April 2011

Dear Reconciler Family,

It has been said, “It was not nails that drove Jesus to the cross.  It was love.”  Yes, Jesus loved you and me all the way to the cross – taking us with him.  We died with Him, were buried with Him, rose with Him and now sit at the throne of the Father with Him (Ephesians 2).

As we celebrate the Easter season and reflect on what Jesus has done for us, let us rejoice in the exciting hope He’s given us for all eternity.  Imagine living in love, peace, hope and never-ending joy with the Father, Jesus, the Holy Spirit and loved ones.

So as great lovers of harmony, peace and cooperation, you and I have an awesome, unimaginable and exhilarating future.  We also have the wonderful blessing to be involved in a ministry today that is working hard to promote and live out these marvelous fruits of the Spirit here and now.  And as we do so we are helping to change lives, and those changed lives help impact and change other lives creating a ripple effect.

God continues to open up exciting opportunities to us.  As they are developed I will share them with you.  By the way, we have been on the air on Big Country Radio, KCLE 1460 AM in the Dallas/Fort Worth are about a couple of months now, and responses are coming in.  Will keep you posted.

Thank you for your loyal support through prayer and donations.

In His love,

Curtis May

March 2011

Dear Reconciler Family,

As we move into the third month of 2011 it’s exciting to see the “move of God” in His ministry of reconciliation.

In Texas, ORM Chapter Leader Tom Pickett had our first broadcast on Big Country KCLE 1460 AM radio in the Dallas/Ft. Worth area.  He spoke about forgiveness and reconciliation.  The name of the program is A Time to Reconcile.  We have a six-month contract for this weekly broadcast.  We would appreciate your prayers that God would move powerfully and change lives through the broadcasts.  Several of us will be recording messages for the broadcast.  Will keep you posted.

Also I am pleased to inform you that I have transitioned into the ministry of reconciliation full-time.  This was a mutual decision made between Grace Communion International and myself.  We mutually feel that it will give the ministry advancement opportunities.

With input from the ORM chapter leaders, staff members and business leaders we decided on a new name for the ministry.  The new name will be the Office of Reconciliation and Mediation (ORM).  We will keep our logo and brand.  We feel it’s fiting since Jesus is our Reconciler and our Mediator.

2 Corinthians 5:18-19   “All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation.”

Hebrews 9:15  “For this reason Christ is the mediator of a new covenant, that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance–now that he has died as a ransom to set them free from the sins committed under the first covenant.”

I will continue my duties as an elder in the church, a board member for the church and a member of the church’s Pension Plan Committee.

Thank you for your prayers and financial support. By the way, I would like your prayers about some speaking opportunities in Kentucky during the second week of March. I will be speaking at a Ministers’ Wives Conference (Connecting and Bonding) and Queen Street Christian Fellowship in Mount Sterling.  We will also be planning for a community outreach event for later this year.

God bless you all.  Love,
Curtis May

February 2011

Dear Reconciler Family,

Revival, I believe, is just what we need as a country and world!  When I listen to the high-pitched rhetoric and hate speech, I see no other solution.  A great part of a godly revival is love, humility and willingness to consider the needs, viewpoints and desires of others, even if we disagree with them.  Nose to nose shouting is pointless!

One area of major disagreement and shouting in America today is politics.  And I think we can learn much from Dr. Michael Cassidy’s book, The Politics of Love, which deals with late 20^th century politics in apartheid South Africa.  (He is founder of African Enterprise ministry.)  Here are some excerpts from the book to his beloved nation during a time of great conflict, disagreement and violence:

While the church may endorse and embrace truth wherever it is found in the spectrum of political postures, it should also be manifest that our Kingdom posture will call for things which neither the left, right nor center of secular politics would dream of.  Examples of this would be the priority of prayer, the place of forgiveness, the way of Calvary weakness and the primacy of love for all.

In a sense, with political as with theological truth, our inclinations are to inhabit one or the other of the polar regions of truth when, in fact, a true commitment to truth requires straddling not the middle ground, but both poles simultaneously.

Thus Martin Luther King’s Gospel commitments made him struggle in Montgomery in December 1955, with being both “militant and moderate” at the same time.  “I decided,” he wrote, “to face the challenge head on and attempt to combine two apparent irreconcilables.” The way through, he said, lay in actions “balanced with a strong affirmation to the Christian doctrine of love.”

It must be emphasized that the Kingdom Way is not a wishy-washy middle position of neutrality.  When Jesus called left-wing Simon, the revolutionary zealot, and Matthew, the right wing government department man, into his apostolic band, he wasn’t calling them to a middle ground or a Hard Way, but to Kingdom Ground and the Only Way, where the Kingdom is the “shalom” way of “God-ordered relationships.”  Kingdom Ground transcends all earthly allegiances and patterns of relating.  It is what led the early believers to be called “Christians” Because they did not fit the Jew/Gentile categories of their day.

Kingdom people will therefore feel free to embrace from left, right or center whatever social truths are compatible with biblical understandings.  At Point A, therefore, the Kingdom will make us radical and at Point B conservative.  This will confuse the secular mind.  No matter.

Thank you so much for your loyal and prayerful support.

Love and peace,

Curtis May

P.S.  Here is the website link to Black History Month ideas: http://alturl.com/ph2iu.

January 2011

Dear Reconciler Family,

Welcome to 2011!  Thank God we’re all here and starting another year of building relationships, preaching and teaching reconciliation, mediation and oneness through Jesus Christ.  In fact, He’s doing it through us.

It has been a great journey over the last 15 years.  We have received numerous honors and commendations, including the key to the city of Memphis.  But the greatest commendation and joy we have received is changed lives and hearts motivated by hope.

Here are just a few feedback comments we’ve received:

“Thank you so much for this book, Mending Broken Relationships – another great resource for the work we have given our lives to.  Also I appreciate that you note United by Faith.  Keep up the important ministry of reconciliation that you and your church have made such major strides in.”

Dr. Curtiss DeYoung

City Gate Project

Minneapolis, MN

“I have gotten many great comments on this book [Mending Broken Relationships] from former seminary professors to pastors to lay persons.  We have a very helpful book.  Praise God for your work on this, my friends.”

“For over 50 years I have attended hundreds of special Christian spiritual events with pastors and lay persons with the emphasis on sharing our faith across the world.  The October 22-23 [2005] ORM Conference was one of the most inspiring I have ever experienced.  Let us all keep the fires of reconciliation burning in the hearts of all humans worldwide.”

Dr. John Paul Eddy

Denton, TX

“The conference [2005] was a most powerful experience for me as well.  You must be commended for pursuing this hard work with reconciliation on many levels.”

Dr. Gail Singleton Taylor

Old Dominion University

Norfolk, VA

“I very much enjoyed attending the Police and Youth Community Dialogue event on October 29 [2005].  I was impressed by the number of police officers present who volunteered their time because they care.  Their presence and their willingness to listen to the young people made an impact on the youth, whose comments at the end reflected a softer and more understanding attitude toward the police… My thanks to Curtis May, Police Chief Bernard Melekian, the Western Justice Center and others for making a difference in our communities by building some bridges to reconciliation and relationships.”

Dennis Pelley, Senior Pastor

New Hope Christian Fellowship

Pasadena/Eagle Rock, CA

“On behalf of Azusa Pacific University, I want to express appreciation for your donation to the university libraries [book, Mending Broken Relationships, and video, Reconciliation – A Move of God].  We are always grateful to those who, because of their generous donations, help us better serve our students, and we are especially grateful to you for choosing Azusa Pacific University library.  Thank you.”

Elizabeth A. Leahy

Associate Dean of Library Services

“ORM is a tremendous asset to the body of Christ that heals wounds, mends relationships, and develops lasting partnerships.”

Marcia Dunn

Administration Specialist, New Jersey Superior Court

On August 7-8 [2010] the scene shifted to the Omni Dallas Hotel Park West in Texas.  Pastors Tom Pickett, Arnold Clauson and Bob Persky joined Curtis May to host 150 attendees for an energetic, eye-opening, encouraging seminar on reconciliation.  The most common response was, “Wow, this is more than I thought.”

Reconcile has met with positive responses around the world.  Dr. Doug Stringer of the Houston-based Turning Point Ministries International requested an extra 100 copies of one issue for distribution.  An administrator of a group of Catholic daycare schools in New York City showed Reconcile to the teachers in the schools under her care.

“I am convinced that God let me read your first issue at a time when we were launching our ‘Kapihan sa Kapayapaan’ peace forum intended to bridge the gap between Muslims and Christians in our city…”

Nilo A. Belarmino

Philippines

“Thank you so much for sharing the complimentary copy of the video Reconciliation – A Move of God.  Reconciliation continues to be of real interest to me and my Native American brothers.  I will be sharing this video with them.  I look forward to future information through Reconcile and will be holding your ministry up in prayer.”

Huron Claus, President

CHIEF, Inc.

Phoenix, AZ

“I just went to your website and read the Reconcile newsletter.  So impressive!  You all are doing a great work.  Can I be on your mailing list?  We are an inner city ministry, and racial reconciliation is one of our outreaches.”

Ms. Regelyn W. Edwards

Building Together Ministries

Raleigh, NC

“Thank you for the great work you are doing.  May I request some extra copies to take with me as I rejoin my husband in his missionary work?”

Reader

The Cameroons, Africa

Thank you for touching many lives around the world through your kind support of what God is doing through His Ministry of Reconciliation.  May you have a profitable and healthy New Year.

Curtis May

December 2010

Dear Reconciler Family,

“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16).  That is one of my favorite scriptures because Jesus is the greatest gift that we could ever be given.  What a breath-taking and loving act of sacrifice and humility – God becoming flesh in order that our sins and brokenness could be atoned for.

Much has been written about the meaning of the symbols and colors that highlight the Christmas celebration.  Just to mention four:

• The color red symbolizes the shed blood of Jesus for our sins, thus paving the way toward salvation as we accept this marvelous gift.
• The color white (often seen on the candy cane) symbolizes the righteousness of Jesus who lived a perfect life as the God-child/God man and eventually died on our behalf on a cross.

·         The color green represents life, vitality and salvation – everlasting life.

·         The gift bow tied on – We should all be tied together in bonds of goodwill forever.

What a wonderful future we have awaiting us, to live with the Father, Jesus and the Holy Spirit forever!  No wonder Christmas is such an exciting season where we focus on its meaning!  It really means becoming one with God and each other forever.

I’m really looking forward to this marvelous time!  “Ponder the awesome mystery of a love that encompasses you from before birth to beyond the grave.” – Sarah Young

“After this I looked, and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and before the Lamb.  They were wearing white robes and were holding palm branches in their hands.  And they cried out in a loud voice: ‘Salvation belongs to our God, who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb’.” (Revelation 7:9-10)

You, my brothers and sisters, are helping to make a difference now as reconcilers.  Your involvement in this work goes up to the throne of the Creator.  In fact He inspires it.  Thank you so much!

Your fellow servant,

Curtis May

November 2010

Dear Reconciler Family,

For a moment, one moment in time, the world stood still holding its collective breath.  All on the same page, hoping that 33 Chilean miners trapped ½ mile beneath the earth would be rescued alive.  Yes, for a moment we saw the world unified on a common cause.  Awesome!

Richard Villaroel brought to surface (stamfordadvocate.com)

Note what the Psalmist wrote some 3,000 years ago:

How good and pleasant it is
when brothers live together in unity!

It is like precious oil poured on the head,
running down on the beard,
running down on Aaron’s beard,
down upon the collar of his robes.

It is as if the dew of Hermon
were falling on Mount Zion.
For there the LORD bestows his blessing,
even life forevermore.

–Psalm 133:1-3

Rescued miner Richard Villaroel told the Los Angeles Times newspaper reporter Chris Kraul:  “We were waiting for death…I had never prayed, but I learned to pray, to be closer to God.”

And I believe God answered those prayers in a dramatic way!  I happen to believe the words of the old gospel song, “Prayer Changes Things.”  The Apostle Paul wrote, “Pray without ceasing,” 1 Thessalonians 5:17.

We serve in a ministry (of reconciliation) that’s quite demanding, considering its task of trying to bring bickering, divided and often hate-filled parties and factions together in unity.

Yes, the task before us is impossible without prayer and supplication and God’s constant intervention and guidance.  But “with God all things are possible.”  How happy I am to know that!  Thank you for walking with God, and alongside me to help turn division and strife into respect, peace and love.

As we make plans for 2011, I am receiving requests to conduct seminars, workshops and other presentations across the country.  We are also considering expenses for these events, along with production of ORM resources such as Reconcile, monthly letters, administrative costs, website, etc.  Please remember us in your year-end donations and, as always we cherish your prayers and support.

Happy Thanksgiving to all!

Curtis May

October 2010

Dear Reconciler Family,

Thank you for standing with us as we stand up for the cause of peace, love and oneness.  In a divided world (the United States included) it seems that voices that fuel conflict, hate and even violence are almost drowning out voices of reason.  Being in a mid-term election year has certainly added to it.

Last week Reconcile Editor Neil Earle and I attended a conference on “The State of Hate and Extremism in America” at the University of California, Los Angeles.  It’s frightening to see what’s happening around the country.  May God bless the peacemakers who are laboring to counter this awful trend.  That’s you and me!  Let’s pray that God would use us and other like ministries to help reverse this trend.  And as church growth professional Dr. Eddie Gibbs said, “Treat people as if they were Christians until they discover that they are not.”

Here’s what Jesus said about peacemakers: “Blessed are the peacemakers for they will be called sons [and daughters] of God” (Matthew 5:9).  Jesus also said a lot about love, so did his followers.  Notice what the Apostle Paul wrote about it: “Love is patient, love is kind.  It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.  It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs.  Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth.  It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.  Love never fails…”

Let’s also remember the words of a preacher who applied these principles:  “Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that.  Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.” – Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Thank you again for standing up for what’s right in a world that so deeply needs the example.  And thank you for your prayers and financial support.

In deep love and respect,

Curtis May

September 2010

Dear Reconciler Family,

The much-anticipated ORM Reconciliation Conference took place on Saturday and Sunday, August 7-8 in Dallas, Texas after about fifteen months of planning.  Our special thanks go to Pastors/Chapter Leaders Tom Pickett, Arnold Clauson and Bob Persky – the coordinators.  We are blessed to have those guys as part of our team!

Photo by Ryan Dute

Each day of the conference began with a plenary session of two speakers followed by lunch and afternoon workshops.  Following are the presenters and topics:

John Connors, Businessman and Senior Executive – Reconciliation in the Work Place/Reconciliation: The Barriers We Face

Police Chief Steve Myers – Community Conflicts

Linda Fredrikson, L.P.C. – Preserving Families through Reconciliation

Cherry Steinwender, Co-Executive Director of the Center for the Healing of Racism –   Racism in Our Society

Pastor Sultan Cole – Church, Community and Education

Pastors Cliff Parks and Tony Pierce – The Church and Racial Segregation

Evelyne O’Callaghan Burkhard, Professional Counselor – Choices with a Positive Outcome and Healing

ORM Director Curtis May – What Is Jesus’ Dream? and The Woman at the Well

It was a great experience with excellent participation, transformation and fun!  Following is a sampling of the feedback we received:

“All the speakers were excellent – lots of material for us to digest and apply to our relationships.  Thank you all for the work you went to in order for us to have this opportunity.”

“I benefited from every session attended.”

“Great speakers and great organization!  Fantastic!”

“I appreciated Curtis May’s description of his upbringing and the way God helped him   come out of the hatred that he experienced.”

Photo by Ryan Dute

On Sunday we ended the morning session with commissioning Pastor Bob Persky of Dallas as a new ORM Chapter Leader.  Thank you all for your prayers and support.  Lives are being transformed through it.

Curtis May

ORM Director

August 2010

Dear Reconciler Family,

As I mentioned in my last letter, a Grace Communion International Conference was held July 21-25 in Orlando, Florida.  The theme was Renewed in Christ.  It was well-attended with an estimated 1200 brethren from around the world.  Many of our Regional Directors shared highlights of God’s work and blessings in their part of the world.

Along with our own speakers we had several world-class Trinitarian Theologians share insights on God’s great love for each of us and his adoption and inclusiveness of us in His great plan of salvation.  It was a spiritual gourmet banquet.

There were a number of workshops, including such topics as:  Generations Ministries, Women in Leadership, Comeback Churches, Bible Study, Pastoral Counsel, and Reconciliation.  I covered Jesus’ Dream and Africa and the Bible.

We had an ORM table with our products and received a lot of visitors who gave us positive feedback, both on the presentations and our on-going work.  I received several requests for visits and presentations from both U.S. and international church leaders and lay members.

I’m personally amazed at how God continues to spread the message of reconciliation through us, and the number of people who say they are benefiting from it!  Praise God for His mighty miracles!

And as part of my family reunion in Atlanta, I had the opportunity to speak in Light of the World Church in Atlanta, pastored by my first cousin, Bishop Ruth Holmes.  There were about 900 in attendance.  I shared the gospel of reconciliation taken from II Corinthians 5:16-21.  There was much enthusiansm about the topic

Thank you for being part of what God is doing through His Ministry of Reconciliation.  Please remember to pray about the Dallas Reconciliation Conference coming up on August 7-8.

With deep gratitude,

Curtis May

July 2010

Dear Reconciler Family,

Thank you so much for your quick response to our request for help on the upcoming Reconciliation Conference in Dallas, Texas, which is scheduled for Saturday August 7, and Sunday August 8.

Your loyalty and love for the gospel work of Jesus Christ is inspiring!  And I want you to realize that you are helping to change lives in a broken and divided world.

Plans for the conference are shaping up as we receive commitments from those planning to attend.  Attendance at the conference will provide continuing education credit for pastors and also credit for students, if approved by their college.

We are also focusing on summer activities.  My wife, Jannice, and I plan to attend my family reunion in Atlanta, Georgia, on July 16-18, where I will also be speaking in my first cousin’s church.  I will have the opportunity of sharing the gospel of love, peace and oneness.

Then on July 21-25 we will be participating in the Grace Communion International Conference in Orlando, Florida.  I’m scheduled to conduct two workshops: “Jesus’ Dream” and “Africa and the Bible.”  I will also make a short plenary session presentation.  Your prayers for God’s inspiration would be much appreciated.

Jaden Elizabeth May

Finally, while visiting our son Brad and his wife Jeanine recently in Pasadena, we got to spend some time with our beautiful granddaughter Jaden.  What a joy to be around!

Curtis May with John Perez

I also had the opportunity to meet with Pasadena Police Commander John Perez and discuss our past reconciliation work together and also some ideas for future possibilities to help improve police-community relations.  As one would imagine, it’s always fluid.

May God continue to bless and keep you. Thank you as always for your prayers and support.

In His service,

Curtis May