Joe & Becky Cruse

How are you today? I pray you are enjoying summer and finding some good time to rest and reflect on the goodness of God. It’s been two weeks since the last writing and we have much to tell.

Even though classes aren’t in session, WMI and the travel team find themselves busy with opportunities for ministry. Ps Joe and I have kept a very busy pace through these summer months as most of you know. City Worship Centre hosted the AWE Conference in June and VBS in July. Both events blessed many. We had a great time the last week of June with Ps Tommy and Kym Morgan at Potter’s Wheel Ministries in Mesquite, TX. The presence of God was so powerful and many were touched and changed.

Then, this past weekend, the team led a powerful worship conference in Atlanta, GA at World Harvest Church with dear friends, Ps Mirek and Linda Hufton. I believe a great deposit was made and that we will see fruit that abounds from the time spent there.

Ps Joe and I left Atlanta on Saturday evening, joining our friends Drs Rodney and Adonica Howard-Browne for 8 Days of Glory in East London, South Africa. Many of you will remember the time we spent with them last summer this same time. Many thousands of people came to know the Lord and so it is this summer as well. Sunday, August 1, we begin a crusade in Harare Zimbabwe and then return home on Thursday, Aug 5th.

Friends, thank you for your support this summer. Because the schools are not in session in summer, it allows us opportunity to travel and share the vision. We thank the Lord for the wonderful team of folks at home who hold our hands up as we go. This ministry has always had local church as its foundation while maintaining the global vision and will continue to do so. The harvest is truly plenteous and the laborers are few. We are partners with Overland Missions in Zambia Africa and will be spending time with them while in Harare.

Keep us in your prayers. Even while we are involved in foreign missions this summer, God is at work. We are praying about some upcoming opportunities and will be sharing some exciting things for the fall when we return. Also, IFTA will begin very shortly and new and old students will be returning in the next few weeks.

I’ve taken a few weeks off from writing the normal prayer directive. God has kept us very busy this summer and we praise Him for all He is doing. Church, all we ask of you is to stay faithful to the Lord in your weekly attendance and in your tithes and offerings. We believe He is at work and that He is a rewarder of those that “DILIGENTLY” seek Him. We want all of you to remain diligent as God rewards you for your faithfulness.

Don’t forget, we’ve changed the format for Wednesday at Recharge and this coming Wednesday night, Staci Jinkerson will be sharing her testimony before we pray and then this coming Sunday, Ps Jody and Vanessa will be bringing the Word of God. You don’t want to miss out! Show them your support by your prayers and attendance. I know you will be blessed mightily.

We love you all so very much and thank the Lord for each one of you. We continue to pray for you and pray for God’s blessings to overtake you, even this week.

Until we return—be blessed,
Ps Joe and Becky Cruse

Hello—we trust this writing finds you incredibly blessed! It’s exciting to see what God is doing in the church these days. God is moving by His spirit and peoples’ lives are being changed and blessed daily! Psalms 103:2 says, “Praise the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits”. Daily He blesses us with the benefits of life, salvation, love, grace, and mercy, just to name a few. How can we not praise Him?

Speaking of praise, have you ever noticed that much of the Psalms is actually prayers that David and others wrote? I once heard someone say that the highest form of prayer is praise and worship and for those of us who consider ourselves worshippers, that is certainly true. Because David was a man after God’s own heart, I believe his songs were his prayers and his prayers were his songs! He was a man who knew his God!

As we continue on the subject of prayer this week, let’s put our focus on worship and dive into the Psalms to more clearly see the daily confessions of a worshipper like King David.

Psalms 16:8-11 I have set the LORD always before me: because he is at my right hand, I shall not be moved. 9 Therefore my heart is glad, and my glory rejoiceth: my flesh also shall restb in hope. 10 For thou wilt not leave my soul in hell; neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption. 11 Thou wilt shew me the path of life: in thy presence is fulness of joy; at thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore.

Psalms 45:7 Thou lovest righteousness, and hatest wickedness: therefore God, thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows.

Psalms 51:10-12 “Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a rightb spirit within me. 11 Cast me not away from thy presence; and take not thy holy spirit from me. 12 Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation; and uphold me with thy free spirit.”

Psalms 51:15 O Lord, open thou my lips; and my mouth shall shew forth thy praise.

Psalms 34:1 I will bless the LORD at all times: his praise shall continually be in my mouth.

Psalm 9:2 I will praise you, O LORD, with all my heart; I will tell of all your wonders.

Psalm 16:7 I will praise the LORD, who counsels me; even at night my heart instructs me.

Psalm 40:3 He put a new song in my mouth, a hymn of praise to our God. Many will see and fear and put their trust in the Lord.

For all of King David’s faults and failures, he loved the Lord and loved to praise his God. My challenge for us this week is to get a few of these psalms in our mouths and meditate on them. Try putting them to your own music! Trust me, God loves your personal song. Even the apostle Paul knew the power of worship. He speaks of praying and singing together in 1 Corinthians 14:15.

“What is it then? I will pray with the spirit, and I will pray with the understanding also: I will sing with the spirit, and I will sing with the understanding also”.

When regular prayer seems a drudgery, try making your prayers your songs! Worshipping the Lord through singing and praising can set the captive free and if you remember, King Jehoshaphat sent out the praisers and singers and won a great battle without lifting a finger. What a powerful thought.

Let’s link our hearts and faith together this week for:

• A spirit and a sound of worship in CWC to arise like never before
• Love and unity to flow from every member
• The word of faith would be in our mouths
• The word of wisdom for our business people
• The abundance of finances in these days for God’s kids
• All the details of the land will be worked out
• God’s favor to rest upon WMI and it’s ministries
• A passion for the lost and that we would see souls added to the church
• Pray for our VBS this week: teachers and volunteers and of course, the kids

Church, have a blessed and prosperous week. We love you and thank God for each one of you. If you have any prayer requests, please call the office and let us hear from you.

Lots of love and blessing,
Ps Joe and Becky and the team

This is the day the Lord has made—I WILL REJOICE AND BE GLAD IN IT! And this is also a week that is going to be life changing for so many. Beginning tomorrow night, Thursday (6/24) @ 7:00 pm, we are holding our first city wide Worship Conference called A.W.E.—Austin Worship Explosion.

On Thursday night, we welcome Ps Ross Parsley, formerly of New Life Church in Colorado Springs, CO. Ross is a passionate song writer and worshipper, and beginning a brand new church here in Austin called ONEChapel. You will be blessed by his simplicity and his love for his God.

On Friday night, we are excited to have one of the most influential worship leaders of our day, Cindy Cruse Ratcliff, from Lakewood Church in Houston TX. Cindy has just released a new solo album, “23”, with the title cut being written by our own Ps Ryan Cruse. Cindy will also be speaking to all vocalists in the Friday morning session.

The day sessions on Friday and Saturday mornings will be hosted by Ps Joe and the Experience Band with awesome sessions on song composition, studio concepts, group instrumental and group vocal classes.

Friends, if you know of anyone desiring training in worship or they just want to be better worshippers, they will NOT want to miss this upcoming conference.

As we pray this week—we are asking everyone to bathe this weekend in prayer. Romans 8:31 tells us, “But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you. The word “seek” in the Greek is “Zeteo” which is to worship, to crave, to desire above all.

As we worship Him, make Him our first priority, all the other things we need will be taken care of. I believe this conference is of utmost importance in the life of the church and its ministries but more importantly, for your own lives and families. Will you clear your calendar this weekend and join us? And don’t just come and enjoy yourselves, but bring some friends along. They can be changed forever!

Our Wednesday night prayer time will be focused on the conference and what we are believing God for.

We will be praying for:

• God’s favor and blessing on the conference
• Our guests who will be ministering
• Salvation to come to those in attendance who are not born again
• A renewed fire and passion for worship, the word and the greater works
• People to be healed as they come on the grounds
• Personal needs of CWC members
• Finances for the property to continue to come in
• Potential students for IFTA this coming year

Church, we are asking you to do everything you can to join us and invite others. God will be pleased and His kingdom will be advanced. We will see you Thursday night!

Blessings,
Ps Joe and Becky and the team

Are you having a blessed week? I certainly hope so! God our Father has been so good to us, Jesus is interceding on our behalf, and the precious Holy Spirit has empowered us to do the greater works. What more could we dare ask or think?

Ephesians 3: 20 tells us, “Now to Him Who, by (in consequence of) the [action of His] power that is at work within us, is able to [carry out His purpose and] do superabundantly, far over and above all that we [dare] ask or think [infinitely beyond our highest prayers, desires, thoughts, hopes, or dreams]”–

And John 14:12-14 says-

12”I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father.
13And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Son may bring glory to the Father.
14You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it.”

I tell you the truth, it just doesn’t get any better than that! The promises of God are to us who believe and LORD, I BELIEVE!

As we turn our thoughts to prayer this week, lets meditate on the above scriptures. I ask you again, what could you dare ask or think? There is nothing to difficult for the Lord! Even if you are facing insurmountable odds, God is able….

Jeremiah tells us in chapter 32, “Ah, Sovereign LORD, you have made the heavens and the earth by your great power and outstretched arm. Nothing is too hard for you.”

God wants to do some amazing things in all of us and for all of us. I know that this coming Sunday is Father’s Day, but if we coming expecting God to do above all we dare ask or think, that is exactly what we will receive. We must always keep our eyes fixed on the harvest and eternity.

Do you have some co-workers or family members that need to have an encounter with Him? Let’s ask God—

1. Ask the Lord for a fresh wind of the Holy Spirit to blow across our church and ministry
2. Ask the Lord for a fresh baptism of fire to go out and do the greater works
3. Ask the Lord for fresh revelation of the Word of God—that it would come alive to us and through us
4. Ask the Lord for salvation to come to your family members and co-workers
5. Ask the Lord for miracles, signs, and wonders to be the normal and expected
6. Ask the Lord for a supernatural boldness to invite people to come the AWE conference June 24-26
7. VBS July 5-9 pray for a great harvest of souls

Church, one last thing, let’s continue to keep the acquisition of the property on our prayer lists. Would you pray, link your faith with us, and ask God to release on earth what has already been released in heaven regarding the 26 acres we believe belongs to us? God is at work on our behalf and if we agree and speak the same thing together, we make our plans agreeable to His and we have what we desire! AMEN!

We are so excited about this coming week. Please be faithful in prayer on Wednesday—God is up to something exciting and I believe He is going to show Himself strong on our behalf. Pastor Joe has a powerful word for the dad’s in our house this coming Sunday on “Leaving a Legacy “. It will be a blessing to everyone in attendance.

On Sunday, July 4th, we are having our Family Picnic Day. Bring a picnic lunch for your family and join us for some fun, food and fellowship.

Church, we love you and look forward to an awesome week,
Ps Joe and Becky and the team

How are you today? We are in revival at Fellowship of Ft. Bend in Rosenberg, TX this week and the meetings have been wonderful. The people are very hungry and the Lord has been faithful to meet us in every service. Keep us in your thoughts and prayers this week. We are praying for a great harvest!

Our dear friend, Glenda Rose, sent me this note this week, and it was such a blessing to me so I’m passing it on. Enjoy!

“This Sunday Pastor Becky taught on some of the spiritual doors we all encounter in our Christian walk. One of those doors is the door of opportunity. Truth be told, I wonder how many of us fail to read the sign that reads “Opportunity” on that door and so call it by another name: problem, attack of the enemy, trial, tribulation.

I worked many years in furniture retail, in the operations department: front office, warehouse, delivery…that sort of thing. My boss, the vice president for our area, was clearly more sales oriented than operations, and if you’ve ever worked in any kind of business with sales and operations, the two often collide.

“We have a problem,” I would say, using my most serious voice and somber expression.
He’d just give me an annoying, knowing grin and say, “We have no problems. Only opportunities.”
He taught me to view the “problems” from a different perspective and see that there was always an opportunity to exceed the expectations of our customers. It is a lesson for which I am still grateful.

But I didn’t have to learn this from the world. I have Jesus as my example.

In John 11, Jesus was given the news that His friend Lazarus lay deathly ill. He responded immediately: “This sickness will not end in death. No, it is for God’s glory so that God’s Son may be glorified through it.” Two days later Lazarus died. Jesus said, “Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep; but I am going there to wake him up.”

The fact in the natural was that Lazarus was dead, but the Word said that death was not the end. It was an opportunity for God’s Son to be glorified.

If you’re facing a problem this week, I encourage you to call it by another name: Opportunity. Don’t call it being fired or laid off. Call it a promotion! Don’t call it a negative bank balance. Call it an opportunity for God to provide according to His riches, not your need! Like Father Abraham, call those things that be not as though they are (Romans 4:17). Believe that God works all things together for our good because we love Him and are called according to His purpose (Romans 8:28).

Remember: It’s not a problem. It’s an opportunity for God to move in you, for you, or through you”.

Friends, I believe that is a powerful word for all of us this week! God is at work in all of us and His plans are for our good. As we pray this week, let’s be aware of the fact that every opportunity has some opposition, but God will use it for our good. Remember what Joseph said as he stood before his brothers–

Genesis 50:18-20 says, “His brothers then came and threw themselves down before him. “We are your slaves,” they said. But Joseph said to them, “Don’t be afraid. Am I in the place of God? You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives.

Let’s agree in prayer for—
• The door of opportunity to be open wide for members of CWC (1 Cor 16:8)
• That people discover their strengths and identify areas of weakness that need to be changed as we grow together in building the kingdom of God here in SW Austin
• People that need direction for key decisions about jobs, careers, moves, family, mates, etc (Joshua 24:15)
• The destiny that God has for all of us—that we would know God’s plans are far beyond our own finite plans (Eph 1:4-14 and Jeremiah 29:11)
• That we would all be ministers of reconciliation (2 Cor 5:17-18)
• A harvest of souls for the services this week
• Finances for AC and for regular operating needs of the ministry

Church, we pray you are blessed abundantly this week. Look for those open doors of opportunity and move on through in faith!

Don’t forget to tell someone about the AWE (austinworshipexplosion.com) conference coming up June 24-26 with Ps Ross Parsley, Cindy Cruse Ratcliff, and Ps Joe and Becky. Help us spread the word! We are believing for some supernatural doors to be opened that week!

Love you all,
Ps Joe and Becky and the team