My Health is in LIMBO and I Intend to Launch an Online Ministry this Summer

SUMMARY

This is another wordy update. Truthfully I do not know how to make it briefer. 

There are essential matters covered here.

I offer these for those who are supporters. I request your best prayers.

I hope that God will answer prayers to open the door for me to visit Dr. Kathi Perry soon. Then Lord willing God will use her to relieve the various health symptoms that have troubled me for months.

I hope that God will answer prayers to pave the way for me to effectively launch an innovative interactive online ministry aimed at high school and college students plus their teachers this summer. 

Over the last 4 decades, I have made many attempts to launch a ministry. I hope that God will guide me to enroll more than enough prayer support to effectively launch this summer.

What follows are the related details. 

HEALTH

Nearly every day I feel minor pains on the right side of my chest. About one time a week I also feel pain in my right shoulder blade. So I expect that those pains are related. And I hope that chiropractic adjustments will relieve the pains.

Hope Clinic said that there is a 99 percent chance that chest pains are not heart-related. May they be right.

I have had various troubles with my gut for 9 weeks. 

I have had troubles with my breathing also since early December. 

I spend most of my time in my bedroom where I also have my home office. Here I have a vaporizer going that I refill as needed. And I have a diffuser that puts essential oils in the air. When those run out I get very stuffy. And when I wake each morning I must take Tylenol Severe Sinus just to get going.

I am waiting to hear from Dr. Kathi Perry in Arlington Texas. I mailed her the 19 page New Patient Information PDF from her website. Also, I included 28 pages of additional details about my health history and current conditions. 

I called and they said it was received. I was told that the next step is that she reads that and then calls me to discuss my health matters. Then an appointment is set. I am waiting for that call. 

When that appointment is set then I will need to do fundraising to cover the costs of those visits. And I will need to enroll transportation to get there. DART does not serve Arlington and the Community Transport Service here in Ennis does not go to Dallas. 

I have faith that God will guide and provide. Also, I request your best prayers for my healing as well as starting to visit Dr. Kathi Perry soon.

MINISTRY

During much of December and January, I was too weak and in too much pain to consider online ministry. Thankfully God has answered prayers and I feel much better. 

For the last few weeks, I have felt clear and repeated guided to begin an online ministry this summer. During the summer the high school and college students are out of class. It is that critical season of life with many people are in the formative stage related to their future spiritual life. 

During those few years, a person is leaving the world of living at home with parents and moving to maybe living on campus and then living on their own someday.  Typically what follows is a career, marriage, and parenting. During that transitional season between childhood and adulthood, the person is involved in various courses. It is normal for them to read, listen, think, write, and engage with fellow students. Their internal world is being formed. When career, marriage, and parenting arrives those bring a different set of challenges. And the worldview, core values, and concepts of God are put to the test.

Let us consider the terrible statistics that a large percent of those that were active members of youth groups in churches then quit being active Christians when they get to college. Many have said that one of the reasons is that they no longer have the support of family and peers. And another reason is that they never did fully understand and own the Christian faith as their own. They were drifting along on the coattails of their parents and youth leaders. So the assaults on their faith by professors and other students were too much. 

This generation of young people is online all the time. They are at the stage of asking tough questions. Most older church members do not have the time, energy, or ability to engage with them about the big questions of life.  

When I was in college I was a seeking agnostic. I attended Christian college ministries many times. I asked tough questions and got shallow answers. I drifted into a New Age cult. There I drifted into drug abuse. But for the grace of God, I did not overdose. I was taking more and more LSD.

God answered the prevailing prayers of my mother. The Lord Jesus Christ graciously delivered me from the cult and drug abuse. When I was in the church-based drug rehab I knew I had made a wreck of my life. During those 18 months in that loving community, I repeatedly made total surrenders to trust and obey my Good Shepherd. 

After my rebirth, January 16, 1977,  I attended Bible College where I was deeply disappointed. They were into detailed academic stuff that was only indirectly related to the Bible. They did not promote spiritual formation, accountability, or Christian community. They were seeking to forge more cogs for their religious church machines.

It is said that we are not only in a post-modern society but also a post-Christian and even a post-truth society. The trends in church attendance, biblical literacy, and lack of fervent prayer life are troubling for me. 

When I see small children my heart hurts. What kind of spiritual legacy are we leaving for them to inherit? If the tidal waves of secularism, materialism, atheism, consumerism, hedonism, and more isms are not presented with a Christian worldview that is Bible-based, Christ-centered, and God-glorifying … then what kind of a mess will our children and grandchildren endure? 

Soon after I was born again I felt the call of God into ministry. I responded positively and that began a complex adventure. I did my best to follow the conventional paths to ministry but they did not work for me. So my 40-year journey has had all kinds of turn.

During these 4 decades, I have had dozens of inspirations for educational ministries. I have captured and organized those key ideas on many online mind maps. I have made attempts to launch those ministries. None of them got off the drawing table. So I have also grappled with many seasons of depression.

On the one hand, I have more than enough material to lecture for 200 hours based on those mind maps. I could draw on my various experiences in a wide range of local churches. But on the other hand, I would not want to attend my own lectures. I am not now at the place where the typical lecture format appeals to me. 

But I could preach for 500 hours. While that could be enjoyable for me and inspirational for others, it would not address the deeper need to educate, equip, and connect the next generations. It is my higher aim for others to own their faith in Christ and go on to make disciples. I want them to become godly spouses, parents, and local church lay leaders.

I will not exclude others from what I have to offer. But I will tilt primarily to those who are most teachable and ready to learn how to think for themselves.

I admit that I have had a chronic problem with starting but not completing projects. I have been praying about this and requesting prayers. Now I believe that God has answered those prayers. 

Have you ever heard of a MOOC? That term stands for a Massive Ongoing Online Course. Instead of a typical course that follows a strictly linear path, the learner gets to interact with the many online modules. They can use the suggested roadmaps or not. They interact with the lessons as well as fellow learners, and the teacher. 

This is a far more complicated way of education. But I believe it is far more effective in the long term. I would rather ask lots of tough questions that have been around for centuries. Then I would offer tools for each person to find their own answer rather than just present my answers. They will have opportunities to interact with other learners along the way. As the iron will sharpen iron there would be real education instead of indoctrination.

I heard about a MOOC years ago. I have never participated in one yet. I have begun to learn about how to make them. I will share more about this in the next update. Plus I will include an overview of what I plan for this summer and beyond.

There is much learning and preparing for me to do before June. I will also need to enroll the advice as well as the help of many people in the coming months. 

PRAYER

Please pray for God to guide and provide along this exciting adventure. 

Please pray for me to keep it simple as I write.

It may be more effective in the future for me to offer shorter updates and to use short videos.

THANKS again for your prayers.

Shalom

Brother John