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​How shall they hear without a preacher? These words reverberated in my heart and mind as I recently visited Cape Town, South Africa, and the work of GFA missionary church planter Tony Payne. He is planting a church in Delft, a township with the highest murder rate in all of the Cape Town area. The township stretches for blocks, with tightly packed shacks housing who knows how many thousands of inhabitants. And this is just one of countless areas across our globe where the gospel must be proclaimed, and where the good news of righteousness available by faith alone is so needed.

Has God burdened you to be one of God’s preachers who has the privilege of sharing this good news with some who may otherwise never hear?
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​It was my privilege to speak at an overnight multi-church men’s retreat while I was there. Our theme was “Til the Whole World Knows.” My son James went with me to assist with music for the retreat. He was joined by Joe Steinbart, who flew over with us. Joe has a master’s degree in viola and provided solid musical leadership at the retreat and in various church services. His sister, Melody, is currently doing an internship with the Paynes, working to build up their church’s young musicians. Would you pray that God would raise up a keyboardist who could regularly accompany the services at the Paynes’ church plant? Currently, they have no one to provide music.
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As you watch these videos, would you ask God what part He wants you to play in the cause of worldwide missions? As the GFA slogan puts it, “Where will you go?” Don’t think that just because you are not a gifted preacher that God cannot use you in missions. I know missionaries who teach trade skills, repair machinery in primitive, inaccessible locations, help with administrative details and ministry projects, teach children’s clubs, and provide musical training. If you will lay your unique skill set at the feet of your Lord, there is no telling how He might use you.
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Below is a link to one of GFA's new missions posters. You are welcome to print this poster and display it in a place where it will catch your eye and stir your burden for souls.

When our pastor (my husband Frank Jones) challenged our church to consider reading the Bible in 40 days, I thought, “Sure, why not? This is a win-win!”

I always read the Bible through each year. However, to read it in such large volumes at such a quick pace seemed daunting. Excuses flooded my mind, including my slow reading skills.

But as I thought about it, I realized that even if it took me longer than 40 days, and I did not meet the challenge goal, I was still reading my Bible. Pastor sweetened the challenge when he promised each participant the book by Dr. Timothy Berrey, 40 Days Through the Bible.  I signed up, as did eight others in our church.

The first day of the new year was the start date and we began this journey. Pastor set up a text thread so we could encourage each other, post spiritual thoughts or nuggets we gleaned, share issues we were having, or get validation and help from the group.

But the first week of January, I became ill. I did not have a high fever, but my sickness sent me to the couch. During this down time, when I was awake, I read. Within about 72 hours, I had returned to health. But now I was ahead of schedule. I thought being ahead was important because I did not know what might derail some of my reading in the upcoming weeks. Sundays would be difficult for me to read such large portions of Scripture because the day is so packed. Thus, being ahead would allow me to finish on schedule.

Around 14 days into the reading, I found myself significantly ahead of the 40-day goal. My husband commented that it seemed like I was on pace for the 25-day challenge. When I checked the 25 Day Bible Reading Schedule in Dr. Berrey’s book, I realized I was even two days ahead of that one! I immediately switched plans and finished the reading in 20 days.


How did the Lord enable me to accomplish this?

1. I identified activities I could postpone.

Through the advice of two other people who have read the Bible in less than a year, I began looking at where I spend my time, and I quickly identified areas that could be set aside temporarily. Forty days is essentially 6 weeks. I knew I could catch up on those other things later.

2. I read and listened to the Bible.
I had a reading Bible and an audio Bible set in different books. This made it easy to mark my place in each and kept me from getting confused. I listened via the audio Bible to the majority of the OT, most of the gospels, and a few other NT books.  The other books I read in my reading Bible. Taking turns between reading and listening to someone else read provided a variety that I appreciated. Between reading and listening, I was saturated with the Scriptures all day. It was transforming.

3. I multitasked whenever I could.
I listened while doing mundane duties of life like dressing, cooking, dishes, laundry, ironing, house chores, cleaning, exercising, and driving. The saturation of Scripture that was going on in my mind made these tasks more enjoyable.


How did the Lord bless me through this?

This was a challenge I will not forget. I thoroughly enjoyed it and learned much.

I was illumined to a larger view of the Lord’s work. Patterns, repeated verses, and many of the Lord’s attributes and care were so much more evident.

Reading in large volumes is like a fly-over survey of the Scriptures versus a hike through the woods.

I have never read Joseph’s life and his bones returning to Canaan in the same reading section before. Reading books like Ezra, Nehemiah, and Esther in one sitting brought a more complete picture of that time in Israel’s history. Reading all of Isaiah in one day was amazing!

This challenge was not a hard task and stimulated my growth in a unique way.

I would encourage anyone to take this challenge. It does not have to begin with the new year. You can even complete it in 20, 35, 40, or 60 days because Blessed is he that readeth… Rev 1:3a.

Contact us directly for a discounted price if you plan to purchase multiple copies of 40 Days Through the Bible for your ministry.

Our family is currently under a two-week self-quarantine in our personal effort to flatten the curve. Although we feel perfectly healthy, we recently traveled from Asia back to the States and are thus uncertain of what we picked up on the way. 

Even if we weren't under quarantine, however, we would still be--like most people right now--under some form of lockdown. 

Life under lockdown can be full of blessings, if you use it profitably. It allows you to

• spend extra time with your family
• spend extra time with the Lord
• experience the deliverance and provision of the Lord in unusual ways
• rethink your priorities

For this reason, we want to share the 40 Day Bible Reading Plan with you.

On this page you can access the daily Bible readings, along with a link to a helpful summary of the passage with themes and things to look for while you read.

The Word of God has the power to change our lives. We often complain of a lack of time to spend truly mining the Scripture, but right now many of us have time on our hands as we wait out our lockdown. Perhaps God wants you to spend this time in this way?

Whatever the case, may God richly bless you and your family during this time and give you peace in the midst of this storm. 

Over Christmas break, I read the entire Bible in 25 days. The closest I have come to doing this in the past was reading the New Testament over a similar length of time. Reading the entire Bible in 25 days may seem like an unattainable goal, but there are some who have read the Bible in one week. However, it marked a major milestone for me, and here are some things I learned from the experience.
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1. It is very doable.
First, it is eminently doable. In one of my Bibles, it amounts to an average of 58 pages per day. If you think about it, that’s not an impossible task. An adult with an average level of education can read 58-60 pages in two to three hours. Many can even read faster than that. If spending about two hours daily reading Scripture seems burdensome, think of how blithely many Christians will watch a two-hour video or spend two hours of internet surfing in order to relax after a day at work. The psalmist prayed that the Lord would turn his eyes from looking at things that are worthless (Psalm 119:37). Perhaps if God answered a prayer like that for us, it would give us more time to read His words.

2. The longest books can be read in one sitting.
Second, even the longest books of the Bible are readable in one day, even in one sitting. For example, in sheer number of words, Jeremiah is the longest book of the Bible with about 33,000; Genesis is second, and Psalms, third. On previous occasions, I have read Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel each in one sitting. It took me just under two hours to read Isaiah, just over two hours to read Ezekiel, and about two and a half hours to read Jeremiah. Admittedly, you will not capture or understand every detail of the book but that is not your goal in reading the entire book in one sitting. (More about that later.) But my point is this: if even reading Jeremiah or Ezekiel in one sitting is possible, how much more so the Gospel of Matthew, or any one of the four Gospels. In fact, after reading Jeremiah in one day, reading the Gospel of Matthew in a day seemed easy by comparison. And yet, how often have we been put off by the length of the Gospel of Matthew, convincing ourselves that due to its lengthiness we could never sit down and read it at one time or in one day in its entirety?

3. Reading a book in its entirety is incredibly valuable.
Third, I was struck by the overwhelming value of reading an entire book of the Bible at one time. I can’t use enough adjectives for this experience: invaluable, fantastic, necessary, indispensable, important, life-changing, and all-encompassing. Many of our interpretational problems would be solved by reading an entire book of the Bible before weighing in on one of its verses. Persuasive, but deceived, religious figures have used verses in Isaiah to point to themselves—the “man from the east,” for example (Isa. 41:2)—when a full reading of Isaiah, or even just fully reading Isaiah 40-48, would make clear that the man in view is Cyrus the Great, the Persian world leader of the sixth century BC.

4. You make important Scriptural connections that would otherwise go unnoticed.
In addition, reading an entire book allows you to see connections you might otherwise miss. I am thankful for a Bible with chapters and verses. Imagine trying to point people to your text in Jeremiah without these.
But the truth is that sometimes these chapter divisions keep us from noticing the larger unfolding story or sequence of connected thoughts in a given book. This is partly due to the way we often base our Bible reading on chapter divisions. A daily Bible reader typically reads a certain number of chapters a day. He might, for example, read Genesis 37-40. Or he might be reading in multiple parts of the Bible every day and thus read Genesis 37, Psalm 5, Proverbs 6, and Matthew 7. There is nothing inherently wrong with such an approach. I spent much of 2019 reading 10 chapters a day, each chapter coming from a different book of the Bible, and it was a great blessing to be reading all over the Bible every day. But allow me to play devil’s advocate a little bit here. Think of a person who reads Genesis 37-40 for his daily Bible reading, shuts his Bible, and goes on his way. What he may not realize is that he was on the cusp of Joseph’s story arc transition from his downward spiral to his incredible exaltation. I think it is safe to say that the author (and Author) of Genesis did not mean for the reader to pause lengthily after reading 40:23. The suspense of the story itself ought to carry the reader into the next chapter. How much more so is this true if that same reader then continues the next day by reading Genesis 41-44! Four chapters of daily Bible reading is great—and more than many Christians accomplish—but the grand revelation of Joseph to his brothers takes place in Genesis 45:1. Everything in Genesis 44 (and the chapters preceding) has built up to this stunning moment when Joseph’s brothers find themselves unexpectedly and terrifyingly in the presence of the brother they sold into slavery. Furthermore, what you may also miss by not reading the story as a whole is the growing “Judah theme” in the Joseph story. God is working in and through Joseph in Genesis 37-50, but He is also working on Judah, making him into the leader from whom the Davidic Messiah will ultimately emerge. The Judah theme is most easily seen if you read the entire story.
These examples come from Genesis, but Revelation, the last book of the Bible, affords similar examples of missed connections that can occur when we read isolated chapters. A good example is Revelation 5. A fascinating drama in and of itself as the Lamb takes the scroll with the seven seals, it is tightly connected with the vision of God’s heavenly throne room in Revelation 4. Revelation 6 is similarly connected. Too often, we refer to Revelation 6 as the “seal judgments,” as if they are a stand-alone phenomenon. Actually, the Lamb who received the scroll with the seven seals in chapter 5 (from the hand of the One seated on the throne in chapter 4) is the One opening the seven seals one at a time. Allow me one more example. Revelation 13 begins with the emergence of the Beast and ends with the mark of the beast on the hand or forehead of his followers. But if you keep reading into Revelation 14, you find that the followers of the Lamb have a mark (the Father’s name) on their foreheads too. The juxtaposition of these two chapters (or two sets of followers) is literarily intentional and so easily missed if we do not take in the entire book of Revelation as a whole. Both sets of followers are identifiable to their respective leaders. (By the way, Revelation may have 22 chapters but it is actually less than 10,000 words in length. That’s about the length of a 20-page book, which is very readable in one sitting.)
Limits on our time demand that for most of us we read a certain number of chapters a day. We, most likely, cannot read the entire book of Genesis every time we come to it. But let’s be sensitive to the material in the book more than to the chapter divisions of the book, and attempt to pause in our reading at natural pauses in a book’s storyline. And, at least once in a while, shoot to read the book in its entirety.

5. Your day becomes filled with the reading of Scripture.
Another thing I discovered is this: I found myself reading Scripture at odd moments of the day when I would no doubt have been doing something else. I am not saying that I would have been doing things of no value, but I would not have been reading Scripture. Why? Because I would have gotten my Scripture intake that morning, spent time in prayer, and then moved on into my day. But when you have a goal of reading the entire Bible in a short amount of time, you do not always finish in the morning. So at odd moments of the day, while standing in line or waiting for others to get ready for a family errand, you find yourself reading Scripture.
I take away from this that I would read more Scripture if I had a goal of reading more Scripture. One of the best ways to be productive or to do productive things is to have the pressure of a goal. No one likes pressure but the truth is that reasonable pressure is good for us. Pressure is what motivates us to do things we know we should do but are too lazy or unmotivated to do unless under the constraints of a goal (or a boss or a deadline). Those who shoot at nothing are sure to hit it!

6. Learning to concentrate and read quickly becomes a necessity.
Reading large amounts of Scripture is also a good way to learn to read more quickly or to remind yourself that there is a place for reading more quickly. When you sit down on a given morning with only two hours to read the entire book of Ezekiel, you push yourself to read more quickly, perhaps even more quickly than you thought possible. You make yourself concentrate, which is frankly a skill increasingly rare in our distracting modern world.
Obviously, not all reading of Scripture should be fast. The Puritans distinguished between plow-work and deeper spade-work. We need both types of Bible study. I have to admit I prefer reading less Scripture in order to be able to do more spade-work. One year when I started my Bible reading at Genesis, I planned to read several chapters, and only made my way through the first three verses of Genesis 1. Forty-five minutes later, I came up satiated with all the truths I had seen in just those three verses. On the other hand, I am convinced that laziness or complacency in my Bible reading has led me to feel satisfied with reading a few chapters a day, knowing that I am on pace to read through the whole Bible within the calendar year, when the truth is I could have very easily upped the amount of what I was reading.
What I am trying to say is this: under the guise of pursuing “deeper Bible study,” I have excused away hours of time in which I could have been reading far larger quantities of Scripture. In the future, I want to make sure that I do both (plow-work and spade-work).
In truth, plow-work leads to spade-work. As I read quickly—taking in, for example, in a single day the entire Lucan corpus (his Gospel plus the book of Acts)—I came across things that I wanted to come back to for future study. On occasions like that, I would sometimes put a question mark or a brief comment in the margin to jog my memory in the future.

7. Planning to read more Bible during down times is best.
One last observation is this: reading the Bible in a short amount of time works best during a down-time in your daily schedule. It is doable, as I observed above, by reading two to three hours per day. But some days are better “reading” days than others. All of us over a 25- or 30-day period will have days when our minds are more distracted than on other days (which will slow down our reading) or days in which our time to read is shorter or punctuated by interruptions.
Planning to read a large portion of the Bible works best during vacation, or some other down-time in your daily routine, when you know you will have more time to read because your schedule is more under your control. There is an additional benefit: vacation often becomes a time when we spend less time with the Lord than normal. Too often, unintentionally, we end up vacationing away from the Lord. We can even feel that “vacation” provides an excuse to indulge our more carnal side a little. So we binge on social media, gaming, or movie-watching. Consequently, we come up dripping at the end of our vacation from the pool of the world’s delights, having temporarily satisfied some of our baser lusts but feeling (and knowing!) we are more distant from the Lord and more deadened to His voice than we ought (or meant) to be.
Having a goal of reading large portions of Scripture during vacation mitigates that tendency. It does not mean you can have no fun on vacation. My wife (who joined me in the 25-day Bible reading challenge) and I both found ourselves spiritually refreshed after vacation. We had enjoyed a change of pace from our regular work week. We had vacationed in a beautiful place in the mountains. We had enjoyed time with family. We had played games and even watched some videos. But we had not vacationed away from our Lord. We had instead enjoyed many precious moments feasting on His Word. What a welcome change it was from walking in the counsel of the ungodly, standing in the way of sinners, and sitting at the seat of the scornful—the typical fare served on social media and most of twenty-first century entertainment!

Want to do your own Bible Reading Challenge?
Below are links for both a 25 Day Bible Reading Plan and a 40 Day Bible Reading Plan.​
Also, read this excellent article on binge-reading the Bible by Joel Arnold.
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Our family has a basket on a shelf near our dining room table. It is filled with prayer cards that we've picked up from missionaries over the last decade or two. (Yes, a decade or two…) It also has some pictures of pastors that support us and family members or close friends who loved us enough to send us their Christmas card photos.

(Basically, if you send us your photo, you end up in our prayer basket. After writing this, I'm hoping for a new onslaught of Christmas photos from you all this year!)

But here's the problem with collecting these pictures and prayer cards over the course of almost two decades: we've lost touch with some of these people. Some of them we never knew to begin with, admittedly, because we attend a lot of churches and at each one, my children faithfully pick up prayer cards from all the missionaries they can. (And I have six children. And, like I said, we attend a lot of churches.) Also, some of their families have changed. They've added another child or two. They've retired. Some have had spouses pass away. Several that we know of have changed mission fields. Possibly, all of the above.

So how can we pray specifically for them if we don't know their specific prayer requests? If we don't even know their family that well? Or if we don't know where they are currently ministering?

THREE IDEAS…

1. Look them up online. 
Social media is one possibility. But many missionaries also have a website these days. You are reading ours. It's getting easier all the time to set one up online, and you don't even need much in the way of technical skills. (If being techy was a requirement, our family wouldn't have one.) When you look them up, you can at least find out how many children they have and where they are currently located. Most missionaries don't post personal prayer requests online, for obvious reasons. But it's a good start.

2. Sign up for their prayer letter.
Often their prayer card has an email address on it. Depending on how old it is, it may or may not be current. But if it isn't, you can also run your request through their mission board, which is probably also on their prayer card. Missionaries won't put all of their prayer requests into their prayer letters, but you will at least get a feel for their publicly-stated needs.

But even if you never do either of those things, here is another possibility:

3. Pray Paul's 7 Scripture-based prayer requests for them.
Paul, in his NT epistles, gives seven specific prayer requests he wants the churches receiving his letters to pray for. These are exactly what missionaries, pastors, and your loved ones need prayer for too. In fact, these are often the basis of the prayer requests that missionaries won't feel comfortable sharing in detail. Missionaries have to be careful about sharing names of those they minister to, or specific details about their ministry. But these seven prayer requests will cover many of those details.

Download a printable poster of these Seven Gospel-Centric Prayer Requests.

We should all be praying for our fellow believers, whether they are our neighbors, church members, loved ones, or friends. We should also be praying for our pastor, our missionaries, and others who are on the front lines of ministry. 

If you don't have your own prayer basket for your family, start filling one today. Begin by praying for your family members and pastoral staff. Slowly add other people you are burdened for. Consider printing the list of Paul's seven prayer requests and using it to pray specifically for other believers.

"Brethren, pray for us" isn't a cliché. It's a heart-felt plea. 
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We need to take it seriously.

The first section in this notebook is about GOD. Fill in the title at the top with a characteristic or action of God. Some ideas are

• MY GOD controls nature
• MY GOD loves me
• MY GOD desires the salvation of people

Print the lined sheet front and back on printer paper. Write in verses with their references as God reveals Himself to you through your devotional time. 
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The second section is all about what God wants from you. At the top of this page, fill in the title with something that you read in your devotional time in the Word that God wants you to be. On these lined pages, record verses that you have read in your devotional time that refer to that. Some examples are:

• MY GOD WANTS ME TO be kind
• MY GOD WANTS ME TO be a good steward of my money
• MY GOD WANTS ME TO redeem my time
• MY GOD WANTS ME TO spend time with Him daily.

Start with just a few pages in each category. As God teaches you about Himself, add pages for new categories of things you are learning about your God or about what He wants from you. As you collect verses on these topics, you will have a resource for times when you need to study that topic or when a friend or one of your children is struggling and needs some encouragement. 

The goal of your devotional time is to learn about God. To come to know Him. 

Hebrews 11:6 tells us that God is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him. 
Jeremiah 9:23-24 tells us that instead of glorying in our wisdom, might, or riches, we should glory in this: that we understand and know God. That is what God takes delight in!

How well do you know your God? How diligently are you seeking Him?

Download this free devotional journal to help you learn more about God every day.

​I was sitting at my desk, reading my Bible in the early dawn when my husband walked into the room. "I hate it," he muttered. He must have noticed my raised eyebrows, because he smiled and clarified for me. "I hate the disciplined life." Then he pulled on his jogging clothes and went for a run.

He had to. He has preached about self-control in our college chapel. So, yeah. He couldn't just blow it off.

The message he preached from Titus 2 was really convicting for me because I have so many pockets of laziness in my life, so many examples of a failure to exhibit self-control. It is something I have been working on and meditating on lately.  

A few weeks ago I picked up a thought-provoking book and ended up reading it all the way through. The ONE Thing by Gary Keller and Jay Papasan suggests focusing our life and our efforts of self-discipline on the area most effective for attaining our goals. I always try to analyze what I read in the light of Scripture, so there were a number of things I found myself thinking about after I finished the book, and one of them was the interesting argument that will power is a myth.

They call it a myth because we often make plans with the assumption that when we are dropped into that challenging place of decision or temptation in our lives, our will power will be there to bolster us up. The stark reality, they argue, is that when we lean on our own will power, we often find it has mysteriously gone AWOL.

We probably find this true in our lives. For instance:

• A father knows he needs to come home from work and spend some quality time with his kids. But he is tired at the end of the day. The Lazy Boy looks really cushy. The football game is on. The kids will still be there tomorrow.  
• A homemaker knows she needs to do laundry. The piles of dirty clothes in the house attest to that. The bathroom is lined with wet towels. And the sheets haven't been changed in a while. But she just heard that ding from her cell phone, and that means that one of her 1,537 friends on Facebook messaged her. The laundry will be there tomorrow.
• The college student knows that he has homework to do in order to be prepared for class tomorrow, but his buddies are crowding into the dorm room, getting ready to play a video game. The schoolbooks will be there tomorrow.
• The busy mother knows she needs time with the Lord. She knows that the one needful thing in her life is to sit at the feet of Jesus. But she woke up late, and there are kids to feed and a shirt to iron for her husband. Jesus will be there tomorrow.

In the moment of temptation, we often fail the will-power test.

But self-control is NOT a myth. It is commanded by God. Titus 2 actually spells out all the categories of people who are supposed to exercise self-control: old men (vs. 2), old women and young women (vs. 5), and young men (vs. 6). That pretty much means everyone on planet earth, right? And if we aren't clear on that, verses 11-12 mention again that "the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, training us. . .to live self-controlled."

That means me. My husband. You.

But how can we do this? Here are eight suggestions for specific actions we can take today.

1. Analyze your life.  Where are you failing to exercise self-control? If this is a habit, what is the trigger for that habit? Why is this habit so detrimental to your life and the glory of God? What are your besetting sins and the weights that hold you back?  (Hebrews 12:1)
2. Renew your mind. What should your life look like in that moment of temptation (when you face the trigger)? Why should you exercise self-control with regard to that particular temptation? What is at stake when you fail? What will your life look like in ten years if you continue to fail? What example are you setting for the watching world? What are some verses that can help you to overcome that bad habit, and where can you post them for quick reference, or how fast can you memorize them so that they can begin to bring victory? (Eph. 4:23)
3. Form new habits. Habits are the building blocks of a self-controlled life. Habits are powerful. You know this, because you know how powerful your bad habits are. So imagine the power a good habit can have. Read about habits and study how they work. (This is a fascinating book.) Conscientiously work on establishing new habits that can overcome your old habits. This is the put off/put on principle we find in Ephesians 4:22-24.
4. Practice radical amputation. (Matthew 18:8-9) What do you need to jettison from your life in order to maintain self-discipline? Is there a friend that constantly tears you down? A road you shouldn't take because of a billboard? A buffet restaurant you should stay away from? A time of day when your Wi-fi should be turned off? A TV to give away? A computer to take outside and smash to smithereens?
5. Erect barriers of protection. Even a flimsy barrier is better than none. Brushing your teeth after dinner can provide a barrier between you and a late-night snack. Not buying sweets at the grocery store can protect you from unhealthy eating at home. And having your devotional time far from your computer and cell phone can deliver you from the distractions of the online world so you can focus on the Lord.
6. Measure yourself. Don't compare yourself to others, compare yourself to yourself. Each day you successfully put off the bad habit and put on the new one, mark your calendar. Aim for an unbroken string of days. "You can't improve what you don't measure" is a remarkably spot-on adage.
7. If needed, find accountability. Do you have a friend who struggles with the same issue, or even a different issue? Can you hold each other accountable? When trying to begin a new habit, I have found great help from an accountability partner or group.
8. Pray. You might lack will power, but the Holy Spirit has the ability to help you establish self-control in your life. Ask God for help in the areas in which you struggle. Then clothe yourself in the full armor of God and head back into the war.

These are eight things that I have found extremely helpful in my own battle for self-discipline. It's a battle I'm constantly fighting.

How about you? 

It's easy to get discouraged when we know we have failed so often in the past, but God has commanded self-control. Let's take action today to obey this important, life-altering command.

As a couple, my husband and I have worked hard at communication. That doesn't mean we have always succeeded; we have had our fair share of communication mishaps, like most couples, where we plumb forgot that we hadn't mentioned to our spouse that company was coming, or that we volunteered them for (fill in the blank), or that so-and-so was getting married. 

However, when it comes to the basics of family life, we have managed pretty well. This, in spite of living increasingly busy lives filled with ministry, mission trips, hospitality, homeschooling, furloughs, and other travels. 

And I can tell you exactly the reason why.

We call it our annual Goals And Planning (GAP) Retreat. Once a year, usually in January, we put our lives on hold for 24 hours in order to get away as a couple for the explicit purpose of planning and prayer for the upcoming year. 

During that 24-hour retreat, we hole up somewhere quiet and discuss all the issues that we face as a couple and as a family and plan ahead for everything that needs to happen that year and in the future upcoming years. We do both long-term and short-term planning, making individual, family, and ministry goals.

Since we started doing this, we haven't missed a year. We have found that this is the single most important factor for success in all of our ministry and family endeavors.

Years ago I worked at a major pharmaceutical company in America, and one of my responsibilities was to help my boss organize and run their Annual Business Planning Retreat. Employees flew in from all over America, taking valuable time out of their busy schedules, in order to gather at a conference center for a few days and plan the direction of the company for the next year. The cost of that week, both in time and money, was staggering. And yet, I have no doubt it was worth it. 

When considering your annual GAP Retreat, you may wonder if it will be worth the cost in both time and money for you and your spouse. I can assure you that if you do this properly, your investment in this one day each year will be more than worth it. 

Couples with young children, especially, may have trouble finding a babysitter and wrangling this time alone. Don't let that stop you. You probably need this more than anyone else! You who are so immersed in diapers and pacifiers often find it hard to poke your heads up for air and make time for your spouse or for life planning. It's easy for you, especially, to get lost in the trees and lose sight of the forest. The long-term welfare of your family can easily get drowned out by your short-term, sleep-deprived need to survive. 

I understand. There have been years where the first thing on our agenda for our GAP Retreat was a good nap.

Maybe, on the other hand, you are empty nesters and don't feel a need to leave your home in order to find some time alone. You may find time alone while in your normal daily surroundings, but will it be distraction free? Investing in a one-night stay at a nearby hotel or bed and breakfast will ensure that your focus can remain on your spouse, God, and the necessary planning you need to do. 

As a couple, the two of you are yoked together. In order to accomplish the work God has for you to do, you must be pulling at the same load, pulling at the same speed, and pulling in the same direction. Otherwise that yoke is just slowing you down and messing you up. This GAP Retreat will give you a vision, as a couple, for how you can help each other complete the work God has commissioned you to do. It will help you live with a shared mission, a shared ambition. 
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The twenty-four hours you spend with your spouse nailing down your goals and activities for the upcoming year will be an investment that pays dividends. Yes, it is worth it.

Each couple will find their own rhythm when it comes to this retreat, but let me share some of the things we do. 

1. We review the last year. We pull out our goals and see how many we accomplished. We try to follow up by asking ourselves which goals we want to keep and which ones have been fulfilled or need to be jettisoned.
2. We pray about the upcoming year. We want God's blessing and help on all we do. We also want His guidance. We don't want to forge ahead on any path of action that He isn't directing us to.
3. We talk about any issues that need to be resolved. Are there any parenting flops that we want to address? Any couple-type issues? Any financial updates we need to take a look at? 
4. We set goals for the upcoming year. This is the most important part of our 24-hour retreat. This is where we nail down all the various things that we wish to accomplish in the year. We dream big. We share our most heart-felt aspirations. We try to inspire each other to accomplish more for Christ and more for His kingdom by acquiring more self-discipline in key areas and by nurturing our children so that they can also have a mission. Here are some of the areas we address. . . 

​Personal Goals
We each get our own list. This includes things like health and fitness, Bible reading, other personal reading goals, writing goals, and random stuff like taking online courses in modern Hebrew or Ugaritic. (Bonus points for you if you can guess which one of us wants to take the Ugaritic course.)

Family Goals
This includes all the things we want to do together as a family or want to incorporate into our parenting. We include Bible reading and memorization, reading out loud (we are currently working through the Sugar Creek Gang books), any specialized skills we want our children to learn, music lessons, and any specific homeschooling goals. We often discuss gift possibilities for the year because we are intentional in our gift giving for our children, always seeking gifts that promote their education, physical fitness, skills, or spiritual growth. 

Financial Goals
We sometimes discuss our financial situation or financial or budget-related goals that we wish to set. We take a look at the projects we are giving to, and what we might want to give to in the future. Sometimes we set goals about how we can increase our giving. 

Ministry Goals
We have our ministry at BJMBC and all our goals associated with that, but this section also includes other ministry endeavors. We list any requests for us to speak or teach in other places in the Philippines or in other countries and the preparation we need to do for those events. We also try to prioritize our children's ministries, like their Children's Choir at church and the neighborhood Bible Club our children minister in. Often we try to plan for ministries of hospitality or small group gatherings of one sort or another. 

Miscellaneous Items
This is exactly what it sounds like. Surprisingly, we usually have many miscellaneous goals. We are both life-long students, so there is much we want to learn and accomplish.

It seems like our prayer and discussion times often result in a family or ministry theme for the year. One year we were burdened about strengthening marriages and families. That informed our acceptance of speaking events. When we were asked to do two separate weekend events on two separate islands, we knew right away that the one we were supposed to accept was the one that would further our goal of strengthening Filipino families. God led clearly through the theme He had already given us.

That same year we also hosted small-group events at our house for couples from our church to gather and watch a DVD series on the topic of marriage.

Another year our burden was for encouraging believers to plan their lives God's way. This resulted in a book and a seminar that Tim has taught in many places.

​I cannot overemphasize the power this retreat has had in pushing us forward in our goals.

​We don't just work on this GAP Retreat. We also take time out to do some fun things together as a couple. Depending on where we are and what we have time for, we will play games, go on dates for meals, spend time doing a favorite activity such as swimming or hiking, or just go out for coffee and dessert.

​This isn't just about work. It is about reconnecting as a couple and taking a break from the world in order to focus on each other. It should be the most romantic, wonderful day of your year as a couple. We find this is often the highlight of our year as a couple.

Between you and me, this annual Goals And Planning (GAP) Retreat has been one of the best investments we could have made in our marriage, our family, and our ministry. What are the benefits we have seen?

1. We have a concrete set of goals and a list of actions we can take to fulfill those goals. We print it out after our retreat and try to take some time each month to review what we have accomplished and what we still need to do.
2. We aren't chasing other people's carrots. We can say no to certain activities because even though they are good and valuable activities, they aren't God's specific will for us this year. We are focusing on the goals God has given us.
3. I, as a wife, am able to prioritize my husband's priorities because I know them. Men are really good at assuming their wives can read their minds. Sometimes we can. But sometimes we need to hear the words!
4. Tim, as a husband, is able to dwell with me according to knowledge. He knows my plans and aspirations for the year. He can support me in them by giving me the time I need to accomplish them or by encouraging me in my work. 
5. We pull together as a couple. We aren't working against each other when it comes to ministry or finances or child-rearing. We have already discussed ongoing issues and how to handle them. We are truly a team.
6. We get twenty-four hours alone with no children. Although we truly love our children, we also need time to focus on each other. We come home with immense gratitude in our hearts toward those dear people we have asked (begged/bribed/blackmailed/paid) to watch our children.
7. The time we spend in prayer fuels our work and gives us confidence in pushing forward with our plans and goals. We take great courage and hope from Matthew 18:19-20, "Again I say to you, if two of you agree on earth about anything they ask, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven. For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I among them."

I'd like to encourage you to consider taking a GAP Retreat with your spouse. It will be life-changing for you as a couple, as you take the time to plan out your year and your future, examining your life from all angles and making both long-term and short-term goals.