New Year, Preach'n Reach

It has been almost one month since I wrote and updated this page last time. The month has been filled time for resting and for spending the holidays together with my family. We had an awesome CHRIST-mas here at home when we all were together but it was not a white CHIRST-mas this year, the snow rained away right after I returned from the US and it is still dark, ugly and dirty out there. Well, I guess there is nothing we can do about the weather but on the inside it is light as Jesus is the light of the world.

January 3rd was exactly seven years since I walked into the church, Kvevlax Missionskyrka that became my church and my spiritual home. The same day was also exactly seven years since I had my last shot of alcohol. This was a turning point in my life, therefore I celebrated the seven years at our church Saturday January 4th with music, testimonies and food for all who came. Our church choir was singing as well as Sister Camilla Cederholm. I sang together with my daughters Jennifer and Jessica and that was a wonderful time for me and I had a hard time keeping my tears away. Pastor Olle Rosenqvist who was my Pastor back then when I laid at the hospital shared his view of those days when I was dying and he brought it up to a totally different perspective than when I share my life story. There were power in his words when he told the people who came about the day he went in to the office at the hospital and asked them why I am being so bad treated. He thought I would have needed more medical treatment. The answer to him was that there was nothing to treat, I was dying.

The same night we had special visitors. Brother Markus "Hämmer" Hauth and Brother Tomas Utz all the way from Germany spent some days here in Vasa, Finland. During the seven year celebrations they were blessed into the Ambassadors For Jesus Christ Motorcycle Ministry and Scandinavian Branch Leaders Berth and Anja Haka from Sundsvall, Sweden were with us as well. This means that we now also have a branch in Germany and this is very exciting as it totally lines up with the vision I got in 2007/2008 when I started the AFJCMM here in Europe with one branch in Finland. Today we have around 20 members in Finland and Sweden as well as our new Brothers in Germany.

I just have to say that I am so thankful for my church and for all my Brothers and Sisters in Kvevlax Missionskyrka. The night of the celebrations many from the "outside" came and we got to see the biggest miracles of them all when people got saved. I feel we have stepped into a new time and a new era of God's plan. People are getting saved and more and more people are coming to our church. We have to remember that we have a very special heritage in our church since that is where Frank Mangs came in 1920 with an outpouring of the Holy Spirit and the entire village Kvevlax got saved. I believe we are stepping into something similar but we live in a totally different time when we all need to be part of serving God. We live in a time when all men and women should serve God. Some does very important practical work making sure our church building stays in condition and that we have food and coffee for our services and some is in important leadership positions. What about the rest? The rest should be out preaching and reaching the lost and bring them home to Jesus and into the church family.

I know that lots of people think that if we pray, pray and pray all the people around us will get saved. Personally I do not believe that is true as prayer is one part and preaching another part. Now I am not talking about preaching inside the church but preaching outside the church. When we think about the word preaching many will get the picture of someone standing on a box preaching hell and brimstone but it is more to it than that. Sometimes we just have to say a couple of words, such as JESUS LOVES YOU and be good listeners. It is also a sermon and a way of preaching and reaching to be there for someone to be a friend and a person who shows the love of God. Personally I love being out preaching and reaching and that is what I am living for today.

Now I have been at home for over one month and it is time to get out on the road again. Not only on the "road" but also on the road in media. Yesterday I flew home from Helsinki, Finland where I spent the day at IRR TV planning a totally new TV program called "On The Road". This will be similar to "Life in Him" but the difference is that so far "Life in Him" have been broadcasted to a christian audience. IRR TV have started a new channel that is under work and this is not meant to be another "christian TV channel", it is meant to be a secular channel with messages about Jesus. Therefore I have changed the concept in this program to not speak too much about Jesus in the introduction or in the beginning of the program. It is more about using wisdom and getting the fish on the hook. This is something I am very excited about but it will also take more time. We are starting broadcasting the first episodes of "On The Road" in March and we will broadcast a new episode every week.

It is also time to literally go on the road again. This coming weekend we are doing a family trip to Jyväskylä to meet my biological family. January 23rd it is time for a tour of Sweden and we are going to be in places like Karlskoga, Värnamo, Säffle, Tibro and Gothenburg. There are several meetings and outreach events in each town and this is something really exciting. We will be back home in Finland February 7th.

February 26th it is time for another PTL Crusade together with my mentor Pastor Tommy Lilja in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia and right after that it is time to fly west again, to USA and Florida. It is Bike Week time and it will be the third year I visit Daytona Bike Week. During one week we are going to be amongst hundreds of thousands of Bikers reaching and preaching. I will also be back at Fountain of Life Church in Okeechobee, Florida that has become my spiritual home and home church in the US. We are still working on dates and outreaches in the community for the time in "Chobee".

From April forward it is going to be busy. End of April I am doing a tour of Germany and straight after that we start the MEN OF HOPE European tour together with Michael Bull Roberts from Canada. We start the tour in Poland and from there we are touring through Czech Republic, Austria, Germany and up to Scandinavia and back to Germany for the last week. When the tour is over we are soon at midsummer and I will take some time off with my family.

More things are coming up later about the rest of the summer, the fall. It looks like the rest of the year already is mostly booked. We decided to count the dates, events and travel days for last year and roughly I had one event every third day somewhere. With the travel days and times between days spent away from home I spent 6 months of the year away from my family. This is the hard part but I have a loving wife that supports me in my travels and she is a big support for the entire ministry. Some people think I have a great time when I am out on the road and it is true, I have a great time when I get to preach and reach but the time between meetings, the days off in between and the travel days are days of being homesick. Sometimes I wish I just could go home and leave everything but that ain't what is going to happen. I will continue going on even if there is no medicine or pill for being homesick. This year will be as busy as last year and I thank God for His power and His strength and my family and church for all support as well as all partners as it is absolutely impossible to do this in my own strength.

With these worlds I would like to wish you a blessed and happy new year 2014!

Love and Blessings!

In Christ