Clay Pots ~ Support needed

"That All May Hear and Believe!" We consider this to be our assignment no matter what zip code God assigns us to. At this time, we have no doubt that God has assigned to us Waukesha to minister in one of the fastest growing Hispanic areas in the nation. Since Jason was in high school he knew that God had called him to make disciples of those who are less fortunate and we knew as a couple that we would follow that calling until He called us home. This is Jason's heart beat and we are honored and humbled that God has chosen to use us.

Our ministry, under the name Clay Pots, involves networking and bringing people and churches together that are wanting to reach the Hispanic community with Christ and to help guide in cross cultural relationship building and discipleship making. It involves bringing Hispanic pastors and individuals together in the unity of the Spirit to work together to see this goal accomplished. It involves being in a constant mode of building relationships with the unbelieving Hispanic population and learning and understanding them more. In the fall or early winter, we are hoping to start some small group Bible studies with unbelievers! I, personally, am always amazed at how quickly Jason can build and establish trust a relationship. In addition, this ministry involves bringing an awareness to the community around us resulting in compassion for the sojourner and stranger in our land. The Hispanic population is exploding here and Jason desires to bring people, churches, and communities together to recognize and meet that need.

Since we have come back to live stateside, our funding has steadily decreased. In American standards we are living at poverty level. However, we know that our income is considered rich in many other lands and even here among many of those who we seek to minister to! That said, we are seeking God for continued monthly donations to Clay Pots. In Luke it says that "The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few". Because of the donations we receive, Jason is able to devote himself to what God has called Him to do and work amongst the "harvest fields" of unbelievers, strangers, and sojourners. God has told us to go and trust that He will provide our needs according to his bounty through his people. I love how God established long ago that he would provide for his servants and build his kingdom in this way. God knew that as He asks you to give, His church continues to be built among all nations. Thank you for trusting God that your donations are being invested in something eternal.

If you would like to support this ministry and God is laying it on your heart to do so, then you are an answer to a specific prayer! We need you! God planned for us to need you.

You can send checks to "Clay Pots"
S53 W24079 Glendale Rd.
Waukesha, WI 53189. (You will receive a tax-deductible receipt.)

His Clay Pots,
Jason, Kellie, Micah, Sophia, and Malachi Knapp

Clay Pots ~ Successful weekend

(I thought I took pictures, but the card was not in the camera)

God is amazing! I had very little faith and very little hope that this past weekend was going to be of any significance. On Monday we actually had very little stuff for a garage sale, and we switched the location from church to our home. But through the course of the week, our driveway was a revolving door, and our garage started to pack out. By Wednesday it was so packed that we had to put things into our living room. Then our living room was so full of boxes that we had to put stuff in the kitchen. So Thursday morning it took us almost 2 hours to put everything out on the front lawn and in the driveway.

What we didn't expect was that God was going to bless us and also a whole lot of other people as well. We priced everything to go: 50 cents here and a buck there... $10 here and $20 there. From 8:00 on Thursday morning till 6:00 on Saturday evening, there was a steady stream of people that stopped on our busy road. I saw up to 30 people at a time rummaging through the items. We estimate that probably 75% of the customers were Hispanic or African American. I think that English was spoken maybe 50% of the time... some knew only enough English to give us the money and leave. And people just kept on coming... many from the Hispanic community living in the apartments not far from our house.

On Friday, two of my Hispanic pastor friends came by and gathered some things for their families, we told them to take it for free, but they wanted to get rid of me and send me out of country to learn Spanish, so they put in some money too:-). One of them was able to invite some people to his church and he helped me by translating for a lady and we were able to help find her exactly what she was looking for. By Saturday afternoon, we had pulled in over $1000 and so at 4:00 we put up a "Free" sign on the road. One man stopped by on his motorcycle and was falling all over himself in gratitude as he took some in-line skates and other things for his children for Christmas. Another person was gathering things up in a box and said, "No one has ever given me anything for free before. This is amazing!" Another man from Mexico and his family stopped by from Milwaukee and he took two boxes of clothes which he said he was going to take to his needy family next month in Mexico. Soon everything was almost gone. So we boxed up about 12 boxes of clothes and took those off to Hope Center in Waukesha where they hand out clothes to needy people for free. The rest of the items (a few cups and knickknacks, material and odds and ends) we put in boxes on the curb and we have had a number of cars stop by and dig through it. One man's junk is another man's treasure! I heard them going through the stuff at 10:30 last night and 6:00 in the morning.

We are grateful to all of you who donated. It was a blessing to not only make enough money to pay the room and board for learning Spanish, but we also helped a number of needy people and were able to donate the left overs for those who will need those clothes come winter. Thank you, you are a blessing!

By Grace,
Jason, Kellie, Micah, Sophia, and Malachi Knapp

Clay Pots ~ Loving others

Welsen with homemade crutches

Over the past few months, many of you have asked how the believers in Tobo are doing, which missionaries are in the tribe, and what is happening over there. Here is a story from the Mankins who are still working with the believers in Tobo:

“Our considerable time spent in chapters 12 and 13 of Romans alone has been very profitable for the believers here. We have seen a few instances where they have gone above and beyond the cultural norms of helping each other out in the context of family and clan relationships, and also helping those who will then owe them. This “payback” system, (good for good and bad for bad) is prevalent in our area as well as much of the country of PNG. So it was encouraging when Welsen and I went up to visit a lady in the village named Bula.

Bula is lame and her legs and feet are much too weak for her to get around without aid. This confines her to her house and porch, and she has to sit and shuffle back and forth on a rough plank bench leading to her outhouse. In spite of her circumstances, this very kind lady has an excellent sense of humor and an infectious laugh. When Welsen and I got to talking about her plight, we decided that maybe there was some way to help her. So we scrounged up some leftover plywood pieces, some nails were thrown in and her grown sons were all to glad to take it from there and build her a narrow plywood covering the once splintery and uneven plank bench pathway. They even had enough for a nice sitting platform just on her porch to allow her extra comfort when she scoots out from the smoke-filled house to sit and take in the fresh air from time to time.

But as we were discussing what to do, Welsen did not stop there. He suggested that we try to make some wooden crutches for Bula! I donated a couple of old tin cans for the feet, and he selected the wood and carved them himself. So on the Sunday after our church meeting when we first carried up the plywood, we also brought the hand-hewn crutches along with us. Welsen, Ambux, and Musanggi (Asa Selep, or “Grandpa Finger”) and I all pitched in to help, drawing more than a few curious stares from the villagers we passed. When we arrived with the wood, Bula could not contain her tears as she expressed her gratitude. I paused to see what my brothers would say in response and was rewarded with a display of gracious humility as they deflected her praise from ourselves and all to God.

And I too stood there and gave grateful praise to God for, you see, though generosity is very prevalent in Tobo culture, the type of help that we gave was not something that most Tobo people would ever dream about. The typical response would be, “Ah, it’s her sons’ responsibility. Let them take care of her,” or “She’s not in our clan,” (implying also the following: “There is nothing we will get in return, no prestige or big status will come to us from this. She is not a big man in the community either, so is it worth it?”). But of course you readers and I all know that the Spirit of God uses the Word of God in His children to cause them to do good works that transcend and exceed all expectations from the clan and the culture at large. It is one thing to discuss on a Sunday the fact that the Spirit will lead us to help people even if they are not closely related to us or prestigious community members, or to get a big name publically or curry extra favor with God and man. Yes, it is one thing to say these things, and entirely another thing altogether to put these words into action. What a great example of some young believers living out what they’ve been learning from Romans.

God is alive and well and continuing the good work which he began in the Tobo believers. Continue to pray for them. Pray that their love for God would grow deep within their souls and that His love and grace would abound into abundant fruit.

So all may Hear,
Jason, Kellie, Micah, Sophia, and Malachi Knapp

Clay Pots ~ Garage sale and Uno

Clay Pots, as a ministry, is going to be hosting a garage sale to be located in the Waukesha Bible Church parking lot. The times are going to be from 8 a.m. - 4:30 p.m. on Thursday August 19th, Friday August 20th, and Saturday August 21st. We are raising money for a couple things. We would like to send Jason to a Spanish immersion school in Central America this winter. We and the Hispanics we work with, feel like this will be the very best thing to give Jason the needed concentration and time to go from conversational Spanish to complete fluency so he can begin teaching small group Bible studies, etc. And we would like to use the $ raised by the garage sale to purchase some curriculum to be used in small group Bible studies. If you have anything you would like to donate or get rid of, you can give us a call at 262-501-8487 (Jason) or 262-501-8206 (Kellie), and we will arrange the details with you. Or feel free to just drop things off by the barn in the church parking lot. Thanks to all of you who have already been donating items, it is greatly appreciated.

It has been a privilege to be able to be used by God in the lives of people around us. We were able to donate some items to help a needy church with their garage sale and are looking at ways to help them with a homeless shelter, Jason has been invited over to a man's house in order to help him practice his English, and the lines of communication with another couple have opened up and trust is being built. It is great to be meeting new people and hearing their stories and hearing what it is like for them, and some of the difficulties they face in the U.S. We can empathize with them as to what it is like to live in a foreign culture and feel it an honor as they start to trust us and ask us to be a part of their lives and families. Our children have been a big part of this as well as we were invited over to a birthday party for a 6 year old Mexican boy that Malachi has befriended. The two boys play "UNO" together with his mom to help them learn English. When I told Malachi to be sure not to be bossy during the game, he replied, "dont worry mom, I cant tell them what to do, I cant speak their language:-)"

Pray that we can continue to demonstrate Christ's love in tangible ways.

His Clay Pots,
Jason, Kellie, Micah (11), Sophia (9), and Malachi (6) Knapp