Letter To Our Friends

Letter To Our Friends To all members and friends of New Disciples Ministry Hello, it's Rev. Norman L. Morrison, aka Pete. It's closing in on almost two years since I founded this ministry. A lot of you have probably heard of how this started out as a discussion group on Myspace with myself and a few friends. Since then, those friends have moved on with their lives in directions that carried them away from being a part of New Diciples. That's right, in the beginning it was called New Diciples. It was kind of a mistake with a purpose. As my friend Allen described it, 'The missing 'S' represented the 'Something' that was missing from our church lives at that time. You see, it wasn't meant to be a ministry in the beginning. It was just a group of friends sharing their walks with God. One of us would come up with a topic and then everybody would weigh in with their view on it. That worked great for a while. We had some very interesting discussions and learned from each other. In time though, everybody went their seperate ways in life. When it was down to just me, I decided to take what we had started and run with it. I deleted everything that was named New Diciples and made new pages under the name New Disciples Ministry. I ran into a lot of skepticism in the beginning. 'An online ministry? How is that gonna work?" was what I often heard and still hear occasionally today. The thing is though, I had made friends and fellowshipped via the internet with Christians across the United States and then across the world. People like my friend Shaheen who works with widows and orphans in Pakistan, Arturs who uses his Myspace blog and bulletins to spread the Puritan way of Christianity which is rarely seen today from his home in Latvia, and many other friends have been a light to me to show me that I'm on the right track. I would have never known they existed without this online ministry. Closer to home, I've met my friends and fellow New Disciples Jason Stover and Jennifer Huston through the online ministry's involvement with other ministries and travels around the southeastern United States. Jason and Jennifir share their walk with God and some of their innermost thoughts through the ministry's webpages and blogs. I know that they have certainly touched my life and my walk with God through their writings and from the comments that others have left about there blogs, I know that they have touched the lives of others as well. So, here we are in May of 2010. The Ministry started on June 11th, 2008. There has just been the three of us for quite a while now. We've got several Myspace, Facebook, and Twitter pages going along with our website www.newdisciplesministry.com. It's been a lot of work, sometimes seemingly thankless work at that, but when God puts something on your heart, you just do it. On the occasion that you get a message or comment from somebody stating how something you posted on the net touched them and helped them, it makes it all worthwhile. It gives you a feeling inside that nothing can compare to. That's when you really thank God for making you a part of it. Now we've got some new members coming into the ministry that I'll introduce you to soon and we're still searching for more. This ministry is growing and it's time to put some real thought into direction n structure. I don't want to hamper the spirit of what we're doing in the process, but I do see the need for us to be more organized than we have been in the past. The first step in the is a mission statement that will let everyone know what this ministry is all about. I've seen ministries destroy eveything they were doing when they've put one of these out though, so I am a bit nervous about this. So, I hope I can put this into words that will do our ministry justice. Here we go... New Disciples Ministry is not a church, it's not a new age religion, it's not a 'religious movement', and definitely not a money making scheme. We're not here to collect tithes and offerings. We're not hear to draw you into 'organized religion'. We're definitely not here to sweep you away to live on some compound out in the middle of nowhere. We're not hear to make money by selling you books, cd's, or dvd's. We're not selling you God! So, why are we here? New Disciples Ministry is an idea. That idea is that we can help each other to grow closer to God through a closer personal relationship with His son, Jesus the Christ. Whether you're in church three or four times a week or you don't go to church at all, you can have that real personal relationship with our Lord and Savior. Whether you're Catholic, Baptist, Methodist, Pentecostal Holiness, or any other denomination of Christianity, you're a child of God and you can talk directly to Jesus and get His guidance on how to live your life. So, how you do this? It starts by turning to Jesus on a very personal level and asking Him into your heart. You can do this kneeled down beside your bed, sitting on the side of the bathtub, or on a hike out in the middle of the forest. It begins in private, not on stage with an audience to see. It's as simple as kneeling down and starting out by saying "God I need you." From there, it continues through praying regularly, reading and studying your bible, watching programs and listening to music that are good for you spiritually. It also means cutting the spiritually harmful things out of your life, like addictions, destructive relationships, and other vices that hold you back from being closer to God. It means honestly and faithfully giving in to God's will for your life. You can do this by honestly asking Jesus into your heart and turning to Him for strength and guidance. There may be times that you fall, we are only human afterall, but you must get back up on your feet, ask Jesus for forgiveness and the strength to carry on. It may sound overly simplified, but that's the way it is and that's what this ministry is about; living with God in our lives. God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit are the the Holy Trinity and they can be in your life if you'll only allow them to be. So, what does all of this have to do with New Disciples Ministry? I got the term New Disciples from the Holy Bible itself. Matthew 28:19-20 (New King James Version) 19 Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Amen. The goal of this ministry is to spread the gospel of Jesus Christ and the impact it has on our lives to all who will listen all over the world. We will do this through the internet and small groups in as many places as we can reach. We will share how God is moving in our lives with you because of our personal relationship with Him and encourage you to do the same with your friends and family. Use the internet pages and form small bible study groups to share your walk with God with others and keep this idea growing until we have spread it all around to world. For some it will supplement their churchlife, for others who don't attend a church, it will be the beginning of their relationship with the Lord. Remember, though that we are not here to replace anybody's 'church' even though all Christians, as the body of Christ are the actual church. We're not here as a part of or as a replacement for organized 'church'. We are solely here to help you grow closer to God and to make the way you live your life more Christlike. So, in closing, I hope I have explained clearly what New Disciples Ministry is all about and what our aim is. I also hope you will accept our invitaion to become a part of our ministry and help continue spreading the idea of a personal intimate relationship with Jesus Christ. May God lay many blessings upon your lives my brothers and sisters in the Lord. Your brother in Christ, Pete. Pete 5-16-10