One Word is All You Need!
"Many are the plans in the mind of a man, but it is the purpose of the Lord that will stand." Proverbs 19:21
Every year during the month of December, we pray and ask the Lord to give us ONE word that we can establish as a foundation for that upcoming year in our personal life and ministry. This one simple word helps guide us and it brings clarity to help us stay focused on the plans that God has for our lives. There is nothing special about a word or its meaning, until you allow it to come alive in your life and in your heart.
Through out the year, we build upon that word in every area of our growth and development, (personal, spiritual, financial, relational, professional, etc.) Some of the words we have focused on over the last several years were "Strategic, Resilience, Light, Expansion and this year Connection."
It is amazing to see how God prepares you for everything in life. When so many things around us change, we can be assured that Jesus NEVER CHANGES. He knows the season we are about to enter and He ALWAYS prepares us. However, most of the time we don't realize or see His awesome work until we are right in the middle of it or once we've gone through it. We could never have imagined what 2020 was going to look like, but GOD did! He always knows, and He ALWAYS has a plan!
Let me share with you how over the last several years, God was getting us ready with HIS plan for what he wants us to do NOW! He was preparing us for "Such a Time As This!"
In 2017 we were prepared with the word "Strategic"
Strategic is, being perceptive, future-oriented, open-minded, proactive, working off the front-foot, and making and taking decisions based on evidence and calculated hunches.
Strategic: The heart of man plans his way, but the Lord establishes his steps.
Proverbs 16:9 It was the ability to be open minded to God's plan even when we didn't understand it. This way of trusting and thinking helped us in 2020 to develop new strategies that allowed us to have an idea to duplicate and multiply our training programs to effectively reach more people. Our listening for God's direction helped us to develop this kind of forward, creative thinking. Because of this, we came up with a new strategy for our KPM Leadership Academy courses. We are currently moving forward with a plan for phase one of a video production studio. This will allow us to put all of our courses on video so we can expand our highly requested leadership programs and meet the needs for training in the prisons and in the nations.
In 2018 we were prepared with the word "Resilience"
Resilience is the capacity to recover quickly from difficulties; toughness. the ability of a substance or object to spring back into shape; elasticity.
Resilience: “Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring its own worries. Today's trouble is enough for today." Matthew 6:34 NLT. One of the most important things that Resilience taught us was that we may have trouble, but we have to learn how to bounce back quickly! Over many years of ministry, we have learned that life will throw some real curve balls. But our success is based on 10% of what happens to us, but 90% of how we respond to it. We determined that we would never let those opposing forces make us quit! As we went through this challenging season in 2020, we learned that we had to actually pivot from the old way of doing things to a new way of doing things. Pivoting is actually standing in the same place just making a slight turn in a new direction. The resilience that we had previously learned, lived and built within us in our ministry, helped us do just that. We have started a mentoring program with the students who have graduated from the KPM Leadership academy and been released from prison before and during the pandemic. We found that there was a need that we were able to fill with one on one accountability entering back into the free world. We do a once a week zoom mentoring training and it continues to grow.
In 2019 we were prepared with the word:
"Light"
Light is the natural agent that stimulates sight and makes things visible; provided with light or lighting; illuminate, make (something) start burning; ignite.
Light: “I have come into the world as a light, so that no one who believes in me should stay in darkness.” John 12:46 The word light taught us that even a small light can brighten up a dark room. Under the direction of the Lord, we have gone into some of the darkest places on earth. It is our greatest desire to shine the light of God's unconditional love and salvation to those who are lost and need Jesus.
We are reaching in some of the darkest places in the country of Belize to rescue young girls who have been held captive as victims of sex trafficking. The Sewing Project is growing even in the middle of the pandemic. We have graduated two classes of which is reaching young girls primarily in a small village on the border of Belize and Guatemala. We currently have a new class that began right before the holidays. There is great excitement within the village and many are wanting to be a part of what's going on. We are so blessed to see how God is changing these girls as they sew their way to a life of freedom.
In 2020 we were prepared with the word "Expansion"
The action of becoming larger or more extensive. Extension of territory, enlargement, broadening, or development of something.
Expansion: At first it was clear that 2020 was a year that our clarity of vision would help us expand the ministry outreaches locally and internationally. We had vision to expand in our communications and partnerships, expanding our outreach programs and leadership curriculum. Within a few months into the year our world changed in a matter of moments. It would have been easy to just dismiss this word and ask the Lord for another because this year was obviously not the year to expand! However, we learned that expansion takes place on the inside before it ever takes place on the outside. God needed this time to expand our faith in Him. Expand our dependance on Him as our foundation to build upon. We learned that the expansion of our daily time was our lifeline to expanding His work in our lives and in the ministry. Since then, we have had more clarity and 2020 was a year of great expansion. It began taking place in the natural because of what happened in our hearts. We have been rapidly moving forward and our plans are more aligned with His, for our next steps. In 2020 we have had doors open for the KPM Leadership Academy like never before. This month we will launch the KPM Leadership Academy training into a new unit that houses over 300 veterans and more than 3,000 inmates. We will launch a radio program within the unit that will minister to the entire prison and 400 men who are currently on death row. Please pray that revival will take place within this unit as Jesus expands the hearts of these men with his love, compassion and hope.
In 2021 We are prepared with the word "Connection"
A relationship in which a person, thing, or idea is linked or associated with something else.
the action of linking one thing with another.
Connection: One of the things that impacted us the most during the pandemic is that we need each other! We need to be Connected! It's who we are, it's what we do. We need our connection with God, our connection with our church, our family and friends, our co-workers and neighbors. All of these are vital to who we are and our mental well-being. I truly believe that 2021 will be a year of great connection. We desire to link together to do great things for the Kingdom! We need each other!
This has been a time for God to show up Big! Today and the days ahead pose a powerful opportunity for us to shine brighter. As a ministry organization, our heart is to bring hope and love to those in need. Like never before, many people are searching for something to cling to, as the world seems to be anything but stable. But let me encourage you, God has ALL the answers! The answers that can change lives and can change the world! And the great news is, we have access to ALL of them through His word. The one constant is God NEVER changes. He is the same yesterday, today and forever!
Even with great opposition that 2020 brought, we continued to experienced God do amazing things through preaching, teaching and training within the KPM Leadership Academy. We ministered to over 3,000 people and saw 357 people receive Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior. Many rededicated their lives, and many powerful testimonies came forth of how lives were changed by the hope, love and compassion of Jesus Christ. All this, because God had prepared us for "Such A Time As This!"
Do not be afraid or terrified because of them, for the LORD your God goes with you; he will never leave you or forsake you” (Deuteronomy 31:6).