We can’t sit idly by because God didn’t mean for us to be sitting complacently on the bench waiting for something to happen. He wants us in the game actively participating. Stop thinking of only maintenance, keeping things the way they are, but more of multiplication, how we can help extend the Kingdom, uplifting one another.

I guess the biggest thing I wanted to emphasize was not so much what you can get out of this if you join us but what you can do to help build up the body of Christ.

I don’t know about you but I need to be lifted up. I need to have others help me focus on the importance of sharing the love that God is giving me with others. 

Click here to read and share the May Newsletter (pdf)

I pray that you will have a blessed Holy Week and an awe-inspiring Easter celebration.
 
May the Lord give each of you an opportunity to share His love with those He has put in your path!

He has Risen! He has Risen Indeed!

“There is more to it than meets the eye.”

Love         Agape        Grace        Reaction

Love that gives -- expecting nothing in return -- a gift given and received -- pure love for God -- an undeserved gift -- shared because of the love we have received from God.

 ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ Matthew 22:39

‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’ Matthew 25:40

Love, love, love

That's what it's all about.
'Cause God loves us we love each other
Mother, Father, Sister, Brother
Everybody sing and shout!
'Cause that's what it's all about.
It's about love, love, love."

That’s what KIMA is all about and I pray that that is what you are all about! God has come to us and wrapped His loving arms of comfort and strength around us and drawn us back into a oneness with Him. Being one with Him we share in His mission of reaching out to those who have lost sight of Him and what He has done.

So you might be asking yourself,

“What’s that all got to do with me?”

Check out our Newsletter (pdf) and share it with others.

What is that? Look confusing? A mess? No, that’s my desk. It kind of represents what’s happening; the old and the new; blessings and opportunities; Christ and His death on the cross being in the center of it all.

How often do we say, "Praise God from Whom all blessings flow?"

This month is another of those times. We, Lois Wolf, Marty (my beloved and faithful wife), and myself just returned from a 2 day trip to visit SLM's churches (Lutheran Synod of Mexico) that KIMA supports near the border.

The trip was a very enriching one and very exciting to hear and see God's handwork in these churches. The leaders and members are very excited and dedicated to do God's work in these communities. Work being done on the completion of expanding the church building area in Rio Rico, to the work being done at the Colonial, worshiping with and then feeding nearly 100 homeless men every Thursday evening at the church in Matamoros, weekly Friday evening Bible lessons with children at a home in one of the poorer areas of Matamoros are just some of the examples we witnessed and heard about.

We were also blessed to be challenged once again by God to join our Mexican brothers and sisters in Christ to step up and join our Lord on His mission of reaching out to those who have strayed or never been in our "Father's House, the Heavenly Kingdom." We heard of the need of $2700 for completing the church building at Mesias (Messiah). There is a need of $3000 to help members of the churches in the Rio Bravo/Matamoros area to go on a mission trip and build a small church in Las Moras, served by Pastor Jose Reyes, clear across on the other side of Mexico. Betania would like $2000 to expand their kitchen/ meeting area and move the restrooms to the front of the building. There is talk of trying to resurrect the church in Mexicali or start a new mission in Tijuana at a cost of about $7000.

Accomplishments, blessings, challenges!
 
We would like to ask if you would, after you have read it, post this Newsletter (click here - pdf) somewhere where others could take and read it; talk about it with others; pray about the challenges; search your heart to see what God may be asking you to do; and then step out from behind the four walls that surround us and get involved.

The Word became flesh and made His dwelling among us. John 1:14

I don’t understand it but I love it!

God is truly eternal, unchangeable, all-knowing, all-powerful, and loving. He is fantastic and He cares about my wife and family, you and me! He cared enough that He was willing to completely forget about, wipe away, and clean the slate, of all our doubts, misgivings, and the outright rebellion that is in us. He did this because of His Divine love for us. Again, I don’t understand why He loves us like that when we have not been what we should have been, but He sent part of Himself to come and do what we couldn’t or wouldn’t do. Jesus, the Messiah that was promised back in the Old Testament in books like Genesis, Psalms, Isaiah, and Micah, the Suffering Servant King, humble, like no other, set apart by the Father, suffered for you and me. He was born in a manger, lived, taught, did miracles, suffered, died, rose, and ascended back into heaven all so that we could once again be right with God and live forever with Him in everlasting righteousness, unity, and peace.

That is what we are celebrating! We need to be singing it from the mountain tops, shouting it out in our neighborhood, and telling it to all those who God brings into our lives! WOW! A time to rejoice!

Click here for the Christmas 2015 Newsletter (pdf)
 
Norm & Marty Finke

Director of KIMA

I pray that you are all in the midst of celebrating the gift of God's Son so that we all may be saved and spend eternal life with God in heaven.

God wants us to celebrate and to share that Good News with others. 

May you have a blessed Christmas.

Please open the attached newsletter (pdf) and share it with the appropriate people. There is so much work to be done and we need your help in spreading the word about this ministry.  This is not a Waxahachie thing, or a Texas thing, but God's thing!

Rev. Norman Finke
Executive Director of KIMA

The Lord has been opening up doors! The people in the Mexican Missions are on the move! What is to be our part?

Please, pass this information along to other brothers and sisters in Christ who you feel might be ready to answer God's call to Go and Make disciples.

Click here to read this newsletter.

May God bless you, your family, and any ministries that in which you are involved,

Rev. Norman R. Finke
Executive Director of KIMA

This early October newsletter shares some exciting news about the rebuilding project taking place at Mesias (Messiah Lutheran) Mission in the Colonia, Tamaulipas, Mexico.

Click here to read details about this in this newsletter.

Read about what is happening at two missions that are alive in Christ: Bethel Lutheran Mission in Rio Rico, Tamaulipas, Mexico and Mesias (Messiah) Lutheran Mission in the colonia near Rio Bravo in this month's Newsletter.

“And I will cause hostility between you and the woman,
    and between your offspring and her offspring.
He will strike your head,
    and you will strike his heel.”  Genesis 3:15 (NLT)
 “The time promised by God has come at last!” he announced. “The Kingdom of God is near! Repent of your sins and believe the Good News!”  Mark 1:15 (NLT)
“Therefore, go and make disciples of all the nations, [Or all peoples.] baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.”  Matthew 28:19 (NLT)
“Well done, my good and faithful servant.”  Matthew 25:23 (NLT)

Did you ever stop and think how these passages tie together? God made a promise way back in Genesis 3:15 as He was talking to Satan.  Satan is our enemy. He will do anything he can to get us to follow his evil, deadly path. The phrase “you will strike his heel” refers to Satan’s repeated attempts to defeat Christ during His life on earth. “He will strike your head” foreshadows Satan’s defeat when Christ rose from the dead. A strike on the heel is not deadly, but a blow to the head is. Already God was revealing His plan to defeat Satan and offer salvation to the world through His Son, Jesus Christ.

 And, what is the Good News? These first words spoken by Jesus in Mark gave the core of His teaching: that the long-awaited Messiah had come to break the power of sin. Most of the people who heard this message were oppressed, poor, and without hope. Jesus’ words were good news because they offered freedom and the hope of eternal life with God in heaven.

 So what are we to do? We are to go --whether it is next door or to another country--and make disciples. It is not an option but a command to all who call Jesus “Lord.” We are not all evangelists in the formal sense, but we have all received gifts that we can use to help fulfill the great commission. As we obey, we have comfort in the knowledge that Jesus is always with us.

 The parable of the “talents/loaned money” describes the consequences of the two attitudes toward Christ’s return. The person who diligently prepares for it by investing his or her time and talents to serve God will be rewarded because what he or she does reflects the faith, the relationship, which he or she has in God. God rewards faithfulness. Those who bear no fruit for God’s Kingdom cannot expect to be treated the same as those who are faithful.

 It is my prayer that someday we will all hear the words: “Well done, my good and faithful servant.”

Click here for the August Newsletter.