Last Week Before Outreach

So it is now upon us....outreach is at the door. I will be leaving before my outreach team on the 16th of September because my visa in Australia is ending. Thankfully I will get a few days to get used to India and spend some time with God before the team shows up on September 20th. It has been a blur this past few weeks. Outreach preparations are such a stressful time. It is important to look at the big picture of why we go.

We are not going so that we can do a "good thing" and pat ourselves on the back. We are not going so that we can say, "I did my share." At the end of the day, it is about love. We want to show the world that God is love. We want people in India to see that Jesus is Lord and that it is good news. If Jesus came and said what He said and did what He did, this is the best news ever. And this is why we go. We believe that God's heart is that people know who He really is and He has shown the fullness of Himself in Jesus. So please remember to pray for us while we are in India. We have a lot of challenges ahead of us. Specifically for team unity, opportunities, and safety. Thank you to everyone for your prayers and support.

Jewish Roots

We are getting down to the final countdown with fewer than two weeks to go until outreach to India. Please pray for safety for the team and for health as we go into India. Specifically for me, pray for wisdom and grace to lead the team.

This week, we were privileged to have Joel Baker, a pastor from Nambour, speak on our school. Joel has a passion to share Jewish Roots with people after having lived in Israel for 10 years. He also played some Jewish songs on his guitar and taught us to sing "Hava Nagila." He talked about the tragedy of the treatment of Jews by early Christians and how they justified it. He explained the split of the synagogue and the church. One things I thought was interesting was that he showed how Christianity was like the younger brother of Judaism. Even Jewish history shows similarities such as Isaac receiving the blessing over his older brother Ishmael and also Jacob received a blessings over his older brother Esau. In one of Paul's letters, he explains how Christians are "fellow" heirs of the promise (Eph 2:6). Unfortunately, many people believe that the "Church" is the "New Israel" and God is done with them (the Jews). They call this "Replacement theology." It was actually the grounds for a lot of hatred between Jews and Christians that resulted in death ...NOT things Jesus would put His name on. Paul even goes on to explain in Romans 11 how we have benefitted from Jews and their gifts and promises are irrevocable (v.29). God has not forgotten them and neither should we. There are our older brothers who we owe gratitude towards and need to continue to advocate and pray for.

Relationships & Covenants

These last two weeks have been a blur as we have just finished up "Covenants of the Bible" with one of our favorite speakers Neville Strachan from Byron Bay, Australia. Neville is a regular speaker on DTS's here at the Sunshine Coast base. We were blessed to have him come in a basically look at the entire Bible through the lens of covenants that God has made with man. If you go back a ways on my blog list, I wrote about covenants before during the last school that I staffed last year.

Last week, we looked at "Relationships" with Tricia Hensser & Catrina Pennington. Both of them are wives and base staff here at the base. It was a great week of really looking at the value of all human beings and also the utmost importance of forgiving people. As we go forward in this DTS into outreach, it will be important to remember these principles. Outreach is a time when our integrity is tested.

Speaking of integrity, I was amazed when I was reading the Bible the other day, at the integrity of Jesus. The way I have come to understand integrity, is the way people act when the pressures of life are really squeezing them. A lot of us can understand integrity and even claim to have a lot of it, but the only way it can be tested is through trial. Jesus, after all He said and did and claimed to be, had His integrity truly tested during His trials and crucifixion. Being beaten, mocked, spit on, whipped half to death, abandoned by His closest friends, and stressed to the point of bleeding sweat, He responds by asking God Hid Father to forgive the people who have done this to Him. To me, that is an amazing example of integrity. He had every right, being who He actually was, to judge everyone who had done this to Him. He chose instead to love them.

So as I reflect on this, I begin to understand that outreach will be a time when the whole team is tested. Through extremely hot temperatures, food borne illnesses, sickness, annoyance with team members, lack of rest, and everything else that comes with outreach, I need to remember the example of Jesus, who endured much worse. Please pray for our team to have unity and love for each other. Thanks for all of your prayers and support.

Week of Prayer

Moving right along, this school is going so fast! After finishing up with Project Affwan last week, we jumped right into Prayer week. At our base particularly, we do something special during prayer week. From Monday to Thursday we put everyone in two hour prayer slots. Since this school is about half the size of a normal DTS, we go from 12 noon to 12 midnight and keep constant prayer going. It allows the students to have a chance to practice the discipline of prayer and waiting on God. Typically prayer week always sees many transformations for people. The students have been really going strong this week and pressing into prayer. God is faithful and has been blessing our prayer times. We have prayed for: family and friends, Outreaches in India and Indonesia, the Church and Islam, & Each other (especially for the future).

I was fortunate enough to be able to teach some this week about prayer. I used the Lord's Prayer among other topics. I had help from some other staff people also who really set the tone for this week and challenged the students. I am really fortunate to have such a solid group of people around this base. Next week, we are talking about relationships so keep us in your prayers. I am so glad to have more time now to focus on other things like outreach which is coming up next month. Thank you all for your constant prayers and support. I look forward to talking to you soon.

Project Affwan

This week, the entire DTS drove down a few hours south to the Gold Coast of Australia for an outreach organized by the YWAM base called, "Project Affwan." The word "Affwan" is Arabic and means, "you're welcome." It is used in the context where someone would say "Shokran" (Thank you) and you would respond, "Affwan" (You're Welcome).

The entire week is centered on meeting Muslim Arabs who come here for a holiday before they return to their home countries for Ramadan. Once we meet them, we try and establish a relationship so that we have an opportunity to evangelize to them. Muslims have a lots of similarities in their beliefs to Christians, but there are some major and important differences between the Koran and the Bible. The very foundation of a biblical worldview is that Jesus was the Son of God and came to earth where He died for all people and was resurrected and ascended back to heaven. Muslims do not believe Jesus was God's Son. Actually, many times in the Koran they say that "Allah" or God cannot be a human being. Their understanding of Jesus being God's son is that Mary was "impregnated" by God in the human sense. They detest this idea as we do. We believe Mary conceived through the "Holy Spirit", which actually raises many other issues with Muslims. They do not believe that God or "Allah" is a triune God. They say, "Allah is one." They do not understand the concept of the trinity. So there are these gaps that we must fill among many others.

I have come to understand that it will do no good to get into a logical argument with any Muslims simply because what they have been taught, they fully believe. The only way for them to understand is to experience God's love through us. That's it. One thing I do admire about Muslims is that they are very devout and have a deep understanding of reverence. We can actually learn from each other, but we can never waver when it comes to our beliefs in who Jesus is. Thank you everyone for reading the blogs. Look forward to hearing from you soon. Please continue in prayer for the DTS.

Law vs. Grace

This week the July DTS is getting a taste of the "Fear of the LORD." It is always interesting to see the different reactions to this week. We have already gone through Father heart of God week and Hearing God's voice week. So the students have a grasp on God's passionate love for them and the ways He communicates it to us. Now we are getting into the love of God that sometimes doesn't feel like love to our western minds. Being disciplined and chastened has never been the most enjoyable part of following God, but it is fully necessary. To get an accurate picture of God we cannot just say He is a God of grace without the law. "The law drives us to His grace" I have heard.

It is a pivotal time in the DTS and these next 3 weeks are going to stretch, challenge, and exhaust all of us including the staff. Please keep all of us in your prayers as we tackle some of the tough issues about ourselves and God.

Next week, we have the opportunity to go to the Gold Coast of Australia about 2.5 hours south of here and stay with the YWAM Gold Coast base. During that week which is called "Project Affwan" we have the opportunity to minister to the Muslims who are there on holiday. Many muslims come for holiday right before Ramadan. Pray that the students and staff are well equipped and prepared for this week as we share the Gospel with these people who have no idea what it is. It's a great opportunity and we are very excited to be a part of that.

India here we come!

The July DTS has been going for almost 3 weeks now and we have revealed the outreach locations to the students. One team will be going to Indonesia and the other will be going to India. I have the privilege of going to India with 9 students and another staff in September. It has been a place on my heart as of late for a few reasons. First, I sat by a man from India on my flight back from the last outreach I went on to Thailand and Cambodia. He was so kind and I really felt like there are millions of people like him back in India who need to be told about the Truth. Also, I went and saw "Slumdog Millionaire" with my girlfriend Brittany when we were both home and we loved it. It had some great imagery of what India is like. So I am very excited to be able to actually go there.

The July DTS finished "Fatherheart of God" last week and we are moving into "Hearing God's Voice." This week, we have a guy from Perth, Australia named Danny Taylor who is speaking. He is married with two kids and has a huge heart from evangelism. As we continue on in this DTS please pray for the students and staff as we live together. It is so important to have unity in the school as we prepare for these outreaches. I look forward to hearing from you.