10% Christian Living

A friend recently posted an article that caught my eye. When I read it, it really resonated with some things that I have been thinking upon lately. I even read it a few times because I couldn't believe that the words that I was reading were so strikingly similar to what has been rolling around in my head.

Even though Tony & I are being financially supported by generous ministry partners so that we can work with Keynote full-time, we are still called to give our time, talents, and resources back to God. When we were newly married, I created our budget - giving always came first. We truly believe that God blessed our giving. We tried our best to give - and give sacrificially.

Recently, my mind and my heart have been in an inward battle between the importance of being wise stewards of the money that God has given us, saving, etc....and give, give, giving for His kingdom. For a while I think: is it wise to give everything away to the point where we can't even pay our bills? Then, I jump to the other side and think: that nothing is ours anyway, so it's not really my call to decide what I do with anything, it's God's call.

While we've been raising our initial support, God's been doing some pretty cool things. We have definitely had the "smallest" income that we've ever had in our married lives. But, during this time we've been able to financially give the most that we've ever had in our married lives.

Go figure. God is just so cool like that.

All said, this article is a great article to read if you're ready for your beliefs in giving [and basic Christian living] to be shaken up.

Click here to read the article...thanks for listening. :)

-J

August Update!

We're excited to share this month's update with you! We hope that you're blessed by reading about Keynote's recent trip to here in Dayton! :)

Click here to read our August Update!

Tony & Jonelle

May Update!

For our update this month, we sent out a postcard. Seemed fitting since we were on the road.

You can see it here: click here

Keynote's summer project started this week, and we can't wait to

share stories of what God is doing through these students!

[Summer project is a time where college students from all over

come to Keynote, form bands & media teams, then travel and

share the Gospel like full-time Keynote staff does year round.]

Thank you for taking this journey with us,

Tony & Jonelle

We love partnerships!

Keynote artist, blue sky nine, was recently in Arkansas for some work with Prison Fellowship - their 3rd prison gig in a few many weeks.

The contact person with Prison Fellowship, "L", has done much of the detail work to make these events happen, but, this was L's first time to actually meet any of the band in person or to even see one of our bands live. He was completely thrilled with the experience of working with blue sky nine as they ministered to the gals in a women’s correctional facility. So, in addition to great responses from the church and prison gigs where he booked the band, they made a huge new fan out of L himself.

God works in neat ways - connecting people so that they can partner together to glorify Him & make Him known. This connection paved the way for an even greater partnership with L for the future!

And, Keynote loves building partnerships!

From the shows in Arkansas, L expressed how much he appreciated how Keynote has served Prison Fellowship by providing quality outreaches in several facilities....and not just an expression of words. How exciting is it that L just invited Keynote to attend a conference consisting of 33 prison and prison related ministries? This conference is geared towards helping reach and minister to prisoners and their families.

So, this fall, Keynote is able to join & collaborate at this conference to make these other ministries aware of what Keynote does and how we might serve them!

Praise God for making connections & partnerships!

Adjusting to full-time ministry!

Hello family and friends, we have been on a crazy ride since May 1st. We are learning so much on how to be raising support full-time. We hit the road ready to find those ministry partners that the Lord has set out before us. We ventured down to Texas of all places and have been discovering a lot about the atmosphere down here. They call Banana Peppers by a different name.
Anyways, we are learning what it takes to be on task about telling people about Keynote at any given moment. We are also finding out that not only the drive down to Texas was a huge step of Faith, but actually sharing about our ministry is just as huge. We are thankful for what the Lord has provided so far, and eager to see what comes the next day. Time management is a big element we have to consider because we are only planning on being here for a short time. There is so much to do, and if you could, please pray that those we are connecting with receive us and our ministry with open arms.

-T

In Like A Lamb.

March already? Did this new month seem to sneak up on you like it did us? We had our share of crazy winter weather during February, but I noticed that these first few days of March have come "in like a lamb". All of the snowy, cold, wintery stuff [which many have had our fill] all of a sudden seemed to stop. Today, the sun was shining for the first time in a while! I began to roll my window down to enjoy the spring weather....eh, then realized that it is not that warm yet.

All that to say...is it is refreshing that if my spiritual journey is having a crazy time, the true Lamb can come in swiftly and quickly. He can change my attitude and thoughts from cold and icky to new and sunny. He can put our focus back on Him, where it should be. He can renew our strength so we can keep running.

To read our latest prayer letter, click here.

In our letter, we mentioned a video that is sparking spiritual conversations about forgiveness. Check it out here:




Thanks for taking this journey with us!
Tony & Jonelle

Glorious Frustration

That is what I see today. Reading through the book of John, I can see that the disciples experienced this as well. They know fully that Jesus is the savior of all, but at the same are confused with his teachings and interactions.

Jonelle and I are on this journey and so much has happened that we can only give God all our praise. But yet when something trivial comes along, we just get bummed and frustrated. We do not know why something is happening or even how to fix it (if there is fixing). So we are in this period of what I call a Glorious Frustration. When we still praise God for the large easy things and those little difficult and almost stupid things we have to go through each day. But I am encouraged to know that Jesus knows the greater picture!

-T

God & Keynote & The Utts

Check out the November edition of our update letter here: click here

October already!

I just can't believe it is October already. The chill of the autumn air just hit me this week and it seems like fall isn't waiting for the leaves to be off the trees first. I am trying to grasp on to the rush the Lord has us on for this month. I truly believe that October is going to be a big month for us and the mission of finding ministry partners. Looking back into the month of September, I feel astonished in how we finished the month. The lord provided with so many opportunities to share about Keynote. This month our prayer is to watch the Lord work and believe it can be an amazing month! We have a dollar amount we are praying for this month and are diligently pursuing the Lord's guidance in how to achieve it. October is going to be awesome!
-T

Making a Difference.

We have all had the thought run through our mind: "Am I really making a difference in (fill in the blank)?" I really don't know, and I'm not trying to answer that question for you....sometimes we probably are, and sometimes we probably are not.

I recently read something about how Christians sometimes think, "Oh, I really want to do something great for God". Or, we even ask God to have us to do great things for Him. Well, then we've missed the point. What I was reading pointed out that "the purpose of our being here is for God to use us for His greatness. A wiser prayer is probably to ask God to do great things. Then, we can be profoundly humbled if we get to participate in the process in any small way."

That way certainly is a different way to think. But, I like it.

Sometimes, what God is doing is like a 1,000 piece jigsaw puzzle...and we're just suppose to help with one or two pieces in the whole puzzle....not necessarily knowing what the puzzle is even suppose to look like in the end. [If you haven't read our September Newsletter update, please do. Our friend, Scott, talks more about this. Click here to download a .pdf]

All said, hopefully you are encouraged! Here are a couple jigsaw puzzle pieces currently happening....ask God if you're suppose to participate in any way:

*A Keynote band is gearing up to spend a month in Asia - Click here to take a proactive journey with this team, covering them in prayer throughout the month they will be overseas.

*Buddy Walk - Click here to meet our nephew, Connor, and see what we're so jazzed about this weekend! We'd love for you to pray for this event as you think about it on Saturday. If you are able to give financially, there's a place off of that link to do so also.


Thanks for listening!
Love,
Tony & Jonelle