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AUGUST, 2007
ANSWERS TO PRAYER
1 ) Jackie Hartman informed me that
there is a group of about 25 men who
meet every Wednesday morning at 6 a.m. at
Skaggs Hospital. They gather for prayer
and sharing. About half of them are
physicians, and a physician, Dr. John
Moore, serves as the coordinator! This is a
powerful answer to prayer for spiritual
movement in the Medical Sector……2)
Jackie Hartman is herself a
testimony to the power of prayer
and grace. Jackie heads up the
Medical Sector of the UP Team.
Last year her husband, Don, went to
be with the Lord. Now Jackie has
been diagnosed with a form of lung
cancer that is not treatable. She uses oxygen
much of the time, and she is trying a new
type of retreatment. So, you might ask, why
is this included in “Answers to Prayer”? It is
because of the light of the Lord shining
through her eyes and her smile. She joyfully
proclaims that she is a winner – healed here
on earth or in heaven. Please pray for her!
…..3)Recently I was invited to a catalyst
group of community leaders, to make a
presentation on the orientation of employees.
They opened with prayer, they closed with
prayer and they emphasized the importance
of core values throughout the meeting. Sue
Head, UP Team member, gave a
presentation on character, and Terri
Tucker-Wiest on mission and values. Here
are the mission/purpose statements of the
catalyst group: “We seek to honor God by
striving to improve our community through
positive change based on Christian values
and ethics. We serve, influence and lead by
providing vision and resources in synergy
with others as we value our past and guide
our future.” And for the employment sub-
group: “Our vision is a cooperative
community of employers and employees who
honor one another and foster a culture of
service to others, resulting in a better quality
of life and glory to God.” This is so highly
encouraging for the Business Sector! Please
pray for an UP Team Business Sector
Leader, as that role is open right now…..4)
Pastor Dan Chinn, as I previously
announced, is the new Leader for the
Education Sector of the UP Team. He
prayed about it and then offered to take on
the role. Sue Head is also an UP Member,
and she is the catalyst for the character
training that is having such a dynamic
impact in Taney County Schools. And Mike
Mason, also an UP member, is the new
Superintendent of the Reeds Spring School
District. These are all answers to
prayer…..5) The focus of the ministry of
Love INC on “Relational Ministry” is also
an answer to prayer, as the model they are
implementing focuses holistically on families,
getting to core issues and providing core
training and guidance. Pray for them, for
improved financial support – and for the
many agencies in our area…Tom Fish, the
General Manager of Sight & Sound, which
opens in the late Spring of 2008, gave John
Baltes and myself an extended guided tour of
the theater under construction. It will be the
largest building in Branson, and, oh my, is it
ever impressive, even in its unfinished state!
The opening show, which will be through all
of the 2008 season, is Noah’s Ark. Imagine a
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large theater, three quarters in the round,
with the animals marching two by two down
the center aisle to the stage. They will be
both live and animated (the wild ones), and
there are already some live ones housed in
the theater. The
corporate office is in
Lancaster,
Pennsylvania, and
this for-profit
entertainment
business has a
thoroughly and
deeply Christian Mission
Statement. It seeks to glorify God and
witness to people about God and His love. I
believe that Sight & Sound will be a
profound addition to our area and our
objective of spiritual transformation. Please
pray for Tom and all the folks involved with
Sight & Sound, including the safety of the
many construction personnel. Thus we
have, in my judgment, yet another answer to
prayer. Please send me information about
answered prayers, both personal and
community-wide, so that I can include them
in Newsletters, as a means of encouragement
for us all in our prayer.
REFLECTION
I had a fascinating experience recently,
and I would like to use it as the basis for
the Reflection this month. It goes hand in
hand with the commentary on answered
prayer. I used this theme in one of the three-
minute reflections I do on KLFC, Monday
through Friday, at 1:30 on 88.1 FM. A lady
called me and asked if I would meet with
another lady, a co-worker of hers, who is
going through some intense spiritual
warfare. I agreed to have the young lady
call me, and we met at a coffee shop. Not
many days before our meeting, I woke up
briefly in the middle of the night. What I
saw was so powerful it stayed vividly with
me when I woke up the next morning, and it
just as vivid today. It was in my mind, or
my spirit, or both; on the right hand side of
my mind I saw a sign; it was like a neon sign
in a frame, with bold capital letters that
spelled out two words: “STRESS
THANKS.” The next day I realized that the
words were not just for me; they were given
me to share with the lady I was going to
meet with. She told me, during our time
together, that for months she has been
plagued with thoughts that at times spiral
out of control, leaving her exhausted and
with little sleep. The thoughts are things like
“There is no God;” “I do not have faith;” “I
should go join a false religious cult;” and on
and on. This lady is a committed Christian,
folks, and therefore these thoughts strike her
as highly displeasing to God and as evidence
of a lack of genuine faith in her. She does
not will them, yet they appear to come from
within her. What we have here, dear
readers, is a classic case of spiritual warfare.
I told her that for some reason she is being
bombarded by the enemy, Satan; I suspect, I
said, that the reason is because God has
something very special planned for her and
the devil is trying to stop it. I also told her
that God will turn such attacks into good,
thereby thwarting Satan. I have never
witnessed such intense mental attacks. I
reminded her that what Scripture tells us is
that the primary battlefield is the mind, not
the flesh. If the enemy can
control our minds or lead us
to confusion and a lack of
peace, then we cannot be
effective Christians. I told
her that Satan cannot
possess the spirit of a
Christian, but he can certainly
oppress us, and he does. God will never
allow us to be tempted beyond our strength
to endure – also Scriptural – but He does
indeed allow oppression to occur. To get a
powerful Biblical perspective, I encourage
the reading of the Book of Job, the
temptations of Jesus in the desert and
Ephesians 6 (putting on the spiritual armor),
to name a few. What does “STRESS
THANKS” have to do with this? Well, I was
given a weapon from God to share with her.
I urged her to not fight the thoughts when
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they come, and certainly not try to analyze
them – but to gently push them away, with
raw faith that they are not from her nor
from God but from the enemy. I told her
that she should make a list of all the things
in her life to be thankful for – creation,
redemption, her marriage, etc., etc. – and to
replace the thoughts with specific
thanksgiving. In other words, “STRESS
THANKS.” I also shared with her that
according to Scripture she is composed of
body, mind and spirit. It is her spirit that
was created from nothing at the moment of
her conception, and it is in her spirit that she
is a temple of the living God – Father, Son
and Holy Spirit. Watchman Nee wrote of
the battle between mind and spirit, and that
we can become “soulish”, meaning that our
minds can be in charge rather than our
spirits – which is contrary to God’s plan and
will. I told her to think about being on the
surface of an ocean, whipped to a frenzy by
a great storm. Just a short distance below
the angry surface
is a deep and
abiding calm. So,
too, when we are
bombarded by
thoughts not of our own choosing we can
sink deep down into our spirits and allow the
Holy Spirit to give us peace. What does all
of this mean for us? Well, I hope two things:
First, if any of us are going through spiritual
attacks, these tactics will help us. Second,
“STRESS THANKS” is, I believe, a critical
element of our prayer as members of or
supporters of the Uninterrupted Prayer
Team. The manual we provide new
members has a section on an old and proven
methodology of prayer, the “A.C.T.S.”
method: Adoration (worship); Confession
(repentance); Thanksgiving; Supplication
(intercession). Note the “T” word:
Thanksgiving. Brothers and sisters, I
believe that it is highly pleasing to God when
we give thanks, and I urge us to make our
own list of things to be thankful for and use
them during prayer, and when tempted, and
when distracted in prayer (often for me!).
Here is an example from my own list. I am
thankful for: The creation of the universe,
however it happened, as a gift from an
Almighty God; the creation of my own spirit
from nothingness when I was conceived; that
spirit made in the image and likeness of God
with an eternal life (a beginning but no end)
and that spirit
given control
over my mind
with its intelligence
and free will, also awesome gifts; my
redemption through the Incarnation, the life,
the death and the Resurrection of Jesus
Christ; my invitation from Him to enter into
a personal relationship of love with Him,
and through Him with the Father and the
Holy Spirit; the kingdom of Heaven,
prepared for God’s people; grace, which
purifies my spirit and gives me insight and
strength; prayer itself, which is based on an
invitation from God to commune and
communicate with Him; the angels,
including my guardian angel; those who
have gone on before and are at the throne
room in Heaven, praising and praying; my
spouse of 39 years, our children, our
grandchildren, their families; my church;
my job and profession, through which I am
able to support my wife and myself, and
Herschend Family Entertainment, my
“second” home for almost 26 years and the
source of my income; my country, the
United States of America; the States I have
lived in – Illinois, Arkansas and Missouri;
Southwest Missouri, truly God’s country in
a special way; the Silver Dollar City
Foundation, which has allowed me to join in
its ministry to the area, with special focus on
the UP Team; all UP
Team members and
supporters and all who
share in the passion
for ever-increasing
prayer in and for our area
and for spiritual transformation; all of my
friends, those who pray for me and my
family and who provide great support for us
in many ways; for the talents and skills the
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Lord has given me to use for His glory – and
for His wonderful and continuous
forgiveness when I repeatedly fall short of
His will; and the list can go on and on. But
this gives you an idea. I believe that
Thanksgiving is a critical element of our
prayer lives, and I believe that Thanksgiving
is a powerful weapon against personal
temptation and against spiritual warfare in
our lives, in our communities, in our
churches, in our families, in our nation and
in the world. Thank you, Lord!!
ON THE LIGHTER SIDE
F
rom an unknown author: “Most of you will
recognize this piece as the story of the
‘Prodigal Son’ or should I say the ‘Frodigal
Son?’ Feeling footloose and frisky, a
featherbrained fellow
forced his father to fork
over the farthings. Fast
he flew to foreign fields
and frittered his family’s
fortune, feasting
fabulously with floozies
and faithfless friends.
Flooded with flattery, he
financed a full-fledged
fling of ‘funny foam’
and fast food. Fleeced
by his friends in folly,
facing famine, and feeling faintly fuzzy, he found
himself a feed-flinger in a filthy foreign
farmyard. Feeling frail and fairly famished, he
fain would have filled his frame with foraged
food from the fodder fragments. ‘Fooey,’ he
figured, ‘my father’s flunkies fare far fancier,’
the frazzled fugitive fumed feverishly, facing the
facts. Finally, frustrated from failure and filled
with foreboding, but following his feelings, he
fled from the filthy foreign farmyard. Faraway,
the father focused on the fretful familiar form in
the field and flew to him and fondly flung his
forearms around the fatigued fugitive. Falling at
his father’s feet, the fugitive floundered
forlornly. ‘Father, I have flunked and fruitlessly
forfeited family favor.’ Finally, the faithful
father, forbidding and forestalling further
flinching, frantically flagged the flunkies to fetch
forth the finest fatling and fix a feast. Faithfully,
the father’s first-born was in a fertile field fixing
fences while father and fugitive were feeling
festive. The foreman felt fantastic as he flashed
the fortunate news of a familiar family face that
had forsaken fatal foolishness. Forty-four feet
from the farmhouse the first-born found a
farmhand fixing a fatling. Frowning and finding
fault, he found father and fumed, ‘Floozies and
foam from frittered family funds ands you fix a
feast following the fugitive’s folderol?’ The first-
born’s fury flashed, but fussing was futile. The
frugal first-born felt it was fitting to feel
‘favored’ for his faithfulness and fidelity to
family, father and farm. In foolhardy fashion,
he faulted the father for failing to furnish a
fatling and feast for his friends. His folly was in
feeling fit for feast and fatling for friends;
rather, his flaw was in his feeling about the
fairness of the festival for the found fugitive. His
fundamental fallacy was a fixation of favoritism,
not forgiveness. Any focus on feeling ‘favored’
will fester and friction will force the faded façade
to fall. Frankly, the father felt the frigid first-
born’s frugality of forgiveness was formidable
and frightful. But the father’s former faithful
fortitude and fearless forbearance to forgive
both fugitive and first-born flourished. The
farsighted father figured, ‘Such fidelity is fine,
but what forbids fervent festivity for the fugitive
that is found? Unfurl the flags and finery, let
fun and frolic freely flow. Former failure is
forgotten, folly is forsaken. Forgiveness forms
the foundation for future fortune.’ Four facets
of the father’s fathomless fondness for faltering
fugitives are: 1) Forgiveness; 2) forever-faithful
friendship;
3) fadeless love, and 4) a facility for forgetting
flaws.”
FURTHER FUNNIES FOR
FAITHFUL FANS
W hat can possibly be more hilarious than
people? Here are some travel/vacation
examples to prove the point: 1) A woman asked
for an aisle seat on an airplane, so that her hair
would not get messed up by sitting near the
window…2) A person called a travel agent; he
wanted to go to Capetown. The agent explained
passport requirements, but the person
interrupted by saying that he did not want to
make the agent look stupid, but that Capetown
was in Massachusetts. When the agent calmly
explained the Cape Cod was in Massachusetts
and Capetown was in Africa. The caller hung
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up…3) A person called an agent, furious about a
purchased Florida vacation package. He said
that he was expecting an ocean-view room.
When the agent explained that the booking was
in Orlando, the middle of the State, the person
said, “Don’t lie to me; I looked at a map and
Florida is a very thin State.”…4) A man called
and asked if airlines put people’s physical
descriptions on bags so that they can identify
what belongs to whom. The agent said no and
wondered why the question was asked. He
replied that there was a tag on his bag that said
“FAT”, and he was overweight.
The agent, trying not to laugh,
said that “FAT” is the city code
for Fresno, CA (Fresno Air
Terminal)….5) A man’s
secretary was inquiring about
trip package costs to Hawaii for her boss. After
going over all the info, she asked, “Would it be
cheaper to fly to California and then take the
train to Hawaii?”…6) One man called and said
that he needed to fly to Pepsi-Cola, Florida, and
asked if would he have to fly on one of those little
computer planes…7) A woman told a travel
agent that she wanted to book a flight to Rhino,
New York. The agent looked and looked but
could not find the town. The woman said,
“Don’t be silly. Everyone knows where Rhino,
New York is.” The agent scoured a map and
then asked, ‘You don’t by chance mean Buffalo,
New York, do you?” She replied, “Whatever. I
knew it was some big animal.”
TRUE STORY
S ince we spent our Reflection in this issue
on spiritual warfare, I thought it might
be appropriate to share a story about
physical warfare. I am omitting the name
and location of the person (except to say it is
in Iraq). She is a civilian working in harm’s
way, and she wrote the following to her
mother, a good friend of mine: “Well, I
went to ______ to do briefings. It was
enlightening. But it really stirred up some
thoughts. Now let me paint a picture. I
went to a forward operating base, and it was
pretty depressing. There was a lot of
outgoing artillery, but none incoming
fortunately. Then I returned to my base and
it got hit twice in two hours. From wearing
my 20+ lb. armor, Kevlar and 20 lb.
backpack, all of this precariously balanced
on my lower back – let’s just say my lower
back was pretty inflamed. Plus while
walking on the base when we arrived that
night, in the dark, with all the potholes, I
stepped wrong and literally laid my ankle
over on the side. That hurt. I have to be
careful. On top of that, my mortality
became very real when I got here and there
mortars from day to day on and off. The
night we left we had more outgoing, so we
were delayed in leaving. Soldiers told me
about a team going out and getting hit and
losing a soldier, then that team coming back
in and sitting on the back of their vehicle to
do an outbrief and incoming hitting them
and getting the rest of the team. It’s awful.
That base is so small, everything is
substandard, it’s dusty, dirty…The soldiers
have good spirits, but they all dislike it there
and I don’t blame them. It’s miserable and
to deal with all the incoming and outgoing in
such a small space so regularly, plus losing
people regularly – those people need stress
and grief counseling with all of that to deal
with…Even before those incoming
yesterday, I was thinking about how much
I’m risking by doing this; more, of what it
would do to my family and friends to lose
me. I had a feeling this deployment was for
me to get a taste of what I wanted, and I had
a feeling it was possible that
this would be enough.
Life is short and family
and relationships are
important. When
you’re in the military,
you are required to do
this. I am volunteering,
and it’s getting difficult for
me to justify it…I can definitely see how it
would really tear down soldiers to have to
face death over and over…It’s sad!…What’s
bad is these guys are lobbing these things
from so far away they couldn’t possibly have
any idea where they are going to land. They
are just hoping to wreak havoc..I’m just
feeling a bit of burden at this time, burdened
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for these soldiers – and seeing the reality of
what is going on here. It’s one thing to hear
about it, it’s another to see it for yourself up
close and personal…Pray for the families
that lose soldiers; pray for the soldiers that
lose friends and teammates; pray for the
commanders who have to call those families;
pray for the families who are asking, “Why
MY son?”…Sorry for what seems to be
negative, but reality here is tough…On a
lighter note, while at the FOB I nearly took a
shower in a male shower trailer because
there were no signs on the door. That was
promptly rectified. I hope this finds you
well. I’m getting ready to read a page or two
in ‘My Utmost for His Highest.’ It always
grounds me to read in that book and its
wonderful spiritual perspective. I love you
all.” Please pray for her, her Mom, and for
all the military and their families. May God
bring them home safe and soon.
house sale and house purchase…Herman,
health…Bill Nichols, health and new voice
program, and CofO…Jerry Davis, health…
Malcolm Nichols, in Iraq…Tom R., business
and direction…Reggie’s daughter, Faith,
facing possible charges and lawsuit over a
fatal car accident…the economy and people
of Rockaway Beach, with growth based on
businesses in keeping with the family values
of the area…the men and families of BMFI
and CBMC…Darrell, health…Dave
Rennich, kidney transplant needed…K.,
spiritual warfare…Catalyst Groups,
Branson…character training in schools and
businesses…Charlie, health…Randy and
Gail Baar as they settle in Wisconsin…
Jettie’s sister, who needs a bone marrow
transplant…all military…all government
officials and employees – local, county, State,
national and world…all impacted by the
bridge collapse in Minneapolis...all other
needs, spoken and unspoken.

PRAYER MOBILIZATION

P lease pray for: Concerned Women for

America, as they continue their fight for
Christian values in our nation…Ron’s
LOVE IN THE NAME OF CHRIST

Dad…Jackie Hartman...
Catherine Evers, finances and for the many
prayer needs she makes us aware of…
Debbie Stein, health…Gary Scheer, health,
and his wife, Lois…Loy Loften and ROC’s
ministry, with focus on the young men he is
ministering to and their families: Travis,
Joshua, Shawn, James, Seth…John Burton
and family, as they recover from a break-in
to their home…Char Casteneda, finances,
direction and family…Jan Landers, health
and ministry…Kimily, health, ministry, and
her boys…UP Team of Polk and Cedar
Counties…Manitou Springs…International
House of Prayer, Kansas City…Steve
Bartlett and the prayer wall in Lee’s
Summit, Regina Shank and Missouri Prayer,
including need for financial support…Ron
Mousel, health…Ben, health…Jan James,
health…Clydene, comfort and direction…
Diana, health…Connie, finances…Norm,