All Posts (Page 21)

All Posts (Page 21)

To A Living Hope!

Here’s an audio teaching on persecution of believers that Jim Elliff has been sharing recently out of Peter’s manual on suffering for Christ, 1 Peter 1:3-9.  Click here to listen when Jim taught this at Antioch Bible Church in Johannesburg, South Africa. 

What is a Missionary?

What is a missionary? He is not only an evangelist because there is a such person as an evangelist that God has gifted and given to the churches. But he must at least be sincerely, consistently and powerfully evangelistic, because it is out of new converts that he will begin churches. He isn’t only a teacher, because there is such a person as a teacher that God has given to the churches. But he is no less than a very…

Christ is Building His Church: Reports from South Africa, Austria, and Lebanon

Here are a couple of reports from recent trips by Steve and Patty, and Pam and me. Christ is Building His Church: Steve Burchett’s Report from Austria and Lebanon It’s one thing to think “in theory” about Jesus’ promise to build his church (Matthew 16:18), but it’s another thing entirely to actually hear first-hand accounts and to see that promise being fulfilled. On a recent ministry trip with Patty to Salzburg, Austria, and then Beirut, Lebanon, I got to hear…

What Did They Mean, “Believe in Christ?”

How do we explain the sudden reversals of life found in the New Testament? As Jesus spoke, or Paul or Philip or any of the other presenters in the early days of Christianity, scores of people believed. It’s the suddenness of belief that shocks you. In a moment, before a day was over, or before a few days had elapsed, so many turned from paganism or centuries-old religious traditions to Christ. The New Testament says that they “believed.” Or it…

Check Out Our New Book!

You can order copies here. Below is an excerpt from the Introduction: In this book, we will revisit one of the New Testament’s compelling stories, alluded to in three of its books and featured prominently in a fourth. The Apostle Paul, responding to a crisis of poverty among the believers in Jerusalem, undertook the arduous project of raising a collection for them among the young churches in the Roman provinces of modern-day Turkey and Greece. As we engage this story,…

A Gospel Shotgun | A Letter from Jim

My grandmother Elliff was a presenter of the gospel. Are you? She looks harmless, but in the case in this photo was a sawed off gospel shotgun! One day a tramp came to her screen door asking for food. Grandmother and her pastor husband lived close to the train tracks and this was not an uncommon experience during those days. Always accommodating, she asked the man to remain at the front door while she went back to get him something…

God’s Supply: A Letter from Jim

Do you realize what an amazing thing it is that God has supplied everything we have needed for our ministry and our personal needs and the needs of our team for over 32 years? He has an ocean-like supply to meet all our needs. This means that many tens of thousands of dollars have come in to this ministry every year without solicitation to anybody but God alone. He did it again this year, providing over $210,000 for our living…

California Christmas | A Letter From Jim

California Christmas! We just returned from sunny California, where the Christmas season is, frankly, a whole lot more like Israel than Kansas City. Years ago, I pastored a church in Orlando, Florida. Warm Decembers were part of the mystique, yet I never quite got used to it. But now it seems VERY appealing to live in such a place. We’ve already had a couple of snows here in KC and will see much more than that, I’m sure. We arrived…

The Faithful Rural Church

I have a deep respect for the rural churches. I’ve been in many that have retained their vibrancy and usefulness for 100 years or longer. Don’t underestimate the potential of such churches. God may very well pass over the clever church for the faithful one. It would be like God to surprise us by awaking rural churches and pouring out his blessing in them once again as he did in the past. He delights to make the weak strong. Rural…

Seen by the Unseen

“For a man’s ways are before the eyes of the Lord, and he ponders all his paths.” Proverbs‬ 5:21‬ Perhaps you do not consider the implications of being watched. Among the panoply of spiritual beings said to see into our world, none is more pervasive, interested and involved than God himself. Everything is in his preview, without any strain to his perception or cognitive reach. This means that we are never truly alone. As really as a person who is standing…

Not Much to Be Thankful For

Table Mountain reigns over Cape Town, South Africa. When we first got sight of it from the highway, we were unable to take our eyes off of its stately, presiding presence. Its abrupt cliffs, rising up out of Cape Town on the oceanfront etched its postcard beauty in our minds. As you see, I can get rather poetic about it. But . . . Not everybody sees it this way. My first child was with us in the back seat…