Holiday coffee with Mike Johnson

Christmas marks God in all his glorious divinity, making himself nothing, setting aside all the perks of divinity, to be made in human likeliness, and to suffer on this fractured globe for 30+ years for the purpose of redeeming humans for a relationship with Him. God gave up so much to bridge the gap and live in proximity to people like you and me.

Maybe it is that relational aspect of Christmas that every year this season gives me an urge to sit down for coffee with friends of Ascending Leaders like you, to hear more of what God has done in your life and family of late and to share what he has done in my life and in my ministry through Ascending Leaders. Of course that is not possible this holiday season because the year is almost over!

In place of a holiday coffee time together, please allow me to share briefly by email.

What a year God has given us at Ascending Leaders. We have grown our staff into the strongest and most positive team yet. Together we have helped more people experience more deeply the presence of Christ and grow deeper as His people. God has expanded the scope of the ministry of Ascending Leaders in ways I had not expected. We would never have gotten here if it had not been for your past support.

Our last trip this year and last event was to facilitate a new weekend “Stages of Faith” conference for 50 members of a church we are helping build a clear and simple disciple path to help people move forward. It was a wonderful weekend of God moving people to yearn to step forward as disciples and seeing ways they can each do that. One of their staff shared her gratitude:

“Mike, you have done an excellent job with us as a team at our church. We deeply appreciate your work and you. You keep us moving forward. You refresh and encourage us. You serve us well”.

These are compelling times of greater interest in discipleship in congregations. There is ample evidence for the role God has for us to play. If you have already donated this season, I hope this “holiday coffee” has given you a glimpse of what your support means for churches, and seeing the momentum of God’s work through Ascending Leaders encourages you.

If you have not yet supported our work this year-end, I do not want you now to miss out on the excitement and the joy of participating in this fruitful mission. In just ONE day, the opportunity to have your gift doubled by our Matching2Multiply crew will be coming to a close.

We need to receive any donations to:

Ascending Leaders
3927 Field Crossing
Sugar Land, TX  77498

postmarked Dec. 30 or 31 to be doubled and to count as a 2016 tax deduction.

Or by credit card by clicking here before midnight Dec. 31 (your time zone) to be doubled and to count for a 2016 tax deduction.

We are so very close to surpassing our goal to be able to launch at full tilt into 2017. Please help us get there!

Peace and grace to you and yours,

UPDATE: Matching2Multiply 2016

The checks are in! The donations from #GivingTuesday have been counted (and multipled x4!). Y’all, we are at 91% of our goal!!

Thank you to everyone who has taken up the challenge from our generous “Matching2Multiply” crew! There are 17 days left in the year…who is going to push us over the top and max out our x2 matching offer?!


Thank you for the best #GivingTuesday yet!

Wow! Our donors are amazing. Thank you, to everyone who gave from $20 to $1,000 on #GivingTuesday. Checks are still coming in, but so far your gifts have exceeded those received for National Giving Day last year by a whopping 63%!

With one month left to go in 2016, we’re over halfway to our year-end fundraising goal. This has been a year of growth, momentum, and humbling gifts as God continues to work through Ascending Leaders to make a discernible difference for discipleship in the churches we partner with. So what do you think — can we fly right on past that stretch goal? Can you help us do more than we could possibly envision on our own?

Good news: our Matching2Multiply crew is standing by to double your donations through the end of the year!! You may have missed #GivingTuesday, but you can still multiply your impact by sending a check or giving online before midnight on New Year’s Eve!*

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*As a 501(c)3 nonprofit, your donation to Ascending Leaders is tax-deductible.

Mike’s Note – 2016 Winter Highpoint

Dear friend,

Life for me, and for Ascending Leaders, has been full this fall. It is very good to not only see the need for discipleship in churches and the growing recognition of churches to address that need, but also the focus and resolve of the churches we work with to intentionally build paths for that. God continues to faithfully and wonderfully equip us to respond to that desire.

The executive director of another nonprofit recently told me she was frustrated that some of her board would not financially support the ministry. I am grateful that is not the situation with us—once again 100% of our board, many of our board emeritus and also some friends of Ascending Leaders whom together we call our Matching 2 Multiply 2016 Crew have pooled together this year to double all your year-end donations (a $200 donation becomes $400) and quadruple all National Giving Day donations (a $200 donation becomes $800). The opportunity to join in God’s purpose for us to help churches better make disciples is abundant.

In early October, I was presenting at a pastors’ conference in Tucson. One discipleship pastor there shared, “Lately people have been approaching me saying we need to do something to improve discipleship. I wasn’t sure where to turn. The last thing we need is another hyped program that provides limited results. Now this is something that makes sense and that we can apply in a way that fits our setting.” Thirty hours after the first words of teaching came out of my mouth, he registered for the last open slot of the DiscipleOn! community and thirty hours after registering was in his first Catalytic Gathering of DiscipleOn!

You can join in making moments like this possible as we head into a new year:

  • Ask God to bless our coaching, teaching and resourcing with a large harvest of disciples, leaders and churches flourishing.

 

  • Support us with a National Giving Day or year-end donation which our Matching 2 Multiply Crew will quadruple or double (up to a total of $40,000 in matching funds).

 

  • Invite us in 2017 to present to your church leaders or whole church on stages of discipleship.

 

Read the Winter Highpoint and be inspired by the DiscipleshipDifference God is allowing the Ascending Leaders team to make.

In His service,

mike-signature

 

 

 

 

Dr. Mike Johnson, Founder and Executive Director

11-29-2016

 

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