Full Sail Ministries - Summer Newsletter 2021

GEOFF + JILL LUDLOW

FULL SAIL MINISTRIES

HOW CAN YOU HELP? If you want to be a part of what God is doing through Full Sail Ministries, please use the enclosed envelope or visit www.fullsail.org/give to make a monthly or one time financial gift. If you’d like to give a gift in kind, please email Geoff at Geoff@FullSail.org or call us at 559-627-8202. We are grateful for your support.

Belonging: WE A R E LOVE D.

G EOF F A N D R EYE S AT SA N VICE N T E M ISSION , BUCE R IA S , M EXICO

THE WILSON’S BARN: Andy and Darlene Wilson 3116 CR 175, Forest, OH 45843 SEPTEMBER 17, 7:0 0 -9 :0 0 PM

COM I NG TO A BAR N N E A R YO U :

Friday Evening Worship & Devotional Time SEPTEMBER 18 , 9:00AM -4 :0 0 PM

Oasis Day Retreat*

THE RUFFER’S BARN: Cory and Honour Ruffer, 23658 Co Rd F, Archbold, OH 43502 SEPTEMBER 24 , 7:00-9:0 0 PM

Friday Evening Worship & Devotional Time SEPTEMBER 25, 9:00AM -4 :0 0 PM

Oasis Day Retreat* *Come for an hour or for the whole day. No registration necessary. Feel free to bring a sack lunch. Water and coffee will be provided.

FOR MORE INFORMATION Visit www.fullsail.org/events or email us at info@fullsail.org

Oasis Day Retreat, a f ree, contemplative retreat for both women and men, provides a private personal retreat with un-rushed time and safe space for pausing f rom the busyness of life, listening for the Father ’s Voice and receiving ref reshment and healing f rom Him.

I thirst for you, my whole being longs…in a dry and parched land where there is no water.

PS ALM 6 3: 1

M EXICO O UT R EACH 2021

c/o Tulare County Outreach, Inc. PO Box 1772 Visalia, CA 93279-1772

Since last fall, the Gospel of John has continued to capture our attention and expand our experience of Who Jesus is, what He came to do, and the profound impact He makes on a heart that has opened the door to Him!

Oh my goodness!! Leaning against the chest of Jesus, John literally heard the heart of God beating for him! And he was forever marked by it. He came to know and believe that his identity was solidly based on being the beloved of God!

Many scholars believe that John’s Gospel was one of the last books of the Bible to be written, somewhere around the year 90-100. That means that, before he ever wrote a word, John had over 60 years to ref lect on the time he’d spent with Jesus. He had the gift of hindsight. Hindsight, especially when enlightened by the Holy Spirit, brings a perspective that we don’t have until after the fact. Jesus Himself had told the disciples while He was with them, “You do not realize now what I am doing, but later you will understand.” (John 13:7)

We too have felt God marking our lives by this same profound experience – hearing God’s heart beating for us and being anchored in the truth of our identity as His dearly beloved son and daughter. We just can’t get over it! What a delight it was to speak and f low out of that place of belonging during our time in Mexico in January.

So what was the result of John’s 60 whole years of hindsight? What impacted him most? It seems that after all that time, John had become absolutely convinced that he was fiercely loved by Jesus!! What leads us to that conclusion? Throughout his Gospel, John refers to himself, not by his given name, but as “the dearly loved disciple (who) leaned into Jesus’ chest”. (John 13:23, 13:25, 21:7, 21:10)

G EO F F S H A R E S F R O M J O H N 1 3 AT T H E WE D N E S D AY M O R N I N G E N G L I S H B I B L E S TU DY

MINI WOMEN’S RETREAT LA FUENTE: A ‘SPRING’ IN MEXICO We had the privilege of working with La Fuente Riviera Church under the leadership of Fredy and Michelle Espinoza. During our 10-day trip, we spoke at several Sunday morning church services, a live online Wednesday evening service, a Bible study, house church, prayer group, staff lunch, Bible school, and mission outreach of the church.

In every setting, we were able to communicate God’s invitation to intimate relationship with Him through the work that Jesus did on the cross to make a way back to His heart of love for us.

We witnessed Him meeting each one uniquely, personally, profoundly. At one location, even our interpreter needed to pause in the prayer she was translating for the group, because God was meeting her so powerfully with His Love as she prayed. She told us the next day that all through the rest of that day, she sensed God continuing to meet her in the deepest places of her heart.

We are so grateful to God for the privilege of joining Him in reaching out to the world from the overf low of His Love poured into our hearts!

It felt like having front row seats to the move of God’s Spirit as we prayed with many individuals for the healing of bodies, minds, hearts, and souls.

Jill had an opportunity to share devotions for a small group women’s retreat from Radiant Church in Visalia.

She talked about the connection between our outward behavior and the root causes underneath, inside our hearts. In Luke 6, Jesus Himself teaches that outward fruit comes from what’s inside the heart. God lovingly offers to take us on a journey to our own hearts, to understand the why’s behind our actions and to bring healing to the inner places. Jill then shared a tool that we have been practicing this past year called The Honesty Tool (from The Eighteen Inch Journey). It involves taking the time to bring a hurt or struggle before the Lord in an honest, unedited prayer and then listening for God’s Voice regarding it, exchanging our lies for His Truth. After explaining the process, Jill sent the ladies off to practice this great exchange with God through the Honesty Tool. Each woman, including herself, came away with a word from God’s own heart to her own. It was an incredibly sweet time!!

PRACTICING THE H O N E STY TO O L AT R A D I A N T M I N I - R E T R E AT

ICVM One of our favorite things to do is to encourage artists in their pursuit of the Father’s heart and to speak into the vision and creative gifts He is calling to life in them.

PA S T O R A M I C H E L L E I N T E R PR E TS FO R J I L L AT L A F U E N T E ’ S WE D N E S D AY EVENING FACEBOOK LIVE SERVICE: “LOVED PEOPLE, LOVE PEOPLE”

J I L L WA S A S K E D TO S PE A K FO R T H E K I C K- O F F O F VA N G UA R D I A B I B L E S C H O O L : “ WH AT D O E S THE WORD OF GOD MEAN TO YOU AND HOW H AVE YO U B E N E F I T T E D F R O M STU DYI N G I T ? ” LOVED THIS TOPIC!!

WE A R E S O G R AT E F U L T H AT S I ST E R A N D B R OT H E R - I N - L AW, JA M I E A N D TO M B E C K , C O N N E C T E D U S W I T H PA S T O R S F R E D Y A N D M I C H E L L E E S PI N OZ A AT L A F U E N T E R IVI E R A .

IN HER OWN WORDS: “For a long time, I had experienced a deep shame of being myself. It was difficult for me to accept why I had been embarrassed as a child for being the way I was. I used to sing and dance in secret so as not to be judged and thus the feeling of rejection and shame took over me. However, when you shared your testimony at Cautivante last year, God met me in a very real way. As I gave my deep pain to God, He showed me the image of myself as that hidden little girl singing and dancing. But now I saw I was in front of Jesus in a different place, full of light, and His Voice whispered in my ear that I had never been alone. That He had seen my singing and my dancing and that in reality they were for Him. He said to my broken heart, ‘You were never alone. I was ever present with you and always will be.’ (New friend from Mexico)

“HE SAID TO MY BROKEN HEART, ‘YOU WERE NEVER ALONE. I WAS EVER PRESENT WITH YOU A N D A LWAYS WI L L BE.’ ” (NEW FRIEND FROM MEXICO)

Geoff was asked to speak at the November 2020 International Visual Media Conference (ICVM) in San Antonio, TX. About 200 artists – producers, directors, actors - from the film and media industry attended via ZOOM from Europe, Asia, and North and South America. He led the morning devotions for an hour during each of the three conference days, speaking from John 13.

G E O F F P R AY I N G F O R I C VM AT T E N D E E S , O F F E R I N G UP THE HUMUS OR “DEAD THINGS” OF LIFE FOR GOD’S RESURRECTION SEEDS

As Jesus washed His disciples’ feet, He took off His outer clothing, picked up the basin and towel, and got down on the f loor. The greatest One in the room stripped Himself of His position and took the lowest place to serve His friends. He humbled Himself. The Latin root for humility is ‘humus’, meaning soil or ground. Humus soil is very rich and some of the best earth in which to plant a seed. It’s made from countless previously living things – plants, animals, insects – which have fallen to the ground and died. Over time, these settle, decay, and become the richest place into which a seed can fall to take root and, in turn, produce a new living thing.

As Geoff stood each morning in front of the two huge Zoom screens, he looked into the faces of people, many of whom at one time or another, had themselves watched some of their own greatest works and efforts fall to the ground and die. Many of these artists had known what it was to see their dreams or visions seemingly evaporate before their eyes. They had experienced feeling disillusioned, spent and alone. How heartening to share with them that, as painfully difficult as it may have been, these moments of loss can become the crucial secret ingredients that make up the fertile ground into which future seeds will take root and bear fruit in their lives.

Maybe the disciples didn’t fully grasp all that Jesus was showing them that evening. Like us, maybe they had to retell the story of that night to each other many times before they began to really understand what Jesus was inviting them into. But for those three days in Texas, Geoff watched as some very talented people let go of things in their hearts that needed to be pruned, fall to the ground and die. And with a quiet “amen”, they together felt the seeds of the new “what’s next” come to life.