All posts tagged: christianity

The History of FHL Part 2

July 3, 2013 Merlin Gonzales Backyard Missions, FHL Indiana, FHL Week, KIOM

Building a church, Costa Rica 2002

After more than two years of trying and failing to go back to the mission field, I had the thought that there must be many people like me who have the heart to go on a mission, but who don’t have the time or money to go. I thought, why not do something similar to taking people outside the country?—Why not have a mission week in our own neighborhoods that would be available to many community churches in the area? The verses in Acts 1:8 made sense to me that we should reach out first to our own Jerusalem, then to Judea, Samaria and to the ends of the earth.

In February 2005, I contacted 35 pastors in two communities and invited them to discuss and explore having projects all around the neighborhoods for one week. I met with about 15 of them individually and proposed the neighborhood missions. In April 2005, several leaders from 12 different churches came for our first group meeting. I was surprised to see how many were interested since an associate pastor in my church told me it would be impossible to bring churches of different denominations to work together. It seems strange, but that’s reality.

Seven pastors from different denominations committed to do a week of outreaches in our neighborhood. We met on a regular basis identifying needs and resources in our communities. Once we narrowed down the needs list, we developed projects and then asked our congregations and the surrounding businesses to provide the resources needed. We did not have any budget so we worked hard to find resources around us. Seven churches and 200+ volunteers performed 10 projects for the first Faith Hope and Love (FHL) Week in Indianapolis.

I was very happy to see a vision became a reality. By November of the same year some of the pastors who joined us called me and asked what we would be doing the following year. I told them I was done. However, they shared with me that their congregations had a great experience and were already looking forward to next year’s local mission. So I developed a plan of action how to share the concept with other communities in metropolitan Indianapolis.

After prayers and encouragement, I shared the vision with several pastors in greater Indianapolis and asked them to be the area coordinators in their communities. The idea seemed very workable and the Lord gave me favor to recruit four more communities to do what is now known as “Mission Trip in Your Own Backyard.” The following year, we mobilized 50+ churches and organizations with 1,200 volunteers who performed more than 30 projects during the entire Faith Hope and Love Week.

To date, this ministry has worked with more than 200 different churches crossing denominational lines in central Indiana. FHL has year-round ministries such as planting self-sustained food pantries, Kindness Days and leadership training. It mobilizes more than 3,000 unique volunteers on an annual basis.

Update for FHL Week 2013:

FHL Week 2013 officially starts on Sunday, July 21 3p with Prayer Celebration at Creekside Ministries The Prayer Celebration is also the start of 24/7Indy More info to come regarding the FHL Week 2013, “The Year of Love”

The History of FHL Part 1

June 27, 2013 Merlin Gonzales Backyard Missions, FHL Indiana, FHL Week, KIOM

Merlin with Bri-Bri Indian family, Costa Rica 2002

A new perspective

Most people like to read the beginning of an organization or a church; how it started, who was the visionary and its progression. In the next blogs, you can expect to read the simple but powerful history how God guided Merlin Gonzales, the founder of an organization that is now crossing denominational lines in expanding the Kingdom starting in local communities. FHL has now evolved in mobilizing thousands of volunteers on an annual basis, has helped plant 13 food pantries, encouraged hundreds of volunteers to pursue their passion and has been instrumental in the salvation of hundreds of people

The history was written by Merlin and was taken from his book, “The Kingdom in Our Midst” which is available at www.merlingonzales.com and at any major book retailers and distributors.

It is our hope that the story below would encourage you to pursue the seed of desire that God had put in your heart. Today is a good day to start pursuing your calling!

March 17-23, 2002, was the week my life was transformed and launched a ministry that is now reaching the churches, businesses, government and other sectors of our society. I was encouraged by my friend, Tim, to go for the first time on a short-term mission trip to Costa Rica. Our team would be constructing a church building in a community on top of a mountain with no running water or electricity. We would be ministering to the Bri-Bri Indians and we would be putting our tents in a clearing since the only building available to sleep in was the old church building with lots of windows and thousands of mosquitoes.

I wasn’t sure if I would be able to join the group since I didn’t have enough money to go. But as it turned out I was able to take vacation and raised enough money to join the team. The idea of tenting in a wilderness surrounded by mountain ranges and to interact with the natives gave me a sense of adventure. I felt it would give me a chance to help in construction and also practice my evangelism techniques. I thought that I could provide the natives spiritual answers that could change their lives.

It was an adventure to travel to a mountain with no running water and electricity. The pastor met us when we got to our final destination and we started the construction right away. It was hot and humid during the day, but cool during the evening. I will always cherish the memories of that trip—nights alone in my tent looking up at the starry sky while listening to the fascinating sounds of insects and the wild, or the morning when I was awakened by a loud scream from one of the missionaries as she was about to go into the outhouse and discovered a large snake on the roof.

Almost every day it rained hard, making the clay road up and down the mountain very treacherous to navigate. However, it was refreshing to have rain in a hot and humid place. On our third night, we invited the community for a night of worship. The attendees came walking up the dark, unpaved road; some had walked for two hours just to join us that night. The worship was great and it seemed like it went for a few hours. We were able to pray for everyone. I started to develop friendships with my fellow missionaries and the natives. Somehow, I gained the trust of the natives and their children. It was great to interact and play with the children.

As the days went by, we had accomplished very little construction and I was feeling like we hadn’t really done what we came to do. Then, our last night there turned out to be very special. I felt like the Holy Spirit visited us as we prayed for people. Most of them were weeping and were sweating bullets during the prayer time. It was very special to me to see how the natives worshiped the Lord with reckless abandon. One of the natives who assisted in the construction and whom I befriended accepted the Lord in his heart.

Saying good-bye was very hard and I promised the pastor I would be back. When I returned to the states I was a changed man. It seemed like God had provided me new sets of ears and eyes. The things that were important to me in the past had lost their significance and were replaced by a new zest for my life. My perspectives changed and my priorities were rearranged. My heart was altered and my mind was renewed. I started to hunger for God and wanted to go back to the mission field right away.

I was very excited when my church planned a second trip there. However, I was not able to go with them because I couldn’t afford it moneywise or timewise. I was very disappointed; I waited until the next trip, but the same thing happened.

Stay tuned for the continuation of the story. God bless you!

9th Annual FHL Week, a Mission Trip in Your Own Backyard

June 19, 2013 Merlin Gonzales FHL Week

The Official start of FHL Week

Indianapolis, IN – Indianapolis will once again host the Annual FHL Week “Mission Trip in Your Own Backyard” from July 21-to July 28. Since 2005, many churches and various organizations come together for a week of unconditional service in their local communities. It’s like a mission trip without leaving home.

Faith Hope and Love (FHL) www.fhlinternational.org has been gathering different denominations, cultures and social status together through projects and services that are developed by the local communities. Merlin Gonzales, the Founder of FHL said, “On Dec. 12, 2012 (12/12/12), I had an impression that in order to bring deeper revelation of the unity in the Body of Christ here in Central Indiana, we should have extended Prayer, Worship and Praise together.” In addition to projects and services, this year’s FHL Week will include 24/7 non-stop prayer/worship from July 21st 3p to July 28th 3p (Eastern time).

There are many projects and services that are in the planning stage, such as minor home renovation, neighborhood clean ups, providing toys for the children of distressed families, food drives, possible oil changes, and many more.

For more information or to interview Merlin Gonzales regarding the 2013 FHL Week, contact 317-578-3370 or [email protected]

I have more to tell you…

June 14, 2013 Merlin Gonzales KIOM, Message

Why do kids ask too many questions? Not only do they have endless questions, but they also have weird observation. Children are in their developing age and they may imitate their elders. The younger children do know a lot yet, and they have not discovered the world properly.

Many years ago, my nephew drives me crazy every time we’re together. He would ask one question and when you answer him, he would ask endless “Why!”

Kids are observant and they want to know what you know and why you do the things that you do and the things that you talk about.

Remember when you were in elementary school? You ask your teacher what they know about your class project because you were really interested to learn what your teacher knows.

Just like you and me, everyone is interested in something but the kids are most interested in many things because they don’t know much about what it is, how it is and why it is.

For those of you who are parents, what do you do when it’s not the right time to answer questions that are beyond your children? – “I will answer you those questions later. This is not the right time because you will not understand it yet.”

John 16:12-15, “I have much more to say to you, more than you can now bear.¹³But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all the truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come. ¹⁴He will glorify me because it is from me that he will receive what he will make known to you. ¹⁵All that belongs to the Father is mine. That is why I said the Spirit will receive from me what he will make known to you.”

Jesus had taught His disciples many things in many different ways for 3 years

He introduced them to the Kingdom of God – the main message of Jesus
to the works of the Father – working from the different worldview
the presence of the Holy Spirit – the Holy Spirit was foreign to the early disciples of Christ

The Disciples witnessed Jesus proclaimed and demonstrated the Kingdom of God

He taught people in the synagogues and the streets
He healed the sick and raised the dead
He turned the water into wine and multiplied the bread and the fish

The Disciples saw Him operated His ministry through the Holy Spirit

Before He started His ministry here on earth, He was led by the Spirit in the wilderness to be tempted
The Holy Spirit descended on Him in bodily form like a dove after He was baptized
When He went to a synagogue in Nazareth, He read the scroll of Isaiah the prophet containing these verse, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me…”

All these things were new to the disciples and so they ask so many questions

The disciples have not heard of the Kingdom of God
They have not seen the miracles that Jesus did
They have not heard of the Holy Spirit

So, like little kids, they ask many questions; they want to know more!

In verse 12, Jesus said, “I have much more to say to you, more than you can now bear.”

Christ is the Great Teacher

Jesus knew the present weakness of the disciples
- There are things in life that we cannot comprehend in our present time. Some of you may have circumstances that may seem unbearable. When certain calamities such as the deadly and humungous tornado in the suburbs of Oklahoma city.
- Some of us may blame God for a tragic event that happened in our life, loss of job, broken relationship
- And all of us have many unanswered questions.
- No one is like Jesus for His abundance of
  - knowledge
  - wisdom
  - revelation
  - None like Him for compassion
    - He could have told His disciple more about the coming Kingdom but the disciples would not bear it or understand it
    - He loves them so much that He does not want them be confounded
    - His compassion is so great that He does not want them to stumble on the revelation that they may not ready to understand yet

We will continue this article in my next issue. God bless you!

The only one of its kind

June 10, 2013 Merlin Gonzales Backyard Missions, FHL Mobile Food Pantry

As I was looking today at the FHL web responses that we recently had from around the country, and after researching, I found out that FHL is the only one of its kind that intentionally incubates self sustained food pantries in the US.

Here’s how FHL does it:

Identification of food pantry sites
Classroom and onsite classes (8 sessions)
- Based on:
  - Acts 6 – Organized food distribution
  - Mark 16 – Sharing the Gospel
  - Matthew 28 – Discipling the nation
Provides training and grocery items to the pantries for up to 6 months to help them become self-sustained
In most instances, the food pantries experience more salvations during the food distributions than when the church (a food pantry site) hold their weekend services. For example, one of FHL food pantries, Luz de Vida, (a church with less than 20 members) had 3 salvations in February, 6 in March, 1 in April and 1 in May of this year!

I have written in detail how the “Grassroots Movement in the Kingdom” in my book, The Kingdom in our Midst. I will share with you the details next week.

With the gas prices that continues to increase, more food assistance are needed in our cities. Unfortunately, the poor gets hit the hardest. The income/wages remains almost the same in the past few years, so when you divide the household pie (income) there’s less for food and for other necessities due to increasing fuel prices that jacks up the prices of mostly all commodities.

This year’s FHL Week (July 21-28) theme is “Help feed the hungry in your own backyard”. Below is a list of simple things you can get involved with:

Food Drives/Collections – Your church or your places of work and/or business can do food drives/collections during FHL Week. Another way to be a part of food collection is to help us get your neighborhoods involved. By hanging food collection bags on the door knobs, you can address hunger in our city.
Urban Garden starts or maintenance – FHL partners with organizations who are directly involved in gardening. During FHL Week, you can come alongside us to do some gardening.
Volunteer at a food pantry – You can support some of our pantries through volunteerism or through your financial support.
Volunteer at other food organizations – FHL connects volunteers, resources and needs; you can get involved in serving the FHL food partners and sponsors.

John Mott, a Nobel Peace Prize Winner once said, “The person who does the work is not as productive as the one who multiplies the workers.” Faith Hope and Love is an organization that multiplies not only the workers but also the resources. I am appealing to you to help us answer the hunger problem by partnering with FHL in incubating self-sustained food pantries. By the end of July 2013, FHL should have planted 13 food pantries altogether. Currently, FHL is directly supporting 5 food pantries.

Please consider contributing or sponsoring a food pantry that provides physical and spiritual food to the least, the lost and the last. You can respond to this Blog or email [email protected] to find out how you can be a part of this innovative approach to feed the hungry.