N   Voice Newsletter
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Family Matters (continued)

“Take a leadership role and learn your wife.  Learn her by observing, communicating, listening, and participating, and be consistent,” said Harper, who urges husbands to make a conscious effort to do these things.  “You have to choose to love her and do the things that will keep you loving each other.  Once you do that, she will respect you.  If you stand for something and you’re consistent, your wife will feel a sense of security.”

Are you an asset or liability to your husband?

A wife needs to be an asset to her husband, instructs Proverbs 31:10 -12, and 28.  To be an asset, she brings him good, not harm, all the days of his life...  To bring him good, wives also need to accept that they are different from their husbands, and that it is ok.  Romans 15:7 says to accept one another just as Christ accepted us, in order to bring praise to God.

“Our drive is to complement our husbands, not compete.  We have to accept our husbands, appreciate our differences, and learn to work together,” said First Lady Brenda Crawford.  “Most things you will not be able to change and you should not try to change them.”

Wives learned that submission is not a dirty word – it’s a gift from God – and to be successful in marriage, it takes more than being compatible.  You can do all the right things, but it takes keeping Christ in the center of your marriage to make it.  It’s a three-some, not a two-some, stressed First Lady Crawford.

“Your marriage has to continuously grow like your spiritual relationship with Christ,” she said. “You cannot rely on what you know today.  You change, they change, and the relationship changes.  It’s a continual process, it is continuous work.  You cannot sit back and relax.”

Singleness is a gift:
Singles of New Vision learned that the Lord allows them to be single at this time because He has ministry that needs to go on, and they have the time to do it – girded by Proverbs 3:5-6.  “He is watching you and has a great call for your life – holiness,” said Reverend Dabney, “ and He will accept nothing less.”

Singles should use the time as an opportunity to minister to the Lord, to serve the church, and to allow themselves to be available emotionally and spiritually to the things of the Lord. Being single does not mean you do not have to be connected to other people, like people who are married. Put in the effort to be around people so you can still grow, encouraged Natasha Parker during the Learning Zone for singles.

“Single does not mean I’m not married, singleness is a gift. It’s an opportunity to live,” Parker said. “It is not about having a constant state of duration to be married. It is an opportunity to be closer to the Lord.”

It is also time of preparation. Singles can maximize the moment by doing the things they love in a different capacity. There are a lot of things that can be done; they just need to be done in a way that’s against the world’s standards for singles.

“The point is to position yourself to see your state of being single from God’s perspective,” emphasized Parker, “and know that in our humility we can get grace from God to find out how to live the way that He sees our lives, or has appointed the season, and to be complete in Him.” (+)

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4) NV Church Plant: The Destiny Church
5) Ministry in Review: TPHAS
6) In Our Midst: A Visionary On the Move
 

 

 

 

 

 

Ministry in Review: TPHAS
New Vision's TPHAS ministry is made up of youth (ages 13 to 18.)  An acronym for Teens Prayer House of Anointed Stones, TPHAS is the light that helps to steer the youth of New Vision toward establishing their own identities while navigating their challenging teenage years.

TPHAS' mission is to build a godly foundation in our teens for biblical thinking with the vision of raising a generation unwavering in their faith.

Mike Roach and the TPHAS team all agree that:
A lot of our teens know who they are, but through peer pressure, they're scared to live out who they really are. It's rare to see young people be themselves instead of being influenced to feel like they have to act a certain way around different people.

The main scripture reference for TPHAS is Proverbs 24:3 (NIV), By wisdom a house is built, and through understanding it is established.

The teams’ desire for teens:
“We want them to stay in contact with one another and stay involved in each other’s lives. Our teens need to have an ’operation life church’ mentality,” says TPHAS Leader, Mike Roach. next

 

 

In Our Midst: A Visionary on the Move
Pushing the Dream Envelop

Elizabeth "Liz" Mosely pushed the dream envelope and found tremendous favor by God in her career as an instrumental communicator at institutions of higher learning from the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC, an honors institution) to a shining new role at her alma mater South Carolina State University (SCSU).

In August 2007, Liz relocated from New Vision and her home in Severn, MD, to serve as communications coordinator for SCSU’s 1890 Research and Extension program, which conducts research to address problems affecting limited-resource communities in the state, and offers lifelong learning opportunities through outreach.

“I am so honored to have been a member of New Vision. I truly appreciate Pastor Crawford’s vision for out-of-the-box
 ministry. He is so relevant,” said Elizabeth Mosely from her childhood hometown Orangeburg, South Carolina.

For the past three years, Liz felt convicted to move back to South Carolina. “Still don’t know why, though, and I’m hoping it will be revealed to me soon! I never ever thought I would come back to little old Orangeburg,” she said. 

Although she has not yet found a church home in SC, Liz is grateful to have what she learned at New Vision. “Nothing compares to New Vision, and I often cry because I truly miss my NV family,” she said. Lessons learned through the voices of fellow NV members helped prepare Liz for her move to SC. 

“Mrs.Janice Sylvester taught me that honoring my supervisors is important for professional advancement.”  Janice also told me that I need to have a praise mentality looking for the good in bad situations when it concerns difficulties on the job.”

“Through reading Battlefield of the Mind with Ms. Betty Hoskins, I learned that negative thinking is a choice. This is the hardest thing because you have to deliberately make yourself think positive even when you don’t want to.”

She said her NV family always held her accountable, which has been instrumental in her relationship with Christ. “Pastor encourages each of us to grow in God by allowing us to learn not only from ministers but also from just plain ole’ church members,” said Liz. “He also taught me that ministry goes beyond the church walls, and I think that’s so important.”
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