Prayer Week and Evangelism

Alright here I am two weeks late with this blog but I am doing it now. Well the week of November 16 - 20 was Prayer Week and this was a very impactful week. Because I had always known prayer was powerful, but I finally saw the holy spirit move throughout this week. At the beginning of the week, we had to choose our prayer slot and being an adventurous Christian, I chose 3-5am... okay just let that seek in... Let's just say we were majorly praying that first night against the spirit of tiredness. Okay jokes aside this was honestly one of the first days I encountered spiritual darkness. Nick and I were waiting on the corner and CJ drove and the first thing she said was that her spirit was uneasy. On the drive to pick up Heidi, the fourth and last prayer team member, all three of us in the car saw a dark cloud looming across the rode. Then as we drove nearer it darted behind a parked car and oh my word I have never felt the enemy's presence that strong. The first night we all prayed aloud together for each other and the next night as we arrived at the church, CJ told us that Corey's ankle had been healed from being freshly injured twice. This news got me excited for the night and we prayed for many people injuries. None of the people we prayed for were healed but it didn't discourage me. Wednesday night Amanda and I were talking outside the worship room during night worship and she saw an angel standing at the edge of the woods . I immediately turned to see it but did not. I really wanted the gift of seeing the spiritual world but for those that have prayed this prayer know just how scary it is. After she prayed for my eyes to open, we continued to talk and I saw a light source perched on the roof. I told my sister and she confirmed that it was an angel. So there you go the spiritual world is real and it is all around us. So prayer week rocked my socks. God is Love.

Ryan our DTS director spoke last week on Evangelism and every night I voluntered for an organization that is to remain unnamed for legal purposes. I actually took many notes during the lectures and thoroughly enjoyed listening to them. Ryan was a truely enjoyable speaker. One of the first things I learn about evangelism is that 15% of Christians actually hear about God by themselves which I had never heard this before. So relationships with Christians have contributed to 85% of Christians now living. We have to start fulfilling our call to expanding God's kingdom. Then we discussed the all too common analogy of being a fisher of men and we discussed four points that apply to both fishing and evangelism :)
-Fish are present (People are unchurched)
-Choose good bait (Relate well to others)
-Fish are hungry (People are open)
-The best bait is LOVE
We then explored many different approaches to evangelism: Direct, Intellectual, Testimonial, Interpersonal, Invitational, Service
I learned that the easiest ones for me was the Interpersonal and Service but I now have to challenge myself to go outside my comfort zone.
Last week we got to say good bye to the last school which was crazy kinda seeing where we will be in 2 months. The graduation was actually a lot of fun. One of the Euro's led us in a rap called "Holy Hip-Hop" and we all got a kick out of this sick nasty performance. As you can see below.

Relationships and Fraser

Well last week was all about relationships. Johno and Niomi spoke a lot on the basics of relationships for the first two days. I honestly didn't learn to much during these two lectures. Things they spoke on were like eye contact and body language. Also on how to be a good listener and not interrupt people when they are talking. All of these lessons I feel like I apply very well to all of my relationships. Once they finished speaking on the basics I learned a few very important things that I hadn't really thought about. Such as, when Eve first sinned in the garden Adam was not with her. This tought me that when we face temptations alone we will more than likely fail but if we have someone with us, we will have a fighting chance. Our house is now becoming more and more an army against any temptation that we struggle with and this really gets me excited about what God is doing here. I also learned that when conflict arises in a relationship the best thing to do is confront the person about it then resolve the issue. If these steps are not taken the problem has the possibility to destroy the relationship. So in conflict within a marriage situation can really tear a husband and wife apart unless they directly confront the problem. They also gave us a diagram that shows the four elements of a healthy relationship and it looked kinda like this.

This past Saturday most of the crew packed up a few clothes and piled into the white vans to begin our journey that was Fraser Island. We woke up much too early and fell out of bed into the vans. We drove for 2 hours to the 4x4 rental place where we sat and waited for our drivers to finish their 1.5 hour training session. After they learn how to escape from dingos we loaded up our trucks and we were on our way to the world's largest sand island. We drove for 15 minutes and we hit our first stretch of sand, when all of our trucks got stuck. We began to push and push and push some more. Our teams grew much closer because all of us were pushed to our breaking points but some how kept our cool and didn't snap. Fraser Island didn't seem to worth it but then we arrived at Lake Mckenzie. Honestly you could see the bottom of this 150 foot deep lake from the surface. This was the most crystal clear body of water I have ever seen in my life. You could swim out deep and literally drink the water. After we drank all the water we could we found our campsite. Then after a horrible night of sleep, we went to a giant hunk of rust in the shape of a ship. You technically weren't allowed to be within 3 metres of it but some of us were walking on it and running through it. Overall this trip tought me how to come together as one while we were exhausted and sweaty, which outreach will be so much easier now that our team is ready for anything :)

God is Love.

Spiritual Warfare

Well everybody just kept begging for this blog...Dan literally blackmailed me by telling my mom to ask me to blog. So. here. we. go. the topic on which most of my curiosity is found-Spiritual Warfare. It sounds like such an epic thing that I want to be a part of...which is probably me just being a guy. The first thing that was discussed during lectures was how easy it is to war against the evil powers of the spiritual realm. Dan and I had been discussing how to be a spiritual warrior because I feel a call to be one. When we were talking, he told me that the spirit of God that dwells in all Christians causes evil to flee in all directions. Then Dan told me a story from the bible about a warring people group of the Jewish that stole the Ark of the Covenant and placed it at the foot of their false god. In the morning, the people who stole the Ark found the statue of their god had fallen and its head was smashed. The demon that was their false god was destroyed just by the great presence of God that was with the Ark. This story really inspired me because I know that since Jesus died for us we have the spirit of God in us and we can break any of Satan's strongholds. Also Wednesday had a very powerful night full of prayer to break all of the enemy's strongholds over all of us students. All the girls in the group prayed against the demon of lust to be detroyed in all of the guys. The guys house is finally becoming the unit the God meant it to be. It is now a safe place where friends keep each other accountable. Then our speaker spoke about Christianity's Jewish Roots and this was kind of a new train of thought for me. The Christian belief did find its start in the Jewish faith but they believe more in laws than grace. As a Christian I believe that there is a definite balance of Grace/Law. I learned a lot about how our belief system developed from the original Nazarenes in Israel. God is Love.

...This is our spiritual army that is going to Africa in a month.

Week 4- Character of God

Our speaker this week came to speak from the DTS down in New Castle, Australia. His name was Rob Russell and he spoke on the Character and Nature of God. I have heard about this topic many times in the past and was wondering how much I would learn this week. The first day of lecturing Rob spoke about his past and explain how he became who he is today. We both were very similar but had very different backgrounds. He had attended private school as well but had hung out with the wrong crowd and came to know the Lord later in life. So as the week progressed I could really see his heart for the topic of discussion. The lectures was great and everything, but during the week I started to lose my passion. I feel like this was result of spiritual attacks but as Wednesday rolled around I had realized what was happening. We had a night of worship and I wanted to ask for prayer but I physically just couldn't go up to anyone. So God being a wise and caring God, sent Carrey, Rob's wife, to pray for me during worship, and she began to prophecy over my life. She spoke many words of encouragement and by the end of the prayer I felt ingnited for Christ. I had only spoken to Carrey once before this and God used her to speak to me. God is Love.



This weekend was Halloween and it is a very different holiday over here. The locals told me about demonic events that go down and some of them included human sacrifice... WHAT!?!? I was very disturbed by this news and I kept my spiritual armor on all day. That was for you Mom :) So I spent most of Halloween getting sunburnt at the beach but it was worth it. I stayed at my sister's house like all day waiting to drive her car cause she had rented an 09' Mitsubishi Lancer the day before and she said I could take it for a spin. Finally at like 9pm I got to test my opposite side of the road driving and let me just say that I thought Americans were reckless drivers, Aussies are terrifying. Overall the night was great thanks to my awesome sister.

Week Tres- Fear of the Lord

Well last week was all about the Fear of the Lord. The first day Glen Vines spoke about a balance of Law and Grace. He challenged me to not fall into the trap of Lawless Grace which would ultimately lead to a life with no boundaries. Then also reminded us of the other extreme of Graceless Law which everyone would fall short and have faith like that of the Pharisees. He also mentioned multiple times that our relationship with God is much like a marriage to Him. I had heard that before but never really dwelt in that frame of mind but last week was amazing because I kept that mindset. I finally have reached a point in my walk with God that throughout my day I find myself in his presence. On Tuesday, Glen spoke on spiritual gifts and God put a heaviness upon my heart to find mine. I began a 24 hour fast and prayed for many hours with no response, but I went to sleep that night content with the fact that God didn't just tell me what I wanted to hear. The next day still nothing but God was just preparing my soul for the news that followed for Thursday. When I arrived for lectures in the morning both Amanda and Raz told me they had gotten a word from God about my gift. Apostolic anointing! At first I had no idea what they were talking about but then they said "You know like the apostles in the Bible." Wait...me... like the apostles. I am still in people butI know that God has a long journey for me and by the end I hope that I am able to reach that potential in healing, prayer, generous heart, and even speaking in tongues. I can't wait for this next week I really feel that God is moving in everyone's life :)

Oh yeah and yesterday instead of regular church we went to SunCoastCableSports and did this...

Week 2 of DTS

This week was all about the Kingdom of God. Our speaker was one of the school leaders Dan Pennington. His teaching style was very different from Jason's. Dan really engaged us, by making us ask many questions, and at the end of the day he left us with more questions than answers. He caused me to investigate many of his teachings further. He also challenged my beliefs on Salvation by bringing up the point that a non-believer may find their way into the Kingdom by doing God's work unknowingly. He also said that he believed a Christian can lose their salvation. I had never heard anyone ever preach this I do not completely agree or disagree with this statement. Dan also challenged me with the story about the rich young ruler and how the western culture is finding their worth within their possesions. Also that it is harder for a rich man to get in to heaven which makes a lot of sense because being rich makes it harder to give up everything in order to follow Christ. I also learned that to be truely in God's Kingdom we must give Him complete lordship of our lives "Hate evil, Love good, and Show justice" Amos 5:15.

On Friday we had an hour of prayer for lost friends and family. Amanda and I prayed for many of our lost family. God led me to pray specifically for my younger cousins. I am growing closer and closer to God's heart everyday. Thank you for all of your prayers.

On a side note we went to this water fall to cliff jump. After I had jumped in to the ice cold water and crawled up the bank, I saw a huge eal swimming in the water where I just was swimming.

Week 1 of DTS

This past week a guy came to speak at our school from the Brisbane YWAM base. His name was Jason and he is the leader of the film school down there. On Monday, we began lectures on hearing from God, and the first exercise he had us do was to encourage as many people as we could which was pretty difficult with some because I haven't really gotten to know everyone that well. The coolest part of the exercise was having God speaking to other through yourself because majority of the time I didnít know what to say. I also enjoyed getting to know Jason on a personal level because we shared many common interests and had very similar personalities. I learned a lot hearing from God but I am still struggling to find myself alone with Him.
This past Monday night Paul (one of the leaders) and I went out to evangelize. We didnít get to far and we saw a guy sitting on the beach and we had finally built up the courage to go up and speak to him, when he stood up and we realized that he was from the DTS hahaha. Bummed out after that little happening we continued to walk but the more we talked. We found out that neither of us were very good at speaking out about our faith so him and I are now holding each other accountable to grow in that area before the end of the school.

My Inspirations

I come from a family of six including my amazing parents. I have two older sisters and a younger brother. My sisters have both inspired me to become a stronger man in Christ. My oldest sister has always told me that we are on this earth to love as God loved us. My other sister was the one to help me put it into action. A year and a half ago, my sister and I was given the chance to fulfill this commission from God in one specifically life changing. She was 23 and I was 16 years old, when we embarked on a mission trip to Kwabekenya, Africa.

Our church, Watermarke Church, had formed a strategic partnership with this small community outside of Kenya, Africa. This community was in dire need of a new school building, and Watermarke Church knew that we needed to form a team of able and willing Christians to fulfill this need. So, on September 14, 2007 a team of 7 men and 7 women, including my sister and I, boarded the longest plane ride of my life, which consisted of 18 hours in the air and a 2 hour layover. Once we landed in Nairobi, we were informed that we were only tourists from that point on and we were to write that on all of our papers. I didn’t fully understand why until we drove away from the airport and saw the government officials bearing AK-47’s. From then on, I knew we would need God with us on our trip for us to be able to do His work. When we arrived at our building, we all collapsed after a much too long plane ride. The next day we rode a bus down the bumpiest path for 2 hours and at the end of this path was the small community of Kwabekenya. As we rode in, everyone within the 4 acre area gathered around our bus, and they were dancing and singing. As they celebrated our arrival, our whole team felt the same thing, “This is what heaven must be like.” Inspired by the children voices, we all walked to where the school building was being built. Here we played with and loved on all of the precious children, who could look at your oddly white skin forever. After we saw exactly what was needed we came back the next day and we began the hard work. All the guys used wheel barrels to move 60 pound boulders to the location of the new building. Then once we dropped off the boulders, the children boarded our newly vacant vehicles and we raced around the school yard. After this back breaking labor, in altitudes our lungs had never experienced before, we played tennis volleyball with the kids. The next day we arrived to find out we could drive to the school, due to rain the night before. Instead we trekked down a path covered with 1-2 feet of mud, feces, and urine. Once the children saw our struggles, they came to our sides and helped us through it. This made me think of how angels help us in our walk through the muck of this world. After we got within the school yard fence, the kids began to chase us all around in a game of tag, which was very straining on the body, due to the lack of oxygen rich air. We continued to do that until the elders handed us all shovels, at which we started the laborious task of digging up weeds around the property. We didn’t get the opportunity to help with the school building until the last day of our stay. On that day we unloaded desks and chairs, as the other half of the team cleaned the floors with towels and pine branches. Then on 9.21.07, our team officially opened up the new school building and everyone in the community had a smile on their face for the next few hours. Our entire team wished we could stay longer, but we had to say good bye to our new friends. When we entered the airport, there was no dry eye among us. If it wasn’t for my sister’s encouragement to gone on this once in a lifetime mission, I would not be who I am today. Now that I have seen the difference I can make within one community, why not every community I join?

2 Rivers And Some Rapids

So on July 3, my family and I excluding Steen :( left for the 2 Rivers Campground in Tennessee. But honestly, we came back home 3 times because we had forgotten like 8 different things. So that delayed our departure by a good two hours and the whole time I sat in the hot car waiting. The sad part was that the trip itself was about two hours. So when we come into the town of Hicksville, Georgia, we found our sanity at the cleanest joint in town, the local Sonic. The popcorn chicken I got was not exactly the color it was supposed to be but I ate it with hefty sums of bbq sauce. My sister met us at this Sonic with her new squeeze (Tyler-T=Eiler). He is a very tall guy who made me feel short and I'm 6'1.5". Then we drove over to our campsite. Once we arrived I noticed the area to set up the tents was a gravel floor and predicted a very restless slumber later. In its entirety the camp was very nice. The water was very clean but cold, and we had water and electricity. So our first duty of business after setting up the tents was to jump in the freezing water of the 2 rivers. The first person in was Amanda, my sister, then Matthew, my younger brother hopped in. That left Eiler and I standing about ankle deep in the ice cold water just waiting for the other to jump. Then out of nowhere Eiler lost his footing and fell in to the water, I couldn't let him suffer alone so I jumped in after him. The bottom of the river was very rocky and shallow so one could just walk across the river. When we got out my parents got back from the local grocery store, my dad and mom both wanted to get in the water. Here we go again round two. After a second and last helping of the river, we began to collect firewood for the night. My dad made some great pork chops and baked beans for dinner, which was followed by some serious smore cooking. I think I ate 5 of them. All of us played Texas Hold'em before bed and I won by a pretty large amount. We then sat around the fire and watched it die out. As the kids laid in the tent and my parents in the car, Matt and I riddled off questions to Eiler about him being a cop. I slept quite poorly and when I woke up I hurt all over due to the gravel floor I mentioned ealier. My mom prepared us these awesome fried eggs with toast. She cut a hole in the middle of the toast then threw it in the skillet then my dad followed this by cracking an egg in the hole. It was so good and you should try it some time. Then we packed up the tents and set out for Quest Expeditions we were a little early so we went to McDonalds for some dessert and I ate way too many caramel sundaes. Then, we went back to Q.E. and checked in at the front desk. When we got our gear, we boarded a school bus with 6 rafts on top of it and drove to the put in area near the top of the Ocoee. We were then assign a guide whose name was Clee. He was a great guide he coached us through multiple different tricks. At one point we spun our boat down some Class III rapids and he made us all turn around for Cat's Pajamas (Class IV). Here are a few pics from our adventure.  

To Go And Love The World.

No, Steen I didn't take the idea from you for this

post.

Over the past week or so I have had God call me

to do seemingly little but ended up being very 

significant things for people. 

A perfect example of this would be when my mom

and I were at GameStop. We were in line to buy 

some Wii points (woot!) and I walked over to play

the PS3 they had set up. I began to play and I glanced

over at a kid say... 7 years of age, give or take a year.

He was trying to play Mario Kart Wii but i realized 

very quickly that he didn't know how to even hold the

remote controller. So immediately God began to

push me to help him out but for some reason I pushed

back cause his mother was somewhere else in the store

and my experiences with over protective moms is another

story for another post. Let's just say I've been cussed 

out before because I was playing tag with a kid on the

playground and he fell down. So... anyways I finally

just walked over to him and placed the remote in his

hands the right way. Then told him how to control the

kart and walked back to the line. When the guy behind

counter told us that they had no Wii points we left 

GameStop and when my mom and I got back to the 

car all she said was that I may possibly could have 

changed that kids view of teenagers for the rest of

his life. Honestly I almost was at a lost for words.

The fact that in an instant we could change a life for

all eternity just by loving one another in anyway 

possible.

And I then made a vow to myself always just LOVE.