Dearest Brother/Sister in Christ,

God bless you exceeding abundantly above all you can ask or think. This is John Lynn, writing on behalf of my compatriots, Mark and Karen Anne Graeser and John and Jenivee Schoenheit. We all hope that this letter finds you well, and growing in the Lord.

Because I, along with the aforementioned foursome, desire to pursue as personal a connection as possible with each person whom God has brought into our lives, I want to share some of my heart with you, not only about my own life, but also about my colleagues, in regard to where we believe the Lord is taking us, and therefore CES . To do so I will begin with a bit of history that may be familiar to you if you were on our mailing list "in the beginning."

Shortly after being dispatched from The Way International  on April Fool’s Day, 1987, I began to travel around the country, (and eventually to other countries) primarily seeing people I had been associated with in The Way . Because of the positions I held in The Way,  I had a personal relationship with and access to many, many people in many places. My goal was simply to help them keep moving forward as Christians, exercising the ministries to which God has called them. Our mailing list developed in large part from all my travels and my seeing more and more people.

By 1989 it was apparent that Mark and Karen Anne Graeser and John Schoenheit were the ones who God had called to join together with me in forming a nucleus to continue to research and teach the Word and help people get together in local fellowships. At the time, neither of them lived in Indianapolis, nor did CES  have the funds to pay them salaries. Therefore, in the early years I did most of the traveling and correspondence as well as handling most of the administration of CES  from my home here in Indianapolis. As such, I was the "point man" and the most visible person in CES . I addressed this in our December, 1989 newsletter when I said, among other things, "CES  is not the John Lynn dog and pony show."

John Schoenheit went on full time salary in 1993 and Mark Graeser in 1996 Since then, they have been more able to take much of the load from me, and in fact do a better job than I did on many things. Each of us recognizes one anothers’ strengths and weaknesses and correspondingly defers to another when it is appropriate.

I recognize that I did "hang in there" after being fired by The Way . I was blessed to do all I could to reach out to the dear people for whom I have great affinity, and to be personally involved with as many of their lives as possible by telephone, mail and by repeated personal visits. I wanted to plant as much good seed of the Word as possible in people’s hearts and encourage them to hold on to the truth they had been taught and share with others. Despite my own weaknesses and inadequacies, I wanted to be as visible as possible so that people would have a point of reference where they knew they could hear God’s Word.

The perception of some has been that I have usually "blown in and out of town" and didn’t stay long enough to effect any real change in people. I don’t agree with the second part of that, but I know that I was often very frustrated with how many places there were to go, and often wrestled with how long to stay in each place. Many times I did not know which places to cut out altogether, figuring that even one night was better than nothing. I believe that it is fair to say that most of the local fellowships currently in progress that are somehow associated with CES  are the result of my travels and the seeds I planted taking root and bearing fruit to some degree.

For about the past four months I have felt that I am in a time of transition in my personal life and my ministry. As you may know, I even took 30 days to basically stay by myself in the same place and evaluate many things in my life. I guess I was kind of surprised, though blessed, to have so many people tell me they were very glad that I got to take the time to do that after the hectic pace I have maintained for nearly 12 years now. I would have to say that I am still evaluating things, but the way it looks to me now is that I am in what you might call a "sabbatical year," which I understand not as doing nothing, but more like a shift of focus. I think the Lord is still unfolding certain things to me, but I see that I want to take more time in the Word, do more writing and do more evangelical and missionary outreach, visiting mostly places where active fellowships are already in progress. I believe this will include more time overseas, and I am considering spending the better part of two months this summer in the Philippines. Having said that, may I say that if you would like to join me for part of that time, it may be available. Just let me know. We have absolutely wide open doors there, as well as in Africa and Haiti.

I teach the March/April CES  bi-monthly tape titled When You Come To A Cross Road, Take It . The biblical principles set forth therein are pertinent to the personal context of some searching, stretching and purifying that the Lord is doing in me in answer to my prayers in recent years. I am the first to recognize that the last 12 years of my life have been far from mistake free. I grieve my failures, especially when they have hurt people who I love. On the other hand, I believe that I have been honest in handling the Word, and I have tried hard to serve the precious people God has put in my path. I think that some people who do not know me that well have often perceived me as "having it all together," and they were worried about me when they saw that I have recently been very challenged in dealing with certain things in my life. I’m sure, however, that it is no shock to you that I am a human being, just like you, and subject to the same external and internal enemies as you are. I can’t tell you how blessed I’ve been by the number of people who have called me and told me that I have been on their heart and that they were praying fervently for me. I know that such prayers have contributed greatly to helping the Lord work in my life, and I want you to know that I am still moving forward, and that I will keep going . I am excited about this "season" in my life, knowing that my heart is in his hands, and that the future is as bright as the promises of God.

As you may know, I have never received a salary from CES . In the beginning, I paid my own travel expenses also, but in recent years CES  has been able to handle that. I will continue to earn my income from the gracious gifts of those whose lives I am privileged to touch and who want to reciprocate by investing in my life and ministry.

Since moving his family to Indianapolis in October, 1997, Mark has been able to spend lots of time at the CES  office and handle many of the administrative details of our ministry. Mark is also a visionary-one able to look down the road and ascertain godly ideas as to where we should go. He and Karen Anne have also been able to travel more, and her prophetic ministry has deeply touched many people where they have been, as well as at CES  Weekends. We all feel that for now Mark should be the "designated Team Captain" of CES . As Mark has been assuming more of a leadership role in the direction of CES , John Schoenheit has been able to focus more on the love of his life-researching and teaching God’s Word. He and Jenivee will probably do more traveling, and it is very much on John’s heart to do more writing, and he has many literary projects in mind, as do Mark and I.

Beside raising four children, Karen Anne will continue to develop the prophetic ministry of CES.  She is very involved in establishing our fledgling network of fellowships, and thus doing more traveling. She is also heading up our local Indianapolis work called Spirit and Truth Fellowship . With three children to watch over, Jenivee is very involved in helping John by producing his Bible teaching television shows on the local public television station in Charlotte. She will continue to develop the CES  counseling ministry, as well as coordinate all our travel plans.

CES  is not the John Lynn ministry nor the Mark Graeser ministry nor the John Schoenheit ministry. We honestly believe it is a ministry raised up by God Almighty to hold forth the accuracy and the integrity of His wonderful Word. As such, it is greater than the sum of its parts, and if one of us becomes a Buddhist tomorrow, it will continue. We believe that the Lord Jesus is in the process of raising up more people who will work closely with us, perhaps even being employed by CES  in order to do the things we have in mind to reach out with God’s Word around the world. If you have been blessed by our work, and if you appreciate and share our vision of making available the rightly-divided Word of God to all people, your prayers, your input, your help and your financial support are greatly appreciated. You  are one of the main reasons we do what we are doing. Please let us know what else we can do for you.

No words could describe my thankfulness for the Graesers and the Schoenheits, nor describe the esteem in which I hold them. It feels to me as though the five of us are one, as we share one another’s triumphs and tragedies. Thank you for your love for God and for us, and thank you for your prayers.  I love you very much.

Still at large,

John

  John and Jenivee Schoenheit are in the beginning stages of planning a teaching tour around the country this summer for six weeks during June and July. Do you have an RV that you would like to let them use, or do you know of someone who has one? This could either be a tax-deductible contribution or CES could rent it if the cost were reasonable. The RV would need to sleep 6. Please contact John and Jenivee Schoenheit at: (704) 542-7250 or you can e-mail them at: jschoen777@aol.com.

Your brother in Christ,

  As of this month, the first two teaching tapes have been completed, and when you subscribe for 1999 you receive the whole year. The January/February teaching is titled "Prayer and Fasting." Is there a biblical command for Christians to fast? How have translational errors affected people’s understanding of this subject? This teaching, besides some excellent insight on prayer, sets forth what God says is a true "fast." The March/April teaching is "When You Come To A Cross Road, Take It." It addresses the "bottom line" of each Christian’s life: How to choose God’s will instead of our own. What does it mean to "take up your cross?" What does it mean to "die to self?" How can we be motivated to follow in Christ’s steps and do so? What is "a kairos moment?" This teaching is both poignant and provocative. Order a subscription today-still only $25 for the year.

  It’s not too early to start making plans to be a part of this exciting opportunity to visit the Land of the Book. Because of the large numbers of tourists expected to visit Israel in the year 2000, the Israeli government has made special preparation to open up sites that have never been open before.