Ed left his normal referee duties to play for injured teammates during the 2012 University Christian Outreach Soccer Tournament. Good thing. Here he knocks in a goal with his chest.

Listen to our brother Ed Conlin speak about life in the Holy Spirit. He gave this short talk at our Pentecost celebration in May 2010. Some highlights:

• Ephesians 1:11-13 that we’re for the “praise of his glory.”
• A quote from Origen about God being “wholly other.”
• Short anecdotes about holy men.

Download the Audio file:
2010-05-22_Ed-Conlin_Holy-Spirit-Pentecost.mp3 [Size: 5.11MB MP3, Duration: 0:15:48]

or Download the Audio file in zipped form:
2010-05-22_Ed-Conlin_Holy-Spirit-Pentecost.zip [Size: 5.04MB ZIP]

The Grand Rapids brothers, left to right, Mike Kramer, Noel Delgadillo, Dave Cooper, Stan Mathay (seated), and Brian Laba.

Noel Delgadillo is in his second year leading the UCO chapter at Grand Valley State University. The GVSU chapter located in Allendale, Michigan, about 20 minutes west of Grand Rapids, has approximately 50 members at the weekly prayer meeting and continues to mature as an established outreach on campus now in its 10th year. Grand Valley is increasingly the destination of choice for those students not having strong affiliations to other “major” state schools in Michigan. In the past year, Noel has also been assigned as a Kairos Missionary to work with the youth and young adult programs in the community “La Nueva Jerusalen” in his hometown of Miami, Florida.

Brian Laba always has many projects on his plate. As an Assistant Regional Director of UCO, Brian has responsibility with three UCO chapters, supervising the two in Grand Rapids (GVSU & Calvin) and providing regular outside support and advice for the one in Pittsburgh. He also directs some of our major regional events such as the UCO Summer Academy (formerly the Campus Outreach Academy). But Brian’s main service this year has been spearheading the launch of a new community in Grand Rapids comprised mainly of young professionals who have recently graduated from GVSU and Calvin. This past January this young community had a Call and Mission conference which served well to broaden and deepen our vision for what it means to be a community of disciples on mission.

The Kairos Fellowship ministry was begun several years ago by Stan Mathay. The ministry offers wilderness trips to junior high boys in the United States and Canada. These trips provide character-forming and relationship bonding experiences for junior high boys throughout the region. Many lives have been challenged, strengthened, and renewed in this program that mixes high adventure and Christian discipleship among its young participants and staff.

The Kairos Mission Trips director, Mike Kramer, has also run short-term mission trips for high school-aged students for the past 16 years. The summer 2013 schedule will feature 2 trips for junior class members from The Potter’s House High School to a location just across the southern Arizona border in Agua Prieta, Mexico. Two Kairos teams comprised of students from across the United States will also serve in Agua Prieta. A Kairos team will also be serving in inner-city Detroit and a team of boys will be spending time on several ranches in western Nebraska on Ranch Challenge.

Our youngest household member, David Cooper, is completing his finance studies at Grand Valley State University. He plays a key role in developing relationships with other university students and helping them become more integrated in UCO. Recently, while participating with a select group of GVSU business students, David placed third at the regional SAP Design Thinking competition in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. One of his aspiring goals is to be “salt and light” in the business community.

Though the number of our household core is small, God has given us many chances to share the hope that invigorates our hearts and makes us glad to be a part of the opportunities on the horizon.

-Mike Kramer

This article is from our 2013 Easter Servants of the Word Newsletter [0.6MB PDF].

Bruce is one of two brothers who run Servant Systems Incorporated, a software development firm that helps to generate substantial funding for our various outreaches throughout the world. Bruce is the Vice President and Chief Technical Officer, which means that he sets the direction for adapting new technology as well as managing several of their largest projects. In addition to that full-time occupation Bruce finds time to serve as a Lutheran Church elder and a coordinator in his local community, The Word of Life. Within The Servants of the Word, Bruce holds the office of Senior Steward (a deacon-like role), and on top of all that, he leads the household at the brotherhood center in Chelsea, Michigan.

Yet even this rendition does not quite capture what many of his older brothers find most remarkable and honorable about Bruce. He is generous to a fault toward anyone less fortunate, and has become a critical link in the lives of a number of men to stay sober and out of trouble. We’ve watched him time and again go out of his way to serve others, fix someone’s broken computer, mediate a dispute, or encourage a recovering alcoholic to live of life of sobriety, get sober, or stay sober. And while at times he does get exhausted (he spends Saturday evening lying on the living room couch reading a magazine but mainly snoozing), he more typically finds all he does life-giving and enriching.

As one of his older brothers, I occasionally remind Bruce that he can’t keep up his current pace forever! His response is “Yup. I know it needs to change some day.” But to quote a saying from our Filipino brothers, “So far, so good, so far!”

While many of us have come to appreciate what Bruce can do, what we most often experience is his generosity of spirit – his willingness to simply serve others however and whenever he can. Bruce wears many hats and, by the generosity of God, he has not yet worn out. Above all, he is a man of faith and a man of prayer who calls on his Savior for help, and lives the life of The Servants of the Word commendably.

–Dick LaCroix

This article is from our 2013 Easter Servants of the Word Newsletter [0.6MB PDF].

The job was clearly a blessing from God, but it was also something that I felt I should give up because I had a strong desire to live a life of more full-time mission and to pursue God’s continued call on my life. So, as tough as it was, I decided to leave my job to move into the training phase with The Servants of the Word. I regularly get asked: “What are you, a Lebanese guy, doing in the middle of Lansing, Michigan? What are you, a mechanical engineer, doing as a mission worker? Why are you discerning your vocation without having a direct call yet to live single for the Lord? Why aren’t you just making good money somewhere as an engineer as (the world says) you should be?”

Well, it is fundamentally because God has been good to me and has instilled in me a strong desire to offer my heart to the Lord. And that’s why I’m here in The Servants of the Word; that’s why I’ve left my country, my family, my job, and my comfort zone to respond to the call that I believe God is placing on my life. And it’s worth it, because our God is good and we cannot outdo him in generosity. I have an unquenched desire to seek God’s will is for my life and to see it fulfilled in and through me. I want to live uncompromisingly for the sake of the kingdom of heaven– not for the sake of this world. So, I’m Lebanese and I’m living in the States. I’m an engineer and I’m doing mission work. I’m a young guy and I’m seriously considering living celibate for the Lord. And I am glad for all of this. I want to learn how to surrender my life to the Lord, live single-heartedly for him, and do his will whatever that may entail.

This article is from our 2012 Christmas Servants of the Word Newsletter [3.7MB PDF].

Watch the video here or catch it over at Kairos Media.

JWT: I know that you do a lot of writing. Which writing projects have you been working on lately?

Don: I have just finished writing a book entitled Training in Excellence: How godly character forms young people and strengthens Christian communities. It’s based on a series of talks on Christian character traits for leaders which I have been giving for the Kairos Student Worker Outreach Training program in Europe. This book is intended as a study aid for those who have a direct role in helping form Christian character, especially in young people.

JWT: For the past few years you have been writing daily Scripture meditations and posting them online. How have you seen this aspect of your ministry grow?

Don: I write and post the daily Scripture meditations for people who want to go deeper in their understanding of God’s Word (the Bible), but are busy and distracted. There are an average of 7,000 daily visitors on my website: www.dailyscripture.net. Kairos, the youth outreach of the Sword of the Spirit, sends out a daily email version of the meditations for people who sign up for a free subscription. There is also an iPhone App and Android phone App for the daily meditations. A few other websites also carry the meditations. So, I estimate that there are somewhere between 10,000 to 15,000 people who regularly read the daily meditations.

JWT: Where do you get the time and motivation to write the daily Scripture meditations? 

Don: I have a full time job and I get lots of service requests, so making some extra space, both mentally and spiritually, for this kind of study was not easy at first. I found that the best time for me was the early morning. My household has daily breakfast at 7:00 am followed by common prayer together. I regularly wake up at 4:00 am and take the three hours before 7:00 am as my “quiet time” to be alone with the Lord to listen to his Word.

In addition to reading from the Scriptures each morning, I love to read the biblical commentaries from the early church fathers. An early church father described God’s Word as an inexhaustible spring of living water. That has been my experience as well. Writing down my meditations becomes a natural way of expressing what I am learning from my encounter with the Lord and his life-giving Word.

JWT: You work full-time for Sword of the Spirit and you give lots of talks in the European region. What are some of the highlights of your service?

Don: A fair amount of my regular work week entails writing and editing for Living Bulwark, a monthly online magazine for the Sword of the Spirit (www.livingbulwark.net). I regularly get emails from people in Africa, Asia, Middle East, and the South Pacific, as well as North America, and Europe.

I also do retreat work, speaking engagements, and some training seminars for Sword of the Spirit communities in Europe. I particularly enjoy speaking on themes from the Scriptures with practical application for everyday life. My favorite work is with the Kairos student outreach workers. It is very rewarding to see young people engaging the Word of God and being transformed by it for their personal lives and mission work.

JWT: What do you most enjoy about life in The Servants of the Word, especially in the London household that mixes generations?

Don: I have been a member of The Servants of the Word since its beginning in the early 1970s.  I thoroughly enjoy daily life with the brothers in my household in London, England. Our London household currently has 11 men in it. Ages range from 22 to 65 years. Half of the men have made a life-long commitment to The Servants of the Word. The other half are young men interested in joining The Servants of the Word. They are in various stages of discernment and formation in our way of life as a brotherhood of men living single for the Lord.

Living together a daily pattern of common prayers, meals, and practical service (i.e. cooking, cleaning, washing dishes) is very rich, rewarding, and at times a stretching experience. Common life with the brothers pulls me away from focusing on my own personal preferences and interests. It helps me to be more focused on serving others and being attentive to their needs and concerns. Living with a household of brothers can be competitive at times. I like to wash the dishes after each meal, but the younger brothers sometimes beat me to the sink. I also like to crack puns at the dinner table, but the other guys are getting quicker at beating me to the punch line. And they clearly have more energy than I do – my energy reserves usually dry up by early evening.

Living in a mixed intergenerational household of men who want to give their all to God is a great preparation for the age to come in the kingdom of heaven – I wouldn’t want to trade this opportunity for anything else, except the community of angels and saints who dwell with God in his heavenly court.

This article is from our 2012 Christmas Servants of the Word Newsletter [3.7MB PDF].

Our team with the recipient family who
will soon occupy the house.

“Now we’re cooking with gas”, beamed Mike Kramer’s voice as team members took the forms out from around the freshly hardened concrete sidewalk. He had been operating a Bobcat skid loader to spread dirt and gravel to flatten the landscape and lay the groundwork for a driveway. A couple other men were beginning to dig a 200 foot long, 2 foot deep trench to bury electrical cabling. Others were priming the siding of the four bedroom house that we were helping to build. Five Servants of the Word affiliates and two lifelong committed brothers were on this mission trip with the primary objective of contributing to the construction of this Habitat for Humanity home (dacotahtipis.org) being built for a Native American family on the Crow Creek Indian Reservation at Fort Thompson, South Dakota. And what a mission trip it was!

Pulling the main service wire to the house.

Tasks ranged from installing sump pump crocks to wiring and insulating the house. Activities ranged from a tour of a hydroelectric power plant on the Big Bend dam to fishing on Lake Sharpe on the Missouri River. Meals ranged from rib-eye steaks (while visiting the parents of one of the brothers) to traditionally prepared fried bread tacos. Long drives, robust laughs, and raw, manly service characterized this mission trip. Overall, it was a time of innumerable memories, solid brotherly fellowship, selfless physical labor, and strong evangelistic focus.

Doing form work for the front sidewalk.

Aside from the physical work at Habitat for Humanity, a clear highlight was connecting with the missionaries at Diamond Willow Ministries (d-w-m.org) who selflessly reach out to the distressed and largely isolated Native American community on the Crow Creek Reservation. We were given numerous opportunities to exchange our stories with both the older and the younger generations in an effort to contribute to Diamond Willow’s outreach efforts. We were clearly struck by the humility, joy, and sacrificial generosity with which the missionaries there serve, as they leave behind careers, family, and comfortable living situations to pursue God’s will and bring people into the body of Christ. Thanks be to God for this awe-inspiring opportunity to see and witness God’s greatness, goodness, and love.

“God gave us a unique opportunity to plug in with both Habitat for Humanity and Diamond Willow Ministries, and we’re grateful that we were able to contribute even in small ways to the good work that these two organizations are doing.”

–Greg Codouni

This article is from our 2012 Fall Servants of the Word Newsletter [1.0MB PDF].

Bruce Franson spoke to the North American brothers at our December 1st Lord’s Day to kick-off our Advent season. His topic was “God’s Preparation for Advent.”

You’ll definitely want to listen to this one with these scriptures in front of you:

• Isaiah 59:1-2,9-21
• 1 Thessalonians 5:1-11,16-24
• (these link to the scriptures in the Revised Standard Version at biblegateway.com)

Download the Audio file:
2012-12-01_SW_BDF_GodsPreparationForAdvent.mp3 [Size: 6.74MB MP3, Duration: 0:17:58]

or Download the Audio file in zipped form:
2012-12-01_SW_BDF_GodsPreparationForAdvent.zip [Size: 6.67MB ZIP]

But one thing that coffee does – it perks up people. It is no accident that a machine invented to brew it is called (but of course) a percolator.

Jopeng (or Joseph Piquero, when referred to more formally) is a coffee nut (pardon the intended pun). He begins his day, ceremoniously enough, with a good dose of the aromatic black liquid. After his first quaff (“sip” is too tame), he perks up – round bleary eyes popping, a grin materializing on his fresh-out-of-bed face, and his lips chirping a cheerful “Good morning, brothers!” at the breakfast table.

“A good cup of coffee starts and makes my day,” Jopeng says matter-of-factly. “It makes me human! It relaxes me, sharpens my mind, squeezes out my creative juices, gets me through the day’s work. Best of all, conversations with brothers become more stimulating over (what else?) a cup of good coffee!”

Just like coffee, Jopeng also perks up the lives of many brothers and sisters, especially the young people of The Joy of the Lord Community in Manila, where he serves as director for the Young Adults Program. He is fondly (and intentionally) called by those in the program: “KJ” – for “Kuya Jopeng,” kuya being the Filipino title of respect for an older brother.

“Young people make me young,” he declares. “They are full of idealism, energy and enthusiasm for life. They are like a sponge that absorbs everything, uncomplicated, and just willing to listen and take in the truth. The knowledge that I am making a difference in their lives is quite humbling for me. I am grateful for the chance to serve my young brothers and sisters”.

Along with a dedicated team of youth workers from The Servants of the Word and the local community, Jopeng organizes and runs summer camps, mission trips outside of metropolitan Manila, temporary households for boys during the summer, retreats, training modules, evangelistic events, sports activities, and more. Jopeng the percolator?

Jopeng at a recent training session in Manila.

But of course! For Jopeng also perks up the brothers who work in The Servants of the Word office. As the regional steward, he makes sure that the brothers’ finances are in order and the overall practical administration of our life is working well. Being a mechanical engineer by training, Jopeng is methodical and systematic in his stewardship work. At the same time, he is brotherly and personal; he is one of the more compassionate brothers I know.

Jopeng made his lifelong commitment to live single for the Lord in The Servants of the Word in 2006. “I have always wanted to live for something greater than myself. So even earlier on, as a youth leader both in school and in civic affairs, I involved myself with things like the Red Cross, campus politics, student activism, advocacies, academic pursuits, an engineering career after graduation in the country’s major power company and, yes, even girlfriends. But none seemed to satisfy my heart’s deepest longings.” In 1994, Jopeng joined a retreat for single professionals, and there he made a personal commitment to live for the Lord. “I didn’t exactly know what it meant to give my life to God and to follow Him but I thought I’d give it a try,” he recalls.  “I gave God a chance. Little did I know that it was the start of the greatest adventure of my life. Little did I know that God was about fulfilling that deep desire in my heart ‘to live my life for something beyond myself.’ Little did I know that I had stumbled upon the ‘treasure hidden in the field,’ and that saying ‘yes’ to God was to receive the key to that treasure.”

In addition to community youth work and his stewardship responsibilities for The Servants of the Word, Jopeng also serves as trainer or formator for some younger brothers who are investigating our life. That tells you a lot not only about Jopeng’s pastoral and evangelistic skills but also his ability to model our life to other men. Jopeng truly has a big heart and gift for evangelizing and discipling men.

Besides his missionary work, Jopeng also loves to run, do wilderness activities like hiking or mountain climbing when he has the chance, tinker with our two vehicles and, yes, have coffee with the brothers and his friends. Having grown up in Baguio City (about 250 kilometers north of Manila in the cool mountain regions of northern Philippines), he loves to eat the exotic food of the mountain people – backyard vegetables, boiled pig or chicken entrails, even dog meat!

Jopeng’s favorite coffee is neither the genteel Arabica nor the full-bodied Robusta. He likes the local variety called Barako (Filipino for “bull”) which is strong, full-flavored, even aggressive, yet smooth and lands well. Like the Servant of the Word that he is.

Just listen to his parting shot at this interview: “Living for and in the grace of God has no dull moments. The pursuit of heaven is the ultimate adventure!”

Very Jopeng. A cup of barako coffee, anyone?

–Francis I. Iturralde

This article is from our 2012 Fall Servants of the Word Newsletter [1.0MB PDF].

Happy Easter!

In this issue of our newsletter we are happy to introduce to you Dan Rinke, one of the stalwarts of The Servant of the Word brotherhood in North America. We will also treat you to stories about a gathering of our affiliates—those investigating a longer term commitment to the life and mission of The Servants of the Word! We hope you will enjoy reading these articles!

I would like to share with you a couple more stories. On March 17 of this year, while I was visiting The Servants of the Word brothers in the United Kingdom, a 23-year-old professional soccer player, Fabrice Muamba, suffered a cardiac arrest while playing a game in England. For 48 minutes medics tried unsuccessfully to revive Muamba as they rushed him to a London hospital. After another 30 minutes the young man’s heart started beating again after receiving 15 electric shocks. “In effect, he was dead in that time,” said the cardiologist in the hospital. Today Muamba is on his way to recovery and exhibits none of the effects one would expect of someone whose heart had stopped for well over an hour. A doctor who attended to Muamba on the field said the young man’s recovery could be described as nothing less than “miraculous.”

This is an incredible story! It brings joy to Muamba’s family, friends and fans. It brings bewilderment and amazement to those of the medical field. It brings hope to others who are suffering from heart disease and other life threatening illnesses. A man who had been dead for 78 minutes is alive once more.

Slightly over 2,000 years ago another young man, 33-year-old Jesus of Nazareth, died. He had succumbed to execution—a gruesome death brought about by being nailed to a cross. After his death a Roman soldier went a step further and pierced his heart with a lance. There was no reviving him. His friends and his mother buried this man Jesus in a tomb carved out of stone. On the third day after his death, however, Jesus rose again to full life!

An even more incredible story! It brought joy to his mother, his friends and followers. It brought bewilderment and amazement to all who witnessed it or were made aware of it. It brings hope to all of us who live now but will one day die. Jesus lived a life without falling to sin. He therefore overcame the power of death! Unlike Fabrice Muamba, Jesus will never die again! In addition, we who follow him now look forward to sharing that everlasting resurrection. We too will rise to new life and we, through Jesus, will never die again!

Yes, happy Easter! It gives me great pleasure to greet you on this feast and season of great joy!
Ken Noecker
Presiding Elder, The Servants of the Word.

This article is from our 2012 Easter Servants of the Word Newsletter [7.5MB PDF].