Hi all,
Some personal news; Chris has finally moved into the new group home, and we are SO thankful. They had shut down that home around Covid and moved him to a converted ranch home with 32” doors, regular sized kitchen and living room, which made moving around in his wheelchair quite difficult. Now he is back in familiar surroundings with a roll in shower, 36” doors, a huge open kitchen, dining and living space. It also has a large concrete patio on 3 sides of the house, so he can explore in safety. His wheelchair is a ‘one arm drive’, which means there is a handle on the right side that he moves forward and backward which propels the wheelchair and by turning that handle he can steer it. He is quite active in such a space and to see him roll around yesterday it was like watching a bird set free from a cage.
That said, yesterday (Sunday) afternoon I was at the Emergency Room with him because he had fallen out of his wheelchair. The staff was not trained (as I had requested repeatedly) and didn’t know there was a seat belt on his wheelchair…they glued the cut on his left eyebrow shut as he wouldn’t have tolerated the 4 stitches it would have required to close it. But he was doing well when I left him yesterday afternoon. Such is life with Chris….there’s always something needing our attention. And when I found out the staff failure in lack of training I made a call and talked to the CEO who has called a meeting with his supervisors to go over their failures. Thanks for your prayers!
Also, a big thank you for your support following the death (though he lives) of our middle son, Jason. Thank you for your notes, personal gifts, and prayers; they have meant so much to all of us.
We are back from our conference in the Netherlands, and it was so very good to see old friends from about 15 nations. When you meet people on your same spiritual page you become instant friends, there is instant fellowship. It is spiritually rich, and in house church we remember that Acts 2:42 gives equal mention to teaching, fellowship, food, and prayer – in the Lord fellowship becomes holy, special.
Tulsa conference October 15-18. I had been seeking the Lord on what He wants me to share, and He said ‘The Spirit-led life’. I will teach some things I’ve not taught on before which will really help people know how to perceive His leading, voice, and understand how to walk in faith by the Spirit. I know I will have something prophetic for 2027 to share as well, but I don’t know what it is at that point. All He said is: “I’ll tell you later.” It is also CWOWI’s 25th anniversary so we will have a lot of information, handouts, panel discussions about house church – so please consider joining us!
Podcasts: Brian and I are starting 30-minute podcasts which will be posted to our YouTube channel. He and I will be discussing relevant topics, posted either weekly or every 10 days or so. The first one will be posted towards the end of this month, so stay tuned. These will be in addition to my 10 minute weekly short teachings that I post each Wednesday, allowing us to go deeper into topics.
Ministry Update from Brian:
We’re excited to share that we’ve developed a new tool called CWOWI Connect to help those involved in house church within the CWOWI family better connect and communicate around the world. Because CWOWI has always been relationship-based ministry, the app is currently invite-only and will be rolled out gradually within our network of leaders, affiliates, and house churches.
I also want to sincerely thank everyone for the incredible support and feedback surrounding the release of Resilient Faith. The response has been deeply encouraging. Many have shared how much the book impacted them, and several have purchased additional copies for family and loved ones. The book is available through the CWOWI website, Amazon, and many other retailers.
Dad and I are also planning to begin a conversational podcast together in the coming months, which we’re both looking forward to.
Lastly, the recent EU conference was a deeply meaningful time for me personally following the loss of my brother Jason. It was healing to be surrounded by our international CWOWI family — hugging, praying, and even shedding tears together. God moved powerfully during worship and brought healing to many carrying burdens and pain.
Thank you all again for your prayers, encouragement, and support. – Brian Fenn
KWOWI Kids: We’ve never wanted Kids Without Walls International to just feed children, but to give them the tools needed to be successful in life – to lift them out of poverty. As our sponsored children have gotten older we have started helping those children move into a trade school or higher education. Some have given towards these scholarships and we thank you – please consider helping us help them.
What are these things to you? As for you…
There are times in the midst of a busy day or week that we eat things just to keep us going, without really filling us up. We grab a fruit and keep going. Another may eat a candy or energy bar, or refuel with caffeine delivered through a coffee, tea or drink. But there comes a time when the body just calls out for something solid and you have to sit down, eat ‘real’ food, and your body says ‘thank you.’
Many in the body of Christ are doing that spiritually speaking. They go from topic to topic to keep them going, but they are searching for solid food. In the same way a person can be so busy they eat snack foods to keep them going, sometimes for days, before they realize their body is crying out for real food, so too are many right now in the body of Christ. They need something that provides spiritual nutrients, vitamins, and minerals, something solid.
When Jesus returns, Matthew 25: 31-40 He taught He will divide sheep nations from goat nations. Zechariah 14: 16-18 tells us ‘of the nations that survive the great tumult’ (the Lord’s return), they will come up year by year to Jerusalem to celebrate the Feast of Tabernacles to worship the King…’ We are further told that we will rule and reign with Jesus over the whole earth during that time – we are going into government service, lol. (I Corinthians 6: 2, The Revelation 5:10, 20:4, 6)
If you are the King and you return to earth to set up your government that will rule in righteousness for the next 1000 years, what kind of people are you looking to employ? He tells us in Matthew 25: 31-40: “I was hungry and you fed me, thirsty and you gave me drink, naked and you clothed me, sick and in prison and you visited me.”
Set those things that He is looking for in His body against how many Christians today waste so much time on the computer or phone, not involved in the lives of anyone around them. Folks – if everyone is running around the Internet screaming the sky is falling the sky is falling, then shouldn’t the body of Christ become serious about relationships in Christ? All things in balance – there is time for the Internet don’t get me wrong. But it is no substitute for real people. Do you know the people who live on either side of you? (for instance)
Shortly after the Arab Spring started, the Lord visited me in early 2011 and He shared some future events to come in the Middle East. I started going Arab nation by Arab nation asking if each would become ‘militant Muslim’. After 3 or 4 of them I asked about Egypt and He told me ‘it will not now become…(what I was asking about)’ and then He said: “(But) what are these things to you? As for you; You must be about the Father’s business.” I have mentioned this visitation many times since, but it keeps me focused.
No matter my interest in news stories ‘out there’ and what this or that ministry or teaching says, none of it rises to the level important enough to distract me from what is truly important. My wife and I first, my children/spouses next, grandchildren after that, and ministry after that, for if I win the world but lose my family, I have failed.
People, single and married, often say they want the Lord’s will for them. I remember talking to one lady who spent thousands of dollars every month to come to week-long classes held in Colorado Springs at a ministry where I taught 15 hour courses, along with several other teachers. The school charged a good amount of money for each class, each one being 2 days of 7 and 8 hours, offered back to back over the course of 6 days. The school offered the week of courses about every 6 weeks.
This particular lady was a regular student and she came to me asking for prayer for her family. She was coming to the school to learn more about the Lord, hoping she would find the key to open the spiritual door that her husband and teenage children would walk with the Lord. As I pray for her I heard the Lord say: “Tell her to stop filling her year with these courses, and go home to be the wife and mother I’ve called her to be.” That was difficult for her to receive, because she loved the revelation, the knowledge, the emotional lift a week solid of classes and nightly prayer and worship provided. But she was doing so while neglecting her family. It was a rude awakening for her to discover that her family was her ministry.
By all means we need to learn and grow, but as I’ve said so many times, the Father designed righteousness to be proven within a framework of relationships. Knowledge puffs up as I Corinthians 8: 1 says, but love builds up. The Greek word ‘puffs up’ is a word describing blowing into something to inflate it. Knowledge inflates the ego, giving the false sense of being spiritually mature. But if you want real maturity, you need relationships. Feed, clothe, water, visit, common, mundane things that are noticed by heaven, appreciated by man, and what the Master will be looking for in our lives when He returns.
Thank you once again, for being in our lives!
Blessings!
John & Barb, Brian and Amy.
