October 2007
Dear Friends:

Newborns and nurturing
Just a month ago our family was blessed with a new addition, Koby Jonathan. We spent a good portion of the month just holding him, taking pictures, receiving visits from extended family, etc. What a joy! We thank all of you for praying and coming alongside us in this new season. The meals and gifts have seen us through -- just the right stuff at just the right time. We find ourselves saying things we haven’t said in years, “Where’s the pacifier?” and “Oooohy, he just spit up on me...” and applauding our son’s loud burps and potent breaking of wind :~) Nonetheless, this has been THE most enjoyable newborn experience we could have ever hoped for. Now we begin the process of nurturing and bringing him up in the fear and admonition of the Lord.

This whole process of pregnancy – birth – upbringing is like transformation. The pregnancy is long and it seems like it will never be over. Then comes the birthing moment, which is both hard and wonderful, but it doesn’t end there. That’s just the beginning really! The nurturing, protecting and caring part commences. The sleepless nights and diaper changes. We know our baby will grow and eventually walk on his own, but at this point, he is so helpless and vulnerable. Imagine what would happen if we didn’t nurture him! And so we are in this critical stage of what God is doing in this city transformation. We covet your prayers as we parent in the natural and as we learn what it means to nurture transformation in our region.

Our 3 year old ‘city transformation’ movement is growing up, and we are pregnant with another movement, the REGIONAL transformation - the “WER1NET. Our DVD project, “Tracking with Transformation,” will be birthed onto the scene in January. We trust it will be instrumental in bringing clarity to the vision and provide some practical first steps for region wide impact. It will put into words what many are sensing in their heart regarding how the local CHURCH can partner in a dynamic, fresh way to bring about a significant ‘Kingdom advancement’ in an intentional and pervasive way. We believe God will open doors for this to be viewed throughout this region and beyond to bring definition to citywide movements and jump start those that are stalled out.

Team effort
Do you remember how Paul commended his coworker Epaphras in Philippians 2? Well, my core team is also working hard, and I wanted to brag on them this month. Karen Shuster has been working with supernatural energy as unto the Lord and made the return on your investment in our ministry twice as fruitful in these past 3 years. This month she has added “videographer, set director, and film editor,” to her never ending list of tasks tackled. Her accomplishments this month have made my best attempts at productivity look infantile. My hat is off to her, and her family, who toil loyally alongside her in this work.

Roy Meade has made great progress this month as Grace in Motion shifted into high gear. We helped move a widow one weekend and the next weekend came alongside Simpson University to serve the servants who were partnering with City Hall to meet the needs in a local neighborhood. Hellen, Roy’s wife, oversaw the recent prayer tent season on the streets of our town and 3 others. During 20 hours over 3 days at 7 locations, more than 100 people were touched personally and hundreds others waved and honked in support. God is out of the box and His grace is abounding in the streets! Praying for everyone is so cool, and then serving their felt needs is a powerful follow-up. I still can’t tell who is blessed more, the one who receives or the ones who give. Suppose I’ll side with Jesus, it IS more blessed to give than receive!

Kenn Malrose, our beloved drummer who works at Datawise Inc., and Deanna Gallagher, owner of Datawise, are both working on the Aloha Card for California. Hawaii is effectively using this tool to bring character back into schools and families on the Islands. Education leaders in our area are eager to implement this project here. Pray about the funding, development, and pre-launch training.

Laurie Damoth has been researching the spiritual roots of our city and her efforts led to a telephone interview with a nationally known author and speaker on city transformation. Our conversation was informative and tremendously encouraging. He made the point that city reaching is morphing from a functional unity, event style / network-based-initiative-machine into a more relationally aligned team which seeks to release the fragrance of Christ everywhere without a lot of conditional constraints. This totally resonates with us and our approach.

Upcoming
Nurturing the vision through the next few months will look like this: Mid month (Oct 13) Grace In Motion mobilizes to meet more felt needs and during the week of Halloween (Oct. 30, 31, Nov.1) we take prayer to the sidewalks, highways and byways with another season of prayer tents. The prayer tent week will culminate with a Night of Worship at Mountain View Middle School on Nov 2 at 6:33 pm.

In addition to our monthly lunches to encourage marketplace ministers, we will also host 3 other strategic gatherings in October - one for the senior pastors, one for youth pastors and another for city leaders of our area. Our core team has mapped out a path leading toward January of 2008, when we unveil the DVD and a few other tools for transformation to the region, and these gatherings will pave the way. Pray for the relational side of the movement to ‘warm up’ even as we put the finishing touches on the physical materials we are sowing into the Kingdom effort. We want more than just a ‘saved city,’ we want the saved in the city to ‘get along.’

Jesus wants us to be a Healthy Body, to properly reflect HIM. He wants His fragrance to permeate our entire region everyday, and for all the ‘parts’ to work together in a dynamic way so the world will believe the Father sent Him. As we grow and take steps into new horizons, we greatly appreciate your support, encouragement, and prayer.

Nurturing a young one,

Jon Thompson
Husband of 1, Father of 4, Son of the King

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