I posted this at my other blog REAL Men RoCK I hope you enjoy it.

My wife, Kat, and I have been attending a small church in Greenview, MO called Lake Hill Community Church and we have been blessed by the sermons each Sunday we have been able to attend. This post is a result of something God said to me during the sermon.

Kat and I started Restoration Farm to achieve our own personal dreams but also to do what we believe God has been preparing us for the past 60 or so years. I believe that our calling in life often has to do with the experiences, the training and the gifts that we have.

For me that calling is to be a servant and a comforter to the broken, the hurting and the rejected. Our pastor, Mike Knapp, said something that struck me and I will add a little to it. "Grace is God's personal influence on our lives. God's peace has come, is coming and will come through Jesus Christ." 

Within those two little sentences, which, may not be exactly what Mike said but it is what God said to me as he spoke are some very powerful truths. As followers of Jesus we need to constantly keep in mind that the peace Jesus brought to us is not something we have to work up, it is ours each and every moment of the day. All we have to do is tap into the influence of the Holy Spirit and it is there. We often do not experience it because we let the cares of this world drown it.

Here is where I add my part to what Mike said. Please remember it is me speaking not Mike. I believe that God can instantly heal the sick, that He could instantly mend the wounded and that He could forgive the sinner without they ever attending a church or have contact with another follower of Jesus. BUT He rarely does it that way. He most often uses people who have experienced healing, people who have experienced being mended and people who have overcome to get involve with those who need His touch. 

Often people who are experiencing turmoil find peace within a relationship with a follower of Jesus. It isn't because the follower is such a peaceful person but it is because of the influence of the Holy Spirit that was poured out in the life of the believer at baptism. Through a person who has been healed, mended or gifted God touches other human beings.

My last note I took was, "The unity of the body of Christ is more important than what we know or what we believe." Within the body of Christ are many denominations. Each has it's strengths and it's weaknesses. Not one has all of the truth or all of the gifts. The Kingdom of God works best when the body is unified and each person is doing their part to being focus on Jesus and this is often done by sharing how Jesus has influenced our lives.

Mike I apologize if I got off track but as I listened this is what I got from your message. I actually got a lot more than this but this is what I decided to share at this time.

This weekend our daughter, Missy, and her friend, Cliff, came to visit and help us work on the Chicken Coop. Here is a slide show of the building the chicken coop.

2012-07-22 16:27 Our Walnut Chicken Coop

Restoration Ministry

As I minister to wounded servants and the broken I will use songs like I have listed below. I believe God uses songs like this to open our hearts to hear Him speak.


One of the things I believe sinners need to understand is that Jesus is their friend not their enemy.


 I want people to understand when they come to Restoration Farm that it is God who heals not me. I am just providing a safe place for them to have an encounter with the Holy Spirit who will initiate the healing.


Followers of Jesus who have sinned and fallen short need to be reminded what He did for them.


The above are samples of the songs I will use in my sessions with wounded, broken servants.

Now turn your speakers up and join the News Boys in singing this song. God just might speak to you through it.

A little over a year ago my wife, Kat, and I began to work on a dream we believe God gave us which we call Restoration Farm. As we planned and worked to make the dream come true we were often asked one of the following questions. What is restoration farm? And because we are in our early sixties the question "Why are you doing it?" To answer why we are doing the farm we always began with sharing what the farm is about. Kat and I believe the what leads to the why.

Restoration Farm is a dream that developed over the course of several years. It has its roots in a question that I asked Kat one day as we drove to a conference in Fort Collins, Colorado. We were driving along listening and discussing “The Dream Giver” by Bruce Wilkinson. At one point I turned to Kat and asked, “So what is your dream?” I was expecting her to say to follow me in my dream of doing an inner city ministry. What she shared was nowhere even close to that and in fact it was a dream not involving a ministry at all. I was shocked and disappointed. Let me explain why. You see I had been praying for God to show me through Kat what ministry He wanted me to do. I was not expecting the words that came out of her mouth. That was three years ago and at first I put what she said away and ignored it.

While counseling another couple about their dream of having an organic farm Kat shared how she would like to also have a farm like that. As she spoke I realized what she was sharing was similar to what she shared on the trip to Fort Collins. I decided to listen and help her reach her dream because within her dream my dream of ministry would be revealed.

That brings me to what Restoration Farm is. It is a farm that grows vegetables and fruits without using chemicals, a farm that raises a few goats for goats milk used to make soap and a farm raising egg laying chickens.

As a ministry the farm will provide an RV for pastors and missionaries to use for free. Some missionaries need to unwind after returning from the mission field and so we wanted to provide a place for them to do that. Some pastors like to get away from things for a few days to seek God’s direction in their ministry. The most important part of this ministry is providing a safe place for fallen or wounded servants to come and seek the healing that only God’s Holy Spirit can give.

Because of Kat and I are both in our early sixties people almost always ask, “Why would you want to begin an organic farm at this point in your lives?”  Our answer is we believe that we become the foods we eat. A diet consisting of fast, processed or fatty foods leads to many of the health problems our society faces today. 

We believe there should be a balance between eating raw foods such as vegetables and fruits and cooked foods such as meat. We have decided to grow chemical free vegetables and fruits to sell to people and to teach them how to prepare those vegetables and fruits for delicious meals. The secondary and maybe the most important reason for the farm is to provide a safe place for missionaries and pastors to come and spend a few days to seek God’s intervention in their lives. 

We believe The Restoration Farm idea because we believe it is a dream God has placed in our hearts. If God gave us this dream then He has a reason for us to do it at this particular point in our lives.

We began our search near the Kansas City, Missouri area but it seemed the more we looked the farther God led us away from that area. We finally found a ten acre piece of land five miles outside of Stover, Missouri. We knew that God led us to this place the day we first walked the property.

For more information about our farming methods or for how the ministry to servants will work please email or give us a call.

Larry Clark

913-636-1862

lnclark1950@gmail.com

http://therestorationfarm.blogspot.com

Dream Job

My Dream Job

 In 2006 I was ordained in the Association of Vineyard Churches, USA and I have been exploring and waiting for God to reveal the ministry He was calling me to. I know that my ministry involves me using the gifts and talents God has given to me and experiences I have had in my life to serve others.

Over the past few years that ministry has become etched in my mind. It has to do with serving the church and serving the servants to the church.

I am moving forward to my dream job which looks like this:

     Working 6 to 8 hours 3-4 days for a small, growing church earning a modest salary.

         Working at least 2-3 days serving hurting, fallen or struggling servants.

The church position would be that of a small group/church needs pastor. I would perform these duties under the direct supervision and according the needs of the lead pastor. 

The servant server position would be art of our Restoration Farm and called Restoration Ministry. In this position I would act as a sounding board for the servant to discover the true problem, get healing for the wounds they have and to restore the individual in their relationship with Jesus.

Each of these positions would be ultimately under the supervision of the Holy Spirit. Whatever results that occur would be for God’s glory and brought about by an encounter with the Holy Spirit.

You can read more about my journey at http://therestorationfarm.blogspot.com