Jordan and Sarah Marcum: Our Journey

Jan/Feb, 2013

The picture to the left was taken during one of our Monday morning 9:00am Worship with the Words. We are currently doing Psalm 149. It was a great set!

Wow! What an adventure we are on together! A lot has happened since our last newsletter. Sorry for sending it a little late. We were going to try and send one each month, and that is still the plan. This one is for January till now and that might be how the rest go (I mean being sent mid-month). We will add more photos on the last page for you to see. So we are definitely being stretched! We didnt know exactly what to expect when we arrived. We just knew God said go and that was more than enough for us. We had a little idea of what we would be doing but not much. January was kind of a month of preparation. Getting used to living here and getting to know the people better. It was nice to have a little time to adjust. January 23-27 was the Grand Opening and February is when the internship officially started. So we had a good amount of time to get used to things. We jumped right in though! As soon as we arrived we had a few days where we did nothing, but then after that we started leading new sets in the prayer room, helping teams on other sets, helped get the remodeling finished, and helped with IT stuff like lights and sound. It was pretty hectic around here getting everything finished and ready for the opening!

It was a pretty easy transition. God really prepared our hearts before hand and knitted them together quickly with our friends here. It felt like home pretty much from the start and we were very thankful for that! Our hearts were to serve and learn. Having a quick, easy transition helped with us being able to focus on the things we wanted to focus on almost immediately. So the first half of January we took advantage of our time to just soak in the prayer room and get filled and renewed; to catch fresh vision together and to receive some more direction from God about our time here. We received some things quickly! During our time in Kansas City prior to coming we had bought some books during one of the Onething meetings. It just hit me(Jordan) all of a sudden while sitting that I needed to go buy these books. I went and bought three of them immediately. I really believe it was the Lord leading me to do this. The first book we read is called The Way of the Heart. It is a small book and an easy read, I read it in just a couple sittings. It really rocked my heart. It touched on something we have struggled with and it was at a perfect time because we had been thinking about those very things. It is about spending time with God in the secret place, in silence and solitude. How it is the only place that true transformation of the heart and mind take place. Our ministry must come out of that place alone. Only then will we truly serve out of communion with God and not out of our own strength and ambition. Jesus said He only did what He saw the Father doing and said only what the Father was saying. I believe that this is for His other children as well and that out of that place is where powerful anointing to proclaim the kingdom of God comes. It is not the moving, poetic words of men that causes transformation of others hearts, it is by the Spirit of God alone. We need leaders to rise up who carry real anointing from God, and this will only happen when those people actually spend much time hearing from the One of whom they speak. There IS a NOW voice of God, and anyone who believes differently is deceived. So after reading this book the Lord started stirring my heart about really developing my secret place with God. Like a Mary, just sitting at the feet of my Lord. It is the better thing and it wont be taken away. In the end Sarah and I want the Lord to know us, we dont want to be ones who do all these things that look spectacular in appearance but are apart from intimacy with God Matthew 7:21-23 So that was something the Lord is telling us to do during this season. It is a season of consecration and intimacy with Him, and each other! We are learning to discipline ourselves and develop a lifestyle of a secret place with our Father. Isnt it funny how so many times it is hard to make yourself spend time in the secret but once you do you feel like you dont want to do anything else and then it happens again and again! We also felt like this is a special time to really draw closer to each other in our marriage. It is one thing to say youre one and a team, but something entirely different when you actually live like it. Well not only are we trying and asking God to unite our hearts in one beat and vision, but it is actually happening. In just our short time of 1 and months we are closer than ever and more in love than ever. We feel like we are living our dream together with God. It is such an amazing season for us and we want to cherish it and not take it for granted. Thank you to all who have made this possible! Especially our families! We love you and miss you more than we ever have.

What We are Actually Doing!

Since we have arrived we have been given different responsibilities that we didnt see coming! But dont worry, we really believe it is from the Lord. Our leaders here are really trustworthy. Not that they are perfect of course, but they are ones who sit at the feet of our Lord and ask Him what HE wants in this. Since they live here with us we get to actually see that example for ourselves, so we dont just believe by the fruit or by others mouths but also because we see it with our own eyes. What a privilege to learn from these ones as we follow Christ. So that being said, they have asked us to do several different things. First I will tell you a little bit about our schedule (which is in the process of changing as we find what works best). Mondays are Sarah and Is main days of leading sets in the prayer room. We do a worship with the Word at 9:00am and we do a devotional set at 6:30pm. We cover other sets occasionally during the week, but right now these are the only times we are scheduled to lead. We sing and play drums on other sets through the week. Sarah sings on some sets that I do nothing on and I play drums on some sets she isnt on as well, but we do most together. Sarah sings on Tuesday nights, Friday nights, Saturday nights, and on a rotation for Sunday mornings. She is also learning guitar and will start playing as well, she is learning very quickly! Right now I am the most skilled drummer here which has been a little different for me. They have me play on our larger meetings right now till we get some others trained up. I play drums on Tuesday nights, Wednesday Nights, and Sunday mornings. Friday nights I do sound, and I help on Saturday nights. I actually help with sound quite frequently which I actually somewhat enjoy. We will start being on a rotation of leading Sunday worship as soon as we get another drummer to the level of skill they want him to be, which is very soon! *PAUSE* Sarah just made lasagna soup and it is spectacular! I love my wife!!!! *UNPAUSE* So we have scheduled cleaning days on Monday, Wednesday, and Satuday. Tuesdays and Fridays at 10:30am are classes for us interns. Right now we are learning about the Eternal Glory of an Intercessor. Its some amazing teachings! Through the week other prayer sets are happening often and we sit in on a lot of these, we pray individually and also on the mic corporately. Some of these are also times where we just read the Word and pray for whats on our hearts. We have times of outreach on Fridays or Saturdays, but not every week. We do some of this at a ministry called Hearts of Hope, it is a place for people who are struggling with addiction and others things and they have different levels of time where people come from three months to a year and find freedom and restoration. There are all kinds of different people there. The girls seem to be drawn to Sarah, which I believe is part of her calling, she is a heart mender, specifically to women. Im so thankful for my wife, I cant express that enough. Last Sunday night Sarah and I led worship there and it turned into a time where we led the people into a beautiful 45 minutes or so of adoring the Lord while Damon declared things over them and you could feel the Lords delight. They were very moved and had a lot of good things to say afterwards. I dont say that to build ourselves up but just as an example of how the Lord has been using us. So every day we are doing things, serving people, and spending time with our Father.

We have been given other more specific responsibilities that we didnt expect, but we really believe it is the Lord and it has been good for us. First of all we have been made the Youth Directors here. It is called Burning Hearts, which we really like! We meet every Wednesday after worship, and we are going to be trying to have times to just hang out and build friendship every other Friday. We have had two Wednesday nights so far. This past Wednesday was our first teaching and I taught about the Fall, laying foundation for understanding who we are and what our part to play is in this life. It was really good and the youth said they really enjoyed it! Sarah spoke the promises of God over them afterward and prayed for each one, it was powerful. God is doing something new in us through this. We are learning how to flow together and also learning what true leadership is, or true servanthood. He is filling our hearts with His compassion for the youth generation. We have so much to learn but God is faithful and we are leading by following His lead. Be praying for us in this, that the Lord would really speak through us and would fill our hearts even more with His love. The other thing is Damon has asked me to be a part of the Associate Pastoral Team. I feel so honored and privileged, but I also feel the fear of the Lord. I want to serve, truly, pointing people to the truth that they would be set free. I dont want to care about any type of title or position! Who cares! What people call us makes no difference to the Lord. But the Lord does anoint us differently with greater responsibility and Sarah and I feel like we have stepped into something new. Again please keep us in your prayers about these things, we take them very seriously. Also, though we have things we take seriously, the Lord is teaching us to not take things too seriously. Meaning, life with God is fun and exciting! It is joyful and full of rest and peace. Its so amazing! It is so crazy to think how God actually delights in us we have to be confident in this. Not because of what we DO but just because of who we ARE. Parents, I encourage you to frequently tell your kids that you love them and are proud of them just because they are your child, not because of what they do. Make that very clear! This is how our Heavenly Father sees us. Thank you God! I know this has been a lengthy newsletter but we had a lot to update you on, the next probably wont be quite as long. We wanted to mention our financial situation again. The Lord has provided everything! We have so much more than enough. We eat like kings, sleep in a comfy warm bed, have plenty of clothes, and thats all we really need (actually it is more than what we really need!). On top of that we have continued to pay all our bills! This month we have been given more than we ever have and it was all unexpected! We have also been able to give more than ever! It is so much more blessed to give than to receive, and it is more fun! Starting in March we will be in the part of our journey where we will have no idea where our provision is coming from, besides knowing that it will be coming from the Lord. I would be lying if I said this wasnt a little intimidating, but our trust is in the Lord! We have full confidence that He will always make a way. Two people have committed to supporting us monthly and we are so thankful for them! We have made it to where our bills each month will only be about $400 which isnt much at all! Please pray and ask the Lord if He would put it on your heart to partner with us financially. Any amount helps tremendously, even $5! Our

paypal email is jordanandsarahsjourney@gmail.com and our mailing address is PO Box 1239 Alma, AR. 72921. Please email us or call us at 4174831820 or 4173921673 and let us know if we can pray for anything for you, or just bless you in any way. We love you all so much and are blessed by you! I want to leave you with one last thought. The Lord has been highlighting John 13-17 to me lately. One main thing is just loving others We have been praying that God would overflow our hearts with true compassion for others, believers and nonbelievers, for the poor and the rich, for the young and the old, for the widow and the married, just give us compassion. Time and time again it says that Jesus was filled with compassion for the people. We got the opportunity to minister to a couple in need last Monday who were in front of Wal-Mart holding a sign. We gave them what money we had and prayed for them, we got back to MHOP and we knew the Lord had more in mind ( He was answering our prayers for compassion ). We went back and asked them if they would like to come back and have lunch with us. They said yes and followed us here. Sarah fixed them lunch and we filled some bags with food. You could see on their faces that they were getting blown away with the love we were showing them even though we didnt even know them. One detail I forgot to mention was they were from Romania and had two babies, they had only been in the states for 5 months and spoke very little English, so our communication was very limited. But God used us to bless these precious ones who ended up being only 20 and 21. Damon had us take them to the gas station when they left to put gas in their van, again they were overwhelmed. We hugged them when saying goodbye and Nicholas (the man) gave me his number. Before we left I told them that I wanted them to know the reason we did all that, it was because of the love of Jesus, He loves them. And I told them that we love them and to come visit anytime. He said they were Christians which was awesome, though Im not sure exactly what that means to them if you know what I mean. But I know we made an impact that day, and we could both feel the delight of the Lord. Something new birthed in us that day and I feel like we really are beginning to grasp a small portion of our Lords compassion. Also on our way back to MHOP Sarah pulled $20 out of her pocket and said that while we were at the building feeding the couple another intern gave it to her and said the Lord told her to give it to us that morning before we ever knew we were going to meet that couple. $20 is what we gave them, and we thought that it was all we had. God knew! And He used the situation to teach us more than one lesson. All this to say that in John 13 Jesus said that people will know we are His disciples by our love! How many times do we try so many other things to try and get people to believe. We need to be filled with the love of God for people and then pour it out on others, when we do I believe we will be surprised by the result. What can you do today to show love to someone? Lets not just invest our material possessions in others, but lets actually invest our time and give others something that will last way beyond any earthly thing. Blessings to you all in our Lord JESUS CHRIST! Love, Jordan and Sarah Marcum

more pics -

Interns from MHOP taking picture with team from IHOP during their week here in January.

Picture with the youth this past Wednesday night.

Our first Worship with the Word set a week or so after arriving.

Picture with Dad Marcum while he was here for the Grand Opening!

Jordan playing drums and Sarah singing on the Opening Night!

Jordan and Joy doing a devotional during the week she was here in January