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Our Journey as of August 8, 2004
In order to better understand our purpose, we want to
take you back to how this all began. To say that God has been actively
involved in Jesus Spoken Here would be an understatement. His presence
has been abundant. Let us walk you through what has happened since October
1998.
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Gill Davidson, who grew
up as the son of Missionaries, prayerfully receives a Vision from
God of a place to gather, pray, read and discuss God’s word. He sees
a place with a sign over it called Jesus Spoken Here. He also sees
someone specifically in it. He knows the person as an acquaintance,
but this is far from a close relationship.
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Gill calls the acquaintance,
Casey Sanders, who had just been downsized out of a job. In June of
that year, God had clearly called Casey to a Ministry of One on One
Discipleship. Gill communicates, “I see a place called ‘Jesus Spoken
Here’ and I see you in it.” Gill articulates the Vision in great detail
and expresses the need to get together. Both men agree to pray and
meet.
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The next day God begins
to complete the vision with Casey by showing him a crowded theater
parking lot. As people exit the theater, they look to their right
and see a retail establishment called Jesus Spoken Here – Dessert
and Music. People are standing outside trying to get in to hear live
Christ filled music and enjoy coffee, quality desserts and browse
a wide selection of CD’s and Tapes. Inside people gather, pray, and
discuss intimacy with Christ.
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Gill and Casey begin to
meet weekly to pray and wait on God.
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Gill shares the vision
with Stan Grzeszczak, and Stan feels impressed to join in the work.
By God's providence, Stan happens to be very gifted in the area of
Information Systems and is very creative, but most of all, walks by
the Spirit.
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Gill shares the vision
with Stan Grzeszczak, and Stan feels impressed to join in the work.
By God’s providence, Stan happens to be very gifted in the area
of Information Systems and is very creative, but most of all, walks
by the Spirit.
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The three begin to meet
weekly, and God gracefully gives them His vision statement for this
gathering place, “It is our prayer that you are brought closer
to the Person of Jesus Christ by being here today.” It becomes
very clear that the purpose of this new work is discipleship. The
desserts and music will be used by Him as a means to an end…the end
will be sincere relationships, leading to the making of authentic
disciples.
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After much prayer, God
provides the fourth member of the group, Gary Dirrim. Gary has an
extensive financial background as former CFO of a West Coast college,
and now retired, had been praying for involvement in a non-profit
ministry.
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The Four Men consecrate
the new discipleship ministry to God, and pray that everything will
be done by the Spirit and not by striving. Jesus Spoken Here is dedicated
to Glory of God as His ministry.
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Along the way,
God dynamically puts people in our path desiring Discipleship. The
number gradually grows in 1999 and God reveals a definite Discipleship
method over time. Building relationships, watching Christ make Disciples
through us will always be the point of this new work.
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For the next five months,
God takes the four of us through a period of waiting on Him, slowly
leading us to die to our own agendas and having us simply minister
to one another through prayer and His word. Although it appeared that
not much was getting done to advance Jesus Spoken Here, nothing could
have been further from the truth. Great things were happening in depth
of relationship to God and one another. Four men who did not really
know one another connected in the Spirit and allowed God to miraculously
build us up and together.
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After trying to incorporate
and apply to the IRS for 501C3 status (Non Profit Ministry) on our
own, God placed a Godly attorney in our path with whom we prayed and
felt led to use in establishing this work as a legal entity.
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Jesus Spoken Here Ministries
is recognized by the state of Georgia as a corporation. More importantly,
we heard from the IRS within 100 days of the application as to our
request for Non Profit Ministry status. Jesus Spoken Here is a 501C3
corporation, to which all contributions all are tax deductible.
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In October 1999, God clearly
made known that Casey was to plan to be at Jesus Spoken Here full
time by February of 2000. Of course, God made it clear, but did not
show how. So, we moved forward in faith by mailing a “Call to Prayer”
letter, on October 26th, to 100 people that had expressed a heart
for what God is doing in this new work. The Ministry had been launched!
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February 1, 2000, the Sanders
family stepped out on faith, in full time service to Jesus Spoken
Here Ministries to do 1 on 1 Discipleship full time and advance the
development of the Ministry. God blessed and took us from
6 Discipleship Relationships to 22 in during the year. Simply
put, we had a front row seat to God’s activity in watching these folks
grow closer to the person of Jesus Christ.
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In May of 2000, we had
a Divine appointment to meet Carol Johnson of Full Cup Ministries
of Buckhead. In a period of 2 hours, 2 people who did not know each
other communicated with Christi Sanders, that she needed to contact
Carol because she is doing something similar to JSH in Buckhead. At
the exact same time that Gill Davidson prayerfully received the vision
for Jesus Spoken Here (10/98), Carol was stepping out in faith to
officially begin a Christian coffeehouse in Buckhead. God pointed
us to Carol, a kindred spirit, who we learned from, shared ideas,
and with whom we have prayed many times.
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Upon the JSH and Full Cup
Boards meeting together, we met Randy Hall, who is on Carol’s Board.
Randy is also the Eastern Director of Operations for Seattle’s Best
Coffee. Randy graciously offered his Alpharetta café to JSH
for any 1 on 1 Discipleship that we might want to conduct there. As
we talked more, we discovered an opportunity to see God’s vision for
JSH in action at this café on Tuesday nights. On November 21,
2000 Jesus Spoken Here @ Seattle’s Best was born. Randy was kind enough
to let us transform the Alpharetta café into a Christian gathering
place for those looking for a place to hang out after 7:22, an established
Christian singles event occurring each Tuesday night. The response
was miraculous with 150 people attending from 8pm to 11pm, and we
saw the vision in action after 2 ½ years of prayer.
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For the next year, we did
the same thing each Tuesday night and prayed with many people. Along
the way, God began to show us that the vision given to us was about
people meeting together praying and sharing the Word with one another.
It was not about a place. It was about what would happen within a
place. The experience at Seattle’s Best was God’s gentle way of showing
that the idea of owning our own place was our extrapolation, not His
Vision.
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During all of this time,
God has put us in Discipleship Relationships with over 80 people in
multiple settings (restaurants & coffeehouses) across Atlanta.
Over 16 folks have multiplied out, now pouring their lives into the
lives of other individuals. We currently meet with 30 people on a
weekly basis, primarily “1 on 1.”
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Now we find ourselves really active
in the 3 things that He wants us to do: |
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- Conducting “1 on 1” Discipleship
- Raising the awareness for the need and benefit of “1 on 1”
Discipleship.
- Being available for whatever. The reality of “availability”
now manifests itself via such things as:
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- A monthly company wide devotional we were asked to give
for a local pharmaceutical company.
- Participation with Life impact ministries (lifeimpact.com)
in conducting Mentor Boot Camps.
- Leading the follow-up process for a weekend retreat ministry
for guys in the marketplace called Souly Business.
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We look forward to whatever God has
for us next. We must say that nothing has turned out the way we planned.
So, we will continue to simply follow the relationships that God puts
before us, continuing in Discipleship 1 on 1 with those that God directs
to us. Building relationships is our charge, pointing people to the
crucial need for intimacy with the Person of Jesus Christ.
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TO
GOD BE THE GLORY!
May
your most intimate relationship be with the Person of Jesus Christ, the
one who makes you righteous.
In
Him,
Gill, Gary, Stan, Bob and Casey
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