Thanksgiving!

It's Thanksgiving in the US - a great tradition and holiday that I think we should start celebrating in Sweden as well. To once a year really reflect and thank God for all we have been given...

Thanksgiving or Thanksgiving Day, presently celebrated on the fourth Thursday in November, has been an annual tradition in the United States since 1863.

The First Thanksgiving was celebrated to give thanks to God for helping the pilgrims survive the brutal winter. The first Thanksgiving feast lasted three days providing enough food for 53 pilgrims and 90 Indians. The traditional Thanksgiving menu often features turkey, stuffing, sweet potatoes and pumpkin pie. (Wikipedia)

What if we could import the "Thanksgiving Concept from the US instead of all the terrible Halloween traditions that Sweden has swallowed as is... Why does the pure and clean have such a hard time to really root itself in Sweden?! Well, well... The Amritzer family do celebrate "Thanksgiving" pretty often really... Thank you God for 2009!

SOS Church Stockholm was born August 29th! Before this week is over we have baptized 19 people and maybe even 20 new believers in our little church plant. God is good!

SOS Launch from Mission SOS on Vimeo.

See ya!

Right Priorities at Christmas...

The Swede and immigrant is attacked brutally by Advent, Lucia and Christmas. The first attack has reached Stockholm, our nation's capital... Stress, shopping by guilt, hysteria and upset stomachs from all the "glögg" (Swedish Christmas cider) and gastritis from all the cookies and food - watch out friend ;). Lucia's blond hair will soon burn and Santa Claus will get stuck with his beard in the chimney if we're not careful ;)...

Have right priorities this Christmas, ok? We have all the positive alternatives you need in this stressed out season:

1) If you are planning on giving big, give a missions trip to Nepal or Tanzania to a family member or friend this Christmas! (Nepal in April and Tanzania in May).

Give a missions trip to someone this Christmas!

2) Buy the CD God of Miracles to all your friends this Christmas!

3) Invite non-Christian friends or collegues and seeker family members to SOS' Christmas Show in central Stockholm December 19-20!

4) Have homeless, immigrants, Muslims, Buddhists and Hindus over for Christmas eve or day!

5) Baptize in your tub, celebrate the Lord's Supper the days before New Years Eve, fast and pray and listen to what the Holy Spirit has to say about 2010!

Don't attend all the events you're invited to; Christmas concerts, craft evenings, lunches etc... Beware of all the Christmas food for many different good reasons ;). Beware of religious thinking that sneaks upon you in the traitorous light of burning candles... Everything that glimmers is not gold ;)...

The lonely and poor gypsy family in Haninge and Bagarmossen (suburbs in Stockholm) need you. Mohammed and Fatima usually don't celebrate Christmas - it could be their first together with you and your family!

See ya!

I Love Sundays!

Home in town again - great... I preached the message The Holy Spirit - the Lord of the Harvest yesterday (Sunday), four people prayed a salvation prayer and many asked God for new boldness to continue leading people to Christ and disciple Stockholmers. We shared the vision that SOS just agreed upon; to take the Gospel message to 30 people groups in ten years. 30 people groups 2010-2020! Another woman signed up to be baptized and will be baptized in the Svärnedal family's house church ASAP... We welcomed about 10 new members, yes, the church is doing great! I am enjoying being home again...

Soon I'm getting on the Metro to Kungsholmen for a "Fittness Day" with SOS School of Leadership, we will train hard at the Sportlife gym at Odenplan after morning prayer.

Ps. My daugther Alicia played three games of hand ball yesterday morning, her team won two and she scored in the third game!

See ya!

Reinhard Bonnke to SOS Church Stockholm!

On the first birthday for SOS Church Stockholm, August 29th 2010, we are celebrating big! We will host famous Evangelist Reinhard Bonnke! Reinhard Bonnke is the festival dad for the whole world, a living legend, especially in Africa where he has ministered for over forty years. Reinhard have preached for bigger crowds and won more for the Kingdom of God than any other particular evangelist throughout church history. His festivals, especially on the the African continent draw millions of people in a single service and litterally explodes with miracles, signs and great deeds when the Word is confirmed at the end of every mass meeting! Reinhard and his CfaN team live, breathes and runs with the vision of a Blood Washed Africa, and they are convinced that Africa Shall be Saved. Reinhard has received the mission from heaven to take the gospel about Jesus from Cape Town to Cairo! Today Reinhard is 69 years old and have preached the gospel for 50 years.

He will speak at the Pentecostal World Conference at the Philadelphia Church in Stockholm at the end of August and then he will come and preach at SOS Church with us Sunday August 29th! We will rent a big venue in Stockholm city and announce a miracle service. Complete focus on salvation and healing with SOS street preachers as "barkers" the entire weekend. We will fill the venue with seekers from Stockholm, Muslims and all nationalites and we are of course hoping for a lot of Africans!

Imagine that daddy Reinhard Bonnke is coming to us! We are so thankful to Jesus! We are happy as kids! God is good!

See ya!

For the Unreached...

Mission SOS in 150 sec from Mission SOS on Vimeo.

Allison Park Church and MCM

I just finished preaching a whole week in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania at Allison Park Church with some of my absolutely best friends, Jeff and Melodie Leake – great fun! Their church planting network is called MCM, with 15 churches of which 8 have been planted from the mother church, Allison Park Church. These daughter churches are all self sustaining, expanding and self governed churches. Allison Park Church will soon plant 2 new churches again, yes they have this aggressive and contagious pioneer attitude that we love so much in the SOS family... Many of our pastors and missionaries are regular guests at Jeff and Melodie's churches and we love to stay in their guest house and enjoy the fellowship with their people, the freedom and the joy that is present in their churches. Many newly saved and teaching that is sound and very practical with application points in daily life...

Every year Allison Park Church together with the MCM Network in Pittsburgh join us and hold a Signs & Wonders Festival among an unreached people group and stand with us in new church plants... We also run a school together (SOS and MCM) that produces unreached peoples missionaries and American church planters in every graduated class.

Melodie och Jeff Leake...

Pastor Jeff Leake will visit SOS Mission Bible College and SOS Church in Stockholm in the beginning of February next year! Pastor Jeff will teach for a week at our college, coach all our leaders in the church on a Saturday and then end up by preaching at our Sunday celebration! It will be “luxury treatment” for all of us at home in Stockholm!

This weekend we prayed with close to 60 people to salvation (48 are being follow-up) in both the mother church as well as one of the church plants that I visited for a service on Friday night. This morning around 20 people were baptized in the Holy Spirit and began to speak in new tongues at the end of the second service – Hallelujah! Many shared that they had been healed through words of knowledge – Jesus has been so close!

This Saturday I had the privilege together with Pastor Jeff to teach 250 leaders from Allison Park and the church plants on how to flow in the gifts of the Spirit – We tag team taught. Yes... we so enjoy being together!

Tomorrow Monday I will enjoy a day off and then I will continue to teach at the Ministry School on Tuesday and Wednesday. After that I fly home to Stockholm, my family and the church on Thursday...

See ya!

Know the Tree by its Fruit...

In His famous sermon on the mount, Jesus said:

By their fruit you will recognize them.

Matt 7:16a

Stop for a minute and ask yourself; -what kind of fruit does my life bear? What am I producing?

The fruit says something about

1) who you are, what kind of tree, ie your calling and identity. The fruit also says something about
2) the quality, ie bad or good fruit.
3) The fruit says something about the quantity - how much fruit do I bear?

The question needs to be asked now and then... Maria and I evaluate and analyze our lives two times every year. It's important to check with one another, dare to make changes, prune, water, fertilize and maybe even replant the tree sometimes.

-Who am I?
-Does my life have quality?
-Am I as effective as I can be?

Jesus wants us to bear much fruit. Read John 15:1-16. Jesus wants us to be the best possible stewards of our talents (giftings, calling). Read Matt 15:14-30.

Concluding prayer;

Jesus - I love you!
Work with me. Change me.
I want to bear rich fruit for your kingdom!
Amen