The way this is going to work, is I'm going to post all of the entries in my journal with the date that it was written (So look at the ones from July 10th - August 5th, cool?) And you'll get to see what's going on inside my head each day that I'm on the mission field :)
HERE WE GO :)
PS, it might take a little while to get the whole month's entries up, so bare with me :)
Showing posts with label Honor Academy. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Honor Academy. Show all posts
Sunday, August 22, 2010
Saturday, July 24, 2010
7-24-2010
Tonight was awesome, yet sad as well. It started off as a surprise trip to the pastors' church. There we had a thanksgiving service in which they pretty much gave us dinner & a ginger blob that was soaked in oil and wrapped in newspaper haha. O indian food. It was good none-the-less, though :).
Ministry was a little bit rushed. Everything was a little bit behind schedule, but God worked through us none-the-less. We had a small group of people, mostly children that gatherd outside of the church to watch the program. We put on this program in the middle of the street. The people that we meet are all so awesome. I'm going to miss all of them so much! Tonight was pretty great :), but it was also really sad, because it was our last night with Gletseal as our translator.
Ministry was a little bit rushed. Everything was a little bit behind schedule, but God worked through us none-the-less. We had a small group of people, mostly children that gatherd outside of the church to watch the program. We put on this program in the middle of the street. The people that we meet are all so awesome. I'm going to miss all of them so much! Tonight was pretty great :), but it was also really sad, because it was our last night with Gletseal as our translator.
Wednesday, July 21, 2010
7-21-2010
Ministry just keeps getting more and more intense. As we arrived at the ministry site, the spiritual atmosphere felt INCREDIBLY heavy. The area that we weree sent to was an area known for persecuting Christians. As a result of this, we were not allowed to give the net, however we were allowed to pray for people. So we went out & started praying for people as we usually did.
Soon, as I was interceding with Vivian for an older woman, another old lady walked over to me, hit me on the arm, held up her hands, and in tamil said, "Pray."
I started looking around for a translator, and a boy named Veejay showed up. He spoke enough English to translate a little bit for me. The old woman said that her eyes & her legs needed prayer. As soon as I got done praying, the old woman bent over & touched her toes. I was thinking, "ok... what's going on?" So I asked Veejay, "What is she doing? What's happening?"
He then responded in his Indian accent (complete with headbobble, mind you), "Her back has become as rubber!!!"
I started laughing and asked what that meant. He told me that she couldn't do that before. Her back was stuck straight, and she hadn't been able to bend over like that in years. We then started praising the Lord.
As we got ready to go, Emily started to experience some spiritual attacks which took the form of excruciating pain in her stomach. We prayed for Emily until it gave up, but as soon as we stopped, it started attacking Briana. So we continued praying, I don't think we even stopped until we got back to Oshi.
Soon, as I was interceding with Vivian for an older woman, another old lady walked over to me, hit me on the arm, held up her hands, and in tamil said, "Pray."
I started looking around for a translator, and a boy named Veejay showed up. He spoke enough English to translate a little bit for me. The old woman said that her eyes & her legs needed prayer. As soon as I got done praying, the old woman bent over & touched her toes. I was thinking, "ok... what's going on?" So I asked Veejay, "What is she doing? What's happening?"
He then responded in his Indian accent (complete with headbobble, mind you), "Her back has become as rubber!!!"
I started laughing and asked what that meant. He told me that she couldn't do that before. Her back was stuck straight, and she hadn't been able to bend over like that in years. We then started praising the Lord.
As we got ready to go, Emily started to experience some spiritual attacks which took the form of excruciating pain in her stomach. We prayed for Emily until it gave up, but as soon as we stopped, it started attacking Briana. So we continued praying, I don't think we even stopped until we got back to Oshi.
Sunday, July 4, 2010
It's almost time... =D
This is probably one of the last Pre-India blogs that I'm going to be doing. My schedule for the next few days is going to be crazy & as training starts for me on the 8th & the trip actually leaves for India on the 12th. Needless to say, it might be pretty difficult to get to a computer very often within the next few days.
Here's a glimpse of my schedule:
Tuesday: Last day as an encouragement rep for GE Groups. Wrap things up with all of the Youth Pastors I've been helping out & pass the rest on.
Wednesday: Work Registration for Team Leaders. Meet a few of the people that I've been working with over the phone for the past year =D
Thursday: Missionary Advisor arrival day. Work Registration & start some of my own training :D
Friday: Get to know my fellow MA's and do some leadership training.
Saturday: MISSIONARIES ARRIVE :D!!!!!!!
SUNDAY-Monday = group training & team building
Tuesday - Leave for INDIA!!!!!!!!
The way that the blogging situation is going to work while I'm in India, is I'm going to be journaling everyday from the 10th of July - 5th of August. After I get home, I will post each days journal entry on the blog with the date set to the corresponding day. SO - you can kinda get a sense of what's going on while I'm in India & get a little bit of the experience too :).
Your prayers are definitely appreciated for the entirety of my trip & I can't wait to tell you guys all stories about it when I get back!!!!
Be Blessed!!!!
Here's a glimpse of my schedule:
Tuesday: Last day as an encouragement rep for GE Groups. Wrap things up with all of the Youth Pastors I've been helping out & pass the rest on.
Wednesday: Work Registration for Team Leaders. Meet a few of the people that I've been working with over the phone for the past year =D
Thursday: Missionary Advisor arrival day. Work Registration & start some of my own training :D
Friday: Get to know my fellow MA's and do some leadership training.
Saturday: MISSIONARIES ARRIVE :D!!!!!!!
SUNDAY-Monday = group training & team building
Tuesday - Leave for INDIA!!!!!!!!
The way that the blogging situation is going to work while I'm in India, is I'm going to be journaling everyday from the 10th of July - 5th of August. After I get home, I will post each days journal entry on the blog with the date set to the corresponding day. SO - you can kinda get a sense of what's going on while I'm in India & get a little bit of the experience too :).
Your prayers are definitely appreciated for the entirety of my trip & I can't wait to tell you guys all stories about it when I get back!!!!
Be Blessed!!!!
Saturday, June 12, 2010
Finally...
It's finally here.
The day that the Global Expeditions call center has been working for all year.
Through the burn-out, exaustion, stress, and all of the other struggles we've faced with no proof that what we were doing has been for any benefit, we pushed on...knowing that it would all be worth it in the end...
The end is finally here.
TRIP GROUP 1
MISSIONARY ARRIVAL DAY!!!!!!!!
On Monday, the missionaries are FINALLY ARRIVING!!!!!! Team Leaders came yesterday, and Missionary Advisors came today!!!! Missionary arrival day is almost here.
We have fought for these kids and groups to get here ALL YEAR LONG!
First, we fought to get them applied.
App 4 pages of 4, Application fee, parent authorization, pastor reccomendations, pending, COMPLETE!!!
Over and over. 4,000+ times.
App 4/4, app fee, parent auth, pastor rec...Silly GE Rep! error, wait 24 hours, pending...complete!!!!
1st call, 2nd call, group deposit, 50% deadline, ticketing..., Travel Release forms, Background Checks, Passports, 100% deadline ARRIVAL DAY!!!!!!
Day after day, this is what it looked like.
From Early September - mid june.
This is what my life looked like.
"It's a great day at Global Expeditions, this is Kyle, how can I help you?"
"Hi, this is Kyle from Global Expeditions, do you have a minute to talk?"
Millions of times I've spoken these words. After hours and hours of talking on the phones, endless notes, benchmarks, trip codes, trip letter dates.
I've spoken to many varieties of parents: angry parents, excited parents, nervous parents, parents who are afraid to let go for a week, parents who won't even consider letting their children go on a trip even though they're 20, parents who didn't care, parent's who didn't speak english or spanish but randomly spoke romanian, parents who pretended not to speak english, parents who are worried about the conflict in Mx even though we're nowhere near where the travel advisories are in effect, and finally more often than not parents who are actually cooperative .:)
I've spoken to many varieties of students too: Students who are super talkative & won't let you get a word in edgewise, students who ONLY reply in one word answers, students who are afraid to let go, students who are afraid, students who are adventurous, students that will only go if their friend goes, students who get jobs and drop from the trip, students who procrastinate in applying for a passport, students who are fake, students who love the Lord, students who are complacent, students that cannot wait to get on the mission field, and students whose lives have been changed by the trip they took last summer...
And more than any of these, I've talked to some awesome youth pastors that fight through the influences of the world because they want to see the love of Christ come about in the students that they mentor. These people are amazing, and after spending hours and hours on the phone with them, fighting in prayer for them, and through all of the worry about not making deadlines, and financial miracles happening, hearing the awe in the voice of what the Lord is doing is all worth it. I can't wait to talk to them about their trips after they get back and see what the Lord has done in the lives of their students AND adult sponsors.
All of the work is worth it.
Everything that we've done this year is FINALLY coming to fruition.
"And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up." Galations 6:9
:)
The day that the Global Expeditions call center has been working for all year.
Through the burn-out, exaustion, stress, and all of the other struggles we've faced with no proof that what we were doing has been for any benefit, we pushed on...knowing that it would all be worth it in the end...
The end is finally here.
TRIP GROUP 1
MISSIONARY ARRIVAL DAY!!!!!!!!
On Monday, the missionaries are FINALLY ARRIVING!!!!!! Team Leaders came yesterday, and Missionary Advisors came today!!!! Missionary arrival day is almost here.
We have fought for these kids and groups to get here ALL YEAR LONG!
First, we fought to get them applied.
App 4 pages of 4, Application fee, parent authorization, pastor reccomendations, pending, COMPLETE!!!
Over and over. 4,000+ times.
App 4/4, app fee, parent auth, pastor rec...Silly GE Rep! error, wait 24 hours, pending...complete!!!!
1st call, 2nd call, group deposit, 50% deadline, ticketing..., Travel Release forms, Background Checks, Passports, 100% deadline ARRIVAL DAY!!!!!!
Day after day, this is what it looked like.
From Early September - mid june.
This is what my life looked like.
"It's a great day at Global Expeditions, this is Kyle, how can I help you?"
"Hi, this is Kyle from Global Expeditions, do you have a minute to talk?"
Millions of times I've spoken these words. After hours and hours of talking on the phones, endless notes, benchmarks, trip codes, trip letter dates.
I've spoken to many varieties of parents: angry parents, excited parents, nervous parents, parents who are afraid to let go for a week, parents who won't even consider letting their children go on a trip even though they're 20, parents who didn't care, parent's who didn't speak english or spanish but randomly spoke romanian, parents who pretended not to speak english, parents who are worried about the conflict in Mx even though we're nowhere near where the travel advisories are in effect, and finally more often than not parents who are actually cooperative .:)
I've spoken to many varieties of students too: Students who are super talkative & won't let you get a word in edgewise, students who ONLY reply in one word answers, students who are afraid to let go, students who are afraid, students who are adventurous, students that will only go if their friend goes, students who get jobs and drop from the trip, students who procrastinate in applying for a passport, students who are fake, students who love the Lord, students who are complacent, students that cannot wait to get on the mission field, and students whose lives have been changed by the trip they took last summer...
And more than any of these, I've talked to some awesome youth pastors that fight through the influences of the world because they want to see the love of Christ come about in the students that they mentor. These people are amazing, and after spending hours and hours on the phone with them, fighting in prayer for them, and through all of the worry about not making deadlines, and financial miracles happening, hearing the awe in the voice of what the Lord is doing is all worth it. I can't wait to talk to them about their trips after they get back and see what the Lord has done in the lives of their students AND adult sponsors.
All of the work is worth it.
Everything that we've done this year is FINALLY coming to fruition.
"And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up." Galations 6:9
:)
Sunday, March 28, 2010
World Awareness: experiencing a taste of the persecuted church
Living at Teen Mania gives a wide range of unique experiences because it is like it's own little self-sufficient community a lot of the time. Because we can be so far from the rest of the world, we are able to mix things up for weekends at a time and experience role-plays of situations. This is something that can only be done in such an environment.
This past weekend, I was given a unique opportunity to experience one of these experiences. This was a perspective changing LTE which was created to let us experience on a minor scale what the global church experiences in the way of persecution on a minor scale. We spent a weekend (from thursday night til saturday afternoon)living out this crazy alternate reality.
The set-up:
As the internship was finishing up a movie on Thursday night(Hotel Rwanda), we were interrupted by an ambush of "government facilitators" led by their president. They invaded our campus because they thought that christianity was full of hypocrites and people that were careless of others & only loved themselves. The government wanted to try to reform us.
The play-out:
As soon as Mr. Hasz, the director of the Honor Academy was captured by the government, we all took off and ran to our refugee camp, at this point it was around 2AM. Suddenly, it felt as if we were in the middle of some alternate reality. We had to search around in the woods for some fire wood to build camp fires for our family cores. If we needed to retrieve anything from the dorms, we had to organize runs to get the stuff so we could orchestrate how not to get caught. If we got hungry, we had several different food drop times at different locations that were all being monitored by the government as ambush points. These couple of days were definitely great perspective changing days. One of the most exciting points of this LTE, was when the government decided to ambush our refugee camp. We received some intel telling us that they were coming about 3 minutes before it happened, so we had enough time to grab our water bottles and run. As soon as the government vehicles started showing up, it was like an incredible stampeed of people just running for their lives through the fields of the back 400 acres of campus. At first, we all tried to stay together and establish a new kind of refugee camp, but before long, we realized that this would have to change. My family core knew that this was the time to split off from the group. As we split, a few other people decided to join us as well. So here we are, in the middle of the woods, crouched low so no one from the government would find us, just listening. Listening to the sounds of people getting arrested all around us. Listening to the sound of the distant work camp. Listening for any movement so that we could take off if it happened to be the government. After about 45 minutes, a few of us decided to take off and split off from the group, so the left, leaving the majority of my family core. After a short time, we decided it was time for us to get going too, when all of a sudden someone decked out in camo came walking out of the woods toward us, letting us know that there's been a safe place set up for us, all we have to do is get there. As we were walking, trying not to be heard amongst the crackling leaves, our group got split up as an ambush started happening. My part of the group dropped & waited until the ambush was over since we hadn't been seen, then we booked it back deep into the woods in an effort to stay safe and unseen. This provoked a huge sweep of the area by the government, which luckily for us, stopped right below the ridge that we were looking down on them from.
The movies:
To help give the situation a new perspective and provoke some empathy within us, we were all called back out of the woods at certain times to watch movies that dealt with persecution and things along those lines. Just a couple of the movies we watched were: Hotel Rwanda, The Invisible Children documentary, and others. These definitely helped us build more of a reality of what people go through daily all over the world.
In conclusion:
This has probably been one of my favorite LTE's yet. It was a huge perspective changer, and allowed us to really experience (on a minor and more safe scale) a little bit of what it would be like to be in this situation 24/7. Even though it was only from Thursday night - Saturday, the sense of time definitely blurred & made it hard to keep the time straight. I know that I probably wouldn't have the same empathy and desire to keep the persecuted church covered in prayer as I do now, had I not experienced this weekend. The biggest take away points were probably definitely learning how to have the joy of the Lord in all situations, even in persecution. AND MOST IMPORTANTLY, learning how to have the LOVE of the Lord, even in the midst of persecution. In all reality, the reason that these people were overtaking us in the first place, was because they were all hurt by the christian population in general, and we, in an effort to change their minds, had to minister to them in the midst of our persecution. After all, look at Paul. Before he was Paul, when he was Saul, he persecuted and killed christians. Now we have the majority of the New Testament as his letters encouraging the churches.
What kind of impact are we making on the hearts of those around us daily? Are we real with them and showing the love and the joy of the Lord in ALL situations?
This past weekend, I was given a unique opportunity to experience one of these experiences. This was a perspective changing LTE which was created to let us experience on a minor scale what the global church experiences in the way of persecution on a minor scale. We spent a weekend (from thursday night til saturday afternoon)living out this crazy alternate reality.
The set-up:
As the internship was finishing up a movie on Thursday night(Hotel Rwanda), we were interrupted by an ambush of "government facilitators" led by their president. They invaded our campus because they thought that christianity was full of hypocrites and people that were careless of others & only loved themselves. The government wanted to try to reform us.
The play-out:
As soon as Mr. Hasz, the director of the Honor Academy was captured by the government, we all took off and ran to our refugee camp, at this point it was around 2AM. Suddenly, it felt as if we were in the middle of some alternate reality. We had to search around in the woods for some fire wood to build camp fires for our family cores. If we needed to retrieve anything from the dorms, we had to organize runs to get the stuff so we could orchestrate how not to get caught. If we got hungry, we had several different food drop times at different locations that were all being monitored by the government as ambush points. These couple of days were definitely great perspective changing days. One of the most exciting points of this LTE, was when the government decided to ambush our refugee camp. We received some intel telling us that they were coming about 3 minutes before it happened, so we had enough time to grab our water bottles and run. As soon as the government vehicles started showing up, it was like an incredible stampeed of people just running for their lives through the fields of the back 400 acres of campus. At first, we all tried to stay together and establish a new kind of refugee camp, but before long, we realized that this would have to change. My family core knew that this was the time to split off from the group. As we split, a few other people decided to join us as well. So here we are, in the middle of the woods, crouched low so no one from the government would find us, just listening. Listening to the sounds of people getting arrested all around us. Listening to the sound of the distant work camp. Listening for any movement so that we could take off if it happened to be the government. After about 45 minutes, a few of us decided to take off and split off from the group, so the left, leaving the majority of my family core. After a short time, we decided it was time for us to get going too, when all of a sudden someone decked out in camo came walking out of the woods toward us, letting us know that there's been a safe place set up for us, all we have to do is get there. As we were walking, trying not to be heard amongst the crackling leaves, our group got split up as an ambush started happening. My part of the group dropped & waited until the ambush was over since we hadn't been seen, then we booked it back deep into the woods in an effort to stay safe and unseen. This provoked a huge sweep of the area by the government, which luckily for us, stopped right below the ridge that we were looking down on them from.
The movies:
To help give the situation a new perspective and provoke some empathy within us, we were all called back out of the woods at certain times to watch movies that dealt with persecution and things along those lines. Just a couple of the movies we watched were: Hotel Rwanda, The Invisible Children documentary, and others. These definitely helped us build more of a reality of what people go through daily all over the world.
In conclusion:
This has probably been one of my favorite LTE's yet. It was a huge perspective changer, and allowed us to really experience (on a minor and more safe scale) a little bit of what it would be like to be in this situation 24/7. Even though it was only from Thursday night - Saturday, the sense of time definitely blurred & made it hard to keep the time straight. I know that I probably wouldn't have the same empathy and desire to keep the persecuted church covered in prayer as I do now, had I not experienced this weekend. The biggest take away points were probably definitely learning how to have the joy of the Lord in all situations, even in persecution. AND MOST IMPORTANTLY, learning how to have the LOVE of the Lord, even in the midst of persecution. In all reality, the reason that these people were overtaking us in the first place, was because they were all hurt by the christian population in general, and we, in an effort to change their minds, had to minister to them in the midst of our persecution. After all, look at Paul. Before he was Paul, when he was Saul, he persecuted and killed christians. Now we have the majority of the New Testament as his letters encouraging the churches.
What kind of impact are we making on the hearts of those around us daily? Are we real with them and showing the love and the joy of the Lord in ALL situations?
Monday, March 22, 2010
UPG
This past weekend, we had an awesome opportunity to take part in something that was a complete perspective changing opportunity The Unreached People Group LTE. This LTE (Life Transforming Event)was a simulation of global missions to unreached people groups. The campus was split into two different jobs, missionaries and tribal people. The tribes were spread all throughout the back 400 acres of the campus and had to develop their own language, do research on the tribe which they were assigned and role play as the tribe would for the entire 30+ hour LTE. The missionaries had to 'catch their flight', 'go through customs', make sure that the hostile 'government' didn't find any Bibles or Christian contraband, and minister to their tribe while constantly being harassed by the government who just wanted to keep the tribes' traditional beliefs intact. It was an interesting challenge for both sides of the spectrum, and definitely a pretty sweet experience altogether.
The role that I played in this LTE was that of a tribal person. I was the tribe leader of the Bhil tribe. The Bhil is an unreached people group native to India that has Hindu beliefs, especially in the goddess Shiva, and they are involved in ancestor worship & consequently, reincarnation. I was over a tribe of 10 other people, and we role played as if we were really the tribe. The missionaries had to find us, get accepted, and then minister to us to try to get us saved.
The whole LTE overall was great. I absolutely loved it, but on Saturday it dropped to ice cold temperatures and high winds and rain, so we had to end early. Because the weather made us end so much earlier than expected, the results weren't as positive as we would have wanted, but I still learned so much!
Biggest Lesson: Whenever I think of missions, I ALWAYS come at it from the perspective of the missionary. I mean, since we are Christians, and we are the ones with the good news... why not? right? WELL, This LTE gave me the opportunity to come at it from the opposite side of things. I got to think of missions as a native to the country of India would. I had to role play in my beliefs and really ask myself Why would I (HYPOTHETICALLY) believe in hinduism,reincarnation etc.etc., and What is holding me to this belief. Talking with my missionaries, I had to really dig deep and have the mindset of Bhil tribesman, and answer as if I were really one.
I think that this LTE was extremely beneficial because it allowed me to get into the mindset of a hindu person. Coincidentally, I'm going to India this summer! SO I believe that God completely set this up for me so that my heart would grow even BIGGER for the hindu/indian people.
Coming soon - a blog about the LTE that's happening this weekend. World Awareness. Be in prayer for all interns and that they would prepare their hearts as this LTE is about the persecuted church around the world. It's gonna be great! :)
The role that I played in this LTE was that of a tribal person. I was the tribe leader of the Bhil tribe. The Bhil is an unreached people group native to India that has Hindu beliefs, especially in the goddess Shiva, and they are involved in ancestor worship & consequently, reincarnation. I was over a tribe of 10 other people, and we role played as if we were really the tribe. The missionaries had to find us, get accepted, and then minister to us to try to get us saved.
The whole LTE overall was great. I absolutely loved it, but on Saturday it dropped to ice cold temperatures and high winds and rain, so we had to end early. Because the weather made us end so much earlier than expected, the results weren't as positive as we would have wanted, but I still learned so much!
Biggest Lesson: Whenever I think of missions, I ALWAYS come at it from the perspective of the missionary. I mean, since we are Christians, and we are the ones with the good news... why not? right? WELL, This LTE gave me the opportunity to come at it from the opposite side of things. I got to think of missions as a native to the country of India would. I had to role play in my beliefs and really ask myself Why would I (HYPOTHETICALLY) believe in hinduism,reincarnation etc.etc., and What is holding me to this belief. Talking with my missionaries, I had to really dig deep and have the mindset of Bhil tribesman, and answer as if I were really one.
I think that this LTE was extremely beneficial because it allowed me to get into the mindset of a hindu person. Coincidentally, I'm going to India this summer! SO I believe that God completely set this up for me so that my heart would grow even BIGGER for the hindu/indian people.
Coming soon - a blog about the LTE that's happening this weekend. World Awareness. Be in prayer for all interns and that they would prepare their hearts as this LTE is about the persecuted church around the world. It's gonna be great! :)
Sunday, February 14, 2010
Fasting LTE
So, at Teen Mania, we have these things called LTE's, or Life Transforming Events. This past weekend, from Thursday until Sunday at 8AM, we fasted & from Thursday night at 10PM until 8 AM sunday, we also took a vow of silence. The fasting LTE's are some of my favorite events that we have here. We had one in the fall, and just finished our spring one today.
I went into the first fasting LTE expectant that all of the things that we'd been told to focus on would be revealed to us. Which they were, but I left it feeling kind of like I had been deprived of the larger issues of learning more about the different characteristics of God. SO, this fasting LTE, I went into it praying about a few different things, but mainly focusing on spending time with God as my top priority as opposed to focusing so hard on hearing my life mission statement or something like that.
One of the things that I was praying about was what I should do after my undergrad HA year. I had the options of staying as a CA (core advisor) or school of worship GI (graduate intern), or coming back to Salida and starting college & moving on from there. So I prayed about it, and neither of those options are where I'm heading next. I WILL be back in Salida for a little while after the internship, but God has now laid it on my heart to be an intercessory missionary at the International House of Prayer in Kansas City, MO. I will also be developing my skills as a worship leader more for this as well. More development of that to come at a later date... If you want to check it out, the URL is http://www.ihop.org .
I also prayed about where God wanted me to go on a mission trip this summer. There were three countries that were on my heart until the fasting LTE. These countries were Uganda, Haiti, and India. I went to the massive wall map in the Global Expeditions building, and prayed. I asked God to show me which country he had for me to minister to this year, and He led me to India. So, I will be gathering some information shortly, and letting everybody at home know what is going on with India this summer.
But anyways.... The main point of this blog. What did God show me during the fasting LTE?
Well, earlier in the year, I was told that God was going to give me revelation of the end-times bride/bridegroom paradigm of Christianity. I wasn't sure when to expect it, so when it came, it hit me like a ton of bricks. I had always though of God as more of a father type figure, but as I came to realize that weekend, God has so many more aspects than just that one. After all, we do consider Him to be the Father, the Son, and the Spirit, but I had never thought of Him as God the bridegroom. It's like a completely different aspect of the love that God has for us. It also takes on new meaning if you read through some of the historic Jewish wedding traditions as well. The correlations between these traditions and the end-times prophecies in Revelations are amazing, and definitely something that I'm looking forward to pursuing more and more in the future.
So that was pretty much just an awesome weekend, and if you haven't done anything like that before, I definitely encourage it. Fasting is definitely something that I will do for the rest of my life now, and it is something that has taken on a particularly interesting role in my life with the 'church as the bride' paradigm.
If you want to hear more, or have questions, then definitely leave a comment, or feel free to facebook me or email me.
Have a blessed day!!!
I went into the first fasting LTE expectant that all of the things that we'd been told to focus on would be revealed to us. Which they were, but I left it feeling kind of like I had been deprived of the larger issues of learning more about the different characteristics of God. SO, this fasting LTE, I went into it praying about a few different things, but mainly focusing on spending time with God as my top priority as opposed to focusing so hard on hearing my life mission statement or something like that.
One of the things that I was praying about was what I should do after my undergrad HA year. I had the options of staying as a CA (core advisor) or school of worship GI (graduate intern), or coming back to Salida and starting college & moving on from there. So I prayed about it, and neither of those options are where I'm heading next. I WILL be back in Salida for a little while after the internship, but God has now laid it on my heart to be an intercessory missionary at the International House of Prayer in Kansas City, MO. I will also be developing my skills as a worship leader more for this as well. More development of that to come at a later date... If you want to check it out, the URL is http://www.ihop.org .
I also prayed about where God wanted me to go on a mission trip this summer. There were three countries that were on my heart until the fasting LTE. These countries were Uganda, Haiti, and India. I went to the massive wall map in the Global Expeditions building, and prayed. I asked God to show me which country he had for me to minister to this year, and He led me to India. So, I will be gathering some information shortly, and letting everybody at home know what is going on with India this summer.
But anyways.... The main point of this blog. What did God show me during the fasting LTE?
Well, earlier in the year, I was told that God was going to give me revelation of the end-times bride/bridegroom paradigm of Christianity. I wasn't sure when to expect it, so when it came, it hit me like a ton of bricks. I had always though of God as more of a father type figure, but as I came to realize that weekend, God has so many more aspects than just that one. After all, we do consider Him to be the Father, the Son, and the Spirit, but I had never thought of Him as God the bridegroom. It's like a completely different aspect of the love that God has for us. It also takes on new meaning if you read through some of the historic Jewish wedding traditions as well. The correlations between these traditions and the end-times prophecies in Revelations are amazing, and definitely something that I'm looking forward to pursuing more and more in the future.
So that was pretty much just an awesome weekend, and if you haven't done anything like that before, I definitely encourage it. Fasting is definitely something that I will do for the rest of my life now, and it is something that has taken on a particularly interesting role in my life with the 'church as the bride' paradigm.
If you want to hear more, or have questions, then definitely leave a comment, or feel free to facebook me or email me.
Have a blessed day!!!
Thursday, January 28, 2010
HA
HONOR ACADEMY
The Honor Academy is a place that I have come to absolutely love with all of my heart. God has grown me so much, and I completely love what the ministry does and how we affect people all around the world and around the nation.
The first part of my life at the Honor Academy was a very training intensive time where we pretty much did a ‘world detox’. We limited our access to the outside world all week and took extra doses of God every other hour or so. The only way that I can describe this place is as a spiritual green house. Because of our constant 24/7 immersion in God, we experience incredible growth in every area of our lives. God has blessed me in so many ways and has revealed gifts that I never knew that I had until now AND he’s taught me how to use them for his glory.
All of the classes and leadership that I have, have been incredibly beneficial to me, and one of my most favorite parts of this ministry is my ministry placement (job). For the first semester, I worked as a promotional representative that called youth leaders about taking their groups on missions trips. I made an average of about 76 calls a day + or -. Now I’ve been switched over to be what they call an ‘encouragement representative’, and basically what I do is … well, everything after the application, so I’m doing tons of paperwork, helping out the youth pastors with getting all of their students applied, dealing with money issues & finances for the teams, and so on. It’s great and I love the fact that I am able to help get so many people on the missions field so that they can have such a paradigm shifting experience that they will never see the world the same way… at least that’s how my mission trip effected me, so I can only pray that God will deliver that to all of my missionaries, and I know He’s faithful .My MP team is called dependant, and our verse is John 15:5. God has used this to grow me so much this year. I constantly have to remind myself about relying fully on God and letting myself and my desires go 100%. Everybody at my workplace has definitely had an impact on my life because we are all so incredibly different & we all have something different to bring to the table, but God brought us all together because we all had a hidden passion to get people out on the mission field, and through that, we have become united and through the power of Jesus, we have become strong.
One of the big parts of the HA is the part that becomes like your family for the year. These structures are called your Core. A core consists of a Core Advisor, and anywhere from 6-18 guys. They have a core name and a core verse and core values & things like that. My core name was Untamed, & my first CA’s (Core Advisor) name was Chase,he left after Christmas break due to personal decisions. Our core verse was Hebrews 11: 33-40 & the whole idea of the core was just to live ‘untamed’ and do what we believe to be right in the light of eternity due to the beliefs that we receive by becoming followers of Jesus Christ. I’ll write another reflection blog dedicated to that. Now, due to some changes that occurred, my brothers & I are in a new core called Brotherhood. My new CA's name is Chris Johnson, and I'm super stoked to get to know him & the other guys so much more throughout our remainging 7 months here. In addition to our core, we also have a sister core (or two in our case) which have the same composition as our cores, and together we make a family core. So now, instead of only having one sister like I usually do at home, I am now one of 20-30 people haha.
Some of the most unique things that have grown me in so many ways are called LTE’s (Life Transforming Events). These events are just that, Life transforming. Some of the ones that we have experienced so far are ESOAL (youtube it), the Fasting LTE, and the Men’s LTE. These have had a lot of influence in the way we are molded and shaped. ESOAL especially was something that wrecked my life, body and spirit. All I can really say about this one is that it is exactly what it stands for, an Emotionally Stretching Oppurtunity of A Lifetime. Pretty much the whole idea of it though, is to die to yourself and be able to find joy in all situations. Another one that was definitely life-altering was the fasting LTE. We fasted from Thursday morning all the way ‘til Sunday morning, we also took a vow of silence from 10PM Thursday until we broke fast at 8 on Sunday morning. During this time, we just prayed and worshipped for the whole weekend. God revealed so much about my life and the path that I’m meant to take during that time. We also had a worship leader from the International House of Prayer share some teachings with us. His name was Blaise Forret (Spelling? It sounds like Blaze foray).
In conclusion, from everything that I’ve listed above (which is just a small taste of what we really do on a daily basis) there is an incredible amount of growth and development in so many different ways. It’s a great blessing & I’m so excited to embark on a new experience for 2010. It’s still the same internship, but everything has been switched up again, AND I’ve joined the School of Worship program as well so that I can develop my musical skill and worship leader ability as well as my normal leadership ability. This is definitely going to be a huge step for me in developing the future that God has set aside for me to be a part of. His plans are coming to fruition in so many different and amazing ways that I never would have thought of in a million years.
The Honor Academy is a place that I have come to absolutely love with all of my heart. God has grown me so much, and I completely love what the ministry does and how we affect people all around the world and around the nation.
The first part of my life at the Honor Academy was a very training intensive time where we pretty much did a ‘world detox’. We limited our access to the outside world all week and took extra doses of God every other hour or so. The only way that I can describe this place is as a spiritual green house. Because of our constant 24/7 immersion in God, we experience incredible growth in every area of our lives. God has blessed me in so many ways and has revealed gifts that I never knew that I had until now AND he’s taught me how to use them for his glory.
All of the classes and leadership that I have, have been incredibly beneficial to me, and one of my most favorite parts of this ministry is my ministry placement (job). For the first semester, I worked as a promotional representative that called youth leaders about taking their groups on missions trips. I made an average of about 76 calls a day + or -. Now I’ve been switched over to be what they call an ‘encouragement representative’, and basically what I do is … well, everything after the application, so I’m doing tons of paperwork, helping out the youth pastors with getting all of their students applied, dealing with money issues & finances for the teams, and so on. It’s great and I love the fact that I am able to help get so many people on the missions field so that they can have such a paradigm shifting experience that they will never see the world the same way… at least that’s how my mission trip effected me, so I can only pray that God will deliver that to all of my missionaries, and I know He’s faithful .My MP team is called dependant, and our verse is John 15:5. God has used this to grow me so much this year. I constantly have to remind myself about relying fully on God and letting myself and my desires go 100%. Everybody at my workplace has definitely had an impact on my life because we are all so incredibly different & we all have something different to bring to the table, but God brought us all together because we all had a hidden passion to get people out on the mission field, and through that, we have become united and through the power of Jesus, we have become strong.
One of the big parts of the HA is the part that becomes like your family for the year. These structures are called your Core. A core consists of a Core Advisor, and anywhere from 6-18 guys. They have a core name and a core verse and core values & things like that. My core name was Untamed, & my first CA’s (Core Advisor) name was Chase,he left after Christmas break due to personal decisions. Our core verse was Hebrews 11: 33-40 & the whole idea of the core was just to live ‘untamed’ and do what we believe to be right in the light of eternity due to the beliefs that we receive by becoming followers of Jesus Christ. I’ll write another reflection blog dedicated to that. Now, due to some changes that occurred, my brothers & I are in a new core called Brotherhood. My new CA's name is Chris Johnson, and I'm super stoked to get to know him & the other guys so much more throughout our remainging 7 months here. In addition to our core, we also have a sister core (or two in our case) which have the same composition as our cores, and together we make a family core. So now, instead of only having one sister like I usually do at home, I am now one of 20-30 people haha.
Some of the most unique things that have grown me in so many ways are called LTE’s (Life Transforming Events). These events are just that, Life transforming. Some of the ones that we have experienced so far are ESOAL (youtube it), the Fasting LTE, and the Men’s LTE. These have had a lot of influence in the way we are molded and shaped. ESOAL especially was something that wrecked my life, body and spirit. All I can really say about this one is that it is exactly what it stands for, an Emotionally Stretching Oppurtunity of A Lifetime. Pretty much the whole idea of it though, is to die to yourself and be able to find joy in all situations. Another one that was definitely life-altering was the fasting LTE. We fasted from Thursday morning all the way ‘til Sunday morning, we also took a vow of silence from 10PM Thursday until we broke fast at 8 on Sunday morning. During this time, we just prayed and worshipped for the whole weekend. God revealed so much about my life and the path that I’m meant to take during that time. We also had a worship leader from the International House of Prayer share some teachings with us. His name was Blaise Forret (Spelling? It sounds like Blaze foray).
In conclusion, from everything that I’ve listed above (which is just a small taste of what we really do on a daily basis) there is an incredible amount of growth and development in so many different ways. It’s a great blessing & I’m so excited to embark on a new experience for 2010. It’s still the same internship, but everything has been switched up again, AND I’ve joined the School of Worship program as well so that I can develop my musical skill and worship leader ability as well as my normal leadership ability. This is definitely going to be a huge step for me in developing the future that God has set aside for me to be a part of. His plans are coming to fruition in so many different and amazing ways that I never would have thought of in a million years.
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