Good Morning Everybody,

Grace and peace from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. I pray that all is well with you and your family this morning. Today I would like to share this word with you:

“It’s Everybody’s Job”

“And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.”Mark 16:15

Lord willing, tomorrow morning a small delegation of people led by Deacon Alexander Hills and myself, will board a plane leaving Ft. Lauderdale bound for the nation of Haiti. Our primary purpose for going to Haiti is to witness firsthand the enormous damage created by the recent earthquake and to assess the ways and means Antioch and others can help meet the needs of our Haitian brothers and sisters in tangible ways. Additionally, our purpose for going is offer a people who’s experienced the worst that one can imagine a glimmer of hope through the sharing of the gospel of Jesus Christ and through the ministry of our presence.

No doubt all of you reading this email would never question the transformative power of the Word of God and its ability to instill hope in hopeless times, but some reading this email may have raised an eyebrow when I suggested that our mere “presence” in Haiti could be a form of ministry. Well for those who did, you must understand that PRESENCE is a most powerful ministry! The reality of knowing that somebody else cares, that somebody empathizes with you, that somebody else is interceding on your behalf, and most importantly that somebody is going to do all they can to help get you out of the situation is a powerful form of ministry.

As I thought about our missions efforts tomorrow, it occurred to me that often, we leave the job of sharing the Gospel to those who have been ordained or appointed to do the task full-time, such as evangelists, pastors, or missionaries. However, in reading the Great Commission, I never find those specifications for the job. Never are those vocations singled out for witnessing.

Every Christian is appointed by God to share his or her faith. The people in the pews should have just as much of a burden to share their faith as the people in the pulpit. In fact, God has put people in your world that I or some missionary could never reach! Adoniram Judson, the great missionary to Burma, spoke this thought about sharing the Gospel, "The motto of every missionary, whether preacher, printer, or schoolmaster, ought to be 'Devoted for Life'."

Listen, I’m cognizant that everyone can’t go to foreign country to do evangelism, that’s not even the purpose of this email, what I am suggesting is that every one of us can share the gospel of Jesus Christ and offer ourselves as a witness to the redemptive power thereof. Ask yourself these questions, are you fulfilling your responsibility to share your faith? Are you reaching the people God has put in your world? If the answer is no, don't leave it up to the missionary. It is your job, too.

Please pray for our safe travels,

Pastor J

Settling The Soy Controversy

Soy products are remarkably versatile. Manufacturers have found ways to turn them into soymilk, veggie burgers, hot dogs, ice cream, yogurt--you name it. One day, they'll probably turn soy into snow tires. Because soy products are so widely consumed, some people have raised the question as to whether they are safe. The biggest question mark was whether they affect the risk of breast cancer and, for women who have been diagnosed with breast cancer, whether they would help or harm their chances for survival.

Fibroids

Soy products may reduce the risk of fibroids, knots of muscle tissue that form within the thin muscle layer that lies beneath the uterine lining. A study of Japanese women found that the more soy women ate, the less likely they were to need a hysterectomy, suggesting that fibroids were less frequent (6). In a study of women in Washington State, soy did not seem to help or hurt, perhaps because American women eat very little soy, compared with their Japanese counterparts (7). What did have a big effect in this study were lignans, a type of phytoestrogens found in flaxseed and whole grains. The women consuming the highest amounts of these foods has less than half the risk of fibroids, compared with the women who generally skipped these foods. So, again, phytoestrogens seem beneficial, countering the effects of a woman's natural estrogens, although in this case the benefit comes from foods other than soy.

Soy and Male Hormones

How about men? Although compounds in soy products have been likened to very weak female hormones, they have no adverse effects on men and may actually help them prevent cancer. A meta-analysis to be published in Fertility and Sterility, based on more than 50 treatment groups, showed that neither soy foods nor isoflavone supplements from soy affect testosterone levels in men (8). An analysis of 14 studies, published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition showed that increased intake of soy resulted in a 26 percent reduction in prostate cancer risk (9). Researchers found a 30 percent risk reduction with nonfermented soy products such as soy milk and tofu.

Protein: A Little Goes a Long Way

Many soy products are high in protein. Manufacturers have exploited this fact, packing isolated soy protein into shakes and turning it into meat substitutes. But some have raised the concern that pushing protein intake too high--from any source--might not be wise. The concern is that an overly high protein intake may boost the amount of insulin-like growth factor (IGF-I) in the bloodstream (14), a phenomenon known to occur with cow's milk (15). High IGF-I levels are linked to higher cancer risk. Some reassurance comes from the fact that soy intake is linked to lower, not higher, cancer risk, and simple soy products, such as tempeh, edamame, or soynuts, are unlikely to affect IGF-I levels, in any case.

In summary, evidence to date is reassuring. Soy products may reduce the risk of breast cancer and breast cancer recurrence. They do not appear to have adverse effects on male hormone function or on the thyroid gland, but may reduce the absorption of thyroid medications.

Having said that, soy products are certainly not essential. Many people who start a healthful vegan diet, as I and many other doctors recommend, seem to feel they must have soy products. But the fact is, a vegan diet can follow a Mediterranean tradition, focusing on vegetables, fruits, beans and pasta. Or it might follow a Latin American tradition of beans, rice, and corn tortillas. Soy products come from an Asian tradition with many healthful delights and the most enviable health statistics on record. So soy is handy, but it is certainly not essential. If you choose to include soy products in your routine, you'll have science on your side.

Wellness and You

Proper wellness is extremely important to maintaining optimal health. It’s important to know that there is more to wellness than just eating right and exercising. Proper wellness involves the balance of six different dimensions: physical, mental, emotional, social, vocational and spiritual. It is a good idea to take the following steps in order to achieve this balance: define your goals far beyond the issues of physical health; find the motivation to make positive change; design a personalized strategy for achieving your goals; document your progress and stay on track; and lastly learn the value of celebrating success along the way.

While there are some risk factors that affect your health in which you can not control, such as heredity, sex, age and environment, many physicians agree that often times people suffer from illnesses that are caused by neglecting the factors that they can control. They neglect to watch their diet and eat well; to give up unhealthy habits like smoking and excessive drinking; or to reduce their stress level and manage their emotions. This negligence can result in major afflictions like obesity, heart disease, and cancer. It’s important to know that the goal of wellness is and has always been to reduce these risks by increasing your healthy lifestyle choices and by decreasing your unhealthy choices. And finally, it’s especially important to remember that it’s when you are free from physical and emotional aches and pains that you are truly able to function at your best.