It is my pleasure and honor to introduce via video, Pastor Ron and Kathie Banet, missionaries to South Africa. In this interview they share:
Pastor Banet’s journey from U.S. Marine to missionary and how it prepared him to pastor.
Their conversion to Christianity
Insights on raising up disciples
Orchestrating ministries to train in skilled trades and to help the drug addicted
Life on the mission field
The local response to their daughter and son-in-law’s interracial marriage and race relations in South Africa
Navigating COVID as a church
Church planting and more
Pastor Banet and Kathie were sent out of The Potter’s House Church, Prescott Arizona in 2004. They pastor the Potter’s House Church in Eldorado Park, a suburb of Johannesburg near Soweto. The Potter’s House in Eldorado serves as a leadership and bible conference center for the region and has planted churches in South Africa and beyond.
At six years old I was a red-headed, freckled-faced little girl and an orphan once again. I believed I was unlovable. With the death of my foster mom, I was taken from my beloved family who could no longer take care of me.
Welcome to Part 2 of 2 of A Conversation with United Army Chaplain, Special Needs Parent, and Writer Brad Lee. In this video segment Chaplain Lee is joined by his wife, Lori and they share more about life as a military family with six children, one of whom has Downs Syndrome and Autism. Lori gives insights on how we can support military wives and parents of special needs children and more.
It is my honor to introduce you to United States Army Chaplain, Brad Lee. Chaplain Lee is a husband and father of six, and a writer with a forthcoming book inspired by his journey with his young son who has Downs Syndrome and Autism.
In Part 1 of this two part conversation, Chaplain Lee shares the road that led him to become a chaplain in the U.S. Army, some of the adventures, challenges, and opportunities he encounters as he serves our country and our soldiers, as well as some powerful thoughts on and wise counsel to our nation.
There’s only one explanation for Robin—Jesus. And also for her sons Miles and Jake. Robin and Jake are nurses currently caring for Covid19 patients. Miles serves as a teacher in Malaysia. Robin is also an award winning author, speaker, and leader of Higher Ground Outreach ministry for incarcerated women. What an honor to interview them during Teacher and Nurse Appreciation Week and in time for Mother’s Day, and to share their timely and timeless, inspiring and joy filled stories with you in these two videos and the article that follows.
Jesus Is – not just for Easter! (And neither is my recommended series suitable for family viewing at end of this article.) But first I’d like to share:
The following piece, Jesus Is, is an unfinished project. It’s going to take a while to complete all the ideas I have for developing it, but I decided to share it as is for now.
A friend and fellow writer put out the challenge
to fill in the blank in a Tweet with the following words, “Jesus
is______.”
I replied with my short answer. Here is my long list in progress. In these turbulent times we need to remember who God is and that He is in control. We can find calm amid chaos, comfort during crisis, peace in a panicked world because:
JESUS Is
ALPHA, He is the Almighty, Anointed One. — JESUS is Alive! He is my All-in-All. He is the Answer, and the Answer for All That Ails Us. He is Adonai.
HE is —
BEAUTIFUL and Blameless; He is Bulwark and Bastion. He is the Balm of Gilead. He is our Banner. He is the Bridge and the Bridegroom.
And HE is —
COMING!—Are you ready? — He is the Christ; He is the Cure. He is Creator and Cornerstone. And yes—JESUS is MyCrutch. I like to lean on Him.
HE is the —
DESIRE of Nations, the Divine Deliverer, the Designer of our Destiny. He is the Devil-damner and the Defeaterof Death and our great Defender. He is The Dayspring; He is The Door.
JESUS is —
ETERNAL, He is Everlasting, He is Emmanuel. He is the Exonerator, He is Everything We Need, He is Elohim. He is Enough.
JESUS is —
FATHOMLESS, He is Faithful, Friend, and Fortress, He is Faultless.
JESUS is —
GOOD and Glorious; He is the Gracious God. He is the Grave Robber, the Gateway, and the Great Physician.
HE is —
HOPE for the hopeless, Help for the helpless. He is our Healer and Hiding Place. He is the Hell-raider; He is our Hedge. He is Humble; He is Holy.
JESUS is the —
INITIATOR. He is the Intercessor. He is Indescribable, my Inspiration. He is Indomitable, Incomprehensible, Invincible. He is Infinite, He is Inimitable. He is the great I Am.
JESUS is —
JUST, He is the Judge. He is Jehovah. He is my Joy.
HE is —
KING of kings, He is the Key, He is Kind.
JESUS is the —
LOGOS, the Light of the World and a Lamp to our feet. He is Life. He is the Limitless Lamb of God, the Lion of Judah, the Lord of Lords and the Lilly of the Valleys. He is Lowly, He is Love and He is the Lover of my Soul.—Do you know Him?
HE is the —
MAJESTIC Messiah, Mighty God, He is our Maker He is our Master. He is the Mender of the Breach, the Mediator. He is Merciful; He is Mine. —Do you want Him too?
JESUS is —
NAME above Names; He is Never-failing, Never-ending.
HE is —
OMNIPOTENT, Omnipresent, the Omega, the Overcomer.
JESUS is the —
PRINCE of Peace, the Pardoner, the Propitiation. He is my Protector and Provider. He is the Purpose. He is my Passion and the Possessorof mySoul. He is Perfect.
HE is the —
QUALIFIER, the Quencher of Thirst, the Quaesitim.
HE is the —
RIGHTEOUS Redeemer and Restorer. He is Royal; He is Regal. He is The Rock and The Reason. He is the Rose of Sharon, He is my Resting Place. He is Risen!
HE is the —
SON of God. He is Sovereign. He is Servant and Savior and Sanctifier. He is The Steadfast Sustainor, a Strong Tower, a Shield. He is the Satan-stomper and the Storm Stiller. He is the Shepherd of my Soul. He is our Strength. He is Sufficient; He is Supreme. He is our Salvation.
JESUS is —
TRANSCENDENT, He is Triumphant. He is Truth, He is My Testimony.
HE is the —
UNDERGIRDER; He is the Underpinor. He is Unprecedented, Unparalleled, Unfathomable, Unfailing. He is Unmatched.
HE is the —
VINDICATOR. He is Victor. He is Virtuous.
HE is —
WORTHY, Wise, Wonderful. JESUS is The Way and the Way Maker, and the Wellspring. He is The Word.
JESUS is the —
X inCHRISTMAS. He is Xristos – Χριστός
HE is —
YESHUA and Yahweh.
HE is —
ZION and He is The Zenith.
JESUS is ____
HE is Risen
1st Place 2019 Tar Heel Award – North Carolina Christian Writers Conference – Poetry- He is Risen
Inspired by a sermon on early Christian church history which tells of believers greeting each other with the words, “He is risen!” and their response of, “He is risen indeed!”
I tried to quell the yearning for a greater something, a purpose greater than the here and now
I chased all manner of both good and evil earthly pursuits
But nothing fulfilled. Not even religion
It was all vain distraction
But then, He found me
I met mercy and forgiveness on the way called grace
Mercy withheld judgment
Forgiveness wiped away my transgression
Grace translated me from servant to friend, from abandoned to adored
Do you want this?
God created you for Himself, for Heaven
That is why everything else misses the mark—just as we do
I fall short, but Jesus is the difference maker
Yes! My Creator is my crutch. I like to lean on Him
He is my healer, redeemer, restorer.
He is the Way and the way maker.
He wants to be yours too
I am a riverbed whose banks cannot contain the rushing water
He rains on me; He reigns in me.
I overflow
He compels me
But I do not walk alone
Here is a highway.
This is my rooftop
Hello, world!
Can you hear me?
Do you know my Jesus?
Because He is risen, I have hope
Because He is risen
I know Him
Because He is risen
I can come boldly before His throne
I do not fear death
Because He is risen
I have been translated
From dead in my sin to alive in Christ
From slave to set free and daughter of the King
From bound for Hell to Heaven bound
He is risen indeed!
This world is not my home
It’s just the road to where I’m going
Heaven is my home, and Jesus is my prize.
The Chosen TV Series – A good choice for the whole family!
The Chosen | Official Trailer HD “The Chosen is the first-ever multi-season series based on the true stories of the gospels of Jesus Christ. It is the #1 crowd-funded media project of all time.”
Mountaintops, valleys, running with the wind and running in water, heartbreak and breakthrough, trials and triumph. — It’s been the best of years; it’s been the worst of years. I’ve braved the battleground. I’ve floundered and failed; I’ve pressed on and prevailed.
Sometimes life bulldozes. Stuff happens. Yes, “onward” is my word of the year, and no, the irony of getting stuck writing Onward did not escape me. It’s been awhile. Forgive me. Shame tried to hold me down, but God said, “Rise.”
It’s not enough to just be right if we want God to use us to reach people with the Gospel. Our rightness only serves ourselves if we alienate people by our attitude and choice of words. Failure to show interest in people as individuals comes across as an attempt to propagate one of a myriad of doctrines and treating people as another notch on our belt.
We live in a world where many are talking, but few listening, all while broken hearts cry out, “Does anyone hear me?”
Click below to continue reading my entry in RZIM Connect’s 2019 Writing Competition. I’m no trained apologist or theologian, just small fry in a sea full of big fish—but I couldn’t resist. 😉
“—I passed out candy and tracts tonight (I prayed about it and got confirmation to do it.). I had MANY Christians tell me I was wrong. One said, “You have 364 other days of the year to tell people about Jesus…not today.” 😮 ” my fellow writer Angela Tweeted me last year.
“Wow.” I said. “I guess I missed the scripture about a day we weren’t supposed to tell others about Jesus. Oh, wait—maybe that’s because there is no such scripture! 🙂
I cried when my friend Cherrilynn asked me to go to Blue Ridge Mountains Christian Writers Conference. There was no way I could go! I had wanted to for three years, but the timing was wrong, the money wasn’t there, and how could I leave my husband and two teen boys, one of whom just became our foster son, to fend for themselves? Besides, I was sure my husband would never say yes. So I didn’t ask.
Shouldn’t I have a several thousand page book written first to justify the expense and inconvenience to others? I have a couple children’s picture book manuscripts but… Am I worth it? Am I worth investing in? What if I fail?
Our worth is not defined by ourselves, others, or by our performance, but by Christ’s investment in us, His precious blood spent and His love for us. That makes us priceless. And it is He who bestows gifts on each of us for His glory and to help others.
I don’t doubt God’s calling on my life to write, but sometimes I doubt myself. I fear quitting. Remember in the Grinch when the townspeople are all shouting at him? “You don’t belong there!” echoed in my mind.Continue reading “Am I Worth It?”
I cried when my friend Cherrilynn asked me to go to 
