Dear Friends,

Well here we are again, already at the close of another wonderful year in ministry. We had our last school day with our Bible college students this past Saturday until after the holidays. Our entire staff is now enjoying our Christmas break.

Lisa and I will be taking advantage of the break to set aside some extra time to review the past year and seek God for continued direction in the coming year. Plus we’re also getting in our fair share of sappy Christmas movies and time enjoying good holiday food with friends. 

Here are some of the things God has been doing through NewCREEations since our last newsletter.

Bryan and Sue Nutman

It was a true joy for Lisa and I to host two of our closest friends from our days as students at Charis in Colorado, Bryan and Sue Nutman. Bryan and Sue came to teach in Charis Dumfries. Plus we were blessed to have a couple days to show them around the local area. We all enjoyed catching up in person and sharing what God is doing in all our lives.

Both Bryan and Sue work for Charis and Andrew Wommack in Colorado where they each have significant responsibilities. They regularly teach and minister in Charis, both in Colorado and at various Charis locations around the world. They are very active in their own church. And they also have their own ministry, Roots and Wings Ministries International, where they are touching a great many lives around the world. Plus, Bryan is on our board of directors for NewCREEations too!

Charis Dumfries hosted a public meeting where Bryan and Sue shared about hearing God’s voice in a practical way in order to share God’s love with others. They led folks in some practical exercises to experience what they were learned. Their teaching was impactful.

This past Saturday one of our students shared an encounter she had with someone where she felt God was prompting her to say something to the person, but it seems like a weird thing to say. Because of the training she went through, she trusted that it was something from God for that person, so she pushed through her fear and shared it with them. Those words powerfully resonated with the person’s heart and helped them see that God loves them. It was huge for this student to experience God speaking through her to someone like this completely outside of a school or church setting for the first time.

Joe Ewen

The next Saturday with our students Charis Dumfries hosted Joe Ewen from Banff, Scotland where he founded the River Church nearly 40 years ago. He has since handed the church over to the leadership of a pastor raised up from within their congregation.

Lisa and I first met Joe in Texas shortly before we moved to Scotland. He is appointed by God in the five-fold ministry office of prophet. Joe now travels the world ministering. Much of that travel is part of his advisory role to a church planting network out of Texas.

Joe shared with our students his journey into ministry from the early days, as well as about the office of prophet and how it Biblically fits into the New Testament church. 

His wife Yvonne was with us too, and she shared her perspective on getting started in ministry as well. Then they both prayed over everyone present individually and shared powerful personal words. Their ministry was a blessing. It was very good for our students to experience how a true New Testament prophet ministers.

Charis Christmas and More

We had our Christmas celebration this past Saturday with our Charis students. As this is our third Christmas since we opened Charis Dumfries, we are settling into our own local traditions. Those include the Christmas jumper contest (what we call sweaters in America), the Charis Dumfries Christmas quiz game, and a catered lunch.

It was a fun, festive time for all involved.

Lisa and I also hosted Dieter and Anna Thamm who are the directors of the Charis Bible College in Dewsbury, England. They primarily came up to Dumfries so I could give them some training on the website for their school. In addition we shared tips and pointers back and forth about what we find works and doesn’t work when it comes to running our Charis campuses. They spent the night at our house and then headed back to England the next day.

Ministry Direction

Last December I shared a challenge we had with NewCREEations in that the vast majority of our visibly ministry activity takes place under the Charis Bible College banner while the majority of our funding to be here in Scotland comes in through NewCREEations. Our goal is to increase visible ministry activity that NewCREEations does without taking time away from our work with Charis and the Bible college students.

I’m happy to say we made some progress with that this year!

Our Daily Reflections email devotional picked up 500 new subscribers this year and now goes out to over 1,700 people every single day. We published our first book, Rejecting Mammon, and hundreds of folks have been encouraged by it. I started making short encouraging videos sharing Bible truths which we’re posting on Facebook and YouTube. And we funded a ministry trip to hold a conference at a church in Finland.

I like numbers. So here are some for this past year at NewCREEations:

• 630,391 — total emails sent in 2019
• 165,064 — total emails opened from the ones we sent out
• 266,035 — unique visitors to our website
• 368,513 — individual pages viewed on our website
• 1,671 — free eBooks distributed
• 31 — students receiving intense discipleship via Charis Dumfries
• 3 — countries Chris and Lisa ministered in during 2019

Those numbers are only important to me because they represent a whole lot of lives touched for the Kingdom of God. We continue to look at ways to expand what we are doing through NewCREEations, while maintaining the level of excellence we now expect at Charis Dumfries.

One of the things I will be working on during Christmas break is an audio version of the Rejecting Mammon book. I believe I have the gear I need to produce a good quality recording. Please pray that my voice holds up to get it done!

I believe 2020 will be a year of focus for believers. Now is the time to gain 20/20 clarity of vision to see the Kingdom of God unmistakably operating in your life, especially with your finances. Jesus said money is the least thing in the Kingdom. Until we get our finances working in line with God’s Kingdom, everything else is needlessly more burdensome for us.

Therefore I am seeking God for ways to increase the exposure of our Rejecting Mammon material without becoming overly self promotional. 

Looking Forward to the New Year

Here are some of the things we are looking forward to in the next several months:

• Cecil and Lisa Paxton ministering in January
• Trip to Hungary for Charis European Regional meeting
• Wendell Parr ministering for our Charis Open Day in March
• Outbound mission trip to Highlands/Isle of Lewis Scotland in March
• Outbound mission trip to Finland in May
• In-house graduation in May
• Dumfries graduating class at Grace and Faith in May

That’s just part of what we have going on with the Bible College. Plus God has other things in store too! We already see God opening the doors to additional ministry opportunities for us in the coming year. We will share more about those opportunities as they happen.

Merry Christmas and a Blessed Happy New Year!

Lisa and I want to wish you a very merry Christmas on behalf of all our NewCREEations Ministries partners. 

We pray that you receive a revelation of how wonderfully amazing the Father’s love is for you this holiday season, especially if you are going through hard times. We know for some, holidays can tend to be lonely days. But we speak joy and peace, comfort and hope to everyone who reads these words.

And we declare that 2020 will be your year of focus. Seek the Kingdom of God. Learn His ways and watch amazing things happen in your life. There is a richness of experience waiting for you. Look to God. Expect big things from God. Trust Him. He is the only true source of everything you need to experience an abundant life.

And God is able to make all grace abound toward you, that you, always having all sufficiency in all things, may have an abundance for every good work. — 2 Corinthians 9:8

Abundant Blessings,

Chris & Lisa Cree

P.S. Now is the perfect time to get that last minute charitable giving in so that it is recorded for your 2019 taxes before the end of the year. Please know that NewCREEations is good ground to sow your financial seed into.

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Mail:

NewCREEations Ministries
953 Forest Edge Rd
Woodland Park, CO 80863