Thursday, December 15, 2011
Wednesday, November 30, 2011
Graduation
This Saturday is the Urban Ministry Institute graduation! Eight students have diligently studied for 4 years to be equipped theologically, spiritually and practically for ministry. We are so proud of them! Here is a picture of the current class. They are awesome! I will post graduation pictures after Saturday.
Join us if you can!
Saturday, December 3rd
10am
Cross Bend Christian Church Plano, TX
December Prayer Letter
December 1, 2011
Greetings in Christ!
Think about the last time you were in the job market. This may have been ten years ago, two years ago or yesterday. The application process is in depth, time-consuming and sometimes confusing. And I have not even talked about the factor of the economic climate! On top of all of these factors, what happens if you have a criminal record? What if you are homeless?
These are real questions that the men and women that we minister to in south Dallas have to think about. Luckily, we have recently partnered with J.O.Y Foods, a supplier of quality food items. Their president, Joy Wallace, has built this company on strong Christian business principles. This partnership will allow J.O.Y Foods to recruit from World Impact Dallas, assist in job training, and participate in our community projects.
In a recent J.O.Y FOODS newsletter, Joy Wallace wrote: “J.O.Y FOODS, Inc. and the Human Resource Department are proud to announce that we are partnering with World Impact Dallas . . . We will lend a hand to help our Dallas community by recruiting from World Impact, assist in job training and volunteer for community projects. We had the pleasure of touring their facility and saw firsthand the growth and progress of their work. Thanks to Ted Smith (Director) and Jim Elam (missionary) for taking the time to explain their programs, their ministry, and their compassion for the Dallas community.” We are very thankful for this company and are excited to see how God is going to work in the lives of people to whom we minister.
My hope is that you can partner with me in prayer for the men and women who will be potential job candidates. We have already had two men start working part time at J.O.Y Foods. Please pray for both of these men and their families. Pray for transformation in the men and their relationships with their families, co-workers and friends.
Christmas is near, and I cannot focus on gifts, travel plans, and cooking. All of that is in hindsight compared to the gift of our Lord Jesus Christ. I pray that you and your family are blessed through this holiday season. I am thankful for your prayerful support and friendship.
In Christ,
Lacey Arteaga
Wednesday, November 2, 2011
November Prayer Letter
November 1, 2011
Dear Family and Friends,
There are many things that make me thankful for the fall: cooler weather, students back in school, football season, and, most importantly, pumpkin spice lattes! This season helps me, in the midst of our busy culture, to stop, breathe in, and thank God for being a powerful, mighty God that provides for all of our needs.
As the season progresses, I am feverishly working on our Christmas Store! This is a wonderful opportunity for churches, small groups, or youth groups to get involved in serving the urban poor. Each year the staff of World Impact ask the children and youth with whom we work to make a Christmas wish list. We then register all the gifts at Walmart and Target. Starting November 1, the shopping can begin, and gifts purchased from the registries are brought to the WID Center.
Here is the beautiful part: we do not just give the items to the parents to give to their children. We invite them to shop and purchase their children’s Christmas gifts.
Saturday, December 10, the World Impact Center will become a winter wonderland! Parents will be able to purchase items from their wish lists for 25 percent of the retail cost. This allows them to shop with dignity and give their children gifts they want or need. Funds raised through the Christmas Store will go back into the ministry of World Impact Dallas.
What a blessing to be able to help parents provide gifts for their children, raise funds for the ministry and
share the greatest gift of all, our Lord Jesus Christ, through this creative outreach.
We are already fielding requests from those who would like to volunteer with us this Christmas. It will take many to provide a great Christmas Store experience, since we will decorate the entire center, create a shopping area, offer babysitting, and even offer gift wrapping for each gift purchased. What a joy it is to help the parents of our youth shop with self-respect and even financially support the work of World Impact.
I am continually mindful of you and your prayerful support. I cannot do what I do without your
encouragement, prayer, and financial support. As I close, I encourage you to pray for all the efforts with the Christmas Store, the children and parents that will come to our Center to shop, and our amazing volunteers.
Lastly, if you have any prayer requests, please let me know. I would love to stand with you in prayer.
In Him,
Lacey Arteaga
Tuesday, October 4, 2011
October Prayer Letter
October 1, 2011
Greetings in Christ,
“There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit distributes them. There are different kinds of service but the same Lord. There are different kinds of working, but in all of them and in everyone it is the same God at work” (1 Corinthians 12:4-6).
In my short time at World Impact Dallas, I have witnessed how the Lord brings people with many different gifts together to work for the Kingdom. This past week, I met a young woman about my age that had heard about World Impact through our Francis Chan event last year. After a powerful message from Francis, she felt a calling to South Dallas. With much prayer and listening, she moved just down the street from us! Although she had only been in the community a couple of months, she heard about World Impact Dallas and our involvement in the community. After she reached out to us, Ted Smith (our city director) and I shared with her the vision of World Impact Dallas.
She is a major prayer warrior and has a zeal for the Lord. I loved hearing her story and getting to know her passions. After she expressed interest in church plants, Ted and I were able to give her more information about Hope Fellowship, our new church plant; she was in attendance for the soft launch at the end of August.
It is pure joy to get to know people with a passion to serve the Lord, and to help them find ways to serve at World Impact Dallas. In whatever gifts and abilities you have, the Lord wants to use them. I thank God that He gives us different gifts so we can all serve together in harmony for one purpose--to bring Heaven to earth.
My prayer is that all of us would continue to seek the Lord and listen to His calling on our lives. You are a key to His Kingdom, and I thank God for your involvement in World Impact.
If you are interested in using your gifts and abilities with World Impact, I would love to meet with you and share the vision of World Impact Dallas. We have plenty of opportunities for you or for a group to get involved.
Again, I appreciate your love and support. I could not do what I do without you.
In Him,
Lacey Arteaga
Wednesday, September 21, 2011
Much more than diamonds
"Your Kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven."
The Lord's prayer keeps echoing in my ears and my soul, as it is a frequent sermon and devotional topic in my life right now.
During our staff devotional time last week, my Director, Ted, brought up this idea of our "kindgdom's". So much of us want God's kingdom, but are spending more time and effort on our own kingdom with our own hands. As a result, God's Kindgom isn't being established with our help.
Jesus came to set the stage for His Kingdom. I can just imagine Jesus - after the temptation show down in the desert, full of the power of the Spirit, walking in the synagogue, knowing he was going to read about Himself! As people saw Him, they praised Him, but I'm sure there were plenty of people not sure about this guy. Sure, there were rumors about Him and what he was doing, but is this really legit? Never the less, He stands and proclaims,
"The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the POOR. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the PRISONERS and recovery of sight for the BLIND, to release the OPPRESSED, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor." (Isa. 61:1,2)
How do you react after that? If I were sitting there, I think my mouth would be open. To see a man so humble, and so bold at the same time.
The Kingdom is about the POOR, the PRISONERS, the BLIND, the OPPRESSED. The Kingdom Proclaims freedom for people of these unfortunate and more often than not, uncontrollable circumstances! Through His blood and sacrifice Christ sets the captive free, gives hope to the hopeless.
God's Kingdom is the power of God coming over all who ask.
So why are we so focused on our own kingdoms? Our own kingdoms happen when our really good concerns go bad.
This year I have been so focused on Ish and I's future regarding money, debt, retirement, children, and real estate that I never realized that I was really building my own kingdom. I didn't put down my desires so that I could attain HIS.
We build our "work" kingdom of wanting a promotion after promotion after raise, and then maybe another raise, that we forget that we are here to proclaim freedom and instead we are slaves to excelling by worldly standards. Or maybe you have an "Intelligence/school" kingdom where knowledge is power. But remember that God uses the foolish things of the world to shame the wise and the weak to lead the strong (1Cor 1:27). Things that we build by our own hands and think with our own thought will not last.
Period.
Only the Kindgom of Heaven will last. Eternally.
I continually have to shut down construction on my kingdom so that I can put my best effort into building His.
So what would happen if the Kingdom was built in your family? In South Dallas? For you?
Last week I was getting in my car, about to meet a friend so we could drive to our senior ministers home, and the car door hit the back of my ear as I was opening it. I immediately heard a clank clank clank. The back of my diamond earring fell off, causing my diamond earring to go flying into the road. This was my mother's, given to me as an engagement present. I always had hopes to pass it down to my daughter. After searching for a good 30 minutes with the help of my friend and some neighbors, I kept thinking how silly I was. Yes, I was sad because of the history and the value (I dont have many diamonds, you know!) But diamonds aren't eternal. No matter WHAT the commercials say! I could have been there all night if I wanted to. The lack of being able to find it could have put me in a horrible mood. But thank God that I didn't allow earrings to get in the way of what was about to happen that evening.
Later that night I had such an amazing time of community worship, prayer and encouragement. That's the Kingdom.
Doing manual labor with people needing a second or third chance. Just letting them know we appreciate them and they are loved by God.
That's the Kingdom
Praying with broken hearts, not looking for diamonds.
Friday, September 9, 2011
Better.
I like to have things together.
I am organized, one-step-ahead, knowledgeable. I am able to plan, and I plan well.
But there are those days when I don't have it together. When I bite off more than I can chew. When I think to myself:
"What have I gotten myself into?"
I freak out. I call my husband, my best friends, my mom and I vent. "Vent" meaning complain, deflect and have a heart attack. I say, "whoa is me" and wonder how am I going to complete the task at hand. I literally have anxiety that makes my heart jump out of my chest. Immediately I fall on my face and pray against the anxiety, because it is not from the Lord.
In these moments I realize how small I am. I know it is only through Christ that anything I do is accomplished.
"I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, the intelligence of the intelligent I will frustrate." 1 Cor. 1:19
This verse makes the pressure fall off my back. I can finally breathe.
Who am I to think that my knowledge, my organization, my dreams are mine?
I chose to give these gifts to Him for His glory and therefore can sleep at night, knowing that if it is His will, it will be done. All I have to do is give Him my all. When I dream big, when I accidentally bite off more than I can chew, I grow. Through these events I am forced to give more and more of myself to Christ.
I think this is how God uses people shake the world.
Praise God that we have someone who knows better, does better and who IS better.
Thursday, September 1, 2011
September Prayer Letter
Hello Friends and Family,
What an honor and privilege it is to be on staff with World Impact Dallas! I started my new job here in the summer, and I definitely dove in head first and loved it. In this short time, I have witness the Kingdom at work on a daily basis through our staff and ministry partners.
I could not have started this ministry if it were not for your prayers and financial support. The Lord has continually shown me His provision and wisdom throughout this beginning period, and I am forever grateful for Him and for your partnership.
The summer months have brought many youth and work groups through our offices and it is not slowing down. Recently, we had three different church groups use our facilities to create a Vacation Bible School for our inner-city children. Youth and adults of all ages taught, played with, and poured into many children--showing them the love of Christ.
We have also had many renovation projects come to life with the help of numerous groups eager to serve. Renovating, repairing and painting our building have all occurred throughout the summer months. This has repurposed many areas to better utilize our space for ministry. We are so thankful for these groups’ servant hearts and for the relationships that have been built. We look forward to continuing to work with them and other new groups as we seek to build the Kingdom of God.
As our fall kicks off with a bang, please join me in prayer regarding the following:
Pray for the Dallas staff as we gear up for the fall.
Pray for my financial support, that the Lord will place people in my life with the heart to give towards my salary.
Pray for Hope Fellowship, our English-speaking church plant, as the team builds relationships with the people of Fair Park. Pray that the Lord will open doors and be a light to this part of the city
Pray for our Urban Team through Dallas Christian College as they train and begin Bible Clubs for our inner-city children.
In Him,
Lacey Arteaga
Friday, August 12, 2011
August Prayer Letter
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Tuesday, August 2, 2011
Prayer Walks
This Monday at our weekly staff meeting my Director shared a picture taken of some of our staff over the week on one of their prayer walks.
I don't know if you have ever had one of those moments when you just have to stop.
You are speechless.
That was me. There was something about this picture that struck my heart and made me stop to thank God.
I thank God that I am surrounded by missionaries and our interns that have a heart for the Lord. They walk around the community to talk with people, pray with people and build relationships. I see our staff's hearts as they pour themselves into the people of south Dallas.
My hope is that through this blog you can come along side of me and my new ministry at World Impact Dallas.
More to come :)
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