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To anyone taking the time to read this…we just want you to know that we love you with the love of the Lord Jesus Christ. God has continually shown Himself strong on our behalf and we have seen Him do many miracles in our lives this last year. We pray this update would strengthen Christians in their faith and challenge those that have not yet given their heart to Jesus. Jesus alone is the answer to ALL of life's issues. He is alive, and desires a relationship with all of us.
FALL ALWAYS SEEMS TO BE AN INTERESTING SEASON
Two years ago we made some major life decisions to abandon our relentless pursuit of wealth and success to follow Jesus…no turning back! Last year, during the fall, we began to feel God calling us to go to school to further equip ourselves for ministry. This meant leaving our family & friends, our church that we love, selling our home, walking away from Ian's promising career and leaving everything else that made us comfortable!
HOW DID WE KNOW FOR SURE GOD WANTED US TO GO TO SCHOOL?
While we were in Hawaii during Christmas, the Holy Spirit spoke to us through two pastors (on two different islands and during two different occasions) to tell us that we were called to leave Santa Cruz and move to Costa Mesa to attend the School Of Ministry and the School Of Worship in the fall of 2007. We had never met these pastors, but it was all confirmed through the Bible and in our spirits. It is a long story, which Ian loves to take an hour to tell every detail, but we just want to express how grateful we are that the Lord made His specific will so clear to us.
"TAKE NO GLORY" IS THE LORD'S
Johnna started writing songs and playing the piano & guitar when she gave up her old way of living and was born again in 1999. She truly has a gift! The album she just finished is a lot more about the team God brought together than it is about a single person. Johnna spent over four years in many studios working with different producers and engineers to complete this album. The Lord, without us asking or seeking it out, brought some of the most talented musicians to help with the CD. We continue to thank God for the role that Chuck Harris & Jeff Rickle played in this project. We are convinced that Jesus put this album together for His glory and our hearts desire is to give it freely to anyone the Lord will let us reach out to.
A VISION + STEPPING OUT IN FAITH = HEAVENLY EXPERIENCE
On April 24th the Lord fell upon Ian in a special way and gave him a vision for a CD release concert. He was up until about 4:30 in the morning writing the vision down. The vision was very clear…and just about everything came to pass as he had seen it - incredible!!!
Over the next 116 days, God called us to take many steps of faith before the concert: order 10,000 CDs, fly Johnna to Nashville to finish the album, book a large venue for the show and when Ian quit his job to get ready to move – he spent all his time meeting with dozens of pastors from every different denomination in Santa Cruz to pray about the concert.
On August 19th at 6pm we were absolutely unprepared to start the show, but God was glorified. At the event hundreds of people got on their knees before the Lord in response to the worship. We challenged people to take many CDs and share them with their family, friends, co-workers, neighbors, waiters, the guy pumping gas next to them at the gas station…anybody! We had the privilege to give away about 8,000 CDs that night to the hundreds of people at the concert. We have heard so many wonderful stories of how people have used the album to share their faith in Christ.
HUNDREDS OF PEOPLE AND THOUSANDS OF CDS
Many people have told us that they love to use the album as a witnessing tool! We are so grateful the Lord has empowered Christians to share their faith by handing out the CD. We have found that the album is unique because there is a paraphrased version of the Gospel Of John narrated after all the songs. This narration is the 9th track on the album and is called "Jesus Is The Word".
WHY GIVE THE CD AWAY AND LET PEOPLE DOWNLOAD IT FREE!?!
Because God spoke to our hearts that this was to be different than the way of the world. When Jesus sent out His disciples to minister to people, He explained that they should do it all without expecting anything in return (Matthew 10:8-10). Our great desire is to serve and minister to people so that the name of Jesus will be lifted up. We will not attempt to promote ourselves or entertain people. We are committed to promoting the Lord Jesus Christ and allowing Him to be the focus of all that we do. Rather than charge people to entertain them, we want to serve people and bless them with free ministry. This is simply the call that God has placed on our lives.
UNEXPECTEDLY SOLD AND BOUGHT A HOUSE AT THE SAME TIME
Three months ago we were moving to southern California. We had no employment, nowhere to live and our home back in Santa Cruz wasn't selling. So we drove down to look for a cheap apartment that we could rent, but every place we checked out told us we couldn't bring Johnna's piano or play loud music. Although it was very stressful, we had faith that the Lord called us to move and He would give us favor to find the right place to live.
By God's hand we met a Christian realtor that offered to help us buy a new manufactured home. He wanted to help pay for our space rent for the first year because we were going to the ministry school. We had a peace about it, and were so excited that Ian went to call his family. When he called his mom she said she was dialing our number at the same time to tell us that we got a full offer on our house in Santa Cruz with a guaranteed close!
In less than an hour we sold high and bought low with insurmountable odds stacked against us. It was one of the greatest miracles we had ever experienced.
OUR FRIENDS BELIEVE IT'S OUR HOUSE, THE BANK THINKS IT'S THEIR HOUSE, BUT WE KNOW IT'S THE LORD'S HOUSE
The week we moved into the Lord's new home, we felt led to take in a couple students that needed a place to stay. One of the guys from back home in Santa Cruz, Dan Gardner, got accepted into the School of Ministry a couple days before school started. Our couch became Dan's bed, our refrigerator became his grocery store and Ian became his big brother. Dan was a great blessing to our family during the 6 weeks he stayed with us. We shared many wonderful Bible studies, worship sessions and non-stop laughter.
Two days before Dan moved in we invited one of the students from the School Of Worship to take our guest bedroom. His name is Sammy and he is a worship leader from Kenya, Africa. He borrowed money to fly out to the school not knowing where he would live and having NO experience with American culture. We could write a book about the glorious experiences we had with Sammy during the 7 weeks he stayed at the house. His wife is pregnant with their first child, so he went back home to be with her. He will finish school from Africa using the Internet to keep up with the classes.
GREATER TRIALS AND GREATER JOYS
Now it is November 2007 and life couldn't be more abundant and full of enjoyment (in the midst of intense spiritual warfare). We are so grateful that our Lord never allows us to experience more than we can handle. He is faithful and has been making us more like Jesus as we face our share of tribulation. It just gives us all the more excitement to go home to Heaven!
IMPACTING THE WORLD IN THE NAME OF THE LORD JESUS CHRIST
It seems that "Take No Glory" has become a ministry that the Lord has decided to use for HIS glory. We have thousands of hits to the website (www.TakeNoGlory.com) every day from all over the world. The new album, "Open The Door", is being downloaded from dozens of different websites and people are using it as a gospel tract to share their faith. We have now given away about 10,000 CDs since the concert and we have thousands of song downloads every week! It seems we have new people contacting us every hour to let us know how God has blessed them through this ministry.
FRESH VISIONS * GREATER PASSION * HUMBLE DESPERATION
Ian finds himself getting fresh visions for the ministry all the time. On the other hand, Ian believes Jesus will likely come back for us before you finish reading this and none of the visions will matter. With that in mind, our main focus is intimacy with our Lord and serving each other.
Johnna continues to write new passionate songs to Jesus as expressions of her love for Him. As her gifts and skills are developed in school, she finds greater desires to minister through her music. She is eager to get back into the studio and work on her next project.
We find ourselves desperate for the Lord more than ever before. We are constantly asking the Holy Spirit to take our lives and have His way with them. We would really appreciate your prayers! Please specifically pray for: the strength of our marriage, financial provision & that we will be diligent and responsible with our schedule.
We love you and are here to serve you any way Jesus would allow us. Below is our contact info, please don't hesitate to write or call. Lord willing, we will respond to every email and voice message we get.
Ian & Johnna Utile
www.TakeNoGlory.com
Take No Glory
P.O. Box 28919
Santa Ana, CA 92799
Toll Free: (888) 825-3664
www.MySpace.com/TakeNoGlory |
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