House Hunters!

We are now less than 1 month from needing to be out ofthe house we have been living in. We have been very grateful for this place. Although we knew it was temporary, we did not know exactly how temporary. So we are on a big hunt for another house.

The housing  market in South Florida is very peculiar. There are many obstacles that make it difficult to find housing here. The market is saturated with people looking for rental homes because they have lost their homes. The market is also saturated with people looking to eek every penny they can out of a house before they lose it so it is becoming more difficult to find a house that is not in foreclosure. The other obstacle for us is our family size. We have found that many people just do not want 7 people living in their house, especially 5 kids. All of these have made it very difficult in finding a new place to live.

We need your prayers! Please pray that God will provide the perfect house in the perfect location with the perfect landlord who will be understanding and let our large family live in his house. Pray God provides the finances needed to get into a new place. Many people are requiring at least 3 months to get into a home. We are hoping for a 4/2 house in the Central Miami area to get closer to the girls school. Please pray that God provides exactly what we need!

A Proud Mothers Story

Blog Post by Wendy Kauffman

Happy Mother's Day to all the moms out there. I hope that today you are being pampered and cared for beyond all of your expectations.

Since it is Mother's Day I thought I would take this opportunity to brag a little and tell some stories that make this Mother's Day a great day for me. Yesterday was an amazing picture of why I do what I do as a mother and a few of the reason why Motherhood brings me so much joy.

We spent yesterday morning in Coconut Grove registering Hannah and Rachael for classes at Academy of Arts and Minds, where they will start school in the fall. If you know our family, you know we have always home-schooled our kids, so this is a big deal, especially for me as a mother. Although home schooling is very difficult at times, I find great joy in having the opportunity to do it. I am so proud of Hannah and Rachael and how hard they have worked to get into this school and I know they will do amazing there and will be a light of God's love to so many there.

After registering for classes, we headed to the Thomas home to do our normal Saturday cleaning. Hannah and I were doing our normal tasks of laundry and cleaning while Ruth was swimming in their very nice pool. She goes to hang out with the boys while we clean. At the end of their time in the pool, Rick asked the kids if they wanted to split $5 and clean the leaves out of the pool. Ruth, being her Father's daughter, immediately negotiated $5 each to clean the pool. After about 10 minutes I told Ruth she needed to get out of the pool and get ready to go. They were not done with their job of cleaning leaves, so Rick decided to pay them their $5 and told them they would need to plan to finish their work next time. Ruth let him know right away that she would be willing to clean the pool every week, because she has a purpose for the money. She is saving up to buy things for the homeless. She stopped them in their tracks. They could not believe that this little girl did not have some big plans to buy some really cool thing for herself. She was saving up her money to buy socks and t-shirts for the homeless. She is so selfless and I am pretty sure I had nothing to do with that, but it was such a proud momma moment for me. Now, because she was not afraid to speak up about something that is very important and dear to her, she has an extra $35 that they gave her, so we will be off to the store this week to buy new t-shirts for next Saturday's breakfast.

When I returned home, it was time to make dinner, so as the kids went out to play with a friend, I got everything prepared. When I called them back in to eat, they wanted to know if their friend Tyler could eat dinner with us. Jacob explained to me later that their family is really struggling financially and they are on the verge of losing their home and sometimes there is not much to eat at their house. Now I don't know what is true about this story because we never know what kids will say to get a chili dog, but I was very proud that my kids were in tune enough to immediately invite their friend to dinner. I found out later in the night that Tyler eats at other people's houses quite a bit so there may be a lot of truth to what he is saying.

Needless to say, all of those moments yesterday made me realize how important my job as a Mother is and how no matter how hard it gets at times, perseverance brings great joy. So if you are a mom today, I know your job is hard and your work is never done, but there is great reward! Happy Mother's Day!

Crippled!

Blog Post by Wendy Kauffman               

Do not be fooled by the luxuries of this world; they cripple our faith. Like Jesus explained, the right things have to die so the right things can live – we die to selfishness, greed, power, accumulation, prestige, and self-preservation, giving life to community, generosity, compassion, mercy, brotherhood, kindness, and love." - Jen Hatmaker

I was working on cleaning an office a few days ago when the person I was cleaning for asked the question we get so often from so many people. Why Miami? When I tell them the story, most people can't believe that this is what I have dreamed of doing for the last 25 years. To them it seems so radical. I don't think he could really understand why we left our family, our friends, our things and a good job to come to Miami to start an outreach to the homeless and a church for people who don't like church.

I don't think I have said this to anyone outright before, but all I could say was, "Jesus' love was radical. It stopped at nothing for us. It was in giving His life and that kind of love that turned the world upside down. I told him that I want in on the upside down Kingdom of God. I want to engage in something that is bigger than me, but is that what I am really doing? I had to really ask myself this question.

Even after leaving our family, our friends, our belongings in Missouri, I have found myself wanting to go back at times. I have found myself spending so much time figuring out how to go back and get my stuff. Yes, there are things that I have there in storage that are important to me and I really want to go back and get them, but is trying to figure out how to get it all back crippling what God has called us here to do.

So many things can take us off our course, cripple our faith and steal our attention. Please pray that our attention is not on the things that would would rob us of our compassion, mercy, generosity and love.

twisted

A couple weeks ago we had a band of thunder storms move though the area. Storms are very familiar here in South Florida with the tropical weather. For some reason, it doesn't rain in moderation, it pours down in torrents and it can happen quickly with little to no warning. 


On one particular Friday afternoon, Bruce, Hippie Jerry and Black Steve were  caught in the rain. Bruce and Jerry just sat there on the bench at the bus stop while the rain drenched them. However, Black Steve, who was on the median at the traffic light holding a cardboard sign, continued trying to collect money from compassionate motorists. I'm not sure how successful he was as most people don't like to roll their windows down in the pouring rain. To no avail he continued panhandling hoping the added misery would work in his favor.


The rain came in quickly and it came down in sheets, it was so thick visibility deteriorated and the guys couldn't even see the other side of the five lane street. Suddenly a huge gust of wind came in and what appeared to be a mini tornado picked Black Steve up about four feet off of the ground and spun him around violently while suspended in mid air and as fast as it came it left, dumping him into a huge water puddle in the middle of the intersection. Shaken and now fully bathed, he stammered to his feet and limped over to the bus stop.


The next day at breakfast, while Bruce and Jerry were telling me what happened, Bruce said "I would have went out there and helped him, but, I couldn't because I was laughing to hard."


How often we'll watch in amazement as peoples lives are disrupted by a twister of events and instead of lending a hand, we sit and chuckle, thinking "better them than me".  It's at times like these I have to check myself because I'm guilty as charged. I'll laugh when a car splashes people waiting at a bus stop. I'll think things like "sucks to be you" when I see a guy trying to change a tire on the side of a busy 12 lane highway. And oh boy! If I find out someone is having twins, I laugh out loud.


The thing is, all those things have happened to me before and instead of having compassion for the victims of circumstance, I laugh. I know laughter is supposed to be good medicine, but, in these instances it just might be the wrong medicine. 


Jesus said the second most important commandment is to love people as you love your self. That is huge when it comes to starting an outreach church,  because everyone we are reaching out to is a victim of circumstance. The circumstance of sin. The enemy is hell bent on disrupting lives with a twister of temptations. Hoping to lift us up and slam us into a puddle of road sludge. When we see someone lying in the muck, our first impulse is to step back and do nothing. However, if we love that person like we love ourselves, we would step up and offer a hand.


As we continue our mission in South Florida, please pray that God will give us the kind of compassion that changes lives and that we'll step up and offer a hand to those stuck in a puddle of muck.

Crappy Life or Not!

Blog Post by Wendy Kauffman

Today was a pretty rough day around the Kauffman house. I got a message on my cell phone pretty early this morning that Sam broke our coffee pot. If you know us, that is a big deal! Shortly after that Jacob was doing his chore and was cleaning the toilet. I guess he decided he needed to clean the drain pipe as well because he stuck that brush so far into the toilet that it would not come out, no matter how hard the guys tried! We had to buy a new toilet and now we have a fancy new lawn ornament. On top of that I have worked an insane amount of hours this week and just when I thought I was in the home stretch and was going to make it to the weekend finally, I splashed bleach in my eye and burned my eye really bad.

After working all day, I came home to drive Ruth to swim club, on my return home I decided that the day had been long enough and was going to to pick up pizza at Little Ceasars for dinner. Ruth and I walked up to the door of the pizza place and lying in the corner outside was a very sun-tanned, burnt eyed, homeless women. She was so frazzled. She just sat there talking to herself. I imagined she was trying to work some really tough stuff out in her mind.

Ruth and I went into the Dollar Store next door and bought a few waters and snacks to give to the women,

but really it put my entire day in persepctive. I felt like my day was aweful. One of the worst in a while, but really no matter how bad my day was today, it probably does not even compare to the despair that this women must have been feeling at that moment.

Today I realized that although there may be a toilet lawn ornament in my back yard, my life is not a crappy life at all!  Praying today that God keeps our perspective clear in the face of adversity and that we always remember how much we have to be greatful for.

Land of the Free

  Blog Post by Wendy Kauffman                                                                                            
So we spent the last few days at Ft. Benning, Georgia watching our oldest son graduate from Basic Training. There were 2 days of ceremonies honoring all the men who had spent the last 15 weeks training to become the best soldiers they can be. We were very proud, of course.  It always seemed for most of Jeremy's life that we would one day be watching this happen. He has always loved the military and has always wanted this to be part of his life.



During the graduation ceremony they read the oath that each soldier takes when signing up for the job of defending our country. One oath is that they will defend the constitution of the United States against all enemies both foreign and domestic. Since I believe that our country was founded by men who believed in God and wanted to protect us from those who might want to take our freedom away, I was very proud to know my son took an oath to protect that.

As we were driving home yesterday, it hit me how big a deal that is. Protecting and Guarding our Freedom is a big job and these men went to Hell and back to learn how to do it. Some of the stories Jeremy told us over the few days about what they went through was pretty amazing. He also told us that there were about 62 men that started in his platoon and that day at graduation only 37 men were left standing. Needless to say, it is not for the faint of heart!

I also thought about what that meant for us as we move forward in bringing freedom to people who have never really experienced it before. I believe that real freedom comes from knowing just how much we are loved by God and how much he wants to know us and how much He wants us to know Him. There are many things out there that fight for our attention so that we don't experience that kind of freedom. I also know that when you experience that kind of Freedom you want everyone you know to know it and experience it too.

Just like those men who stood there that day and took that oath to protect our Freedom, simply because they value what they know they have because of what others before them have done. We are called to bring a message of freedom, the message of God's love for us and what he did for us by sending his Son to cover our sin, to those who don't know. How are we doing that? Are we arming ourselves the way we need to so that the real message of Freedom can be found. Will you fight for it so that others may know?

2 days ago, Jeremy became an Infantryman and had a blue cord pinned on his coat to signify to others what he is prepared to do if he is called upon to defend the Constitution. The motto of an infantryman is "Follow Me." Today I am challenged by these words. How about you? What do we have to do to be prepared enough to have that kind of confidence to say to someone,"FOLLOW ME?"

Loose Ends

We have now been in Miami for 7 months. It has been a year since we made the decision to move to Miami. There have been a lot of ups and downs. Lots of lessons learned and more than that many people we have meet that have changed our lives. Many people who have shown us the hope of why we are here. We are finally starting to feel like this is our home. We miss our family and friends in Missouri but Miami has become our home.

We have found out that we have to look for another house and be out of the one we are in by June 25th. Please pray with us that we can find something in the size and price we need. Please pray that we can find a house in good proximity to Hannah and Rachael's new school and for the ministry.

We are also asking for prayer for a specific need we have in tying up a loose end. When we left Missouri in September, we put all of our stuff in storage in hopes of getting back to pick it up by Christmas. Logistics and finances did not make that possible. Now that we have a timeline for getting into a different house and feeling like we need to become more settled, there is the need to get back to Missouri to bring our stuff to Miami. We have prayed about the many ways to do this. To Rent a truck in Missouri to bring our stuff here will cost around $1,500.  With Jeff's moving business growing daily, we have decided that the money would be best spent in buying a small box truck in Missouri, loading our stuff in it, and then using it for our business and ministry. It makes much more sense to do this. We really need your prayers in this.We do not have the finances to do this but we know in God's economy all thing are possible.  Pray we can find the right truck at the right price and that this all happens in God's timing. We would prefer this to be sooner rather than later but God knows better than us when this needs to happen.

We are so greatful for all of you have supported us this past year as we have started this adventure. We are so thankful for all who have prayed for this mission. Please continue to do so!

Celebration!

Blog Post by Wendy Kauffman

Easter is almost here! Every year it seems to sneak up on me and every year I forget the emotion that wells up inside of me thinking about what it really means to me. I am reminded of my weaknesses and my brokenness. Last night as I was cooking dinner for my family and baking cinnamon rolls for our homeless breakfast, I started crying uncontrollably. I don't really know why. I was just standing there thinking about how fragile life is and how much we take for granted and how often things can change in a moment. I was thinking of that dark Friday many many centuries ago and how the earth shook and LOVE died. For me, For you, but love did not die and leave us alone. No, love died so that we would never be alone! So that we might know that we are loved and that we are His Beloved. So that we would know that we were meant to live for so much more.

Last night as I was standing there sobbing, I thought about how as a family we celebrate New Years Day as a beginning of something great. We have always celebrated Easter but rhis year I decided to start a new family tradition, this Easter we are going to celebrate, Just like we do on New Years Eve. I mean really celebrate! We are going to start by serving Ham, Eggs and Cinnamon Rolls for our homeless breakfast and hopefully in some small way they will know How love died for them. Then, On Sunday as a family we are going to celebrate the new life we have because on that day more than 2,000 years ago Love died so that we may never be alone. This year we are going to celebrate how Love has brought life and transformed our lives, how love has restored us and redeemed us. We are going to celebrate how love has entered into our problems with us. We are going to celebrate how love compels us! We are going to Celebrate How Love through Jesus Christ Came to Save Us! Will you celebrate too?

big bounce

The last couple of weeks of our outreach to the homeless has been quite amazing. We have had a few homeless people find new hope in life, giving them a reason to turn things around. 


Bernie, who has been homeless for years, is planning on getting a shave and a haircut and rejoining society. He's made contact with old friends and family and is headed back to the west coast of Florida. In particular, he's gotten in contact with an old pastor friend of his who wants him to come home.


Rick, has been homeless for years as well, he has saved enough money to get into a small apartment and off of the streets. He asked me to pray with him last week and started sobbing uncontrollably. He said that a few weeks ago, he started praying. He's prayed every morning since and can't believe how much his outlook on life has changed.


Mike and Tracy, a married couple, have been working hard to get off of the streets and in just a few more weeks, plan to have enough to get into an apartment.


Ricky is everything you never want to meet in a dark alley. He's had a hard life and I don't think he's even out of his twenties yet. He's mad at the world and if you look at him the wrong way, I'm sure he'd pound you into the ground. He's been homeless for the last 5 months, since getting out of jail. For the first 4 months, he stayed at a shelter and recently has been living on the streets. Nobody has ever given him a chance, until he met us. He now seems to feel like he belongs to something (that isn't an institution). You can see a physical change in his demeanor when he's talking, working and/or just hanging out with us.


For all the ones that are moving towards God, there are 10 times as many that run from him, ensnared in their addictions, unwilling to believe that God can forgive them and that he loves them. A few of the hard cases are Jerry, Bruce, Michele, Dan, Susan, Andy and Jim. They keep coming back on Saturday mornings and they stick around for the companionship, but keep God at an arms length. Please pray that God will soften their hearts and that he will give them ears to hear his voice.


We also have the ones that come once and we never see them again. Please pray that we can love them while we have them and that love will be effective enough to bounce their hearts towards God. You just never know what act of kindness will change a person for all eternity, as evidenced  by the atheist that now believes in God. after the Christians in his community gave him groceries upon finding out he was sick.



If you ask these people what the difference has been in the past couple of weeks or months, I doubt they would be able to tell you. However, if you ask them if their view on God has changed, everyone of them would probably say yes. God has been working overtime in their lives and as we love them to Jesus, their tired, weary, broken souls have embraced a new awareness of a God that truly loves them. A glimmer of hope is shining in their dark and dreary lives and it is nothing short of a miracle. Please pray that God continues to grow bigger in their lives.

Hate vs. Hope

Blog Post by Wendy Kauffman

I really debated whether or not I would even write a blog on this subject. I have wanted to all week and just kept praying about what the right thing would be to say. I don't know if there is even a right thing to say.

About a month ago, a very handsome young man from South Florida was shot and killed in a community in the Orlando, Fl area. This young man was from a neighborhood not far from where we live. This story is all over the news. Not just here but all over the country. It is a tragedy! There is no doubt about that and in my writing this blog I want to in no way take away from what happened to this young man. His life was taken from him. One day he was walking around with a bag of skittles and a bottle of tea and the next day he was dead and his family was grieving in ways that most of us can't even begin to imagine. As a parent who has lost a child I know there loss is beyond the scope of imagination and then to have it happen in a senseless tragedy like this, well, I can't even begin to know how they feel.

But, honestly what keeps running through my mind these last few days is the hate that almost seems to surround this whole situation. Now, don't get me wrong, I don't in any way condone the actions of the person who pulled the trigger. I know I don't know the story, I am not sure any of us will ever know the whole truth behind what happened that night, but my heart breaks for the divide that it is bringing.

What my heart breaks even more over is that justice is more important to us than love. What good is all the hate that is being directed at the man who pulled the trigger going to do? In my heart of hearts, I know that what he did that night was not right. I would rather die myself than do that to another human being! That being said, the things that keep going through my mind these last few days is how can we, any of us, stand back and cast these stones. Yes, we can all hope that there will be due process for this young man and that the law will do what it promises to do and bring to justice those who commit crimes like this against us and those we love, but if we say we Love God and we say that God sent his son to bear our sins on that cross, then how can we hate?

I ask this question because honestly I am very heart broken over how some people have responded to this tragedy. I truly believe that we can honor the memory of this young man that was lost! How do we do that?
We change the tide! We reverse the curse that seems to have plaqued us for generation after generation and we stop the hate. Yes, it may be quite true that the man who shot Trayvon Martin did so out of hate, but how do we stop that hate from growing, from becoming a bigger monster than it already is. It seems to me that what we have done in the past has not changed it. So how do we do it?

WE LOVE! WE FORGIVE!  Nothing says justice more than Love, right?

I know that I am human. I know that I have made mistakes. I know that I will probably make more mistakes in my life. I know that I have hurt people and that in my humanness, I may still hurt people. Am I trying to compare the wrong things that I have done in my life to those of the man who shot this poor kid. No, in most people's minds in may not compare, but in God's mind, I really don't know. I am sure that I have spoke a hurtful word before that drained life from someone, somewhere. We all have been guilty of something that hurt someone at some point in our life.

As I watch this story unfold day after day, I continue to see how important it is for us to remember that Jesus came to save us all. Every single one of us! Even the man who pulled the trigger that fateful night. What I have learned from watching this story unfold is that there are not many people who will stand up and say I LOVE YOU! Not just to Treyvon Martin but to the man who shot him! If we could do this, if we could stand as people and say, Hate will not live in me today. What if we followed in the footsteps of the man who chose Love that day on that cross and said today I choose LOVE. What would happen if Love was louder than Hate?

Power Play

So tonight we were reading the Bible with the kids and our reading was in Acts chapter 4.  In this passage of the Bible, Peter and John who were followers of Jesus were in Jeruselem doing some pretty cool things and telling people about Jesus and what he had done for them when they were pretty much accosted by some of the religious leaders of the day. They were taken into custody and put into Jail overnight until they could decide what to do with them. So the next day all of these religious leades gathered to dicuss what would be an appropriatte punishment for Peter and John's behavior.(You should read it if you never have, it is a pretty cool story.)

In the early part of the story they give Peter and John time to explain their side of the story and after talking amongst themselves, decide to let Peter and John go. But, before they did, they told them they better not go around speaking and teaching in the name of Jesus anymore. Peter and John of course let them know right away they felt it was better to obey what God told them to do then what these leaders were recommending. The leaders threatened a bit more and then allowed Peter and John to leave.

Now here is what gets me, instead of walking away and lying low for a while, here is what they did:

²³ As soon as they were freed, Peter and John returned to the other believers and told them what the leading priests and elders had said. ²⁴ When they heard the report, all the believers lifted their voices together in prayer to God: “O Sovereign Lord, Creator of heaven and earth, the sea, and everything in them— ²⁵ you spoke long ago by the Holy Spirit through our ancestor David, your servant, saying,

‘Why were the nations so angry? Why did they waste their time with futile plans? ²⁶ The kings of the earth prepared for battle; the rulers gathered together against the LorD and against his Messiah.’^[e]

²⁷ “In fact, this has happened here in this very city! For Herod Antipas, Pontius Pilate the governor, the Gentiles, and the people of Israel were all united against Jesus, your holy servant, whom you anointed. ²⁸ But everything they did was determined beforehand according to your will. ²⁹ And now, O Lord, hear their threats, and give us, your servants, great boldness in preaching your word. ³⁰ Stretch out your hand with healing power; may miraculous signs and wonders be done through the name of your holy servant Jesus.”

They went back and prayed for more boldness, more power!  Now I don't know about you but I know a lot of times for me when I am feeling threatened, this is not something that I normally do, but I want to. Normally, I want to retreat, hide, maybe even complain a little about how bad this sucks that we have to put up with these people. But really what I want is to have that kind of faith. I want to pray for that kind of boldness! I want to live in that confidence all the time.

As we continue reaching out to those who are hurting, to those who need healing, please pray that God gives us boldness in sharing His Love and teaching His Word and that healing will come and that many will know God's great amazing love for them.

Sincere What?

Blog Post by Wendy Kauffman

Last night we were doing our Bible Reading with the kids, We started reading in Acts. Jeff and I follow a daily Bible reading plan http://www.vervecatalysts.org/.  This is a great Bible reading plan if you don't have one. We decided last night to take our kids through Acts while we were reading as well.

Acts is one of my favorite books of the Bible. Always has been! History was always my favorite subject in school and there is just something about reading about how we got started as a church and what God did through just a few men in just a short amount of time. Everytime I read Acts, something new jumps off the page at me and I learn something new.

In Acts chapter 2:verse 46 it says,^" Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts."

When I was reading this on Friday, one of the things that really stood out to me was the phrase "and ate together with glad and sincere hearts. So we asked our kids last night what they thought it meant to have a glad and sincere heart. They immediately jumped on defining glad because they know it means happy, but sincere was a little more difficult. As I started to explain what I thought it meant, Hannah jumped in and said that it means genuine.  Exactly, that is what it means, but how does that happen?

When we moved to Miami to start a church for people who don't like church, we knew that a great number of people here did not go to church. One of the top reasons people here give about not liking church is that they are tired of people being fake. 

Life is hard, things go wrong, people sin against us, we sin against other people, we get sick, we struggle with our addictions, we have to work hard for so little, so how in the middle of all of this do we come together with glad and sincere hearts?

I personally think it goes back to the words of Jesus. Mark 12: 30-31. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength. ³¹ The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself. There is no commandment greater than these.”

I wonder if we focused on learning all we could about God, getting to really know Him and what He thinks about us and how much He loves us, and if we started seeing other people the way we know God sees them and started loving them the way we know God loves them, if the walls would come down and we could finally come together and be happy and genuine with one another?

What do you think? What does being Sincere mean to you and how do you do that.