Over the past four years we have been learning a lot about this word called “home.” I used to think “home” meant a house…a physical house. I envisioned a house out of a pottery barn magazine with beautiful furniture and a swing on the front porch. I envisioned outdoor BBQ’s with neighbors and friends, a dog barking in the back yard and kids running around having fun.

When we moved to Australia four years ago and I tasted real homesickness for the first time I started to learn something about this word “home” that is much deeper than a house, a BBQ and a dog (as wonderful as all of those things are! And I hope to have them again someday!!!) I started reading Psalm 84 on a daily basis and I would ponder what “home” meant. I realized that “home” is in the presence of God (near your altar). We are most at home when we are following God’s plans for our lives and living a life of worship to Him on a daily basis.  “Home” is also where our meaningful relationships lie… our immediate and extended families, our spouses and our closest friends. I learned that no matter where we are in the world we can find “home.” We can come and go in certain locations and still find home there because of the relationships that we have in those places.

We found “home” in Tacoma, we found “home” in Australia…we found “home” in South Africa…Malaysia…Bellevue…Yakima…Cambodia…Thailand…Korea…Brazil…Hawaii…

And now we find ourselves in Southern California in yet another new “home”… another new beginning. As we unpack our little apartment, meet our neighbors, drive new streets and find new grocery stores we are filled with anticipation yet again for all that God has in store for us here.  We know that His plans are good!! At the same time our hearts ache as we think about those we have left behind yet again, in order to do what we feel God is leading us to do. Leaving home is never easy…but God always meets us with joy, adventures and with new relationships along the way. The blessing though is that even as we are meeting new people and making new relationships, some of our oldest and dearest friends live right by us!!! We are so thankful for the comfort of having a few familiar friends so close by.

Aaron started working this week with New Song Church in Irvine as the Creative Arts Pastor. He is excited for this new season and the challenges that lay before him there as he raises up worship leaders, writes new music, leads worship and begins to develop an Artist’s Residency Program.

In the midst of saying goodbye to Kona, Hawaii we have peace and excitement knowing that our ministry with YWAM is not over. It will look different, however we will be working to partner with YWAM as much as possible from Southern California and trust that our move here will only help be a bridge from YWAM to New Song Church and the Church at large.  Aaron will spend two weeks in July working with a YWAM ministry called “The School of the Circuit Riders” in Fiji!! More YWAM news to come!!!

The kids have started school and are loving their teachers and all of their new friends. They have had their ups and downs for sure… and miss their dear friends in Kona. Please pray for them as they adjust! They would be so blessed by letters and postcards so if you have a few minutes to write to them they would be so happy!

Thank you for being our families, our friends and our “home.” We love each of you dearly and are thankful for all of your love and support in this process. We are continuing to raise support for our work in ministry. All donations can continue to go through YWAM Kona. If you are already giving to us you do not need to change anything at this time. If you would like to give a donation to our family and ministry (either one time or monthly) you can do so through our website at the partnership tab. All donations are tax deductible.

We love you!

With Love,

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.

On to our BIG News!

Over the last few years The Lord has put Southern California on our hearts, giving us vision for what He wants to do there. We have held these things loosely, pursuing the many things He has laid in front of us to do with YWAM and the nations. While we were in Cambodia at the end of our seven week trip, Aaron received an offer for a position at New Song Church in Irvine,  and he accepted! The job description fits him perfectly. We have been anticipating change for a while and have felt there was something new on the horizon.  New Song is a church with a Glocal vision (global and local) with church plants in Bangkok, Sao Paulo, Mexico City, London, New York, and others. They are passionate about the sphere of the arts/music/worship and are in a hub for reaching out to artists and musicians.  Aaron’s position as “The Creative Arts Pastor” will include:

1. Discipleship of worship teams and leaders at New Song in Irvine and serving other church plants around the world
2. Songwriting and Developing Songwriters
3. Build an Artist Residency Program for Worship Leaders/Musicians to be trained in and out of the church
4. Produce and Release Albums
5. Lead Worship
6. Develop worship training curriculum

Along with this position at New Song, we will also continue to minister within YWAM through teaching, worship, and the outreaches and schools that are starting on the University Campuses in California and beyond.  We have built a strong relationship with YWAM since 2004 and that is going to continue as we work in ministry in Southern California.  We believe there is a powerful bridge being built between YWAM in Kona and the different works in California and we are excited to be a part of this!

We have set a departure date from Kona on April 8th and a start date at New Song of May 1st.  We will spend time in WA support raising and connecting with friends and family.  The position will still require us to supplement a base salary with teaching honorariums, CD sales, and personal support raising.  This is exciting because our hearts still burn for the nations and we know that we are called to mobilize people into missions.  The fact that we don’t have to lay this down is very exciting!  We will continue to channel our support through YWAM in Kona as we are working in partnership with them, Fire & Fragrance, and other ministries in SoCal.

We do believe this is an exciting next step in seeing the dreams fulfilled that God has given us to impact music and worship around the world.  Music is the language of this young generation and there are going to be anthems written that will be carried to the ends of the earth!  We are thrilled to play our part in this dream and are giving our lives to see it fulfilled!

It is so exciting to start the new year with this trip as a family and can’t wait to take off!  It has been amazing to see the Lord put this trip together and now we are down to the final stages of our preparation.  Please pray with us that all the remaining details fall into place.  We are still trusting the Lord for the last portion of our ground fees, which will cover our food, transportation, housing, and other expenses while we are traveling.  If you feel led to partner with us financially towards this outreach visit our partnership page for details on how you can make your contribution.  It is only by the generosity of our supporters that this outreach is happening so thank you so much!  We will keep you updated throughout our trip on the testimonies of how God is moving in these different parts of the world.  God bless and Happy New Year!  May 2013 be filled with amazing adventures and blessings from the Lord!

Below is our latest family newsletter.  Read on for the most recent updates on our family.  You will find information about the outreach we are taking as a family in January 2013 and how you can partner with us in this ministry.

Blessings,
Aaron and Ronda Barker
Jacob, Ariel and Hailey

To view the newsletter in full size,  mouse over the image and click on it to zoom in and view the newsletter in full size.

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.

This group of rough yet broken men would travel the frontiers of America for decades, taking the Gospel to the most remote places in America. In a time of American history where it was easier to stay in one place and live in the comfort of the few cities that existed, these men refused comfort and driven by the ancient dream of Eden to see man and God live in intimate fellowship. They rode on. Over half of them died before reaching age 33 and their annual pay, if any, was around 50 dollars. They did not do it for the love of money, fame nor an affinity towards human comfort. They were absolutely marked by the same determination as Asbury that every home in America would hear and believe the Gospel. When Asbury arrived in America there were a few hundred Methodist followers and a few dozen preachers, but by the time he died there were over 210,000 followers and over 4,000 preachers. America would never be the same because of these wild-eyed revivalists.

OUR HISTORY:

The Lord directed us to this piece of history and the stories of these men to inspire us to start the School of the Circuit Rider. The Lord very clearly drew our attention to the stories of these men who gave up their lives so that the kingdom of God would spread across America. From this study of history the Lord began to speak to us about His desire to release wide-eyed revivalists again who would carry the message of the simple Gospel to the nations of the earth. Out of our study and ongoing guidance from God, the School of the Circuit Rider was birthed in July of 2011.

THE CULTURE OF REVIVAL

JUST JESUS:

Simplicity! “Jesus I want to be like you” Christ-centered. Christ-focused.
He is a Real Person. We live the first 1st Commandment.
He is Revival! He is the answer to everything! Jesus is Salvation!

FAITH:

Believing God is who He says He is! Complete Trust in His Word!
Radical Optimism . . . Seeing as God sees.
Believing the best about others . . . . . “I am your #1 fan.”
Culture of Honor, Trust and Love! No suspicion! No doubt!

HOLINESS:

Un-offendable hearts! Pure tongues! Unbroken communion with God!
Destroying the little foxes “the little compromises in our life”
Radical Transparency! Happy Holiness! Joyful repentance!
“It’s my superior pleasure to remove this from my life, because what I have to gain is far better!”

THANKFULNESS:

Thankfulness is the key to overnight revival!
Freedom through Radical Obedience!
Wild, Passionate, & Zealous but filled with Peace & Joy!
Surrendered, Teachable, Humble, Ready for Inconvenient Break-through!

DISCIPLESHIP:

It’s about Others! Jesus made disciples. Multiply!
Freely receive & Freely give. . . .
Burning for the truth; Burning for lost souls. It’s about an entire generation!

VISION AND VALUES

THE VISION

Circuit Riders exists to establish and equip a generation to obey and fulfill Jesus’ Great Commandment (Matthew 22:36-40) and Great Commission (Matthew 28:16-20)

Cultivating a generation of leaders, wholly given and surrendered to the will of the Father, living for a purpose greater than themselves, and sent as laborers of the Gospel to the hardest and darkest frontiers on the earth with the express purpose to:

-Revive: Awakening the Church to a vibrant, surrendered relationship with Jesus and igniting a burning passion for the lost

-Proclaim: Boldly preaching the Gospel, accompanied with the demonstration of Holy Spirit power; manifested in supernatural healing and the salvation of souls in villages, towns, cities and regions.

-Train: Making disciples through teaching biblical truth, replicating and establishing discipleship communities; centered around the presence of God, love for one another, and love for the lost.

THE VALUES

-Intimacy with God: Our primary focus is loving God and receiving from Him through relationship and obedience.

-Intercession: Praying strategically in partnership with the Holy Spirit, birthing God’s will on earth by petitioning and warring in the heavenlies, contending for his Kingdom to come.

-Gospel Centered: Proclamation and evangelism, a central focus and desire. Seeing the lost saved from the torment of Hell through the power of the Cross

-Community: Cultivating intentional centers of discipleship centered around worship, prayer, and a love for the Bible. Keeping our hearts alive and vibrant in God.

Arm in arm, press on, the victory’s won

You have raised the gun, fired to start the run

Now we fix our eyes, on the finish line

It is race day!

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”  Over the past 20 weeks I’ve been casting off hindrances in my life through the training.  Most of those hindrances were unhealthy habits and replacing them with quality nutrition, exercise, and rest.  It has been a really fun season of preparing for today.  I have been challenged many times and not wanted to continue with the training or at least to skimp on it.  I did my best to keep pressing on and train even when everything in me didn’t want to.  Ronda would kick me out the door sometimes and other times we had to make sacrifices to fit our runs in.  We all made it today!  SO FUN!

I finished in 3:18:46 and had a great time.  I had hoped to qualify for the Boston Marathon, but didn’t make the 3:10 cut off.  However, I can see that it’s within my grasp and am already looking forward to the next opportunity.  It will be a great celebration and Ronda and I hope to make the trip and enjoy that beautiful city once again.

To celebrate today’s race day I am posting both versions of the song I wrote called, “Race Day.”  You can download them for free for a limited time and I hope you enjoy them and are inspired to live out Hebrews 12:1 and run the race that is set before you!  There’s a great cloud of witnesses cheering you on…can you hear them?!

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.

I also heard the story of a YWAM staff who serves all day with all his heart on the base in Battambang and then spends the nights working at the local market doing basic labor jobs to help provide for his family that lives in a nearby slum.

Another woman who cooked for us today survived the Khmer Rouge years in Cambodia by sneaking into the fields at night to steal corn for her starving family to keep them alive during those devastating years. Anyone in this nation who is older than 35 has a story similar to this woman.

During the first day of teaching I was speaking about how you have to be willing to overcome any obstacle when you are pursuing the dreams God has laid on your heart. I shared my sob story of God asking my family to sell everything we owned to join YWAM in Perth, Australia. Then came the clincher…we had to give away our children’s dog to a friend. I shared about how my kids cried that day and I had to keep telling myself that I wasn’t the world’s worst dad and I wasn’t ruining my kids lives. Of course the western students in the room seemed to really connect with my teaching. The Cambodian students listened attentively and were very respectful. However, in the next day I realized a couple things. First of all, dogs in Cambodia aren’t quite the same as dogs in America. Most dogs here aren’t the cute cuddly little creatures that you let sleep in your son’s bed at night. Most dogs here are gaunt, flea infested, sick animals who will hardly acknowledge your presence when you pass them on the street. Second of all, they eat dog meat in Cambodia.

What did the Cambodian students think about me having to give my dog away? Well they may have thought how lucky I was to be able to get rid of my dog and find someone who would take it from me.  What a fool they must have been!  Or they may have thought I was being rather wasteful to get rid of such a wonderful source of food for my family!  You have to love cross-cultural teaching.

Through all these stories and experiences I have been given a powerful piece of perspective in the last few days. I want to wake up each morning and thank the Lord for the blessings He has poured out on my family.

Thank you Jesus that my children are being raised in an environment where they can experience the diversity of the nations of the world and the beauty of all God’s people.  Thank you Jesus that I have friends serving the Lord all over the world and I get to work alongside them and lift their arms during the battles!  Thank you Jesus that you have called me to pour into young people who are passionate to see the nations reached for Jesus!  Thank you Jesus that the whole world is not American and I can actually learn something from nations who aren’t just like mine.  Thank you Jesus that you can take a broken nation like Cambodia and give it hope through people who are willing to lay down everything to share the truth of the Gospel with these amazing people.  What a great day today is!

Enjoy a few pictures from this week in Cambodia.  We are building a “Foodmachine” on the YWAM base here right now and are so excited to multiply that this Summer. The crowd of people around us as we are building is growing each day.  I told Evan today that when we have water in the system and plants growing we will probably have about 30 people standing around in amazement of what is happening!  Loren Cunningham has shared that he wants a “Foodmachine” on every YWAM base in the world.  Well, we now have #1 and #2.  Kona, and now…Cambodia!  We have doubled the work and are looking forward to seeing #3 and maybe #4 this summer!

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.

DTS Staff and Students

On January 5th we welcomed about 12 new staff to our DTS family.  We have a brand new crew of young staff members who are spending the first 3 months of 2012 preparing their hearts for the DTS this April.  We will introduce them more properly in a few weeks, but we are so confident in this group and all they are going to accomplish by God’s grace this year.  We are busy building community, growing in our leadership and serving the campus before being joined by our students this April.  And believe me, they are coming!  We have about 70 applications for the Fire & Fragrance DTS we are leading this Spring.  We are praying for all of these students to complete their applications and trusting that we will have about 60-70 students.  That is about twice the amount of students from last year!  God is moving through DTS and multiplying missionaries into the nations!  We are excited about the things God has in store for this group of staff and students.

Fighting Hunger with the Foodmachine

God has stirred our hearts to use the Foodmachine to more effectively send our outreach teams out with powerful mercy ministry in their tool belts.  We have been working with the developers of this technology for the past few months planning for them to visit our campus and train our staff on this technology so we could take it out with us this Summer!  We are planning to do this in Cambodia during July and August.  Take a look at this video of myself and a few of our staff being trained and building our very first mini Foodmachine!  It’s really happening!

On March 2nd I am flying with my friend Evan Thomas (from the company that developed the Foodmachine) to Cambodia to teach on a DTS and scout out the land for the Foodmachine outreach this Summer.  We will be in Battambang with our long-time friend Garth Gustafson for about one week preparing the way for what God is going to do there this July and August.  Tickets are purchased and the plans are all coming together!  We are excited about how God is going to use our DTS family to fight hunger with the Foodmachine!

Raising Up World Changers at The Learning Center

Ronda is thriving as a first grade teacher and constantly amazing me and her staff with her endless creativity and commitment to her students.  I don’t know how she manages to juggle all the balls she has in the air and be such a woman of grace at the same time.    She prays for all the families of her students and is such an encouragement to each of them as they partner together to educate their children.  We are taking advantage of our location in Hawaii to give our children amazing opportunities to see different parts of creation.  Just last week we spent the day on a field trip going whale watching.  We saw humpback whales just a few feet from the boat we were on with the entire Learning Center school.  What a memorable experience!  I never knew raising up world changers could be so fun!

Writing New Music to Sing over the Nations

At the end of 2011 I felt the Lord challenge me to write music this next year for a brand new album in the near future.  I have asked my friends around me to hold me accountable to pursuing this part of my calling.  I have set aside a morning each week to seek the Lord and develop new songs to use in the prayer room and corporate worship here in Kona.  I have written a couple songs this year already and more are on the way!  I am looking ahead to this September through December to produce another album of original songs that will ignite hearts to follow Jesus wholeheartedly!  Please pray for me as I spend this time before the Lord writing new music to sing over the nations!

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!