DPM Update – 2023 Jan – Happy New Year

Happy New Year 2023!

Dear Friends,

A brand new year has dawned upon us! With that in mind, try this verse: “The path of the righteous is like the first gleam of dawn, shining brighter and brighter until midday.” – Ps 4:18 Now, that sounds like a good place for a “Hallelujah”, right there! 🙂

Debbie and I are still very much engaged with the ministry of touching people with our Father’s love.  

This year we’ve ministered four times in CA… MN, WI and Nashville a couple of times,  and TX and Chicago.  We hosted four 3-day Gatherings; in CA, TN and MO… along with many day-trips around MO & KS.

Our hearts are happy, inspired and more intimate with our Father’s Presence than ever before.  Truly!

The newest member to our tribe
Last month, our daughter Lydia and her husband Chris had their fourth child – Isabella Marie.  Our 10th Grand was born in the car traveling over 100 mph on the way to the hospital.  Whew!!  She was not going to wait another minute! Mommy and baby are doing quite well.  Here are a couple pictures

Widows and orphans
Along with all the ‘normal’ ministry, we haven’t forgotten to help the poor, the widows and orphans – in keeping with James 1:27. (“Pure religion… is to look after orphans and widows in their distress”)  Over the years, DPM has contributed to the poor in multiple countries, including: Kenya, Philippines, Honduras, Guatemala, Cuba, Israel, Mozambique, Myanmar (Burma) and the USA.  In an ongoing venture DPM has built eight widows’ homes in Kenya through Love Mercy, a ministry of long-time trusted friends, Noel & Mieke Alexander.  More homes are presently being built.  Click here for more details

Some of our benevolence focus’

1. Kenya – building homes for widows and their children in Kiungani, Kipsaina and Endebess  
2. Myanmar(Burma) – helping children’s homes who are encountering very real persecution and even martyrdom
3. Honduras – partnering with Impact Min Intl (IMI) building the City of Refuge in El Motalal Comayagua

Widows’ homes – before and after pics

A new song
Here’s a late Christmas gift for you… a song I wrote which rallies around our greater inheritance and emerging Heavenly realities.   Click here to listen: Heaven Is Here

Influencers/leaders

Over the years I’ve heard several leaders express the following sentiment, so I’m not sure who to attribute it to.  But here is my version of this powerful truth!

       “If you want the body of Christ to be somewhere in five years, write songs about it now.” – MLH

So, this song heralds an abbreviated essence of what has gripped our hearts in recent years and where we believe many of Jesus’ people will be walking in the near future.  It’s been our great pleasure to find many others on a similar journey… and together, we’re experiencing some amazing discoveries.  This reality is Biblical.  It’s inspiring.  It’s for real!  And it’s for us… NOW!

My ‘dream’
Heaven Is Here is produced to sound like a stadium full of people singing with abandon… like a ‘dream’ of mine:  Imagine that the mindset of a whole society of believers is gripped with the revolutionary awareness of our residency in Heaven – NOW!  No distance, no delay… exactly what Jesus said of Himself (“the Son of Man who IS in Heaven” – Jn 3:13 NJKV).   Heaven is here, Heaven is now!

This powerful revelation is so pervasive, gripping and effectual that stadiums are filled with men and women caught up in ecstatic joy and wonderment.  Football stadiums have never seen such a fever as the overflowing jubilation of saints experiencing this greater reality of our salvation.  Our bodies and souls are discovering oneness with our spirit man – which is in the Heavenlies (Eph 2:6, Col 3:1-3).  Now, our spirit, soul and body are integrated and in sync with one another… and together, they are brought into Heavenly oneness with our Father, Jesus and Holy Spirit. 

In this vibrant reality (which is an integral part of our inheritance) there are limitless Heavenly frontiers on all sides, waiting to be possessed.  This is life and life more abundantly!

For reference
Lk 17:24, Jn 3:13, Jn 10:9, I Cor 6:17, II Cor 5:17, Eph 2:6, Col 3:1-4, Heb 12:22-23, I John 4:17, Rev 4:1 and more…


Strategic God
Don’t you just love how God establishes our paths and brings us together in the just the right place and time?!  He’s the best!  You watch, we’ll hang out with each other again this year and tell more stories of the goodness of God in each of our lives.  And that’s a good thought right there!

Love and blessings
May your heart be happy and full, your vision clear, your words be anointed, your hands empowered, your efforts fruitful and your eternal rewards great!!

Our love and blessings to you and yours!  ❤❤
Mark & Debbie

Stay in touch!
Please feel free to contact us for friendship or ministry.   Here are a few ways to connect

DPM web: www.DPMkc.org
ALC web: www.ALC.one
Email: hendrickson@dpmkc.org
Itinerary: www.alc.one/calendar
Facebook: www.facebook.com/marklhen
Beyond the Map blog: www.marklhen.wordpress.com
Video channel: www.youtube.com/c/MarkHendrickson-DPM-ALC

DPM Update – 2022 Jan – Happy New year – changes

Dear Friends

Happy New Year 2022!!

We’re still ‘doing the stuff’
Here’s hoping that you are already seeing promising signs of upgrades and improvements in all areas of your life in this new year.  Although DPM is still fully alive and doing well, most of our communications have shifted to blog posts and a new website (www.ALC.one) which I’ll explain below.  We’re still sharing Jesus and being about our Father’s business, loving His presence and giving Him away.  Fanning the flames of love for God in the hungry hearts of His people is still a very big part of what we do. 

Helping the poor
Helping the poor remains a high value to us.  In fact, in the last couple of years we’ve been partnering with Noel & Mieke Alexander’s ministry Love Mercy, in building widow’s houses in Kenya.  For $750, a decent house gets built, including wood and adobe walls with a corrugated steel roof… usually about 12’ x 15’ divided into 3 rooms… sometimes larger depending on their family size.  The pic on the left is the place Widow Jane and her children lived before getting her house… and the pic on the right is Widow Louise’ finished house.  Can you imagine what they feel!?!?  Seeing the widows’ smiles and knowing where they came from, to what they’re moving into, is a great joy to us!!  If your heart is so moved, we’d be glad to connect you.  

New emphasis for us in last 2 – 5 years
Even though the nature and character of God never changes, His emphasis surely does.  That’s easy to see in Biblical history and I’m sure that each of us can see that in our own personal history.  Well, there has been an awakening and transition in our hearts to pursue the Heavenly realm… the other and greater part of every believer’s being.  In a few words, we’re learning to live the ‘ascended life’… discovering what it means to live ‘above the line’… the ‘line’ that some might say separates Heaven and earth.  The short of it, goes something like this:

‘Elevator speech’ 
“For 2000 years Christians have tried to live our best life as earth-based humans.  We knew there was a Heaven… but we had very little experience with it… or encounter in it.  Even though the largest and most consequential part of our being – our spirit – is already ‘seated in Heaven’, most people had no faith that they’ll experience Heaven until after our ‘ticker’ stops.  In a sad and strange way, that mentality makes death our ‘savior’.  Hmm.

But in Jn 17:24, Jesus longs for us to “be with Him where He is, so that He could show us His glory”.  So where is He?  In Jn 3:12, He referred to Himself, saying, “I am in Heaven.”  Literally, He was on earth AND in Heaven simultaneously.  And the message is that He wants us to learn to live in these dual realities equally well, like Him… after all, He’s the Pattern Son.

We all believe this, because it’s in the Scriptures.  But we haven’t practiced it well.   We still pray as earthlings.  “Will you rend the Heavens and come down”… “We invite You to our meeting this morning”… “Let’s pray for the Lord to come”… “Let’s ask Holy Spirit to come to our revival next weekend”, etc.   All of those common prayers locate us squarely on earth versus in Heaven.  Question: How would those prayers change if we really believed that we were “seated in Heavenly places”?

We’re finding much grace to experience Heavenly things that were normally put off until the ‘millennium’… or until after death. We’ve had more Heavenly experiences in the last couple of years than in all the rest of our lives.  Scripture has come alive like never before.  And the realities of relationship with God have been enhanced exponentially.  And boy, is it a ton of fun!”
End of ‘elevator speech’

Well… people of similar passion began rallying and experiencing a deep hunger for more.  So, we began regular meetings and established a banner of Ascended Life Community (ALC).  Not only is there local momentum, but in regional pockets around the US, people are rallying around this theme.  We’re confident this theme will become a common part of Christian experience in the future.  It has inspired us to radical changes in perspectives, mindsets, prayer posture, vocabulary, spiritual experience… and much more. 

http://www.ALC.one
In our growth, we’ve discovered many resources and are accruing stories and insights, etc.  So www.ALC.one has become our new ministry web-home and the place to find tons of resources, such as: books, blog posts, articles, music, podcasts, a searchable video channel, stories, events, etc.

Change of ages
If you hang around us very long you’ll hear us comment that the globe is entering a brand new age in history.  There have been several epic age changes in Biblical history.  And interestingly, in every change of ages, God institutes a very different mode of operation between man and God.  Consider: Do you think you would have recognized and caught the age change if you had lived 2000 years ago; the transition from Judaism to Christianity?  Good question, right?  What if indeed we were in an age change now… would you know how to detect it?  Validate it?  And flow with God’s new emphasis?

You may have heard a common prophetic word, believed by many, “God is changing the expression of Christianity in a single generation”.  That sounds all fun and exciting… until we realize that it might effect some of my religious ‘sacred cows’.   What would I do then?  (Remember the transition 2000 years ago.)  How many God-instituted ‘sacred cows’ of the OT, got ‘sacrificed’ on the ‘altar’ of a “new and living way”?  Did I hear an “Ouch!” of painful relinquishing… or the ‘O boy!’ of excited adventure.  Food for thought!

Through mankind’s history, the central and core values of love for God and walking with God have never changed.  Those have remained constant from Adam, all the way through Abraham and David till Jesus, etc.  But, the external practices of religion surely changed several times in those 4000 years.  And we believe that we’re in the exciting throes of another one of those wonderful epic change of ages.

To be sure, the core values of relationship with God, love for His heart and Presence, tenderness of heart, love for our neighbor… those values that we all hallow… are actually enhanced and magnified like never before.  Truly!

Anyway, that is a little update on a new dimension of our journey in the last 3-5 years.  For more, visit our new website.

First ALC Gathering
In Oct 2021 we hosted our first larger-type ALC Gathering in Kansas City… a conference for all those interested in this ascended life theme.  There were overwhelming responses like; “I’ve found home…” “This is my tribe”, etc.  Several things characterize our times together: spontaneous flow, open worship, group participation, prophetic seeing, travel in the Spirit and much more.  It went so well that we’re in the planning stage for another ALC Gathering in Nashville this Spring and then again in KC this Fall.

ALC School
Last March we started a twice-monthly online zoom school with sessions focused on exploring this ‘ascended life’ theme.  These sessions always include group interactions, a teaching topic and activations.

What are others saying about the ascended life?
Since you asked, here’s a video of an Oct 2020 sermon by Bill Johnson in which he highlights Jn 3:13 and Rms 12:2 and a few of our ALC themes.  View: 19:15 – 37:30 mins 

Bill Johnson quotes
“Some people call this the ascended life.”
“It is my desire that we understand and learn to practice this in the next couple of years.” 
“I feel that the difference between praying/living from earth versus praying/living from Heaven is the difference between being a servant and being a son.” 
“Some of what we think comes with the return of Christ, comes with the renewed mind of Christ.”

Wrap it up
Suffice it to say, that being a son and daughter of God has never been more inspiring.  We’re more alive in God than ever… and my basic motivational gifting – being a pioneer – is more engaged than ever in my life.  Despite the gloominess of politics, covid and societal ills, it feels like the future is bright and hope-filled.  It’s a proven fact, how you view life determines the way life begins to come to you.  As our perspective becomes more Heavenly-places-filled, the clouds of darkness get exchanged for the Son of Heaven dawning a bright new day.

“The path of the righteous grows brighter and brighter even unto the noon day sun.” – Prov 4:18

If you’d like to talk further on these subjects, please view our website first.  It may answer some of your questions.  Then if you’d like to talk, feel free to email.

Our blessings and much love!!
Mark & Debbie Hendrickson

11011 Olive St
Kansas City, MO 64131
_______________________
Dwelling Place Ministries (DPM)
www.dpmkc.org
Ascended Life Community (ALC)
www.ALC.one
Beyond the Map blog
www.marklhen.wordpress.com
Facebook
www.facebook.com/marklhen

Asher’s Amazing Miracle

Stories to Inspire

Here’s a short story video that will likely melt your heart.

April 2, 2018 – Nearly 3 years ago our then 14-month-old grandson Asher, was suddenly stricken with acute flaccid myelitis – an inflammation and swelling of the spinal cord.  He had just taken a 2-hour nap and uncharacteristically woke up crying… and for no apparent reason.  After some homespun testing, John took him to the ER.  That night was a long night.  

Cheryl and I joined John and Asher early the next morning.  After intensive research and extensive tests, the Drs knew what was wrong, they just didn’t know why… and the prognosis they gave us was pretty hopeless.

Despite knowing that this was a serious problem, we immediately reminded our hearts and minds of how our family lives in the favor of the Lord… proven by countless miracles of His goodness.  We determined that we would NOT let our hearts be sucked down into a dark whirlpool of confusion, discouragement or despair.  If every previous trial in our lives has ended up being an amazing trophy testimony, then why would this trial be any different!?!  REALLY!!!  This is the REAL stuff!  If we’re in Christ, we must begin to believe His heart for us and anchor our emotions in this infallible truth.

John stayed in the hospital with Asher for 19 days.  Cheryl traveled back and forth and took care of the other siblings.  At about 19 days, Asher moved one finger 1/4″.  Yay!!!!  Our confidence was already unshakeable but that little 1/4″ movement was the ‘icing on the cake’.  They dismissed him from the hospital saying that was all they could do for him.  But that wasn’t to be the end of the story – THANK YOU, GOD!!!!

Since then, progress has been slow but very steady and remarkable.

Many people around the world have prayed for our little guy.  This tender and innocent toddler has found his way into the hearts of countless caring folks.  Nearly everywhere we go, someone asks how he’s doing.  So, this short video is an overview of the last 3 years to tell the good news and give glory to our awesome God. 

At this point, Asher has recovered most of the motor function and muscle skills in his arms, hands and fingers.  His nerves have evidently established new pathways to transfer the impulses and his muscles have steadily rebuilt.  There is no doubt that he’ll have as much normal function as any other boy within a year or so.  Even now, it might be difficult for a stranger to notice that Asher ever had a problem.

Our hearts are so grateful to our Heavenly Father for His care for us the whole way through.  He has helped us turn another test… into a test-imony!  What we knew to be true about God nearly 3 years ago when things looked so bad, has carried us right into another one of a boatload of trophy God-stories that is power-packed to inspire others.  He’s just that good!

The takeaway: Our God is so much better than we ever thought!!

Click here for a 5:30 mins video story

— MLH

Surprised by Pentecost on Pentecost

Gotta share a great testimony from this last Pentecost Sunday (5/31/20). 

This morning I spoke via Zoom to a church in Northern Russia (1200 km north of St Petersburg).  My dear friends David & Zhenya Verly have been pastoring there for several years and she was my translator.  Previously, they had asked me to share some of my recent supernatural experiences.  I was supposed to speak for 30-40 minutes.  So I gingerly unpacked a couple things… and got a little bolder as I neared the end of my 40 minutes.  But my hosts asked me to share another story they had previously heard from me.  Sooo, I get a little bolder. 

Then the Zoom attendees were free to ask questions.  I could tell that they were ‘rising to the occasion’.  There was beginning to be a buzz in the air.  Literally, they were ‘bubbling over’ with smiles, thumbs-up, nods and laughter, as I ‘gave them permission’ to enter new territory.  So, I got really bold and decided to take the big plunge… into a Holy Spirit New Wine fest. 😊 I invited them to ‘have another drink’ of the New Wine.  We all ‘tipped’ the glass and ‘took another drink’… and before long we were in a most delightful ‘out of control’ experience.  God bless my translator… she was overcome and couldn’t translate anymore.  Incapacitated, she just fell backward onto her husband.  Well, he can’t speak Russian, so I just went ahead and facilitated with generic style language – speaking in tongues, hand gestures and “More, Lord”, etc.  Before long I was rolling in holy laughter like I haven’t done in 10 years or more… and the Zoom attendees were too!  So much fun!!!  We were all most pleasantly surprised by the Spirit!  It was a wonderful experience! 

Pentecost was revisited.  Internet bandwidth and nearly 5000 miles of distance couldn’t stop Holy Spirit.  He was going to break out no matter what. 

After things began to simmer down and when my translator was able to regain her composure, I asked them to share what they experienced.  As people took their turns sharing, their testimonies made me laugh and made me cry.  Some were so funny… and some were so tender.  FREEDOM was in the air!!  Needless to say, we were emboldened to believe for more in the future. 

We were all surprised by an outbreak of Pentecost on Pentecost Sunday.  This touched all of our hearts very deeply.  Despite the circumstantial hurdles, Holy Spirit did something with us that we could never have ‘manufactured’ by our own initiative.  It makes us appreciate Him even more.  And so what was supposed to be a 30-40 minute ministry time ended up being 2 ½ hours… and it was ‘alive’ the whole time.   When we realized how long we had been on Zoom, we all had to laugh… and we did.  Needless to say, our hearts were warmly knit together on our first meeting together. 

I’m looking forward to our next meeting.

Several people have said that when they watched this video clip ‘it’ got on them, too.  If you’d like to join in the fun, click here then go to 3 hrs 00 mins through 3 hrs 17 mins – about 17 minutes of Pentecost New Wine fun stuff – joy, holy laughter, etc.

— MLH

Follow-up: After this amazing Zoom experience David & Zhenya sent this amazing God-story:

“One of the ladies in our church showed up in an unbelievers dream, prayed for him and he was healed!”

“Let me start from the beginning.  Our good friend Mark Hendrickson preached an inspiring message to our church in Russia over Zoom a few weeks ago.  He talked about stepping out of the box of our normal prayer life and moving into some new unexplored realms of prayer.  Our church loved his message and immediately put it into practice.”

“Tanya is a massage therapist and typically works with children only.  So when she received a phone call from a gentleman whom she’d never meet asking for a massage her initial response was, “No.”  However, she felt a little nudge from Holy Spirit to help this man, so she said, “Yes.””

“The man came to her office, she gave him a massage and at the end, she asked if she could pray for his back.  He agreed.  She laid her hands on his back, prayed and the pain immediately left.  He was so excited he paid her double for the massage.”

“The man went without pain for about a week, until he woke up in the middle of the night with intense back pain.  He eventually drifted back to sleep.  As he was sleeping he saw Tanya, our massage therapist, dressed in white, come to him in his dream.  She laid her hands on his back and when he woke up the next morning he realized that the pain was gone!  The man was so excited that he called her to tell her what happened.”

“God is doing a new thing! (Isaiah 43:19)” – D&Z

DPM Update – 2019 Sept – Shefa / Outpouring

Dear Friends

Debbie & I will join Dave & Ann Clark this month for another trip to Israel.  We’ll pick up where we left off in our benevolence mission… as well as reconnect with our growing and dear friendships.  In our recent trips, we’ve made some deep relationships which have been mutually inspiring.  There can be no mistaking of Heaven’s guidance and God’s presence among us.  We’ve all felt God’s delight as we dialog about matters of the heart and share personal God-testimonies.  It’ll be a joy to see them again.

The following is just one of our many bright points in our recent trips to Israel.

We’ve become very good friends with an amazing 21-year-old young man by the name of Ezra, who describes himself as a modern orthodox Jew.  He is the great-grandson of an almost legendary rabbi, Ovadia Yosef (Obadiah Joseph), who died in 2013.  Nearly everyone in Israel knows of Rabbi Joseph and reveres him as a rabbi of almost royalty status in modern times… his picture is even posted in many Jewish restaurants.

Ezra gave Dave and I a tour of his prestigious yeshiva (religious school) Yeshivat Birkat Moshe, where he has studied with 200-300 young men for about 5 years.  We were very warmly welcomed by the rabbis, and then Ezra showed us the sizable library where some books date back 500 years.  The prolific writings of his photographic-memory great grandfather, are there in a collection that looks like rows of encyclopedias.

The really amazing part about Ezra is that he loves to dialog on any topic and easily relates it back to the Torah, Tanakh, or Talmud.  This was of special interest to us because we loved hearing his explanation of the original content and original intent of the Bible passages.  Beyond that, Ezra carries himself with much decorum and talks with ease about any topic.  One such topic was his explanation of the times we live in.

He called this present time that we live in, the “World of Process”, which might be described as the time in which man is in the process of being perfected.  He went on to say that the next world is called the “World to Come” which can have two possible meanings: after we die… or when Messiah comes.  That time is where all the ‘supernatural’ things found in Holy Scripture will occur again.  He further elaborated that the afterlife “World to Come” is not bound by time.  It is outside of time – bigger than time – so it will be and has ALWAYS been, existent.

After discussing a few topics, I asked, “What caused men of God in the Bible to experience the supernatural things, such as miracles, healings, prophecy, etc?”

Ezra said it was when they experienced the “stream” (his own word/description) out of God that they were empowered to do these unusual things.

So I asked, “How would you describe the “stream”?”

He said, “The best Hebrew word is probably Shefa.  There are lots of words to describe Shefa; such as abundance, wealth (not earthly), the flow of goodness, blessing, benefit, Divine ‘flow’, emanation or influence, etc… but the best English word is probably “Outpouring”!”

I was impacted deeply upon hearing this, because the word Outpouring, is the exact title we sometimes use to identify our Christian moves of God which are accompanied by the supernatural!  I described how we experience some of those Biblical supernatural phenomena and actually ‘reach’ for those phenomenon experiences as one of our core values.  I said that one of the common predicating factors for many of these outpourings is HUNGER… hunger for this intimate experience and for ‘breakthrough’ empowerment.

A rabbi’s description of Shefa
“Shefa is actually, on the broadest level, the flow of goodness that comes to our world from the higher planes of existence.  Shefa comes as a blessing and has many forms.  The Shefa, on one hand, is sent down… by divine direction, but on the other hand is drawn down to our level by need, by circumstance and in response to human action.” – Rabbi Fisdel

So I asked Ezra if he believed that Shefa can be experienced today.  He said, “We will experience Shefa when the Messiah comes… in the “World to Come”.  It will certainly be much easier to experience then.”

To that, I had to ask, “But if the afterlife “World to Come” is ALWAYS existent… and men of old have already experienced these “streams” and “outpourings”, then we too, should be able to experience it now, right?”  After a short pause, he concurred… and his exact words were, “We must learn to live in the stream.  It is the most amazing thing and the highest level of our existence.”

I could tell that this was a topic that was very dear to him, but one that may not be in mainstream conversations.  Shortly, I realized that my own heart was being strangely stirred.  I explained to him how I knew that I was having a mini Shefa, right there in the car.  Our discussion was so precious at that point that tears filled my eyes and I felt to prophesy over him that he was going to find himself drawn into the discovery of how to live in the “stream”/Shefa of God… that this quest would grip and consume him.  I continued, that his faith for this would rise as God gave him milestone experiences to surely take him into this kind of reality.  And he would be used to enlighten others about the validity of experiencing the “stream”/Shefa in their lives, too.  He was deeply moved and with great thoughtfulness responded, “I hope so.”

That evening was very encouraging for all of us.  Upon parting ways, Dave & I spoke blessings over him.  He sincerely acknowledged that this had been a most impacting experience.

We’re very happy to have met Ezra as he is a valuable resource of rich insights of original Biblical passages, but even more, I’m very proud of him and grateful that he counts us among his friends.  We’ve had several very meaningful exchanges since then and without a doubt, we will continue rewarding and stimulating exchanges for years to come.

— MLH

DPM Update – 2018 June – ‘Open Hands’ Israel trip #2

Dear Friends

The adventure continues
We joined Dave & Ann Clark again on this latest installment as Team ‘Open Hands’ stepped onto the land of our mission objective.  It was a great trip!   Walking out this vision has been an exciting adventure because although we had pre-scheduled with some people, many of those appointments led to unexpected meetings later.

Hashgachah Pratit – Hebrew for ‘personal divine guidance’
To our delight, our trips have been highlighted by many Divine connections and appointments.  In fact, as we shared our stories to our Israeli friends, several of them told us this phenomenon is something called, hashgachah pratit (pronounced hosh gah kah prah teet).  It describes a special place of favor that happens when they receive specific personal guidance from God.  And that topic inspired even more exchange. So much fun!

Great fellowship til midnight

Heart-level relationships
While some of our connections could be described as introductory relationship building, others have been surprisingly rewarding on the heart-level.  One late night meal with some of our dear Jewish friends yielded a most rewarding exchange of hearts… it was momentous for all of us.  We found a great deal of freedom sharing about… family, anointing, compassionate care for others, prophesying, tears, etc.  Encouraging ‘word in season’ deposits were made in each other’s lives.  We exclaimed to each other how spiritually refreshing our time was.  True friendships were established and deepened.  Several times on this trip, upon parting ways, people exclaimed, “It’s been like a refreshing breath of spiritual air” and “You’re special people” and “You’re spiritual people”.  No doubt about it, Heaven is delighted.  

Every person we’ve connected with has responded VERY graciously.  We leave deposits of love and care wherever we can.  We trust HaShem (their word for God) will watch over the deposits of ‘life’ from each other… to bring forth His fruit in all of our hearts.

Dignity Clothing warehouse and distribution center

Mission details: Clothing distribution
Earlier this year, Dave & Ann were introduced to a charitable distribution organization called Dignity Clothing.  It was a welcome and powerful ‘God-sign’ for the vision.  Dignity has offered to assume a significant part of the workload (free gratis) in the over-all ‘pipe-line’ between the clothing manufacturer and the people.

We personally presented the samples of clothing from China to the people who will be in charge of their distribution in Israel.  With a few modifications, the samples were approved.  We were impressed as we visited the warehouse that receives the clothes, bar codes each one and distributes them to over 1600 families in Israel.  The components for the ‘pipe-line’ of this vision are falling into place.  Next, we’ll place an order with the clothing manufacturers… and the vision will be in full swing.  

Bambi – midwifery
Our midwife friend Bambi, (you may remember that she is the woman who has personally delivered about 40,000 babies in her life) was instrumental in connecting us to Dignity Clothing.  It was fun to watch her surprise and pleasure as the favor of God gave Open Hands a solid relationship with the executives of Dignity Clothing.  Among other great accolades for Bambi, we’re impressed with her organizational records… including the moneys received from donors and given to people in need.  She has some great stories of the impact of her help.  Here’s one…

Pressing needs – woman with MS
A woman has 12 children, 6 of whom are now married.  Some years ago, she was stricken with MS – she is now paralyzed, deaf, vision impaired and needs help 24/7.  She had a husband who was working in education.  He became sick with cancer last winter and passed away.  They were living in a 3 bedroom apt.  He left a lot of debt.  The family determined that it would be cheaper to move from Jerusalem and live in Modi’in Illit… and one of the married children decided to live with their mother.  They combined two apartments into one by removing walls in order to make room for the combined families.  Bambi’s organization gave them $10,000 for their financial debt and currently supports them $1000 per month to keep up with the bills.  Many more stories as dire as this one have stirred our hearts to come alongside Bambi with financial help.  

Divine appointment with Rabbi Machlis
A friend named Sally told us that we really needed to meet Rabbi Machlis.  We were told that he and his family open their home weekly to anyone who wants to share the Shabbat meals together with them.  Upwards to 100-150 people show up spontaneously.  Different beliefs and faiths are all welcomed.  He invites everyone to speak during the meal… and they’ve been doing this for 30+ years.  Sally’s account of this rabbi resonated deeply with our hearts.  We knew we had to get to know him.  When parting, she gave us a check to give to him.  Then she simply instructed, “Just look for him at The Kotel” (Western Wall).  

Prayers inserted in The Wall as a point of faith

On Shabbat, a few days later, we visited the Kotel.  Our minds were focused on finding our way to the Wall.  But as we entered the prayer area near the Wall, we were asked if we’d like to join a small group to pray about 10-15 feet from the Wall.  We found a place to sit down directly behind a praying rabbi.  As we approached our chairs, this rabbi graciously reached out to shake our hands… and shortly thereafter he found a book in English and gave it to us to follow along with him.  He kept reciting the prayers but occasionally turned around and helped me find the appropriate place in my book.  Having no idea who he was, we were struck with how gracious he was.

Eventually, Dave and I went up to The Wall and prayed for about 15-20 minutes.  The rabbi was only about 10-15 feet behind us the whole time.  As we were about to leave the Wall area, we realized that we needed to take care of Sally’s check, so we asked someone if they knew how we could find Rabbi Machlis….  We could hardly believe it… they pointed directly back to the very same rabbi who graciously greeted us and who helped us follow along with him.  It was Rabbi Machlis!!!  Crazy cool!!

Well, we tried to give him the check but Rabbi Machlis refused, without explanation.  We didn’t realize it, but he can’t touch money during Shabbat.  We didn’t know!!  We apologized later!  Anyway, we were amazed that HaShem had helped us find and have a personal interaction with Rabbi Machlis, even when we weren’t looking for him!!

The next day, we called the rabbi and he quickly invited us over to his very modest apartment.  He was exceptionally gracious and welcoming!  It was a great exchange, although short.  We’ll definitely be connecting with him again when we return.  Here’s his website: https://www.machlis.org 

Here are a few more crazy stories that have too many amazing details to share: 

We just ‘happened’ to bump into a government official… in our conversation and in follow-up emails we’re all confident that it was a Divine appointment, which has a future purpose.

One of our good friends was asked to be Israel’s president, but she refused because it would diminish her influence in Israel… 

A USA-based Jewish philanthropist to Israelis in need has eagerly entered into a partnership with ‘Open Hands’… accepting the cost of importing, warehousing and distribution of the clothing in 35-40 distribution sites in Israel…

A friendship emerged with the director of a world-renown mental health institute… we shared a Shabbat meal with him and his family… and he’s a rabbi who sits on a rabbinical council over 1000 rabbis… 

We have a deep heart relationship with the director of an acting school in Jerusalem that is as influential in Israel as Hollywood is in the USA…

One late night the US Embassy security saw a fire directly across the street on our good friend’s 3rd story patio and woke them up by pounding on their door.  The fire was easily contained.  Our US Embassy may have saved their home and their lives.  A sign hanging from their patio now says: “Thank you, President Trump.”

In the media/arts/movie industry, rewarding heartfelt friendships have been established with a director, a producer and a distributor… they each are well established, independent and seasoned veterans in the industry…

These are just some of the impacting encounters that were without a doubt, hashgachah pratit… personal divine guidance.  So many cool things happened that it looks very suspiciously like God is setting us up for something bigger than we’re currently aware of now.  And that’s the stuff that makes for great God-adventures!

More soon.  We’ll keep you posted. 

Our love and blessings!

Mark & Debbie
Dave & Ann

====================
Dwelling Place Ministries
Hendrickson
11011 Olive St
KC, MO 64131
====================
DPM home: www.dpmkc.org
Twitter: www.twitter.com/marklh
Itinerary: www.dpmkc.org/itinerary
Contribute: www.dpmkc.org/donate
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DPM Update – 2018 May – Open Hands Israel trip

Dear Friends

Another Israel trip
Debbie & I are flying on Thursday this week, to Israel join Dave & Ann Clark again.  Together, we’ll be following-up on our original objective in Israel, which is #1) create organic friendship with the Ultra-orthodox Jewish sect called the Haredim and #2) to come alongside them with practical gifts of money and personal items, such as clothing.

Our last trip in Sept/Oct 2017 and two subsequent trips by Dave & Ann have been overwhelmingly successful.  True friendships have developed which have led to some amazing interactions and relationships.  It’s pleasantly surprising to us… and even to the Jerusalem locals.  We’re all inspired to realize that we’re pioneering an un-orthodox relationship which has mutual blessing.  Lotsa fun. 

In addition, the ‘pipe-line’ of clothing from China to the local Haredi in Jerusalem is nearly in place.  We’ve had lots of favor in China… in the shipping and transportation arena… and in the distribution of clothing through a trusted and well-established infrastructure in Israel.  This journey is very exciting to us because there are many places on this journey that significant God-signs have inarguably established the validity of the vision. 

Team ‘Open Hands’
Our relationships with the Jerusalem locals have been spectacular.  Friendships in Ohio, New York, California, Missouri, China and Israel are all rallying with fresh inspiration.  In fact, it was in an especially intimate occasion where our New York Ultra-orthodox Jewish friends said let’s call this concerted vision, Open Hands.  So Open Hands it is!!!  There just doesn’t seem to be any barrier between Jew & Christian… in fact, sincere respect and love are clearly evident.  

The financial gifts we’ve given are truly making a serious contribution to the families living in poverty status or below.  As you know, we never ask for money, but if you have a heart to help in any of these three areas, Dave & Ann and Debbie and I would be happy to make sure that 100% of your gift gets to one of these areas of need.

1.     Personal items for Haredim families
        Clothing (shirts, pants, dresses, skirts) are being manufactured in China to Haredi specifications, then shipped to Israel and distributed to families in the Haredi communities all over Israel.  This clothing is then ‘sold’ to the people for about 10% of its original cost, in order to preserve the dignity of the recipients. 

2.     Financial gifts to a Jerusalem midwife ministry
        A well-known and loved midwife named ‘Bambi’, who has delivered 40,000+ babies, is using her relationships, connections and services to help many poverty level young families as their children enter the world.  Several sizeable gifts have been applied to the greatest areas of need. 

3.     Girls Town Jerusalem
        A Jewish ministry in Jerusalem provides ‘home’ for over 500 orphan girls and young mothers in 3 or 4 locations in Jerusalem.  Recently, the main facility was broken into by thieves.  We’ll visit them again on this trip and will be helping them financially.  You can view a video of the current need here: https://vimeo.com/266650311

If your hearts are so moved to support these Israel focuses, you can use our DPM Paypal account to facilitate the gifts.  Just add memo note as to where you’d like money designated.  We’ll be traveling in Israel from May 17 to June 4. 

You may know that there is a heightened international unrest between Israel, Syria and Iran at this moment.  As you are inspired, we’ll greatly appreciate your prayers.

Lotsa love
Mark & Debbie
Dave & Ann

====================
Dwelling Place Ministries
Hendrickson
11011 Olive St
KC, MO 64131
====================
DPM home: www.dpmkc.org
Twitter: www.twitter.com/marklh
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DPM Update – 2018 May – Asher’s health

Dear Friends

Asher – sudden ailment
Our family has been going through a little health test with our youngest grandchild, Asher Mark.  It all started on April 2, 2018 in the early evening, after John put Asher to bed.  At about 9:30pm he woke up crying.  After trying to console him, John and Cheryl soon realized this was not their typical Asher.  He couldn’t move his arms!  His arms were completely limp from his shoulders to the tips of his fingers.  He had just been playing with his 3 siblings a few hours ago.  No injuries.  No recent sickness or vaccines.  No indicators.  No warning signs.  So Asher was immediately taken to the ER and ended up at Children’s Mercy Hospital downtown, Kansas City.

No diagnosis
After 3 days of intensive tests including MRI, spinal tap, numerous blood works, steroids and 5 days of IVIG treatment the doctors had their suspicions, but were baffled.  It’s been over four weeks now and they still don’t have a confirmed diagnosis.

Asher is beginning to make remarkable progress, thanks to prayers from around the globe.  He’s doing physical therapy daily and we’re confident that small movements will lead to bigger movements… which will lead to full mobility!  Can you say, “Amen!”

Insights
As the symptoms began to be identified on the first day, the natural reaction would have been to be overwhelmed and devastated.  But we felt much grace to coach our hearts to stay in solid confidence in the unwavering goodness of God.  Our whole family lives in the favor of the Lord.  We remind each other frequently and attribute it all to God’s unmerited goodness.  Since that is a solid component in our hearts and minds, we haven’t let this circumstance ‘derail’ us and pull us down into a pit of helpless darkness filled with “O my’s”, “Why me’s” and “What ifs”… which would be exactly what the devil would love.  The devil is the origin of this ailment… and he is a loser.  He ain’t no match for our Great Big God!  So… no plaintiff beggar prayers allowed!  From that place of security in His favor, we began to make declarations of restoration of health and wholeness into Asher’s body… and we do it each and every day!

The cool part is that God has promised to work all these things together for our good!  Now is that amazing, or what!!!  This is another miracle story in the making!  Soon, we’ll tell the full story with great gratitude, just like all the other great trophies God has on His “Heavenly mantle”.

I find it quite interesting that the doctors can’t find a diagnosis.  Doesn’t that just sound like the Lord to not let our minds get ‘pigeon-holed’ with any negative mindsets associated with a stated malady?  This way, our hearts are kept unfettered to believe for supernatural healing… and I believe that we’re well on the way to seeing that happen.  We’re very grateful for the expert medical care Asher has received… but even though they still can’t find an answer, we all know the Great Physician has him more than covered.

Asher has made progress nearly every day for the last couple of weeks.  He’s beginning to move his forearms and wrists… and has varying amounts of movement in most of his fingers.  Thank you, God!!!  Recently, Asher got out of the hospital and will continue ‘out-patient’ physical therapy at both Kansas City Children’s Mercy Hospital locations for an unspecified period of time.  He will likely receive another MRI in a month or so.

Thank you
We are deeply grateful to everyone for the many prayers and the gracious supportive comments sent via Facebook, email, text and phone.  You have been a great inspiration!!!  And we believe that together, by the Grace of God, our prayerful declarations are reversing a temporarily troublesome issue in Asher’s body.

For about 18 days John or Cheryl were at the hospital nearly 24/7 with their youngest son.  It has been a challenging time with 3 other young children (6 years old & under) at home, juggling work, family time and all the other life responsibilities.  Regarding finances, they believe insurance will be covering the majority of bills.  But Asher is home now and we’re believing that the family will be able to return to normal in the not too distant future..

Thank you so very much for your continued love, prayer, gifts and care for John & Cheryl and their family!!!!  If you have encouraging words, they would love to hear from you on their Facebook pages.

Declare with us that God will complete the good work that has started in Asher.

Love and blessings
Mark & Debbie

PS Check out this video for Asher’s current (2021) miraculous status and a cool God-story.

====================
Dwelling Place Ministries
Hendrickson
11011 Olive St
KC, MO 64131
====================
DPM home: www.dpmkc.org
Twitter: www.twitter.com/marklh
Itinerary: www.dpmkc.org/itinerary
Contribute: www.dpmkc.org/donate
Blog: www.marklhen.wordpress.com
Mark FB: www.facebook.com/marklhen
Instagram: www.instagram.com/marklhendy
SP book: www.dpmkc.org/supernaturalprovision
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/user/henmlee/videos

SP True Story: Old car retired… new car acquired

Over the last couple weeks nearly 10 people have given us sizeable financial gifts.  God knew we would need it soon.  He’s so good that way!

Debbie and I made a ministry trip to the cold ‘Nordt Country’ Thursday Feb 1 through Wednesday Feb 7.  Our 2001 Accord still looked good, but it had 320,000 miles on it.  I thought it would serve us well on this trip.  Even so, as we drove out of our driveway, I said, “This will probably be the last trip with this car.”  I didn’t know how true that would be.  Without previous coolant problems, I had to unexpectedly add anti-freeze twice before we arrived in Richland Center, WI.  In addition, we realized gasoline was leaking from under the car. 

Early the next day our friend Johnny, repaired the rusted gas line leak.  It seemed that the engine may have blown a head gasket.  And as we had it up on the hoist, the water pump sprang a significant leak.  We added ‘stop leak’ to the radiator and replaced radiator cap.  That stopped the loss of water… and we found that the water pump only leaked when the engine was cold.  So we continued our trip, but had to add water before starting the car each time.  😦

We spent Saturday and Sunday with our good friends at Mel Wild’s Cornerstone Church in Prairie du Chien, WI – three great meetings with lots of help from Heaven. 

On Craigslist we found a suitable car in Sioux Falls, SD at the right price, but I couldn’t reach the owner via text, phone or email… and we wouldn’t have time to see it for two more days.

Sunday afternoon we continued to Rochester, MN to join a favorite event: a two-day Global Legacy Leaders Advance at Rod Marquette’s Destiny Church.  As usual, it was a Holy Spirit anointed time. 

Tuesday noon we decided to head for home early, just to accommodate any problems we might have with the car.  From Rochester, MN I had about 1 ½ hours of driving before we had to make a decision to turn south on I-35 to go home… or continue west on I-90 to Sioux Falls to look at the car.  Several things had to happen for us to continue to Sioux Falls.  1) The owner of the car had to answer the phone.  And he did.  I ask questions and was satisfied with car.  2)  Now we had to have cash.  We had money in the bank, but not in hand.  3) A good friend in Sioux Falls had to be home.  We called… and he was home.  4)  Would he have the cash to temporarily give us in exchange for a check from us.  He did.  He wouldn’t normally have that much money, but a medical bill hadn’t been paid yet, so it was available.  5)  The car test drive had to yield good results.  It did.  6)  We bought the car… but now we had two cars in Sioux Falls?  So we donated our old Accord to a local young man who I’ve mentored for the last 5 years.  We gave him permission to keep it and fix it… or sell it and keep the money.  He was happy to receive it.  

Each of those things were ‘make or break’ issues… but we didn’t ‘forced’ any of them to make them happen.  If any one of these issues had not happened we would have gladly accepted that divine guidance, without forcing the issue.  I really love being led by our Lord!  His ways don’t require (or allow) sweat!!  This is very much in keeping with our two-word life motto: Follow Life. (click to read more)

Interesting side note: That next morning our Sioux Falls host planned to participate in an early morn prayer session at the local House of Prayer.  He was to leave the house at 5:10 AM.  I told him that if I woke up at 4:30AM I would go with him.  I did.  We got to the prayer meeting and I thought I would just enjoy the atmosphere… but they discovered that their worship leader was sick that morning and wouldn’t be coming.  Hmmmm.  Somebody just happened to have left an acoustic guitar there… and so they asked if I would lead worship for their team.  I did.  God had a great plan for all of us!  🙂

Deb and I acquired a car and retired a car in Sioux Falls.  Then, ‘happy as a lark’, we drove to KC in our new vehicle – a 2015 Accord with only 17K miles. Nearly new!
  
Thank you so much, for your prayers, care and gifts… and THANKS to our over-the-top Lord!!!!

— MLH

DPM Update – 2017 Dec – Merry Christmas