Whether in your personal walk with the Lord, your daily successes and struggles, your marriage, family, finances, friendships or workplace...take a moment to pause and read the following comments and words to an awesome new song by Laura Story. 

Remember this as well that Romans 8:28 is much more about "those who love the Lord" collectively as His Body, the Church than it is individually and personally.  My sufferings may very well be because the Lord knows that they can be used to bring another soul to Him or turn a life around to make another disciple of His and for that reason I can know He is working for good in the bigger and greater picture and I can count it all joy (James 1: 2 - 4).

Check out the words (and when you get a chance the beautiful music) of this song entitled, "Blessings"!

When I heard this song this morning, my thoughts immediately went to a message I teach occasionally with the thesis that God's grace, because of Who He Is, is every bit as evident in what He gives, brings or allows for us to have (blessings and burdens) as well as in what He lovingly, and always rightly, withholds as He always knows what's best and wants the best for us, even if it is not what we think it ought to be.  As such, if we will seek Him and listen, He is always about teaching, maturing and preparing us for His service, burdens and blessings for His Glory, Church and Kingdom and for the sake and name of Christ! 

Powerful song and I hope you are blessed by it! Have a great day and God bless in Christ!

Blessings

Laura Story

from the album Blessings
We pray for blessings
We pray for peace
Comfort for family, protection while we sleep
We pray for healing, for prosperity
We pray for Your mighty hand to ease our suffering
All the while, You hear each spoken need
Yet love is way too much to give us lesser things

(Chorus)
'Cause what if your blessings come through raindrops
What if Your healing comes through tears
What if the thousand sleepless nights are what it takes to know You're near
What if trials of this life are Your mercies in disguise

We pray for wisdom
Your voice to hear
We cry in anger when we cannot feel You near
We doubt your goodness, we doubt your love
As if every promise from Your Word is not enough
All the while, You hear each desperate plea
As long as we have faith to believe

Chorus

When friends betray us
When darkness seems to win
We know the pain reminds this heart
That this is not, this is not our home

Chorus

What if my greatest disappointments
Or the aching of this life
Is the revealing of a greater thirst this world can't satisfy
What if trials of this life
The rain, the storms, the hardest nights
Are your mercies in disguise

“Flee from sexual immorality. All other sins a person commits are outside the body, but whoever sins sexually, sins against their own body.”                          – 1 Corinthians 6: 18

 

A university recently removed a star basketball player from the team for violating the schools 'Code of Honor'.  First of all, for a school to have such a thing and then to actually make it worth something by following through on it says a great deal about their integrity and Honor.  The player, in coming to the university, agreed to live by the Honor Code and then admittedly broke his word and compromised his honor and integrity by engaging in premarital sex. While most of the mainstream media and other organizations are crying 'foul' regarding the university upholding their standard, the fact that they have done so and the fact that the student is remorseful and repentant, speaks well for the university and other students with regard to healthy relationships and sexuality and for their potential for healthy marriages.   It also speaks well of this young student-athlete and his future relationships as well.  The best preparation for marriage when it comes to sex is to abstain until you are married.  However, in today’s ‘free sex’ culture endorsed, promoted and glorified by Planned Parenthood, SEICUS and most of the mainstream media and public education, far too many of our youth are being told they can engage in sex without consequences.  Countless studies have shown that this type of risky activity not only carries troublesome consequences (unintended teen/unwed pregnancies, STDs, abortion, depression and suicidal thoughts) in the present but potentially carries dire consequences for their future health, relationships and their ability to bond and keep commitments that are crucial to a successful marriage, something that over 90% of college age youth still desire to experience in their lives.  The Biblical exhortation and encouragement to run from sex outside of marriage is very honorable, and in the long-term, very beneficial for a healthy and fulfilling marriage.  And, of course, Christ's forgiveness is crucial and foundational in restoring that freedom and receiving that blessing for a fulfilling marriage should you fall for the world's lies regarding relationships and sexuality.  Research, as always, backs up the Truth of Scripture and we would be well advised to heed it and teach it for the sake of our youths, marriages, families and communities!

Picking up on a theme from The Resurgence (http://theresurgence.com, which I highly recommend you check out), they have done a series from the Puritans that emphasizes the Biblical focus of the Home as the real Church!  After all, it is the place where marriages are to be lived out and marriages are the symbolic relationship of Christ and His Bride, the Church (Ephesians 5: 21 - 33, emphasis v. 32).  It is in the marriage, family and home that we are to first learn about true Agape (selfless Love), self-governance and self-discipline and in the process, how to serve and care for others and form the building blocks for relationships, governance and discipline in Christ's family, the Church as well as in our civil government!  If we can't get it right in this most intimate of relationships...Marriage, and then pass it on to our children as God intended and designed for us to do (Malachi 2: 13 - 16), then how can we expect to build Agape (selfless Love) relationships in His Family, the Church.  Only when we put our emphasis back on the foundation of marriage and family will we see a true revival of hearts and relationships in the Church under the Authority of Christ, our Savior and Lord!  Check us out at www.kentuckyfamily.org as well to hear more about what we're praying and working to do for the Lord and His Church and Kingdom through marriage, family and the Home!  Thanks and God bless in Christ!

Dear Heritage of Kentucky and IP315 Ministries Supporter

 It is with both a heavy and yet excited heart that I write to you here at the close of 2010.

 As we knew and shared with you throughout this year, the current White House and Congress made good on their promise to shut down Abstinence until Marriage programs despite the tremendous success and to channel those funds to failed contraceptive/condom promotion programs.  We are working with several people who have shown interest in potential private funding for our program but this is a big undertaking and the decision has not been, nor needs to be made, lightly.  We continue to hope and pray that we will secure funding in the future but for now we have had to close down our Heritage office and operations.  While Heritage of KY, Inc, will remain a viable 501(c)3 nonprofit organization for a while, we will not be serving any schools or other organizations with our programs unless and until funding does become available. This requires larger commitments so if anyone is interested or feels led to partner with us in this much needed program please contact me to schedule a meeting or to discuss further. 

We can report that over the 8+ years of the program we served over 35,000 students and thousands of parents, faith and community leaders with tremendous proven success.  Please join us in praying that we will someday soon be able to ‘restart’ this program and serve many more as our youth, community and culture sorely need this wonderful program and teaching.

Now for the exciting part…Regarding our IP315 Ministries opportunities, we have continued, outside the grant through the end of September when it was discontinued and now in more of a fulltime approach, to pursue opportunities to partner with Church/Faith based organizations, ministries and missions to bring the Truth message regarding Lordship, Discipleship, Relationships and Sexuality.  We do this based on where the Lord leads us and the provision of and ability to secure funding through organizations, groups, churches, individuals and foundations. 

The following ministry events have been conducted over the past year:  Marriage/Family/Church Leadership Class at Lexington First Assembly of God. We were also invited and excited to share our ministry with the students of the International Fellowship Network at UK. We were again invited to present both the Heritage and IP315 models at the Association of Marriage and Family Ministries (AMFM) in Phoenix, AZ and have already been asked to do so again in 2011.

In conjunction with AMFM, IP315 Ministries was invited to be the keynote presenters at the International Marriage and Family Conference in Douala, Cameroon, West Africa in early November.  In faith, we stepped out, believing and now having had it confirmed that this was truly the Lord’s leading, and financially supported this conference through our ministry and personally to the tune of $15,000.  We were very excited to travel to Cameroon for this conference and present to over 1000 attendees including many pastors, church leaders and couples, as well as several singles from all over the country.  There were immediate reports of the impact on pastors, couples and church bodies and we continue to receive encouraging feedback since our return.

Check out the reports of this trip and conference at www.ip315.org by clicking on the “Blog” link at the top right of the page just below our banner/logo on the site.

Exciting developments - We took 100 sets of our first ministry DVD/CD Study Guide series to Cameroon.  There are now other seven countries surrounding Cameroon whose church leaders have approached the organizers and requested this conference for churches, leaders and couples in their countries and we are prayerfully seeking the Lord, working with them and considering these ministry opportunities.  This has prompted Ami and I to seek the Lord to consider fulltime ministry, obviously a huge step of faith but that is where the Lord asks us all to be and where He truly blesses because it all rests in His plans, provision, pruning and prospering and for His Kingdom! Ami and I, in conjunction with Character Matters Media and Integrity Productions launched a local TV show on ABC-36 and MYTVQ2 entitled “Marriage Unleashed with Greg and Ami.”  We completed taping of the second season airing through the end of the year and we’ve had many wonderful and encouraging responses.  We are praying and working to secure additional partners to continue with this program into the New Year, Lord willing. If you are interested in becoming a business partner with us in this please let us know.

 Please prayerfully consider your role in partnering with us in ministry. While we were very grateful for the government grant we are now prayerfully addressing two issues: 1) Full time ministry with IP315 Ministries; 2) Continuing with the Marriage Unleashed TV show.

As we close out 2010 please pray for us to follow the Lord’s leading in all things. As you then feel led, please send your tax-deductible donations (and make checks payable) to:  IP315 Ministries, Inc. (or if you like you can make it payable to Heritage of KY, Inc., again a 501(c)3 umbrella for our organization), 324 Timothy Dr., Nicholasville, KY  40356.  You can also donate right here with our online secure link at http://www.ip315.org/Donate.

Our prayer and leading is to ‘spread a fleece’ before the Lord with this request for initial funding for the next year in order to transition to fulltime ministry and then grow from there according to the Lord’s leading, plans and provision.  We need to raise or have commitments of at least $100,000 for the next year to make this happen. Unless designated to help ‘restart’ the Heritage program in particular, these funds would be used exclusively for discipleship and marriage/family ministry conferences, seminars, classes and counseling locally, nationally and internationally as the Lord has opened and/or expanded all of these opportunities within the past year.

We are asking you to consider a one-time year-end gift toward this “faith seed funding” or to a regular monthly commitment to help us determine the Lord’s leading in this.  We are completely in His hands and are open to this direction or to other possibilities as He leads and directs.

As always, your continued prayers are crucial and much appreciated.  I thank you for your financial support to help us determine the steps we are to take in all of this.  All support is crucial as we seek to reach as many as the Lord leads us to.  Please contact me if you have questions or desire to meet and discuss any of this in further detail.

Thanks again and may you have a very Merry and Blessed CHRISTmas and Joyous New Year with family and loved ones in the Lord.

 In His service

Greg Williams

 Greg Williams, President/CEO Heritage of KY, Inc. and IP315 Ministries, Inc.

We were so excited that we were on our last leg to get home and then found out that at the last minute our gate had changed!  Here's a short clip and thanks for joining us on this cyber journey and please check back for more as we continue with more stories and some still photos that will give you even more of an idea of the trip, the conference, the people, the beauty and the poverty of Cameroon and the International Marriage and Family Conference 2010.  God bless in Christ!

The Final Leg and a Last Minute Change 

As we prepared to leave we conducted 3 final interviews (2 clips below). One with Pastor Morvan Zang, one with George and the second clip is an interview with Clarise. As you know, if you've been following us, Pastor Zang was the coordinator of the conference and George was his "tech" guy and both did an awesome job!  In the second clip we hear some final thoughts from Clarise in an interview with Ami. Clarise not only worked at the airport in Douala and made our time of arrival and departure so smooth and literally care free but she also was an integral part of the organizing committee for the conference and had such a servant's heart as I think you'll easily detect in the interview. Please forgive us for the lack of lighting as we conducted the first interview with Morvan and George outside the airport on the eve of our departure.  I hope you can hear and understand their encouraging words and their heart for the Lord and His people!  One for video to go and then we'll begin with the still photos.  Thanks and God bless in Christ!

Interview 1 - Saying Goodbye from Pastor Zang and George

Interview 2 - Clarise

Didn't want to keep you waiting and forgive the amateur videography especially at the beginning.  We were able to encourage and witness to Francis, the art salesman in the parking lot of the shopping area.  You'll get to see some of the interaction, and while you won't see the art work, I will post some pictures of the postcards at a later date to let you see what is in the description in this YouTube posting.   We're nearing the end of this journey and thanks for joining us and sharing it with others.  We have a couple more "goodbye" videos to share and then well post some still pictures to give you more of an idea of the trip, conference and country.  God bless in Christ!

Final Souvenir Purchase

Here's a couple of short clips that capture our 'shopping' experience on our final day in Cameroon.  Thanks to Morvan for his help in 'negotiating' as we wanted to get a few items that would reflect the culture and be a good reminder of our time in Cameroon!  Don't miss our next posting as we wrap up our shopping experience with an 'art vendor' peddling some beautiful handmade postcards by a Cameroonian artist (pictures will be displayed later).  Thanks again and God bless in Christ!

Shopping in Cameroon - Part 1 

Here's the second short clip - a very short clip showing Morvan's purchase with description of the hat he purchased.

Shopping in Cameroon - Part 2

Just to give you a little more of the French language, we videotaped the welcome for the final session that we held Sat., 11/13 at midday with the pastors and spouses that had attended the conference.  This session was on "Marriage, Family and Servant-leadership in Christ's Church" and was well received as were all the sessions during the conference earlier in the week. We were able to pass out (photos of this later) the IP315 Ministries DVD set/CD series to each in attendance and Pastor Morvan Zang will distribute the remaining sets to other pastors throughout Cameroon.  There were about 50 in attendance for this event and we were able to take 100 sets with us.

BTW - All of the conference and this event with pastors/spouses was videotaped by George, tech guy for Pastor Morvan and the Church he serves.  They are working to put all of the conference sessions together on DVD and will let us know when they are available.  

Enjoy this short clip (in French) if you can understand it and we'll be back with more tomorrow.  God bless in Christ!

Final Session (Nov 13) Welcome of Pastors/Spouses (in French) 

Here are 2 more interview from the final night of the conference.  The first is with Bishop Jermaine Ngoss, the official interpreter of the conference as well as the President of the sponsoring church in Cameroon and the President of the Regional Church there in West Africa. He has also indicated that he would like to have an IP315 Ministries conference with the sponsoring church in the US in Brooklyn, NY. We are excited about this possible opportunity and will continue to pray for the Lord's leading in all of this.  The second interview is with a wonderful and humble young couple, Aruna and Ebeka Foulka (please forgive any misspellings), who were very strongly impacted by God's Truth and grace through the conference seeing an immediate influence in their lives and marriage and desiring to share it with other marriages, families and churches as the Lord gave them opportunity to do so.  Praise the Lord and stay tuned for more!  God bless in Christ!

Interview with Bishop Jermaine Ngoss 

Here's the second interview with the Foulka's
Interview with the Foulka's

Here's a very passionate, heartfelt interview with Mrs. Gertrude Zang, wife of conference coordinator, Pastor Morvan Zang.  We did not have the luxury of a quiet studio so you will hear a lot of the praise and worship referred to and seen in the previous posting in the background.  I hope you can hear and sense her heart as well for marriages, families, the Church and this conference.  She, and several ladies she 'recruited', was in the middle of a 40 day fast on this the last night of the conference.  She speaks in French and Pastor Zang translates.  Thanks again and there's still more yet to come.  God bless in Christ!

Cameroon Conference - Final Night Interview with Mrs. Morvan (Gertrude) Zang 

Here's a very passionate, heartfelt interview with Mrs. Gertrude Zang, wife of conference coordinator, Pastor Morvan Zang.  We did not have the luxury of a quiet studio so you will hear a lot of the praise and worship referred to and seen in the previous posting in the background.  I hope you can hear and sense her heart as well for marriages, families, the Church and this conference.  She speaks in French and Pastor Zang translates.  Thanks again and there's still more yet to come.  God bless in Christ!

Cameroon Conference - Final Night Interview with Mrs. Morvan (Gertrude) Zang
 

This is a clip of the opening Praise and Worship portion of the final night - Cameroon, Africa style!  They certainly know how to praise and dance before the Lord with all they are!  It was very encouraging and exciting to see and be a part of this.  You will also see a scan of the crowd of between 600 - 700 for the final night with about 1/3 of them being there for the first time as this happened each of the three nights with some previously attending unable to attend but many others being told about it and several new people.  Overall there was approximately 1100 - 1200 attendees with average attendance each evening being about 600.  Please give us any feedback and we appreciate your prayers and support as the Lord leads!  God bless in Christ! 

Praise and Worship - Cameroon Style - Final Night of Int'l Marriage/Family Conference

Here's another interview from Day 2 of the conference.  Pastor Robert Ondua also attended the AMFM conference in Charlotte, NC in 2008 and was very excited about what AMFM was doing and how intentional they are in encouraging strong marriage and family ministries in churches!  He was also very excited about AMFM helping to bring IP315 Ministries for the first Int'l Conference for Marriage and Families to Cameroon.  More interviews, videos and photos to come so stick with us!  Praise the Lord and God bless in Christ!

Interview with Pastor Robert Ondua 

Check out this interview (12 minutes) with Pastor Morvan Zang, coordinator of the International Marriage/Family Conference in Douala, Cameroon, West Africa.  What a passion for marriage/family, his wife and family, his flock and marriages, families and Christ's Church in Douala and Cameroon!  Check back and thanks again for prayers and support and God bless in Christ!

Interview with Pastor Morvan Zang, Conference Coordinator

Here's a short clip on the opening evening of the Int'l Marriage/Family conference that gives you a taste of what African praise and worship is like (more to come in later posts and clips).  Also just a note to let you know that the temperature was about 85 degrees and about 85% humidity that evening (one of the cooler evenings of the conference) and the conference hall (a closed down theatre) was not air conditioned.  It was a wonderful evening and start to the conference.  Stay tuned and God bless in Christ!

Opening Night - Taste of African Praise and Worship 

 

Wanted to give you a couple of short videos (views from our hotel window) on our first day.  We stayed in the Makepe Palace and it was a nice hotel considering all that surrounded it in Douala, a city of over 2 million people, most of them living in poverty.  However, as Ami and I have seen before in mission and ministry travels to India and Jamaica as well as parts of Haiti, there is a real joy when you meet those who know Christ as you will see in the comings days through the conference videos and interviews!  God bless in Christ!
Day 1 - A View from the Hotel Window
Day 1 - More Views from the Hotel Window 

Wanted to give you a couple of short videos (views from our hotel window) on our first day.  We stayed in the Makepe Palace and it was a nice hotel considering all that surrounded it in Douala, a city of over 2 million people, most of them living in poverty.  However, as Ami and I have seen before in mission and ministry travels to India and Jamaica as well as parts of Haiti, there is a real joy when you meet those who know Christ as you will see in the comings days through the conference videos and interviews!  God bless in Christ!
Day 1 - A View from the Hotel Window
Day 1 - More Views from the Hotel Window 

Wanted to give you a couple of short videos (views from our hotel window) on our first day.  We stayed in the Makepe Palace and it was a nice hotel considering all that surrounded it in Douala, a city of over 2 million people, most of them living in poverty.  However, as Ami and I have seen before in mission and ministry travels to India and Jamaica as well as parts of Haiti, there is a real joy when you meet those who know Christ as you will see in the comings days through the conference videos and interviews!  God bless in Christ!
Day 1 - A View from the Hotel Window
Day 1 - More Views from the Hotel Window 

 Here you get to see just a little bit of the Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris, France.  Our flight from Cincinnati to Paris was about 7.5 hours and our layover (very tired layover as we slept none at all on the initial flight...too excited, I guess) was 8 hours!  

See this link for a brief look at the Charles de Gaulle Int'l Airport - Layover in Paris Airport

Saying goodbye to the US with a final meal at Chick-fil-A!  See video here and on our Facebook link on the IP315 home page.  God bless in Christ!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HtR18B1zcs8

The trip to Cameroon begins as we say goodbye to the kids and Ami's parents! See the video and description to follow the story. More to come so please follow us and thanks for your prayers and support.  God bless in Christ!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GKO5t_1Ug3w 

Sorry this has been delayed and there won't be pictures and videos until Friday, if even then. Due to bad or nonexistent Internet connections and other problems this is the first time I've had to get something out to you when the Internet is working and I have a little free time.  Even then, it is 11:00 here (5:00 EST for most of you) and we've got to be up at 5:30 in the morning so I'll keep it brief and again hope to have pics and videos when we have some time on Fri or Sat.  If not, we'lll try to update you at least one more time as best we can. However, with that said we began tonight and we had over 600 and they're expecting over 1000 in the next 2 days!  It has been difficult to say the least but God has been faithful and it has shown us all the more that He is in control and has a great plan for marriages, homes, families, His Church and Kingdom here in Cameroon and I pray in the US as well!  Thanks for your prayers and God bless in Christ! 

Family and Friends

I have some exciting news to report to you.  Ami and I are just 4 days from leaving for our Cameroon trip to hold the Marriage/Family conference for about 1000 church leaders (they are still telling us there will be that many).  We are excited about sharing in this ministry adventure together in the Lord and look forward to what He is doing and will continue to do in and through IP315 Ministries and what we will learn as well as what He is doing in and will do in and through His people in Cameroon!

Having said that I have some more 'exciting' (it really is from the standpoint of Faith)...we have raised about $8 - 9,000 for the trip and still need to raise about $7 - 8,000 to meet all the expenses.  Above everything else we ask for your continued prayers for all of this as the Lord leads and provides for His purposes.  Many of you have given and again we say thanks for partnering with us in this ministry endeavor for His Kingdom.  Several others have committed to give but have not done so at this point.  If you have committed and can still do so, this would be a great time to follow through on this.  If not, we certainly understand and ask for and thank you for your continued prayers. 

If you have been praying about giving we thank you for this as well and if you are lead to do so you can donate online at http://www.ip315.org by just going to the 'Donate' link or check out the update on the trip (copy of this update - FYI) and the link there to donate.

If you choose the traditional way of donating you can send you check made out to IP315 Ministries to 265 Regency Circle, Suite C, Lexington, KY 40503.  Thanks again for your prayers for this ministry and trip/conference and for your continued prayers for this ministry.

Also, I had to let our entire staff know that unless the Lord intervenes we will have to close the doors on Heritage of KY on Tue, Nov 16 as the Mon, Nov 15 will be our last pay day.  We have had 8 wonderful years of great success in teaching and seeing the results of Abstinence until Marriage Education to our middle and high schoolers (nearly 35,000 in the last 8 years) with tremendous positive, life-changing results both from our data and from numerous personal stories. The need is great and we know we have been faithful so we continue to be so as we wait on the Lord to move and provide for us to continue.  We trust His will and plans in all of this and know that it will be good and right. 

We ask for your prayers and if you can help in any way or know of others who may catch this vision to see our youth and future marriages and families, churches and communities raised up in these truths, then please contact me as I would love to share with you just what can be done.

Whatever the Lord chooses it will be an adventure and for this we are excited.  Thanks so much and have a great day in the Lord! 
God bless in Christ!



Greg Williams, President/CEO
Heritage of KY, Inc.
http://www.heritageofky.org
President/CEO, IP315 Ministries
http://www.ip315.org
(O) 859.278.8109
(C) 859.229.6504