A Year of Transition

I am absolutely amazed that we are in 2017 and I have not shared a new blog in so long! Our lives this past year and a half has been very different than in the previous years. Ministry happens daily but our traveling is much less.  Our car is getting older and so are our bodies! Lol  But our spirits are soaring with all the Lord is doing! We meet new people daily who need a word of blessing and encouragement. We went to a new café this morning to meet some friends and met Jerrie! Precious lady who served us so well and also was thrilled to see my scripture cards and took them all! I had put 8 on the table.  I gave them all joyfully praising the Lord for His Word going forth to bring healing, restoration, encouragement and blessing. I have no idea what is happening in her life but today, Father sent us to meet Jerrie. 

Each day is an adventure. I have said that for almost 18 years since we began Christ’s Kingdom Ministries in 1999. Glory to God, GREAT things HE HAS DONE during those years.  I monitor email and Facebook on a daily basis for messages and prayer needs. I literally talk to people around the world and receive newsletters detailing all the wonderful ministry the Lord is doing in Africa, Central America, Europe and the US.  Our God is moving in people’s lives in a dramatic way.

We traveled twice in 2016 to Colorado spending time with different pastors, lay leaders and dear friends and family. We spent much time in prayer seeking the Lord for our own direction in ministry and also praying over many other people’s needs.

Our prayer list continues at over 3500 people a day.  The Lord taught us several years ago how to pray for that many people.  He told us to “speak their name into His Presence. He knows their needs and He knows His perfect will and plans for them. “ So that is what we do and we get reports from them how the Lord is meeting their needs, answering questions, helping with decisions and giving direction for life and work.

I have always told folks that our ministry is different than most.  We truly are available 24 hours a day 7 days a week. We have no off and on time. We are always on. We believe that  the life of a Christian is to be available to the Lord for His ministry any moment He needs us. He guides and directs our steps.  Proverbs 3:5-6, our life verse, is spoken daily. The Lord’s Prayer, Matthew 6:9-13, is prayed daily. Father has us praying for our down line: our children, their spouses, grandsons and granddaughters and our spiritually adopted children, their spouses, grandsons and granddaughters.  

We pray that truth will be revealed and deception uncovered over our country, our government leaders and state and local leaders. Over the years the emphasis has changed in many areas but our focus continues to be LORD, LET YOUR WILL BE DONE ON EARTH AS IT IS IN HEAVEN! Praise God we watch and hear that it is happening and rejoice!

Dear friends and family, we continue in the work that Father has called us to do until He says stop. That has not happened yet but we are in a transition time and a time of change. As we get older changes happen but our focus is Jesus and Him Glorified.  So please stay in touch as we seek the Lord’s perfect will and plans for each day of our lives. Charley gets to be 73 this year and I got to be 70.  There is a song we used to sing that said: We’ll Work Till Jesus Comes and WE WILL!

Thank you for your prayers and love!

Charley & Karen

Christmas Letter for 2015

  Great joy fills my heart this Christmas season!  This year has been amazing with much ministry happening.  Father has not sent us traveling other than our spring trip but He has sent us out to many in our own DFW area plus around the world through email and Facebook.  Texting is really not our favorite form of communication but it is becoming our most used communication. Lol  How wonderful to have ways to touch lives even though at home in the office or in the car on our way to one of the Lord’s divine special appointments.

  Thank you for your prayers this year! We have held many grieving the loss of a loved one. We have spoken a word of truth into a life struggling to believe there is any good left in our world. We read the headlines and continue our prayer effort not only for our nation and our family but for the world.  There is so much evil happening in our world but there is also a lot of good happening, love shown, people being helped and encouraged.  Do not ever think the situation you are facing is hopeless because with God ALL things are possible.

  Matthew 19:23-26 says: “Then Jesus said to His disciples, Assuredly, I say to you it is hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. And again I say to you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God. When His disciples heard it, they were greatly astonished, saying, Who then can be saved? But Jesus looked at them and said to them, with men this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”

  1 Thessalonians 5:15-19 says:” See that no one renders evil for evil to anyone, but always pursue what is good both for yourselves and for all. Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. Do not quench the Spirit.”

  May the Lord grant you great peace and rest this Christmas season as we celebrate the birth of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Please consider that we are to celebrate Jesus every day of our lives. We are never limited to time and space when it comes to rejoicing and celebrating Jesus.

 Charley is gaining in strength and stamina daily after his surgeries and illness in 2014. We rejoice in his recovery and praise the Lord daily that his voice to love and for teaching was never silenced even in the weakest times and his excitement at seeing people come to know Jesus as Savior and Lord always bubbles forth.

 May the New Year 2016 be full of delight in all the Lord will do in your life and may you seek Jesus daily and learn from the Word of God how to walk the Life of Christ in your everyday life.

We love and appreciate all of you!!!

Charley & Karen

CKM Spring Trip Report

  Dear Friends, we are home now from our 3 week ministry trip to Colorado and Kansas City!  What an amazing trip it was with all kinds of weather, divine appointments and encounters of the Jesus kind! We never know all the Lord has planned but when we look over our shoulder to all He accomplished we can do nothing but REJOICE, PRAISE and be SO THANKFUL!! His protection was over us all the way. Thank all of you for your prayers!! We saw rainbows to remind us of His continual presence in our lives and His promises that are YES and AMEN!  We saw snow to remind us of His purity and peace! We saw rain to remind us that He knows the needs of this world He created and moisture is one big need in so many areas. 

 We adopted new grandchildren on this trip and visited with those who have been members of our Jesus family for a while.  Our hearts were so touched by the love extended to us and we gave many hugs and lots of love away.  How do we condense 3 weeks into a few sentences? Jesus IS LORD!! That says it all! One of our dear missionaries always says “BUT GOD” and we saw that lived out every moment of each day we traveled and ministered.  We saw marriages touched by His healing hand, we saw hearts wounded by pain and fear healed by His loving touch, we saw lives transformed by the Word of God and the prayers of the Saints and we saw how HE led and guided us into people’s lives that did not know Jesus but knew they had had an encounter with Him when we left them.  In motels, restaurants, homes and stores we saw Him in smiles, words of encouragement and the peace shown in people’s faces and lives.  A precious little guy, grandson of some dear friends, blessed my heart by singing Jesus Loves Me with me.  His smile lit up my world as we played and sang together. So many people need to know the reason for our joy.  It isn’t based on what we have or who we know but totally based upon whose we are, we BELONG TO JESUS!! He IS ALL we need! We shout it from the rooftops and tell every person we see, we LOVE JESUS and HE LOVES US!!   

  We look forward to our next adventure in traveling but we also look forward to each day that we are at home. Our neighbors are THE BEST in the world. They care for our home and our yard while we are gone and they had quite a chore this time because of all the rains. We publicly thank each one who mowed and watched over our property and we praise the Lord that as we drive out of the driveway we station warring angels around the perimeter to protect and defend what the Lord has given us. We are so very blessed!! 

  Our life scripture is Proverbs 3:5-6 and we mention it again here: "Trust in the Lord with all your heart; do not depend on your own understanding. Seek His will in all you do, and He will direct your paths."  We seek to live and walk these truths daily!! Join with us on this journey called Life with Jesus and Walking in the Spirit of God. 

A New Year to Rejoice

My goodness 2015 is going by fast. It is time again to update all of you on what the Lord is doing in our lives. A lot has happened.  Charley continues to heal and be restored to perfect health.  In November the Lord sent us on our first ministry trip of the year. We traveled to the East coast for a 4 week journey.  It was absolutely the most intense 4 weeks we have ever experienced.  Before leaving, our car needed a new battery due to a faulty voltage regulator.  Our battery was still under warranty so we received a new battery at no cost. Then we were able to get the voltage regulator replaced. All this happened just a few days before we left town. Praise Jesus that these were found, fixed and we left town with a perfectly-running car. 

Of course, as always, our travels took us to many new places where we kept Father’s divine appointments.  We look for them daily and enjoy the opportunities that He gives.  We ministered in 5 churches with Charley preaching twice and speaking at two nursing homes. We met several new pastors who we now pray for daily and spent precious time with pastors, leaders, spiritually adopted children and grandchildren. We enjoyed Thanksgiving with our daughter in law and granddaughter in Virginia.  Our son was still in Afghanistan at Thanksgiving but returned in December safely. Thank you so much for praying for this sweet family while he was gone for 6 months. Our time with Chelle and Emily was so precious. We had not seen them since Thanksgiving 2013.  We Skype with them but it was wonderful to play with Emily and love on both of them.

We had an interesting thing happen on this trip that has never happened before. In one of the motels where we stayed we met the manager and the desk clerks, visiting with them about our work and the Lord.  We were there a couple of days and on the second day the manager called our room and asked us to come to the desk.  We did not know what was happening but when we arrived they gave us a sweet card thanking us for coming to their motel and sharing love and encouragement with them. They also gave us a vase with a Giant Red Amaryllis Bulb.  We were overcome!  What a wonderful blessing!  It is always our heart to bless and encourage the people who work in motels, restaurants, stores, anywhere we go but we had never had anyone give back to us with such love and appreciation.  Even now talking about it I am just so full of thanksgiving to the Lord and to these sweet folks.  It was also the cleanest and nicest motel in which we stayed.  We just rejoiced in the Lord as we went back to our room with the vase and card. 

Over the years of traveling and sharing the love of Jesus through pastoral ministry, prayer, loving our spiritual family and keeping Father’s appointments, we have been so blessed.  You cannot out give God and on this trip we received so much as we gave.  We attended a Gospel Singing and saw an 80 year old man walk haltingly to the platform with a cane, sing for 20 minutes about his Jesus and then walk off without his cane at a steady gate.  Healing happened before our eyes as he worshipped and praised the Lord!  We prayed over many and saw healing of backs and legs.  We saw hearts mended as people wept and released the burdens they had carried for so long. I could go on and on but I believe you can see that the Lord did much in people’s lives during this 4 week trip.  He also did a lot in us as we continue to learn how to surrender our all to Him.  The scripture that He continues to burn into our hearts is Joshua 1:9.  “I command you—be strong and courageous! Do not be afraid or discouraged. For the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.” NLT  Yes, He was and He is!! 

This year has been very busy already with many appointments and opportunities to speak life, health, healing, encouragement, love, truth and to walk in the Joy of the Lord each moment of the day.  Draw close to the Lord and read His Word.  Walk in His ways and see the Glory of God daily.  BE the church! Share the Love of Jesus everywhere you go.  Not always preaching but living the life of Christ no matter where you are.  

Thank you for your prayers and love!! We rejoice in all the Lord is doing in your life too!  

Love to all,

Charley & Karen

Christ's Kingdom Ministries Happy 15th Anniversary

Well, it has been 15 years since the Lord set us on an amazing journey and we have so many stories they literally can fit into a book (I am even in the process of writing one)!!  It has been a great adventure following the Lord’s direction and planning step by step.  We began with around 20 pastors to visit and encourage but now have around 400.  We cannot logistically see them all but Father has brought them to us for prayer. We pray daily for them trusting the Lord to meet their needs.  We travel and spend one on one time with them according to the Lord’s direction and each year we add new pastors to our list.  We have traveled to many states and Charley has preached in many pulpits.  The message the Lord has continued to send forth is love and forgiveness.  What joy to see people’s hearts mended and lives changed by the power of the Word of God and the name of Jesus!  Each message has brought people closer to the Lord through repentance and healing.  We are overjoyed to share with all of you these past 15 years in retrospect as we have many memories of our times with you and with others.  Thank you for your prayer covering, financial support and love.  We are blessed tremendously by our Father’s provision, protection and anointing.  May the Lord grant each of you His perfect peace that passes understanding!                                                                    

We look forward to more years serving our Lord through this ministry and through our lives lived daily for Him.  

Thank you for being a part of this celebration. 

We love you all,

Charley & Karen

Walk the Walk

If we say that we have fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. 1 John 2:6

  Above Charley’s desk is a poster that says: Whoever claims to live in Him must walk as Jesus walked. 1 John 2:6. ‘You can talk the talk but can you walk the walk?’  Many years ago an elderly lady told this saying to us and it settled in our mind and heart and has never left.  So when we saw the poster, we put it on our wall so that it would remind us that if we profess Jesus as Lord and Savior and speak His name to people proclaiming ourselves to be Christ followers, then we must walk through our lives as He did.  Believe me this has hit us right in the face many times.  We do not ever want to be called a ‘hypocrite’.  So here is our story since our last blog entry.  During the fall of 2013 we took a ministry trip to the east coast. The Lord sent us to Alabama, Florida, South Carolina, North Carolina and Virginia.  We spent time with our son, his wife and baby daughter for Thanksgiving and many other people who are connections through our ministry.  The Lord had divine appointments with pastors, families, desk clerks in motels, servers in restaurants and numerous other people as we traveled.  We saw Father’s hand of protection over us and our health remained good the whole time.  It was a blessed time! We arrived home right before Christmas and began our preparations. 

  On Christmas Eve Charley developed some medical issues that were severe enough that I took him to the emergency room.  They worked with him for several hours and sent him home.  During our few hours there, we had the privilege to speak the name of Jesus to each person and to tell them that the Lord put them on duty that night just to care for us.  I love the look on their faces when they get this message.  Sometimes shock and sometimes joy!  Then during the next few weeks Charley’s health was a roller coaster, up and down.  He was not ill enough to stay in bed but just not up to his usual energy level.  Then on January 9, I took him back to the emergency room because he was confused and hurting.  After many tests they told us he had a brain bleed and must go to a larger hospital. He was sent to a hospital in downtown Ft. Worth.  The following day he had brain surgery and began his miraculous recovery.  Within 3 days he was home and in physical therapy to help his strength return.   What blessed my heart so much during this time was his total abandon to speaking the name of Jesus.  He did not know what day it was or year before surgery but he spoke of Jesus’ love and that each medical person was hand-picked , even the neurosurgeon, to care for him.  The nurses and technicians would come to the room just to receive their blessing. As they ministered to him, our hearts were so touched by their care and compassion. 

  Then in March of this year Charley recovered sufficiently from the brain surgery to have prostate surgery.  His recovery was quite difficult and we had more divine appointments with doctors, nurses and medical personnel.  We always knew that Father was with us and in charge for people came to see us over and over to receive their words of encouragement and blessing and Charley was healing.  A few weeks later after being home recovering, Charley had to go back to the hospital emergency room for some complications of his last surgery.  He was there for a few days and then home.  His recovery from all of these issues has been miraculous.  Everyone is amazed!  We are so thankful for Father’s hand upon Charley and His strength for both of us.  We had the opportunity and privilege first hand to walk in this scripture.  We put it like this: If you are going to talk the talk then you must walk the walk.  Our prayer during this whole season is ‘Let them see Jesus in us and let our words and actions give honor and glory to the Lord’. 

  In May Father sent us to Colorado for a week.  That is our only trip this year and Charley did great!! The Lord had much for us to do going, while there and coming home.  We are excited about all He has planned for the remainder of this year. 

  Please continue to pray for Charley as he has some heart issues that will be examined the middle of July.  He is doing well but still gaining his strength. We thank all of you so much for your prayer covering.  I will surely try to be more prompt with my blogs.

We love you,

Charley & Karen

Father's Angels On Duty

                                      Angel Island in California

This year is flying by.  My goodness, I did not realize I had not posted for so long.  It certainly is not because we are not doing anything because we are for sure!  Father did not send us on a trip until May 13.  We were so excited to be planning our travel and watching His timing and plans come together.  He sent us to Springfield, Missouri, Kansas City, Missouri and Northern Colorado.  Of course as usual He had LOTS of appointments for us but mainly He sent us to spend time with a few of our spiritual children and grandchildren.  Over this year we have added several to our spiritual family.  It is always exciting to know that our quiver will never be full until the Lord says it is full!  We are always open.

Our time in the Springfield area was short but very special.  We spent an hour or so visiting with our precious adopted daughter and held her as we spoke blessings over her.  She has a lot to do on a daily basis being a single mom with a very demanding job.  Since we saw her, she has written asking for prayer concerning some issues in her life.  It is our joy to be available to pray for her and know that the Lord is meeting her needs.  In the Springfield area is where we met the first of 3 Lindsay’s who served us in restaurants.  We traveled to Kansas City and spent a couple of days with another spiritually adopted family.  The couple married last year and had celebrated their one year anniversary before we arrived.  This blended family of 3 (she has a daughter 8 years old) are doing so well.  The Lord has blessed them this past year and they have drawn closer to Him as the transition has been made to being a family.  Here is where we met the 2^nd of our servers named Lindsay.  By now we are wondering, Lord what are you up to?  I carry my scripture cards with me so I have been able to share these cards with each server we have met and also with our motel housekeepers.  Several friends came to visit with us while we were in KC and we spent an evening encouraging and praying over them all.  Such a special time!

Then we went through Nebraska to Northern Colorado to spend time with another 

adopted family.  This year has not been an easy one for them but their focus is on the Lord and they continue to seek to walk in His ways and make wise decisions.  In Colorado is where we met our 3^rd Lindsay.  We decided to have barbecue for lunch before we went up in the mountains so our server at the restaurant was named Lindsay.  We told her about the 3 Lindsay’s and she said, they must be special for you to have 3 of them.  We agreed with her.  We knew Father had a plan.  I gave a scripture card to each one and we shared about Jesus.

After leaving the restaurant we stopped for gas. Something happened that could have stopped our trip all together and it could have been life threatening.  Charley was pumping gas and he tripped over the gas hose and fell on his face full force.  He was bleeding profusely and with help from another person at the next pump we were able to stop the bleeding enough for him to drive to a close grocery store where he could look at himself in the mirror and see the damage.  We were praying Lord what do we do.  The laceration on his nose looked like it needed stitches but he did not really want them so we got a bandage for his nose and headed into the mountains.  Our adopted daughter was able to clean and dress the wound and then the children with others in the house prayed over him.  We were so thankful to be with this precious family and to count our blessings that the hose did not come out of the car and pour gas all over him.  Also we praised the Lord that in falling Charley did not break any bones.  The injuries were superficial: a laceration on his nose, scrape and bruise on his upper lip and his two front teeth broken.  He had a few abrasions on his knee and was a bit shaken but otherwise he was fine.  We watched his face heal supernaturally that week.  He rested quite a bit but many times he had 3 little children in his lap reading stories to them.  What a blessing to watch the joy on their faces!  The Lord had special plans for us there and the enemy tried to stop us but he lost, AGAIN!!  Praise God!!! The scripture that comes to mind is Psalm 91:11 which says “For He shall give His angels charge over you, to keep you in all your ways.”  Our desire is to walk out Proverbs 3:5-6 daily. It is our life verse and because we choose to seek the Lord with all our heart, He takes care of us.

We arrived home on May 25 from our trip rejoicing at all the Lord did in those 2 weeks.  He had a plan and a purpose for each visit and for each appointment we had.  Other opportunities included sharing with a motel desk clerk about what the Word of God says concerning marriage and God’s love, sharing scripture cards in motels with notes of thankfulness to the housekeepers for preparing our wonderful rooms, leaving a bag of items in Nebraska and having the bag returned to Colorado before we headed for home and many encouraging words spoken to people in stores, restaurants and motels.  We strive to be ready with a word of blessing or encouragement from the Lord every moment of every day.  It is a lifestyle.  Hold on to your hats folks!  This is the way we plan to live our life from now to eternity.  Stay with us for the next article and know that it will honor and glorify our Lord Jesus.

Love and blessings,

Charles and Karen