Our family just returned from a season of travel which was spurred on by us “dreaming with God” about the nations. Over the course of seven weeks we visited California, Korea, Cambodia and Thailand with five amazing young leaders and our own three kids by our sides. Thanks to many of you for your prayers and financial support we were able to bring the love of Jesus to each of these locations. In California we spent time with New Song Church in Irvine as well as leading a worship seminar for a Korean Business DTS. We connected with treasured friends in the area and fell in love with New Song Church.
In freezing, cold, and beautiful Korea we were blessed by hosts who cared for us and served us endlessly! We have so much to learn from the Korean culture in hospitality, generosity and selfless serving. We worked with many different ministries based out of Onnuri Church, which is a mega church of 65,000 members, praying for leaders, teaching, and leading worship. We led a worship seminar for Hongik church and their passionate group of young people. Off to Jeju Island, where we spent the week teaching and ministering to the School of Worship and fell in love with the students in that school.
In Cambodia we had the privilege of teaching on the DTS (Discipleship Training School) which consists of mostly Khmer students who are the first Christians in their families. We were humbled hearing their stories and learning from the way they pursue God. We also taught on a leadership training school, partnering with the students to do evangelism in the community. The Foodmachine is steadily growing and we anticipate that it will “take off” once they transition to their new base property.
Our last week was spent connecting with New Song Bangkok (a church plant from New Song in Irvine). We saw Bangkok in a new way through our friendships with the New Song leadership. Our eyes were opened as we learned about the ways New Song is working in Thailand through organic farming, aquaponics, Rahab Ministries, and working with many refugees. We pray that this was the first of many trips partnering with New Song Bangkok.
Right now I’m in Orlando at the first of five events happening around the world this summer. I am taking about eight days to lead worship for a two week school here in Florida. These schools are happening in Orlando, Los Angeles, London, Denver, and Kansas City. I will be leading worship at the events happening in Orlando, London, and Kansas City throughout the summer. There are about 250 young people in attendance here in Orlando and each gathering is expecting that many or more to be in attendance. The goal is to raise up a group of passionate evangelists who are committed to great intimacy, unto great exploits. I believe we are going to see this young generation raised up to carry the gospel to the ends of the earth with incredible passion! Read on to capture the heart of the Circuit Rider Schools, as stated on the Circuit Rider website.
THE CIRCUIT RIDER HISTORY
In 1703 a hero was born and because of this man the world would never be the same. From the time that John Wesley’s heart would be “strangely warmed” to his dying day, he never stopped his tireless work of revival and reformation! Out of his heart was birthed a movement called the Methodist revival, and this move of encountering God, deep devotion through the spiritual disciplines, and great exploits among the poor and the lost would explode across the western world leaving an indelible mark. Wesley himself was said to have traveled on horseback some 250,000 miles in his lifetime and to have delivered over 45,000 messages on the good news of Jesus Christ. Out of his mentorship and commissioning, another young man would be launched to the shores of America to “spread scriptural holiness across the land”. This man would be perhaps the only man to outride Wesley himself and is said to have spent more miles on a horse than any man in history. This man was Francis Asbury, and even though Wesley was the father of Methodism and the original circuit rider, Asbury would be credited for recruiting and organizing a band of selfless and radical riders who the world was not worthy of that would in fact change America’s future forever. Read the rest of this entry »
Today was a great day! I ran my first marathon and had a wonderful time. I finished strong with a time of 3:18:46! What a great experience. I ran the first 9 miles with Andy Byrd who was running the half marathon. We were able to encourage one another and help each other keep pace. Andy kept quoting Hebrews 12:1 – “Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us” Read the rest of this entry »
Today I’m being reminded how privileged I am. I’m in Battambang, Cambodia teaching on a DTS with my good friend Evan Thomas. We are teaching about 30 students and 10 staff about the freedom we have in Christ. Tomorrow is day three and I am blown away at the stories of these students lives!
Today I met a student who has a prosthetic leg. He shared the story of how he was about 10 years old and was in a train accident and lost his leg. Through the trauma he completely lost the memory of his life prior to the accident and has no family since then and lived on the streets in Phnom Penh for many years before finding Jesus and getting plugged into a boys house in Battambang. Now he is sitting in a DTS learning about Jesus and joining the YWAM family where he could serve the rest of his life in international missions with people from nations all over the world! He sat beaming as he asked me to pray for him that God would direct his steps after he completes the DTS in the next few months. Read the rest of this entry »
Months ago I was invited to come lead worship for SE regional YWAM conference in Talladega, Alabama. This event is happening this week and has been absolutely amazing. Over 300 missionaries are gathered here to wait on the Lord and trust for an increase in the mission field by 200,000 from America alone. We have been hearing teaching on faith, soul winning, kingdom culture, and more. We have had times of worship filled with passion that just won’t stop…and it is only 2 days in.
Let your heart be stirred by these videos. We have had 48 hours of incredible worship and passion in the hearts of everyone in attendance. We are still meeting until Friday and I have no idea where we will go from here. Last night we had a 3 1/2 hour meeting of just revival worship. The crowd took over at one point and led itself in worship that couldn’t be stopped. There were many people physically healed of different issues. Many people healed from depression, self-image issues, and much more. The testimonies were astounding! I can’t remember being a part of a night like this. What an incredible time to see young people with explosive passion for Jesus!
It’s hard to believe that 6 months has flown by since we started the adventure of leading the Call2All DTS last April! Yesterday we graduated our students from the DTS program here in Kona. We sent them off like the church in Antioch from Acts 13…except that instead of ministering to the Lord with fasting and prayer, we ministered to the Lord with feasting and prayer! What a great celebration we had together as we commissioned each student into the sphere of society they feel called to. (Family, religion, education, business, government, arts & entertainment, and science & technology.) About half of the students feel a calling into missions with YWAM or Call2All and the others feel called as missionaries into the different spheres of society. Before I close out this season of DTS we have so much to share from our last 4 weeks in Brazil!
Last time we wrote we were leaving Rio De Janeiro and heading to Campo Grande where we were going to work in a favela for about 10 days and then spend 2 weeks with the Terena Tribe in a village called “Blue Water.” When we left Rio for Campo Grande we had great expectations of all that God was going to do during the last four weeks of outreach. We had been looking forward to our time in Campo Grande before we even left Kona. Read the rest of this entry »
June 24th I embarked on an amazing journey with 8 of my dear friends and 2 beautiful children! Ronda, Jacob, Ariel, and Hailey will be joining me in approximately 12 days, 12 hours, 27 minutes, and 25 seconds…not that I’m counting!
We have met some of the most amazing people in the last 5 days and have hit the ground running as usual. After arriving in Sao Paulo, Brazil, we were picked up by our new Portuguese friend Ruben who handed us a sheet of paper with some useful Portuguese phrases like, “We’re hungry for food,” and, “We need to stop for the bathroom,” and my favorite, “We need to stop and puke.” We all laughed together at the choice of phrases to welcome us to the beautiful nation of Brazil…and hoped we didn’t need to use all of them. Read the rest of this entry »
This is so overdue, I will hardly be able to capture all that God has done in the last 8 weeks of our lives! We have just finished the 6th week of the Call2All DTS and are excited to catch our breath this weekend from running over 100 miles per hour. Here is a Top 10 list of things that have occurred in the last 8 weeks. This list includes our outreach location so read on!
The Call2All DTS began on April 7th. We welcomed 32 students from 10 different nations who have joined us for a 6-month adventure to know God and make him known! This group quickly became part of our family. All together we have 44 staff and students and 7 children in this amazing group. Read the rest of this entry »
There are a few times in my life when I have felt like a celebrity. Definitely not many, but a few. One of the first I remember was when I was a freshman in college at PLU. I was asked by the Central Washington DARE director (Drug Abuse Resistance Education) to write the theme song for their annual education program. The theme was the catchy phrase, “Be Smart Don’t Start.” What a great song title, right? Well, my creative juices started to flow and out came a song that I was asked to record and take on tour all across the greater Yakima Valley! So my dear friend Jennifer Licht (now Alexander) and I toured the elementary school circuit over Spring break of our freshman year. We sang at school assemblies, gave a music and recording presentation to our former high school choir, and even signed a few autographs. Wow! Autographs! We made it to the big time. We were swarmed by 7 to 10 year old boys and girls who had us autograph homework assignments, paper towels from the restroom, and cafeteria napkins. Jennifer and I had arrived and enjoyed the feeling of celebrity status in the eyes of the children who knew us as the “Be Smart Don’t Start” duo. What a great moment! Read the rest of this entry »
This video was put together by the students of the Call2All DTS April 2010 in honor of the staff of the school. What a hilarious video! It’s filled with inside jokes so you might not get all the humor, but you’ll probably still enjoy the creativity and effort put in by all involved! Enjoy!
As the Lord continues to move our hearts and minds to further His Kingdom, we have been prompted and obedient in moving to Australia. Check this website regularly for updates on what we've been learning.
