Dear Ministry Partner:
 
This is an amazing time of the year.  We are fortunate to live in an area that has beautiful and colorful trees.
 
I wanted to remind you about the upcoming Community Leaders Breakfast that will be taking place on Friday, November 5, at 8:30 a.m. at Lifehouse's Fellowship Hall, 404 Washington Ave., Huntington, WV 25701.  Please let us know if you're coming and if you're bringing a friend to make sure we have enough.
 
As I mentioned before, these breakfasts are a wonderful opportunity to hear the good things that are happening, many times behind the scenes, here in Huntington.  It's also a great chance to connect with other people who want to make a difference in what's happening in our community.
 
I would like to give you a brief summary of out recent Mission Tri-State Retreat.  This is when our Leadership Team gets away to discern what the next step is in God's plan to help our community experience ongoing transformation. This is what we felt God spoke to us during our retreat:
 
God impressed upon our hearts that It is His desire for us to pray the two different ways people see the Gospel, (the Gospel of Salvation and the Gospel of the Kingdom) would be seen as one Gospel of Grace, which would unite the Body of Christ and release the Ekklesia (The Greek word for the “Church” mentioned in Matthew16) with a greater revelation of who they are and what God has called us to do in our work of expanding this Kingdom on earth today.
 
“Simon Peter replied, 'You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.' Then Jesus answered him, 'Blessed (happy, fortunate, and to be envied) are you, Simon Bar-Jonah. For flesh and blood [men] have not revealed this to you, but My Father Who is in heaven. And I tell you, you are Peter [Greek, Petros–a large piece of rock], and on this rock [Greek, petra–a huge rock like Gibraltar] I will build My church, and the gates of Hades (the powers of the infernal region) shall not overpower it [or be strong to its detriment or hold out against it].'” Matthew 16:16-18 (AMPC)
 
We felt convicted to pray for a deeper revelation of Jesus revealed in Matthew 16 to the Body of Christ as was given to Peter. Out of this revelation comes a unified view of the gospel. The gospel is the good news of God‘s grace of saving us from our sins and adopting us into the family of God. (Eph.4:4-6) As members of the dynastic family of God, we are working with Christ as he rules in us and through us to advance His Kingdom on earth. 
 
It is upon this true revelation or massive rock foundation of who Jesus is: “the Messiah or Christ (one who is bringing forth the Kingdom of God) and the Son of the living God (revealing the family of God)” that Jesus will build His Ekklesia. (This Greek word was a governmental term that described a group of people who were called out and given authority to transform their sphere of influence to reflect the values and will of their King.) This is why Jesus concluded this declaration by saying, “And I will give you the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven. What you forbid on earth will be forbidden in heaven”. 
        
We are to pray that this revelation will cause the Ekklesia to have a passion to seek first the Kingdom of God, which will release all the Kingdom provisions for us and our communities. If we go deep into God’s heart and will we will go wide with His purpose and provision.
 
We invite you to join us in praying for this revelation to come to the people of faith in our community. We are praying and working to help the Body of Christ to  become a greater blessing to our community.  To that end we are looking forward to launching our Market Place groups which will take place next month.  I'll be giving you more details on that, for those that may be interested.
 
Again, we thank you for your ongoing support and prayers.   Your support helps us to work together with God to see our community continue to be transformed.
 
Yours in Christ's service,
 
Mike Greider
Director of Mission Tri-State