Love Through Action

It's always wonderful to see how God works in our lives, our families, and our church. These last few months have been, as always, full of action.

We had the pleasure of having all of our children join us, here in Italy, for Christmas.

Christopher brought with him his bride-to-be. He was surprised Kim on Christmas morning as he slipped the ring on her finger. Jetlagged, dazed, then wide-eyed, gave Chris a big hug with a solid "YES!"

Nicholas, Rachel, and our granddaughter, Mariah, got in late Christmas eve due to the weather backup in Paris. Three of their four bags never made it! It was great to watch Mariah enjoy Christmas. We doted over her, of course, the whole time.

Alicia and Neemias live here in Padova. They are expecting a little baby boy this coming July! We will get to have our grandson living near us! Not too many missionaries get that privilege!

As we are moving forward in our discipleship training process in our church, ICF Padova, we see lives change dramatically. 75 members have attended our 4 Encounter Weekends, where Jesus cleaned a lot of old stuff out of their lives. 25 graduated from our three level (one year long) Discipleship Training School (22 new people have now started Level 1). They then moved into the advanced phase, our School of Leaders. Currently, 47 church members are in intense training for their own personal and leadership development. This anointing in discipleship is producing fruit in numerous ways. Learning to become true disciples of Jesus, not just in words, but in every aspect of life. Demonstrating love through service to God and others. People drawing closer to God and each another. A revival of love is taking root. It falls in line with our church's theme this ear: "Love Through Action." Making disciples (not just believers) of all nations is my own heart's vision. This life-changing process is creating a deeper foundation for the coming revival we are expecting.

Solid new growth in the church recently is due to one of our new major initiatives. Hosting a newcomer's dinner every three months helps us connect with all the new people, and for them to experience real community care. Last Sunday we had over 20 new people at the dinner - all new since November. Their testimony: "We really like this church. We're staying!" This is not an exaggeration. It is a reality check of the move of the Holy Spirit on their lives. As a pastor, this really helps me to connect with new people personally, hearing their story, and sharing with them fully our vision, core values, and our love for them!

Patti continues to direct the After-School program. The children learn English so they can speak with their grandparents back in their home country. Two young ladies work with Patti, as well as for the church. Sarah Lamb is here through the MAPS program of the AG, and Danielle Lowe through Global Passion in California. They do a terrific job and are a blessing to have around.

Our International Bible Institute (two-year program using Global University of the AG studies) started it's second round this spring. This year we have seven students. Patti and Diane McGehee have taken on the teaching responsibilities for these courses. It's hard work!

In February, ICF Padova celebrated 13 years as a church family! Hard to believe! We were honored to have Roger and Elaine Hillegas celebrate it with us. They ministered over a long weekend, and our people always love them when they come every couple of years.

How does all this stuff come together? Only by a new anointing that God pours out. Patti and I are driven by the fact that the Lord's return is near. We need to be preparing God's people for doing His work. Getting converts is easy. Maturing those converts into God-fearing, Holy Spirit led, holy and obedient servants of God is a whole other matter! It is hard work, but the rewards are fantastic. We want to see each of our church members come into heaven with a warm welcome, "Well done, good and faithful servant. Enter into the joy of the Lord."

We appreciate all of you and the sacrifice you make in prayer and finances to help us do what we do! We love you all!

Serve Him always, and never look back.

Steve & Patti

Time to Celebrate

When God just begins to "show up" in great ways, it's time to celebrate!

God declared for ICF Padova that this is "The Year of the Disciple". The goal is to raise up true and active disciples of Jesus Christ. God's not looking for slackers, but rather faithful workers who have a burning desire to be exactly what they were created to be - born-again, Spirit-filled, ministry-minded disciples.

Working in conjunction with Pastor Tom and Candi Manning of Vienna Christian Center, and all their great staff, we were able to put together a discipleship training plan called "School of Leaders". As part of the school, everyone participates in a 3-day Encounter Retreat. The Retreat is a great starting point for all new participants in the school, as well as new members and converts. Lives are dramatically changed from the inside out as people are healed, strengthened, and encouraged. The last day of the retreat finishes with a great celebration of God's work in our lives. We just had a great second retreat earlier this month. A total of 45 of our people have now attended the retreats, with many more to go for the one coming up in December.

As our people attend the School of Leaders (SOL) they learn the basics of the faith, as well as God's desire for them to be actively involved in ministry. The school is a total of 30 weeks of intense training. It is now our requirement to finish this course before being released into any leadership of ministry in the church. A good base for sure! Currently there are 40 people enrolled and actively studying in the SOL.

We want to give you another bit of great news. Most of you know we have been trying to raise the funds to finish off paying our down-payment loan for our building here. We owed about $48,000. Well, God did another miracle! Many of you responded and helped to bring that payment down. Then, unexpectedly, God did it big time by moving on the heart of someone in a big way. Bottom line is that - the bottom line is now ZERO! The debt has been eliminated! We are free to begin to find more space for our children's ministries! Hallelujah! Thank you, to all of you who contributed to our building in these past eight years! We hope God gives you a really big mansion in the sky!

Patti, along with four great interns and many volunteer workers from our church, is running a five week long Vacation Bible School this summer. There are 54 kids enrolled! We're just walking all over kids everywhere! But it's great hearing them learning about Jesus and learning English. The majority do not even go to our church. So we hope this will have a great impact on the parents as well!

Thank you all, once again, for your precious love and help to the ministry here. We could not do this without you. Please keep praying for us for wisdom and even greater vision. Pray, also, that we will get another building, at least to rent, right next to us. The buildings are empty, but their prices are super-high. We are hoping they will come down.

God bless you and may He fill your hearts with great love for the lost.

Steve & Patti

Italy: Our Youth - Our Future

What does the year 2020 look like? If Jesus has not already returned by then, who will be taking our place to lead the next generation to Jesus? Obviously: Our youth of today.

Passing on this great responsibility is like passing the baton in a relay race. My high school coach taught me how to start, how to run, and how to finish, passing on the baton with precision. It's the same with training our young people in the Kingdom of God. Our investment in time, training, care, and resources are very important if we are to see them not only succeed, but even exceed our own accomplishments. My school provided a coach, time to practice, training facilities, and even showers! Without all these parts working together we could not have been a winning team. We have the same challenge - training up our youth to carry the baton - the Gospel of Jesus Christ. We run as we have been trained and equipped. As I approach the next runner, he begins his run before I finish. We match speeds and as I stretch out my arm to pass the baton, he's already stretched out his to receive it. Precision. Perfect timing. Successful hand-off. The baton will not be dropped today. I slow down; I have finished my course. The next runner is now sprinting into the distance ahead. Elation. Exhilaration. The outcome is sure. Victory.

At ICF Padova, we are doing our best as coaches, providing the best care we are able to give, and love that brings warmth and acceptance to around 50 young people from 15 nations.

Sunday mornings are filled with children in our fellowship hall. Kid's church is a big hit! All the young ones and older ones worship together. They then break out into smaller groups for different kinds of projects, all in the same big room. We do not have separate class rooms - because there are none.

Patti runs an after-school program for all ages, with up to 20 children at any given time. The children are learning, or strengthening, English, through reading and writing activities, games, videos, and reading the Bible. Even though they break out sometimes into smaller groups, they are still "on top of each other."

Our teens gather each Friday night to study the Word of God, discuss life issues in light of the Word, and do diverse activities together.

We do our best to raise up a winning team with our youth through the Word and things of God. We have given them the best facility available. But as our team has expanded, so has the need for an expanded facility. God has provided for us a great facility. In fact, it has been so great that the church has grown numerically, along with the youth. It is now just way too small to effectively teach and train them! Even the adults barely have room to get around during and after church. That's a wonderful problem! No complaints here! Only a prayer - "Lord, help us to get additional space to train our young ones, and breathing space for everyone!" As a good secular high school team provides for their teams, so must we do even better for the Kingdom's team by providing expanded facilities.

Currently we need $45,000 to pay off a pre-existing loan with AG Financial for the down-payment of our building. (Here in Italy we own our building outright - thanks to all of you!). After that, we are in good position to get the building next door to the church, and move all the youth and children's activities over.

Our church's finances have also picked up, but is not able to match the need on its own. I'm really proud as to how they are already facing current financial challenges of the church, and also taking care of those in the church family that are without jobs. With this one-time need out of the way, we will have a great negotiating position, and the church will handle it's own monthly payments.

We would like to ask that you consider our need in prayer before the Lord. We know that He will provide, but we don't know how yet. We do know, however, that He will provide it through His church. The church of our Lord Jesus Christ is the team that our youth are running for, after all. It's a winning team! Please take some time to consider before the Lord if you are to be one of the sponsors of this particular local team in Padova, Italy.

Because of all of you we have experienced this great move of God here. We are so thankful to you for your love and sacrifice! God bless you all, and may He also pour out His Spirit in an immeasurable way on you!

Serving Jesus with you to win this race,
Steve & Patti Gray

ps) Please contact us by responding to this message by email or FB if you would like to help. We will then give you the details of "how to".

Time to Expand

Greetings once again from the land of great cappuccinos and pasta! Now we also need to add to that list - the land of a great new move of God!
As the Lord would have it, as a result of owning our own church facility, our international church has expanded in several ways. We've had to add 25 more chairs to the main worship hall, maxing our capacity. Our children now have their own complete Kid's Church during the entire time the adults meet. There is literally not enough room for them! This is a great problem to have, but also brings us once again to our knees. Our prayer this time: "Lord, please do it again!" We are in need of expanding our facility.
Next door to our current worship center is another building that has stood empty for 20 years. The asking rental price is $9000 a month for rent! We are negotiating with them and they have agreed to our $1500 a month plus renovations offer for the first two years. However, we are not able to do this until we have a previous obligation fulfilled.
Although our building is paid off and totally owned by us, we still have $54,000 remaining to be paid back to AG Financial for the down payment we made. Our church is making that payment faithfully, but at this rate will take another five years to pay it off. Simply too long!
We have never appealed before concerning this as we did not realize that our growth rate would pick up so rapidly. We would simply like to ask you to consider us in your missions giving once again - to help us expand to the building next door. The new building will house all of our youth and children's activities, after-school program, church office, and our future Master's Commission program. This will free up the current building for the overflow of the main worship hall.
Dear pastors, please also consider this request for your fall missions conventions. Your one-time offering will go directly to paying off the down payment loan, which will free up our own church finances to pay the rent for the new building. Our project number is the same before, and can be sent directly to Springfield.
The Holy Spirit is moving in a mighty way here as we experienced a great revival in the last year, and people's lives have been changed by God's Spirit and Word. We pray that nothing, not even buildings, will hinder the growth of His church.
God bless all of you and may the Lord anoint each one of you with greater power as you continue to minister by His Holy Spirit.
Your friends from Italy,
Pastor Steve & Patti Gray

When sending your gift please specify on the check that it is for the Padova Building Project #9137. Include our name, Steve & Patti Gray, account number 267920. Send to AGWM Attn:Eric Huyck 1445 Boonville Ave. Springfield, MO 65802

Merry Christmas from the Gray's in Italy

Thank you for all your love, prayers, letters, and support!

The greatest joy one can possibly experience is watching children sing and tell the story of the birth of Jesus. The children of our after-school program presented a 40 minute musical to our church on December 14. Most of these children, although their parents come from English-speaking countries, speak mainly in Italian. They are the second generation of immigrant parents to Italy. They are not able to communicate to their grandparents back in the home country! In the program they are taught English three days a week for 2-1/2 hours. It's amazing to hear them now speaking and singing in English in just a few months.

We thank God our children are doing great. Christopher is entirely out of the service now and is the teen director of a Boy's and Girl's Club. Nicholas, and his wife, Rachel, are going to have their first child (our first grandchild!) in March. Alicia will be finishing up her last semester at the university and will graduate with her teaching degree. After graduation she will return to Italy permanently, and getting married in June to Neemias, a great young man from Brazil. Everyone is serving the Lord, and that makes us even happier!

Our church, International Christian Fellowship of Padova, Italy, is doing great. We have experienced a true revival this year in every sense of the word. We are grateful to God for all His love, salvation, deliverance, and healing. All this makes this Christmas even more meaningful and precious.

We pray that your Christmas will be filled with the same joy that these children have. Although we cannot turn back the clock and 'feel' the same warm and fuzzy feelings many of us enjoyed as children during Christmas, we can enjoy the peace and love that comes through the presence of Jesus as we celebrate His birth.

God bless you, and may 2009 be the best year ever for you and your family!

Steve & Patti

True God-Sent Revival

Revival God's Way

Some people want to define a revival as some special meeting, or group of meetings, that the church has prescribed to pump life into the congregation. My definition is a little different. For me it is when God sovereignly decides to show up in a special way to a person, or group of people, and revives their spiritual, emotional, and physical lives. It is God-ordained and God-initiated.

In the past few months ICF Padova has experienced a true revival sent from God Himself. No hype. No special gimmicks. Just God showed up.

8 people from 3 nations saved. 10 people from 5 nations filled with the Holy Spirit. Numerous miracles and healings.

A Nigerian lady was going to have surgery the next day to repair a hole in her heart. We prayed over her, anointing her with oil. In the morning of the surgery the doctor ordered a new MRI. After studying it and seeing the old one, he said, "Lady there's nothing wrong with your heart. Go home." And she has been perfectly fine ever since!

A young 6-year-old Congolese girl in our congregation could not walk or bend her arms because of the pain of sickle cell anemia. After Patti and I prayed for her, she began to walk. The next day she was running around the house with all the other kids! Previously her good blood cell count was dangerously down to 60%. Today it is over 95%! Our Jesus is a miraculous healer!

Now the congregation is learning to pray for one another in the power of the Holy Spirit. A real transformation has taken place in dozens of lives. We are seeing lives changed - saved, healed, and full of God!

How about you? Have you prayed for God to show up in your life in this way? He wants to. He has refreshing and healing for you that cannot be expressed in words. Call on Him. Then wait and see what Jesus has in store for you.

All we can say is: "MORE, LORD!"

ICF Padova Worship Center Purchase Complete

Burning the old contract

Sunday, July 13, 2008, was a day to remember. It was the day that our church, ICF Padova, passed from a purchaser to an owner of its own property. We celebrated by burning the old building payment contract, followed by the presentation of the new Title Deed. Our Worship Center is now completely ours! We thank everyone who participated in helping this miracle to happen. Friends and churches from all over the world prayed and gave diligently for this day to arrive. Most of all, we thank the Lord for all that He has done. He led us to this place, gave us vision to see that it would one day be ours, and then provided all the funds to make the vision come to pass. Lord, you are great, and greatly to be praised!

Presentation of the new Title Deed