Well we have now been in Sudan for about 3 weeks and its been crazy and hectic. However God is moving in our students. Money is still in short supply but God is providing for our needs. Our students now have mattresses and the basic needs and we have not had to miss any meals from not having the funds to buy food. However we know unless something big happens we will reach the point of running out of money in the next few weeks. We also need to be building on the property God gave us last time I was here to build our long term base. Pioneering is not always easy but God is good. Our students are growing with God as we teach them. This past week Nicole has been teaching and doing a great job, I have also had the chance this week to teach in the DTS as well as Emily and I tomorrow.
Tomorrow I will be teaching about counting the cost of following Christ, and is he worthy of the sacrifice. As I went over the words of Christ again and again, I couldn’t help but notice he never said come follow me and you will have a great life. He never said some of you should follow me and share my love with others. We are all called to a life of missions. Not everyone is called to live in Africa true but we are all called to be living a life that spreads the gospel to all the world. I truly believe that the US was blessed to be a blessing to the nations. I believe that the American churches are blessed beyond measure financially as well as with a wealth of information. The question is why are they so blessed? Is it because God loves Americans more? Are we just better Christians than the rest of the world? I would say again that Americans and the Christians in America are blessed because there is a mighty calling on the lives of us to spread the gospel to all the world through us. That comes two fold, if we are obeying Christ and his calling then the blessings will continue and we will be enabled to propagate the gospel to all tribes and nations. However I firmly believe that if we shrink back from the calling on the American church that we will see the blessings cease. I do not believe God will continue to bless America if we refuse to use the gifts that he has given us. In the same way that Jesus told the parable of the master who gave talents and then we he saw they were wasted and not put to use took them. I believe God will do the same. We can be involved by going to the nations, enabling others to go, praying for the nations, as well as welcoming those from other nations who come to America for training. We are all called to be missionaries I urge you to not shrink back from the Calling that God has placed in our lives.
In other news things are going well here, it has been rough and challenging, the weather is hot and there is a lot of walking and manual labor to keep things running here in the DTS. Emily has been so tough but it has been difficult for her at times. I can only imagine how difficult it would be to be here while pregnant on top of everything else going on. I am immensely proud of her however, she is such a blessing to me as well as the DTS. She is truly the one that God wanted me to have as my partner for life. The baby is growing well, and is healthy we have been checking the heart beat and it remains strong and our baby is active. Thank you again for all your prayers and support.
Wednesday, March 14, 2012
Monday, February 6, 2012
The Church Of Jesus Christ
These things have been stewing in my head for years but more recently and me and my wife prepare to launch back into Africa. What is the Church? Why does the church of Jesus look so far from what Jesus and his ministry was? There is this song I love by Todd Agnew part of the song says:
Now fortunately the church I go to is very alive and God is active and working there. However I have to wonder why in America especially is church more about programs and the event vs the discipleship and the relationship. Anyone who knows me knows I pretty much can't stand a big church at least not being a "member" there. Something I have missed is relationship, even now with how busy the past year has been to live in relationship with other believers is a challenge. But what should church look like? What should the body of Christ look like? I was recently talking to someone about God and homosexuality and why it is such a horrible sin that the church shuns these people. My answers would likely shock many.
Unfortunately christian lack a major thing they should be full of, love. If christians acted like jesus the world would be a much better place, unfortunately homosexuality is the horrible taboo. I believe sin is sin so the lying preacher or the one who cheats on his wife with a woman is no worse than the one who does cocaine and is with a male prostitute. I believe the greatest thing anyone can give in this world is love, pure unadulterated love.
At the time the answer just kind of flowed out of me without me processing it deeply. However its got me thinking where is the love? Why is it that it seems most churches in America you go to and it is an event. What are we afraid of that the event is contained within the walls of the building. The church is the physical body, our savior did not die for buildings or programs. The coming together is to build each other up and train and equip but not to bring your "lost" friends in hopes they get "saved." What has happened to the saving message of Christ? Where is the repentance and confession of sins. When Jesus spoke people were cut to the heart they were filled with grief but when was the last time a message hit you so heavily that you could not continue living life as you had. I'm preaching to the choir here, this is what I've been feeling in my heart lately. Mainly this, do we love, is it pure unadulterated love? Sure homosexuality is a sin its bad but so is lying and cheating and stealing and a whole list of other sins. Why is it that those certain sins are the detestable ones that we can't associate with those people. You go out and ask people about Jesus they will say ohh he was full of love he died for people. You ask them about Christians and typically the response is ohh they are judgmental or hypocrites. I have been the prime example of a royal jerk and not acting Christlike at times, but this is just what God is showing me. If we truly want people to follow our Jesus we need to act like our Jesus to be him in flesh to this world. They are full of pain and hurting sure they might be a little dirty they might not say the right words or do what you think they should do. However Jesus loves them, they are just as valuable as you to him, and he died for them.
I am extremely excited to be going home I have missed my African family. It seems time and time again people because they care ask us if we are sure we should be going over there. Is it safe, would God really call us to a place so dangerous. However I can not think of another place I would rather be. When I look into the faces of my fathers children I see his heart, I see his love and I see hope. I see people who despite great hardship have endured and still have a heart of Gold. I see broken people wanting to be made whole and longing for someone to come and loves them to help bandage their wounds. You don't have to go to Africa to be like Jesus you can do that anywhere you are at that moment. Be Jesus today embody him and give him flesh in someones life today. Someone who would only expect to be rejected, because if we don't love them they will continue to search for love.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oJWkQ9UP_m8
Sunday, December 7, 2008
YWAM Outreach
So This is going to be my YWAM outreach blog I'll update it as I can don't expect any video unless I get alot of extra time which in unlikely. So right now we are in east dallas working with a really awesome christian rehab place called reconciliation ministries. We have gotten to pray with some people and pray for healings which are going to happen! Its been really cool though. I got to bust out in Spanish yesterday and we understood each other so that was exciting. Well I'll post more about the next couple days later have fun everyone.
Ok so now its the 5th of october wow its been like a week but we have done so much. We left Dallas and went to Amarillo and worked with this church camp for like 3 days and then we worked with some drug rehab and this ministry that works with the homeless. Then we came to El Paso a few days ago and set up for the Take Action. We did that yesterday it was really amazing and powerful. We are doing another church service today and we have one more in like 30 minutes. Then we are eating dinner and going to mexico. We are going to be there for 3 days then it is off to Almagordo for our take action, then its off to PERU!!! I'll put more on here later but I've got to get going. There have been so much exciting stuff going on though lots of ministry and praying for people and headaches from running sounds and stuff not working the way its supposed to. Well pray for me if you think about it. Have fun everyone.
So it is now October 10th I am in Almagordo, New Mexico we are having a better event set up this time. No trailers or trucks breaking down. Our building is built in a way that the sound is easy to do without it echoing and I'm excited. We do the event this Saturday and then we pack up and leave Sunday morning for Lindale. I'm excited though I know God is going to do some amazing things here but I am really ready to be in the jungles of Peru. I think I've been traveling to much I was trying to remember the country I'm going to next the past few weeks is such a huge blur. I'm excited though partially because I know this event is going to be amazing and I know Peru is going to be really amazing to. I don't know what else to write though I'm tired lol so you all have fun and be safe if you want.
Ok everyone so it is now October 15th I am in PERU!!! Its awesome I..m loving it here the weather is awesome and I..m caught up on the sleep I lost from our 22 hour drive accross Texas following Take Action. Take Action was really good the turnout wasn..t huge but it was still powerful. I..m enjoying things here though. We leave for the jungle in the morning though and will be there for about 8 days. I will update this when I get back and am able but yeah pray for us and for the people we will minister to.
Ok so its the 24th of October we are back in Lima. The jugle and Pucalpa was amazing we spent 4 days in the jungle 5 hours up river by boat from the city doing medical clinics. We saw at least 200 patients in the jungle and taught english during the day. At night we switched to a open air service and shared the gospel with some of the tribe. It was cool because the new chief who is 22 is totally open and excited about us beeing there., as well as the whole village. When we pulled up they were all out singing and playing instruments. The last night they had a seremony and we showed the Jesus film it was a cool time though. We then went back down river and did medical clinics and work projects in Pucalpa and saw at least 100 patients. Last night we did our main drama the Clincher and I shared a message/testimony and it ended up beeing really cool. We had like 40 people up front after the drama praying and all so that was cool. We flew back to Lima this morning got up at 3 and now we are in Lima we are going to the beach in a few hours maybe we will eat sebiche its this fish that is really popular in Peru but yeah its cold so I don..t know that I will be going swimming. I dont know what exactly we will be doing In Cusco in the moutain city but Im excited I know we are doing the medical clinics and I..ve been enjoying those. You all have fun and be safe and yeah pray for me when you think about it.
Holy crap its November 3rd we just flew back into Lima this morning. Ok so the night before we left for Cusco we had a church service and I shared my testimony and that was cool, once again it was exactly what these people needed to hear which I had no idea about untill after, yay for beeing led by the spirit hahaha. So then we flew to Cusco which is like 12000 feet. We were planning on spending like 3 or 4 days in a village called Tinta but there was rioting going on and the farmers had burned the bridges or otherwise made then impassible. So no medical clinics there. So we ended up doing some clinics in the cusco area and surrounding villages. The second day we went out of cusco and even higher. I ended up sharing a message after the clinic in our church service. I was supposed to have 15 minutes but at the last second they were like ohh can you make it 5 lol because the bus is waiting. Oh yeah the bus was waiting because the mayor was paying for it because he was so happy we were there he sent his representative people to thank us and give us this letter and he paid for our bus. So I think I got my point across in 5 minutes it was kinda hard though. Oh yeah also the drama we do we decided we wanted to do we had taken a day to learn and a week to perfect and in 45 minutes we learned new parts. It was kinda funny watching because the counts were off but the message came through strong. So on the third and fourth day I was all sick just as I..m thinking man I guess I..m not going to get whatever alot of the team had. Eck it sucked the bathroom was the friend I never wanted hahaha but I..m better now. We went to Machu Picchu the other day it was amazing, really beautifull too. Then we took a train to some random spot of took these vans around the mountains and almost died several times but it was a nice view of the 1000 foot drop lol. Well I'm gonna get going here I've got to get some stuff done still but you all have fun. Ok so I'm back in the states now but I thought I would wrap up the last week that I had in Lima before I came back. We spent about 5 days in Lima we were planning on doing clinics in Lima but in our world plans change. So we ended up doing services in several of the schools and teaching english. We got to do our dramas in the schools which was amazing we had like 40 people at one school service that made decisions to rededicate their lives or give them to God which was really cool. We also got to go to an orphanage we did our dramas with clowns and just hung out with kids and played with them. We also did a clinic there with the kids. I think that kinda sums up my trip for the most part. It was a great trip and I had a really great time with all the ministry. Well thank you for praying for me and supporting everyone who did.
Ok so now its the 5th of october wow its been like a week but we have done so much. We left Dallas and went to Amarillo and worked with this church camp for like 3 days and then we worked with some drug rehab and this ministry that works with the homeless. Then we came to El Paso a few days ago and set up for the Take Action. We did that yesterday it was really amazing and powerful. We are doing another church service today and we have one more in like 30 minutes. Then we are eating dinner and going to mexico. We are going to be there for 3 days then it is off to Almagordo for our take action, then its off to PERU!!! I'll put more on here later but I've got to get going. There have been so much exciting stuff going on though lots of ministry and praying for people and headaches from running sounds and stuff not working the way its supposed to. Well pray for me if you think about it. Have fun everyone.
So it is now October 10th I am in Almagordo, New Mexico we are having a better event set up this time. No trailers or trucks breaking down. Our building is built in a way that the sound is easy to do without it echoing and I'm excited. We do the event this Saturday and then we pack up and leave Sunday morning for Lindale. I'm excited though I know God is going to do some amazing things here but I am really ready to be in the jungles of Peru. I think I've been traveling to much I was trying to remember the country I'm going to next the past few weeks is such a huge blur. I'm excited though partially because I know this event is going to be amazing and I know Peru is going to be really amazing to. I don't know what else to write though I'm tired lol so you all have fun and be safe if you want.
Ok everyone so it is now October 15th I am in PERU!!! Its awesome I..m loving it here the weather is awesome and I..m caught up on the sleep I lost from our 22 hour drive accross Texas following Take Action. Take Action was really good the turnout wasn..t huge but it was still powerful. I..m enjoying things here though. We leave for the jungle in the morning though and will be there for about 8 days. I will update this when I get back and am able but yeah pray for us and for the people we will minister to.
Ok so its the 24th of October we are back in Lima. The jugle and Pucalpa was amazing we spent 4 days in the jungle 5 hours up river by boat from the city doing medical clinics. We saw at least 200 patients in the jungle and taught english during the day. At night we switched to a open air service and shared the gospel with some of the tribe. It was cool because the new chief who is 22 is totally open and excited about us beeing there., as well as the whole village. When we pulled up they were all out singing and playing instruments. The last night they had a seremony and we showed the Jesus film it was a cool time though. We then went back down river and did medical clinics and work projects in Pucalpa and saw at least 100 patients. Last night we did our main drama the Clincher and I shared a message/testimony and it ended up beeing really cool. We had like 40 people up front after the drama praying and all so that was cool. We flew back to Lima this morning got up at 3 and now we are in Lima we are going to the beach in a few hours maybe we will eat sebiche its this fish that is really popular in Peru but yeah its cold so I don..t know that I will be going swimming. I dont know what exactly we will be doing In Cusco in the moutain city but Im excited I know we are doing the medical clinics and I..ve been enjoying those. You all have fun and be safe and yeah pray for me when you think about it.
Holy crap its November 3rd we just flew back into Lima this morning. Ok so the night before we left for Cusco we had a church service and I shared my testimony and that was cool, once again it was exactly what these people needed to hear which I had no idea about untill after, yay for beeing led by the spirit hahaha. So then we flew to Cusco which is like 12000 feet. We were planning on spending like 3 or 4 days in a village called Tinta but there was rioting going on and the farmers had burned the bridges or otherwise made then impassible. So no medical clinics there. So we ended up doing some clinics in the cusco area and surrounding villages. The second day we went out of cusco and even higher. I ended up sharing a message after the clinic in our church service. I was supposed to have 15 minutes but at the last second they were like ohh can you make it 5 lol because the bus is waiting. Oh yeah the bus was waiting because the mayor was paying for it because he was so happy we were there he sent his representative people to thank us and give us this letter and he paid for our bus. So I think I got my point across in 5 minutes it was kinda hard though. Oh yeah also the drama we do we decided we wanted to do we had taken a day to learn and a week to perfect and in 45 minutes we learned new parts. It was kinda funny watching because the counts were off but the message came through strong. So on the third and fourth day I was all sick just as I..m thinking man I guess I..m not going to get whatever alot of the team had. Eck it sucked the bathroom was the friend I never wanted hahaha but I..m better now. We went to Machu Picchu the other day it was amazing, really beautifull too. Then we took a train to some random spot of took these vans around the mountains and almost died several times but it was a nice view of the 1000 foot drop lol. Well I'm gonna get going here I've got to get some stuff done still but you all have fun. Ok so I'm back in the states now but I thought I would wrap up the last week that I had in Lima before I came back. We spent about 5 days in Lima we were planning on doing clinics in Lima but in our world plans change. So we ended up doing services in several of the schools and teaching english. We got to do our dramas in the schools which was amazing we had like 40 people at one school service that made decisions to rededicate their lives or give them to God which was really cool. We also got to go to an orphanage we did our dramas with clowns and just hung out with kids and played with them. We also did a clinic there with the kids. I think that kinda sums up my trip for the most part. It was a great trip and I had a really great time with all the ministry. Well thank you for praying for me and supporting everyone who did.
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