Kerygma News September 2015

In This Issue:

Young Catholic Professionals
Kerygma Seminar in Italy
Pentecost in Phoenix
Bible Distribution in Bay Area
Learning to Forgive
Harris Family Report
Kerygma in the Future

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Kerygma Texas News

A Year of Unity

To hope is a duty, not a luxury. To hope is not to dream, but to turn dreams into reality. Happy are those who dream dreams and are ready to pay the price to make them come true.

Leon Joseph Cardinal Suenens

This Year Kerygma has been busy turning dreams into reality.
We have seen the Body of Christ come together in new and exciting ways at an accelerated pace like never before. It is a great time of growth for us as we watch the desire for ecumenical understanding increase. Some of the unity activities we've plugged into:

* Walking Hand in Hand Seminar, YWAM Milan, Italy
* National Day of Prayer Smith County, TX
* Pentecost Celebration Diocese of Phoenix, AZ & John 17 Movement
* Toward Jerusalem Council II Conference Dallas, TX
* One Voice Coalition, Korean Pastors praying for revival San Francisco, CA
* Fremont for Jesus, Door to Door Bible Outreach with YWAM Redding, CA
* United in Christ, with Matteo Calisi in Toronto and then in Dallas, TX

Young Catholic Professionals

We have been sharing about Kerygma in 2015 with young Catholic adults at monthly gatherings in major Texas cities. Three years ago an organization formed in Dallas Texas called Young Catholic Professionals (YCP). Young Catholic working adults do not have the fellowship opportunities they had in high school or college. Few Dioceses offer ways for their young adults to hang out together. After college, there really is nothing but Mass. Even then, very few Catholic young adults attend Mass.

Enter YCP. It’s a joy to find eager people in their 20’s and 30’s looking for something more in their life. Young working Catholics can attend a monthly evening with others like them. They can socialize and network over drinks and food, receive a short devotional and hear a seasoned Catholic professional share about being Catholic in the working world. Kerygma offers them dreams of doing more for God. They are trying to keep their Catholic faith going, but don’t know what they’re looking for.

In these meetings, God has directed wonderful young adults to check out our table. We share the kinds of opportunities Kerygma offers: retreats, mission trips and training schools. We explain how they can serve God through Kerygma. We may not see many of these guys again, but we're planting vision.

At YCP we have built a few relationships and have been able to pray with some. Is their career as good as it gets? How can they fit their Catholic faith in? Does God have something truly greater for them? Pray for us as we minister to these Catholics who haven’t given up on their faith.

Walking Hand in Hand

Come, let us reason together…….

This year YWAM Milan (Italy) experienced our Kerygma seminar to bring YWAMers a new understanding of the Catholic World. It's called Walking Hand in Hand When We Can’t See Eye to Eye.

The week long workshop was presented by Kerygma International executive leaders Bruce Clewett and Rob Clarke (shown) and provided an opportunity for many from our YWAM family and others from the Protestant world to compare what Catholics believe versus what most Protestants have come to believe about Catholics. Kerygma will continue to develop this seminar and offer it at YWAM locations around the world and in the U.S.

YWAM is a family, with all our strengths and imperfections. Joined from around the world through many cultures and stations of life, Youth With a Mission’s core values are what make us one blood. We may have different callings and charisms within this very diverse family but share in the conviction that one distinctive of ours is to bring reconciliation to the Body of Christ.

Unity is at the heart of the Father and by working from the inside out, we are able to bring about a new perspective, healing from past hurts to former Catholics and blessing to all who hunger for reconciliation.

Pentecost Unity

Kerygma was invited to a wonderful weekend Pentecost Celebration this year as thousands of Catholics and other Christians came to the Phoenix Convention Center for the John 17 Movement.

Diocese of Phoenix Bishops Thomas J. Olmsted and Eduardo A. Nevares hosted the event. They welcomed pastors from across the city and many different faith expressions and also Pastor Giovanni Traettino from Italy.

Giovanni Traettino (center below) is the permanent coordinator of the Apostolic Faith International. Senior pastor of the Christian Fellowship of Caserta, he presides over the Evangelical Church of Reconciliation in Italy and has an apostolic ministry to a network of churches there and in the Central African Republic. With a passion for unity and equality in the Body of Christ, he is a pioneer of dialogue between Evangelicals and Catholic Charismatics. Giovanni is part of the reconciliation movement and works with our dear brother, Matteo Calisi. Matteo is a close personal friend of the Holy Father and President of United in Christ.

One of the Phoenix Bishops was always present during the full day celebration. Our Kerygma booth was the only ministry table at the convention center. This provided a wide-open opportunity to share with individuals interested in YWAM and Kerygma for discipleship and mission opportunities.

We were thrilled to be a part this ecumenical effort. It was amazing to meet many of these men who came together from across the U.S. and realize that we have common friends around the world. When you work ecumenically, and charismatically, in discipleship and unity, you find how small and committed our circle of friends are!

The worship was awesome as various worship leaders from across the city combined their time and talents. It could have really been like a Hillsong or Jesus Culture worship if there had been more time per worship session. The messages were encouraging, inviting and excellent as each participant shared how they became convicted about God's call for unity. The Catholic leaders spoke just as passionately as the Protestant leaders and that is a rarity!

Highlights:

Bishop Nevares, while translating Giovanni’s English message into Spanish, hesitated when translating the word “failure.” Bishop never missed a beat as he turned to Giovanni and said, "We don't have a word for failure in Spanish!" He brought the house down!

During prayer for one another to ask and welcome the Holy Spirit to descend, Bishop Nevares ran the aisles, giving his apostolic anointing and blessings to all.

A 10-minute personal video message to the crowd from Pope Francis focusing on our particular event and his heart for ecumenical understanding.

Unity is coming and it won’t look like the “other side” thinks it should. It is a God Thing!

Bible Distribution

This summer, Kerygma was part of reaching a target population with the Word of God and it was right here in America! Fremont, a Suburb of San Francisco, California is home to Afghans, Indians, Koreans, Chinese and other nationalities.

54 languages are spoken in the Fremont School District alone! You’ll find this diversity of cultures in all the major cities of the world. We no longer have to travel to the other side of the globe to evangelize those of another culture, they have come to us!

In Fremont, our evangelizations teams did door to door distribution of the Bible and the Jesus Film DVD, finding many ready to receive the Good News in their own language. People were willing to talk and engage in discussion about who Jesus claims to be. Many of these people were willing to be prayed for on the spot.

America has long been the nation that influences the world. May we be the nation that influences for the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Bible distribution as a door to evangelization not only works but it is easy to accomplish. Kerygma will continue working with this Bible outreach to San Francisco next year. May God give us willingness to not only share His Word but read it ourselves.

Read our related story about Eric.

Forgiving The Unforgivable

The Story of Eric

Here's a spotlight story from our July outreach to Fremont, California.

Lebanese evangelist, Andre Housenney was with us to teach our teams on Muslim culture.
Andre, Lori and I went to a Turkish kabob shop to drop off a Jesus Film DVD to the owner.

While there we met Eric, a rough looking marketing consultant from Queens. He took interest in us and became quite chatty, sitting down at our table while we ate outside.

There was quite a contrast in personalities between Andre, the tall Lebanese in cowboy boots, Eric the shorter Portuguese Yankee and Lori’s strong Texas accent. Eric began dumping a long story of his love life sorrows and hurts on us. He’d been lied to and deceived.

Lori encouraged him to forgive the woman and move on. Giving Eric our card as we parted, he saw a cross on it and said, “You’re Christian? I’m Christian,” although that wasn’t evident. Turning to Andre, Eric asked, “Wait, are you Christian too? I thought you were Muslim.” “No I’m Lebanese, but Christian,” Andre replied.

We invited Eric to come hear Andre preach at the meeting that was soon to start. To our pleasure and surprise, he appeared at the church. Andre decided to tell the story of his family and the life they had in Lebanon. Eric listened intently and even hung his head as he heard of unjust deeds and the power of forgiveness.

There was an offer of prayer for healing at the end. As he listened and agreed to pray, Eric started crying and prayed out loud, forgiving the lady! It was great. It was a God Thing.

God has assembled the nations in the major cities of North America, come join us as we continue to exercise being instant in season and out. Kerygma will be there. Will you?

The Whole Harris Herd

On the home front, we relish our health and family. The word for this year was “expect change” and we certainly have.

We were blessed to be able to help Charlie and Calyssa move to Bend, Oregon where he has taken a new job. That took over a week as we pulled a trailer and followed with a car. Our average speed for three days of driving was 50-55!

Juanita is excited about a new oncology clinic she is working in and learning new techniques for cancer patients. She continues to love and pray for them and has quite a few stories of God’s hand in their lives. Charlotte works for Mercy Ships and we are thrilled to have her and Lucy close by.

Sam no longer works for the airlines so we get to trust God to expand our faith even more as we trust him for flights! James (pictured) has his first truck! Susan arrived safely home after her six week Eastern Europe Mission Trip and Johnny Boy had a great summer of Boy Scout Camp, Sky Ranch, Pine Cove and Aunt Kim’s.

“Hold The Ropes!” On May 30, 1792 William Carey considered, ”The Father of Modern Missions” preached a sermon on Isaiah 54:2-3 on reaching the lost. In a private conference with his closest friends immediately following the service, Carey laid himself on the missionary altar saying, “I will go down into the pit if you will hold the ropes.”

Here are things you can pray and partner with us for:

We continue to need financial supporters. If you believe that the Body of Christ needs reconciliation and bridge building efforts like ours, please ask God how you can support us monthly, quarterly or through year end donations. Kerygma needs to be able to plan for the future.
Prayer partners. Will you commit to pray for us? We need daily intercessors and those who we can share special needs and upcoming events with. Email or call to be a part of our new weekly live prayer call.
Volunteers. If you are close to Tyler or want to come for a working visit we always need help: computers, graphic design, data entry, phone work; you name it, we will use you up! Don't know how you could help? Just call.

The Future:

In the remaining months of 2015 we will be sharing at the Catholic Missions Conference, Family Missions Conference, University of Dallas Ministry Fair, National Catholic Youth Conference and Urbana, the largest missions conference in the world, aimed at university students. Registration at Urbana is already topping 1600 and it runs between Christmas and New Year’s Eve!

Steve Jobs said, “The juice goes out of Christianity when it becomes too based on faith rather than on living like Jesus or seeing the world as Jesus saw it. “ We want to live, look, see, touch and taste just like Jesus.

To hope is a duty, not a luxury. To hope is not to dream, but to turn dreams into reality. Happy are those who dream dreams and are ready to pay the price to make them come true. We have paid the price to see Kerygma planted in the U.S. and we are ready to continue to pay the price to get a Kerygma Discipleship Training School off the ground in the U.S. We believe the time is now. Weekly we receive calls from potential students, wanting to know when our school is. Will you partner with us to see this happen?

About Kerygma

Kerygma Texas is part of Kerygma International. Kerygma works with the Catholic Church around the world. Cardinal Schönborn of Vienna and Bishop Strickland of the Diocese of Tyler have both worked with Kerygma for many years. Kerygma Texas is headed by Alan and Lori Harris and they are in good standing with the Diocese of Tyler. Kerygma Texas focuses on training disciples for evangelization opportunities and mercy ministries in the United States and abroad. They serve in the spheres of inner cities, human trafficking, homelessness, SSA, cross-cultural ministry, prayer, reconciliation, ecumenism and other opportunities to proclaim the fullness of the Gospel.

Kerygma offers many long term and short term opportunities for youth and young adults as well as families and retired adults. The goal of any Kerygma program is to know God and make him known through any and all means possible.

Kerygma is an international lay ministry affiliated with Youth With a Mission. Kerygma missionaries raise their own support. For further information, please visit their website.

Pope's friendship with late Evangelical leader Tony Palmer

(Vatican Radio) The Vatican’s Council for Christian Unity has sent a message of condolences following the sudden death of an Evangelical leader with whom Pope Francis became friends during his time as archbishop of Buenos Aires. Bishop Tony Palmer, the international ecumenical officer of the Communion of Episcopal Evangelical Churches and founder of the online Ark Community, died on Sunday following a motorbike accident near his home in the south of England.

In the message to his widow, Council President Cardinal Kurt Koch says Bishop Palmer’s meetings with Pope Francis over recent months “have given great impetus to ecumenical relations between the Catholic Church and Evangelical Christians.” His strong faith and his passion for unity, the Cardinal says, “reached a global audience of Christians with the message that there is no time to be wasted in division, the time for unity is now.”

During one of his visits to the Vatican in February this year, Bishop Palmer recorded an iphone message that Pope Francis wished to send to a Pentecostal group meeting in the United States. In that off-the-cuff video message, the Pope speaks frankly of his longing for unity and reconciliation, saying that all Christians share the blame for the sins of division.

Mgr Juan Usma Gomez heads the Pontifical Council desk for relations with Pentecostals, Evangelicals and Charismatic groups. He talked to us about the significant impact that Bishop Palmer’s friendship with Pope Francis has had on the worldwide ecumenical movement, saying that they first met in Argentina when Tony Palmer was part of a delegation of Pentecostals and Evangelicals that was holding talks with the Catholic Church in Buenos Aires....."when Tony Palmer was ordained bishop in the Communion of Episcopal Evangelical Churches, they received greetings from the then archbishop Bergoglio...."

Mgr Usma Gomez says Pope Francis teaches us that "to work for Christian unity you need brotherhood....and you realise that all the friends he had in Argentina continue to be his friends.......he's trying to build up not only relations of friendship but also relations of churches trying to look for the promotion of Christian unity..."

He says that the iphone message recorded by Bishop Palmer for the Pentecostal community "opened a door because it reached a really significant number of people...it's an adventure that Pope Francis is asking us to establish.....he started it, he's way ahead of us and we're trying to follow this pattern!"

(From archive of Vatican Radio)

Bishop Tony Palmer, Pope Francis’ Friend, Dies in Motorcycle Crash

R.I.P. Bishop Tony Palmer

Died July 20, 2014

(From Patheos.com) Tony Palmer, the charismatic young preacher who enjoyed a friendship with Pope Francis, has apparently died in a motorcycle accident.

Not a Catholic, Palmer was bishop in the Communion of Evangelical Episcopal Churches, a group that is inspired by the “middle way” of classical Anglicanism and considers itself part of the Convergence Movement.

News is spotty at this point; but according to Archbishop Charles Hill, presiding prelate at Ambassadors for Christ Ministries of America (AFCMOA) in Atlanta, Palmer was in an accident while riding a motorcycle in the U.K. After hours of surgery, Bishop Palmer died on Sunday, July 20, 2014.

In January 2014, Tony Palmer visited with Pope Francis at the Vatican. During that meeting, Palmer used his iPhone to record an impromptu greeting from the Holy Father to an American Pentecostal conference. In that video, which was released publicly in February, Pope Francis says to the Pentecostals gathered at a meeting of Kenneth Copeland Ministries in the United States, “Let’s give each other a spiritual hug.”

Bishop Palmer’s respect for the Holy Father and for the Catholic Church is evident in his remarks in introducing the video to Kenneth Copeland’s conference. The message is one of brotherhood, unity and love. “Brothers and sisters,” Palmer said to the group, “Luther’s protest is over. Is yours?”

Here’s another report from Fr. Ed Wade, CC, a friend of Kerygma Texas:

Bishop Tony Palmer of United In Christ and close friend of Pope Francis was killed

in an accident in England. He was riding his motorcycle and a drunk driver jumped the lane and hit him head on. Three teams of surgeons worked on him for eight hours before he died.

A tragic loss for his family, community and the ecumenical movement throughout the world. I was to speak with him at an Ecumenical Conference in Ottawa, Canada in August.

I, along with other ecumenical leaders see this as an intensification of spiritual warfare so please, please, please pray for us. The ultimate target is to stop this unification movement at all costs through fear and discouragement.

As I have said many times in previous postings WE ARE IN A WAR between the devil and his goons and Jesus Christ and His DISCIPLES but love will conquer hatred in the end.

So we continue the legacy of Bishop Tony and Pope Francis and soldier on..........

Saint Michael The Archangel pray for us and protect us.

Tony, pray for us

Father Ed Wade,CC

In this newsletter: Recent Kerygma events with pictures! Updates on the activities near and far.