WVIW Marriage Seminar Saturday Update

Saturday is the longest of the three day seminar and always proves to be one of the most rewarding adventures of all! We always have so much to fit in and even with the long hours (7a-830p) we sometimes wish we had even more time to get more done. Today was an incredible example of this statement.

It started out with a fantastic breakfast followed by teaching by Betty Moffitt. We learned about communication and how to listen as well as really hear our spouses when they talk to us. It is up to all of us to pull the bits out of the seminar that will be of specific help in our relationship. 

After the teachings we had ample opportunity to key in and focus on the teachings and spent the time connecting with our small groups. 

Typically small group time is one of the most adored and sought after times. This is a time when you can really soak up what has just occurred and really dig in to some issues that may be clouding our relationship with our spouse. Each person can take as much or as little of the time to discuss and work through some of the challenges that are being faced. 

After lunch we had more time to learn and glean from each of the teachers through a portion called Split Session in which we take the men to one room and the ladies to another for female specific an male specific discussion time. It seems ironic to divide up the rooms by gender when this is a Marriage Seminar, but this time really benefits each couple more than they would expect. This affords each individual the opportunity to listen to their spouses side of the story without censorship through the voices of the opposite sex via our Team Members. We have several Team Members who have been in the exact same situation as the couples and have volumes of information ready to be poured into their lives. The men Team Members speak into the female participants lives, while across the building, the female volunteers accomplish the same. At the end of this session the participants are encouraged to ask ANYthing they want to of the Team Members and they DO! It is a great time of openness and honesty. 

After more small group time, we had the opportunity to hear several life altering testimonies as well as a powerful take on the story of Jonah taught by Johnny Moffitt. 

Several people responded Saturday night by accepting Jesus into their lives for the first time as well as several who decided to recommit themselves to God in front of their spouses for the first time. 

It gives our Team great joy to spend the time here with the couples and many of us have made serious bonds with the couples this weekend. 

Sunday will be another hard hitting day so please stay tuned and keep us in your prayers. We will be posting more updates and more pictures as the day progresses. Thank you ! 

WVIW Marriage Seminar Encouragement

Here is a letter we recieved using our Mobile YouVersion online Marriage Seminar minisite hope your blessed!

My wife and I wish so much that we could be there for our fellow couples tonight. If we were we would tell them that God will see them through this. We know the obstacle in front of each of those individual lives and marriages can seem insurmountable at times, but with God's direction and help, they are going to make it. Just like we did! May the rest of this weekend be a time for healing, sharing and growth, and may each couple experience the love that can only be found in our Lord Jesus. He can carry their burdens through this difficult time in their lives. And when they reach that glorious day of parole, they will look back and see that this weekend was one He gave to them to share as a couple. Enjoy this moment and please know that life out here together, which is what we all are wanting, is made even sweeter after overcoming the obstacle of incarceration. God bless each of you ladies for your courage, your determination, and your heroism. Your husbands are coming home to a blessing that only God could provide. And thank you volunteers for giving of your lives to some of the most incredible people you will ever meet. Couples affected by, but still overcoming incarceration.
Now that is LOVE!
Greg & Melissa Alvis

WVIW Marriage Seminar Friday Update

Thank you all, first and foremost, for being such faithful supporters of our ministry and for following along each and every time we have a marriage seminar. You have touched us deeply and you give us much to be thankful for. We are blessed as a ministry because of our partners like you who continually "show up" in such an incredible way. 

Todays opening was a great success. I think that by all accounts the consensus would be that today really marked a special and unique time for all. There are so many lives being impacted this weekend even from just being here one day. We never doubt the presence of God, but today was an especially blessed and anointed day. 

We started out at our team meeting and gave special instructions to all of our team members to do nothing this weekend but let God work. We believe we are called to be servants and not take this time for self promotion but for God promotion. Everyone has there own special relationship with God, and if all we are used to do is to set the stage for His show, then we have been used mightily in the Kingdom and are eternally grateful. 

We heard powerful testimonies, moving songs, and a stirring word. It is safe to say that everyone in the room connected in a profound way and are all anticipating the blessing coming in the next two days. 

We are posting a gallery of photos here as well as a Short YouTube "highlight reel" of the day that we hope you will enjoy. We would love to hear your comments and would love to pass along a prayer from you to our couples. If you have something you would like to share please fill in the comment section below or leave a comment at facebook.com/wviwonline

WVIW Marriage Seminar Team Member Dinner

     Wow what a great day.
     Our team is all here in Rosenberg getting ready for the marriage seminar that starts tomorrow. The stories of seminars passed and time served have already began. Dinner is almost served and our team is getting comfortable with each other through all the varied conversations. There are not many places that are better to spend a weeknight.
     We are blessed to know so many selfless, honorable and giving people. One of the best parts of WVIW is our volunteering Team Members. Without this group of individuals our ministry would not be nearly as effective and not at all this fun.
     We hope you will stay in touch this weekend and follow along as we update on our progress.
     If you would like to be a part of our next seminar please fill out our Team Member Application here http://bit.ly/missionsapp

     Thank You for your prayers and participation.

Remaining Fruit by Johnny Moffitt of WVIW

John 15:16 (New International Version)

^16"You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit—fruit that will last. Then the Father will give you whatever you ask in my name."

     I have been thinking about this verse a lot lately.  It was when God spoke this verse to me some twenty-five years ago, that we changed the primary focus of this ministry from evangelism to discipleship.  The first seven years of WVIW we saw tens of thousands of prisoners born again.  We would hold crusades in as many as ten prisons at one time.  In 1986 we were part of the National Prison Invasion and were responsible for crusades in 35 prisons on one weekend.  I believe in evangelism.
     In 1985, God spoke to me and said, "How many of your fruit remain?"  I could count them on one hand.  I was broken.  I went into earnest prayer.  That is when I made the decision to focus on "remaining fruit."  We began to take the "Overcomers" Christian twelve step program into the prisons.  Later on we developed the "Manhood Seminars".  Also in 1985, Betty and I attended our first in-prison "WVIW Marriage Seminar."  It was at that seminar, where our commitment to discipleship was confirmed.
     Now as I think about my fruit that remains, it is difficult to count them all.  I think of the man who helped start WVIW, now directing a powerful ministry on the Navajo Reservation in New Mexico.  Then there are three men from three different state prison systems who are now directing Transitional Houses in their respective states.  One prisoner, born again when I preached in Attica Prison in New York, became the Chaplain at a Connecticut prison.  Not to mention the dozens of men we discipled, in prison and out, who are now not only living for God, but are in full time ministry.  A special blessing is the hundreds of couples who have connected with this ministry through the "WVIW Marriage Seminars".  I praise God today for my spiritual heritage through connections with spiritual fathers over the years.  And, I praise Him for my spiritual linage through the connections with people we have been able to disciple.
     I desire that for you.  Has God ever asked you, "How many people have you led to Christ?" or "How many of your fruit remain?"  Why don't you connect with WVIW?  Come go with us into a prison on a Crusade, a Marriage Seminar, a Manhood Seminar, or a short term mission trip to share the gospel with a neglected or forgotten people in a foreign nation.  Come join the team.  My prayer is that John 15:16 will be as meaningful for you as it is for me.

The One by Travis Moffitt of WVIW

I must admit that I am a sci-fi movie buff.  I have seen all three installments of The Lord of The Rings.  A great day for me would include all six Star Wars episodes.  And yes I have enjoyed every Star Trek movie except the first one.  I like the monsters, the space ships, and the laser guns.  I am fascinated by the special effects.  And I enjoy watching our real life dilemmas play out in a land far, far away.

If you can relate then you will remember one such dilemma in the 2nd Star Trek movie, The Wrath of Khan.  At the grand finale of the movie, after the big battle has ensued between The Starship Enterprise and Khan, First Officer Spock sets out to single handedly save his ship.  The Enterprise had taken a beating.  Someone had to enter the power reactor to fix the hyper drive.  Entering this chamber with all its radiation would ensure certain death for any such individual.  At the critical moment, Spock goes in.  In his final dialog, as he sits inside the reactor, his life long friend and Captain James Kirk sits outside watching his friend die.  Spock articulates his logical theology: “The needs of the many out way the needs of the one, or the few.”

So often this becomes the living mantra of our world.  What is best for the masses is of greater priority than what is best for only one person, or just a few.  At least that’s the logical position.  The opposing view would say that we should value the individual; that sometimes the needs of the one out way the needs of the many.  I mean didn’t Jesus come to reach even just one person?  In Christendom we regularly proclaim Christ’s individual love.  While this love of Christ for each one is true, it is only part of the truth.

The Christ view would say that meeting the needs of the many lie in meeting the needs of the one.  In John Chapter 4 we see a story where Jesus “had to go through Samaria.”  Along His way he meets a woman at Jacob’s well.  In their dialog He meets her deepest need, her need for salvation.  As she realizes that she is speaking with the Christ, she goes to tell everyone in her village.  For her this could have meant certain death, at least socially.  She was not a well received woman in her town.  She visited the well at a time when the other women had already gone home.  She had previously had five husbands and was now living with a man who she had not even married.  An adulterous woman.  A societal outcast.  Now running through town proclaiming the Christ was sitting at Jacob’s well.  And her proclamations worked.

John 4:39 says, “Many of the Samaritans from that town believed in Him because of the woman’s testimony.”  The needs of the many were now being met by the meeting of the needs of the one.  Jesus had saved her and now she could bring many to Him.

At Worldwide Voice In the Wilderness we are each aware of our own personal need for a savior.  We are also very aware that we have been saved and that salvation bids us go into all the world.  We must take our met need and reach the masses.  I was that one and now I must go to the many.

You are also that one.  If your needs have been met by Christ then you are critical in the reaching of the many around you and around the world.  In this way Christ allows us to be co-laborers with Him in reaching the world.  You and I are saved so that we can carry salvation to others.  We are blessed so that we can be a blessing to others.  The Gospel is therefore spread through group participation of individuals reaching the masses.

To be a one among many reaching the world, visit our website at wviw.com and learn how you can join us in prison or oversees.  So many are waiting for you today.

Travis Moffitt
WVIW.com
Associate Director

WVIW A Shared Ministry by Johnny Moffitt

     Recently I preached in two churches with the same name, Christian Renewal Church.  Sunday morning I was at the church in Hilton Head, South Carolina, and Sunday evening at the church in Brunswick, Georgia.  An extra special blessing of the weekend was that my oldest son, Terry, who lives in Hilton head, was able to be with  me for the entire weekend.  After joining me Sunday morning for breakfast and the service, he traveled with me from Hilton head to Brunswick.  He went to the evening service with me and then we had a wonderful dinner together.
     We talked into the night and then stayed together in the church Missionary House.  The following morning we enjoyed a leisurely breakfast with some old friends and then drove to Savannah, where I caught a flight back to Dallas and Terry drove home to Hilton Head.
     All the way back to Dallas I thought about how special the weekend was for me.  Not only because I had two opportunities to share the Gospel, be with special friends like Pastors Gilbert Posey and Bill Ligon, but spend so much quality time with my son, Terry.
     What I realized is that ministry is better when shared with wonderful people.  Worldwide Voice in the Wilderness is all about connecting with wonderful people.  We want to connect with you.  In Acts 13:1-3, we see that when people connect and worship, fast, pray and send or go, great things happen in the Kingdom of God.  
     At WVIW we are worshiping, fasting, praying, and going.  Why don’t you find a place where you can connect with us.  Join our team and we will share ministry together.  There are many opportunities where together we will see great things happen for God.  Let’s connect and see what God will do.  I believe it will be a fantastic experience for both of us.
Johnny Moffitt
Director

Travel Companions by Travis Moffitt

“I shall be telling this with a sigh 
Somewhere ages and ages hence; 
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I, 
I took the one less traveled by, 
And that has made all the difference.” 

-Robert Frost

Frost’s poem of choice and chance is very telling even these many decades after he penned the words. The Road Not Taken has become one of the most quoted poems in recent American poetic history. I believe not just because is excellent rhythm and rhyme, but because of its poignant truth: the path you choose today will make all the difference in your life tomorrow.

The part he leaves out is why that path impacts us so. Why does a journey change us? Why does one trail make us different and not just lead us to a different destination? I believe it has everything to do with our traveling companions. Frost calls it the “one less traveled by” implying that there were others who had gone that way. Others who would become his fellow sojourners. Others who would experience the same change as he.

I have found in life that as I journey for Jesus, the ones I journey with have a significant impact on how I am changed by the trail. Jesus said it this was in Matthew 4:19, “Follow me and I will make you fishers of men.” The emphasis being on the “follow me” and the “making” of someone new.

At Worldwide Voice In the Wilderness we value life change. We also know that life change occurs as we walk out this ministry calling with faithful partners like you. As we minister alongside one another in a prison or on foreign soil we are each mutually made into someone new by the shared power of the Holy Spirit. You are made new and we are made new by one another. Co-laboring causes us to be co-made into a new creation in Christ Jesus. How wonderful!

Over the next 12 months WVIW will have several opportunities for you and I to work together to reach Neglected & Forgotten communities around the world. We will conduct several in-prison Marriage Seminars and international trips to places like Mexico, Honduras, England and India.  We invite you to come go with us. Come co-labor with us and let us discover together the God’s making of something new in our hearts.

Find out more at www.wviw.com

Travis Moffitt

You're Invited | A Letter From Our Directors

Marriage Seminar WVIW.com

YOU'RE INVITED!

Two simple words with such a powerful message. What a wonderful statement. Two words we all love to hear.  Two words that can evoke such feelings of warmth and welcome.  To be included.  To be wanted.  To be intentionally brought in.  You're invited.

This was Jesus' call to a new life.  His simple invitation, "Follow me" changed the lives of those who would answer with the positive RSVP.  "Come, and I will make you to become...  Drink from me and you will thirst no more...  Join me...  Follow me...".  Jesus laid out before His disciples and before us an invitation to a new life and an invitation to a new way of ministry.  He invited us to join Him on a journey to win the world, to reach the unreached, to love the lost.

Today that invitation is still available.  At Worldwide Voice In the Wilderness, we are diligently answering that invitation every day.  We are working to win back the marriages of the thousands of incarcerated men in the Texas Department of Criminal Justice.  The divorce rate of these families with a spouse in prison is 97%.   We are working to win the Garifuna people in northern Honduras; a people who are so close to us geographically and yet still less than 4% Christian.  We are working to train prison ministers in Mexico, a country torn by drug wars and corruption.  We are working to mobilize an army of Christians around the world so eager to do something for God but just not sure where to begin.  This is our invitation.  This is our call.

Honduras 2011 WVIW.com

Mexico 2010 WVIW.com

This is your official invitation.  This is our open door to you.  Please join us.  We have found over the years that there are few joys like the passion of shared ministry work.  We are daily aware of the fact that God has not called to this walk alone.  He has called us to walk with you and you with us.  So, you're invited.  You're invited to help us save marriages.  You're invited to partner as we evangelize the Garifuna people.  You're invited to join us as we encourage ministers in Mexico.  You're invited to go beyond the prayer room.  You're invited to reach beyond the donation.  You're invited to come and put boots on the ground.  We want you and your participation in the work of this ministry.  We want to share the journey with you.

This year we will return to Mexico to work with a local ministry that is literally reaching hundreds of thousands of people for Christ.  They have invited us to encourage their leaders and to train workers in their prisons.  This is a unique opportunity to reach a people with limited access to the gospel.  You can join us on this trip.

In 2011 we will return to Honduras twice to continue a work reaching out to the Garifuna people.  We will be constructing a fish farm that will aid in their food supply.  We will also be encouraging their community leadership and sharing the gospel with this unreached people group.  You can stand along side us in this remote community.

Between August of 2010 and December of 2011 we will conduct 6 inmate marriage seminars literally saving dozens of marriages.  These families with no hope are being transformed by your presence. Join us.

At WVIW, we truly value your presence and participation in all of our ministry activity.  We are not offering you a tour, we are inviting you on a co-laboring journey that will have eternal impact for us all.  Please come and join us.  

To learn more about these and other opportunities to get involved you can visit our web site at wviw.com.  We look forward to going with you.


Johnny Moffitt & Travis Moffitt
Directors
Worldwide Voice In the Wilderness