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Bible, Bacon and Bullets

Over the past couple of years we have made several attempts to start a Mens Ministry at the church, usually once or twice a year, and often with a very low attendance because people always have to work.

This year we did it again, but instead of inviting the men to the church, I decided to bring them out to The Promise which is our future family and ministry home on 12 acres of land half an hours drive from the church in Orlando. My friend from Texas was working behind the scenes. He has been very involved in mens ministry, so he kind of talked me into it. When we first announced it, we called it Bible & Bacon, and then my friend added another B for Bullets, so they all could come and shoot guns!

I guess this was the key to succes. Somehow the sizzling bacon on the griddle would make most of the men rise and shine, and it seemed like adding bullets to the breakfast would be a winner as well.

What is a Good Man?

Saturday morning my field turned into a parking lot as all the guys came to sit at my table to eat and fellowship. The bacon was good, and the Bible was even better. I shared a word on Barnabas who was known as a “good man”, full of the Holy Spirit and faith, leading people to Christ and playing an essential role as an assistant to the apostle Paul (Acts 11).

Right there we talked about our faith in Jesus and what it takes to be a good man, which is different from what you find in your workplace and in the world today. In the Kingdom of God it is not all about money and muscles, trucks, trophees and a trimmed lawn in front of your townhome. God does not look at the outwards, but he looks at your heart.

After breakfast and bible study, people went to the shooting range bringing their weapons and lots of bullets. What a sight! The tables were all set, all we had to do was line up! I had heard that there was a shortage of ammunition in the United States, but not today. Somehow it looked like all the ammunition was right here at The Promise.

Go for the Target

We spend the next hours shooting guns into a big pile of dirt. My neighbor had been cutting the grass, and my friend from Texas had marked the site with yellow painted tires. It was so cool. Some of us did pretty well, and it was great to see how especially the new guys enjoyed the day, the fellowship and the scenery.

My prayer is that they will go for the target and not miss the mark. It is not about the bacon and the bullets, it is about the gospel, finding salvation in Jesus Christ, through the work of the cross and his resurrection power. We are all created in the image of God, and we have all been equipped with mighty weapons so we can fight the good fight in the light, against the power of darkness. Time is precious. Let us not waste more bullets, missing the mark, but focus on the target and live our life fully for Him!

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community

Working with Wood and People on OBT

For a long time, my husband has been talking about making a wood work shop where we could create projects in pallet wood and jobs for the homeless people. We have a heart for the homeless, and this wood shop has been on our hearts for several years. We have talked about it and looked for people who could work with wood, but nobody showed up until we actually started the production one month ago!

Our first project was to make an American flag made out of pallet wood. My husband found a how to do video on youtube, so we went out to buy the tools. First we went to the pawn shops, but they did not have what we were looking for, so instead we ended up in Harbor Freight and Home Depot to buy the proper tools and the paint for the project. It was not cheap, but the good news was, that we already had the wood for free. The wood was in “the hood”, on Orange Blossom Trail in Orlando, which is the neighborhood of our church. The wood is all over the place, so we asked some of our guys to look for pallets, and the same day they started hauling in pallet wood to our shop.

Then we started to break down the pallets and pull out the nails, cutting out the stripes for the flag with a table saw, preparing them for the paint work. I will spare you for the video. None of us are used to working with wood, but we made it work anyways. My husband was cutting, one of the guys from the street was sanding, and I was spray painting. Eventually we put it all together into our first American pallet wood flag!

    The Production

    It all started with a vision, and over the past month we have build an production out of pallet wood that we pick up in the neigborhood. We work outdoors in a shed outside our church building, and in this little shop we have made a great selection of wood art. American flags and different signs with scriptures, Christmas decorations and even artwork painted on pallet wood.

    We even have a brand. We call it Heart4Homeless OBT referring to the vision, to make projects and create jobs for the homeless people in the area of Orange Blossom Trail (OBT), but so far there is no paid jobs for this business. It is all based on volunteer work, until we find the right places to sell the wood – and the vision.

    I am sharing this because I want you to know that we can do all things trough Christ, even wood work. My husband and I are pastoring a church, but we have a heart for the community that make us step out of our comfort zone, out of the box, into a wood shop and create something significant out of wood that other people would throw in the dumpster.

    We are a team, and we love working together, even the days where nobody comes to help us. We are here for the vision. Everything we do, we do it as unto the Lord. Even the wood work. When we work in the Heart4Homeless wood shop on OBT, we don’t primarily work with wood. We work with people. They might look rough, full of nails, we find them dumped on OBT, homeless, selling drugs or prostituting themselves. In the eyes of this world they are considered “good for nothing”, but God sees the potential, and in his hands they can be made into something beautiful.

    This is a small beginning, let’s see how it goes in this season of Christmas where we will go out to present the work. It is all for sale, like a lot of other stuff on the internet. But we are not there only to sell the wood work, we are there to share the vision, our heart for the homeless and the needy people on OBT.

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    The Promise

    Introducing The Promise

    A crazy faith project. This is “The Promise”, our new property in Florida.

    In 2010 God gave us a calling according to Genesis 12.12, to leave our country, our people and go to a land that He would show us. We left our homeland, Denmark, and moved to Orlando, where we started to reach out to the community, feeding the homeless people in the downtown area of Orange Blossom Trail, OBT.

    In Denmark we owned lots of land, we left our 60 acres ranch, to pursue the calling of God, and we arrived in December 2013 with our three teenage sons, five suitcases and 200 dollars in our pocket, plus a visa to work as a pastor in the streets.

    We moved in to a rental home in a cookie cutter neighborhood, from where we started their outreach to Orange Blossom Trail. In the beginning we served 2,000 meals a month, just us and a few friends, and eventually we established a church, from where we reach out to the poor community, still giving out food and clothing on a weekly basis.

    Our vision was to “Build God’s house”, but all these years we have not been able to purchase a house for ourselves. First time we got scammed, second time we gave our downpayment to another family, and third time we gave it all to purchase the church. No regrets, just pure faith!

    The Pursuit of The Promise

    We believed that God would “show us a place”, a house with land and lot’s of space, where people can come and visit from many states and nations and be a part of the vision, reaching out to the poor and needy practically and spiritually from this place to the end of the world.

    First time we saw the land was two years ago. My husband went out there and prayed over it, but he was never able to find the owner. Next time he heard about land was last year, when a pastor friend of ours had found the owner and was buying the land. And third time we came across was in July 2019, when the sale was canceled and we were able to pursue the property ourselves!

    This happened in July 2019, and in August we were able to purchase The Promise, which was nothing less than a miracle. 12 acres with a 12,000 sqft construction shaped as a cross. Nobody had ever lived there, because nobody had the permission to build. The house was doomed for demolition, but with us as the new owners, the process will be reversed. Right now we are going through the permitting process, and as soon as we can, we will be moving out in an RV to live and build on the land.

    The Vision for Nations

    The vision is to have a home with multiple living quarters, a beautiful place where people can come and find rest for their souls. We want to grow the land and prepare the buildings for events such as weddings, gatherings, retreats and spiritual training school.

    We call it “The Promise”, signifying God’s promises, not only for us as a family, but for everybody, who will come and take part in the vision, donating their time and money to this place.