OIM has been commissioned to reach, teach, encourage, and disciple the Israel of God to return wholly to Him in spirit, soul, and body in order to better serve in the work of His Kingdom.

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SAT FEB 06	Apostolic Scripture Reflection for Yitro
FRI FEB 05	TorahScope: Yitro
WED FEB 03	Wednesday Night Bible Study

JANUARY 2010
OIM NEWS

JANUARY 2010

20/20 Vision for the Coming Decade

Usually the commencement of a new year prompts many individuals, families, and organizations to make resolutions, plans, and projections for the coming twelve months. This is wise because as an old adage goes, “If you fail to plan, then you plan to fail!” It has always been our family and ministry practice to take some time during the end of the calendar year to assess not only where we are in terms of accomplishing our current goals and objectives, but also where we are headed for the coming year. This year is somewhat different, because in another far too short ten years, it will be the year 2020 C.E. We are beseeching the Lord for a strong, clear, and normal 20/20 vision for our next decade of ministry as we seek to follow His leading!

With the much anticipated new decade upon us, we are not only planning projects and activities for the coming year, but also plans far beyond for what will be an era of significant spiritual maturation and growth for the Messianic community of faith we joyfully serve. The Outreach Israel Ministries (OIM) mission statement continues to guide and focus our efforts to help others to grow in their faith and callings, that they might be about the Father’s eternal business in their lives:

Outreach Israel Ministries has been commissioned to reach, teach, encourage, and disciple the Israel of God to return wholly to Him in spirit, soul, and body in order to better serve in the work of His Kingdom.

For over seven years, our ministry has principally used the Outreach Israel and TNN Online websites to efficiently and effectively reach out to the broad Messianic community scattered around the globe. This readily accessible venue has allowed us to teach loving, balanced, and scholarly Bible studies, Torah commentaries, and topical issues to subscribers and visitors without charge (both written and recorded). Additionally, we have stimulated thousands to study and participate in the Biblical Feasts and holidays through our Virtual series of exhortations sent freely at the appropriate season. Moreover, as opportunities present themselves, we have had the privilege of instructing Messianic Believers through more intimate contact, with personal visits, telephone calls, and simple e-mail correspondence.

It is our family’s conviction and understanding that if people sincerely desire to walk with the Lord and live as Yeshua lived, then they need to be whole in spirit, soul, and body. This will enable them to be empowered, living vessels, for the Holy Spirit to use for all the work of service in God’s Kingdom on Earth. To help people achieve those goals and fulfill God’s plan for their lives, we have dedicated our lives to ministry. We thank and praise the Holy One for the privilege to serve Him wholeheartedly!

But before informing you of some of our plans, it is prudent to remember some of the opening verses of Proverbs 16, which communicate two important principles that should be applied when contemplating or making any future plans. Foremost of these is, “Commit your works to the Lord and your plans will be established” (Proverbs 16:3). Then, contritely recognize that “the mind of man plans his way, but the Lord directs his steps” (Proverbs 16:9). Without reservation, we humbly and willfully choose to commit our works to the Lord, realizing that He alone can establish our plans as He directs our steps. May His will be done in all that we endeavor to do in the coming year and decade to come!

I have to admit that even if you might be blessed with 20/20 vision, it is challenging to look ahead ten years. Just think back ten years and consider all of the changes that have taken place in the world and in the Messianic community since Y2k. How easy or difficult would it have been to foresee the things that have occurred within the Messianic movement? Rather than go several years into the future, we will just look at this year, and some of the plans we have that will naturally expand our current ministry efforts into the 2010s.

What we have already been doing will continue. Our standard weekly routine of offering an almost daily regimen of various Bible teachings, Torah commentaries, the Wednesday Night Bible Study, and periodic FAQ postings and McHuey Blogs, will remain available. The seasonal Virtual series around the Biblical holidays is also going to move ahead. Of course, there is a great deal of work that goes into our providing these things for you. There is a daily discipline of preparing and writing these consistent studies, which have been produced to be available for not only the present, but also future audiences. Every year, we each have different writing projects in various stages of production. This year, John will make his current Acts 15 study on the Jerusalem Council available as a part of our Practical Messianic series, and the Wednesday Night Bible Study itself will be moving ahead later with a lengthy examination of the Pastoral Epistles (1&2 Timothy, Titus). I will be finishing up various writing projects associated with my TorahScope commentaries, including work on the Haftarah Exhortations and Apostolic Scripture Reflections. I have also gotten a head start on some TorahScope Daily Devotionals for the next cycle!

Our big, ongoing project is the TNN Press Book Printing endeavor, especially given all of the titles we have, needing to be delicately proofed and prepared for paperback production. It is our goal in 2010 to see between ten and twelve titles produced. Much of this will be contingent on having the proper amount of funding available, independent from our normal operating expenses. Something new, that we have just added to our regimen, is the start of our Outreach Israel and TNN Online Wednesday Night Study podcast links on iTunes. Those of you who have an Apple iPod or iPhone, or who use the iTunes application, can now receive our weekly studies automatically downloaded! There is no doubt that the technological progress in the coming decade will be extraordinary. We plan to utilize the hi-tech advances, so that as the ubiquitous broadcasting of information as knowledge increases (cf. Daniel 12:4), we can use the available tools to promote our balanced and fair-minded Messianic message.

As time moves ahead, especially with this new decade, we would like you to know just a little about some of the longer term plans for our ministry. Since the Spring of 2005, Margaret’s (now) 91-year old mother was relocated to a retirement community up in Jacksonville. Throughout the year, we make many periodic visits up to see her, as well as Margaret’s sister and brother-in-law in Orange Park. For the past few years, because of these frequent visits, we have had a distinct spiritual prompting to relocate closer to family. We have brought our requests before the Lord about moving, but recognized that the time would have to be right, especially with various goals in the interim that would need to be achieved. Most especially, there have been practical considerations regarding Maggie finishing up high school, and John finishing up his master’s degree, that we have needed to make.

This past year, John finally completed his M.A. in Biblical Studies at Asbury Theological Seminary here in Orlando. This is no small degree, and at his graduation he even received the Zondervan Biblical Languages award for Greek. This year, Maggie will be graduating from Osceola High School, having been blessed as a leader of both the National Honor Society and Fellowship of Christian Athletes. We are all very excited that Maggie has been accepted into the University of Oklahoma on the Navy ROTC scholarship program! Next year we will all have to salute her. Even if it might seem that we have had to delay some of our ministry plans, waiting on the Lord has definitely paid forth some great dividends. We want to really be prepared for the next stage that He has for us, and that includes letting these two young people complete their educational goals.

We will have a busy year ahead as we get Maggie established in college. It is also our plan that within the next year, we will be placing our home on the market, praying that the right buyer will come at the right time for the right price. Within the next eighteen months or so, Outreach Israel Ministries should be relocated to the greater Jacksonville area. We will be much closer to our family, and we will be able to do some things that our current location in Kissimmee prevents us from doing.

We have known for the past four to five years that at the right time, our ministry will need to plant its own Messianic faith community, as a reflection of our distinct Messianic approach. As an educational ministry, we do need to be able to put into practice many of the things that we write about—with direct oversight and administration. We have also known that this is not something that we should do in the greater Orlando area, given some of the close ministry relationships we have developed. We want to be in an area far away from where we currently live, and where a new Messianic congregation is probably needed. We have some “experimental” ideas for a Messianic community that only we can see implemented. And while within the next decade our congregational plant may become the primary outreach venue of Outreach Israel Ministries, there are no plans to discontinue doing what we have already been doing. In fact, with the efficiency of technology, if you are not in the greater Jacksonville area, you are still bound to benefit by future live streaming services and congregational events.

As we consider just a few of these things up ahead on the not too distant horizon, perhaps now you might better understand why our family is looking forward to the next year and coming decade with great joy and anticipation. The cloud appears to be lifting and the pillar of fire looks like it is flickering with new gusts of wind. Personally, I almost feel like Jacob must have felt when he knew that the seven years of labor were nearing completion, and his beloved Rachel would be his (Genesis 29:20), or when a Hebrew slave in his sixth year of work anticipates the seventh year release (Exodus 21:2), or when the debtor anxiously anticipates the year of Jubilee arriving (Leviticus 25:54).

Realistically, with 2010 already here, the year 2020 will arrive much sooner than any of us want it to come. As we each get older, the years go by even faster, and we will see the end of another decade. Nevertheless, with the benefit of wisdom acquired by aging, we are anticipating the next ten years to be filled with the normal challenges that are to be expected in the hard work of ministry. We expect our efforts to be approved by the Holy One of Israel, as we strive to see a mature and useful Messianic movement emerge for His service.

There will be times of joy and times of sorrow in the years ahead. Some of the people we know and love will not be with us in 2020. But the most important thing is that we choose to run the race of life with steady endurance, having our eyes—hopefully with 20/20 vision—constantly fixed upon Yeshua (Hebrews 12:1c-2a). Please join with us in prayer, so that our works will be honored, as the Lord establishes our plans and He directs our steps! We desire to proclaim a consistent message, so that all may come to know Messiah Yeshua as Savior, and grow into all of the things that they can be in Him.

Until the restoration of all things…

Mark Huey

2010 EDITIONS OF OIM NEWS:
January: The Coming Decade - PDF

2009 EDITIONS OF OIM NEWS:
December: Why We Should Celebrate Chanukah - PDF
November: Our Messianic Future - PDF
October: Is God's Purpose Bigger? - PDF
September: Yeshua's Second Coming in Relation to the Fall Appointed Times - PDF
August: In Awe of the God We Trust - PDF
July: God's "Mah Tovu" Requirements - PDF
June: Serving the Gospel - PDF
May: Measuring and Finding Faith - PDF
April: Cross Graining - PDF
March: Passover: Paradox or Outreach? - PDF
February: The Message of Esther - PDF
January: Change Happens - PDF

2008 EDITIONS OF OIM NEWS:
December: Power, Love, and a Sound Mind to Finish the Race - PDF
November: The Ongoing Journey - PDF
October: In Whom Do You Trust? - PDF
September: The Messianic Marathon - PDF
August: Prophets for Hire - PDF
July: It's Going to be a Wild Summer! - PDF
June: Delighting Our Heavenly Father - PDF
May: Maturing Multitasking - PDF
April: Accountability - PDF
March: The Spirit of Hope - PDF
February: How Are We to Live As Modern Messianics? - PDF
January: Being Messianic in a Post-Christian World - PDF

TORAHSCOPE TEACHINGS:
Yitro (PDF) 02.05.2010
B'Shalach (PDF) 01.29.2010
Bo (PDF) 01.22.2010
V'eira (PDF) 01.15.2010
Shemot (PDF) 01.08.2010
V'yechi (PDF) 01.01.2010
V'yigash (PDF) 12.25.2009
Mikkeitz (PDF) 12.18.2009
V'yeishev (PDF) 12.11.2009
V'yishlach (PDF) 12.04.2009
V'yeitzei (PDF) 11.27.2009
Toldot (PDF) 11.20.2009
Chayei Sarah (PDF) 11.13.2009
V'yeira (PDF) 11.06.2009
Lekh-Lekha (PDF) 10.30.2009
Noach (PDF) 10.23.2009
Bereisheet (PDF) 10.16.2009