• Womens clothing
• Childrens clothing
• Mens clothing (the most needed clothing type; can be jeans, t-shirts, work pants, sweats, etc.)
• Coats
• Blankets
• Diapers

The following will be placed into packets for distribution:

• Soap
• Shampoo
• Toothpaste
• Toothbrush

How Do You Live the Mission? from Westwind Church on Vimeo.

Ways to Live “The Mission” from Westwind Church on Vimeo.

A week-long emphasis on living a missional life comes with the danger of being just that — something you only think about for one week of the year. Westwind’s Missions Team has made some commitments to reach out to people around them, commitments to action that they plan to do some time in the next 100 days. And they’re challenging the people of Westwind to do the same. Think of a person or group of people you’ve “been meaning to” reach out to in some way and commit to do it between now and June 11th. Tell us about it ahead of time and we’ll pray for you and check back with you to see how you’re doing. Email Kevin with your commitments. (If you like, we’ll even add your commitment to the list below.)

Here are some commitments made by the Westwind Missions Team (and others) if you need some inspiration or ideas:

• I will share a meal with the two guys who live next door. Up to now we’ve only spoken over the fence.
• I plan to start a blog about my interest in missions.
• To form relationships in my neighborhood, I will host a BBQ to get the ball rolling and open the door.
• I will send a note of encouragement to a different person each day for 100 days.
• Several of us plan to visit the Friendship Baptist Center together to learn more about reaching out to people in poverty.

 

We prayed in thanksgiving for what God has done for us. We prayed for unity and for the financial resources to pour into the task of missions. We prayed for the laborers who call Westwind their church home. And our hearts were broken when we prayed by name for the unsaved we know.

You can still join us in this task — it’s not too late. That’s because the work of praying for the spread of the gospel is ongoing. Below are some suggestions from the Westwind Missions Team as to how you can pray for the spread of the gospel.

How You Can Pray for Missions

Pray for the laborers (here are a few) who call Westwind their church home
     - Matt and Trista Deaver, Ben and Meredith Cadwell (ministering to internationals in Des Moines)
     – Eric Kress (ministering to Waukee through directing the efforts of the Waukee YMCA)
     – Amy Miller (Westwind’s missionary headed to Brazil this summer)
     – Kevin and Pat Mayer (helping CrossWorld missionaries)

Pray for boldness and joy to share, with co-workers, neighbors, and friends God’s promise of salvation by faith in Jesus Christ.
Col 1:28-29 We proclaim him, admonishing and teaching everyone with all wisdom, so that we may present everyone perfect in Christ. ²⁹ To this end I labor, struggling with all his energy, which so powerfully works in me.

Pray for discipline to be reading and meditating on God’s word daily.
Psalm 1:1-3 Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked or stand in the way of sinners or sit in the seat of mockers.   But his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night.   He is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither. Whatever he does prospers.

Pray for strength to pursue a broken relationship so bitterness does not grow.
Matthew 5:22-24 But I tell you that anyone who is angry with his brother^b will be subject to judgment. Again, anyone who says to his brother, ‘Raca^c’ is answerable to the Sanhedrin. But anyone who says, ‘You fool!’ will be in danger of the fire of hell.  “Therefore, if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you,  leave your gift there in front of the altar. First go and be reconciled to your brother; then come and offer your gift.

Pray to seek out an accountability partner so you can be effective in prayer and God’s word.
Hebrews 10:24-25 And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds. Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching.

Pray to experience God’s presence in your life and evidence of His work in you.
John 15:4-8 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. “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.  If anyone does not remain in me, he is like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned. If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you.  This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.  

Pray for freedom from chronic sin that compromises your relationship with Christ and your witness.
Galatians 5:1  It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.

Pray that you could encourage someone else daily and turn from a self-centered focus in life.
Philippians 2:1-4 If you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any fellowship with the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion,  then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and purpose. Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others.

Pray to be used in the mission field locally, regionally, nationally, or internationally.
Acts 13:47-48  For this is what the Lord has commanded us: “ ‘I have made you a light for the Gentiles, that you  may bring salvation to the ends of the earth.’”  When the Gentiles heard this, they were glad and honored the word of the Lord; and all who were appointed for eternal life believed.

Pray to be faithful in instructing your children in God’s word and His ways.
Deuteronomy 6:4-11 Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.  These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up.  

Westwind Church will be sending a group to a Navajo reservation in the 4 corners of Arizona from April 3 to 9, 2011.  The group will be focused on building relationships and encouraging Navajo youth and staff at Immanuel Mission, a K-12 Christian school and church.  Approximately 75 students attend Immanuel Mission for a quality Christian education.  Students on the reservation face a lot of challenges.  Some of them include a high rate of alcoholism and drug usage, lack of opportunity, and lack of meaningful relationships, especially with people outside of the reservation due to its remote and desolate location.  The mission is entirely operated by volunteers and missionaries. 

Another goal of the trip will be to encourage, refresh, and support the staff who are giving their time to show the love of Christ to kids and families on the mission.  Immanuel Mission is entirely funded by donations.  Please pray about how you can support the trip.

The cost is $500 per person. Scholarships may be available. (See Kevin Mayer for information about possible financial assistance.) Please RSVP by March 6th. $250 will be due on the 6th with the balance due prior to leaving.

For more information on the trip: See Eric Kress in the cafeteria after church on February 6, 13, and 20 for more information.  A more formal meeting will be held on February 27 after church.  You can also call him at 249-5731 or e-mail to eric.kress@msn.com

For more information on Immanuel Mission:  See Eric or go to http://immanuelmission.org

The harvest is abundant, but the workers are few.

Therefore, pray to the Lord of the harvest
to send out workers into His harvest.
– Jesus Christ

Westwind takes seriously the charge to “go and make disciples” and to help us all focus on this we take a week each February to highlight opportunities for the people of Westwind to make an impact on the world around them. In 2011, our Missional Living Week is February 20-27.

Why highlight living missionally  just one week of the year? Because it’s easy to forget. So we take time to ask people to:

Pray  –  Give  –  Go

So for a week we want to focus on ministries in which Westwind is playing a part, so you know how you can be more involved. If we as a church are not intentional about missions, it doesn’t happen.

Schedule for the Week

Sunday, 2/20 — Speaker Brian Hogan (author, former missionary to Mongolia, cross-cultural church planter) and prayers for the nations

Monday, 2/21 — Concert of Prayer for Missions, 6:30 p.m. at the church offices

Wednesday, 2/21 — “Understanding the Culture of Poverty”; 6:30 p.m. at the Waukee YMCA

Sunday, 2/27 — Speaker Mark Arant (pastor at Veritas church plant in Iowa City) and prayers for our city

Sunday, 3/6 — Collection of pledges for Westwind’s Missions Fund

Good news: I was able to come home for Christmas! I did not think it would be possible but the Lord made a way and I’m so excited to come home and rest with friends and family for one month before returning to Tanzania. Since there is unlimited bandwidth here in the States I was able to send so many pictures too! Pictures from village trips to preaching in church to celebrations for our college students and preschool students and sowing mamas. I’ve been home for just a couple days now and I love seeing some snow for Christmas!

Recently I was also able to take a trip to Kazuramimba village with some of the youth that we have a youth group with. It was so great to see the youth of Tanzania fasting and praying in preparation for our village trip. There is a generation of Tanzanian missionaries being raised up! We packed up two landcruisers and headed out. It was only a 5 hour drive to get to this village. I preached at a seminar we had on the first day with all the youth from the village on the Father heart of God. The next day I preached at church on worshipping in Spirit and in truth. The church was packed and we had many dance parties in church after the teaching to celebrate God’s goodness! One prayer request is for my jewelry mamas I will be attempting to find places to sell their jewelry, in the States
“IN HIS NAME THE NATIONS WILL PUT THEIR HOPE” ~ MATTHEW 12:21

It feels so good to be home. I especially love airplanes and always pray for good conversations on my 36 hour flight home with strangers. God blessed me with being asked to pray for someone I was talking with at the airport as well as great conversations with a few others on the way. Then there were times I was praying silently on the plane and I felt the presence of God so powerful I had to restrain myself from laughing or crying outloud. I remember Brother Lawrence talking about this in his book, “The Practice of the Presence of God”. I highly recommend it. He is the reason I live and His presence is all that I long for. I hope and pray that all of you will feel His presence more in this season!

“One thing have I asked of the Lord, that will I seek after; that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord and to inquire in his temple.” ~Ps 27:4

First Service Recap for Westwind from Veritas Church on Vimeo.

First Service Recap for Westwind from Veritas Church on Vimeo.

The feedback we’ve gotten from the city and the Waukee Arts Council (the two recipients of our army of volunteers) shows the message was received loud and clear. We’ve heard things like “we couldn’t have done this without your volunteers” and “an overwhelming THANK YOU to the volunteers from Westwind Church.”

So…for all of you who helped out that weekend in any way, well done! Thank you.

A great big shout out to the many Westwind folks that went the extra mile in making this happen (you know who you are!), as well as the family and friends of Ben and Meredith Cadwell who came along for the ride and ended up doing a lot of the work. We so appreciate you all!

And the best part…the party is never really over because our Nepali friends live here in Des Moines. So we’ll always look for ways to be involved in their lives, to show them the love of Christ. And you’re always invited to join us in that.

A “Bucket of Hope” consists of a plastic five-gallon bucket packed with selected non-perishable food items. For approximately $30 you can purchase the materials and assemble a bucket. Donors are then requested to attach a $10 cash contribution to offset the cost of transporting the relief buckets to Haiti.

If you’re interested in participating, the detailed explanation on packing the bucket can be found here (CLICK HERE). Assembled buckets need to be dropped off at the church office on March 12.

In November (8-15) we will be joining up with the Waukee Food Pantry and collecting food for their shelves. You can give food gifts or gift cards which will be used to buy food items for the pantry. The list of food items they are looking can be found here.

In December we will be partnering with the Angel Tree Ministry and collecting clothing and gifts for children with a parent(s) who are in prison. Families at Westwind will be able to choose an item from our Angel Tree display in the lobby and provide a present for a child in need. You can bring a present from November 15-December 9 to Westwind or our office.

We hope you will take part in both of these initiatives and shine God’s light on the community around us.

In 2006 we held the first annual Reggie’s Sleepout to help raise awareness and money to address the critical problem of Youth Homelessness in central Iowa.

In 2008, over 1000 individuals contributed to the cause by sleeping out and/or fundraising. The event was a huge success with over $156,000, including a generous $50,000 match from the Richard O. Jacobson Foundation.

Help us make 2009 an even bigger success!

CLICK HERE TO FIND OUT MORE

A friend of mine recently told me that in Sunday School they’ve been going through a series on “How to Manage Your Money.” Throughout the term, their teacher has repeated this statement…“It’s about the money, but it’s not.” As I was thinking about what to write here that idea kept coming to mind. “It is, but it isn’t.” Right now, I have the privilege of doing what is called “pre-field ministry”. While one of the main goals of this time is to raise prayer and financial support that will allow me to move to Brazil as a missionary…“it is, but it isn’t.” In the past few months I gained a few new prayer supporters, and my financial support level jumped up to 27%.

I’m thankful for the numerous opportunities I’ve had at work to talk about God and what I’ll be doing in South Brazil. And also the times spent with friends encouraging and challenging each other with truth from God’s Word. I’ve had the privilege of sharing with believer and unbeliever, by mail or visit, both day and night. I still fervently pray for new financial and prayer partners and the needed funds to attend my last week of training, Pre-Field Connection, in March. And I am thankful for several very promising church and individual commitments in progress. Nevertheless, I constantly need to remind myself… “it is, but it isn’t.” When I was thinking about what to write here, the Lord reminded me that while this post is about me…“it is, but it isn’t.” I write, not for my own good, but for the Brazilians, for my teammates, and for you – the reader. I want to encourage all of these people. Ultimately, the best way to do that is to lift high the One who should always be the focus of my updates – Jesus Christ, my Savior, Redeemer, and Friend. May everything I say and do be the result of Christ living in me.

Thank you so much for your prayers. Ben has recovered from being sick and is back here in Kathmandu. We are excited about all that God is doing in our hearts. There have been many things impacting our lives daily from poverty to the bondage of religion, and we are encouraged that God is at work. We are feeling more and more called to reaching the Nepali’s that are in Des Moines.

In addition to that, we are feeling God encouraging us to simplify our lives. To look at all that we have and consider it not only a blessing from Him, but His. We desire for God to be in complete control- whether it be our house, our cars, our money, or our time, it all belongs to Him. I am reminded that our time on earth is but a mist. So let’s make the most of the time and resources we are given!!

This weekend we are attending a Nepali church. Please pray that we will take away much from this experience. Our heart is to start a church for our Nepali friends in Des Moines! We are excited to go and observe what a Nepali church looks like. We also will be going to a feast for a Nepali holiday that is taking place for the next week. So, please pray for connections with other Nepali believers in order that we may hear their God story!

Thanks again for your support! We are blessed!
Ben & Meredith

Hey,
I just wanted to let you know that we arrived safely into Kathmandu, Nepal! We are excited to be here and have felt blessed by the Lord to feel somewhat adjusted to the time difference. I believe Nepal is about 11 hours ahead of you.
Ben will be leaving next Wednesday to go up into the mountains. Please pray for safe and successful travel. Travel in Nepal is very difficult and at times dangerous. There are really no road rules that anyone follows, so it can be either really terrifying or exciting depending on the view you want to have! =) Also, please pray for someone for me to connect with that were Hindu but are now Christian. We are staying in a predominantly Tibetan area and the church our friends go to is actually a Tibetan Church- different from what we thought. I am still excited to see what I can find out about the Hindu religion, but also to hear God stories from whomever God gives us an opportunity to hear from.  

Thanks for your prayers! We are so thankful to have you behind us!
Love,
Ben & Meredith  

Be sure to check back to find out how you can partner with them in prayer.

Our first update from Ben and Meredith shows the importance of prayer and patience as we seek to be missional.

Thought I would email and update you on our travels. Well, today we were delayed on two of our national flights, therefore causing us to miss our international flight to Singapore. So, our only option was to spend 2 nights in L.A. This happened b/c Nepal does not have daily flights that come into Kathmandu from Singapore. So the next time there is a flight is this Friday, which would be Thursday night in Iowa. There’s about an 11 hour time difference. So, please continue to pray for our travels this week! We trust that God has purpose even in this time of waiting.

Thanks!
Meredith & Ben

Please continue to pray for them both.