Part 3 -- A Little Town Called Esteli
By James Gunter

God led me to share with that group that day that Jesus set the best example for any of us to follow in regards to family and community. Pulling from the information Micah and I had written, I explained that as leaders, we are to care about family, community, brothers and sister in Christ, our pastors and our leaders. We must pray for them continuously.

As leaders, I told them, we are required to “know” the truth, continue with the desire to “learn” more about the truth, how we are to “prepare” for the lesson, and the effectiveness in “delivering” the message accurately.

There are some key issues in regards to leading others. We are to lead others “to Christ”, lead others to “follow” Christ, lead them to “grow” in Christ, lead them to “discover the call” on their lives, lead them to “make a difference”, and to lead others to be leaders.

I closed by holding up my English translation of the Experiencing God workbook, as I explained that I had made a commitment at my own church. I explained that I was presently in the 45^th week of continually leading this 12 week course. I also explained that I was leading a Mind of Christ study at my home each Tuesday and my normal senior adult Sunday School class every Sunday. That is my own personal commitment.

I then explained, if they knew the one and only Jesus and had accepted Him into their hearts, that their name was written in the “Lamb's Book of Life”. I explained that this particular book has tremendous value in God's sight. I then explained that I had nothing but my composition book with my notes in it. I asked if they were willing to make the commitment to be learners and better leaders, I would challenge them all to sign my book. When I was finished, the pastor got the book and made sure that everyone in the church signed it.

Thirteen names representing six different churches in Nicaragua. We quickly snapped some pictures of one another -- maybe something we said hit home with the people at the church. I know it was a blessing for me – and one I will never forget.

I am looking forward to seeing where God will take us next. It could just be your own church!

Part 2 -- A Little Town Called Esteli
By James Gunter

The main emphasis of the seminar was on the fact that we are “disqualified” to teach in man's sight, but that Jesus' blood “qualifies” us.......if we are truly called. I warned against the dangers of simply deciding one was going to teach without being called by God first. I am an example of someone who desired to teach for seven years simply because I thought it would be fun and exciting. God broke my heart by making me wait seven years before He gave me a class. He knew my heart and he realized that I wasn't reading the lesson in Sunday school, or even paying attention. This disqualified me as a teacher in God's sight.

I shared about how God protected Moses by allowing him to be spared even though He wasn't going to use him for another 80 years or so. God will protect His servants – both present and future! If He protects you, this is often a confirmation of His call on your life.

I weaved the salvation, grace, love of God and reconciliation messages in as I spoke about my own qualification process. I explained how I had to be reconciled to God in order to receive salvation. His amazing grace made my salvation possible and His tremendous love for me is what enabled Him to surrender His one and only Son for me. It was simply amazing as the theme just flowed!

There was the apostle Paul and how he encountered Aquila and Priscilla (a married couple in the church), who took him in and worked under his leadership before being left in Ephesus to start a new church. I also talked about how Paul took young Timothy and Titus under his wing so to speak and mentored them. That is the same thing Micah did for me, and this is the same thing I found myself promising to my interpreter as he asked me to continue working with him in order to help him learn more about God.

Even if I had the desire to teach, I explained to the group, that “ability” was also necessary. Only God can give one the ability to teach. In addition to having the desire and the ability, one has to make a commitment. Christ made a commitment to us by dying on the cross for our sins. He calls us to make a strong commitment as learners and leaders as well. He wants our study time to be serious and worshipful so we can enjoy the fullness of what His Word has to offer.

I encouraged the leaders within the church to learn how to recognize when the teens have problems in their lives and for them to be sure to be open enough to talk with the youth about it so it can be settled with the Lord in the proper manner.

The conclusion was a challenge to them to use some principles Micah and I are writing our present book. This book lays out the framework for effective ministry.

A guy from our home church who had spent his youth and several of his adult years in drugs and alcohol was with me that day. He explained the effects of these things and encouraged the students to stay away from drugs, alcohol and premarital sex. One of the young girls even came forward at the end of the session to ask us to pray for her because she had given her purity away to a young boy. Cindy and I took time to pray with her, and I had my interpreter to tell her she was beautiful and if she had the one true Jesus living in her heart, she was forgiven. I explained that she would be very fortunate to have a Godly man as a husband one day if she would begin today by honoring God with this decision she had made. I encouraged her to tell the other youth within her community and the church to refrain from sexual activity because of the heartbreak she had endured. I can still feel her thick, black curly hair against the skin of my arm as I hugged her and prayed with her. I felt as if I were holding my own daughter at the time.

Part 1 -- A Little Town Called Esteli
By James Gunter

Just like a child coming forth after nine months in the womb, Center Cross Creative was “born” as a source for motivating and encouraging a group of youth leaders and their students recently during a mission trip to Esteli, Nicaragua. The reason I am using this analogy is because Micah and I sat down on July 1, 2005 to discuss the potential for Center Cross Creative, and unexpectedly, here in its' eighth month of existence, I had a chance to lead a seminar for a small group of leaders and students from six different churches in the vicinity of Esteli, Nicaragua.

Our home church, Life Community Church of Hunter Hills which is located in Jamestown, NC decided in 2005 to “adopt” the city of Esteli as a location where we would continue to send mission teams annually. We just made our 2^nd trip to this city, and my wife (Cindy) and I were part of the team of 30 that went.

We didn't really have any specific agenda before leaving. We had been told by the missionary who was making all of the arrangements that we would be doing some door-to-door evangelism, some fiestas and some crusades. We weren't sure what else we would be allowed to do, but our pastor encouraged all of us to simply be “flexible” in order that we could meet the needs of the people.

In an effort to be as prepared as possible, Micah and I worked on formatting some of our lessons from our Christian Life Series, and I also took along my Experiencing God workbook from my present session. I wasn't sure what I would be doing, but I figured if I had a chance to do some Bible studies, our Christian Life Series would be perfect, and if I could do a mini-version of Experiencing God, this would be great too! God had a much larger surprise in store for me than I ever expected though.

Upon arriving on Saturday 3/11/06, we learned that there were two seminars scheduled. One was going to be for the women in the various churches, and it was scheduled for Tuesday 3/14/06. There was one for the pastors and leaders in the church which our pastor led. It was scheduled for Wednesday 3/15/06, and of course, the one I led was for the youth and the youth leaders within a group of churches, and it was held on Thursday 3/16/06.

I was honored when Pastor Jesse asked me to lead the seminar for the youth and youth leaders. I have never taught youth before (besides my own two children), so this was another challenge for me (since I teach a senior adult class). A good teacher is always willing to step out of their comfort zone.

The week was so full of activity, there was barely any time for preparing, but I continued to pray and ask God what the message should be about. He revealed on Wednesday that it was to be about commitment. He revealed to me how Moses tried to turn down His call on his life, insisting that he couldn't speak very well, so God sent Aaron with him. God continued to give me examples of others throughout Bible history who tried to get out of following God's instructions.

This is where it gets fun at. On Wednesday evening, as I prepared some notes for the seminar, God enabled me to “weave” our first four lessons from our Christian Life Series and the Experiencing God workbook together in an effort to encourage and challenge the teens and their leaders.

I realized as I stood and talked through my interpreter, Bosco, that I was actually using the very principles Micah and I had been discussing for almost a year. It was amazing how well everything I talked with them about simply flowed together as if it were planned (and believe me, it really wasn't). God truly gave me the desires of my heart, just as He promises in Psalm 37:4 - “Delight yourself in the ways of the Lord, and He will give you the desires of your heart.”

So much to say and so little time to record it all...

One day, we're going to get it all written down -- maybe we'll publish that. You know, our story of how God brought us along this journey of writing, publishing, teaching and inspiring others to do the same.

I'm prompted to record some of the most recent happenings because we can officially say now that Center Cross Creative has gone global. James took some of our materials to Nicaragua the week of March 12 and taught our first seminar in a little town called Esteli. More to follow...

As we continue to record the details of our journey, we'll publish them here. To God be the glory!

The Center Cross Creative Logo

It took us a while, but we've finally created a logo that we think captures what we're about and what we want to be known for. It also has a color scheme that we think is practical and meaningful.

Take a look at it. You'll be seeing more of it in the coming weeks...