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The Most
Excellent Way
1177 Pacifica Place
Encinitas, CA 92024
www.mostexcellentway.org
800-548-8854
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"For we ourselves were also once foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving various lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful and
hating one another.
But when the kindness and the love of God our Savior toward man appeared,
not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us, through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit, whom He poured out on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior, that having been justified by His grace we should become heirs according to the hope of eternal life.
This is a faithful saying, and these things I want you to affirm constantly, that those who have believed in God
maintain good works.
These things are good
and profitable to men.
TITUS 3:3-8 NKJV |
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BAPCHULE, AZ
PHOENIX, AZ
FRUITA, CA
RAMONA, CA
CHATTAHOOCHEE, FL
PANAMA CITY, FL
First Baptist Church
LAKE VILLA, IL
FRAZEE, MN
HENDERSON, NV
SAG HARBOR, NY
ASHVILLE, NC
SALEM, OR
LIVINGSTON, TX
IAH Detention Facility
BOUNTIFUL, UT
Freedom House
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Happy Easter to You! As we anticipate "Resurrection Day" ~ Easter Sunday, March 23, it's appropriate to consider just what it is we celebrate as this most special of Christian observances fast approaches.
While the world romps and basks in "Spring Break," frolicking with "March madness" to collect brightly colored eggs, we have something much more meaningful to reflect upon and enjoy: the demonstrated, proven Love of God in His gracious sacrificial gift of His one and only son, Jesus. And we need to remind ourselves of the cost He paid for us!
"The Most Excellent Way" is Love - God's love toward us. Hopefully, we learn about and practice the new life He gives us by faith in Jesus. We pray this ministry is more than just being clean and sober. We see this ministry as just the beginning of much, much more than a clean and sober life - the beginning of eternal life, progressing from glory to glory. Yes, we enter into this ministry in a desperate state of powerlessness over addictions - life-controlling sins. But the real miracle of being clean and sober is that HE draws us to Himself. He transforms victims into victors. Sinners into saints.
May the Lord richly bless you this Easter holiday,
and bring you peace of heart and joy of soul!
Glenn Wright
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Focusing on Jesus ~ the Lamb of God!
"... [Jesus] was wounded for our transgressions,
He was bruised for our iniquities;
The chastisement for our peace was upon Him,
And by His stripes we are healed.
All we like sheep have gone astray;
We have turned, every one, to his own way;
And the LORD has laid on Him the iniquity of us all."
Isaiah 53:5-6 NKJV
Yes! We have gone astray! Our Lord, the great Good Shepherd, says we are "lost sheep." The devil would have us remain vulnerable in our old nature (stupid sheep) rather than victorious in Christ. The devil rejoices when Christians follow the mob to discover the secret, to become mind-numbed robots practicing contemplative prayer, to seek heaven on earth through fellowship in the worldwide emergent church. The devil rejoices as he watches us pursue recovery from our addictions, when we could be pursuing Jesus by believing and living the truth - we are healed by His stripes.
Jesus said, "I am the way, the truth, and the life!" Jesus also said, "I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd gives His life for the sheep. But a hireling, he who is not the shepherd, one who does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and flees; and the wolf catches the sheep and scatters them. The hireling flees because he is a hireling and does not care about the sheep. I am the good shepherd; and I know My sheep, and am known by My own." John 10:11-14.
Just as the devil influenced Eve in the garden with subtle lies, he influences "hirelings" to employ worldly methods to minister to those of us who struggle with addictions and other life-controlling sins. These hire-lings are not necessarily evil -- they believe they are being compassionate -- they really want to help people. Many have achieved sobriety through worldly programs, and they sincerely want to share their successes with others.
And many have accepted Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior, but they remain babes (immature) because of ignorance of God's Word - "having a form of godliness but denying its power" (2 Timothy 3:5). They haven't yet learned and believed and applied "... the word of God is living and active; Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart" (Hebrews 4:12). God's Word is enough!
How are we like sheep that have gone astray and our own way? We may think sheep are sweet, soft, innocent, harmless creatures in their woolly coats. The harsh truth is that sheep just aren't that beautiful-except at a distance.
"Sheep are very, very stupid! They are incredibly stubborn and have a very offensive odor. They are prone to sickness, susceptible to innumerable parasites and diseases. Timid, helpless, fearful creatures, they move under blind compulsion of the mob instinct. Under improper management when left to their own devices, they can be most destructive of the land and its resources. They are, when, unattended, harsh and hardheaded with one another. They have a natural [tendency] to wander away, ending up in [numerous] difficulties. They are easy prey for predators. They are a perpetual worry to their owners. No other class of livestock demands so much constant ... care and attention. No, sheep are not naturally attractive animals; and neither are we!" - A Layman Looks at the Lamb of God by W. Phillip Keller.
And the LORD has laid on Him the iniquity of us all! "For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son ... " "Look, the Lamb of God , who takes away the sin of the world" (John 1:29)!
Jesus did not die because of anything He had done, but because of what we have done - what we do. We desperately need our Good Shepherd every day, and our need should motivate us to love and obey Him with all our heart, our mind, our soul and our strength. However, we cannot wholly love and obey Him if we don't know what He desires and deserves from us. We must know Him!
Jesus said: "My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me. And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand. My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of My Father's hand." John 10:27-29.
Addictions are nothing more than habits developed over time in the natural pursuit of pleasing self. We can replace the old-man doing-what-comes-naturally habits of thoughts and attitudes by putting on Jesus Christ with the power of the Holy Spirit. It takes time to develop a habit, and it takes time to develop new, spiritual ones. It requires the knowledge and wisdom learned from God's Word. Hirelings do not possess power - only empty words. We are indeed stupid if we persist in following them and remain ignorant. It is a choice. If we don't choose to follow our Good Shepherd, we are indeed making the choice to please the devil.
May we all follow our Good Shepherd in
obedience to His Word day by day, remembering ...
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What Does the Cross Mean to You?
The Cross is the place of ...
. . . LOVE ~ John 3:16: "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life."
. . . ACCEPTANCE ~ Ephesians 1:5-6: "... having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, by which He made us accepted in the Beloved."
. . . FORGIVENESS ~ Ephesians 1:7: "In Him we have redemption through His blood, the
forgiveness of sins."
. . . SUBSTITUTION ~ 2 Corinthians 5:21: "For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him."
. . . PROPITIATION ~ Romans 3:25: "...whom God set forth as a propitiation by His blood, through faith, to demonstrate His righteousness, because in His forbearance God had passed over the sins that were previously committed..."
. . . VICTORY ~ Jesus' sacrifice defeated Satan's hold on humanity. John 12:31-32: Jesus said: "Now is the judgment of this world; now the ruler of this world will be cast out. And I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all peoples to Myself." .
. . . BEGINNING ~ Jesus' shed blood began the Church. Acts 20:28: "Therefore take heed to
yourselves and to all the flock, among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the church of God which He purchased with His own blood."
. . . ENDING ~ Hebrew 10:10-14: "But this Man, after He had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down at the right hand of God, from that time waiting till His enemies are made His footstool. For by one offering He has perfected forever those who are being sanctified."
. . . SEPARATION ~ Jesus' death is the basis on which God sets apart believers for Himself.
1 Peter 2:9-10: "But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light; who once were not a people but are now the people of God, who had not obtained mercy but now have obtained mercy."
. . . RECONCILIATION ~ Jesus reconciled God and sinners. Romans 5:9-11: "Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him. For if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life. And not only that, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received the reconciliation."
. . . JUSTIFICATION ~ Jesus' death makes it possible for God to declare us righteous before Him. Romans 5:18: "Therefore, as through one man's offense judgment came to all men, resulting in condemnation, even so through one Man's righteous act the free gift came to all men, resulting in justification of life."
. . . RANSOM ~ Jesus made the payment for our debt of sin. Mark 10:45: Jesus said: "For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many."
. . . COMPLETION ~ Jesus said: John 17:4: "I have glorified You on the earth. I have finished the work which You have given Me to do." John 19:30: "It is finished!"
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Our Mission ~ "SEND PEOPLE FOR CHRIST"
Jesus said: "You will receive power when the Holy Spirit
comes on you; and you will be My witnesses in
Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria,
and to the ends of the earth." Acts 1:8 NIV
ATTITUDE 10 ~ LOVING SERVANT
As a new creation in Christ, I share with others the Good
News of a risen Savior who makes His people whole. Jesus said: "You ARE the salt of the earth; ...You ARE the light of the world. ... Let your so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven." Matthew 5:13-16 NKJV |
 "Jerusalem" (San Diego County)
El Cajon, CA
Chris Douglas ~ "I have been attending The Most Excellent Way meetings on Wednesday night at East Valley Christian Fellowship in El Cajon, CA, for a little over two years. I don't have the right words to describe the difference in my life, but I'm sure that you know exactly what I mean. I know that we worship an amazing God. Only God has been able to heal our marriage that we had all but destroyed through the use of crystal meth. I thank the Lord daily for this healing and for The Most Excellent Way meetings.
"The Most Excellent Way is the program that God chose for me, and the Holy Spirit led me to. It is the only recovery program that made perfect sense to me. There is only One Way to Our Father, and that is through our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ."
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"Judea and Sumaria" (United States)
New Jersey State Parole Board
Judge John D'Amico, Former Chairman New Jersey State Parole Board ~
 "Attached for your information is an electronic version of my article entitled Ask and You Will Receive: Creating Faith-based Programs for Former Inmates that appears in the December 2007 issue of Corrections Today, the official publication of the American Correctional Association. Please note the references to The Most Excellent Way. Please accept my thanks for all of the blessings your ministry has bestowed on those in need."
Article Excerpts:
"The New Jersey State Parole Board has learned that people of good will have been waiting to lend a helping hand -- but have never been asked. It turns out that the most effective faith-based inmate re-entry partnership strategy is to communicate the core principle that it is not only the job of the parole or probation agency but also the job of faith-based entities and compassionate citizens in every community to care about the ex-inmates returning to their neighborhoods. ...The most successful initiative emerging from the faith-based task forces has been an interdenominational, Bible-based, Christian outreach and restoration ministry called 'The Most Excellent Way' (TMEW).
"It encourages self-examination, mental renewal, and spiritual transformation based on the ministry's Ten Attitudes of Victorious Living: humility, repentance, submissiveness, honesty, mercy, obedience, reconciliation, faith, perseverance, and service.
"Few parolees have dropped out of the ministry, and the recidivism rate of successful completers is very low. These remarkable results are attributed to an environment in which participants can freely express their faith and grow in fellowship with others through support groups."
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 "Ends of the Earth"
Pastor/Missionary John Pendleton
"Reaching the Unreached"
INDIA ~ The State of Tamil Nadu has the reputation of being the center of illegal alcohol production in all of India. A MEW training class,
using the same format as in Nepal, was conducted in the city of Dharmapuri, Tamil Nadu. Thirty-five men and women attended. Included were four men who are active in the alcohol production business. I was concerned that they would cause a disturbance to keep MEW out of Tamil Nadu state. But they were attentive and took part in the practice small group exercise. After the training meeting, they were cordial and friendly. 
The Most Excellent Way in Tamil Nadu is under the supervision of Pastors Moses and Devaraj. They have taken the program with great enthusiasm and are vigorously moving forward with the goal of having 80 small group meeting in villages of Tamil Nadu.
The Ministry Manual in its entirety has been translated into the Tamil language, which is the primary language of southern India. In addition, 1,000 copies of just the portions needed for the small group leaders have been translated and printed and distributed as Moses and Devaraj reach the villages.
There is HUGE interest in The Most Excellent Way in India. Christians have long known that alcoholism is a serious problem in India, but they did not know how to approach the problem. Now many want MEW training. Read more ...
 NEPAL ~ In September, 2007, I spent one week in Nepal, introducing the The Most Excellent Way ministry to Christian leaders, conducting four one-day training classes. The training consisted of a morning lecture/discussion of the foundational material contained in The Most Excellent Way Ministry Manual. The afternoon was spent in small-groups, with each person taking a turn at leading a practice TMEW meeting. Each of them traveled by foot to the meeting, some taking as long as six hours. Totally, at the four one-day classes, over 200 people were trained on leading MEW groups. The village pastors and the pastor/church leaders at the two churches were the most enthusiastic and I have reports of many groups already started. There are at least five women's groups for wives of alcoholics now being conducted. |
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 "Ends of the Earth" ~ Perm, RUSSIA
Pastor Valeriy Trenogin
"Church of the Light of Truth"
Pastor Valeriy began ministering to young addicts in the 90s. We conducted a training workshop in Perm during June, 2001. Since then he and his team have spread TMEW across Russia. His church is known as "the drug addict's church" as most of the congregants are ex-addicts and their families. There are now churches in Krasnokamsk, Kudymkar and Bereznyky in the Perm region.
The Russian government officially designated Christian Charity Centers (using TMEW) as the most effective program for rehabilitation of addicts and alcoholics, and awarded them $10,000 Euros to further their work.
Pastor Valeriy reports: "The Most Excellent Way" ministry summed up the results of it's work in 2007: 812 people went through the rehabilitation program, 409 people now are in long remission, 148 people got married, 63 healthy children were born. The top capacity of the Christian Charity Centers is 160 people. It's possible for 640 people to pass through the rehabilitation program each year, if base time of rehabilitation is three months." Read more ... |
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"Ends of the Earth" ~ Dniprodzerzhinsk, UKRAINE
Missionary/Pastor John Townsend
Matthew 25v34-40 Ministries
Pastor John writes: "We have expanded our network in Ukraine to over 150 churches; we believe about 70 of them are sponsoring meetings based on The Most Excellent Way. Pastor Andrey Yarosh is my senior pastor for Communications and Logistics and is responsible for our network of churches in Ukraine. However, the Ukrainian Family Institute [UFI], based in Kiev, has been the biggest promoter of TMEW, thanks to the endorsements of Missionary/Drs. John and Ursula West. A majority of the churches in our network (and most of the active TMEW sponsors) are UFI affiliated churches."
INDIA ~ Guntur / Ponnur / Nidubrolu
Pastor John writes: "I discovered during my visit to our mission in India in May/June [2007] that there is almost no influence of drugs or alcohol in any of the families of the many churches in our mission. Pastor David Wilson said that within a few weeks of coming to faith in Christ, people are invariably delivered of all use of drugs, alcohol, and tobacco. In my visits to the churches, the people were truly wholly dedicated to their worship of the Lord in every aspect of their life. It was both humbling and exciting to observe. However, it raised the question of how "The Most Excellent Way" program is being used. This is the response I got from Pastor David:
"Brother, The Most Excellent Way program manual which we have translated into our language has been distributed to all our pastors (about 50) and congregations (about 30). As a team, we have performed the contents of the manual in street play and demonstrated consequences of consuming alcohol and drugs. Also we are distributing these copies in the churches of other denominations (the mission is working with 250 other pastors of other denominations), and they use it widely in their preaching. Because they feel that the contents of manual much help the youth to turn to God. We are very much thankful to Glenn Wright for giving this opportunity through this manual. We wish him to come out with more writings which will help the people to mend their lives. We also much praying and asking our Lord to provide good knowledge and strength in writings such useful messages."
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We look forward to encouraging you when our Lord leads you to minister to others in bondage to life-controlling sin with the Gospel of Jesus Christ and His love, acceptance and forgiveness! Please pray with us for all "The Most Excellent Way" ministries in "Jerusalem, Sumaria and Judea, and the ends of the earth." In these last days, may our Lord see us about our Father's business!
Love to you all in Jesus' Name!
Glenn & Judy Wright | |
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