A bounty of blessings to you cherished partner, as we enter into this season of Thanksgiving. There is truly much to be thankful for! The past few weeks have included several praiseworthy moments. I look forward to sharing with you what the Lord has accomplished and how blessed I feel to have been a part of it.

In early October, Cindy and I journeyed to Lakeshore Vineyard, in Holland, Michigan where we were asked to conduct the "Couples on Target" seminar. We had the pleasure of staying with a very precious couple and two tremendous hosts, Ken and Sarah Johnson. It was such a delight getting to know them and their incredible family. Before leading our main event, I was asked to speak to the Senior Pastor, Paul Bradford and a group of church leaders regarding "The Six Structural Elements of a Successful Church" (a topic that will likely become the focal point of my next book).

While still in Holland, I spoke to a group of fifteen men who are currently going through our "On Target Institute" via the internet. This is just one of about twelve beta sites that are being accessed across the nation. It was encouraging to see the effect that this material was having on the lives and hearts of these men, so many miles from home.

At the proceeding seminar, fifty couples attended and two made first time decisions for Christ. Over six hundred men and women gathered together at the Sunday morning services, where I spoke on obedience and another five were saved. Upon our conclusion, I was greeted by a woman who shared that when I last visited their church, she came forward and threw down her walking cane on the altar. She has not used it since! Praise the Lord!

Back in Colorado, I met with some of Promise Keepers' leaders to go over our future relationship with them and the National Coalition of Men's Ministries. It looks quite promising that we will be conducting several leadership summits prior to their rallies in the year 2004. What an exciting prospect!

At the close of the month, I took some much needed time away to pray and seek the Lord's guidance for our future as a ministry. During my retreat in the mountains I experienced an incredible time of fellowship and intercession with the Lord, one that helped to clarify our mission for the days ahead. 

After returning home, On Target Ministries held a special Dessert Fund Raiser where I had the opportunity to share our vision to thirty to forty couples. What I shared is an exciting new plan that will require about $120,000 to carry out. In an effort to see this come to pass, we hope to increase our funds by $10,000 a month over this next year. Our evening together was God ordained and fruitful, as we took off on an encouraging start in meeting our financial goals.

If you would like a copy of our proposal as well a video or audio copy of the fund raiser, please let us know. I think that you will be blessed by the information shared. We hope that what lies ahead will turn out to be a significant turning point in the future of On Target Ministries. We would be so honored to have you join us in helping to meet these future goals, not only with your finances, but with your prayers! Please be praying about how you might partner with us in this endeavor in the days ahead.

I would like also like to recognize Every Home for Christ for generously offering their new home, "The Jericho Center" for our evening fund raiser. What an awesome building, designed specifically for prayer, worship and a powerful ministry to the nations of our world. This structure is especially significant to me, as you will remember my sharing about how Dick Eastman and I stood on this property back in 1990 and prayed over it as a future site for Every Home for Christ. He is a faithful God indeed!

Before closing, I would like to take a moment to honor a precious saint and one of my fellow laborers for the Kingdom, Dr. Scott Bauer. As you may have heard, Pastor Scott, who served as senior pastor of The Church on the Way, went home to be with the Lord on October 24th. What an incredible loss for all of us whose lives were somehow intertwined with his…but what an incredible gain for him…at home with our Father! 

Scott was a profound man of God. His character, commitment and genuine love for people was witnessed not only by his wife, Rebecca Hayford and children, Brian, Kyle and Lindsey but everyone who's lives he touched. The legacy that he leaves behind is far reaching and one of great significance to the entire body of Christ. We grieve with the Bauer and Hayford families, but we rejoice in knowing He lives indeed. Thank you Father for giving us Scott, and for allowing our lives to be blessed by his as a pastor and a friend. We will miss him dearly. "A sudden death is a kiss of God upon His saints”.

In His love,
Vince D’Acchioli

TARGET POINT

Obedience or Independence

“If you love Me, keep My commandments.”   John 14:15

Our Lord never insists on our obedience. He stresses very definitely what we ought to do, but He never forces us to do it. We have to obey Him out of a oneness of spirit with Him. That is why whenever our Lord talked about discipleship, He prefaced it with an “If,” meaning, “You do not need to do this unless you desire to do so.” “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself ...” (Lk 9:23). In other words, “To be My disciple, let him give up his right to himself to Me.” Our Lord is not talking about our eternal position, but about our being of value to Him in this life here and now. That is why He sounds so stern (see Lk 14:26). Never try to make sense from these words by separating them from the One who spoke them.

The Lord does not give me rules, but He makes His standard very clear. If my relationship to Him is that of love, I will do what He says without hesitation. If I hesitate, it is because I love someone I have placed in competition with Him, namely, myself. Jesus Christ will not force me to obey Him, but I must. And as soon as I obey Him, I fulfill my spiritual destiny. My personal life may be crowded with small, petty happenings, altogether insignificant. But if I obey Jesus Christ in the seemingly random circumstances of life, they become pinholes through which I see the face of God. Then, when I stand face to face with God, I will discover that through my obedience thousands were blessed. When God's redemption brings a human soul to the point of obedience, it always produces. If I obey Jesus Christ, the redemption of God will flow through me to the lives of others, because behind the deed of obedience is the reality of Almighty God.

Oswald Chambers