Happy Thanksgiving from Greater Reach Ministries!

"Let us come before His presence with thanksgiving, Let us shout joyfully to Him with psalms." Psalm 95:2

The Greater Reach Ministries Staff would like to wish everyone a happy, blessed and safe Thanksgiving.

May God bless you as you joyfully remember the many ways He has blessed you this year.

The office will be closed on Thanksgiving day and the day after so that we can be home with our families. We are always available by email!

With Great Joy!

Kristin, Alyssa and Tracey

Book Accolades

Who Do You Think You Are? has traveled the globe and the country since February. It's landed in the hands of ministry leaders in the Middle East, Eastern Europe, Norway, Africa, and several states in the U.S.
It's also making a debut in the Baker & Taylor Fall Catalog, Amazon, and is soon to hit the Barnes & Noble online store!
Small group leaders around the U.S. are also using the book as a women's small group study.

Now that several people have had a chance to read this life changing book, here are a few accolades (names in the testimonials are protected):

"Larry used part of Kristin’s book today dealing with our topic, Spiritual Gifts in our class. Kristin’s experience with someone telling her they saw her as having the gift of teaching when she couldn’t believe it, was helpful to one of the women (S) in our group who has been struggling with not wanting to do any more teaching, even though she is a blessing when she does it. Another woman (L) who also does some teaching in the women’s ministry shared that she is always so nervous to do it and that maybe her false belief that she must please others to feel secure, was actually a barrier to her using her spiritual gift. That made (S) decide to rethink the conclusion she had come to about not teaching anymore. So Kristin’s book is helping our Hispanic sisters in (Texas). Tell her thanks! I had thought we had lost (S) as a teacher for sure. Now maybe there is hope." From Marcy in TX

"Oh my goodness, God is good. I have to tell you this story. Long ago when I was in the original class the book came out and I bought one for my friend in NM and mailed it to her. (Actually, it was so long ago I don’t even remember doing this!) She was going through a separation after 20 years of marriage (real traditional - straight from parents house to her husbands’), had just finished an MBA, wasn’t enjoying her job, was really at a loss for her passion in life. I guess I thought she’d love the book as much as I did! So like most busy working women, she has a large stack of books on her night side table that she means to get to one day, and just picked your book up this week. She called me THIS MORNING to tell me how much your book has meant to her. Apparently she ran to your website and learned about your class, starting in Nov. She said, “Can you ask her if she would let me know if she ever decided to do a retreat-style weekend workshop for this class instead of an 8-week program?” She said she would fly into town for that in a heartbeat." Karen from Phoenix, AZ

In addition to these, I'm sure you've seen the passionate Liberian
woman speak about the book in a previous blog post by now. We'll be sure to
keep you updated on the latest voyages of Who Do You Think You Are? AND
Please let us know what you hear too!

Romania Recap

(video: Dr. Beasley teaching in Romania with translator)

Our Romania team returned on Tuesday evening from their week long trip to Arad, Romania where they taught women at a conference. The conference attendees included church planter's wives, ministry leaders and those who want to begin women's ministry in their churches. Workshops ranged in topic from 'Conflict Resolution' to 'How To Take Care of Yourself', a greatly needed topic for women in Romania.

As many of you know, this was a Pilot Program to pave the way for our Global Training Institute for Women that we plan to launch in Eastern Europe during Fall 2011. The team received positive feedback about their teaching and time in Romania. Here are some comments from our Romanian ministry partner, Daniela Pribac:

"All the responses to this Pilot Program are extremely positive, all the women felt enriched, encouraged and equipped on a personal level and also for the ministry they are involved in. We were all blessed and glad by your presence, the way you interacted with the women and by your teaching which helped women realize how important it is to be equipped to be able to equip others. And thus Acts 1:8 be realized also through the ministry we do together multiplying what God invested in us."

Thanks to those of you who came alongside to pray and financially support this particular trip! God provided further confirmation for us on this trip as we develop our GTI plans. We continue to prayerfully plan and dream to accomplish a big vision for God's Kingdom. Please pray along with us for God to provide our needs for this project.

U.S. Team Members: Kristin Beasley, Rosanne Burck, Simone Lake and Caye Siller

Romania Here We Come!

Kristin, Fred, Caye, Simone and Rosanne are all preparing to leave the country for a women's training weekend they are leading in Romania. The trip is from September 27-October 6th. We would covet your prayers for health, travel mercy and effective ministry to Romanian women.

The Master's Jewels GRM Awareness Dinner Video

Here is a short video that captures the essence of our annual Awareness Dinner that was held this past Saturday night. Dr. Barry Asmus was the guest speaker and delivered a timely message about how the distressed state of women around the world deeply impacts us all. David Hone, Ian Thomson and Christina Thomson lead us in worship and Shannon Cox was the charming emcee for the evening. We are so grateful to Cheryl Savoie for her decorations and to Alyssa Spitale, Mary Hone and Caye Siller for helping to bring the evening together. God was honored as the new vision for GRM was revealed. What an exciting night!

Who Do You Think You Are? in Liberia!

Recently, one of our former class members, Cathy, brought several copies of Who Do You Think You Are? along with her on her mission trip to Liberia. View this video for what Yvon had to say about it.

Discover Simple, Private Sharing at Drop.io

Fall Romania Mission

God has called GRM to again serve the women in Romania.

As you recall, last year we hosted approximately 57 women at their first ever retreat.

This year, our team of 4 will be introducing the women to the

Global Training Institute for Women.

Kristin, Simone, Rosanne and Caye will be presenting a condensed version of the 3 year curriculum that is under development.

Kristin and Caye are very comfortable with the Romanian culture, but this will be a new and exciting experience for Simone and Rosanne. Please keep the entire team in your prayers for safe travels, protected health and adequate financial support as they follow God’s calling across the world.

Kristin RosanneSimoneCaye

The Master's Jewels

The annual GRM Awareness Dinner has been scheduled for Saturday, September 18th on the campus of Scottsdale Bible Church. The invitations have been mailed (many sincere thanks to Hannah for a wonderful job of designing them!) and have you received yours? If not, call the office and we’ll get one out to you right away!

Cheryl Savoie, GRM Board Member, is heading up a team of dedicated and talented volunteers who are preparing decorations, programs and an all-around exciting evening geared at glorifying God through the work at GRM.

If a good dinner and great fellowship is not enough to entice you to join us, remember that Dr. Barry Asmus is our keynote speaker. Dr. Asmus is a Senior Economist with the National Center for Policy Analysis. The NCPA promotes private sector, market-based solutions. Dr. Asmus has been speaking to audiences in the U.S. and the world for over twenty-five years.

See you there!

What Can We Do?

She smiled at me with a deep penetrating smile, her eyes communicating resolve, peace and conviction. She said, “Jesus is worth it all.” This woman knew what she was talking about. Having been raised in Nazareth in a Muslim family, she was discontent with what she was told about God and who she was and she was searching for spiritual truth. She was empty. So as a young woman she read the Koran and then read the Bible and decided that she could no longer follow the tenets of Islam. When her father discovered she had become a Christian, he had a heart attack. Then her family disowned her, threw her out of the house and she had to flee to another city. So alone, single, she forged a new life in Christ, a life that to this day experiences death threats because of her faith. Yet, she is at peace with her decision, counting “all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus…” as her Lord (Phil. 3:8).
In the context of my teaching and training ministry I have the high privilege of serving women like this one in many different cultures. (In just the last two months I have been in 6 different countries.) However, it is often true that I find myself being equally motivated by the very women I am helping. This woman, unnamed for her protection, inspired me with her sacrificial, no holds barred, radical faith, a faith I aspire to. There we were, sitting in a hotel in Jerusalem, while busloads of tourists filed by. It all seemed so unreal. But while other memories of that trip will fade, what I know I will never forget is the fire in her eyes and the intensity of her voice when she talked about reaching her world for Christ, a world filled with miserable veiled women, many of whom have the same spiritual hunger this young woman had. And she needs help. She is only one of two Christian women ministering to other women in Jerusalem. “I need help training and mentoring the many women coming to Christ,” She said. I think to myself, “What can I do?”
I met this Muslim convert in April. Fast forward one month. Now I am sitting in Romania with a group of women who want me to come and help them to grow in their faith. One woman says she wants to understand what God has left her on earth for. She tearfully said in front of the group, “I have a job, I have enough money, but I am empty inside. I want to understand how you have found what you have.” Here were two different women, from very different worlds, both with needs. This woman touched me with her vulnerability and deep desire for answers. I thought to myself again, “what can I do?”
What are you to do? How do you respond to and help the women next door to you, or in your church? Some of them are keenly aware of their spiritual needs. Many of them are from other cultures. And many of them feel empty, lonely, undervalued, less than. As our world becomes increasingly diverse and complex, where cultures and individuals from different cultures interact with each other more and more often, what are we to do? We can’t become experts in so many different cultures. We can’t learn all the languages. But we can understand what the Bible says about the Christ who came to redeem and the universality of the longings of our hearts. We can learn to know the real God, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the God of Esther, Deborah and Sarah. And we can learn what He says to us as women, about our value and identity. God’s Word transcends culture. But we must know what it says.
We not only need to understand what the Bible says, we also must live it out in our own lives. Women everywhere long to see God’s truth fleshed out in other women. You don’t have to travel far to discover this truth. Women want hope! They want to be inspired to be all that God designed them to be. And that happens through the context of relationship. We must be willing to let others, Christian and non-Christian, know us and humbly allow ourselves to be role models. Let me tell you: women are watching you and they will not be willing to hear what you say until you demonstrate the truth of what you are saying through your life.
Finally, I think we need to be willing to go wherever God calls us to go (and do whatever God calls us to do). I honestly don’t get up in the morning thinking about the next place I can go. I am a homebody. But I can’t sit home while women around the world are crying for help to understand the truth that will set them free. God has given us “pearls of great price”. How can we not want to share our wealth with others? May we learn the Truth, live the Truth and be willing to go to share the truth wherever He leads. A love as amazing as God’s love, demands our soul, our lives, our all.

News from the Middle East

Hello everyone! Where do I begin? In the last 10 days I have been to Cairo, Egypt, and seen the pyramids and met with believers from the largest church in the Middle East, been to Petra, Jordan, met with believers in Zarqa and Amman, been to Nazareth, Bethlehem and Jerusalem. Everywhere you go in this part of the world, you see the footprints of our Lord. He is everywhere, His People are everywhere. Forget what you read in the paper: God is at work here and many are coming to know Him.
I met with one Egyptian woman who felt the leading of God to start a ministry to women in Cairo in her home ... because so many women there have been abused. She and her husband now minister to 50 + families ... and their ministry is growing.
What I will not forget is the fire in the eyes and intensity of the speech of the Arab Christians when they talk about reaching their world for Christ. They risk everything for Christ and they count it a privilege. They are an inspriation to me!

Spring Travels

Spring is upon us and with it comes two very exciting trips. I am going with a small team of people to the Middle East next week - we will be exploring new ministry opportunities in several countries, building new friendships and nurturing friendships we already have. I plan to take my book with me and know it will be an encouragement to the women there who so desperately need encouraging.

Then in May I will be going to Budapest, Hungary for the European Leadership Conference, with a weekend stop in Romania to plan our fall trip there. I am also looking forward to the one day Women's Leadership Summit that is part of the conference. Plan to do lots of networking, book in hand. It is a thrill to hear the positive comments from women who are reading "Who Do You Think You Are?"

One woman writes: "I have already read 7 chapters and can't wait to read the rest of the book-thank you does not seem adequate!"

It is a privilege to serve the Lord through Greater Reach Ministries. To God be the glory! Happy Easter! Kristin

Book Review

Book review by Rosanne Burck

Book: Who Do You Think You Are?
Author: Dr. Kristin Beasley with Jodi Carlson

Just be yourself! Be true to who you are! Be the real you!

Voices come at us from every angle with this message. But, as a female and a Christian, who am I, really? And who has had input into my definition of who I am? Women of all ages around the world are confused about this. We know this as we see young women in the U.S. attempting to emulate the sex-drenched images of our culture while attempting to “act like men” in the workplace. Women in the Middle East and other parts of the world are silenced and shrouded in attempts to deny their very existence as females. Women everywhere are in desperate need of God’s truth.

Dr. Kristin Beasley, in her newly released book, “Who Do You Think You Are?”, presents liberating answers about who God created each woman to be. As Dr. Norman Wakefield, Professor Emeritus of Phoenix Seminary states on the book’s back cover, “This book is grounded in biblical truth and wisdom that touches the heart.”

I found this book of 10 chapters to be very enjoyable, but thought-provoking, reading. In Part One, Dr. Beasley begins with an assessment of the many distorted views of womanhood in society, culture and religions to show us how many women are living with a wrong or incomplete view of their value. Part Two presents truth about women’s significance in a way I have never seen presented before – how each Person of the Triune God “answers one of your three core needs as a woman.” Part Three is application – what to do with the truth discovered in Part Two so women can take hold of their God-given uniqueness and serve Him.

The back of the book contains reflection questions that can be used for personal study or with small groups. Pick up this book today for yourself, your ministry team, your daughters and the other women in your life. You will not be disappointed!
You can buy it directly from Greater Reach Ministries to support their vision to reach out across the world to lift up women and touch them with a message of hope that inspires and equips them to be all that God made them to be.

Book Signing Brunch: You're Invited

Books Now On Sale

Everyone has an opinion about who you are. You do, too. But what if all are mistaken?

The time is now to hear the truth—God’s truth. He proves your priceless value and defines your unique identity in three distinct ways. Each wields the power to change you forever, from the inside out. With your consent, of course.

Are you ready to become the true you—the real you? With biblical wisdom, current research, and firsthand stories, Dr. Kristin Beasley helps you answer that one nagging question with resounding clarity.

Who Do You Think You Are?
Good News about Your Identity

Order your copy online today on our website.

(Prices listed include shipping)

COMING SOON

We're pleased to announce the release of our first ministry resource. Look for purchase options and book signing events from us in March 2010.

Multiplying Our Message

Class is back in session today as Dr. Kristin Beasley and Caye Siller co-teach the class, Who Do You Think You Are? for 18 more women over the next 8 weeks. Not only does this equate to Greater Reach communicating the truth of a woman's identity to more people, but GRM hopes to multiply through these women.

As a result of the last two classes taught, God has begun to open doors into other churches to teach women and has allowed us to teach the material to a small group. Other women who have taken the class feel more empowered to serve in their area of gifting, and others are thinking up ways to reach more women with the message of their truest identity.

We look forward with great anticipation that which the Lord will choose to do with this group of women as they discover the truth about who they really are. Not to mention, we at Greater Reach enjoy the opportunity to build more relationships with women of all ages and stages of life through the class.
Please pray for Kristin and Caye as they teach and for this new group of women as they learn and grow in the Truth.