Merry Christmas from WVIW

     We wish you and your family a blessed Christmas season. We are praying for you this week and know that God has something great for in store for 2010.

     Thank you for being a part of the WVIW family and have a very Merry Christmas and a prosperous New Year.

WVIW Staff

Letter From Director Johnny Moffitt

A very good friend recently shared something with me I think you may be interested in. She got this information from an article called, “Economy Takes Toll on Giving.”

1. 22% stopped giving completely
2. 19% cut their giving by up to 20%
3. 17% cut their giving by half

My friend also shared these facts from a separate article called, “Keeping Outreach in the Midst of Crisis.”

1. Remember God is in control
2. Remember the power of crisis to open up people to their need for God
3. Continue to emphasize reaching out
4. Focus on being effective, creative, and generous

I was very moved by these statistics and the advice. I know that even in tough times God is our source. All of us here at WVIW know that we do what God has called us to do because our friends and partners do what they can by praying and giving to send us into the prisons and around the world. We appreciate that very much.

As I pondered the advice to ministries listed above, I thought what we see. Crisis! My friend, Emmitt Solomon, said, “When a man goes to prison a family goes into crisis.”

How true! I have seen hundreds of prisoners’ wives and children in great crisis for many years. These precious ladies stand by their husbands and pray for their release. Many work two and even three jobs. Their children suffer greatly. These women have done no crime and yet they are in crisis.

I have seen God use this time to open their hearts to receive the love of God and accept Christ. We continue to reach out to them. Just recently we provided Christmas dinner for 32 prisoner families, we fed 91 family members and provided Christmas presents for 101 prisoner children. This ministry is being effective, creative, and generous.

The above advice is right on. In 2010 WVIW will continue to reach out through four Marriage Seminars, two crusades, two international mission trips, 50 weekly Overcomers meetings in prisons, and provide a Transitional Home for returning prisoners.

I want to encourage you to remember that during these tough economic times, God is in control. Keep Him first. Your neighbors are going through the same thing you may be. Consider the possibility that their heart may be open to receive the love of God. Be effective, creative, and generous. This is Christian’s finest hour.

Please continue to remember WVIW when you pray and when you consider where to invest in Kingdom business. May God richly bless you.

Johnny Moffitt
Director

Equipped | Moses Part 4 | Travis Moffitt

"Who am I that I should go..." This was Moses' question. God had personally called Moses out to fullfill his life's destiny and all Moses could do was express his own personal feelings of inadequacy.

In his banter back and forth with God, Moses continually gave God reasons why he was not equipped for the job.

"If they question me, how will I answer them?"(Ex. 3:13)

"What if they don't believe me?"(Ex. 4:1)

"I am slow of speech."(Ex. 4:10)

Three times Moses tried to explain to God why he was not the man for the job. Three times he described why he did not have what it took to deliver the Hebrew nation from the hand of the Egyptians. And three times God answered him.

The theme of God's answers can be summed up in one question from God. "What is that in your hand?" God pointed out what Moses already possessed.

To Moses' worry of how the Hebrew leaders might question him, God gave Moses His name. The name of God in this story was reiterated over and over again to express God's personal and present hand of deliverance. God Himself was a companion that Moses already had. God had appeared to Moses' fathers Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob and promised Himself to their decendants forever.

God was already present in Moses' life.

To Moses' question of doubt that the Hebrews wouldn't believe him, God pointed out Moses' staff as a medium to express God's power. Moses was now working as a shephard. His staff is the one thing that Moses would have always had with him. God knew this.

To Moses fear that his speech would not be appropriate for Pharoah, God reminded Moses of who had created his mouth in the first place. At Moses' persistence, God even appointed his brother Aaron to speak for him. A family member of Moses in place before the burning bush

God equipped Moses with tools and gifts that Moses already possessed. By birth Moses was already in covenant relationship with God. By trade Moses already had a staff. By creation Moses already had a mouth. And by heritage Moses already had a brother.

God knew these things. God did not casually use what was in Moses' life out of convenience. God had a plan to use those things that had been planted in Moses' life from years before.

How often do we explain to God the reasons that we are ill-equipped for the task He gives us. How often do we overlook our own equipping, all the while God has made us ready for every good work.

You and I already have everything we need to do what God has called us to do. You and I are already equipped for every good work. You and I have already been given gifts from God to carry out His mission for our lives.

He has given us Himself and His name. In so doing He has ordained us and declared us as ambassadors of His Kingdom.

He has given us a staff. A means to express His great power. This may be some ability you have through which God can magnify Himself.

He has given us our own created bodies. However imperfect they may seem to us, they are perfect for His work.

He has even given us our family and friends to help carry the message.

As you look to the task ahead, rest assured that in Christ you truly have what it takes. You are equipped so step out in obedience and faith and trust in the One who has equipped you.

A Strong Foundation

Our Transitional Home this week was blessed with not only new materials for all the work that it has needed.

Al Schaefer spent the week working on the house repairing the foundation, and the sheet rock inside.

The house has needed work to be done for a while and we have been believing God to provide the means to make this happen.

Earlier this year we sent out requests for help and at our Celebration Banquet we created a fund to raise the entirety of the money needed.

Well this month we finally received all the money needed through several personal donations as well a tremendous gift from The Bentenbough Foundation.

This is such a great gift because this allows us to continue to minister through this home to the men who have been transitioning back into our communities. We really believe in these men and want to be able to continue to be able to give them the housing and mentorship that Ed Chambers has been able to so diligently provide.

Al and Tammy Schaefer also blessed the house by being available to work this week and donating much of their time allowing for us to come in under budget.

Thank you to all who have donated, and all who have prayed and supported us in this endeavor.

You can also visit WVIW.com for more info on becoming a volunteer and to make secure online donations.

Fear to Faith | Moses Part 3 | Travis Moffitt

Have you ever walked in fear? Have you ever wished you had more faith? Have you ever wondered how you can move from fear to faith? Moses' life can show us the path.

When Moses was forty years old he killed an Egyptian in an effort to relieve the burden being put on the Hebrew people. Once Pharaoh knew of his actions, he set out to kill Moses. Moses fled to the wilderness as a fugitive in fear for his life.

Moses made a grave mistake. Now he sought refuge in the anonymity of the wilderness. He ran to where he was not known.

But God. (What a wonderful phrase.) But God was very aware of where Moses was and who Moses was. God watched over Moses very carefully and when the time was right, God brought him back. Back to Egypt Back to the place of his transgression.

The book of Hebrews speaks of when Moses lead the people out with no fear of king. How is this possible? How could Moses have left in fear for his life and then leave again with the entire Hebrew nation and have no fear of the king?

The answer lies at the end of Hebrews 11:27: "...because he saw HIM who was invisible." Moses had a burning bush encounter with God. God had shown up in Moses' life and Moses did not turn away. In fact the Bible says that when Moses saw the burning bush he turned towards it to investigate. God revealed himself to Moses and that made all the difference.

A man on the run. Aren't we all? It seems like so many people are ONLY moving forward in an effort to distance themselves from something in their past.

But God. But God is calling us out. He is exposing us. Not to the world in shame but to himself. God is offering His face to us. This is our burning bush opportunity. We are to look into His face. We are to investigate Him more. We are to press into Him.

He is calling each one of us into a work that may seem like too much. He is asking of us more than we can give. He may even be calling us back to our place of transgression to help lead those who are still trapped. How can we do this? By Faith ... without fear. Because we have seen the one who is invisible.

Look into His face today and be filled with Faith.

Travis Moffitt on Word and Spirit TV

Travis Moffitt on Air with Mark Brand on Word and Spirit TV Please tune in and watch as Travis speaks with Pastor Mark Brand on Word and Spirit TV. He will share a word from his heart and will be speaking about WVIW and the work we have planned for 2010. The show will air on ... Wednesday December 16th at 9:30am CH KTAQ 47.1 Dallas/FT Worth You can also "Tune in" Online and watch it LIVE by Visiting the  Word and Spirit LIVE online stream Please Use the "Forward this Email" Button to invite friends and family to watch as well.

Timing is Everything | Moses Part 2 | Travis Moffitt

On the stage of life, just as on the stage of theater, timing is everything. The right line; at the wrong time can ruin the entire performance. The right words, wrongly placed can cause harm and confusion. Such is the case of Moses' first attempt to fulfill his destiny.

From before his birth, Moses had been set aside for this exact purpose: to deliver the Hebrews from Egypt in a way that would display God's mighty power. At his birth his mother recognized that he was special. Timing. At three months of age Pharaoh's daughter had compassion on him. Timing. And at forty he murdered a man to fulfill the call of God on his life. Again, timing.


How is it that Moses' destiny, while true and sure, would lead him down such a path so contrary to the God who had destined him? TIMING.

Moses had a God-given purpose; a calling; a destiny.


There are many elements that make up one's destiny.

Passion. Moses was obviously passionate about his destiny. So much so that he would take the life of another man to live in that passion.

Value of others. Moses risked his own life to rescue his Hebrew brother.

Connection. Moses was a Hebrew.

Timing. God's Timing.

What Moses possessed in the first three elements, he lacked in Timing. In lacking Timing he showed that he lacked trust in God. God is the one who had placed this calling on Moses' life in the first place. God is the one who had spared Moses' life. God is the one who had given him the passion, and value for others, and his connection.


Somewhere along the way Moses chose to follow the Calling instead of the Caller. Moses chose to be controlled by his destiny instead of entrusting his future into the hands of the one who created that future. He literally took matters into his own hands. In so doing, he rushed ahead of God's Timing and set out to free the Hebrew nation in his own Timing. His rhythm was off. His feet were out of step. He rushed the punch line. It cost a man his life and Moses' own people were confused by his actions.

Thank God for HIS Timing. Thank God for Grace. Through Grace, God gave Moses another opportunity to live in his calling. When Moses learned to lay down his own life, God reached into his heart and pulled up all those things that had been planted so deep. Things Moses was sure were gone forever. Things Moses was sure he had buried in the sand with the dead Egyptian. But with God Calling remains, Grace restores and His Timing is always right.

Who am I? | Moses Part 1 | Travis Moffitt

This is an amazing question to God from Moses. Moses, an Isrealite man who had grown up in the house of Pharaoh. A man of great learning and power. A man of a chosen people. A man called by God.

From an outside perspective Moses should have been experiencing the best of all that could have been available to him at that time in history. His people by birth had been given a unique covenant relationship with the Creator of the universe. Then, at the time of their bondage, Moses was literally plucked out into the home of their captors. He was brought into the house of power as a son of the ruling family. He could now share in the Heavenly relationship and the worldly power. Not a common place for a man to find himself.

Moses lived in this unique role as a man broken and on the run. He lived behind the protections of distance and anonymity guarding his life from danger and his heart from fear. Until this day.

This day that God would call him out of his safe place; his comfort zone. God called Moses to a task that I believe had lived in Moses' heart for some 80. As a young age (or at least younger than this day), Moses felt a sense of destiny to liberate his own people. He felt their pain and anguish. He felt their cry to God. He must have felt it, and felt it very passionately. After all, something drove him to murder.

But here Moses gives the answer of a defeated man: "Who am I that I should go...?" Why me? What do I have to offer? How can I be of any good to God's cause? What a lowly question. What a question, or rather a statement of low self value. God had hand picked Moses and clearly Moses questioned God's choice.

I think Moses' true problem was a crisis of identity. At the core was his real question: Who am I? Moses had lived his first 40 years between two worlds. He had lived these last 40 years in a third. Once a prince, now a rancher; not even a rancher; a ranch hand for his father-in-law. Where was his dignity? Where was his adventure? Where was his drive? I believe it was buried in the sand with the Egyptian he murdered 40 years earlier. I believe it was still swimming in the river where his mother left him in the reeds. Now before the burning bush was the shell of the man they used to call Moses, Prince of Egypt.