From the Desk of James W. Goll
I want to thank each of you who personally wrote in with your warm and positive feedback from my last personal communiqué as I reflected on life Six Months Later. Yes, our family and this ministry, like yours, is a work in progress and I am trying to navigate this ship through some turbulent waters. That is one of the reasons that your support and friendship mean a great deal to me and my family as well as everyone at Encounters Network particularly in this season.
This week’s communiqué is once again rather personal in nature. I have been asked by many around the nations, how things really are going on the practical end of things. So I felt that it would be good to continue to give you “An Inside Look” at some of the challenges and changes we are embracing in this transitional season. Following my thoughts are some statements from a few close friends and leaders in the body of Christ that they were willing to share with you concerning myself and EN.
Remember, Compassion Acts will be partnering with First Nations leaders for another outreach to the Cherokee Nation in Oklahoma on April 24 and 25th. We need to raise $10,000 to cover this important outreach including humanitarian aid to our nation’s most unreached people group. >>Click Here<< to
contribute to this great cause.
Also remember in prayer Dreamer’s Park to be built in Pemba, Mozambique in memory Michal Ann Goll this September 2009. We still need to raise a considerable amount of finances as well for this Compassion Acts project. >>Click Here<< to contribute to this project.
So, sit down, get another cup of tea while you read this week’s A View from My Chair...Perhaps your heart will be moved to action as you get an insider’s look.
Thanks for your friendship, prayers and on going support of the ministry of EN, CA and Prayer Storm.
In Christ Jesus our Lord!
James W. Goll
Click to Play or download: The Great Transfer of Wealth
This message was captured at our EN Leadership gathering in 2008. In it Che Ahn, the senior pastor of Harvest Rock Church in Pasadena, Ca, shares on the insight the Lord has given him concerning the Great Transfer of Wealth that he believes will take place in the church.
Downloading Instructions:
To download these files "Click" on the Session title (colored in blue). This will open a dialogue box where you can save this file to your computer for future use or simply play it. By downloading these files rather than playing them through you media player in your browser window, more people will be able to access these each month without any additional cost to Encounters Network.
|
An Inside Look
by James W. Goll
People look at the date of September 15, 2008 as a demarcation on the national economic scene. That was a pivotal day in the global economic community. Well, that just happens to be the same date that Michal Ann left this planet and exchanged her weak body for a glorified one. As I have often said, “A Lady knows when to enter a room and a lady knows when to exit!” But my life and ministry has been turned upside down ever since. I am left musing, praying and a lot of reorganizing.
Let’s see, I have had to learn how to wash my clothes, pay bills, grocery shop, cook, feed the horses, feed the birds, and communicate with in-laws and a whole lot of other things. A lot of these things I have not done in years. I have to learn to do a dialogue and not just a monologue with my kids. I have to learn to listen at times and not just fix things. I do not know how to do this – mom did this stuff. But He is teaching me one hard step at a time. Hey, I have even gone to a movie by myself and it was okay!
I was spoiled and did not know it. I have to learn to be content as a widower and have safe-guards around me on the road at all times. I still wear my wedding ring for two reasons: 1) To help keep the predators away and 2) Because I am not ready to take it off yet. One day, I guess I will, but that day has not come yet. I still love and miss my Annie…. I still shed some tears almost everyday…. I wonder when it will stop. But when you love, dude, it is an issue of the heart.
The heart is the most amazing organ of the entire body. It has four chambers that receive and pump blood throughout the body. But it does a whole lot more than that. The heart is the seat of emotions. The heart has the capacity to love, laugh, be broken, shut down, and even bounce back. The heart is the place where Jesus in the power of the Holy Spirit takes up His residency. Yes, to me the heart is the most amazing organ of the body.
I have a whole lot more empathy today for people who have gone through trauma, loss, divorce, issues of abandonment – the list goes on and on. All I know is, I am first and foremost a heart person. I know I could shut my heart down, live out of my mind and still have a semi-successful, professional career like a lot of people do. But how boring would that be! I am speaking to my heart to live again. I am telling my heart to worship God. I cherish the Lord's presence and I must live from the heart – though it hurts a lot to do so at times.
The Gentle, the Rude and the Great Awakening
For over ten years, I have taught about what I have called the Gentle, the Rude and the Great Awakening that was coming worldwide. Well, from A View from Chair, I feel we have stepped over the threshold into the beginnings of the Rude Awakening. Some prophets call it the Perfect Storm. As the prophetic scriptures teach, everything that can be shaken will be shaken. Ultimately, this will all be used for the Greatest Spiritual Awakening the world has ever seen. But this is one rough ride we are all on right now and it might just be beginning. It is a time when we need the Lord’s intervention and a time when we need each other.
In my world, a little bit of everything has already been shaken. I know that I am walking through another parable for the Body of Christ. I have told the Lord if He would only tell me what the parable is – then maybe I could walk through it a little better. Then after about a month of whining to the Lord about this, our Father whispered a word of perspective. He shared with me, “You know, my Son never interpreted the parables until He was through telling them.” That is all I heard but that was enough. When I have completed living this current parabolic season of my life – then, and not till then, will I be able to give a full and complete, clear interpretation of it. Of course, I have many hints of what it is all about…. And you might also…. But let’s leave that for now.
On the Practical Side
Personally, I lost more than just my wife and mother of our four children. I lost my friend, my ministry partner and co-conspirator in Christ. As Rick Joyner stated in an e-mail to me recently, Michal Ann’s passing was “a great loss for the body of Christ”. Indeed, that is a true statement.
Practically speaking, I also lost an entire income stream to our family. My wife traveled the nation speaking at conferences and doing humanitarian work around the world. That income stream to my family is frankly gone. Not only that – but from the time of her death on – we had a 25 - 35% drop in income to EN which resulted in having to borrow $35,000 the month of December just to make ends meet. I have never done anything like that in my 34 years of full time vocational ministry.
We depleted our ministry's Emergency Fund and had to take money from our ministry savings just to pay bills. We had to empty the Medical Mercy Fund and that also needs to be rebuilt now as. We have around $45,000 in unpaid bills on top of all of that. We have always paid everything off month by month. But not now….
As a ministry we have now laid off 5 people (we have a small staff to begin with), we have lost many of our monthly contributors, and many who once gave to our Medical Mercy Fund just stopped giving period and did not redirect their giving to our General Encounters Network Fund as we had kindly suggested they do. Our Resource Sales – which was growing each year and was our ministry’s largest income stream – just flat lined over the past several months.
It will bounce back and we will bounce back – yes, we will! We will, “Never, Never, Never, Never Give Up!” as the last word from Michal Ann said. >>Click here<< to see the communiqué called The Last Words of Michal Ann Goll to read the full story.
With all that we have gone through as a family: medical issues, Rehab Units, Emergency Rooms, treatments for both of us at Oasis of Hope, 4 kids in college, things insurance did not pay for and so much more – we personally went close to $200,000 in the hole over a 2 - 3 year period. This was not mismanagement on our part – it was a crisis!
Some of you have been hit hard also. I do not know your story, but there are many such stories that exist today. I do not mean to create a negative, fatalistic atmosphere either. I honestly have not felt led of the Lord until now to go public with you about the toll these past few years have taken on our ministry and family. I even do this now with prayerful discretion. But I have been encouraged recently by some national level leaders to communicate up front with you. I am getting good financial advice as well as personal healing counsel. I have recently sold two cars, refinanced my house and property so I could pay off my personal bills, cut back on a number of expenses – and that is all just family household stuff.
Rebuilding with a Future in Mind
I have to rebuild on every front. We must rebuild with a future in mind. Michal Ann and I were partners. Half of my team is gone now. So we are now putting in place phase one of an EN Management Team made up of leaders who have functional authority in a particular area of ministry. Right now that consists of myself as the Senior Leader and Director of PrayerStorm, Jeffrey Thompson as Managing Director of EN, Mark Roye as the Director of Compassion Acts and John Mark Rodgers and the Facilitator of the EN Alliance. We will add some consultants to this fluid group of leaders as things unfold. Our Board of Directors of EN and the Leadership Council for Compassion Acts all stay in tact as they are for this period of time. So we are making slow progress.
And yes, I still have a 2.1inch by 1.1 inch growth also behind my stomach with active cancer in it. I need to take care of myself if we are going to build with a future in mind. God have mercy! And yes, He is, He has and He will. Thank the Lord for a few kind-hearted and generous souls and ministries who have stepped to the plate to help us in this hour of testing and tribulation. You know who you are. Thank you so very much! But we are far from regaining our footing. Though we are working on it inch by inch!
Frankly, it is enough to deal with the grief of losing my wife, but I have been forced to deal with issues on many fronts all at the same time. I have never been so stretched in all my life – it seems more like a meltdown than anything else. I have never had so much loss to deal with all at the same time – never in my 56 years. At times it has flat out been over whelming. But then there is God. The EN ship is not going down – though we are releasing an SOS call at this time.
In spite of all of this, we are moving forward in our vision for Encounters Network, Compassion Acts and PrayerStorm. We will not let the devil steal our vision or our praise. In the midst of it all, we will praise the Lord! Yes, we will praise the Lord! Somehow, some way – I yet believe, the Best Is Yet to Come!
Would you pray with us and see how you are to partner with us so we can rebuild and move forward into the future? Well, that’s another View from My Chair. God Bless You!
Thanks for Praying and Caring!
James W. Goll
An Appeal from Various Leaders
Greetings in the Name of the Messiah!
James Goll and the ministry of Encounters Network is being used mightily in the Nashville area as well as around the world to ignite passion for the Lord, to challenge the people of God to press into the heart of God through the Spirit, keeping Jesus central, and, honoring God's host people of the world, our Jewish family. James has close relational ties to Jewish leaders all over the world who have come to faith in Jesus as Messiah.
Through all of the trials that this dear family and ministry have endured, James has continued to be accountable to others and to press on in the Lord. We love Him deeply. It is quite remarkable that at this time in the midst of great sorrow over the absence of Michal Ann, that the Lord has continued to place His favor on James and this vital ministry. With this in mind, I ask you to prayerfully consider contributing to this vital and fruitful ministry.
Dr. Don Finto
Founder of the Caleb Company
Pastor Emeritus of Belmont Church in Nashville, TN
An Earnest Appeal to Friends and Partners
I have the honor of walking with many ministries in friendship and apostolic alignment both nationally and internationally. It has been my deep privilege to walk with James W. Goll and Encounters Network over the years in times of strength and now in a time of great transition with the graduation of Michal Ann to her heavenly reward. James has personally been an intercessor, a prophet and a consultant to my life and ministry for which I am forever grateful.
Now is the time for us hold up the hands of one of God’s Warriors who has brought forth a consistent and fruitful ministry throughout the earth for over 30 years. I believe in wise kingdom investments.
It is not the time to abandon this ministry. It is time to invest!
You need to put your seed into good soil if you want to reap a good harvest. Therefore, I strongly encourage you to sow deeply into fertile soil and one that has borne good fruit. Therefore I am prayerfully asking you to partner with Encounters Network in this crucial hour and in their time of need.
Dr. Che Ahn
Harvest International Ministries
Harvest Rock Church, Pasadena , CA
A Word of Exhortation from Chris Poole
Until recently, James and Michal Ann Goll led the various ministries of Encounters Network as an apostolic couple along with a Board of Directors. But Michal Ann’s recent graduation to Heaven has left James with a major turn of events. He is now caught in the grips of reshaping the other half of this ministry. This is one reason why I am writing this note of appeal.
This is another reason for this letter. I believe we are rapidly coming to a point where the marketplace leaders, the “Joseph's”, step forward and participate in the ministry by under girding the mandate at Encounter’s Network. One of the very reasons for the transfer of wealth to our hands is for investment into Kingdom purposes. I have made this commitment and I encourage you to prayerfully consider this also.
Please remember, this kind of investment comes with a promise. If we receive a prophet in the name of a prophet, we shall receive a prophet’s reward (Matt. 10:41). You will be sowing in the lives of many who extend the Kingdom to the four corners of the earth. And that is no small reward either… Join me and be one of the EN Team of investors in Jesus name!
In His Service,
Chris Poole
Chris Poole Consultants Group, Franklin , TN
If the ministry of James W. Goll and Team has blessed you, please consider giving a financial contribution so that we may continue to serve you and others. Checks can be made out to Encounters Network and sent to our office address or contributions may be made on line as well. Gifts are tax-deductible as allowed by law and a receipt for your donation will be mailed to you.
Thank you, for your consideration.
>>>Click Here<<< for Web Donations
