Mandarin Vineyard Church

Several of our friends are involved in leading this wonderful new regular meeting in Champaign, Illinois. The message and the worship set were both inspiring. We also heard a very interesting testimony from someone who had come to know Jesus in the past 18 months here.

We are just finding out about a young Christian man we knew in Taiwan and his passing away. We're shocked and saddened. Our love goes out to his friends during this difficult time. It's hard to think about such a young man leaving this earth so early in his life. Yet, we don't grieve as those who have no real hope. We know that for all who know Christ we shall be reunited again. Can you imagine the feeling he must have had as he entered into the very presence of the Lord? As he heard heavenly worship songs resonating through him and all those around him in worship to our Father? As he smelled the aroma of Christ mixed with the aromatic fragrance of the intercession of the saints rising. What an amazing experience for him! And his service at Aroma Church will not be forgotten on earth or in heaven.

Worship at Internationals Christmas Dinner

David Bielby will be leading a short worship set Sunday evening (Dec 15, 2013) at The Vineyard Church in Urbana (1500 N. Lincoln Ave). If you are in the area, please stop by.

Also, funds for an upcoming multi-city trip to China are now being encouraged.  $1,300 is needed for that trip in the next six weeks. Contributions can be designated at The Vineyard Church site Give to Bielby's China trip for 2014 you can set up a free account there (if you don't have one already) and use checks or debit/cc's to give. Please select the Taiwan/Bielby fund or we will not receive the funds.  You can also designate checks or cash in the offering plates during worship services at the Vineyard sites throughout central Illinois or mail a check into The Vineyard Church 1500 N. Lincoln Ave. Urbana, IL 61801

Gifts may qualify for tax deductions depending on your situation.

Additional funds received if any, will be used to help the Bielbys overall ministry to Asians.

Coaching & Preaching Services Available

Our key strengths include 

Ideas/Principle Approach

Strategy

Communication (Natural & Prophetic)

Activator

Learner

Principle tools we use in assessing and ministering to a local church leadership team include our spiritual gifts by the leading of the Holy Spirit, Natural Church Development annual assessment and coaching process (a test plus team meetings with your local team), Leadership assessment and development tools and coaching. 

We use the 8 gauges of healthy churches to help leaders get a reading on what is their greatest barrier for church to effective grow through evangelism.  We have seen consistent application of these principles turn around many churches in a variety of communities in 6 states and 2 nations. Our skills include cross cultural communication with some understanding of Slavic and Chinese cultures.

The aspects we can measure and help you track are:

LeadershipMinistryEvangelismWorship AdministrationSpiritualitySmall GroupsRelationships

Preaching the gospel: Helping pastors preach the Old Testament in a way that strengthens your members faith in Jesus:

Teaching:  The gospel of grace.  Christ in Genesis.  Finding your ministry in the body of Christ. The art of discerning and handling prophetic words.  Breakthrough in Kingdom Missions.  What is kingdom leadership and how do we grow in it?

Coaching: We have experience in all 8 qualities of NCD. Our specialties include Ministry. We can provide spiritual gift counselor training and the implementation of a congregation-wide approach to identify and place people into ministries. Keys to implementation as well as a wide range of tasks required to effectively release your members into a ministry that fits who God created them to be.

Our approach has a strong tilt towards helping you ask the right questions in the presence of the Holy Spirit so that you discover (and therefore own) an organic and unique approach to strengthening your work. We do not typically recommend models because models tend to not fit unless they are customize-able.  We do typically recommend tools when asked or when we feel it is helpful.

We use our learner strengths to grow in knowledge that can help you and to also gain a deeper understanding of the principles at work in your ministry so that we can draw them out more effectively. We are growing in our understanding of Asian and American cultural bridges.  We also have some familiarity with popular and effective Asian tools and bi-lingual training issues and cross-cultural gaps when transferring concepts.

God's Provision and a spark of faith multiplying!

Do you remember the story of how Jesus healed James Kaufman of a weakened arm condition in 2010? And then again in 2012 the Lord healed his other arm of the exact same condition, each time after I prayed a simple prayer of faith in Jesus' name? Well here is his photo and my other friend Dela-Corlley from West Africa who was there and witnessed both healings. So more has happened.

After hearing Randy Clark teach on sharing testimonies of healings to help people put their faith in Jesus before you pray for them, I have shared this story about James many times. A young man was healed after hearing this story when I prayed for his nasal septum damage. He was instantly healed and his surgeon cancelled his surgery. Well the story continues. Tonight, October 6, 2013, I received my old Ford van back the one James started working on in 2012. He had replaced the engine in his spare time! So on the way home I felt the Spirit prompting me to stop at a McDonald's in LeRoy to get a coke. I resisted that idea. But continuing to feel the Lord speaking to me I finally yielded and drove to the McDonald's, which was still open. When I got inside I saw a man who struck me as a real live hillbilly. He had his son with him (I don't mean anything derogatory by the nickname hillbilly-I don't know how else to describe him). So I went by him to get my drink and said hello. He started talking to me. Before we knew it I was sharing with him about how I got my old van back on the road thanks to the generous labor of my friend James. Then the Spirit prompted me to share the healing story with this man, right at the fountain machine in the McDonald's of LeRoy, Illinois. So there I was telling a glory story about how Jesus heals people today. The next thing I knew this man said to me, 'That is my exact same problem. My shoulder hurts. Can you touch it?' I offered to put my hand on it and pray for him. After I prayed a very short, one sentence prayer, he stood there with a smile on his face. So I asked him to try out his shoulder and see if it was better. He began moving it in a circular motion trying to see if it still had a pop sound. He suddenly smiled and said there was no more pop in his shoulder. Then he said it felt better. Then he started smiling really big and he threw both arms around me and hugged me. Mind you, I'm a hugger. He hugged me about twice as long as I would hug someone. Still it was really good. I told him that Jesus loves him and wants to be close to him. He thanked me and inquired about the church I attend so I shared with him that we attend the Vineyard in Urbana. After he heard we lived in Champaign county he gave me another hug and asked God to give me safe travels. It's just wonderful to see God healing people in a McDonald's restaurant while we are going about our every day life. It's also comforting to know that God really did lead me to get that coke at that particular restaurant at the time He did. Look at who was standing around waiting for a touch from God!

Shortly after we decided to return from Taipei to live in Illinois, our co-worker, Daniel, was recalled to come back to Illinois by his boss. So he is now here for a little over 3 months. Here's a snapshot of his welcome home party hosted by the Eglis. What a great time we all had together. His return was like a confirmation to me.

My First Holy Spirit Night service in Urbana

Yesterday we had a very full day. After Chinese lessons before the worship service, I then had a chance to hear Dan Paxton tell his story in Urbana. Before they went into worship I ducked into the Chinese Fellowship meeting to hear Ray Lu speak (no translation :)). After eating lunch with the people there I was invited to a Visiting Scholar’s Lunch where we heard a lesson on Genesis 1 by Steve and Ruth Wegman. That was interesting. During the morning and lunch time activities I had a chance to meet many Chinese scholars and PhD candidates. They were all very kind to me, making me feel like my Chinese was good and that I was welcome to join their lunch activities. I felt it was very significant. Finally I made it to Lowe’s where they cut up a 4x8 sheet of plywood for me. The shelf pieces were just a tad too long, so I will have to hand sand them a tiny bit. No big deal. But some hope that I will be able to get a few shelves built before my books arrive. With just five minutes to rest we turned around and went to the School of Kingdom Ministry. After an hour of teaching there we had a chance to attend the Holy Spirit Night. This event had some talking, but was mainly an extended worship set by the Vineyard worship band. It lasted about 2 hours. Then afterwards we talked for a long time. Turned out a homeless young man was left waiting around for a ride to the library. We ended up dropping him off at Super 8 where he got a room for $35. I think Amy and Johanna gave him the cash to check in. By the time we got home David was feeling sick and I was so tired I could barely get into bed. All this on a day where I was supposed to be on vacation. >> So let me share the part of my day that remained on my mind the next morning when I got up. During the Holy Spirit Night at The Vineyard Church in Urbana I had a revelation during the first song they did. I saw a fountain shooting up about 15 feet into the air...right at the center of the front and center aisle. As I worshipped the Lord I noticed this fountain continuing to shoot a lot of water. It resembled the Summer Palace fountains in St. Petersburg, except this fountain was a stronger and wider stream of water (about 15” in diameter).

September 16, 2013 Journal Entry As I looked at the fountain, I had a growing sense that the Lord was moving on the Holy Spirit Night more than I had seen in other meetings in quite awhile. I was encouraged and began to wonder what it was about. The water continued to shoot up into the air (this was all in a vision while I was awake and while I was worshipping the Lord). Somewhere early in the worship time I decided to move over to the area where the fountain was. I stood immediately behind it because a young lady was standing right in front of it...as she moved away I stepped directly into the flow of the water. Slowly I could feel the Lord refreshing my spirit. It was not as powerful as I thought it would be, but it was transforming. Then a song began by one of the leaders named Kyle. As he started a new song (all of them were totally new up to this point), I saw two angels flying across the sanctuary. They started from the other side and they slowly flew through the air, about 25 feet in the air or so...flying across the front over the ministry area. They each had two torches that were lit and burning brightly. As they slowly flew I thought to myself, if this song is from the Lord something about fire will come up as they open up this song. Sure enough, a theme that could relate to fire developed. I could really sense the presence of the Lord in that song. Then I noticed that the angels were holding a banner (perhaps about 8 feet long and 3 feet tall or so), however I could not make out what it said on it. I kept thinking it might have something to do with the Kingdom of God or the gospel, but I just could not make it out.Then one of the angels, the second one, looked at me and could tell I was seeing them. He smiled at me and continued flying. As the song continued I realized we had torches in the hands of two angels flying above a powerful fountain. It was quite a spectacular encounter. And the banner continued to intrigue me. Still I pressed on to worship the Lord. Then sometime after that another song started and the angels with the banner left. But the fountain continued to stream water. I’m not sure when it happened, but the band did a Jeremy Riddle song, cannot remember the one they did. But it was the first song they did where they did not write it. At the precise moment that the electric guitarist did his power strokes three additional fountains on each side of the center fountain suddenly did quick bursts of water into the air. I was surprised and totally loved it. That didn’t happen a lot, just a few times. Then it stopped. The first fountain continued to shoot water up...and by this time I had moved directly onto it. I was standing in the middle of the fountain. Just hungering for more of God. Several times I thought of the old song I wrote in the early 90’s called “The Lord is a fountain of living water”. The song was written after a Friday Night Worship meeting much like the Holy Spirit Night, except it was in Olathe, Kansas. Not knowing that the Lord calls Himself a fountain of living waters, the Holy Spirit gave me this verse by revelation (He spoke the reference to me) one morning many months after I had already written the song. I was totally encouraged by that. Jeremiah 2:13 13 “For My people have committed two evils: They have forsaken Me, the fountain of living waters, And hewn themselves cisterns—broken cisterns that can hold no water. Also, this verse comes to me as I write about the encounter. “For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven and do not return there but water the earth, making it bring forth and sprout, giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater,” Isaiah 55:10 ESV The lyrics to the song I wrote are: The Lord is a fountain of living waters. The Lord is a fountain of everlasting life gushing forth within my soul, His Spirit overflows my banks. gushing forth within my soul, His Spirit overflows my banks. And I drink from the fountain of life, I bury my face in you Lord. Yes, I drink from the fountain of life that refreshes the heart of this saint. For a year or two the Holy Spirit moved powerfully on us when I led this song in worship. As I worshipped and experienced all these things, last night I realized that the fountain represented the fresh revelation being released from the new songs. That the new songs were revelatory songs. That God had inspired them and that He was moving powerfully through them. And after standing in the fountain I was seeing, after several songs, I felt the Lord doing something to me. The fountain of life that had been in me years ago was being restored. I was being reactivated. The fountain I had been looking and and then had been standing in, was now being implanted into me! I suddenly had a fountain of living waters bursting up within my soul. And it was powerful. After the service we were hanging around talking. Someone named Tamara came up to us and asked if Amy and I would pray for her. As I began to pray for her I immediately saw a vision of a train. I remembered my own train story and thought to myself, this lady has a calling to do something with missions and training. Amy got the word professor. And she asked her about it. Tamara (Tam) said she was nicknamed ‘professor’ and that was her license plate. We both feel she was called to do some sort of training for people who are called to missions. Then she shared with us that she had a long time desire to train missionaries in nutrition, which was her field. I would not normally share the fountain story, but the worship leader for the entire evening heard about it from the only person I shared some of this with. He asked me to write it down, and so here it is. My final thoughts: The Lord truly is a fountain of living waters. He truly wants to fill you with an overflowing presence of His Spirit. And Jesus himself declared this in John 7 when he said to us: Living Water 37Now on the last day, the great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, "If anyone is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink. 38"He who believes in Me, as the Scripture said, 'From his innermost being will flow rivers of living water.'" 39But this He spoke of the Spirit, whom those who believed in Him were to receive; for the Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified. We are thirsty for the Lord. And because of the finished work of the cross, we have full access to the Spirit of God. So come and drink freely.