Jesus said to them, “My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to accomplish his work.
JOHN 4:34 ESV

Jesus said that what filled Him up, what gave Him satisfaction and nourishment was to do the will of God; to accomplish what He was purposed to do. We as followers of Christ also have something that will nourish our souls and fill us up, we have work to accomplish that our Heavenly Father prepared for us in advance and we have work that should bring us joy to do out of our worship, love and appreciation for Jesus and what He did for us.  His will for us is to reach out to people with the message of Christ so that they may have a chance to be saved and live in a right and personal relationship with God through Christ.

As Jesus put it in Matthew 28…

And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,  teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”
Matthew 28:18-20 ESV

So as a church we have this call, we have this mission to reach out to people, love them and lead the to become fully devoted followers of Christ.  As you read this are you focused on this mission?  Are you prayerfully approaching how to be engaged in this mission we have with the time we have left here on earth?

As you pray through this let me give some suggestions to spur you on in how to engage with Ni River in this call we have:

-Spend time daily in prayer and in the word.
During this time ask God to prepare you for this mission and reveal opportunities to share Jesus with others.  Ask Him to reveal anything to you in your life that may be going against Him or hindering His will from being done in you.

-Invite people to Ni River
Begin asking people to join you.  This week is a great week as we are starting a new series called LEGENDS and we have the Spring Celebration Party after the second service!

-Use Facebook as a platform
If a verse jumps out to you during your study time then post it, share encouraging words there; you’d be surprised how God’s word or some positive and encouraging words on Facebook can make people wonder what’s different about you!  Hey you can also share Ni River events and invite people to church through that platform.

-Get involved in serving consistently through Ni River
Are you helping to strengthen the ministry of Ni and make it’s impact more powerful by serving?  TKO, GAME, RUSH HOUR, Sunday service teams, outreach through Mercy With A Mission, Vacation Bible School… there are plenty of ways to get involved and help to spur on the ministry as we lift up the name of Christ!

I’m praying for you as you seek to discover what it is that God would have you do and for all those who are currently making an impact I also am praying for encouragement and strength from the Holy Spirit in your life to continue you on in this mission!

Serving Our Awesome God,
Travis

More than a Song

I just want to first say what a blessing it has been to worship with you on Sunday mornings! I so enjoy praying for our congregation through out the week and asking God where He desires to take us in the short time we have to corporately seek His face and give Him praise!

April was my first, 1st Wednesday, and I was so moved by God’s presence that I thought what if we had a night dedicated to worship. Others began to chime in with that same desire. After prayers and thoughts, this Wednesday will be our first, 1st Wednesday that is completely dedicated to worship! These Worship Wednesdays will happen once every three months. I didn’t want to mess up the rhythm of the 1st Wednesdays or add another night during the week so having a 1st Wednesday dedicated in worshiping our Lord seemed a natural flow…as worship should be!

My desire for this Worship Wednesday is for us all to come in great expectation of what God can do as a church body and personally in our lives. When we do that God shows up! Remember His desire is to show us His face, His will, His strength as we focus our hearts and minds on Him.

Worship for me embodies what King Jehoshaphat said when a vast army was closing in on his people to wipe them out,” We do not know what to do but our eyes are on you” 2 Chronicles 20:12.  I just know if I focus on God He will show up in all circumstances.

So this Wednesday:
If you are battling a Goliath be prepared to lay it down allowing God to go before you and defeat the enemy. If you are struggling with burden, sin, or doubt, be prepared to see the fullness of God’s grace and faithfulness. If you feel your family is broken and you are depleted emotionally ready to give up, be prepared to have the Lord be your rear guard and restorer. If you feel you lack direction or purpose, be prepared for God to reveal His heart and peace in those be still moments.

Worshiping the living God is more than a song; it has victorious affects in the spiritual realm. Worship is a part of what keeps us focused and effective in the race set before us. So I am standing in great expectation of a great God and I hope to see you Wednesday May 1st at 6:30pm!

JC Mason

Wow! I can’t believe it is Friday already.  What an amazingly awesome, God inspiring week it has been. I would venture to guess that every member of this beautiful team has experienced God in a special way. Each day has been incredible in its own way and each team member has been incredible in their own way. This week has shown the power of Christ to bind the hearts together of like minded people. It has been amazingly to watch Christ stretch people, grow people, challenge people and heal people. There have been tears of joy and tears of sadness. There has been much laughter and there have been times of somber reflection. I know God is doing big things here in Peru, but I also know He is doing big things in the hearts of 22 Ni Riverites, 1 special young lady from Spotswood Baptist and an amazing couple from Indiana. I can’t begin to tell you how proud I am to be a part of this team. The team prepares to leave tomorrow; however, before we do, we have an opportunity to bless Tony Kay and Jim by doing task at Esperanza De Hannah. I know Ni River will work hard to get every thing done that they would like to get done, because that’s how Ni rolls.  I have been blessed to watch people surrender to Gods leading and I am already in anticipation for the next time God leads us down to this beautiful place.  Be sure to ask team members about their experience and watch the excitement in their faces as they share how God showed up in an amazing way.
Greg Traber

Somebody said it will be Thursday before you know it. Guess what? It’s Thursday! Today we were able to visit with our Compassion children and let me just say, this was the quickest day of my existence. I know that God even had His hands all over the children we chose to sponsor just from looking at a picture. Confirmation of that notion was evident all over every single face in the park. I have never witnessed anything like it. God’s gifts are perfect.

Rachel Rodriguez

Wow , it seems like we have been in Peru for forever! It has been such a blessing to have this opportunity, but let me tell you a bit about our day. Today we got to take the children from Hannah’s Home to an amusement type park and it was truly amazing. Just getting to play with the kids, whether its on a boat ride, in the pool, or on the playground, was an opportunity I will never forget. The smiles on there faces and ours showed so much joy just because we were spending time together and making memories. I think it is so amazing how the people here are impacting our lives just as much as we are impacting there’s. So overall it has been a pretty great day!

Chantel Hardy

It’s dark.  It’s quiet.  It’s peaceful. It’s 9:30pm.  We are on our bus heading from 2 days of ministering in Chinch, Peru to more ministering opportunities in Chilca, Peru.  I am sure in our team of 24, there are hearts filled with peace,  joy, contentment and even anticipation for what more there is to come.  I am also quite sure there are broken hearts.  Hearts that are breaking for having to leave the beautiful children we have played with and loved on for two days.  Hearts that are broken for the level of poverty like none they have ever seen before. Hearts that are broken by the thoughts of leaving Chincha.  I am also quite sure that we are leaving Chincha, with way more blessings than what we blessed them with.  It’s funny how that happens.  Most of us come on missions trips with the idea that we are going to be a blessing to those we come in contact with.   And, we usually are.  However, it almost never fails that the Lord ends up blessing us way more than we could ever imagine.

Today, I was part of a team that went door to door in a community called 12 De Septiembre.  This community was settled on September 12, several years after an 8.0 earthquake ravaged the area. Many of the inhabitants lost their homes and what few personal belongings they had.  They moved in to the Septiembre area in what is known as an “invasion”, taking over land to rebuild homes.  The shantytown homes are constructed of mostly thatch, plywood, tarps and whatever other material they can find to construct with.  While going door to door, we met a single Mom with 4 kids.  She shared with us her story of the earthquake.  She had gone to work that day and left her kids at home, locked in the house for safety, as she normally did.  Her job was about a 20 minute moto taxi ride from her home.  When the earthquake struck, she was not able to go right home, as transportation was basically shut down.  The good news is that when she finally  made it home, her house was still standing and her children were not injured.  She recognized that as God’s protection of her children. We also had the amazing opportunity to meet and pray for her 16 year old son, Anthony.  Anthony has been struggling with a video game addiction and failed his last grade in school.  He was born with a cleft palette and his Mother believes that much of his problems come from this.  Will you join with us as we continue to pray that Anthony would be willing to allow God to heal his addiction and that he would have the desire to want to excel in school again?

After we visited with Anthony, we had the awesome privilege of meeting Virginia.  Virginia had just moved to 12 de Septiembre two months ago from the Highlands.  She was an older woman with many Grandchildren.  We spent much time in sweet conversation with Virginia and were blessed to  see Virginia surrender herself to  Would you pray with us that God would provide someone to come along side Virginia and help her to grow in her relationship with the Lord? She is unable to read and does not have radio or tv. So a specific prayer would be that the Lord would provide someone that would walk along side her, and even read the Bible to her.  What a sweet sister in Christ was received into the family today!

The afternoon was spent hosting a Vacation Bible School for the kids of 12 de Septiembre.  Rapping by NRCC youth, music (including the Chuchuwa!!), dancing,  Bible Story and skit and a craft kept the kids and the team engaged and entertained for several hours.

We arrived at Esperanza de Ana about 10:15pm.  It is here, at this orphanage, that we will spend the next 4 days being Jesus’ hands and feet. What an honor and a privilege we have!  We wait in excited anticipation for what  the Lord has in store for us tomorrow. Ciao!
Penny Traber

I just want to share a little about yesterday which was amazing  We started the day at Casa De Fe. We separated into four groups and I was in the ATL group, basically a prayer walk. We all prayed for a few minutes each time  and came up with one vision per person. Finally we focused on the most important ones and left to go on our walk. Wow! With every clue from every person we were able to do what God wanted us to do! He is so good!  After a quick lunch we held a vacation bible school with a skit from the bible, crafts, worship and some outside fun with the children! I got to learn the tooti ta  Chuchuwa style! The children are so grateful for everything  There was a moment with the children that just brought me to tears when they were given these dresses that one of us brought. The look on their faces was priceless! There were many times for tears of joy for all that God did yesterday  Cannot believe it was only the first day!
Brenda Ginn

I’m not sure I can even begin to describe God’s hands at work yesterday. It seems as if we packed an entire week into one day, and the fulfillment and blessings we each received are immeasurable. We began the day at a church plant in Chilca Baja called Casa Del Fey where we separated into teams for different but equally important purposes. We had a construction team, an intercessory prayer team, an Ask The Lord team, and two visitation teams. I can’t speak for the other teams, but during debriefing we heard amazing stories of faith and inspiration as a direct result of these team members being obedient to God’s calling. I was on one of the visitation teams which was certainly a stretch for me but with the encouragement and fellowship of my fellow team members Katie, Emily, Robbie, Penny, and Greg, we became the hands and feet of Jesus, and could encourage and hopefully bless the people of Chilca. However, we probably could never have given as much as we gained! This area was ravaged by a terrible earthquake several years ago and the stories we heard were unimaginable and much of the rebuilding process has still not been completed, yet they were happy and grateful for what they do have and appreciative of Gringos taking the time to listen to their stories and pray with and for them.  Perhaps faith was restored for many and seeds planted for others.
And then there were the kids! I have seen no beauty greater than that of a Peruvian child’s smile and we saw more of those than we can count. I spent most of the afternoon and evening holding back tears (not always successfully) watching these children laugh and play and interact with us. The relationships built in just a day will always be remembered even if we never see these children again. Only God could do that! After an afternoon of a mini-VBS complete with Bible stories, music, crafts, play, and loving on kids, we headed back to the hotel for a quick dinner and back to church for a movie night. When the bus pulled in, we were treated as celebrities with the children running to greet us and give hugs and kisses and laughter. The moments of tenderness I personally experienced with children climbing on and off of my lap and communicating with only the language of love will forever be etched on my heart. And when I looked around me, I saw the same with so many others. God’s timing and placement of this team has once again been perfectly orchestrated!
Kirsten

This morning we got up for breakfast and went back to casa de fay (House of Faith). We got to do VBS with the little children and it was the most amazing experience ever! The love that these kids have in their hearts is incredible and I can’t believe just how excited they were to see us . There was one specific little boy that now has a special spot in my heart. He was real quiet but he wanted to color and pulled a little chair up for me to sit in.  It was so adorable! At first I was upset that I couldn’t understand everything they were saying and could only make small talk, but once we actually started to play with the kids it began to not even matter anymore.
It was so heartbreaking when we had to leave, the kids came up and said their goodbyes and that little boy ran up and  gave me the biggest hug and kiss and it just warmed my heart ! When we boarded the bus and drove away the kids chased after us and it was so upsetting to leave even if it’s only for a little bit. So all in all today was an incredible day!
-Emily Ginn

-People have come to faith in Jesus during this series!
-People were baptized during this series!
-4 new Life Groups have started up during this series!
-People have begun serving during this series!

Be encouraged and excited because God is ready to continue leading in this way; keep your eyes on Him!

Some reminders:

-Communion this Friday
This Friday from 5pm-8pm at the church there will be a time of open communion where you and your family can come and reflect on what Jesus did for us all on the cross.  You can spend time in prayer, take communion and remember Him and His sacrifice.

-Easter Sunday
This Easter we’re starting a new series called OVERCOME.  Both the 8:30am and 10:30am services will have a full blown children’s service.  So we’d love for some families to come to the early service as an opportunity to serve and make room for new visitors at the 2nd service.

-Children’s Ministry
We would like to make the children’s service at the 8:30am service happen every Sunday but we ned some volunteers.  We are growing in attendance and the 2nd service is packed which means the children’s ministry is packed and we are beyond the point of needing two full services; if you are willing to serve and be a part of TKO or GAME and reach out to kids, love them and help to lead them towards Christ please contact Tanya at tanya@niriver.org to get involved!  This is a great opportunity to help lay a Biblical foundation in the lives of children!

I pray that you all keep your eyes fixed on Jesus this week and continue prayerfully approaching how you can REACH, LOVE & LEAD for Him!