JUNE, 2010

faith journey ~ GELATT family

the whole church > the whole gospel > the whole world
“I started out as a child,” as Bill Cosby once said about his early days of life. On a summer day,
in July of 1974, I (Micah) was born at a small hospital in the lakeside town of Petoskey, Michi-
gan. During that same month in 1974, another “child” was being born halfway across the
world in Lausanne, Switzerland. It was not the birth of a human child, but instead the birth of
an evangelistic movement.

Billy Graham, Francis Schaeffer, John Stott, and 2700 other men of God came together to give
birth to a new movement in evangelism. They admitted before God that the whole church
was failing in its command to reach the whole world with the whole gospel. I wanted to give
you this statement that these men put together 35 years ago, as it encapsulates what we as a ministry (FamilyLife) and
we as a missionary family (The Gelatt’s) are all about. They wrote:

“We believe in the power of the Holy Spirit. ...Worldwide evangelization will become a realistic possibility only when the Spirit
renews the Church in truth and wisdom, faith, holiness, love and power….enriching the body of Christ with all of His gifts.
Only then will the whole church become a fit instrument in His hands, that the whole earth may hear His voice.”

Let me share with you just a few ways in which God is using our ministry to reach the whole world:
The number one place people turn for help and hope in regards to their marriage is the church.
LifeReady is our strategy to partner with local churches, and provide them with interactive teaching
videos that we have created that contain Biblical principles for marriage and family issues. We will
个家一个神家 also train lay people in theses churches to lead these seminars, allowing these lay leaders to reach
thousands for Christ.

God cares deeply about adoption. If you know Him as Savior, then you have been adopted by Him
as sons and daughters. Likewise, God desires that His adopted people (the church) bring those
without a home (130 million orphans worldwide) into a home somehow—either by foster care,
adoption, or raising awareness of the critical need. Our Hope for Orphans ministry is led by Paul
Pennington, a man with a passion to mobilize the church and lay people to meet the commands of
Scripture to care for orphans. Paul and our Hope for Orphans team just helped lead the Orphan
Summit conference in Minneapolis, where over 1300 church leaders from around the world were
there to become equipped on beginning an orphan ministry in their church. God is stirring His peo-
ple to action to meet the needs of these helpless ones!

The Chinese government has asked FamilyLife to set up an office at the Beijing Harmony and Unity
Center. China is undergoing rapid industrialization. They have come to realize that the only way to
每個家一個神的家 survive this growth is to keep their families strong—to ensure a strong workforce. FamilyLife has
come on their radar recently, as they know that we work with marriages and families. So, they
have asked us to set up an office and begin leading seminars to the Chinese people on topics like
“marriage and family” “leadership development””child rearing” etc. This opportunity is something
that only God could have orchestrated. We have a staff couple over there now, working with local
Chinese pastors in making this a reality. Please pray!
 shepherding a child’s heart
I am doing my own little “book review” this month. I have recently
read and am now re-reading, (yes it’s that good) Tedd Tripp’s book
about parenting. It is totally revolutionizing my thinking on child-
rearing and how we are approaching our kids. Shepherding a Child's
Heart is about how to speak to the heart of your child. The things “always praying joyfully in
your child does and says flow from the heart. Luke 6:45 puts it this every one of my prayers for
way: "...out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks." Written all of you because of your
for parents with children of any age, this book provides perspectives partnership in the gospel
and procedures for shepherding your child's heart into the paths of from the first day
life. We have been able to get this book to several people, and have until now.”
heard wonderful feedback on how much it has taught them about Philippians 1:4-5
what God says about parenting. If you are interested in receiving
this book, let us know!
prayer items
family scrapbook Johanna 01
The pregnancy is going
here
well so far. Pray for con-
Ju ne 5th. W tinued health for Johanna
d 8 on gone?
turne e and the new baby GIRL!
Josiah has the tim
Micah 02
Micah is now working in
the Weekend to Remem-
ber department. Pray
that he will quickly learn
his new responsibilities.
A weekend trip to
Branson, with a visit to
Josiah—PTL 03
the Butterfly Palace. Josiah turned 8 on June
5th. What a blessed 8
We finally got our years we have been given
garden in...late, but with this beautiful boy.
it’s in! Family day of Emma’s salvation 04
getting the beds Emma has been very curi-
ready and planting
ous about Jesus and His
our goodies!
death on the cross. Pray
for a continued softening
of her heart.
Summer Fun!

contact us

Micah
mgelatt@familylife.com
785.231.9478
Johanna
jrgelatt@gmail.com
That’s our 785.817.3997
Emma!
www.gelattfamily.com
Johanna and the kids made a trip to Omaha, NE to see
the newest Zieg girl, Madison! Welcome to the family!