Jason & Norah Skipper

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Step of Faith

Date: August 15, 2011  Author: Jason 1 Comment

Hi all!  Two weeks ago, Norah, the kids and I took one of the largest steps of faith that we have ever taken as a family…  We got onto the plane to come back to the United States!  We’ve taken some pretty large steps of faith over the years; planting churches around Bolivia, moving, trusting God for our safety and finances, etc.  We’ve also seen God’s mighty hand so many times over the years.  We have learned that when he says GO, we GO.  :-)   But even for us, this seems far fetched.  To come to the U.S. with nothing, start over in almost everything in life, and to plant a church that will not only grow, multiply and impact North America in a great way, but will also be a powerful force in helping the Bolivian church surge forward, changing that nation for Christ… THAT is a step of faith.  We may be naive in many people’s eyes, but we’re believing and proclaiming in Christ that this is what will happen as we move forward in this new stage of our lives.

It took much longer than expected to finally leave Bolivia, but God worked out everything perfectly.  We left the church in Pastors Daniel & Claudia’s care.  They are such great people.  We were afraid that many would leave once we departed from the church, but the three week overlap of us and the new pastors being there really helped everyone to get to know, trust and commit themselves to them also!  We too were able to get all of Norah’s US immigration paperwork done.  Overall, we left both the Sucre and the Santa Cruz churches in great shape… And we know that the best is yet to come!

Our last two months in Bolivia were exhausting.  Thank God those times of high stress and non-stop work don’t last forever!  Since we’ve been here in the States, we’ve been able to rest and to get our heads screwed back on right so that we can figure out our next steps.

Our goal over the next few months is to prepare ourselves for next years church plant completely; spiritually, strategically and financially.  I (Jason) will be traveling to Buenos Aires, Argentina, on August 23rd to visit and plan with the main pastors of “Catedral de la Fe” (Faith Cathedral).  This is the church that has taken over our churches in Bolivia.  They are very interested in working with us here in the United States also.  It is possible that they will help us financially, so we ask that you would pray for us and that God would direct everything according to His will.

After my trip, we will begin visiting all of the churches that have supported us over the years, and our wish is to sit down and talk to every single one of you personally about our next step in ministry.  We will be here in Garrett County until December.  We will move to plant the church right after Christmas.

Before I close, let me share a few petitions with you.  Please pray for my parents and all of us, as we are ALL staying here at their house during this time.  It’s nice to be with family, and we can save on rent and utilities… but… there are 8 of us in the house spread across four generations!  For some reason I feel that we haven’t left Bolivia yet!  ;-)

Pray for our kids, especially Erynn and Jordan.  They will go to school here, and then we will transfer them mid year.  They seem to be doing very well, but all of this change can’t be easy on them.

Please pray for our finances.  It’s weird.  God has blessed us tremendously.  He has provided everything that we need and He has shown us clearly that we are not mistaken on this path.  At the same time, we are starting with nothing here, and the Hand of Hur is three months behind in paying our salary.  Giving has REALLY fallen since we’ve announced that we were returning here.  I wish that everyone understood, but it seems that some don’t.  We ask that you please continue to give until we have the chance to sit down with you and talk about what’s coming!

Thanks for your time, love and prayers.  We’ll be in touch!  May God bless you greatly!

Love,

 

One Week Left!

Date: July 20, 2011  Author: Jason 2 Comments

Good morning everyone! We’ve been quite silent lately, and I wanted to update everyone on what’s happening here in Santa Cruz. Please take the time to read it all!

Norah’s Visa

On Monday, we were notified by the US Embassy that Norah’s VISA / permanent residence to the US was accepted. I immediately went to the airlines and reserved our tickets home. Her passport and immigration papers should arrive today through DHL from La Paz and we will be able to buy the tickets… finally! This entire process has been much longer than anticipated. We returned from the US the first days of May thinking that we’d be leaving Bolivia within a month. It’ll almost be 3 months by the time we leave Santa Cruz on Thursday, July 28th. It’s been worth it though, and CLEARLY directed by God. In other words, this 2 month delay has been what God has planned all along, and it has formed how, what and when we will be doing things once we get to the USA.

Our Life and Arrival of Missionaries/Pastors from Argentina

Outside of Church (We changed the name of the church)

Outside of Church (We changed the name of the church)

Although we feel God has directed it, It’s been stressful. We slept on the floor for a month, and are currently living in someone else’s house. We’ve had one, real, home cooked meal together in the past 6 weeks. I had surgery for kidney stones, and had a stent in my left ureter that just made life awful for 3 ½ weeks. We’ve traveled to La Paz, Sucre, and back. Norah went to La Paz again for a second appointment at the US Embassy. I’ve been working on the church from daylight to 10 PM or more for the past 3 weeks. Norah’s been trying to sort through things that we have left, organizing, giving things away, packing, etc. Both Norah and I have been sick with the cold (the kids have been healthy thankfully!), and we’re both exhausted… but truly it’s been worth it all.

Pastors Daniel and Claudia D’Amico from “Catedral de la Fe” (Faith Cathedral) in Buenos Aires, Argentina arrived on the 12th. We really wanted to prepare the apartment at the church so that they could live comfortably with their three children. We were able to fix and paint most of the walls and ceiling before they arrived. We also were able to put in carpet over the awful upstairs wood flooring. Even so, we ran out of time. When they arrived, they had no hot showers, none of the toilets worked correctly, we hadn’t put the beds together yet, and they had no sink to wash dishes or anything! Thankfully that had a great attitude about it all, and over the past week and a half we have been able to fix most of that. They still don’t have a kitchen sink… and I’m not sure when they will… but they’ll put one in when there’s money available to do that.

A meeting in the new place with some of the main workers and leaders

A meeting in the new place with some of the main workers and leaders

Can We Out-Give God?

We’ve given them a good bit of our furniture, appliances, etc.; 4 beds, a table, washer, dryer, refrigerator, stove, microwave, bookshelves, desks, computer, printers, large LCD TV, DVD player, speakers, radios, plates, silverware, glasses, cups, pots and pans, etc., etc., etc.! We wanted to sell most of our things, but we realized that they’d arrive here with nothing. It’s tough letting go of all of those things, knowing that we have only what we have in our suitcases and a bed that someone has already given us (THANK YOU!), but we know that you can’t out-give God. So many have given much to us also… we have to give as we’ve been given! So we’re sowing in faith, knowing that God has our backs. We haven’t sold our car yet, but we do plan on selling it in the next few days. (Anyone want to give us a semi-new car so that we can give ours to the missionary couple here? ;-) Just kidding!… but seriously… :-) )

11 Day Evangelistic Campaign in Santa Cruz Church

Small Group meeting with Pastor Danny

Small Group meeting with Pastor Danny

Tomorrow (Thursday the 21st) we are beginning a 11 day evangelistic campaign at the church. There is a lot of optimism. Although Norah & I won’t be there the entire length of time, we are very excited that we can be a part of this. We’ve printed out 5,000 fliers. We have a team of 30 or more from our Sucre church who is arriving to help us. We’ll be going house to house for at least half a mile around the church inviting people to the services, and we’ll be doing street evangelism in the plazas and parks of Santa Cruz. The team that we have in Santa Cruz will be working hard on calling and visiting all of the people who arrive at the service over the next 11 days. May God do a great work during this time!

Conclusion

We’ll be home (USA) soon! We want to visit all of you and your churches from August up through December… Then we’ll be moving to plant a new church that we are believing in faith will impact the United States in a great way! Once again we ask… if you support us, PLEASE continue to do so faithfully until we get the chance to talk to you personally about our next step in ministry. If you don’t… PLEASE DO! It won’t be eternally… maybe two years, until the church gets going strongly there. We’re in dire need of finances to get our lives and ministry on track in this new time for us!

See you soon & God bless!

Jason, Norah, Erynn, Jordan & Derrick Skipper

 

Update Letter… We’re STILL in Bolivia

Date: June 16, 2011  Author: Jason Leave a comment

Life is unexpected! That is basically the theme of our life right now.  We’re still in Bolivia.  It’s a long story, but basically God is moving everything and forcing us to do things His way… Not ours.  :-)  We won’t be leaving Bolivia until mid-July.  The couple that will take over our Santa Cruz church came to visit us and the church two weeks ago.  (They’ll come to stay on July 9.)  While they were here, we signed the contract for the new building that the church will be renting. We talked and talked about the ministry, Bolivian culture, successes, failures, etc.  We also showed them around the city, and Pastor Daniel preached that Sunday at the church. What a perfect couple God has chosen to take over for us here in Santa Cruz!  They are an accomplished couple in the main church in Buenos Aires.  They have close to 500 people under their care in their small groups there.  They are in their mid forties and have three kids. The people in our church are very sad because we are leaving, but they all fell in love with Daniel and Claudia Damico.  We KNOW that God is going to do great things through them!

Our lives are in turmoil.  We sold a lot of our things as soon as we got back from the USA, thinking that we would leave in early June.  Now we’re camping out in our empty house until July 1st, when we will move to the church for a few weeks before leaving Bolivia.   Tuesday, May 31st, I had a ureteroscopy to take out a stone in my right urethra and to fix the left urethra that was almost totally closed because of damage from earlier stones.  They left a catheter in, to make sure that my left urethra heals well.  They will have to take that out next week.  Not Fun.  I have been in pain ever since, and the catheter drives me crazy.  I’m not looking forward to getting it taken out though.  :-(  Even with the pain, we had to continue working. I married a young couple on Saturday, the 4th. We moved the church from the old place to the new last week.  We are preparing the new place so that it’ll work great for the church and will be livable for the pastors that are coming.  We’re rewiring the electricity in the place and are building a new stage.  We’re painting, putting in new windows and are designing and getting a new sign made for the front of the church.

On top of that, I had an accident this morning on my way to the church.  A lady came out of a side street and ran right into the front right side of my car.  She is the wife of an important guy in the transit police, so they ruled that 100% of the blame was mine.  It’s totally ridiculous, but that’s how things work here. They say that I have to pay all of my bill and all of hers too. I was told that I can appeal the ruling, but after getting counsel from several different people, I have decided not to. I may not get my car back in time to even sell it before I leave if I do. It’s a pathetic and powerless situation that I’m in. In any case, I know that God is our judge.

As I said, unexpected is the best word that describes our lives right now… But all is in Gods hands.  We KNOW that He is directing every step that we take.  Please remember us in your prayers over the next month.  We still have so much to do.  Pray for health, that I would feel better (please Lord!).  We also need to travel to La Paz and to Sucre before the end of the month.

Thank you from the bottom of our hearts to those of you who support us. May the Lord bless you in all you do.

Love,

Jason and Norah

 

P.S.  Note from the treasurer of Hand of Hur.  Please do not stop sending those pledges and gifts.  I couldn’t pay Jason’s monthly check in May because funds are low and there isn’t enough to purchase their tickets home.  God will provide!  Connie

 

Back in Bolivia – Update!

Date: May 5, 2011  Author: Jason Leave a comment

Northern Iowa April 19, 2011

“Jason, be careful, slow down!” Norah yelled as she was filming an overturned tractor trailer that was one of the 12 vehicles we saw off the road in the snow while traveling south from Minneapolis to Fayetteville, Arkansas.  We were trying to imagine what it would be like to live in a place that still gets such snowstorms on April 19th!  What a great experience we had on this 21 day, 5,300 mile trip around half of the USA!  We got a real feel (literal) for the different climates, cultures and types of places that we could plant as we visited Maryland, Minnesota, Arkansas, North & South Carolina, Florida & Virginia.

Overall, we feel so much better about this next chapter in our lives.  We have no doubts about God’s guidance in planting this church (and network of churches in the longrun) in and throughout the USA.  He has showed us clearly what we need to do, and how we need to do it.  The conference in Orlando was an amazing experience and tool in preparing us mentally and spiritually for this upcoming adventure.  We also were able to talk there extensively with Craig from ELI (Emerging Leadership Initiative), who will be coaching us.  He helped us get a clear feel for the timeline and understanding of all that we need to do.  Our only doubts right now continues to be where.  We’ve seen a lot, and we hoped that God would just kind of hit us over the head and tell us WHERE, but that doesn’t seem to be the case.  So… we’ll see.  Keep us in your prayers as we sort though it all.  We’ll figure it out soon enough.  :-)

We have so much to do here.  Prepare our things, sell most of what we have, find a new place for the church to meet and prepare everything for the pastors that will be arriving from Argentina.  It seems impossible, but it’s not… God is on our side!  Our Goal is to move back to the USA on the week of June 6th.

(IMPORTANT)  Prayer Requests!!! (IMPORTANT)

  • Please keep Norah & the kids in your prayers as we navigate through all of this change.
  • Pray for wisdom for the decisions we have to make yet.
  • Pray that God would help us find the place that he has prepared for the church in the next two to three weeks.
  • Pray that God would prepare the couple that will be coming from Argentina, and that they can arrive before we leave from here!
  • Pray that we can get everything done, sold off, and prepared so that we can travel the week of June 6th!

What’s Really Important?

Date: October 5, 2010  Author: Jason 1 Comment

[adsense-left]I think that too often, we as followers of Jesus get off track in regards to what’s really important. I remember my first years here, while I was studying in the seminary in Sucre, I would often get into heated discussions with others about religion. I was studying apologetics, which is basically understanding and defending our faith. The problem was that when I found the “truth”, that made what everyone else believed “wrong”. Not only people from other religions, but even people from other branches of Christianity. I remember seeing some pastors and leaders and just asking myself… is it possible that they will someday end up in heaven? I mean, they believed wrong… taught wrong… acted wrong… were heathens… liars… hypocrites… etc.

Even today I find myself looking at what other pastors teach, and all that I can say is… “that is just wrong.” In Latin America there are several branches of churches that teach that to be healed by God, you must bring a financial offering. The bigger your offering, the better your miracle. I’ve heard so many stories of pastors who even yelled at those who were bringing the offering… “Is that all?” That seems to go against everything that Jesus taught, and it certainly seems wrong to me. But the thing is that people are healed. Sometimes MANY people are healed. We as Christians have the tendency to credit anything that we don’t believe in, and still see as a ‘supernatural’ work, to the devil. But I have talked and had close contact with some of those who have recieved healing in those churches… and they seem to love God with all of their hearts. They live for him. Their lives have been transformed. They have been healed, as many have been in our church too.

So what does this mean. Is what that church is teaching correct? Should I just jump over on their bandwagon, or can I just dismiss it and say that the devil is dressing up as an angel there? We see this so much today. We talk about; the churches that teach the prosperity doctrine or others that teach that we should remain poor, those who are holy rollers and those who aren’t, christians who drink beer and those who won’t use electricity, those who read newer versions of the Bible, and those who won’t touch anything that isn’t the King James with a ten foot pole. Who’s right? Who’s wrong? Of course, I think that I’M RIGHT! :-) Ha… the problem is that everyone thinks that they are right.

My Controversial Statement of the Day

I’m going to say something here that will probably be very controversial. Please, just hear me out! (I’m sorry that I can’t do this post in under 500 words.) Let me say it clearly though. I believe that WE are much more worried about theology than GOD is.

Ok, let me explain. We talk about theology, we argue about it. We go to church and learn about it. We separate ourselves from those who don’t think like us. We say that “the church over there is too liberal”, and “that other church is too conservative.” The truth is, in general, we are a VERY divisive people. Let me point out two verses before I get into what I think is truly important.

“Stop judging others, and you will not be judged. For others will treat you as you treat them. Whatever measure you use in judging others, it will be used to measure how you are judged. And why worry about a speck in your friend’s eye when you have a log in your own? How can you think of saying, `Friend, let me help you get rid of that speck in your eye,’ when you can’t see past the log in your own eye? Hypocrite! First get rid of the log from your own eye, then perhaps you will see well enough to deal with the speck in your friend’s eye.” Matthew 7:1-5

“Don’t grumble about each other, my brothers and sisters, or God will judge you.” James 5:9a

These are just examples of so many other verses in the Bible that make this clear. We are not the world’s judge. God is. Of course there are some ESSENTIAL beliefs that we must defend and teach always, but I think that OUR understanding of essential is different than GOD’S understanding of it.

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So What’s Really Important?

I think that if we read the New Testament with an open heart and mind, two things are the basis of Christianity. Love God and love your neighbor.

  1. Loving God
    God abolished the written law, and he put it in our hearts. Today, instead of asking for a list of rules and regulations, we ask God… how should I live? What do you want from me Lord. Following God is all about having a relationship with him, being led by his spirit. Becoming his disciple. It’s not about being perfect, it’s about walking and overcoming our problems, sins and frustrations WITH Him. It’s about learning to put him first in our lives, and trusting him in everything.Is this or that ok? I don’t know… ask God. Can I have sex outside of marriage? Of course not… but is it ok to go out with my secretary for lunch? Under most circumstances, I wouldn’t advise it, but… ask God (and your wife). Only you and God know your heart, and you don’t know it nearly as well as he does. Some Christians can drink a beer or a glass of wine without a problem, others can’t drink just one… if you understand what I’m saying. If you can do it TRULY loving and trusting in God, then there is no condemnation for you (Romans 8:1.)
  2. Loving our Neighbor
    I am convinced that the Christian life isn’t about following rules. It’s about relationships. Our relationship with God, and our relationship with others. When we talk about loving our neighbor as ourselves, that means exactly what it sounds like. Do you worry about your life? Worry about others too. Help them. Do you worry about your salvation? Worry about others too, share God’s love, share the freedom from sin and guilt and addictions, etc. with them. Disciple them. Call them, visit them, help them. Give to those who you can. Get your head out of your own problems and look around. See the sadness in this world. Stop judging them. When you see someone fall, pick them up, don’t kick them. Love them, accept them.I have talked to many people who have left the church. What is one of the main reasons they do? Because they find no love there. What they find is judgement. They need friends. They need love. That’s what the world needs. Are they finding it in the church? Really? Truly? Do you accept them for who they are? Believe me when I say that you can find 100 times more love in a group of alcoholic friends than you can find in a good percentage of our churches. Should that be? Now do you understand why I say that we tend to get off track? And yet we ask why our churches aren’t growing.

Conclusion

I believe that we all mess up from time to time… and we are all wrong in something.  But God’s not looking at that.  He’s looking at our heart.  He’s looking at what’s inside.

We need to get back to the true message of Jesus Christ. His message of love, hope and freedom… TRUE freedom for the world. God can heal your neighbor. He can heal people’s hearts. He can restore families, and make people truly happy again. Love God, and Love People.

May God bless you richly. PLEASE, comment, and if this message blesses you, share it with others!

Love,

Jason

God’s Glasses

Date: October 2, 2010  Author: Jason Leave a comment

Throughout most of our lives, we have heard these words… “God loves you.” But how many of us truly understand or believe that? We know it in our head, but our heart tells us something so different. We talk about God’s grace, and how he paid the price for our sins… but what happens AFTER we ask for forgiveness and we still keep messing up? Do we keep asking for forgiveness 5, 10, 50, 100, 500, 10,000 times? Of course our answer is yes… as Jesus said “not seven times but seventy times seven” (Mt. 18:22), and if Jesus said that, he must do it too. The question I have is… How to you FEEL after having to ask for forgiveness 150 times for the same thing? The truth is that most of us feel ashamed, embarrassed, and instead of feeling great and free in God’s forgiveness and love, we hide like Adam and Eve. We are always wanting to live up to God’s standard, and although we know that He forgives us, we want to please Him continually with our promises and actions.

The problem is that we can’t. We always mess up, and we continually break our promises to God. You do and I do, and even the best of the saints do too. We strive to be better, but do we ever really get there? I mean… has anyone other than Jesus reached the perfection in this life? God doesn’t expect perfection from us, and he isn’t disappointed when we don’t reach it. He isn’t looking for perfect people. He is looking for people who are willing to trust completely in Him.

Jesus didn’t just die on the cross to die. He took our place there. The Bible makes it clear that ALL who sin deserve to die (Romans 6:23), and we have ALL sinned (Romans 3:23). But since Christ already died in our place, those who put their faith and trust in Him can live in God’s freedom and forgiveness. The thing is that we must remain in Christ. John 15:1-5 says…

1 I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. 2 He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful. 3 You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. 4 Remain in me, and I will remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me. 5 I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. (John 15:1-5)

You can look at it like this. When God looks at me directly, I am full of sin. I am a sinner. I am doomed. There is no way that I can approach the father like this. He is holy, I am not. But when I am holding on to Jesus, and my full trust is put in Him, it’s different. The Father looks at me THROUGH Jesus. What does He see? Perfection. Holiness. He doesn’t see my sin, and my terrible condition, he sees Jesus. Jesus is like a pair of glasses for the Father. But those glasses ONLY work when my trust and walk is in Jesus. If I am not walking with Jesus… God doesn’t see me through Jesus… and I’m in trouble.

I’m not perfect, but I am Holy through Jesus’ sacrifice! We’ll talk more about walking with Jesus in the coming days. Feel free to leave commentaries and please share this with others! Blessings,

Jason