Sally will be ministering in concert today.
Come and worship the Lord!
New Wine Christian Fellowship, Placerville, CA
Beth Yeshua, Sacramento, CA
Foundation Of Grace Ministries, Sacramento, CA
Ruach Adonai, Thousand Palms, CA
Beit David Messianic Congregation, Long Beach, CA
Seeds
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That same day Jesus went out of the house and sat by the lake. Such large crowds gathered around him that he got into a boat and sat in it, while all the people stood on the shore. Then he told them many things in parables, saying: “A farmer went out to sow his seed. As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up. Some fell on rocky places, where it did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly, because the soil was shallow. But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched, and they withered because they had no root. Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the plants. Still other seed fell on good soil, where it produced a crop—a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown. Whoever has ears, let them hear.” (Matthew 13: 1-9)
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Improbable People Ministries was born quite unexpectedly on July 15, 1990, Michael’s 35th birthday. It was a sunny day and we planned to go to Raging Waters in San Dimas and spend the day celebrating on slides and floats.
But first we stopped by the Rock of Israel Ministries office, Sally’s place of employment, to pick up discount coupons promised by her boss and our good friend, Robert Specter. While we were there the phone rang in the office, interrupting our exchange.
The lady on the other end of the line asked where she could get a copy of our first album, Hey God, Are You Talkin’ To Me? This was highly unusual. The cassette was barely released, with no plan, no airplay, and no distribution. Only the Rock of Israel was selling it on their table at the end of services.
The Stars At Night Are Big And Bright
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Recently overheard conversation somewhere in the stratosphere:
“Say” says one to the other . . . “whatever happened to that ministry with the oddball name? You know, the ones who pulled a reverse Beverly Hillbillies and left Californy for somewhere in . . . you know—the less civilized part of the world?”
“Oh yeah. The Impertinent People,” said the other to the one. “I think they moved to Texas and started a jug band music . . . band.”
“ . . . whatever happened to that ministry with the oddball name?”
“No, I don’t think it was jug band music. I’m pretty sure she gave up California Dreaming for a spot in the San Antonio Kazoo Symphony,” offered a third potential rocket scientist. Called themselves The Impregnable People.”
“Not even close to true,” argued the first. “I know for a certainty she had three kids with quintuplets on the way. And it was more like she was living in Havana or Tuscaloosa or somewhere the fertility rate is astounding for senior citizens.”
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“I heard they bought a house and turned it into a squirrel sanctuary.”
“Well, I heard they tore down the squirrel sanctuary and are now sod farmers. Too bad about the drought. But brown is a nice color too.”
“I know for a fact they changed their name to Impossible People and gave up the ministry for Lent!”
New Home For IPM Video Archive
It’s easy to take something for granted when you grow up in close proximity to it. Every now and then I wonder how weird it is for kids of celebrities to see their parents, or their parents’ work, talked about by so many people who don’t even really know them. Truth is, even though my parents are far from famous, they are known in certain remote circles. So I have had a taste of that. And from time to time it really hits home to me the sort of honor it is to be a daughter of Michael & Sally O’Connor.
The most recent example came when I was transferring their lyrics to an iPad. This project is to give Mom better visibility on the words when she’s sharing in concert.
Hopefully it will encourage her to retire the old lyric binder, with pages so creased and worn that the edges look more like aged felt than paper. The project only took me a few days, but in the process I rediscovered my parents’ music.
In the process of digitizing the lyrics, I retyped everything, double checked for my own typos, then played around with formatting a good bit. The project only took me a few days, but in the process I rediscovered my parents’ music.
Yeah, rediscovered. If you grew up with Hey God and Come Meet The Author of Life playing on loop for a decade while you’re going to sleep, you might want to get a few years’ distance from the albums, too. So by the time I began digitizing, over a dozen years later later, the lyrics struck me like it was my first time hearing them.
‘Twas the Night Before New Year’s
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NOTE: Many families and ministries
send out year-end or Christmas
newsletters, updating friends
and family on the events of the
past year. This is our version.
It’s Christmas Eve as I begin writing. And, before anything else, I am thankful to my Lord and my King for His extravagant love in my life; that He would descend from on high and all His glory to come to us as a helpless babe into a harsh world at a cruel time to offer Himself,
2020 began as any other year . . .
an acceptable and final sacrifice for our sin, so that we could be reconciled to our Maker. It’s beyond any understanding I will ever have—the goodness of God and the greatness of His love!!
2020 began as any other year, and like many others I had plans and agendas.
In early February we were able to bring A Tour of Roses to Paradise, CA, where the terrible fire in 2018 demolished almost all of the town. During that time we also put on a women’s conference for free. It was called “Something Beautiful for Someone Beautiful.”
Many hearts in the town were touched, some prayed to receive the Lord. We gave thanks to God for what He was doing in and through us!
One of our immediate personal concerns involved finding tenants to rent the back house. Long time tenant of 40 years died in September 2019. The place was a mess and we commenced the process of cleaning up, painting, etc. So we were ready to rent, and put out signs and such at the end of January, hoping to rent sometime in February.
