For God, For People, For the Nations, For the Kingdom - Warren Cheely

Life in Malaysia

Sun, 7 Mar 2010 00:00:00 GMT

So last month we were in Malaysia in the city of Kuala Lumpur. Sorry that these blogs are just now going up. But hey, better late then never. Last month we had the chance to serve alongside of some of the most amazing contacts we have had on the race. The squad was split into 4 different areas of Malaysia. Some were in a jungle. Others were on a college campus. Our team was based out of a local restaurant and had a chance to in a huge amount of different areas in the city of KL. Coming into the last leg of our trip, we did some team reorganization. So I am with a new group of amazing friends who love God greatly: Kimi Cantrell, Kelly Kramp, Jared and Amy Christian. They are all amazing. Check out their blogs.

Malaysia was a difficult country to be in, largely due to the lack of religious freedom. We spent a great bit of our time working in a restaurant with our contact John and Jane (not real names for security reasons). John and Jane have an amazing staff of peoples, some who are Christians and some who are not. They have taken in some people and given them jobs when no one else would because of citizenship issues. Part of our ministry was to love on and share Christ with them. It was an amazing experience seeing as some of them actually shared the flat that we were staying in. One of my favorite moments was on our last day, one of the guys who did not know Jesus had asked me to go hang out with him. We had enjoyed a good bit of interaction in the restaurant, lots of arm wrestling, and a good bit of laughs while trying to serve the customers there some of the most amazing food I have had on the race. He wanted to show me part of the city that I had not see, specially this mall that reminded me of the Luxor in Vegas. It was massive with a huge statue of a Lion in the front of it and a pyramid behind it. We hung out there for a little while making small talk. Finally on the way back I began to share with him the Gospel and how Christ can bring him more life than money, women, and success. He had heard about Jesus but did not know much about Him. As we talked about Jesus, it was obvious the gears were turning even though he did not put his faith in Jesus on the city bus. Yet I believe there was something in him that was starting to see there is more of life than what he is living. I know that John is going to continue to speak life and truth over him as they continue to work together and by God's grace, I believe he will come to find life in Jesus.

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Food Distribution in Malaysia

Sun, 7 Mar 2010 00:00:00 GMT

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Feeding in Malaysia

Sun, 7 Mar 2010 00:00:00 GMT

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Kids in Malaysia

Sun, 7 Mar 2010 00:00:00 GMT

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Help needed for Malawi!!!!

Sun, 7 Mar 2010 00:00:00 GMT

Malawi was by far one of my favorite months on the race. We had an amazing opportunity there to help equip the church to shine into its community through so many different ways. We had the blessed opportunity to go evangelize with many of the local church leaders there and saw many people come to Christ. We had the chance to teach the Word of God so many times. And we were blessed to host leadership seminars and a conference at the end of the month for the pastors of the area. It was amazing and I greatly miss being there. Lord willing I will have the opportunity to go back one day and continue to partner with Harvesters there.

One of the greatest crisis the local church is facing in Malawi is the lack of Bibles. In most of the churches, the pastor is the only one who has a Bible. Back home, so many families have collections of Bibles. Yet in Malawi this is not the case. Most people are not able to study the Word of God because they have no access to the Word of God which can create huge problems when witch doctors try to influence the culture with vodo. These people need to know truth and to be able to stand in truth.

Our squad has decided to take up a fund raising project to try to provide the Word of God for the people of Malawi and we need your help in it. If you feel the Holy Spirit moving and stirring inside you, please be obedient to Him and help this cause. Every little bit counts. The Bibles that we were already able to provide for them cost about $11 and if they get enough money together they can get the Bibles from South Africa and pay less, but then transportation cost would come into play.

PLEASE take some time and pray and ask the Lord how He would lead you to help, whether it be through prayer or through financial giving.

Here are the easy steps to follow to get the money in the right account. PLEASE DO NOT PUT MONEY IN MY SUPPORT ACCOUNT SINCE IT WILL NOT BE ABLE TO TRANSFERRED TO THIS ACCOUNT.

www.theworldrace.org

Please click the tab "Donate" on the top right side of the page.

Click on the link "Click Here To Give!" This will take you to the donation page.

In the box that appears, you will see:
ONLINE DONATION INFORMATION

Please select "Support a World Race Project" under Choose Program.

Please enter "2010Mar I Squad" in the Project field provided in order to be sure your funds will go into the account designated for this ministry.

These gifts are tax-deductible.

If you wish to send a donation by mail, please make your check payable to Adventures In Missions and mail it to:
Adventures In Missions
P.O. Box 534470
Atlanta, GA 30353-4470

Please indicate "World Race Project Fund - 2010Mar I Squad" in the memo section of the check.
Again Please do not put money in my support account. Please follow these easy steps for a tax-deductible donation.

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Mama Rita and the Rat Wars

Sun, 21 Feb 2010 00:00:00 GMT

So last month we were back in Mozambique for two weeks serving at the home of one amazing woman of God named Mama Rita. Mama Rita understands kingdom on a beautiful level. A few years back, her husband was killed by Muslim's and she was left as a widow and the mother of a good bit of children. She has a serious love for Jesus and it is obvious in how she lives. There were many orphans in the community and so she just decided to take them in. So right now she is taking care of around 20 plus children in her tiny home. She does not have much at all. But what she does have, she gives freely to care for those in need. She is a woman of God in every sense of the word. And when tragedy hit her, she could have easily bailed on life. Yet there was a need that stirred her heart in the Kingdom and she made a choice not to waste her life.

Mama Rita and Jesus

So while we were staying in her home on the first night, we heard this crazy sound all over the place. We could not figure it out at first but soon it became really clear what it was. We were living in home that was being overrun with RATS. Yeah, I thought it was pretty gross too. For the most part, I can deal with that kind of stuff, but one night it became unbearable.

I was walking into the kitchen hoping to kill a few and I saw three small children lying on a small mat there. And there were rats running all around them. These were little kids that deserve a healthy place to lie down at night instead of having disease-infested rats crawling over them. My heart was totally broken over this one. In that moment, all the iniquity and injustice of the world seemed to be centered on the rat population of the area and I was determine to do something about it. My team and I sat down and tried to figure all the potential entry points and concluded that not only are we going to need a new roof, but we are going to have to patch the place like crazy. So that is what we did. Over the course of a few days, we watched a new roof come to life and we patched the holes in the group. During the process of cleaning out the house, Scott and I managed to get ourselves trapped in a room with two rats that greatly lost that battle.

The roof got finished and the rat problem was drastically cut down. Yet the entire area around there is infested with them and there is still some risk for the children. Thankfully a group of Racers are coming back in June to move Mama Rita and all of her kids to a new home where they won't have to deal with this kind of issue anymore. The Lord really broke my heart for orphans while I was there. Also learned that a great bit of the world lives in the worst of conditions and that we are to be the light from heaven that does something about that.

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For the Nations
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How all of this began....

Wed, 10 Feb 2010 00:00:00 GMT

Almost a year ago I was sitting in a class at Watermark Community Church on how to become more missional. In that class, Wes Butler showed us a video from Hillsong United. This was one of a few times in my life where I saw something and 5 minutes later was a different person. Please take a minute to

Watch it,
Think about it,
Pray about it,

and Embrace it.

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Video of Race Adventures

Wed, 27 Jan 2010 00:00:00 GMT

Mozambique Video

Tue, 26 Jan 2010 00:00:00 GMT

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Malawi VIDEO!!!

Tue, 26 Jan 2010 00:00:00 GMT

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Swaziland VIDEO!!!!!!

Mon, 25 Jan 2010 00:00:00 GMT

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Pastors Conference Malawi

Sun, 24 Jan 2010 00:00:00 GMT

Our month in Malawi was very focused on three different components. One being door to door evangelism and had the joy of seeing a ton of people put their faith in Jesus. Hannah Olsen had a cool chance to sit down with a family who did not even know that God even existed. She had the joy of walking them through the creation story and the Biblical narrative that points towards the cross of Christ. The people were amazed, thankful, and prayed to receive Jesus into their lives. It was really cool. The second component of the month focused in on doing new believers services for the local churches and the final component had to do with leadership training.

As we sat with Antwan our contact in Malawi, it became clear that one of the greatest areas of crisis the church in Malawi is facing is a lack of discipleship and he wanted us taking time to train the Pastors. The Lord began to stir my heart for another two day conference. The last time we ran a leadership conference, it was back in Viile Techi Romania and despite a huge amount of obstacles, the Lord showed in a powerful way. I mentioned the possibility of another two day conference to Antwan and he was thrilled about the opportunity. Through much prayer, we felt led teach on the book of Philippians. It was interesting and originally I pushed back from it a bit. The idea seemed exciting but it had been a little while since I had studied the book and was not sure exactly what to Spirit wanted to say to the leadership of the Malawian churches through it. Yet as I started reading through this beautiful book again, the Lord showed up in some major ways and truth began to flood my mind. Seeing Paul in the worst of situations and writing to the church challenging them to love Jesus with their all, hold to joy in the midst of suffering, look towards an eternal citizenship, clinging to a satisfaction in life that is deeply rooted in Jesus, the necessity of humility, and the call to shine as stars in the universe. Needless to say I was very excited.

The team came together in an awesome way and everyone played such a key role. And so for two days, we poured out truth over these church leaders, most of whom are about as discipled as a high school junior. And the Lord showed up in a powerful way in the lives of these men and women of God.

Hearts were transformed.
Sin was rebuked.
The Cross was lifted up.
Humility was called for.
The Kingdom was proclaimed.

We were able to give Antwan and his team about 700 sermons that would take them a decade to normally download with the internet in Malawi, a digital commentary on every book of the Bible, bunch of digital John Piper books, and much more as a gift as well to help in their efforts to make disciples in the nation. God is doing great thing in Malawi and I got a chance to see some of it very close up.

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My First Christmas

Mon, 18 Jan 2010 00:00:00 GMT

Christmas has always been my favorite holiday for a number of reasons. Love the weather. The caroling. The food (especially the little Debbie Christmas Tree cakes from Kroger). The joy that is in the air. The lights everywhere. How easy it is to strike up a conversation with someone about Jesus. Having a great excuse to watch Elf again. Starbucks hot chocolate. I flat out love Christmas. It really is the best time of the year.

Yet this Christmas would be devoid of almost all of that. We were in a small village in Malawi called Likuchi. The place where we were staying did not have electricity, running water, or a toilet. Honestly, these are never things I would have classified as luxuries back home. I would never have thought someone was living the high life they had a kitchen sink. This Christmas would be devoid of all American luxuries and pretty much all American basic norms. There was no Christmas tree with presents under it. It would be a very different type of Christmas.

It was in the middle of all of this that the Lord spoke very clearly to our team about what Christmas really is. For so many of us, Christmas seems to come in a box, wrapped up in a bow with a price tag on it. It is a beautiful mosaic of fun, family, lights, and spending money. Christmas seems to be this time of the year when we spend a great deal of time thinks about spending time with our families, giving presents to them, and also looking forward to getting presents from others so that our lives may be materially enriched. Thoughts of a manger, a star in the sky, angels singing, and a Kingdom coming seem to be limited to group caroling and a candle light service. The focus of the American Christmas seems to be more about the worship of consumerism than it does Jesus.

And yet this Christmas was full of something very different. It was filled with something pure. We arrived to Likuchi on Christmas Eve and spent most of the day setting up tents, picking up food (chicken, beans, and rice), and enjoying what felt like 95 degrees of heat. There were no lights. No huge feast. Yet it was amazing. We made a few paper snowflakes that were taped to the wall. We laughed a lot, listened to a sermon by Louie Giglio on the Cost of Christmas, and worshipped the Lord. It was amazing. There were no presents exchanged. No bows to unwrap. No boxed up open up. Yet Jesus met us there.

Christmas day was filled with multiple church services, preaching, and doing an afternoon Q&A for the community about any Bible questions they might have (which some of them were crazy- Where do black people come from, where in the Garden of Eden, what kind of fruit did Adam and Eve eat, the list could go on). We continued to have a great night celebrating the Lord and Him coming into the world to bring us redemption. It was amazing.

I missed my family and friends greatly. It was hard not getting to see my parents, my friends in both Dallas and Atlanta, my extended family (missed ya Julie). Yet this was probably the first true Christmas I have ever had. The first Christmas that was a true celebration of Christ. The first Christmas that was not blurred by the idolatry of American consumerism. The first Christmas were everything else was stripped away and only what was pure, good, and true remained. It was the first Christmas where I can really say, it was all about Jesus!

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for People

for the Nations

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Sleeping in truck beds, new rebirths, and polygamy

Tue, 5 Jan 2010 00:00:00 GMT

So we had one amazing journey from Mozambique to Malawi. We were picked up by a huge flat bed truck around 8 pm on Tuesday night. There were 27 of us that crammed and I mean crammed into the back of this truck. Never imagined that I would see the day that I was sleeping in the back of a small flat bed truck but what the heck, why not. It's the world race after all. We were pretty much squeezed in about a tight as possible. Sleeping was very difficult and for some people almost impossible. The roads were very bumpy and dusty. And this went on for about 40 hours. The best part of it where when we stopped on the side of the road and threw down some bamboo mats outside and were finally able to stretch out for an hour and a half. But all in all, it was an amazing experience filled with a lot of laughs and a ton of fun. Can't really say I would want to repeat the experience, but it was priceless none the less.

And so we arrived safely in Malawi. This month are partnered with Harvest ministries. They are a church planting organization with a high emphasis on evangelism, preaching, and leadership development. Needless to say, I am pretty excited about the opportunity. My team is joined by our Squad leader Tiffany Berkowitz as we are soloing it this month in the north part of Malawi around Lake Malawi.

Our first village was called Chentechi. The people there were some of the most welcoming and gracious people ever. Pastor Manda opened him home to us and his family was so kind. It was actually pretty eye opening to be there during the few days leading up to Christmas. The picture of the American Christmas is filled with consumerism while we did not have the luxury of electricity or a toilet seat. It definitely changed your perspective.

Harvest is moving our team around a lot this month. We will have about 4 days in each small village. On Tuesday we did an evangelism outreach. We split up into pairs and traveled throughout the village area. Cori and I had a chance to visit three different homes and spent time with the families there. The immediate family here is much larger that what we would think of back in the states. It almost seemed as if a family reunion was going on. The second family that we had a chance to visit with had never heard the gospel and pretty much knew nothing about Jesus. The family was ruled by an elderly matriarch who called the shots. We spent about 30 minutes unpacking the gospel to this group of people. There was one guy there named Norman. He was just an average guy who walked out of his house and sat down to listen. It was obvious that he was just a normal teenager who was living a normal worldly life and had no clue that there was something that was bigger than him in the world. As we opened up the Bible, his face started to stir with a conviction that only comes from heaven. And when we asked if anyone wanted to put their faith in Jesus, only a few people raised their hands but he was the first one. The rest of the family finally put their hands up after the matriarch of the family said we are in. But Norman stood apart from the family. He made his decision for the Son of God before the rest of the family even had time to think about it. And Jesus changed his life that day. Afterwards he walked with us some more as we shared Christ with some more homes and I had a chance to speak life over this young man, telling him that God loved him and had a huge plan for his life that was better than anything the world could ever give him. Norman showed up to our new believers service the next day excited and transformed. It was amazing.

Services went great that day. Jessica did an amazing job leading the new believers service and I was asked to do some leadership training in the afternoon. Felt led to talk first on how a leaders first ministry is to the family, not the local church. After that I walked the group through the qualifications of a pastor/elder in 1 Timothy 3 because there seemed to be some kind of disconnect around this issue. Probably the most interesting question that was asked during the Q&A time was "If I am a polygamist and have just found out that this is a sin, should I divorce my second wife and keep those kids or divorce my second wife and get rid of the kids as well." Can say I really did not see that one coming. By the mercy of God, I heard somewhere in my life a pastor answer this question so I just stole his answer which seemed as true to the Bible as it could. I told him that both of these women are his wives and he is to love both of them as Christ loved the church (Ephesians 5). He is not to divorce these women because divorce under non-biblical exceptions is a sin (Malachi 2, Matt 5). And so his role because of the decisions that he has made is to love both of these women and care for them as Christ would call him to instead of throwing one to the side, which will lead to her being thrown deeply into poverty and likely prostitution to be able to feed herself. I told him that is to care for these children and raise them up in Godliness holding to the truth of the Word of God and teaching them that monogamy is the only Biblical answer. He is to lead his family in truth and stop the cycle of polygamy in his family. It ends with him. I also told him that because of the decision that he had made he would never be able to be a elder in a church (1 Tim 3) yet God can still use him greatly to change his village for the glory of God. What a day.

All together over the few days we saw about 80 people put their faith in Jesus. God is moving mightily in Malawi. And we are getting front row seats to the awakening!

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Rudo

Sat, 2 Jan 2010 00:00:00 GMT

Back in Swaziland, I watched Tiffany love on a boy named Clive. He was a troubled youth whose parents had died from AIDS and he had been thrown out of his sisters house because as a prostitute, she needed the house for her nightly business. Clive was distant from most and had no real concept of the love of Jesus. Jesus broke Tiff's heart for Clive and she poured out compassion upon compassion over him. His life was changed and for the first time he understood that God loved him because of the love Tiffany showed him.

For the most part, I have never considered myself to be that good with kids and when it comes to ministering to children, well let's just say I am no where near close to par. Yet God had done something in my heart as I watched Tiff show Clive love and so when we got to Mozambique, I felt that God would open up a door for me to learn what it means to show a child the love of Christ. Enter RUDO.

Rudo is Jaco's son. He is a 10 year old boy with a very strong passion for Jesus. Rudo is by far one of the strongest 10 year olds I have ever met when it comes to his faith. Rudo would go out with us on many occasions to share the Gospel. It was amazing to see a 10 year old boy share the love Christ with people. He spoke with such boldness and conviction. It was almost like watching Billy Graham when he was younger. There was a passion and fire in his eyes for the Kingdom. Rudo would go with us to the hospitals and pray hard for God to bring healing over the sick people of this very poor hospital.

For the first time ever, I began to see what it must be like for parents to disciple their child. We invited Rudo to come with us on our village outreaches to which he was always up for. He did not just sit on the side lines but was right in the middle of the battle. I will never forget one night we were having a worship night and part of this was to minister to one another. Rudo had a bucket of water there and asked me if he could wash my feet as Jesus did in John 13. I was totally shocked and had no clue what to say but I did agree to it. He began to encourage me in amazing ways that I will never forget. He told me how he saw Jesus in me and he admired me. I was pretty much speechless. Never in my life did I believe that I could have an impact of a child's life like this. I proceeded to wash his feet as well and tell him that I would be honored to have a son like him one day.

Now Rudo is not perfect even though he is a strong boy of God. Right now Satan is trying to tear down Rudo through anger. As amazing as he is, Rudo has a serious temper and can go from loving to rage in less that a second. It was amazing to see as the course of the month went on, through prayer, compassion, and patience God start to reshape this area of Rudo's life. All of a sudden, he was not getting angry as much and at times we could actually reason with him. We began to each him how when he gets angry, he can start praying and looking to the cross of Jesus for strength to control this anger. By no means did this issue just disappear while we were there, but God grew him and matured him in this area.

Rudo has a massive calling over his life and he will be used so greatly of God to change the world one day. It was such a joy to spend time with him and to be able to call him my friend. Rudo changed my life in some pretty amazing ways. For the first time, I saw Jesus use my imperfect self to bring love and grace to a young boy and see the hand of God bring transformation into a young life.

For God

For People

For the Nations

For the Kingdom

Setting Prisoners Free

Sat, 2 Jan 2010 00:00:00 GMT

Our team had three different opportunities to visit the local prison in Vilanculos. I did not have the chance to be a part of the first visit. The story that was recounted to me was amazing though. Jaco took about 8 members of our squad into the prison. It smelled of death. Erin would later tell me that there was a spirit of hopelessness and death was over the entire prison. The battle to even enter the prison was one of great struggle. The local government had not been to keen on Jaco going to the prison to share Christ with them. Finally after much prayer, the wall came down and the government conceded to giving Jaco 2 days a week where he could only visit for one hour. The team entered as the guards had assembled the prisoners into a large meeting room.

Jaco began by sharing the gospel to which the prisoners seems pretty unresponsive at first. Jessica felt the Lord prompting her to speak as well. She shared about how Paul was a murderer of Christians, how Moses killed a man, how David committed adultery and God still not only pursued them but used them greatly. All of a sudden the Lord opened up their eyes to see that God actually loved them regardless of their broken past. They saw a God who they could put their faith in who offered a life of hope and one free from condemnation. 120 of them put their faith in Jesus Christ in that moment. It was amazing. I remember seeing the faces of the group as they returned rejoicing over what the Lord had done. And everything in me was so excited about Thursday and the chance to go the prisoners and the life change that Jesus had taken place.

When we arrived at the prison a few days later, I felt an impression from the Lord to talk through a section of Philippians 1 where Paul rejoiced in God using him greatly in the midst of his Roman prison. The guards opened up the doors for us to enter and before us was a dirt courtyard with a few small rooms that connected to it where the prisoners would sleep. We were led to one of the larger rooms on the left where the 120 men and a few women were sitting down waiting on us. There was a spark of life in the eyes of these people that could only be described as the transforming work of the Holy Spirit. Yet there was a still a spirit of hopelessness over the lives of the people there. They had met Jesus but for most looked at their lives as being over. I felt the Lord saying that He wanted to them to know that He still had a purpose for them. So I walked them through Philippians 1 and how Paul was able to not waste his life even though he was in chains. The attitude of the room began to shift. Those with short terms realized all of a sudden that if God could make something out of a terrible situation like Paul's, then He could redeem them. And then a huge light went off for the rest of them as well. The countenance on the faces of the rest changed. The Holy Spirit was revealing to them if they ran after Jesus and did everything they could to lead people to Him, then their lives, despite their external prison bars, could count for something great. Their hearts came to life in a brand new way and the room was covered with smiles. I asked the men and women in the place if any of them wanted to make their lives count for an eternal God and all but about 3 hands shot up immediately with joy. I was blown away. The team went away rejoicing.

Yet the work here was not finished. It was obvious that Satan made another run at tearing this group of people down. When we arrived for our last visit on the following Tuesday, there was still a glow from the life change the Holy Spirit did a few days before. Yet there was a sense in many of disbelief. Satan had been speaking over their lives all weekend that they are worthless and that there is no way God could redeem their situation and their lives. One of the worship leaders for Jaco's church was with us and translating this time. We had the chance to worship with them and the atmosphere began to shift. All of a sudden, the cross and the goodness of God was in the eyes of the people there instead of the lies of Satan and their situation. We had a chance to walk them through Ezekiel 37 and the Valley of Dry Bones. This was a prophecy of God to a "dead" nation that God would indeed restore, rebuild, and bring life to His people. As we talked through this, the hopelessness faded and was replaced with worship. Their situation was not to deep or dark for God to bring life out of it and they finally understood. We began to sing again "hosanna halleluiah" and they rejoiced in their God who is Mighty to Save. This was followed by one man in the back yelling out "Whose the Name above all names" and the men shouting JESUS!!! "Whose the Name that heals us" JESUS!!! It was beautiful.

Jaco is continuing the ministry there and money was donated to provide 200 Bibles for these men. Redemption had come to the prison and even though the physical bars did not fall, the prisoners were set free!

for God

for People

for the Nations

for the Kingdom

Welcome to Mozambique

Mon, 7 Dec 2009 00:00:00 GMT

The trip to Mozambique was a very long and exhausting one. But the trip was absolutely worth it. The nation of Mozambique is amazing on so many levels. The people here are some of the most friendly we have encountered on the race. The city of Vilanculos is beautiful. And God is moving here in incredible ways.

We are partnering with Jaco and Maria Rudolph in their church plant "Jesus for Africa". Jaco felt called here a few years ago and the Lord has provided for his ministry in miraculous ways time and time again. There have been many times where there was literally no money in his support account and the Lord miraculously provided. There have been times when storms have hit that have destroyed all the homes in the area except theirs which opened up doors for them to serve the community in helping rebuild it which created a huge open door to share the Gospel . They are amazing people that have risked greatly for the cause of Christ.

One of the major issues that is facing this community "Ancestor Worship". A huge portion of the population has embraced a religion that has them trying to commune with their dead family members and worshipping them as Jesus alone should we worshiped. This is a demonic faith that in some areas of Mozambique has led witchdoctors to influencing people to sacrifice their children that they may gain worldly health and success. The spiritual warfare in this area has been intense.

We have had many ministry opportunities thus far which has been amazing. We have been prayer walking through the city and the local areas praying against the message of hopelessness that the enemy has spoken over the area. We have been spending a good amount of time in the hospital praying with the sick of the area. Our team had a chance to pray with one guy who was paralyzed in his left arm and leg and was stuck in a wheel chair. After praying with him, he was able to move his arm and his leg. We are still praying for healing for the rest of his paralysis. We have been blessed with opportunities to go into the local prison and share the Gospel. Jessica Philip shared with the prisoners about how God redeemed broken people like the Apostle Paul and how He could do the same for them. About 50 people came to faith in Christ and a few days later, the Lord miraculously provided the money to purchase Bibles for all of them. We have been doing multiple church services for the community during the week which has included showing the Jesus Film to the local community and have seen the Lord move in incredible ways. We have had the opportunity to go through the local community and share Chris through visiting peoples homes in some of the poorest areas and God has already transformed many lives.

I love being here in Mozambique. God has been moving in massive ways. Please continue to pray with us against the spiritual warfare that we are facing here and that the Holy Spirit would awaken hearts to truly know Him.

for God

for People

for the Nations

for the Kingdom

Thanksgiving and 28

Mon, 7 Dec 2009 00:00:00 GMT

I honestly was not sure how the holiday season would affect me being away from home. I love my family back in Atlanta and I greatly miss my friends back in Dallas. Thanksgiving is always a time where my parents go to North Atlanta to spend the day with my mother's side of the family. It is one of my favorite times of the year. They are all so amazing and every year seems to get better, especially hanging with my fun and crazy cousin Julie. I have one of the most amazing extended families on the planet and not getting to spend Thanksgiving with them I knew would not be easy.

The Lord provided in great ways though. We ended up having the finances to go pick up some amazing food and have an amazing meal thanks to our team members who are incredibly gifted in that area. We talked a lot about what we were thankful for which is a list in my life that could go on for hours.

Amazing parents who have always stood by me

Bob and Linda Dukes who have been spiritual parents to me since I came to Christ

The financial provision that the Lord has done in my life to allow me to go on the World Race

My amazing community group back in Dallas that is still praying hard for me

My amazing friends in Atlanta, Dayton, and Dallas that has been such a constant source of life and encouragement.

My amazing squad that I have the chance to travel the world with telling people about the love of Christ.

My Amazing Heavenly Father who have brought me from death into life by His grace alone.

Just to name a few. The list would take hours to go through if not days. I have so much to be thankful for. The meal ended with a lot of joy and we started our Nightwatch, a time which we as a team with pray through the night for the nation of Mozambique and whatever else the Lord lays on our hearts. It started at 8pm and ended at 6am. We take shifts and continue to pray the Kingdom of God over this area. It was an amazing time to ask the Lord to transform this land like He has transformed our lives.

My birthday was a few days later. 28 years old. My friends here did some amazingly gracious things for me. I got breakfast in bed, which was amazing. Had a chance to enjoy the beaches of Mozambique which are amazing and beautiful. Spent a great amount of time with the amazing friends I have on this squad. Got to spend some time online (here that is a big deal). Was blessed to have the chance to talk to my mom back in the States. Came back to the house/campsite and was given an amazing cake while my friends sang Happy Birthday to me. The night ended with us singing to God in worship. It was such a great day.

So I greatly miss home. And I know with Christmas coming that will probably intensify some. But the Lord has been so good in allowing me to have an amazing holiday season here in Africa thus far. To my family and friends back home, I miss you greatly and can't wait to see you again. Until then thank you so much for your prayers and support. It means more to me than I can ever say. Love you all.

for God

for People

for the Nations

for the Kingdom

Faith, Hope, and Love in Swaziland.

Mon, 30 Nov 2009 00:00:00 GMT

There were many things in Swaziland that broke my heart. The nation is in a place of great crisis. HIV/AIDS has infected a huge portion of the population. We worked with countless men, women, and even children with the disease. Looking at this crisis at times caused us to ask the question of "Where are you God in the middle of all this?" It was painful at times and heartbreaking. At one of the Care Points, Cori and I were holding a baby who had been born prematurely and we began to weep. This was the smallest child that I have ever seen in my life. It has been born into a world that is filled with death and into a nation that might be wiped off the face of the planet by 2050. It has been born into a world with not much food and it has been born into a world where it will have very little opportunity available. It was wrapped in a thin bright colored blanket and was sleeping while we held it. Tears were dripping down while we prayed over this child. "The Lord bless you, and keep you; May the Lord make his face to shine upon you, and be gracious to you; The LORD lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace." We begged God for the protection, provision, and future of this child in this life and for the next. We handed the child back to its sister and watched her carry the child back home.

"Where are you God in the middle of all this?"

I think we have all asked this question at times. I know there were many times in this question was asked while we were in Swaziland. And God was faithful to answer our question in the midst of hurt and help us to see that even in the midst of this darkness He is still good, He is still in control, and He is still advancing the Kingdom.

One day after we finished at the Care Points, we had the opportunity to do some home visits. We came to the home of a man who was probably around 35. He was very sick with HIV and Tuberculosis. We sat with him and talked to him for a while. This sickness has been over him for a while and is consuming his life. He had a Bible with him that belonged to his family. I asked him what he thought about God. He told me that he believed in Jesus (many faiths believe in a Jesus) to which, I followed up his answer with a question of "How do you get to heaven." His response was one I have heard many times. "I know what is right and what is wrong, and I now choose to do what is right." I opened up the Bible to him and began to tell him about a God who loves him and who wants to save him. I told him about the cross of Christ and how Jesus can rescue him from his own sin if he would cry out to God for salvation. Good people don't go to heaven. Forgiven people do. And for the first time, the light went on for him and he understood that he could not work his way into heaven. He realized he need rescue and he put his faith in Jesus. It was awesome to see and reminded me of the guy who was on a cross next to Jesus. Nothing to bring to the table. Saved by grace alone.

FAITH.

A group of our girls ended up going with a pregnant girl who was sick with HIV to the hospital when she went into labor on the way and our girls ended up delivering a baby in the back of the ministry van. The mother did not know what to call the baby and asked the girls to name the child. After much prayer, they felt like the Lord was saying to call the child Hope and so the child was named. The message of Hope is what right now the Lord is speaking over the nation. Even in the midst of the deepest darkness, there is HOPE in the cross of Christ. This child will be part of a generation that the Lord is raising up in Swaziland to bring the nation out of darkness and into the light. Read the full story on Tiffany's blog.

HOPE

One of the kids that I became most attached to in Swaziland was named Cebosesso. He is the best kid ever. He lives in a small little hut the size of some walk in closets with 4 other children. He is comes over to the church every day, has no parents, and constantly wants to be held. He would come in sit in my lap almost everyday. While many of the kids there wanted to play soccer or some other game, He just wanted to be held. And so he sat with me and we talked. Most of the time he did not even have much to say. He just wanted someone to give him a hug. He always called me "John Cena" (WWE Wrestler for those who don't know) and so that became my nickname there. I never thought I could care for a child as much as I did him. Everything in me wanted to bring him with me back to the States. On the day we left, we were sitting together and he looked up at me and said "John Cena, I'm hungry." I went inside the dorm and found some food for him but my heart was broken. This child will eat one meal on a good day and those words will be etched in my brain forever. "I'm hungry." Something I have said many times but it has never carried the weight that it did when he said it. I prayed over Cebo, told him I loved him, promised him that at some point I would return some day soon, and said goodbye. I wish I could have taken him with me. I know that the Lord will care for him though and I long for the day when I can sit with him again.

LOVE

"Where is God in the middle of this?" His hand is right in the middle of it pouring His love over the nation. There is a lot of darkness over Swaziland. Yet in the middle of it, there is a wave of light that is growing that will overcome even this darkness and it's called the Kingdom of God.

FAITH.HOPE.LOVE.

For God
For People
For the Nations
For the Kingdom
W

So better late than never... NICARAGUA VIDEO!!!!

Mon, 16 Nov 2009 00:00:00 GMT

So if anyone was wondering what our ....second...month looked like.... here it is :)

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for People

for the Nations

for the Kingdom

Swaziland!!!

Sat, 7 Nov 2009 00:00:00 GMT

This month we are in the nation of Swaziland. It has been a great change of atmosphere to move from the Middle East into the southern parts of Africa. I am not fully sure what I expected Africa to be like, but it was not this. I think in my mind, I was expecting desert area, walking a mile for get clean water, and some of the most intense heat on the planet. It has not been that on any level. Being here has been amazing. We are working in Nsoko with the G42 church plant here. Pastor Gift is amazing and a humble man of God.

We are teamed up with Matt Ruple's team for the next two weeks here in Nsoko. The days have been starting out fairly early. We travel to our care points in the community. These are places in the community (somewhat middle of no where) where the local people do have very little food, have to walk a few miles with water jugs to have water, and most have HIV. It is estimated that about 70% of the surrounding area has been infected with HIV. If you are 30 years old here, you are considered a senior citizen basically. Middle age is around 15. There are virtually no men over 30 in the area. Most have died from AIDS. Right now the United Nations has estimated that the nation of Swaziland will be extinct by 2050 because of AIDS. Some estimates have shows that Swaziland has the highest AIDS crisis in all of Africa, that there are 120,000 orphans here, and about 70% of the nation in poverty. It is a very serious crisis. And it is against this darkness that we are seeking to shine the light of the Kingdom.

At the care points, the majority of the focus is on showing love and care to the orphans of the community. There are normally around 25 orphans for every one adult. We play games with the children, tell them stories about Jesus, and just hold them for a few hours. They are sponsored through Kids Against Hunger so they children are getting a meal a single day with rice and a tiny bit of chicken and vegetables in it. Yet this is not a lot of food.

One of the care points we were at actually did have about 7 teenagers at it. Most of whom were believers, one who was not. Kaleb and I had a chance to play football with them and then share Christ with them. It was awesome to see their hearts and at the same time make a deposit in the one who did not want anything to do with Jesus. After beatboxing some for the teenagers (in Africa..this has been gold for relationship building), they asked us to sing for them. If any of you have heard me sing, lets just say it was good that I had two good singers with me. After we sang "Mighty to Save" they broke out in one of their songs singing "Africa will be saved when the Holy Spirit comes!" and they were amazing singers. We had a chance to pray with them for the nation and for God to save it. It was a powerful moment.

After our morning time with the care points, we do home visits. A new friend of mine Ceboseso is now going to go to heaven because he responded to awakening of the Holy Spirit when we had the opportunity to share Christ with him. It was so cool!!!!

Another part of our ministry has been partnering with the G42 church in their outreach soccer league. The church has an amazing guys soccer team as a way to reach out into the lost community here. They are not quite as good as the team I played against when I was in Brazil. But needless to say, we are getting schooled once more. But the guys have some amazing hearts and it has been cool to share Christ with them.

There is a huge cloud of darkness surrounding the nation of Swaziland. Please be praying that the Holy Spirit would empower us shine a bright light here that would overcome the darkness of the area we are in. Please pray that a generation with a heart for the Kingdom would be birthed here and that this generation would carry the Gospel all over this land that this nation may be saved not only spiritually but physically.

For God
For People
For the Nations
For the Kingdom
W

Turkey!!!

Tue, 27 Oct 2009 00:00:00 GMT

So thankfully I can blog again!!! Thank you to everyone for praying for me and my team during this last month. It has been needed greatly and I am so thankful to all of you for battling with me. Here is a quick update on everything from Turkey. We spend a little over 10 days in Istanbul. The city is a beautiful place but is intensely lost. There are about 72 million people (roughly) in Turkey with about 36,000 estimated believers there. This makes Turkey, once the home of the movement of the Kingdom, the most lost nation per capita in the world. Islam has surged there for years and has a very strong foothold there.

The ministry was split up into a couple of different elements. Part of my team went to a gypsy village - here is an except from one of my teammates blogs on that experience-

One of my favorite memories of our time in Istanbul happened when my team was given the task of locating Turkish gypsy people---a people group not reached within the area. My team was out one day trying to find some of the gypsy people and after hours of no such luck, our translater was able to make a phone call which led to a conversation with someone who then led us to a remote village...we ended up in the jackpot of gypsy villages!!!! And we were there for a gypsy wedding that was taking place right there in the street! The gypsies invited us in, had us dance with them and then asked us to return.....and the next day we did! After spending some time talking with some of the 'elders' of the gypsy village and after some songs with the kids, I had asked one of the older women if we could go talk in her home. God was stirring my Spirit so hard to share the Gospel with them. She wanted hear from me and from our translator, a Turkish Muslim believer. We had the opportunity to pray for her and give her a bible and a DVD of the Jesus Film Project.--- Jessica Phillip

I spent a lot of time on the campus of the University of Istanbul hanging out with college students and sharing Christ with them. There were many that were receptive and some that were fiercely opposed to even being told about Jesus. We had the chance to give out many Bibles and DVD's of the Jesus video there. The Lord opened some incredible doors that we joyfully got to walk through.

The last piece of ministry that we got to take part in was through Intercessory Prayer. We prayed hard for this nation. There were some times when our team went into one of the major Mosque in Istanbul and began to pray that the Lord would tear down the walls of Islam and birth a Kingdom awakening here for the name of Jesus. Obviously we had to be careful while we were in there. But we felt the Spirit leading us to pray at what is basically "ground zero" for the religion of Islam there.

Please continue to pray for this lost nation. I am hoping that the Lord will open doors to return here in the future. There are so many people who desperately need hope and have no clue that it is found in the Son of God.

ALSO- thank you so much for hitting PAUSE on the blog comments and emails in while we were in Turkey and Israel. Those comments have been so encouraging and have been such a source of life for me while I have been gone but it was necessary because of our location to not have emails coming in that might possibly be flagged. Thank you all for helping support my squad with that and for the continued encouragement that so many of you leave on these blogs.

I will try to get a blog posted in the next few days about everything that happen in Israel. One last little bit of cool information that came to us as a surprise. As it turns out, in an effort to save money, we are going to go into North Africa to catch a flight to S. Africa for about a day and a half to save some money instead of trying to fly out of Tel Aviv. Where in North Africa you ask?

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and MORE CHANGES!!

Fri, 25 Sep 2009 00:00:00 GMT

So we left Bucharest and headed to Brasov for a 3 day worship conference. It has been amazing. The Lord has been moving powerfully in so many of my team. We have found out about a lot of changes that are taking place with our Race route and to the squad.

First Change - William Miller- My team leader has been raised up to fill the role of the second squad leader. William is an amazing leader and man of God. This will be such an amazing opportunity for him.

Second Change - I have been moved to team S'More with William being raised up into squad leader. Being the only guy on team in.tent.city.... not the best of ideas. This is a great growth opportunity for me which I am very pumped about. With change comes an opportunity for growth. Its very exciting to get to work with a new group and see what all the Lord does in my life.

Third Change- (saved the best for last) - The Lord has opened up an AMAZING opportunity for us to go in...TURKEY!!!! Turkey is a closed country drenched in Islam. We will be there for 10 days and then head to Jerusalem/Tel Aviv. Please be praying for us while we are there. Communication will be very limited there but I will do my best to keep you all posted on how things are going.

Also... Because email is screened in Turkey and Israel... please hold off on the blog comments while we are there for security purposes.Thank you all so much for your prayers and support!!

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for People
for the Nations
for the Kingdom
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Welcome to in.tent.city

Fri, 11 Sep 2009 00:00:00 GMT

Change is never the easiest thing. For the past 4 months, I have had the joy of serving Jesus as part of Team FUEGO. It has been one of the most transformational times in my life. There were so many life changing lessons that I have learned through being a part of FUEGO: what living in the life looks like, what transformational community is really about at the core, how much I need humility, and about 100 more. Tiffany did an amazing job of leading the team. But now the winds of the Spirit of God are blowing in a different direction. The Lord has raised Tiffany up to become the leader for our entire squad. She is a very gifted leader and I am so pumped for her. With her transition has come a new series of changes for our squad including team changes. Some of them have been easy. Other changes have been very hard. But God has been sovereign through all of this and it is my joy to introduce to you my new team for the remainder of the world race.

Meet team in.tent.city!!!!!!

Ashley Haub

Hailee Gibson

Damaris Contreras

Heather Duke

Tara Reed

Will Miller

in.tent.city

You might ask, "what in the world does in.tent.city mean?" As we prayed and asked the Lord how He wanted to grow us during this year, all of us felt a strong call to go much deeper.
Deeper in the Word.
Deeper in Community.
Deeper in the Empowerment of the Spirit.
Deeper in Mission.
Deeper in Kingdom.
We wanted to see all that the Lord had done in us intensified and taken to another level. So the name intensity was suggested and affirmed. We wanted to add a creative spin to it though. So we broke up the word into sections that we really felt captured God's heart of us.

IN- we have all been indwelt by the Holy Spirit of God as believers in Jesus Christ and it is so critical for all of us to walk in the empowerment of the Spirit. In addition to that, being intentional was very heavy on our hearts. Not just noticing things and doing nothing, but acting. If someone is hurting, do something about it. If something is not right, say something. If someone looks sad, encourage them. Take time to be real.

TENT- Moses would go into the Tent of Meeting to dwell in the presence of the Lord. The glory of God would descend upon the Tent and Moses would experience the Lord in amazing ways. Moses was radically changed by being in the presence of God as was his successor Joshua who got as close as he could to the holy of holies. We want our team to be founded on a passionate pursuit of the presence of Jesus Christ in our lives. If we are not moving deeper into a relationship with Jesus, then all of this is for nothing.

CITY- Matt 5 speaks of believers and we are to shine as a city on a hill. The church is to be a light in the world against all darkness that it comes into contact with. Our heart is to shine the light of Jesus as bright as humanly possible for the cause of the Kingdom.

And in all these things, our hearts are to go to the next level. to intensify.

in.tent.city

for God

for People

for the Nations

for the Kingdom

Salvation is HERE!!!!

Thu, 10 Sep 2009 00:00:00 GMT

So much has been happening over the past ten days. Words can't really express the wave of emotions that have flooded through our squad. Many changes have taken place. Some great. Some painful. Yet God has stayed faithful through all of this and His peace has been a constant covering through all of it. I will try to post a few blogs over the next few days to catch you all up and where we are, what ministry looks like this month, what changes have taken place, and what is to come.

But something amazing happen today that is vastly more important than anything else. Yesterday we hosted a children's camp here at Casa Shalom. It went so well. The children had a great time and we had many chances to share Jesus with them. We were not sure at the end of the day where God was going to lead us next in our desires to love on these children. We could bring the children back for another day of camp. But it seemed like an even better idea to just take the camp to them. So we all piled into the van and drove to the small village where all these children are from. We had a great day loving on these kids again yet this time, we had an audience.

Many of the teenagers from the community were there. Some were smoking. Some were cussing. Some were mocking us. It started off as a hard crowd to break into. Thank God for Soccer. Kaleb and I started playing some of the teenagers head on. We lost but everyone had such a good time that they wanted to keep playing. After two games, the bridge had been established. We asked them if we could share our faith with them and they agreed. I began to tell them about Solomon and his quest for happiness and pleasure in life from Ecclesiastes and how truly trying to find life in anything under the sun is worthless. Yet there is infinite life in the One who is beyond the sun. Kaleb and I both shared our stories of brokenness and God's redeeming work in our lives. Some of the teens wanted nothing to do with Jesus. Others played along but it was clear they did have any understanding of their need for a Savior. The group was praying so much for the Holy Spirit to move and then He did.

There was one guy there named Jorge. We had a blast playing Soccer with him and it was obvious God was stirring something in his heart. After sharing the Gospel with him and our stories of redemption, we asked him if he understood all of this. He said that it made sense to him. Our next question was, "do you want to ask Jesus to save you today?" With a true sincerity in his eyes, he answered

YES

We had a chance to pray with him, give him a Bible, and talk with him some about growing as a follower of Jesus. It was absolutely amazing.

All peoples
All nations
All over the world.
Jesus Christ is still Mighty to Save.

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for People
for the Nations
for the Kingdom
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Holding the Forsaken

Mon, 31 Aug 2009 00:00:00 GMT

One of the most eye opening ministries that we have taken part in here has been for sure working with orphans. From the second that you walk through the door, these children literally never let go. They fight to get close for something as simple as a hug. These are the forsaken of the world. These orphans have nobody.

Some of lost parents to death.
Others have been abandon.
Some just cast to the side.
Some their parents just could not take care of them.

And the people who run the orphanage do not seem to spend much time with the children. So from the minute we walked through the door, they want to play, be held, dance, sing, and even just have us sit with them to watch tv. They have no one who is speaking life over them. What did bring a great joy to my life was seeing that by the grace of God, there are some children in the orphanage that love Jesus so much. These few are singing praise songs, talking about loving Jesus, and I had a chance to encourage them to share Christ with everyone they come in contact with. It gripped my heart in a major way.

Saying goodbye was crushing. The children literally did not want to let go and it was as if a part of us was being torn out of us as the directors ushered the children back inside.

Please join me in praying that the Lord would raise up the Body of Christ in this area with a heart for these forsaken many and love them with the love of Jesus Christ.

Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world. James 1:27
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for People
for the Nations
for the Kingdom
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Church Service at Arcalia

Mon, 31 Aug 2009 00:00:00 GMT

So yesterday we had a chance to go back to Arcalia (apparently this is the correct spelling for it) and work with the ministry there to help the church continue to gain some ground in the community. This was such an amazing time to love on the people and point them towards Jesus. The leaders of the church have a great heart for Christ and want to see Jesus lifted up in the community. One of the most moving moments was when Tiffany sang "Mighty to Save" in Romanian. The people there were really moved by not only the song but that she took the time to learn it. It was pretty gripping for me as well.

The Kingdom of God is so much bigger than anything to do with America or even the American church. It is a global movement of the people of God for the renown of God in the world. It happens when believers risk it all because their souls have been made so alive by Jesus that they can not do anything else but shine His light into whatever is dark in the world and in shinning that beautiful light, get a chance to see God change the world through them.

I preached after that from Colossians 1 about how Jesus has the supremacy in all things because of the fact that He is the glorious creator of all things and how He has reconciled us to God through the cross of Christ. The heart of it was that the church must be built on Jesus and nothing else. If the church is built on anything but Jesus and lifting up the cross of Christ, it will fail. But if the church is built on Jesus, it will shine the brightest light into the world. The Holy Spirit showed up in a cool way and it was awesome just to watch the Lord work. Here are some pictures from the service and a video of Tiffany singing. My camcorder can't be charged right now so I had to shoot this on my Nikon which is why the quality of the video is a little shaky. Enjoy.

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for the Nations
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Pastors and Leadership Conference

Sun, 30 Aug 2009 00:00:00 GMT

For the past few days, I have had one of the greatest honors of my life. The Lord opened up a door for my teammates and I to lead a pastors and next generation leaders conference here in Romania. Tommy and Linda Gable in Nicaragua did something similar on a weekly basis for the pastors of Nicaragua. As we talked with John Fracker about how we would love to take part in something like this if the Lord opened the door, God threw the door wide open. I can't even begin to explain how my heart leaped at this opportunity. I firmly believe that the church is God's answer for all that is wrong in the world (Acts 1:8) and one of the best ways to help any church shine brighter for the kingdom is to help equip the leaders of the church to shine brighter. It was a huge blessing from God to even be a part of something like this.

Will, Tiffany, and I spent a crazy amount of time praying about what to teach on and preparing the curriculum for the conference. After ministering here for about 3 weeks, we felt that the major issue facing the churches in the area is the lack of emphasis on living in a personal relationship with God. Christianity in this area looks like more of a routine than enjoying Jesus.

Go to church.
Give.
Pray from time to time.
And that is about it.

The Gospel is absolutely being preached. These church leaders in the area fully affirm that salvation is by grace through faith alone and that the cross of Christ is sufficient to cover all sin (Eph 2:8-9). Yet when it comes to driving people to a place of enjoying the Lord and fully living for Him, there was an obvious void there. So we felt that instead of teaching leadership principles, we would focus on what walking with Jesus looks like seeing as being a great worshipper of God is infinitely more important than being a great leader for God.

It was one crazy and amazing time for sure. We started with about 14 pastors on the first day. And by the end of the second session, we had grown it down to about 8 pastors. There was some hard truth that we felt God had laid on our hearts and by some it was not well received. But we could not say that we truly cared for the church here if we did not tell them that religious routine is not the way to the heart of the Father. God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in him (thank you Dr. Piper). Also this was the first time that I would face persecution for being an American. One of the pastors said that he had to leave because his tooth was hurting him. We suggested that the group should lay hands on him and pray over him to see if the Lord would heal his tooth so that he could stay at the conference. His response was that if we "Americans" touched him, he would beat us over our heads with his bible. The was a strong spirit of pride in the room and some of the pastors left after the session on how to engage in a relationship with the Lord.

The pastors that stayed were so hungry for God's Word. They wanted to know Jesus and what the Bible says and were willing to listen to anyone who would teach them. The Lord is moving greatly in their hearts and the way they sought after Him during the sessions that were set aside for personal devotional time was amazing. We talked about what community looks like (Acts 2:42-47), how to handle conflict resolution (Matt 18), Purity (1 Cor 6:18), Missional Living (Acts 1 and Isaiah 1), and lastly Humility (Prov 16:18).

There were so many cultural issues that we had to combat, but God showed up in the most amazing way in their lives. John loved what he saw the Holy Spirit do in their hearts and is going to be continuing to train pastors on a monthly basis from here forward. This brought us a great amount of joy. The Lord is already using John as a leader of leaders here. And we were able to partner with him in his desire to equip the leaders of the surrounding churches to shine brighter for the Kingdom.

Praise the Lord for His faithfulness and working through a bunch of twenty-somethings who have nothing to bring to the table except a love for Jesus.

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for People
for the Nations
for the Kingdom
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Thing of Beauty!!

Mon, 24 Aug 2009 00:00:00 GMT

So on Sunday, I witnessed something that could probably only be described by using words like "Glorious" or "Majestic".
Earlier in the week, our team had gone to the city of Arkalah and began to pray with some of the locals for the Spirit of God to awaken their community. There is a small pocket of believers there that truly love Jesus and want to see a village awakened to His glory.

And so the Lord poured out His Spirit on the village and on Sunday morning, our team traveled to the village and helped with the first ever church service. It was beyond words. To see a Body of believers birthed was absolutely amazing and my heart was totally blown away. This is now a village that has a light against the darkness. Right now, it is just a candle. But the people here truly do love God and believe that He will awaken their community to Him. The church is God's answered for everything that is wrong in the world and now this village has a local Body that is committed to shinning against darkness. Praise God!!

You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven. (Matt 5:14-16)

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for People

for the Nations

for the Kingdom

Life in Romania!!

Sun, 16 Aug 2009 00:00:00 GMT

It's really hard to believe that this month is halfway over. It is even harder to imagine that two and a half months have passed. It seems as if so much has happen and at the same time, it seems as if time has literally flown by. And so has this last week .

The majority of the time thus far been spent in either the Kids Club or in the Orphanage. The Kids club is a local children's where we teach the children of the area Biblical Truth. Tiffany and Will have done an amazing job of teaching here.

The Orphanage ministry has been one of the most humbling to be a part of. These children have no family at all and are given virtually no attention. So from the minute we walk in to the minute we leave, these children are all over us. It has been a blast. Most of my time was spent with the older kids either playing soccer in the rain (which I got owned in) or teaching them how to beatbox which turned into a dance party. It was pretty much one of the coolest moments ever. Hopefully they will be masters by the time I head out. Unfortunately the orphanage does not allow cameras so filming anything there is out of the question.

Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.
James 1:27

Another part of our ministry has been in local churches on Sunday. This pretty much takes up the entire Sunday because John overseas so many churches, we end up doing worship services at many locations. Today was a rare occasion where we only did one service even though it took up about 3 hours.

Taylor did an amazing job leading worship after the Gypsy worship leader finished. John had all but 2 people share their hearts to the church on what Jesus was dong in and through them. Then I preached from John 8 about the woman caught in adultery. When they (the religious leaders) asked Jesus whether they should stone her or not, Jesus replied, "If any one of you is without sin, let him be the first to throw a stone at her" At this, all the Pharisees dropped their stones and walked away. Jesus then said :

Jesus straightened up and asked her, "Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?" "No one, sir," she said. "Then neither do I condemn you," Jesus declared. "Go now and leave your life of sin." (John 8:10-11)

The basic idea: You are guilty, I don't condemn you. She was guilty as sin and at the same time 100% forgiven. This is the beautiful message of grace and love that God offers to all of us freely. It has nothing to do with how good we are or how wicked we are. It is 100% undeserved for all because we are all equally fallen and all equally in need of a Savior.

"You are guilty. I don't condemn you"
Grace.

The church responded in an amazing way to the Spirit of God moving and we saw some amazing life change take place. We spent a great deal of time praying over each one of them for their hearts before the Lord, their addictions, and asking God to bring healing where needed.

God did something really awesome and we got to watch from very close up.
It was awesome.

for God
for People
for the Nations
for the Kingdom
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