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.
Two weeks and counting! Our family and five amazing young leaders are heading out for an outreach starting January 15th. We will be teaching, leading worship, doing evangelism, praying, and serving local communities in three different locations for seven weeks. First, we head to Orange County to connect with a thriving local church that we have been doing outreach with the past two years during our DTS. We will also be teaching at a DTS on worship during our stay in Southern California. Next, we head to South Korea on January 28th to visit this wonderful nation for the first time as a family! We will be connecting with different local churches for the first week of our time and then teaching at the University of Nations, Jeju Island for the School of Worship during our second week. We are so excited for this time of our trip! Then finally, we head to Cambodia on February 9th to visit our amazing friends, the Gustafsons, in Battambang, Cambodia for the final leg of our journey. We start our time in Cambodia by teaching on the DTS there and then will spend two more weeks in SE Asia ministering at this thriving YWAM base and other parts of Cambodia and Thailand. Read the rest of this entry »
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 »
2012 is already well underway! I’ve been looking forward to this year since the beginning of last Summer, and now its finally here! We’ve been dreaming about all that God is going to do this year in our lives and in the nations and it’s no longer a dream, but the beginning of reality!
We are going to see the hungry fed, young missionaries raised up and sent out into the world, children grow in their understanding of the world they live in and the God who made them, and music written and poured out before the Lord! The first fruits are already being seen this past January. 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!
Eight years ago Ronda closed the door on her 1st grade classroom and a few days later opened up the door to her new classroom called the “Barker School of World Changers.” The first student’s name was Jacob Aaron. About 19 months later a new student enrolled named Ariel Joy. Then our newest student enrolled on September 11, 2006. Her name is Hailey Grace. This school has been a full-time job plus some. These three amazing students have learned faster than we could have ever imagined and have also proven to be quite the teachers to both Ronda and I.
We didn’t realize this school would be an international school, but our students have been required to train on four different continents and eight different countries. As our students have studied in these different parts of the world we have seen their hearts grow larger than we could have ever imagined. They have become more thankful, adaptable, compassionate, and mature than we ever were at their ages. This is just the beginning. Read the rest of this entry »
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.
