got almost mortally wounded in battle in Vietnam.  Our company got over run with 18 dead, 50 wounded.  With my type of head injuries, I should have been left at the battle field, but I was brought in and I survived. 

3. With my injuries, my face was paralyzed for months, and the doctors said it may revive in about six months.  I was in a plane on the way to a hospital and all of a sudden I felt some sensation in my face.  The date was exactly 6 months from my injury.

4. Do you ski?  Have you ever tried a 360?  Well I haven't either.  As a result of my head injury, I had a hole in my head about the size of a tennis ball.  In a year the hole would be filled up with plastic.  Should I have been skiing that day when I totally lost control and I would normally have ended up on my head?  Some how I ended up on my feet - 360 degrees.  I am still around!

I wasn't a believer at any of these times, but I am sure now.  I am sure you have similar circumstances if you seriously think about it.  God really does do a lot of things for us in mysterious ways!