Joey is a dear friend of mine in Turkey. As i am very excited for this weekend to visit one of my favorite relatives and get another taste of my roots, i want us all to remember what is going on in other parts of the world...Perspectives(a college course i took last year and would HIGHLY recommend all others taking no matter what age) has taught me to cherish letters such as this one...i know some of you may know Johannes out there..pray his soul will soften.
\Saints,\\r\n\ Jesus loves you! Well, here we are on October 22, one month to the day before I will be back in the US for the winter. The next month is very full as I will be meeting with many people here about strategy, goal, and long-term planning for both the development of baseball and softball in Turkey and the development of the Kingdom. God is so good my friends, as blessings abound. This is a truly amazing season of my life, and I hope you all can be found praising His name for the wonders He is working in each of your lives as well. Right now I am primarily focused on two universities as far as coaching, Bogazici and Galatassary. I have two, sometimes, three regularly scheduled practices each week with Bogazici and we have about 50 regularly involved students. As for Galatassary, there are about 30 students involved and we get together as often as allowable. We are attempting to schedule one more set of games (one each; baseball and softball) between the two schools, but finding a field on a weekend that is not used by futbol (soccer) is proving to be a challenge. God is giving me and my assistants great favor with our students, and so far at Bogazici new players have shown up every single time we have met as a team. There are several students that I have become very close to, and all of them are sad to see me leaving for the winter. God is so good. Lately I have been able to share several times, and even greater than that God is providing oppurtunities for me to sow the seeds of the gospel for both fishing and encouragement. It is a truly amazing time here in Turkey. I am gonna take a moment now to personally challenge each of you. There are many of us who are here in Turkey intentionally, and we would love to be able to boldly declare the truth of the gospel to anyone at any time without being deported, but you can. How long has it been since you won a soul? How long since you shared? Please do so today, do not tarry. These are perilous times, and most of those around you have no true hope, no joy, and live in utter darkness. Would you be the light? Jesus was. He is. He is in you. As John 1:4 declares, "In Him has was life, and the life was the light of men." So anyway, go out and fish for souls today, try it and see what happens...perhaps the Lord! \",1]
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Saints,
Jesus loves you! Well, here we are on October 22, one month to the day before I will be back in the US for the winter. The next month is very full as I will be meeting with many people here about strategy, goal, and long-term planning for both the development of baseball and softball in Turkey and the development of the Kingdom. God is so good my friends, as blessings abound. This is a truly amazing season of my life, and I hope you all can be found praising His name for the wonders He is working in each of your lives as well. Right now I am primarily focused on two universities as far as coaching, Bogazici and Galatassary. I have two, sometimes, three regularly scheduled practices each week with Bogazici and we have about 50 regularly involved students. As for Galatassary, there are about 30 students involved and we get together as often as allowable. We are attempting to schedule one more set of games (one each; baseball and softball) between the two schools, but finding a field on a weekend that is not used by futbol (soccer) is proving to be a challenge. God is giving me and my assistants great favor with our students, and so far at Bogazici new players have shown up every single time we have met as a team. There are several students that I have become very close to, and all of them are sad to see me leaving for the winter. God is so good. Lately I have been able to share several times, and even greater than that God is providing oppurtunities for me to sow the seeds of the gospel for both fishing and encouragement. It is a truly amazing time here in Turkey. I am gonna take a moment now to personally challenge each of you. There are many of us who are here in Turkey intentionally, and we would love to be able to boldly declare the truth of the gospel to anyone at any time without being deported, but you can. How long has it been since you won a soul? How long since you shared? Please do so today, do not tarry. These are perilous times, and most of those around you have no true hope, no joy, and live in utter darkness. Would you be the light? Jesus was. He is. He is in you. As John 1:4 declares, "In Him has was life, and the life was the light of men." So anyway, go out and fish for souls today, try it and see what happens...perhaps the Lord!
As for other news. Be in prayer for Dan, Tunde, Andy, Shin, and Jun. They are an awesome group of soul-winning believers at Bogazici. These guys are my dear friends, and they are so awesome. Except when they meet for prayer or fellowship, they are always surrounded by non-believers who are drawn to their light! Could this be said about you? It was about Jesus! Keep them in your prayers, as they are all inveterately praying and soul-winning champions, so the enemny is constantly at them. As for the Turksy I am working on personally, pray for... we shall call them Mr. A, Mr. G, and Mr. H for now. They are all very real candidates for a full gospel presentation, it is gonna happen. As for Ramazan, it is very interesting. I wish I were able to take pictures of Muslims without being rude. It is very different than I imagined, but lets just say it is perhaps the most strictly obeyed legalism I have ever observed. There is no life to be found in it at all, and the younger generation has begun to see that. Secularism is gaining a foothold in them, as Islam is losing ground here in Istanbul. The spiritual warfare is stout, though, and I have been hit hard. Pray for my refreshing and strengthening. I would also point out that probably 3 out of every 4 believers I know here, at least, has come down with some sort of sickness since after Ramazan began. There are no coincidences, so please keeep lifting up the laborers in the field here, it is a different battle than most of you could ever imagine experiencing. I pray that some of you would be here or a place like here someday, sooner rather than later, because your brothers and sisters are crying, bleeding, and dying for souls as you eat fast food and sing beautfiul songs in beautiful buildings. \\r\n\One more thing, Johannes Schroll is coming to stay with me here in Istanbul in a week or so for several days. He is a German who was in Flower Mound last year as an exchange student. He often attended the high school small group I led, and He for some reason loves being around me even though I always tell him about the Jesus that he doesn\'t believe in. Pray for a harvest of his soul, I am believing for it. He is back in Germany now, and wants to travel to see Turkey while I am here. He will be staying with me and doing what I do 24/7, so he shall be showered with seed. Pray for Johannes. I hope all of you are okay with this email, and I will not apologize if it seems like I am desperately imploring all of you to join in on the harvest God has prepared for unreached peoples. It is so much more fun. I love you and you are a champion for Jesus if you are even receiving this email, so you know where you stand with me. Write me back! May the Lord richly bless you this day, and show you a bigger and brighter path for your life. Fish for men!\\r\n\ \For the Love of Jesus and the Joy of Turkey,\\r\n\\\r\n\ Joey Rodden\\\r\n\\"Do not be afraid, for I bring good news of great joy for all peoples."\ Luke 2:10\\\\r\n",1]
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As for other news. Be in prayer for Dan, Tunde, Andy, Shin, and Jun. They are an awesome group of soul-winning believers at Bogazici. These guys are my dear friends, and they are so awesome. Except when they meet for prayer or fellowship, they are always surrounded by non-believers who are drawn to their light! Could this be said about you? It was about Jesus! Keep them in your prayers, as they are all inveterately praying and soul-winning champions, so the enemny is constantly at them. As for the Turksy I am working on personally, pray for... we shall call them Mr. A, Mr. G, and Mr. H for now. They are all very real candidates for a full gospel presentation, it is gonna happen. As for Ramazan, it is very interesting. I wish I were able to take pictures of Muslims without being rude. It is very different than I imagined, but lets just say it is perhaps the most strictly obeyed legalism I have ever observed. There is no life to be found in it at all, and the younger generation has begun to see that. Secularism is gaining a foothold in them, as Islam is losing ground here in Istanbul. The spiritual warfare is stout, though, and I have been hit hard. Pray for my refreshing and strengthening. I would also point out that probably 3 out of every 4 believers I know here, at least, has come down with some sort of sickness since after Ramazan began. There are no coincidences, so please keeep lifting up the laborers in the field here, it is a different battle than most of you could ever imagine experiencing. I pray that some of you would be here or a place like here someday, sooner rather than later, because your brothers and sisters are crying, bleeding, and dying for souls as you eat fast food and sing beautfiul songs in beautiful buildings.
One more thing, Johannes Schroll is coming to stay with me here in Istanbul in a week or so for several days. He is a German who was in Flower Mound last year as an exchange student. He often attended the high school small group I led, and He for some reason loves being around me even though I always tell him about the Jesus that he doesn't believe in. Pray for a harvest of his soul, I am believing for it. He is back in Germany now, and wants to travel to see Turkey while I am here. He will be staying with me and doing what I do 24/7, so he shall be showered with seed. Pray for Johannes. I hope all of you are okay with this email, and I will not apologize if it seems like I am desperately imploring all of you to join in on the harvest God has prepared for unreached peoples. It is so much more fun. I love you and you are a champion for Jesus if you are even receiving this email, so you know where you stand with me. Write me back! May the Lord richly bless you this day, and show you a bigger and brighter path for your life. Fish for men!
For the Love of Jesus and the Joy of Turkey,
Joey Rodden
"Do not be afraid, for I bring good news of great joy for all peoples." Luke 2:10
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