Hey Team Punk Monk,
I hope you had some meaningful times of rest and reflection over the Christmas Holidays. I had a couple weeks off. It was very nice and delightfully uneventful.
The new year is going to be very busy for me but in a good way. If you live near Hamilton I have a show I would like to invite you to.
One Man Show Returns to Hamilton:
It was a little over a year ago that I debuted my Looking for Kindness Amidst Anxiety show at the 541 Eatery & Exchange in Hamilton. I’m very excited to let you know that this unique show is coming back to Hamilton on Friday, January 30th. It is being hosted by Salt Cellar Arts, a ministry of Eucharist Church.
You can find out all the details on the Eventbrite Page. Please consider passing this on to anyone you think might enjoy an evening of kind stories, songs and drawings. If you would like to see the show or bring a friend, there are some Early Bird Tickets on sale right now for only $10 each!
Watch the Looking for Kindness Trailer Here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cjhIXl-G898
Get all the Show Details Here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/looking-for-kindness-amidst-anxiety-with-old-reverend-randell-tickets-1977635314462?aff=oddtdtcreator
PLEASE PRAY:
- Pray for my health. There are so many different bugs going around.
- Pray that God would gather the right group of people to come hear my story.
- As I have been planning this show with Salt Cellar Arts, we decided to encourage families to attend with discounted tickets for teens & kids. Pray that this would really be a meaningful intergenerational experience for people.
- Pray that I would reflect the Creator well with my creativity.
Sowing Seeds of Kindness:
During Advent I had the opportunity to show my Kindness Cartoons at a couple Christmas Markets. Afterwards I ran into a mom whose daughter had bought one of my pieces. The mom told me I had made a big impression on her daughter and thanked me for spending so much time with her. It was just another reminder that being part of these arts spaces is an important part of my ministry. Thank you for empowering me to be in these less traditional ministry spaces.
Just recently I was at a party and was asked the dreaded question, “What do you do for a living?” After I gave a pretty vague answer about working for a prayer ministry, they started asking lots of follow up questions about the specific things I am a part of each month. When I got to the part about listening prayer, this stranger got really pulled in. I shouldn’t be surprised, listening prayer is contagious. It is pretty amazing to find out that the God of the Universe loves to communicate with us!
I’m coordinating two leadership teams at GOHOP, and both are all about the weird & wonderful world of listening prayer.
- Prayer for Pastors & Leaders meets on Friday mornings. Each week we pray with a different person working for a church or ministry. We start with some silence and a time of listening prayer. We ask the Lord to bring to mind a word of encouragement – prayers, scriptures, feelings, thoughts, or images. These promptings are then shared in an open posture of humility. We leave it to the person being prayed for to discern if the words resonate as something from God. Week after week I see God using this time to really encourage leaders who are continually giving of themselves to others (but often not having the same done for them). Most years I have to do a lot of outreach to fill our weekly schedule. This year we have had so many people reaching out to be prayed for that we are often booking about 2 months ahead. God is really up to something.
- Barnabas Listening Prayer is a monthly learning lab that helps people grow in the practice of listening prayer. Often people think that you need to have a special gift to “hear” God, but we have found that listening is more of a muscle that needs to be exercised. There are tips & tricks that help stretch our own unique ability to listen in prayer. Just last week we had 3 new people attend and it was very encouraging.
HOW YOU CAN PRAY:
- Please pray for both teams as we have had a number of new additions to their leadership. It is exciting to see these new people jump right in with great ideas and energy. Pray that we would continue to gel as a team.
- Prayer for Pastors and Leaders has been running for almost 25 years now (It is GOHOP’s oldest prayer ministry). I am looking to add an additional 1 or 2 people to this team. Pray that we would find the right volunteers who are passionate about supporting leaders.
- Pray for Pastors & Leaders in your community. Our ministers, boards, executive directors and charity workers are doing really hard and important work.
Fundraising Is Hard but Partnership is Sweet!
The GOHOP staff team has been going through a YWAM podcast about personal fundraising called “The Sweet Life of Missionary Partnership.” The tag line they say over and over again is “Fundraising in hard… but partnership is sweet!!!” I’m only a couple episodes in but this language has been really encouraging. I thank God for you as a partner in this ministry. Thank you for partnering with your donations. Thank you for partnering with your kind messages. Most of all, thank you for partnering with your prayers!
If you would like to find out more about starting a Monthly Giving Plan you can do that HERE (even better, let’s meet for coffee). I’m a big believer in being upfront about money, so if you would like to see my budget and fundraising goals it is all posted HERE.
3 Ways to Donate:
Donate Online with CanadaHelps:
https://www.canadahelps.org/en/dn/53164
Donate by E-transfer:
Send your e-transfer to donate@gohop.ca
You must write “Donation for Randell Neudorf”
in the message section.
Donate by Cheque:
https://randellneudorf.com/gohop/donate/
Lastly, thank you to the person who made the anonymous donation in December. It was a very nice surprise. I don’t know who you are, but I have a sneaky suspicion that you are someone who is part of this partnership team.
Grace & Peace,
Randell (Randy) Neudorf
About 9 years ago I became a Mennonite and entered into the peace church tradition. For many Mennonites the Sunday before Remembrance Day is Peace Sunday. Buttons are handed out with the slogan “to remember is to work for peace.” Some people wear them as an addition to their poppy, others as an alternative. The idea is to widen the discussion around peacemaking and who needs to be included in our remembrance. In addition to the soldiers sacrifice we remember the civilian casualties the conscientious objectors and the peace activists. We remember our dead and our “enemy’s” dead. We remember that Jesus said “blessed are the peacemakers” and “love your enemies.” We remember that not all wars happen far away. We remember civil rights champions, indigenous land defenders, and environmental protectors. We also join in because peace is not the absence of the bad stuff it is the active stepping into what should be.
Randell Neudorf 