Walking

The past two and one half weeks I worked as a UPS driver’s helper. I now have a new appreciation for the number of packages, the number of stops and even the number of steps a driver takes every day. What a job!

I…

• Delivered packages to 204 houses on Friday a week ago and 193 houses on Wednesday.

• Took 17,253 steps on that Friday and just over 13,900 steps on Wednesday.

• That equates to 8.17 miles on Friday and 6.6 miles on Wednesday in 30 yards sprints from the truck to the house or business.

• The steps in and out of the truck equate to ascending and descending about 20 stories per day.

Needless to say, my knees are a bit sore after all this but I am thankful that I was paid to get daily exercise rather than joining a gym!

But this is also good practice. Beginning in January, we will kick off Servant Evangelism Saturdays to go connect to people in our community. At this point, we will be heading to a particularly busy park to hand out bottles of water and share Hope Church with those we meet.

If you want to join us, then let me know and COME ON!!!!!

If you want to contribute to the ministry of Hope Church and buy some water bottles, then send me an email and let me know. We’ll send you the address where you can mail your checks. And yes, we can also accept online donations. Just ask!

New Years blessings from the Malsons and Hope Church

Paul

Tonight

After spending this evening in worship at Crossroads Community Church, we are blessed to be home at a relatively early time, a rarity for our family on Christmas Eve.

We are watching and listening to the Trans-Siberian Orchestra’s Christmas special – She’s Coming Home for Christmas.

We are blessed to be together.

I shared with Amber yesterday that the song, She’s Coming Home for Christmas, speaks of my heart for her. It speaks of the emotions that I felt on October 27th, when she shared of the transformation that God performed in her heart at Mercy. We are glad to have Amber home. Her most immediate future starts in January when she takes her first college classes.

We are blessed with two good kids. Robby is happy this Christmas season in a new and special way. He is thankful for the friends, male and female, that he has developed here in Lakeland. Also, for the first time in his life, Robby is making straight A’s. Daily, Robby works on his guitar and his music is being welcomed and appreciated at Crossroads.

I am blessed to have Vivian by my side. The last few months have been very challenging indeed. However, we are going through them together, united and loved. That makes all the difference.

We are making new friends here and expect Hope Church to begin forming in January. Our excitement grows daily as we expect God to move in new and creative ways. Stay tuned.

Merry Christmas to all of you.

It is interesting that we don’t know all of you who read my blog. But we do know many of you. To all we know, thank you for being in our lives. We cherish you. To those we don't, God has brought you here for a reason. Be blessed this season.....and every coming day. Open your heart’s door to God and watch what He does.

Love,

The Malsons

Christmas Presents

As we move quickly towards Christmas, Vivian and I have recommitted ourselves to a deeper prayer life. Our experiences the last two and a half months have brought us to an absolutely daily reliance on Christ. Sometimes, literally, we weren’t certain where the money would come for the week’s groceries.

We are learning to lean on Christ on a whole new level.

This week’s presents –

On Tuesday, UPS called and hired me for extra Christmas help. This is temporary but will keep us fed through the month. I’ve been warned I would lose 10 pounds in the two and a half weeks. That’s OK, though. I have already lost 12 and that would get me 5 pounds BELOW my target.

On Wednesday, I spoke with the area director for Liberty Tax Service and we are discussing a management position for January and February.

On Thursday, Amber completed the application process for college and will register for classes on Saturday. She is excited, and a bit nervous, about her new phase in life.

On Friday, Ted Payne and I are connecting with a couple of retail contacts to discuss our HVAC ventures. It appears that we are close to closing the first of what could turn into significant and large contracts. We hope to be positioned for 2010’s hot weather.

Finally, we appear to have a contract on our house. We are praying that we don’t have to make a January mortgage payment.

To all of you who pray daily for us, “THANK YOU!!!” Please continue to pray that the items above actually come to fruition.

For those that support us monthly, “THANK YOU!!!” You don’t know how you have blessed us. Literally, there have been days your gift has brought us to tears and to our knees.

Merry Christmas to you all!

Paul

Hope Church and the TrashMountainProject

Today I met with Brett Durbin with the Trash Mountain project to get to know him and the ministry better. This is a man and a ministry that I really like.

Brett is graduating from Asbury Seminary next weekend with a master’s degree in Christian Leadership. He has served most recently as the college pastor at a large church here in Lakeland. His passion, though, is The Trash Mountain Project.

We connected a couple of weeks ago as I heard him speak about the work among some of the most impoverished kids in the world; Kids that forage through mountains of trash for their daily subsistence. These kids are knee deep in decaying garbage, walk among used hypodermic needles laced with HIV/AIDS and other extremely communicable diseases while they search for anything that may be sold to provide for their family. Oftentimes, these kids are as young as 6 years old. The Trash Mountain Project is building homes for the families that live in shanties on city dumps.

Hope Church is partnering with the Trash Mountain Project as our global mission. We have agreed to provide whatever leadership we can to help them accomplish their mission. At the same time, we are connecting with people who are looking for a new church in Lakeland who have also been touched by this global ministry.

Please pass the link around to your friends and family members. Let’s make this viral. If you could, please also pass this link around to anyone who has an organization or a trust who helps fund caring for the most impoverished kids around the world.

http://TrashMountainProject.com/Media.asp

Finally, if you would, please post the link above to the videos of this vital ministry as your Facebook status.

Sincerely,

Paul

And God says, "Jim Peters, my servant, come home. Be healed"

Today, a dear friend and an unbelievable servant of the Lord, has been healed in eternity.

Jim Peters closed his eyes on this side of eternity and now STANDS in the presence of God. You see, Jim Peters has lived with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (Lou Gehrig ’s Disease) for 20 years or so. I had the pleasure to serve Jim as his pastor at Woodbine and also count that time as “serving together.” Jim compiled computer graphics, created forms and was often a sounding board for my off-the-wall ideas.

Recently, Jim was ordained as a pastor and together with his wife, Pastor Deborah Peters, founded the Sozo ministry . Jim never let his disease stop his activity, though it limited his ability. Jim attended Promise Keepers conferences, served on many ministry teams and prayed for people, often times for their healing. Jim’s greatest gift was his unquenchable encouraging spirit.

Jim will be sorely missed, but not forever. We will be reunited with Jim when we are blessed to be where he now stands.

Paul Malson

ps..... Jim was the only person who I allowed to bite my fingers as I fed him McDonald French Fies.

Giving Thanks for the Body

2050 Thanksgiving Meals

Thanksgiving Day, Vivian, Amber, Robby and I took the morning and early afternoon to serve. It is a tradition that we started many years ago. This year, we partnered with eight churches to serve 2050 meals to families in the greater area. This is our first year but not the first year of this ministry.

Four years ago, a small group of Christ followers discovered that a local meals-on-wheels agency provided no meals for Thanksgiving. This is totally understandable when they serve 200 meals per day for 364 days (by the way, that is 72,800 meals per year). These individuals decided to stand in the gap and provide meals for those 200individuals.

A few years later, this ministry has blossomed to include 60 volunteers and 2050 Thanksgiving meals. Volunteers smoked and carved 180 turkeys, heated 100 gallons of corn and green beans and made cornbread dressing with 350 loaves of seasoned bread. Four people compiled 2100 containers of cranberry sauce. Drivers and assistants completed 50 routes to deliver all 2050 meals. Needless to say, it is a huge undertaking and growing every year.

The recipients include those alone and unable to provide for themselves or their family, as well as a group of migrant farm workers. Drivers met families in homes who, literally, were in tears of…well….thanksgiving.

We arrived home at 1:30pm and Robby and I quickly lit the grill to smoke our Turkey breast. Vivian and Amber prepared all the side dishes. Later for supper, we enjoyed our feast.

More importantly, though, we were thankful for the body of Christ doing what the body of Christ should do – taking care of others.

http://www.HopeChurchLakeland.org

OK. After a long, prayerful search for a new church name, we’ve settled on “Hope Church.” So, Billy and Wallace, you are the closest. However, we had to seriously re-think our approach after reading Alan’s, Jason’s (2nd), Danny’s and Charlie’s.

Over the last six months, we have heard so many people asking, “Is there any hope?” This may be a cry from a financial crisis, a personal crisis, a relational crisis or a professional crisis. Some people are wondering aloud if there is hope in the midst of their present circumstances, or just in the afterlife. We know that true hope can be found only in Jesus Christ and experienced fully in close, vital relationships with others.

So, here it is:

Sustenance

One of the lessons that I thought I had learned through twenty-five years of ministry and two church plants (and now our third), is that God always provides, but often in unexpected ways.

This is more often than not a trite, hyper-spiritual saying, usually shared by someone with plenty soothing their conscience and whisking away someone in need, but whom they don’t intend to help.

We have learned this truth in very practical ways throughout the last month. We are trusting the Lord daily, sometimes moment by moment. We are driven to the Word of God to find our encouragement. In one hour, we will be discouraged with unexpected difficulties. In the next, God will have provided through a totally unexpected source, and frequently before we even knew we had a need.

This Thanksgiving we are doing what we always do: Serve those who have none. Thanksgiving day, we will deliver meals to those whose only available meal this Thanksgiving will be by us.

For those who are being used by God to support us, “Thank you.” You are truly a God-send.

To those whom the only support you can offer is prayer, “Thank you.” Prayer is the first work. I fully believe that when God prompts people to support us “out of the blue”, it is actually your prayers moving God who, in turn, moves others. Please keep praying.

This year we Give Thanks for His sustenance and the practical ways you show us love.

Most Sincerely,

The Malsons

ps.... Our next post will reveal our new church name and web address

Trash Mountain

For over a year, the word "Hope" has been prevalent in both our minds and heart. Everywhere we go people asking the question, "Is there really any hope?" The reckless nature of our culture has led many people to believe that there is no hope. We haven't settled on a name for our new church but the word hope will play a significant part. Right now, we are leaning towards Hope for the Journey Fellowship. If you have other suggestions let us know.

Tonight, we met a couple of guys who are bringing hope to those whom would never dream of a good life. These guys founded The Trash Mountain Project after experiencing, first hand, the squalor in which some of the world's poorest people live. Children walking around barefoot with used, dirty and disease infested syringes poking to the sky. Infants dying from the disease that they sit in day after day as their parents work the trash mountain.

Look up Gehena in a good Bible dictionary or even on Wikipedia. Then watch the Cambodia video at http://www.TrashMountain.com.

Giving Thanks

As we approach the date on the calendar we set aside as a time to give thanks, I wanted to share with you mine. I am thankful…

...for the people who pray for us daily. Prayer IS the work. Everything else is a response.

...for our supporters, both the churches and the individuals, we are indebted to you. I know you give monthly as a response to what God is doing in your life, and as a form of stewardship. But we love and thank God for each of you.

...for the opportunity to minister in Lakeland. We’ve already had God moments with people whom we have come in contact. And for that, please pray for Sarah, a new follower of Christ, and Sue, who came back to the Lord and kicked her debilitating drug habit.

...for our family, near and far. We are blessed by your love for us and your support of us over the last 20 ½ years of marriage and ministry.

...for doctors. Robby broke his wrist and we’ve learned that part of our calling is to keep docs in business. We’ve also learned to look for opportunities in these all-too-regular meetings.

...for Mercy Ministries. Thank you for being a front-line ministry to girls around the world.

...for the daily leading of the Lord. As I walked a neighboring shopping center to meet the business owners, I met a man from Virginia. He wasn’t sure how he was going to get all his work done prior to leaving Florida that afternoon. I shared with him what my survey company did and he hired me for the week. We’re praying for more to come, but God is showing us what ultimate trust in him is all about.

Thank you all. We love you all.

Paul, Vivian, Amber and Robby

Mission Lakeland Update

Greetings from Lakeland!

Back this summer, Vivian and I and the kids chose to follow the Lord’s leading to plant our third church. We moved to Lakeland, FL in October and spent the last three weeks connecting with people as we work to build a launch team for 2010. Last week we met with two groups of people to share the vision for Mission Lakeland. This past weekend, we met a group at a local lake and plan to spend more time developing relationships with them.

When we moved from Texas, we raised about 50% of the financial needs for our family with the remainder we anticipated earning through either my company, or through a job of some type here in Lakeland. We had three business prospects that all looked promising. Unfortunately, two of the three have been put on hold due to the retail climate. The third has been delayed indefinitely. We applied for numerous jobs after we arrived here but very few people are hiring. We do have friends that are also actively looking for jobs for us through their network. Needless to say, this has created significant needs for our family.

All of this is upon us, yet we are not discouraged from our calling.

Please continue to pray for us. Also, if you have not already committed to supporting us, would you consider doing so?

There are a few things to know about your support:

1) It is for a definite period of time. You can make a one-time gift or regular monthly contributions, whichever you prefer.

2) The funds go through the Missionary Church district here in Florida. That provides accountablity for the use of funds and a receipt for your records

3) You can pay by either check or credit card. If you prefer to utilize a credit card, send me a note. I'll sned you the details.

Again, we are still encouraged and still believe we are where God wants us.

Paul Malson

Settling....

At least on our way.

The last few weeks have seen us packing (and saying goodbye), traveling, arriving and now on our way to settling.

We are blessed. We are blessed with friends who support us and who have commissioned us with their prayers at River City. We are blessed with friends who have received us warmly in Florida. We are blessed with people around the country who, amazingly enough, have been touched by God through our ministry, who lift us up to God every day and whom we can call on in emergencies. We are also blessed by parents who love the Lord and model God’s love to us.

To all of you, we say, “Thank You!”

We say settling only because we desire our house to be a home of blessing and stability. In every other way, we are now in a constant state of faith. Most everything seems unsettled at the moment. But one thing is for sure, we absolutely know we rest squarely in the will of God.

And that is a peaceful place to be…..settled.

Love you all,

Paul, Vivian, Robby and Amber

PS – Amber graduates Mercy on Tuesday afternoon at 2:30pm. Wish you all could see the transformation that has taken place in the heart, mind and body of our not-so-little girl.

Wow! What a Weekend!!!

This weekend, Vivian and I had the honor of meeting and listening to Dr. David Wang, the founder of Asian Outreach. Dr. Wang informed us of the explosion of new converts in China through both the house church movement and the official “Three C” churches. Both, he said, play vital parts in the revival taking place in China. The “Three C” churches can print Bibles so pastors throughout China can distribute them. The “Three C” pastors often attend the worship services in the house churches because of the miracles that are taking place there.

Dr. Wang shared that a conservative estimate of the number of “Born-again, spirit-led Christians in China now tops 100 million.” That is 50% higher than the total number of communist party members in China and up from 1 million known believers in 1952 when the last remaning mission agency, China Inland Mission, reluctantly left China under the threat of force.

Think about that, “100 million Christians in China.” Typically we talk about 1/3 of the people in America profess to be born again. That would be around 100 million as well. Now, you might say, China’s population is much greater than the United States. This is true. But the conversion rate today is off the charts in China. In the United States, we are barely breaking even.

Or, as Dr. Wang puts it, “We are seeing the Christianization of China and the de-Christianization of the United States.”

Sunday, we also heard Jeff Wells preach on missions and getting in the game. His message was one of the strongest, most direct messages I have heard, certainly in The Woodlands. Tomorrow, that post and a link to that sermon.

Packing, Cleaning and saying Good-Bye

We are blessed with great friends.

Saturday we partied with great friends and said good-bye again. Sunday morning, so many friends from River City shared great stories with us as the church prayed for us and commissioned us at the end of the worship services. Sunday evening we partied with one year old Reagan and all the clan again. We will miss the people who have touched our lives. We will greatly miss the hugs of Abby, Carson, Jackson and Reagan.

Tomorrow is our final day of packing before the movers arrive on Tuesday. Thursday we begin the newest stage of our journey as we hit the road to Houston and a week or two of preparing our house for sale.

Thanks for praying for us and supporting us.

We love you all.

Paul

Raining and Reigning!

Vivian, Robby and I are in a Lakeland, FL hotel after a morning of worship at Crossroads Community Church in Auburndale, FL and an early afternoon searching for housing.

Right now, the afternoon Florida rain showers are clicking on our hotel room window and the satellite can’t acquire a signal. Note to self…..Don’t get satellite TV. Fortunately the Cowboys play tonight. Rain, rain go away…..

Every day we feel reassured about the direction God is leading us. This morning, Mark Nelson (lead pastor at Crossroads) preached on “Craving;” Craving more of Jesus which necessarily moves us to crave the things of God. We were stirred by the testimony of a young girl who spent weeks in a home in Kenya teaching very young orphaned children. Risk-taking for Jesus ran through both the sermon and the testimony.

But this risk-taking is not blind faith. Rather it is faith in the reign of the King of the Universe.

We desire to follow God wholeheartedly. How about you?

What are you for?

What are you for?

On a whim, I took a trip around the blogosphere reading posts from random authors I do not know. I would click on the links on the side of the posts on various blog sites to see what my blogging peers are posting. What I discovered is pretty interesting.

Disclaimer – this, in no way, is a scientific study of blogs; just a perception from random blog sampling.

What is most apparent as I read blogs is that most people post

• What makes them angry
• What separates them from others
• What they are against

Really?!? Are people that angry? Is the blogosphere primarily a place where people feel free to spew venomous rantings and then berate those who dare question them? It is also apparent that the angrier you rant, the more people respond.

These are my questions:

• What are you for?
• What makes you really happy?
• Is there anything that excites you about the rest of your life?

As for my answers, that will wait until the next blog post. Please share your stories. I'm sure they will benefit blogosphere readers.

Click on the word "comments" below to leave your story.

Closer and Closer

Vivian and I are now feeling swamped with all the details of moving and planting a new church. Vivian's last full day of MDO was today and she will be at church tomorrow for her last day at River City Believer's Academy. We have started packing our house (taking things off the walls, cleaning out closets, boxing up books).

A few things we really need you guys praying for...

First, I am restarting my business in order to cover our family's expenses for the next year. We have a couple of good prospects on substantial customers but no one seems as motivated as I am to get things moving. The business will supplement the support we are raising.

Second, we are flying to Lakeland next Thursday, September 17th to pray through the city, find a house and meet with some pastors in the area.

Third, Amber graduates in late October and will move to Lakeland for a while. She wants to get a job, save some money and make friends before she starts college. Transitions, transitions.

We absolutely know that we are held in the palm of our Father. We hope you know this too and live in its reality every day.

Paul and Vivian

On Our Way to Lakeland

Dear friends,

For the last nine months, we have prayed about the positions in which we serve and whether River City is the best place to utilize our gifts. The more we’ve prayed, the more we are convinced that God is leading us elsewhere. I have sought, and was offered, positions as a Sr. Pastor and prayed about returning to northwest Florida. We did not believe that either of these options was where God wanted us. In mid-July, we were asked to consider moving to Lakeland, FL to plant a church. As we’ve continued to pray, we believe that this is the location for us to move and continue our ministry.

We informed the church at the end of July that we will be moving. I continued to serve on staff of River City through August and Vivian through mid-September. I preached my last sermon (entitled Transitions) here on Sunday, August 30. If you would like to hear that message, click HERE

I am writing this letter requesting your prayers as we make this transition. Our current prayer list includes:

1) Finding a house to rent in Lakeland and selling our house in Houston
2) Packing and moving our family
3) Raising financial (Salary) support for the first year of our church plant.
4) Robby as he transitions once again
5) Amber, as she graduates Mercy Ministries in Nashville, and moves to Lakeland with us.
6) Members, yet to be found, of our launch team.
7) Friends for all of us in Lakeland.

Blessings,

Paul, Vivian and Amber