Clint Bieri

Clint and Christina @ Cedar Point

God is so very good to us! We can’t say it enough.  What we are seeing and experiencing during our church planting residency – only God can do.  Since our last church planting update we have seen God draw 3 more people into his Kingdom (giving us a total of 12 since the 1st of the year!) and we are getting ready to have another baptism service where could see 10 adults baptized.  We are truly blessed by God to be a part of what he is doing here in Centerburg and the world of church planting. Continue Reading…

Christina relaxes in her hammock

Dear prayer partners and friends,

I am sorry that I am late getting our update to you this month.  We have been on the move this past month with me getting back from France and getting back in the saddle at church.  Christina has kept herself busy by getting some things ready for a garage sale and as you can tell from the above photo is enjoying her hammock and the wonderful weather! So, I finally have some time to sit and write about what God has been doing with us since April – here we go! Continue Reading…

Clint on Roman Road

Prayer Partners and Friends,

Thank you for praying for me as I was in France.  Our group of 6 pastors had a wonderful time seeing what God is doing in this historic nation.  The experiences that we were able to enjoy were truly once in a lifetime.  There are so many things that God was teaching me that I could never do it justice in an email but here are a few thoughts from the trip.

1. For believers to share the gospel there must be a bridge built that will support the weight of truth. This sentence was used by a French Pastor that we met on our trip and has really hit home for me.  The French are into deep, lasting, meaningful, personal relationships with one another and when someone wants to start a friendship they have to work at it so that a bridge for the gospel can be built to sustain the weight of truth.

2. Understand how to speak the cultural language so that the gospel can be communicated. I had 3 years of Spanish in high school and have been in Costa Rica, The Dominican Republic, and Honduras – so I understand most of what is happening in Spanish.  On our trip this did not come in handy at all! We had to learn a few words in French and we had to learn about the 2000 year history of France for things to make sense.  This is the same way here in the states.  We have to learn the cultural language that people speak so as to rightly communicate people’s need for the Savior in their context.

3. Let go of the dreams that I have in order to grab on to the dreams that God has. For a while now I have been dreaming about what the church that I plant will look like.  How the service will be and the small groups and the music.  After being in France I have learned that it is good to dream about what could be but only if I am taking cues from Jesus and seeing his dreams for the church in the future. God really worked on my heart over and over in this area and I am hoping to put what I have learned into practice now that I am home. I am learning that prayer for the church planter is the life-blood of his ministry.  Being in touch with Jesus through prayer will yield obedience to his dreams and not my own.

France was a great place to learn, grow, think, and pray.  I am ready to be led by Jesus into this future of church planting. If you would like to to know more about what God is doing in France through the Christian and Missionary Alliance, I would love to get together by phone or over lunch.  Thank you for all of your prayers for Christina and me!

I would like to give you a few things to thank God for in prayer.

Prayer requests from my trip:

1. That the gospel would be heard and understood by the French people.
2. Perseverance for the pastors, church planters and missionaries in France as this field is very difficult!
3. That churches here in the US would partner with the churches in France to advance the gospel in both nations.

Prayer requests from Christina and myself:

1. Please continue to ask the Lord to sell our home in Vandalia.
2. Ask the Lord to give Christina and I contacts with people in Centerburg even though we are not living there yet.
3. Pray Luke 10:2 with us each day at 10:02 am that God would draw out workers from the harvest for the harvest in France and in Ohio.

Clint at the Palace of Versailles

Baptizing them in the name of...

Dear prayer partners and friends,

Could it be that Spring is finally here? The weather has been very nice over the last week (81 degrees last week!) and the April showers will hopefully bring some very nice May flowers! The month of March flew by and we have been witnesses to God’s goodness in our own lives as well as the lives of the people of Center Pointe Church.

What is God up to?

Our home is still on the market and we haven’t had any bites or nibbles. Actually our bobber is in the same place it has been since November! We are confident that God will sell our home in exactly the right time but for now we drive! Continue Reading…

View Europe Church Plant Training in a larger map

The map above is the travel plan for a group of pastors from the C&MA Central District. We are going to France and Kosovo in Europe to learn about Post-Modernism’s grip on a culture. We will be talking at length with missionaries from both countries to learn from them over 14 days. God is very cool in letting me have this adventure.

living the call together

Dear Prayer Partners and Friends,

The first month of the church planting residency has been wonderful.  I have been learning a ton and I have many things to tell you that are very cool. Christina’s job continues to go well and she is enjoying her jigsaw puzzles and cross-stitching very much! So far, I would say that lead pastor Josh Franks and I are a good fit in ministry and I am taking a lot away from our staff meetings and prayer times.  Christina and I are truly blessed to have you praying for us and we are praying for you – that you would see God do mighty and wonderful things in the days to come. Continue Reading…

I have a brief prayer request to give you as well as an opportunity to worship Jesus with some fun news!

Request:

• I am preaching this weekend at Center Pointe for the first time from Psalm 136 about God’s steadfast love for people.  Please join Christina and I in praying that God would illuminate the hearts of many who are still outside of God’s family and that He would draw people to himself this weekend and that people would know with their head and their heart that God loves them.

Praises:

• This past weekend was a wonderful time with the Jr High Students at Winter Blast where I had the opportunity to speak.  It was a ton of fun and I wanted you all to know that 5 students came to know Christ over the weekend making first time decisions to know Him!  It was a thrill to be a part of what God was doing in the kids.  Thank you for praying and know that God answered out prayers in a cool way!
• We are currently at 32.5% of our monthly support raised for 2010!  I am so very excited!  Please help us thank God for His provision.  Also, because of one time gifts and such, we have met our income goal for February!  I can’t even believe it!  God is great and worthy of praise!  We still have a ways to go to achieve 100% funding but I am confident that God will provide!

If you would like to know more about becoming a financial partner please click here for more information!

Thanks again friends for praying for us and encouraging us!  We will be in touch with more news about how God is working in us and through us!

p.s. take 30 seconds and pray this scripture with me:

Luke 10:2 “The harvest in plentiful, but the laborers are few. Therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.”

Many of you have asked, “what is the C&MA?”  Christian and Missionary Alliance is what this is short for.  They are a worldwide denomination that is seeking to make Christ known as Savior, Sanctifier, Healer and Coming King to every man, woman and Child on earth!  Pretty cool huh!  Christina and I had our accreditation interview yesterday to be a pastor in the Central District and we PASSED!  Yesterday was a great day to hear – “Welcome to the C&MA Central District Family!”  We are so blessed to serve Jesus with this group of people!

Thank you very much to all those who prayed for us yesterday.  We both did very well answering questions and the men who were asking questions were wonderful!  Please continue to pray for us.  We have our home on the market and need to have it sell so that we might move to Centerburg and begin to serve the people in that community 24/7 and limit our travel time. Thank you again for bringing our requests boldly before the father.

Well tomorrow morning Christina and I will meet with the LOCC (Licencing, Ordination, Consecration Committee) to become a member of the Christian & Missionary Alliance in the Central District!! Our interview is at 11 am with several men who are pastors in the district! This is the new beginning that we have been praying about over the last several months and we are praising God for all that HE is doing in us and for us!! Thank you for your prayers. We will post our results with you at some point late in the afternoon!!

Happy NEW Year!

Are you hopeful for 2010?  I know that for Christina and I the end of this last decade ended differently than we had planned 6 months ago, but I am so thankful that God’s ways are not our ways. For the last few months I have been writing updates about our journey of church planting.  I have been posting these things because I know that you have meant so very much to Christina and I, as well I know that when presented with a prayer request you all pray!  I am thankful that all of you do take these requests to the Lord on our behalf.  Thank you!!

If you wouldn’t mind praying with Christina and I about the following things we will be blessed! Continue Reading…