Updates

Can’t believe it has been 2 months

Posted on by Spanky Rouse

Well, I can’t believe that it has already been two months since I began at United World Mission! Time flies when you’re having fun and it really has been so much fun! I find my self daily driving home thanking God for this incredible opportunity. I absolutely feel like He created this role just for me and me just for this role…thats a great feeling! I am waiting for the newness to wear off but it just hasn’t happened yet.

Often when I am telling Lara about my day I say something to the effect of, “I feel like I am the one Paul talks about when he says God choses the weak, foolish, and unqualified.” I really do feel completely unqualified but extremely grateful for this opportunity!

I have so far had the chance to go to coffee, eat meals with, hang out with, and interview incredible people of faith all around this world from China to Budapest to South Africa to Latin America. These missionaries are daily changing lives through loving the lowest and sharing their faith with the relationships God is giving them. Many of them are in life threatening places and others are simply missionally living in communities God has led them too. Churches are being planted, children rescued, slaves set free, leaders are being trained, Christ is being introduced to the most unlikely, and His Kingdom is coming alive to the nations.

I have a small part to play in all of this but believe that it is an essential role. Recruiting, training, and sending more missionaries to the places that do not know the name of Jesus or the hope that He gives. Thank you to all of you who pray for us, believe in us, and financially give each month in support of the Rouse House!!

 

We would like to invite you to partner with in ministry to help equip leaders, establish churches, and engage in holistic ministry around the world and right here at home by contributing financial support each month or annually.

TO DONATE:

Go to http://www.uwm.org/give/

  1. Click on GIVE
  2. Click on the BIG RED button that says “GIVE ONLINE”
  3. Scroll down to on the drop down menu to “Missionary”, then on the second drop down menu scroll down to my name “Rouse, Spanky 11084”
  4. Fill out the remaining part of the form and make sure you click reoccurring if you would like to set up monthly support.

or mail donation to:

Make your check payable to United World Mission and be sure to include a separate note with the name of the missionary, project or ministry you wish to support and the corresponding account number. Rouse, Spanky 11084

U.S. contributions should be mailed to:

United World Mission

PO Box 602002

Charlotte, NC 28260-2002

 

Does God care about that?

Posted on by Spanky Rouse

house_for_sale__500_01Yesterday after church Mac, Grey, and I were riding around looking at a neighborhood we might would want to live in. This may seem odd for some people but this is totally normal for the Rouse House. We think it is fun to look at houses for sale and dream about what it would be like to live there.

Yesterday when we were riding around I asked the boys, “do you think that God cares where we live?” Immediately that both said no. Which honestly, was good for me to hear because I think that it is a sign that things like a house just aren’t that important to them. But Mac spoke up and said, “well, maybe. I think that God could put us in a specific house, in a specific neighborhood where people don’t know Jesus.” Grey quickly agreed, like he normally does when Mac speaks up.

My heart filled with excitement that this dream of missional living…being intentional with daily relationships and opportunities God puts in our way…is starting to grow inside these boys. I believe with all of my heart that if we, Christ followers, all made a conscious effort to think this way it could radically change a neighborhood, community, city, and the world!

For the Rouse House, we do pray often and ask God for a new home. To be clear it isn’t all super spiritual. We have some selfish request in what our house looks like, the size of the house, the schools our kids will attend, even down to we want the kitchen sink to face the living area not the window into the back yard. Please don’t judge. But we know that when God opens that door and gives us an opportunity to move into another home it is a grand opportunity to love and impact those he places around us. We can play a role in Jesus’ plan for rescuing those he loves!

East Mountain – Cape Town, South Africa

Posted on by Spanky Rouse

This is just one of the many ministries that I have the privilege of working alongside at United World Mission. They are literally changing how the church is looking and serving all over Africa!

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East Mountain is a UWM ministry dedicated to developing Christian Leaders for global missional service. We accomplish this by inviting future and current pastors, missionaries, biblical scholars and para-church leaders to participate in relationally driven, community-centric, multi-cultural learning environments. Programs seek to integrate development in the areas of spiritual formation, theological education and practical leadership skills.

THE NEED

The need for leadership development in churches, mission organizations and theological institutions has never been more evident. Some of the current realities show that:

  • Eighty-five percent of churches in the world are led by men and women who have no formal training in theology or ministry.
  • If every Christian training institute in the world operated at 120 percent capacity, less than 10 percent of the unequipped leaders would be trained.
  • Eight out of ten nationals who come to the west to receive training never return home.
  • Leaders from every non-Western region say their number one need is leadership training

East Mountain leadership’s experiences in the local church, on the mission field and in the seminary confirm this picture of the great need for for Leadership Development.

OUR UNIQUE APPROACH

  • Holistic Development – integrated development in the areas of spiritual formation, biblical theology and practical competency.
  • Community Centric – all training occurs in the context of a Biblical Community rather than a classroom or institutional setting.
  • Partnership – East Mountain leverages the programs of existing partner organizations to deliver world-class theological training and real world ministry internships.
  • Shared Influence The East Mountain community is multi-cultural and teaching responsibilities are shared by Africans and Western Christians.

THE IMPACT WE MAKE

East Mountain impacts leaders, organizations and communities.

  • Leaders – Future and current leaders are developed for more effective Christian service.
  • Organizations – Churches, Mission agencies, Seminaries and Non-profits who send and receive East Mountain participants benefit from the influence of equipped leaders.
  • Communities – East Mountain participants are people of influence who go back to their home contexts and to bear fruit through relationships in their homes, neighborhoods, workplace and cities.
  • Capetown, South Africa – We also impact the Capetown context by serving in partnership with churches and non-profits seeking to bless the city in a multitude of ways.

For more visit http://eastmountain.tv/

What is a mobilizer?

Posted on by Spanky Rouse

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For anyone that knows Spanky Rouse or anyone of the Rouse House for that matter, you know our heart and passion for missions is a huge part of who we are. Lara and I have been on lots of mission trips and involve in mission projects all around the world for the past 12 years. We spent a few years being missionaries, we’ve financially supported missionaries, and now we are recruiting and coaching potential missionaries. With this next step in life and missions as a mobilizer at United World Mission I have to ask am I really making a big difference in the Great Commission?

Three weeks after being at UWM I was asked to lead our weekly prayer time and focus on mobilization. This pushed and encouraged me to begin studying the role of mobilization in global mission. At that time (4 weeks) I found myself seating in my office sending emails, reading information, making phone calls, and meeting with missional leaders from all over the world, but what difference am I playing in the Great Commission, global missions?

So I decided to spend some time studying the bible, talking to God about this role of mobilizing, and of course when you don’t know what else to do…Googled it. I found an amazing website, mobilization.org, that has a devotional notebook that is centered around this idea of mobilization. It points out the importance and significance of a mobilizer in fueling missions around the world. So most of my insight and information is going to come from there. Jesus talked in parables and so do I:

To mobilize is to awaken excite inspire provoke stimulate galvanize and encourage groups of people towards a specific action. In the English language the word mobilize is traditionally a military term. It refers to the process of moving resources soldiers weapons and supplies towards the battlefield. Without wartime mobilization, soldiers would never make it to the battlefield, battles could not be fought, and wars cannot be one.
Mobilization is critical to the act of making more in most armies, for every soldier who fights on the front lines, about 10 more personnel are needed to support that one soldier with supplies tactics technology communication and medical care. Mobilization is about much more than getting the soldiers to the front line, fully equipped with everything they need to execute the battle plan. It involves thousands of people laboring behind the scenes, who are offering support and resources to soldiers.

The ultimate job of a mission mobilizer is to engage, equip, and connect believers and churches worldwide to the most strategic role in fulfilling the great commission.

In short what do I do?

I have the amazing privilege and huge responsibility of making good relationships with individuals, churches, and other organizations for the purpose of engaging them, equipping them, and connecting them with the worked God has started and plans to complete all over this world. More specifically I am doing this with ministries in Latin America, Africa, and Asia. I get to meet and talk with people that believe that God has put a passion or conviction in their heart to “go” and make a difference through teaching the bible, loving children at risk, evangelize the world, plant churches, meet physical needs, train Christian leaders, and so much more. After meeting with these people I get to connect them with the best opportunities in 45 different countries. These people that are answering the call are going overseas to serve the Lord anywhere from a few weeks to the rest of their lives. I absolutely love coaching these individuals through this exciting time in their lives and helping them figure out what/how/when/where God wants to use them!

So, I feel that this role of the mobilizer is so much more than an office job. I feel like I am playing a very significant role in fulfilling the Great Commission. The bible is very clear that some of us are the sower and some are the reaper, we all have a role to play in this world knowing Him. I get to be a life line for the field ministries/missionaries and a stepping stone for those trying to reach the mission field. It could be either my one family going or it could be us mobilizing hundreds of families to go. I love what God has given me to do for this season of my life!

Posted on by Spanky Rouse

 

John 17:18

You May Be the Only Jesus Some People Ever See by Richard & Reneé Stearns, from He Walks Among Us
Meet Richard Stearns 

The Hands and Feet of Christ

“As You sent Me into the world, I have sent them into the world.” — Jesus in John 17:18
As followers of Christ, we bear the responsibility of demonstrating to the world what Jesus might look like were He to walk the earth today. Those who will never enter the door of a church or read a Bible or hear a sermon can still know Jesus by watching us! I’m not sure I always give others the right impression, but I met someone who does.
Tseghe, a fourteen-year-old Ethiopian girl, was abducted by a stranger as she walked to school.
Because the man lacked money to pay the bride price, he simply stole Tseghe from the side of the road, intending to make her his wife. He took her shoes so she couldn’t run and marched her miles from her home to a shack where he bound and assaulted her.
Although everyone in the village heard what had happened, no one came to her aid. “She’s damaged goods,” they said. “Leave well enough alone. That’s just the way things are. If you can’t afford a bride, you just take one.”
But Tseghe’s grandmother was determined to find her, and she recruited Esatu, a World Vision staff member, to help. When Esatu first went to the police, they refused to act. But he persisted, and over the course of the next several days, Tseghe was found and returned home.
I asked the older woman what Esatu’s efforts had meant to her. “It would have been enough,” she said, “if he had just come alongside me and been my friend, but he did so much more.”
In that instant, my mind flashed to another desert in another country and a stable in a town called Bethlehem. Looking at the Creator of the universe lying helpless in a manger, some might say it would have been enough had Jesus simply come alongside us to be our Friend. But of course, that wasn’t enough at all, because more than a friend to walk beside us, more than an example to follow, what we really needed was a Savior.
Esatu had already done plenty. He’d worked hard to provide for the needs of the community, and rescuing Tseghe wasn’t his responsibility. But that thought never crossed his mind.
When Esatu came to the aid of a young girl and her desperate grandmother, he was just doing what Jesus would have done if He had been there on that terrible day.
And in a way, Jesus was. Esatu’s hands were Jesus’ hands; Esatu’s heart was Jesus’ heart. When wicked men sought to steal away a young girl’s dignity and hope for the future, Jesus came to Tseghe’s rescue in the person of a man named Esatu.
Is there someone you know who needs Jesus, someone to whom you can demonstrate through your friendship, your encouragement, your wise counsel, the love of the Savior? Look at the people around you. You just might be the only Jesus they will ever see.

Excerpted with permission from He Walks Among Us by Richard and Reneé Stearns, copyright Thomas Nelson.

To know more about the Rouse House and the ministry we are apart of please sign up for our monthly newsletter by emailing spankyr@go28.org. 
Please consider joining our financial support team? You can send contributions to: United World Mission, PO Box 602002, Charlotte NC 28260-2002 and write ACCT# 11084 in the memo line. Further info about on-line giving and other programs see United World Mission. Thank you to our present supporters that allow us to impact the many lives across the planet.
Again, THANKS! We are looking for 10 new partners about to give $50 to $100 per month. Our Goal is $600 a month or $7,000 annually. THANK YOU for investing in this Kingdom work!

what and who

Posted on by Spanky Rouse
I origianly labeled this blog…Successful Life…but then began going through my thoughts and felt it needed a more simple approach. I may not have made my ideas and words as clear and simple as the title but hopefully you can see my heart.

Many of us are trying or have spent much of our lives trying to figure out – what is my purpose, what was I created to do, or how can I make an impact?  In the church world we say, “What is my calling” as if God picked up His phone and dialed us up. We all do this, right! In high school it is all about where I am going to college, so that I can get the best degree, so that I can have this most profitable career, so that I can achieve this goal or that. I think this kind of thinking leads us to spend most of our lives looking at the “what”.

So what if the “what” is not the right question we should be asking. Is there some other goal that we should have our focus fixed on. What if there is a more important question we should be asking. A question that if answered, just might help with figuring out the “what”‘s we are so bent to answer.

One of my best friends and person of wisdom in my life, Jake Greer, and I use to have this time called broffee. It is where brothers meet for coffee and talk about life and God. I say use to because life has become so busy that it had to fall off the radar for a season. That seson better be over because broffee time is something that we all need if we realize it or not. It keeps us going in life and helps us in seeing God as he truly is when are blinded by the days around us.

About a year ago at broffee time we were talking about this question of “what are we called to or to do”.  We realized through the conversation that maybe we were focusing on the wrong question. Don’t get me wrong, the “whats” in my life are good things more than not. They are possibly all God things in our life but maybe they shouldn’t be first question we try to answer correctly. The question I believe to hold even more importance isn’t a “what” kind of question it is a “who”. See “what” refers to something I can do or chase after with my life. “Who” is the modeling, shaping, and filling of God in my life. These other questions in life are pointless and can distract me to a point of missing it all together if I am not becoming “who” he has created me to be. Jake and I decided that morning that we have to allow God to make us “who” he wants, called, and created us to be before he can use us to do the “whats” we are so passionate about.

WHO?

Who does God want me to be? You could even say He has called, like supernatural purpose in life called us all to be someone specific. I believe that we just might get to those “whats” in life quicker and easier if we simply answer the, “Who does God want me to be?”. When our focus is off of our world around us He can do great things through and with us.

1. Who has God called me to be?
We are all going to become someone but who?
2. Then and only then, what has God called me to do with my life?
Gods waiting to give or show me the “whats” in life but he is waiting on me to accomplish the first questions.

What’s up next

Posted on by Spanky Rouse

God is continuing to lead us in exciting directions and showing us his power. Big things are on the horizon! A new season of ministry begins tomorrow.

Earlier this year Lara and I were talking about life and missions. We have been blessed over the 3 plus years to be apart of a God size movement here at Ridge Church in Matthews, NC and we wouldn’t trade it for anything! We have seen God use us to build this ministry outreach called Intersect, which serves a local low-income school and neighborhood called Piney Grove. Unbelievable stories of impact and life change have come out of this project. We have also been able to help facilitate many community groups and other small groups where participates have gained monumental relationships and a deeper understanding about a relationship with God. We have been able to walk with many couples and individuals through counseling, critical circumstances in life, helped through crucial times of discipleship, connected others with in the body of Christ, and loved on hundreds during our 3 plus years on staff here at Ridge Church.

Earlier this summer I began looking for ways Ridge Church, as well as the Rouse House, could serve in missions internationally. Being missionaries at heart we have been feeling the itching to travel and see how God can use us even more. In the early part of July I meet with a mission organization that is based out of Charlotte to talk about opportunities for Ridge Church. At the end of the meeting I was offered a job! Little did I know at this time it would be what I think could be a dream job for me. I couldn’t write the job description any better my self.  Not really in the pursuit of a new job or ministry I took things slow and waited on God to show me what his clear plan was for my family and me. Day after day it seemed that he was moving us in this new direction which is back into full time missions. Worried that I wouldn’t be able to play a role in leadership at Ridge Church or this ministry to Piney Grove I told this organization I would only consider the job if they would allow me to continue some of my ministry at church too. There response was wonderful, “that’s what we would expect you to do. Of course you should keep doing that too.” This is just another one of those moments I call “finger prints of God”. There has be many of them during this process of decreeing if this is the right direction.

After 7 weeks of prayer, asking others for wisdom, conversations with my family, and interviews I accepted the position with United World Mission as a Mobilizer/Coach. My primary role will be to help those who feel that call on their life to missions. I get the privilege of helping individuals and families figure out what exactly God is leading them to do, how, when, and where in the world He wants to use them. I will also work with local churches on the east coast with their international missions needs and with a wide variety of projects worldwide that delight our God. The Rouse House will remain based out of Charlotte and serving in a much smaller way but still making a huge impact through Ridge Church. We are SO excited to see how God has put together these plans and that he still has much for the Rouse House to do!

Tomorrow I start my new adventure in God’s story and he will continue to write a story of faith in me. Lord let us have a faith and love that will change the world!

Colssians 1:4-5

4 because we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love you have for all God’s people— 5 the faith and love that spring from the hope stored up for you in heaven and about which you have already heard in the true message of the gospel

Please consider joining our financial support team? You can send contributions to: United World Mission, PO Box 602002, Charlotte NC 28260-2002 and write ACCT# 11084 in the memo line. Further info about on-line giving and other programs see United World Mission. Thank you to our present supporters that allow us to impact the many lives across the planet.

Again, THANKS! We are looking for 10 new partners about to give $50 to $100 per month. Our Goal is $600 a month or $7,000 annually. THANK YOU for investing in this Kingdom work!

A year later…

Posted on by Spanky Rouse
Last year about this time a group of 50-60 people gathered at Ridge Church, well what is now Ridge Church, to begin a 30 day fast (click on the link to read more from our pastor Chris Brown). That weekday night this place was just a building under construction and a group of people coming together humbly to ask for God to do what only He can do. We were praying not for the finish product of this really nice facility called Ridge Church but for the people we, Ridge Church, knew God was wanting us to love, serve, and lead to His son Jesus. If the carpets, stage, and walls were torn out you would see those names and groups of people wrote on the concrete floors still today.

Our prayers from that 30 day fast last May:
1. God, Please renew and increase our passion for your mission in this generation. Luke 19:10

2. God, Please give us favor and increase our influence to reach and serve those no one is reaching. 1 Chronicles 4:10
3. God, Please provide for this mission in undeniable and miraculous ways. Luke 11:13
 
I read back over these three prayers today and say to my self, “who wouldn’t want to be apart of a movement where this is what we, THE CHURCH, are seeking God for!!!” This is a group of people that I am so proud to stand and serve beside.
  • We have seen God provide in miraculous ways, just come visit and you will see what all He has given to us and blessed us with.  
  • He has granted us favor and influence over many more in our community as we continue to serve those in our community and city. 
  • And the passion for this mission is greater today than it was that day a year ago as we, Ridge Church, are constantly seeking ways to lead people into a growing relationship with Jesus. As we pursue this mission lives are being changed radically week after week! We just baptized 7 this week alone!
My prayer today is the same as it was that evening as we stood in this unfinished warehouse, “God do what you only can do with us” Will you please continue to pray for the Rouse House and Ridge Church as we purse our loving Father and the mission He has created us for? 

Daddy week

Posted on by Spanky Rouse

Last week was Spring Break for our children. Much like the past couple of years we try and plan the week around some fun activities. It is a week of family time for the most part so I try to limit how much I work. We do special days with just Mommy or just Daddy, go to the park, hang out with friends, go to the zoo, and anything that we can do together as a family. This week is a really fun and refreshing time for all of us but especially for me. I absolutely love this week with my kiddos!

Towards the end of the week Lara and I noticed Elly (our 2 year old princess) kept repeating something but we could only make out the first word, “Daddy”. Then on Thursday morning I was headed out to the gym before Grey and I spent the day together. Elly started it again but with more of a determination in her voice and head shaking to not let me leave the house. Lara and I asked her, “What are you saying Elly?” and she said those same few words again. This time we got it!

“Daddy week, daddy week, no workin, stay home baby, no workin!“…all the while she was shaking her head no and giving me this precious look that can get me to do anything she wants.

Everywhere we went for the next few days she proceeded to let everyone know that this is daddy’s week and daddy was staying home to play with baby (btw ‘baby’ is the name she has claimed to be hers) and is not working. This broken, half way of a sentence filled me with such joy because the highlight in my daughters life was for me to be home spending time with her. At the same time it made me evaluate where my focus in normal weeks were and where my time is spent. What better way could I be spending my days than loving, playing, listening to my family….NONE!

I think God is calling me to more “Daddy weeks”

Be very careful, then, how you live—not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity…Ephesians 5:15-16

respond to God’s giving

Posted on by Spanky Rouse

My dad has started sending out a short daily devo for his company and the Monday devotion got me thinking, so I thought I would share it with all of you.

Matthew 6:33
But seek first His kingdom, and all these things will be given to you as well.
Mondays always seem to be so busy as we gear up for the new week ahead. There are list to be made, task to accomplish and goals to be met. We set off to meet the challenges of the new week with hopes of finishing well.
Part of the start to that week should always be to prepare the order by which we view things for the week and the very first thing on that list should always be to “Seek first His kingdom”. God has promised that if we seek Him first and keep our eyes upon Him that he will take care of the rest. We can never out-think, out-plan or otherwise get ahead of God who already knows us and our ways and has a plan, His plan, already in motion.

“…His plan, already in motion.” If we keep that thought in mind how much less stress would we (I) live with.
The Message puts it this way,

“If God gives such attention to the appearance of wildflowers—most of which are never even seen—don’t you think he’ll attend to you, take pride in you, do his best for you? What I’m trying to do here is to get you to relax, to not be so preoccupied withgetting, so you can respond to God’s giving. People who don’t know God and the way he works fuss over these things, but you know both God and how he works. Steep your life in God-reality, God-initiative, God-provisions. Don’t worry about missing out. You’ll find all your everyday human concerns will be met.” Matthew 6:30-33

How preoccupied are you? Probably so much so that we miss out on responding to God’s “giving”. Look to Him and you’ll be taken care of, all of you.