Dear Friends and Prayer Partners,
Happy New Year! We are very grateful to be entering upon a new year with our Lord. We are amazed that in spite of downsizing, retirement, and cancer, this ministry is alive and growing. Thank you for your prayers and gifts. We are thinking, writing, and relating with friends old and new. We hope to be sharing some new projects with you as the year unfolds. However, now is the time for the launch we mentioned in October.
New Year, New Editions
We are very glad and grateful to be announcing the completion of the Spanish edition of Seven Principles of Sexuality and the re-launch of the English version.
Pre-order your copy now at a special offer of $8 per book
Seven Principles of Sexuality is a foundational tool on biblical sexuality. Written in plain language, Seven Principles is accessible to anyone with questions on this urgent topic. Concise and well-organized, it also serves as a reference and resource for Christian leaders, pastors, and teachers. Please consider whether you know any Spanish speaker who might be edified by this book or anyone ministering in the Spanish language that might use this book as a reference and ministry resource.
These books are available now through February 28, 2022 at the introductory sale price of $8 each, plus shipping and handling. Click here to pre-order a copy for yourself or friends to whom you would like to give the book. Or send the link along to them with an explanation of why you recommend it. (Note: March 1, 2022, Seven Principles in Spanish and English will go to their normal price of $20 each.)
The English version is also being included in this introductory offer. If you missed this tool the first time, don’t miss it now. Or if you want to stock up, now is a great time to do it.
Thank you to our Spanish language team
This translation has been a long time in coming. Monica Sernatinger, Isai Cazares, and Kristine Vermillion have made the Spanish Seven Principles and the re-launch of the English version possible. All three of these co-laborers have full-time jobs, so we are especially grateful for their going the extra mile to make these new resources available.
We are deeply grateful for longtime Aspects friend Monica Sernatinger and for her conscientious work in translating Seven Principles into Spanish. Monica served as a missionary in Mexico with her late husband Jamie for many years, during which time she translated and extensively field-tested Five Aspects of Femininity for Young Women. Today she resides in Eugene, Oregon, where she continues active work as an evangelist and missionary. Monica serves in association with Christian Missions in Many Lands (CMML).
Isai Cazares, our Spanish editor, is Discipleship Pastor at Northwood Church in Keller, Texas. He is a graduate of the University of Texas and Dallas Baptist University. Isai is a husband, father, and a third generation pastor.
Kristine Vermillion, our new editor and graphic designer, has formatted and produced new covers for both the Spanish and English books.
FAQ: What can Christians do to encourage men in Godly masculinity?
This is a big and important question with multiple answers. Therefore we will use this question as our one FAQ for 2022. Bite-size answers will show up in this and subsequent Communiques. Later a whole compilation of our answers will appear on the Aspects website.
As we look back over the years of studying and teaching Five Aspects of Man, we have noted that husbandman is the least known of the aspects. The lord of the earth aspect focuses on decision-making to select, to expand, and to rule the domain. The husbandman aspect focuses on maintaining and cultivating each thing and person inside the larger realm, whether that realm is a farm, a business, a family, or a nation. The goal is to cultivate all the things and persons in one’s care such that they flourish and are fruitful.
Why is it so hard for men to be “other-centered”? Why do they so often fall off the horse as either passive no-shows or self-centered egoists? We should not be surprised. Given that men are limited and sinful, what are their options in the face of commands and demands that they lead, provide, protect, and cultivate? For limited and sinful men there are no other options except to run-off from their responsibilities or run over their charges.
The third path is a supernatural one. “The Lord is my Shepherd. I shall not want” is the most famous verse in Scripture on God the Husbandman of husbandmen. Men are His flock, His field, His household. Men can lead, provide, and care for others because they know God is leading, providing, and caring for them. Without Him, they are dead branches.
Isaiah 5:7: For the vineyard of the LORD of hosts is the house of Israel And the men of Judah His delightful plant.
John15:5: "I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing.
The first thing we can do to encourage men as men is to teach, remind, and emphasize that God is in their world—the world of men—to lead, provide, protect, and cultivate them.
Update on Bill’s health
Bill has greatly enjoyed November and December with his family and friends. He was in the queue for a stem cell transplant, however, we recently discovered that his cancer has recurred, so he is no longer eligible for a stem cell transplant. Currently, more diagnostics are being run, and it is likely that he will proceed in some clinical trials. We are very disappointed, but we are walking by faith and not by sight.
For more updates from him, click here.
Grace and peace,
Bill and Barbara Mouser