Some Deep Insights

Family and Friends,

Here are a couple of deep insights for you to chew on today...

INSIGHT #1

We are reading through the Bible with the kids chapter by chapter.  Right now we are finishing up the story of how Joseph's brothers sold him into Egypt and later God elevated him to the second highest office in the land after Pharaoh himself.  Then when Joseph's brothers came down during the drought to buy food, Joseph recognized them and put them through some paces to toy with them a bit.  They of course did not recognize their brother and his new identity.  At one point he played a trick on them so that his younger brother Benjamin, his only brother from the same mother, would have to stay in Egypt as his servant while the other brothers would be allowed to return home.  Of course they knew that was not possible because their father Jacob would have died from grief, so Judah pleaded with Joseph and offered himself as a substitute.

Elizabeth knew right away that this was a foreshadowing of Jesus' taking our place on the cross, as Jesus was a descendant of the tribe of Judah.  That is the kind of thing that warms your heart when you are a nerdy Bible guy.  8-year-olds aren't supposed to think abstractly like that, much less know enough about the Bible to put those pieces together.  There is a reason we call her "the wiz." 

But the point is not to brag on our kid but to be utterly thankful today for what Jesus did for us.  Just think how amazing each moment of each day would be if we continually remind ourselves how fortunate we are to have Jesus in our life...indeed for Him to BE our life.  May our lives be filled with and motivated by that kind of very tangible gratitude at all times.  Paul was so good at that, and how amazing would it have been when he read that passage again for the first time as a follower of Jesus?  It would not have escaped his watchful eye to see that it was indeed Benjamin who was saved by Judah's appeal.  Paul, of course, was a member of the small tribe of Benjamin.

Thank you, JESUS!


INSIGHT #2

If you do not have soft water, as we do not in our home, be careful when switching the water in your fish tank, and make sure you treat the water immediately with the necessary chemicals.  Otherwise all of your fish will die and you will have some very sad children.  Just a helpful tip, parents!


Have an Insight-filled Adventure Marked by Gratitude Today!
-tHe GrImM fAmIlY aDvEnTuReRs!


 

A Great Weekend

Family and Friends,

We just wanted to write a quick note and let you know it was a great weekend for H.I.M.  At the Lantern Coffeehouse and Roastery's 3-year anniversary on Friday night, we had a chance to speak a little bit about the trip to Haiti in October, and the people there were very generous in giving a freewill donation of several hundred dollars to the cause!  Our needs list above has been updated, and now we almost have the cost of Zacharie's ministry tools covered.  What a joy it will be to present him with those things for his ministry in Haiti.  His gratitude will be off the charts and no doubt he will spend hours in prayer for each person who gave.  The investment will bring a great return.

Then we enjoyed a fun weekend as a family doing different things around the community and around the house.  Our kids are at a fun age when they can understand so much yet want to hang with the parents.  Hopefully that never ends!

We look forward to our trip to Haiti in about six weeks.  We continue to seek your help in funding that trip and contributing a love offering for the Deaf/disabled school.  Also, our most pressing need as a ministry right now, other than the constant pursuit of holiness and discernment of God's Spirit, is to get help setting up our non-profit business.  There are so many decisions that need to be made and we feel it would benefit us greatly to partner with someone who has done the process before and/or is a professional in this area.  We continue to pray for that person to step forward.

On Sunday I (Cory) will preach at our church in Luverne, American Reformed.  I will also share some original music and updates about Haiti.  Most of our church probably has very little knowledge of what we are doing and trying to do in the future, so this is our first chance to spell it out in some more detail.  We pray that worship service goes well and inspires everyone to know God more and make Him known to the world.

We hope your weekend was great, and we hope your week is even better!


A Wonderful Adventure for Jesus Today for All!
-the grimm family adventurers


 

PRESSING NEED: H.I.M. Non-Profit Business Development

Family and Friends,

Greetings on this beautiful, hot summer day!  Just like Haiti!


We hope you are doing well!   As we continue to plug away with the set-up of H.I.M. (Haitian International Missions) as an official mission organization, we are hitting some major road blocks, especially in the obtaining of our non-profit status, or 501c3.  We are now deep enough into the process to humbly admit that this process is beyond us and we need help!  We are a long way from being able to complete the application, much less successfully launch the business, and we are in need of the help of someone who has done this before and can navigate the application process, business set-up, tax laws, etc...

Ideally, we would love to have someone partner with us in ministry and essentially take over this process and gradually train us over the next couple years on how to do everything.  We realize we are asking a lot, but we truly believe that God has great plans for this ministry to bless Haiti's Spiritual leaders in their work, and through them the whole country and beyond.  It is an investment in something powerful, and the need is pressing!  There is no time to waste, so we are asking for help.


Pray with us everyone, and we will watch God provide!


Thanks everyone!
-The Grimm Family

The Lantern House Band

Family and Friends,

One important project we have been working on this summer is the writing of some original praise songs based on Scripture.  The vehicle for this project has been The Lantern House Band (Adam Grimm, Jesse Dagel, & Cory Grimm).  The purpose of writing these songs, other than the obvious reason of bringing glory to God, is to infuse some creativity and spirituality into the event calendar of The Lantern Coffee House in Sibley, IA, and also to provide material for the H.I.M. events, "A Concert of Prayer for Missions."  Some of the songs we are writing will fit well with that program.

We are anxious for all of you to get to know Jesse Dagel and Adam (Cory's brother) better in the years to come as they will hopefully play more and more important roles in supporting and participating in our work in Haiti.  Many of you know Adam already, but we should take a moment to introduce Jesse.  Here is a link to some of his music he has posted online as well as one of my favorite songs he does, "Sea of Glass":

Jesse Dagel Youtube Channel

As you can see Jesse is very talented musically, and he shares those gifts weekly with the people of his church (First Baptist in Sibley, IA) where he leads worship.  Even more importantly, he is very passionate about knowing God and making Him known through both his everyday life and his music.  So it has been a lot of fun this summer to collaborate on new worship music and push each other to write better songs for the glory of God.  If you are interested in hearing the songs we have been writing, we invite you to the following event where we will also share some thoughts, news, and prayers concerning Haiti:

The Lantern Coffee Shop and Roastery

3-YEAR Anniversary Party!

Featuring:  The Lantern House Band

Friday, Aug. 23, 7-10PM - Sibley, IA

 

 


We hope to see you there!  It is not the type of event where you need to be there the whole time...feel free to come and go and enjoy some creative music, coffee, other drinks, and snacks. 


May Your Adventure be Filled With Praise and Worship!

-the grimm family adventurers

 

 

Returning to Haiti! The Day is Coming!

Family and Friends,

...but, brothers and sisters, when we were torn away from you for a short time (in person, not in thought), out of our intense longing we made every effort to see you.  For we wanted to come to you...  (I Thess. 2:17-18a)

We are pleased to announce that we (Cory and Lynn) 
will be traveling to Haiti on October 8-15 of this year! 

The following explanation of the purpose of this trip comes from an earlier post:

The main goal of our visit in October will be to better understand the vision and ministry of the Deaf/Disabled school in Les Cayes run by Laine Lucner and family.  We hope to come back with a more concrete understanding of how God is leading them into the future and what it would take, with regard to resources, to make that a reality.  We also hope God will deepen the burden on our hearts to help and serve the amazing and beautiful children of that school and their families.  No doubt that goal will be inevitable as we mix with those kids for several days and are inspired by their passion and joy for life and for God!

A secondary goal for the visit will be to connect with Zacharie, the director of H.I.M., for several days to work on ministry vision, visit some potential future ministry partners he has been scouting for us, and simply encourage one another, pray, worship, and fellowship together.  Of course we will also sneak in a day or so to visit old friends back in Ti-Riviere! 


We will travel with Mike and Heidi Vetter of Sioux Falls, who will be visiting the Bibles for Haiti ministry led by Dan and Kari Elliott and kids.  We will stay in a separate location nearby and travel around the area via public transportation, mostly.  It will be an adventure!


Now we need your help to make this adventure successful!  Will you consider supporting us financially for the trip and/or praying for us and the amazing people we encounter each day in Haiti?

If you feel led to participate financially, we are hoping to raise the following funds before October 1st (this info can also be found on the [Current Ministry Needs Update] tab above, as well as the way to designate gifts and where to send them):

              Cost of trip to Haiti-               $2,000  (plane tickets, travel costs, food, etc...)
              Resources for Zacharie-          $1,500  (motorcycle & new computer/printer)
              Gift for Deaf School-              (any amount...we have $500 given but would
                                                                like to bring more if possible)


If you want to be a part of our prayer team for this event, please start praying for the needs below and then check the blog each day (October 8-15) as we will try to update it with news.

         *Pray for God's wisdom and guidance for all trip plans
         *Pray for good weather...it will be hurricane season
         *Pray for the people we encounter to be touched through the experience
         *Pray for trip finances to be covered and people to be blessed through giving


Thanks so much as always for your help and prayers!   We cannot do this without you, but know that we see ourselves only as humble representatives of many godly and faithful people here.  In other words, a part of all of you goes with us to bless the people there, and they will undoubtedly give us a blessing to bring back as well!


Enjoy Your Adventure Today!
-the grimm family adventurers

Indigenous Missions

Family and Friends,

Today is World Indigenous Missions Day!  Let's celebrate.

Did you know that the gospel is spreading like wildfire around the globe today, especially in developing countries?  Sometimes we get accustomed to our own culture, where Christianity is on the decline (by percentage, that is...however, we would argue that there are pockets of Christians in our country today who are as "on fire" as any Christians ever were in this country), and assume the entire world is experiencing the same situation.  That is not the case.

Also, did you know that in this day and age the truly ground-breaking mission work, out on the front lines of the advancing kingdom of God, is performed almost exclusively by "indigenous," or native missionaries?  In other words, of the millions of people coming to Christ each year, probably over 99% of them are led to that relationship by someone from their own culture, a humble (and very poor, usually) servant of God who knows their language, customs, and cultural conditioning. 

Despite that fact, over 90% of the contributions of American churches to missions goes to the other 1% of missionaries. 

In other words, American churches almost exclusively invest in the work of Americans who go into other lands to do mission work (at a cost of $60-100k / year), despite the fact that as a group all missionaries from American and Europe (and all other developed nations as well) together accomplish less than 10% of the actual mission work that is done around the globe (realistically it is probably 1-2% at best).

Now, we are not advocating for the elimination of American missionaries.  We do not believe in that, and there are still some specialized ministries and services that developing countries need to receive from the outside, no doubt.  However, our main point is that there are some amazing investments to be made out there if you truly believe in advancing God's kingdom around the globe, and those investments are in the lives and ministries of native missionaries!

In summary, we believe there is a place for missionaries from American to be sent out, and a place for the identifying and supporting of outstanding native missionaries as well.  Every local church should develop a portfolio of missionaries they support from both of these categories.      

Our job at H.I.M., as we see it, is to scout out individuals and organizations in Haiti who fit the profile of the latter group, allowing churches to confidently invest in their ministries and in so doing truly transform Haiti for Christ.  The great thing is that you can support 10-20 of such ministry families for the same cost of 1 American family, and as a group they will easily accomplish 100 times as much missionary work!

Also, it is very likely that the missionaries your church already supports each have a lengthy list of great native missionaries they work with on a regular basis, in the country where they are located.  Those native missionaries could use your support to expand their work, obtain education, and network with other leaders in their field.  In this way the American missionary can not only deliver some specialized ministry service, but also become a scout and recruiter of native leaders who will carry the torch into the future and accomplish greater things than we ever imagined. 

We confess that many of these ideas are inspired by the work of Christian Aid Mission.  Click on that link to learn more, and while you are there be sure to sign up for their free book, "Reformation in Foreign Missions," as well as their e-newsletter.  However, we have to share the disclaimer that we don't agree with everything on their website or in the book.  It will absolutely call you to reconsider your approach to missions, but in our view it goes a bit too far, advocating for the virtual elimination of the sending of American missionaries.  As mentioned before, we believe there is both a biblical basis and the needed financial resources to do both.  But again, the book is very worthwhile and will challenge you in a very godly, holy way to do missions better for the glory of God.

To complete the circle and end where we started...today is World Indigenous Missions Day!  Celebrate with us!


Remember the amazing adventures of our brothers and sisters in Christ around the world today!
-the grimm family adventurers


 

Some Little Items of Interest

Family and Friends,

From time to time we post a blog to let you all know the little nuts and bolts of what we are up to these days...the mundane details of "real life."  However, some of you have indicated you enjoy these posts even more than the grand dissections of missions philosophy often found here.  If that is the case for you, enjoy!

*Lynn and the kids started the year of homeschooling this week.  Everything is off and running, and the kids are doing well.  This approach will allow us flexibility with travel.  Kester and Elizabeth are tackling guitar this year in music class. 

*We continue to make plans for a trip to Haiti in October.  Our old friends there are gradually catching wind of this plan and contacting us to express their excitement.  It will be fun to see them all again...and emotional.



Santia, Lynn's friend and former student
Check out this link to learn more:  10 Adventures in 10 Days- Santia

Lucner and Family, Directors of the Deaf/Disabled School in Les Cayes
See link:  "Native Led = Spirit Led" (has info about Lucner)

*We live in a double-wide trailer.  The two sections are cracking apart!  We are checking around to try to get help fixing this before the situation gets worse, and hopefully it will be covered by our warranty.  Oh, the little trials in life, but they are nothing compared with what an average Haitian faces on a daily basis!  Thanks for that little reminder, Lord.

*We continue to work on obtaining our non-profit status.  Currently we are completing the 501c3 (tax exempt) application, a lengthy document.  Then we will submit that to the IRS and await their approval, Lord willing.  In the meantime our church has agreed to handle donations to the ministry.  We met with them on Sunday and ironed out some of those details to get more clarity on both sides.  See "Current Ministry Needs Update" tab above for more info.

*Cory's parents are currently in Germany visiting Christian Knoedl, our former foreign-exchange student who is virtually a sibling in the family at this point.  This trip is a celebration of their 40th anniversary.

*We are in talks with a few host churches about doing our program, "A Concert of Prayer for Missions."  We are in need of more potential locations to do this and sense a heavy burden to share with people in this region what God has been teaching us.

*We had a chance to meet with Mike and Heidi Vetter and Dan and Kari Elliot (missionaries in Haiti back for a visit) on Tuesday to discuss the trip to Haiti in October.  We had a good conversation and a lot of laughs.   Good people!

*Special thanks to George A. Bonnema of Luverne for being our personal "farmer's market" (for free!) as he likes to call it.  He has brought us a fridge-load of fresh produce the last few weeks.  We will be eating some of his sweet corn today for lunch!  Awesome!

*After working on Bible memorization for almost 10 years, I (Cory) let that discipline go when we left Haiti a year and a half ago, due to the trauma of what we went through at that time.  It felt like that treasure was snatched out of my hands.  However, by the grace of God over the last few weeks I have been gaining it all back.  It might be better to say "dusting it off" as the verses are still pretty much there.  Praise God!  I have a whole separate blog about that stuff which I will introduce here sometime in the future.


Here is a quote for you to consider today in your adventure:

Rebellion against your handicaps gets you nowhere.  Self-pity gets you nowhere.  One must have the adventurous daring to accept oneself as a bundle of possibilities and undertake the most interesting game in the world - making the most of one's best.

    Author: Harry Emerson Fosdick

May your everyday life be an adventure for Jesus today!
-the grimm family adventurers

There is a Small Remnant (by Zacharie)

Family and Friends,

*Tonight we will be at The Lantern in Sibley, Iowa, to share music and fellowship.  Join us!  Also, there is a brief news update under the "H.I.M. News and Upcoming Events" tab above.

One aspect of the faith of Haitian followers of Jesus we really appreciate is their deep commitment to being set apart and holy for the Lord.  Many times we encountered individuals who said something like, "I would like to become a Christian, but I'm not sure I can give up certain parts of my sinful lifestyle."  You have to love that honesty!  In our culture we tend to be soft on these things, do we not?  But Zacharie has a challenging devotional insight for us today.  Read on... 

(The text was slightly edited by Cory for clarity in English.)



Zacharie D. -  H.I.M. Director

There is still a small remnant

Once again, I thank the lord for His grace and the privilege that allows me to be able to write on this blog. I want to thank Cory and his wife for helping to edit what I wrote earlier as a testimony. This writing is based on the small remnant of Christians who, despite the bad situations of life on earth, and despite the infidelity and disobedience of the people throughout much of the world, remain faithful.

The people of Israel had been deported to Babylon because of their infidelity and their disobedience.  In 605 BC Nebuchadnezzar won a great victory over the Egyptian armies (the Battle of Charchemish).  After that time he laid siege to Jerusalem. The kingdom of Judah, formerly allied with Egypt, was therefore subject to the new Babylonian empire.  Nebuchadnezzar then deported a number of young people in the court of Judah, including Daniel and his three companions. The young people were destined to hold high office in their new country, which was to Nebuchadnezzar a way to provide highly qualified personnel for the administration of the provinces of his empire.

Daniel, by his spiritual ability that God had given him to interpret visions, explained to the king a vision that none of the advisors could explain. So at that moment Daniel occupied a fairly important position in the royal court.  He agreed to serve the king but refused his food. Then the king erected a statue of gold and commanded everyone to worship without distinction, and those who did not accept were to be put to death.  Daniel and his three friends did not comply, despite their lives being in danger and the fact that the vast majority of people worshipped the statue.

The world today is completely upset by prostitution and corruption.   There are many problems with marriage and other parts of life.  Around the world, some neighboring countries such as Iraq and Iran, South Korea and North Korea, tear each other apart.  Suicide, abortion, and murder continue to increase in the world and there are reports of the inequality between rich and poor countries.  God hasn’t created us for this way of life and it was not His plan, but these problems are the fruit of our infidelity and disobedience.

So this was also the case for the people of Israel. Despite all this, there was a small remnant, Daniel and his companions, who kept their loyalty to God.  The same is true for today.  Some Americans, some people in other nations, and some in Haiti remain true to God.  It is the case of Gaspard Esperance (a man in the Les Cayes area), as well as Laine luckner and his wife. Despite the fragility of the world we all desire to be the remnant who work for the Lord and support those in need in order to hold high the torch of the gospel. God knows how to find people faithful until death, the likes of Daniel and his friends. Also we ourselves today try to be missionaries who manifest God’s glory before the glowing eyes of a pagan world.

May Your Adventure be marked by Holiness & Devotion!
-Zacharie & the Grimm Family

A Concert of Prayer for Missions and other H.I.M. events

Family and Friends,

The purpose of this post is to outline our plan for promoting missions through dynamic events emphasizing prayer, worship, and education.  These events, entitled "A Concert of Prayer for Missions," will take place at churches and other locations throughout the region. 


Years ago I shared a sermon in many churches which encapsulated an important principle concerning the relationship between prayer/worship and missions.  It was called "Deep Calls to Deep", which comes from a phrase in Psalm 42:7-

               "Deep calls to deep in the roar of your waterfalls.  All your waves
                      and breakers have swept over me."

For some reason this phrase seemed to resonate with me while I examined Jesus' approach to ministry.  Jesus was unique in his amazing ability to prioritize BOTH of the following:

              1.  DEEP #1: His personal devotional life with God-  Many times he spent
                   the early morning, the late evening, or ALL NIGHT out in some remote
                   location praying to God.  He knew the Scriptures forward and backward,
                   and His ministry was built on His intimacy with God.

              2.  DEEP #2: His commitment to immersing in the lives of broken people- 
                  Obviously, Jesus is also well-known for entering the homes of prostitutes,
                  tax collectors, Pharisees, and all other sorts of hurting people.  He was not
                  afraid to get his hands dirty.


Jesus was very DEEP in both of these areas of His life.  He was deeply devoted to being alone with God on a regular basis, and He was deeply devoted to sacrificially "going out" to find His lost sheep.  Unfortunately, most of us tend to overemphasize one or the other (or neglect both...let's be honest!), but it is our belief that we truly need both of these commitments in our lives in order to be mature followers of Jesus.  In fact, it can even be argued that without both, neither one is possible.

            *As we draw near to God and grow in intimacy with our LORD, how can
             we not have His heart for the lost imparted to our own?  How can we not
             take on that burden?  Is a person who claims to be close to God, but cares
             little for others, truly close to the intensely compassionate God of the Bible?

            *As we seek out the lost and take on their suffering upon ourselves, how
              can we not fall on our knees before the LORD and seek His heart for justice? 
              Will we not dry up and wither inside if we do not regularly return to His
               throne to be recharged for ministry?

You see that both of these callings tend to enhance one another.  It is absolutely imperative that we commit ourselves deeply to seeking intimacy with God and also to bringing the gospel to all people.  We will have a hard time doing one without the other! 

The "Concert of Prayer for Missions" seeks to create an environment where both pursuits are equally encouraged in the life of the believer.  Below are some items you may see at these events:

            1.  Prayer for the missionaries / organizations supported by the host church
            2.  Teaching on current missional trends, sharing info about H.I.M.
            3.  Worship and seeking God's heart for the lost
            4.  Teaching on how to live a holistic life devoted to God & Missions
            5.  Sharing of original music written to explain these themes


All H.I.M. events and trips will now be listed and updated in the tab at the top of this blog entitled, "News & Current Events."  Also check there for brief news items we will post from day to day.  We need the help of all of our supporters in hosting these events, which we believe will lead to an increase in mission awareness and passion in local churches and other organizations, Lord willing.  Please consider helping us with this effort, and/or attending one of the events.

We may also be meeting with church mission committees and other potential supporters of H.I.M. in the coming months, in addition to sharing concerts of original music about missions, worship, and Scripture in various locations.  All of these events will be posted, and we ask that you pray for these and/or attend if you have a chance.

Thanks so much!


May Your Adventure be DEEP Today!
-the grimm family adventurers