There and Back Again

Well, I am finally back at my house in America. Thousands of miles away from the Australian culture I have left behind and my team is scattered all throughout California again. It feels so strange to be done. To really have gone there and back AGAIN, all by the grace of God. Our team had a great time at debriefing. We stayed a couple days in Los Angeles to put a wrap on our trip. We cleared any miscommunications or angers people had kept on the trip, and then did a lot of encouraging one another. The last two weeks of the trip I thought I would feel so relieved once I knew that everyone was safely back in their houses with their families. And that is definitely true, I do feel relieved that God delivered everyone safely back home. At the same time, I was a lot more sad the past couple of days with them. God blessed my first time leading with such an incredible team. Honestly, they were a group of people growing in Christ, seeking to advance His kingdom, and honest about where they came up short. It was such a privilege to be a part of the team. Please continue to pray for every one of the members of my team as they transition back into life back home, and for me in having peace with the team now being apart. It was so strange to drive around in Bakersfield yesterday. All the sights I had not seen in two months, and the hot weather I definitely had not experienced. It felt like an out of body experience. All I could think about was the city of Melbourne, on the other side of the world. It looks nothing like this and is nowhere close to the temperature. Yet, there is a whole city of people over there, many who still have no clue what the true gospel is. Continue to pray for the city and the people over there.
This trip has taught me so much and I don't even know where to begin. Let me start with the conversations that our team had. We initiated conversations with around 925 people. About 530 of those turned into spiritual conversations. In about 260 of those, members of our team got to share the gospel. And of those 260, 8 people RECEIVED CHRIST! That is a large number for Australian ministry, so I feel that God blessed our team very much in that regard. Honestly we had more initiations and spiritual conversations than are even here. It is so incredible to look at the number of lives that God affected by using us. I love being a part of the missions field, on the front lines bringing people to know Christ. It is one of the greatest blessings to be a part of this type of ministry.
Personally, I learned a ton on this trip. It starts with how this was a different trip for me than last time. I was the leader. And I learned a ton about being a leader. Not just about being a leader in "spiritual" things, but throughout the trip. While I didn't oversee administration and finance, I learned a lot about that stuff by helping with it and seeing how God uses it to help. I also learned how to protect and care for the team. When a drunk guy was in the hostel I had to make sure everyone was protected from his presence. The hard things like that are what a leader does. Leadership takes a lot of self-sacrifice and a ton of humility. It takes diligence and perseverance. Above all, it takes reliance upon God and allowing Him to lead through you. After leading this trip, I know that God has blessed me with the spiritual gift of leadership. It was different being there more for the students on my own team than for the students in Australia. The mindset had to be setting up the students on our team so they could do the most effective ministry. I was definitely involved in this ministry, but humility and self-sacrifice played a part in this. I loved leading the team and found so much joy through it. This is a lesson I will take into consideration as I allow God to share with me His future for me. I got to do discipleship with the guys every week. This took up about half of my week on campus, but it was one of my favorite things. I loved sharing with the guys how God has grown me, and how He is continuing to grow me. I loved how we shared our struggles and helped fight against them. I loved doing well-being check-ins with the guys, and then learning truth about God and ministry together. I loved being a shepherd in this way. I also got to be a shepherd for the team as a whole by sharing the vision with the team for different weeks. Our visions ranged from hearts for the lost to knowing Christ to spiritual warfare to prayer centered ministry. I was given the ability to grow in my teaching ability as I shared these visions using Scripture. This was another one of my favorite parts of the trip. I love Scripture and how it helps us in every step of our life. Throughout this trip I continued to learn how to place my relationship with Kelsey in the right place. God put it on our hearts to have our relationship take a backseat this trip, while we focused on ministry first. It was great to see how God made that easy for each of us, and how I was barely even tempted to ever waver from that. We both grew so much individually which is only going to help our relationship become more Christ-centered. I also continued to learn about evangelism. I did not lead anyone to Christ on this trip, just like the last one. That can be a foothold where Satan could give me discouragement. This is where the definition of successful evangelism comes in. Taking initiative in the Spirit to share and leaving the results to God. I love evangelism! I don't believe it is a spiritual gift of mine, but I know from Scripture it is my responsibility to do it. I could see God using me in it. I had some conversations with "intellectuals" where my religious studies degree came into play. God gave me boldness and confidence in sharing which inspired people I shared with. Most of all, God continued to grow my individual relationship with Him. I continued to learn more about Him by studying His word. The tram rides made me feel sick, but because of that I would sit in the front and just listen to sermons. I learned so much from all of those. I continued to try and grow more and more of a heart for prayer and fasting. I am nowhere close to being perfected in holiness, but I believe God continued to make me aware of struggles and how I can continue to grow in them. This was by far the biggest thing I take away from the trip.
This was such a great trip for me and I can't thank each of you enough for praying and supporting me all the way. I loved this opportunity. It continued to make me missions minded and want to grow more for the kingdom. As a leader, it is so great to see the impact God allowed our team to make! The last night of encouragement was one of the greatest things for me. Some of the guys told me I had become their greatest spiritual mentor. I don't even know how to express my gratitude in words to the Lord that He would use me in that way. Others said they loved to see my heart for prayer. Prayer is something I am constantly working on and I know I am far from where I should be. It was so encouraging to hear that God is working on me in this area too. The whole team felt like me and Kelsey put our relationship in the right place for the trip, which was such a blessing to hear. I mean I thought we did, but there could have always been stuff I was oblivious to that I was doing. Others said they respected the wisdom I brought. I am far from knowing much at all, but I was so glad that God worked through the little that He has begun to teach me. The best part, however, was something different than all of this and was not even about me. I told the guys that my biggest prayer for them this summer was that they fell more in love with God. I knew if that happened, then everything else would go well. I just wanted that to be true of this summer for them. The last night many of the guys told me this happened for them. All I can say is thank you Jesus for allowing Your people to grow closer to you. Much love to all and much thanks! GOD BLESS!

Farewell

Its so crazy to think that I will be flying home in less than a day. This trip has flown by! Honestly, this feels like the fastest summer of my life. Likely this has to do with some combination of being in Australia, being on mission, and being a leader. It has been so great to be a part of this whole trip! I cannot believe that I have to say farewell to this place that I have come to love. I still have a few days before I have to say goodbye to my team, but I have already had to say my goodbyes to the aussies I came to know on the trip. It just amazes me that God is working in this country just as much as He is working in America. To live in a city on the other side of the world, and see people proclaim the name of the Lord is so liberating. There are people all over the world proclaiming the name of the Lord and believing in His gospel. People I will never meet, cultures I will never see, and places I will never go. Yet, all of these will be my brothers and sisters in heaven! It has been such a blessing being a part of this Australian culture and bringing the gospel to the people who don't know it. There are tons of brothers and sisters throughout the nations, but there are far more lost people there!
I have absolutely loved leading this team and being a part of it. It has just amazed me how close we have become and how much I enjoyed being a leader of it! I have learned and grown in so many ways on this trip. In knowing the Lord, making His name glorified, and growing in community are just the tips of the iceberg. I can't wait to share it with all of you and continue this life of growth that I have been able to live here. I cannot thank all of you so much for being a part of both my financial team and prayer team. Please continue to pray as our team wraps things up. Pray for our safe travels. Pray for our growth to continue. Pray for our lives to be radically changed. And please pray for all the seeds we are leaving behind in these Aussies. That is most certainly the hardest part. Pray that we can leave that to the Lord! I will blog when we get back in America again! I gotta go get packed now! Much love and thanks!

Knowing Christ Jesus

Sorry I realize its been a few days since I have had the chance to update this so I'm doing it now. I would love to begin with a verse that has been on my heart tonight while reading the word, Philippians 3:7-8 "But whatever was to my profit I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them RUBBISH, THAT I MAY GAIN CHRIST." Many of you have probably heard these words before in a sermon or in your own reading; in fact, I still remember a very convicting sermon I heard from Francis Chan about these words. Philippians is a great book as a whole, and chapter three is amazing. It is a letter written from Paul, to his brethren at the church that he founded there in Acts 16. Compared to many of the other epistles, it contains much more gratitude and less rebuke of some type of evil in the church. This chapter displays how Paul had all the religious 'points' anyone could ever ask for. All of that, meant nothing WITHOUT CHRIST. Without God, nothing. With God, everything. Paul considered ALL THINGS RUBBISH compared to the infinite greatness of the relationship he could have with Christ Jesus. These words strike me at the core, as I'm sure they will for anyone who reads them with a discerning heart. God and nothing else. God and nothing else. KNOWING CHRIST JESUS! I know that I do not live up to this standard. I pray to, but even my prayer time is eaten up by things that I have not considered loss compared to the worth of knowing God.
I mean only to use these words as the exhortation and rebuke they are to me. One thing I have emphasized repeatedly to the guys I am with on this trip is that the foremost goal should be knowing and falling in love with Jesus. If that does not happen this trip is sadly a failure, because it will end in the same apathy we had before. I have to preach this to myself more than I do to them. I know what it is like to come back from a trip like this. You have vigor for the word for two weeks, and then distractions start getting in the way. Don't get me wrong, the last time I came to Australia my life was radically changed. I started reading and praying and coming to God much more than before. But compared to Paul's standard, one we are supposed to imitate, it's nothing. For the past week or so, I have been listening to a man named Paul Washer. He is a fantastic preacher of the Word, but from his teachings I have become even more convicted of scripture like this. If I were to actually treat God as more than just my upmost priority, but as my source of life; then my life would look different. These words from Philippians are an exhortation to me because they give me such joy and remind me how important knowing Christ Jesus is. All other things are rubbish. And in that vein, these words are a staunch rebuke. All other things are rubbish and nothing compares to knowing God. Knowing God is my biggest prayer request for myself and my team. Pray for us to know God in the same way that Paul did.

Now time for a few bits of ministry news! The ministry has been good the past few days. First, we did take a day as a team to spend as our 'Day with the Lord'. It is so important that while one is constantly pouring out, they pour back into themselves with the Lord's strength. While this is a daily thing for us as Christians, it is so important to see that even in Jesus' ministry he removed Himself with His Father for periods of time in solitude. It was great to hear the experiences of the students and just for me to get the time to be with my Lord. Another person named Tuan came to Christ last week. I have forgotten for some reason at this moment, but I believe that brings the project total to seven. That is such an amazing blessing! And I know students are meeting up with others, and seeking to share Christ's love as much as possible with maybe their last chance to here. I have not had any overly amazing conversations the last few days, but a few interesting ones. One guy named Adam was raised Christian, but now believes it to be all lies. He told us Christianity resembles to much of Egyptian religion, and named a documentary called Zeitgeist as his source of 'truth'. I had heard a little about this claim, but not a ton. So we tried to share the truth and what we knew how to, and explain how Jesus is the only true God who rose from the dead. It didn't end exactly how I would have loved, but we did share the gospel in it's true form, one he had never heard (works-based nonsense). It was super reassuring to do some research on the whole Zeitgeist thing, and now have a few answers prepared for the next time someone brings it up. Had another conversation with an atheist whose name is slipping my mind right now for some dumb reason. He took our survey, and was certain of his answers. It was so sad to see, but he allowed us to share the gospel with him, which was great! Sometimes you don't see people take big steps from having a -10 attitude towards Christ to a 10. Many times in evangelism here, people may move from a -10 to a -9.9. But I am so thankful for that change and any that happens! I know God is working here, just as He is working all over the world through His creation! Continue to pray for outreach these last few days. Pray everyone has strength and fervor to continue. Pray that they would feel the necessity to reach out to each and every student. Pray for focus, because it is hard to have the seemingly same conversations over and over again. Also pray for all the guys. I am finishing up my discipleship with them this week. It has been such a privilege getting to know them and pointing them to Christ. I want them to remember the things they learned on this trip. Discipleship has been one of my absolute favorite parts of this trip. I have loved coming before the Lord with all of the guys and learning about Him and how to advance His kingdom. So pray for that too! Thank you all so much!

Family

I was not planning on writing a blog right now, until I listened to a song called Tear Down the Walls by Hillsong. It is such a great worship song, and one that we sang quite often the last time I was in Australia. The bridge goes like this, "For all Your sons and daughters who are walking in the darkness, You are calling us to lead them back to You. We will see Your Spirit rising as the lost come out of hiding, every heart will see this hope we have in You." Like I said, I was not planning on writing anything, but when I listened to the words I became emotional. I started crying and just having to pray. There are so many people walking in darkness here. I honestly believe that hell is a reality. Therefore, all of these people are going to hell and they are never going to get to experience the majesty of God in heaven like I will. My heart just crumbles at this thought. I go about so many days in my life back home knowing this same thing, but without the same intentionality. Part of me just wants to jump for joy at this bridge, the Lost will come out of hiding and see the hope we have in the Lord. Yet, only a fraction of them will. So many of the others will just walk away from the gospel message annoyed, saddened, angry, apathetic, or any mix of emotions. But they will never know Jesus like I get to! This thought destroys me! We are called to bring our lost family back home. In the states, I let people pass me by all the time who need Jesus. I know I am never going to be perfect at it, and I have come to realize that evangelism is not my spiritual gifting. But I am called, thus I must obey. It's the reason I'm here. Ministry is tough here, people don't just listen. It's not like what I hear about the people who are poor or oppressed in other parts of the world, who know this message is true. Australians think their life is fine, BUT THEY ARE WALKING IN DARKNESS. Nothing is more disheartening than sharing with somebody the light of Jesus and them rejecting it, or even mocking it. Even at that, ministry is so much harder with the people back home . . because we will see them again! I pray that I would not let my own stupidity and lack of ability to obey get in the way of Jesus. Pray for these people. Pray for the people around you. Pray desperately for opportunities to bring them back home. If hell is real to you, please please help people stay out of it. This is my encouragement for the night. Know that their decision is not in your hand's, it is in the Lord's. But it is your duty to obey, no matter the consequences and no matter their decision.
On another note let me tell you a few experiences. Yesterday, a lady on the tram next to me was crying on the phone. If you don't know, I get sick on the tram so I sit in the front by all the old people. I listen to two sermons every day, one on the way there and one on the way back (its an hour tram ride). Anyways, she was an old lady and she was crying and I heard God nudge me to ask her if I could pray for her. I was like no way! Believe me, if you were in my mind you would have heard "Please, God, Please. I really don't want to. It would be so much easier just to listen to my sermon and act like I love you, but not love your people." Seriously, sometimes I'm an idiot. So eventually, I decided to ask her. She didn't want prayer. Seems like a bad ending to the story right? . . She may not have wanted prayer, but God nudged me to love that woman. I don't know what it did for her life to have a stranger seemingly care for her. She did tell me thank you very many times and that I was a nice young man. Nonetheless, I obeyed, her decision is in God's hand.
I have had some great conversations this week. I talked with a guy named Michael who got so close to accepting Christ. We are pushing an event for the ministry here called Gutsy Love and it is all about real manhood. So we went through this little survey with him and shared the gospel with Him. I asked his reaction, and he was like "Yeah, I don't see any reason why that would not be true" (honestly such a blessing, reactions like that are far and few between). Then I asked whats stopping him from believing and he said "I guess nothing". In that moment I was ready to pounce and bring a brother to Christ. Yet, Satan showed up. Right after that answer, he got a call from his girlfriend and had to leave. Such a bummer! Pray our group runs into him again.
After that, I met a staff member named Damien. Went through the same survey and towards the end he said he was a Christian. Many times we have heard that answer but after asking clarifying questions, we see they don't really know the gospel. So I asked him, "If Jesus asked you why you should get into heaven what would you say?". Normally people say some bogus about good works. He said "Well, I guess if it was Jesus looking at me I would say . . Because of YOU!" I got a big smile when I knew we had met a Christian staff member! Pray that he gets involved with the Christian movement on campus to give them a mentor. Pray he would take a role of responsibility of his faith on the campus and be a light.
That is all for now! I love all of you. Above all, continue to lift us up in prayer!

Retreat

We had Mid-Project Retreat this weekend and it did not come a minute too soon. Part of me is absolutely amazed at how fast the time has gone by this trip. We have been in Australia for over three weeks. I feel like we just landed! Yet, I can tell we have been here for a while based on how tired I have become. Waking up and going through the daily routine got a lot harder after that first week. So, this retreat was great for everyone. Oh, and the LORD provided so well for us on this time. We had a house for the guys and one for the girls, both about a ten minute walk from the beach. You have no idea how nice just hanging out in a house can be when you spend an extended time living in a hostel with very little privacy. Our group had not been able to just hang out as themselves for quite a while, because it is very hard to find a place where you are all alone in the hostel. We watched a couple of movies, relaxed, ate fish and chips, and just hung around the beach. Such a blessing for our team!

Some of the cool stuff that happened while we were there. We had a team time that went over our expectations of team behavior. It was amazing to see how many people on the team felt like we had adhered to our norms. We have a very rare group on this project, one who truly loves one another and seeks for others benefits! That was Friday night. Saturday night was really really cool. We split up into gender times. Obviously, I was with the guys. So many of the guys were just worn down and a couple were even pretty sick! I had this whole idea of what I wanted the time to look like, most of it came from the book Wild at Heart. I wanted these guys to feel like they could jump in the foxhole with one another and be a band of brothers. Struggles were shared and prayer was had. While the physical may not have been healed, I felt a comfort over our spiritual lives. Then we all came together for prayer and worship. The worship was so great because we could yell as loud as we wanted without having to worry about waking up the people in the next room over! It is so great to meet with Jesus like that when you feel like you have had to hold back a little. We prayed over all the people we have initiated with, had spiritual conversations with, shared the gospel with, and brought to Christ! My particular group prayed really hard for those who we had shared the gospel with, because they are now held accountable for hearing it. It was so crazy to read off all the names that were in the jar and lift up each of them to the LORD. We also took some time to pray for our hearts and over the empty jar, that the LORD would overflow it with the work of His kingdom in Australia. I feel so blessed to be here, it is incredible!

I did a little reflecting this weekend. This trip is so different than the last time I was here. We live in the city, the school we reach is much larger, our evangelism looks different this time, and my role is completely different. I have responsibilities besides outreach that take up my time. I have leadership duties, shepherd over the group, and disciple the guys. Each one of these things takes up quite a bit of time. I rarely get free time, which is partly why this weekend was so great! But as I reflected and am continuing on, I realized I am learning so many lessons through my time here that are different from last time. First and foremost, I am learning how to be a biblical leader. I am really starting to feel like this is one of my spiritual gifts. It is incredibly hard, but I love it! There is so much that this entails. It starts with learning how to plan time and do all of the administrative things. I'm also learning and growing in how to truly disciple men. This has been my favorite part of the job. I have never poured into guys as intentionally as I am pouring into this group and I know God is doing work in them. I am also growing in preparing lessons and speaking God's truth in front of others. This is a lesson I am truly valuing while I am here. Besides all of these things, I am learning how to be humble, keep short accounts, and forgive others. I make mistakes. I am learning how to admit them in a humble way that continues to grow myself and the team. Sometimes people don't act exactly how I would want them to. My orientation is to not forgive them and be bitter for some time towards them. This trip is teaching me slowly how to grow out of that, and believe the best in people. God has been growing me in so many ways and I don't even know how to put them all down.

Please continue to pray for our team. Prayer is such a vital part to our ministry. Right now, you can pray for healing. Three of our team members (Blake, Trevor, Jared) are quite sick. I am afraid that this could spread to even more of the team. So please pray for the LORD's healing hand over our team. Also, pray for our last two weeks of campus ministry. Pray that big things would happen, people would understand the gospel! Pray for urgency in our mindsets, and that our weariness would not slow us down. Also, pray for me. I have been reflecting a lot, but I am also looking forward to the next chapter. I will be done with classes after fall, and I would really love for God to show me a vision for what's next. I have many great ideas, but I want my path to be of Him. Last time I was here, God helped me a lot in this area, so I would love for prayer here. And as always, pray for my leadership. Thanks and much love!

Heaven Come Down

I was sitting here for a few moments wondering what I should share with you guys, and my mind was going in so many places. There is plenty possible to share with you all! As I was praying, my mind was just all over the place. Probably a result of the fact that I haven't gotten a break at all today. The life and joys of ministry, oh but I love it! Anyways, as I was praying and figuring out what to write I was listening to a song called "Heaven Come Down" by Ascend the Hill (oh they are too good). At one point the song just repeats over and over again as an anthem "Heaven come down, heaven come down, fill this place." Oh man, my mind was just taken over by this anthem! It reflects so much of my prayer for this project! I want heaven to come down in Australia, to come down at the universities we are outreaching to, to come down into the hearts of our team members to give them strength and vision anew, and to come into my own heart. I want the spiritual world to be impressed upon my own line of sight. I don't want to be able to escape or ignore it. I want Heaven to reign down in fiery zeal. Now I know that the end times will come when God so chooses, and OH WHAT A GLORIOUS MOMENT THAT WILL BE! Quick tangent: I still remember being in Australia the first time around at a town called Daylesford. It was such a beautiful place, and such a great day with the LORD. I vividly remember what the sky looked like that day and how it looked like Heaven was gonna come down. One of my teammates (Jake) remarked that is was like the glory of the Lord COMING ON THE CLOUDS WITH FIRE! Oh so good! So I know God will choose the time, but it is so important for us to have the zeal of the spiritual world being impressed upon our hearts. I believed C.S. Lewis said something along the lines of: the men who will make the greatest impact for Christ in this world are the men who are so earnestly focused on the next. That is my prayer for this trip and I would ask that you join with me. Pray that Heaven Comes Down in all of those areas mentioned above.

This would be a good time to tell you a little about what has happened so far this week. On Sunday, me and Kelsey got to see two friends that we have made from previous trips in Australia, Tom and Jack. They brought some mates and we all got to go see a footy match together, and it was great! So much fun to hang out with Australians! It was so encouraging for me to remember I made that relationship on a Summer Project and there is so much opportunity for that to happen over the next few weeks. That night I gave a talk to my team about Loving the Lord and falling in love with Jesus. If you never have read it, I suggest a book to you called Blue Like Jazz, especially the last chapter of it. I get so pumped whenever I think about what a real relationship with Jesus entails, and how we have an opportunity to fall in love with our Creator and Saviour. When you love someone in a relationship, there are just certain things you do. You find out what offends them and stay as far away from that line as possible, you don't skirt as close as you can like we sometimes do with God. You find that person's boundaries and make certain to stay within them. You find what ways they are loved and try to do that as much as possible. You SPEND TIME WITH THEM. You laugh, cry, smile, and feel emotion. All of those are vital parts to our relationships with Jesus! The past two days on campus had their ups and downs. I love getting the chance to talk to Australians and try to share the gospel. Yet, it breaks my heart and is a discouragement every time they don't recognize its beauty. That sums up the conversations I have had over the past two days. No one got it. Yet, we loved people and shared the word with them. Successful evangelism entails leaving the results to God. Pray that I would be at peace with this.

These conversations can leave me with a sinful desire to put limits on God. I get frustrated and discouraged and want people to know Him. God has protected my heart against a lot of that this summer. Pray as a guard that He would continue to do so. I have limited God in my mind so many times in the process of this trip and every time He has come through. I never thought I could raise all the support to come back to Australia a second time, yet God helped me raise more than enough as Provider! There were many times when I felt like there was no way I could lead this trip, yet God is my Adequacy! And I knew how hard the soil is here, so I limited how effective God could be in my mind . . That was a dumb thought! God has already led five people to Christ (3 JUST TODAY!) through His usage of our team as instruments. Those are incredible stories to share. People will be joining us in eternity! Pray that I don't limit God, because doing so is just a bad decision. Pray for this team and for this ministry in Australia. None of this will happen without prayer! Much love to all of you!

Fruit

It has been such a great week to see our team evangelize in the power of the Spirit. We have spent the past five days on campus talking to students anywhere and everywhere. There has been a lot of awesome things that have happened. In everything, we have maintained that successful evangelism entails taking initiative in the power of the Spirit and leaving the results up to God. And man, has God provided some results! There have been many times of rejection in conversation, but we know that God is going to do His part! Many students have been able to make contacts and get phone numbers with friends they can hang out with again, which is awesome! The greatest news that I have the privilege to share with all of you is that TWO PEOPLE CAME TO CHRIST THIS WEEK! That is such an amazing gift for the members of our team to behold, and just such an awesome event! God has shown up this first week for us in ways that I could have never imagined, and I know He will continue to do that.

Personally, my week looks a little different than the students. I get the blessed opportunity to disciple each of the guys on our team, leading them more in love with Jesus and preparing them for the ministry at hand. We have some incredible guys on our team and I am so excited to see how God is going to continue to grow them on the trip! This week I went over testimonies with them. Sharing our testimonies is such a vital part of evangelism because it is the story of our redemption! We learned how to keep our testimonies away from tangents, how to clearly communicate the gospel in it, and how to center it around our redemption through Christ's blood. This was a great tool to go over with all of the guys and it is already coming in handy for them. This type of training in discipleship is something I will be able to do with the guys throughout our time here. While it does cut back on my time evangelizing, it is so vital to prepare each of them to go out ready with answers to their faith. Please pray over these times that I have with the guys. Pray that this would be a great time of preparation and that it would also be a time of regeneration. Our team of leaders has been doing a great job so far, but please pray for our rest and decision making. It is hard for us to get rest because there are always things at hand for us to be doing. So please pray for us!

Now let me tell you a little about the evangelism I have done. While I don't believe that my gifting is in evangelism, I find it such a vital COMMAND that Jesus gives us. I find it so comforting that He has all authority on heaven and Earth and that is the name I go out with! This week I definitely had a few hard conversations. There were some rejections and some conversations with pretty strong atheists. I met people who believe there is no meaning to life, which just breaks my heart. I loved them even upon meeting them and I am praying God will work in their hearts. I had some conversations where me and my partner had the chance to share the gospel! No one was particularly receptive to it in our times with them, but I know that God received so much glory through our obedience to Him. Some of the good conversations I want to share and ask for definite prayer for: Me and my partner one day met two guys named Alex and Tom. They both knew a decent bit about Christianity, but we got to go through the full gospel with them. Neither was entirely receptive to it, but neither was far opposed either. We continued just to talk with them about life and it was a great conversation. We got their phone numbers and are hoping to hang out with them on campus again and talk to them even more. Pray that God would be softening their hearts in between our hang outs. The other one I would love prayer for is a conversation me and a guy had with some Italian exchange students. Two of the three of them were strongly against God and really any meaning in this life. But the third seemed to be listening and following. The influence of the other two pulled him back though. His name is Greig. We got to share the gospel with all three. Pray that God works in all of their hearts, but particularly pray that we get to talk to Greig alone and share more with him.

Thank you guys so much for your prayers, our team absolutely needs them! I thank God for every one of you

Fast Times at LaTrobe and RMIT

The past two days we have been evangelizing at LaTrobe and RMIT, universities in Australia where we are spending our team. These were our two first days of our normal schedule. We went to each campus last week to pray over them fervently and I believe many prayers were answered. It is amazing to hear our team come back each day and share their experiences on campus. Sometimes they run into a straight "no" from people. Yet, we continue to pursue others, trying to share the GOSPEL! The Gospel has already been proclaimed many times on these campuses in the past two days. More than that, we are building relationships with the students on these unis. There has already been a few times of exchanging numbers so that we can continue to meet up! Doing evangelism is very interesting, because there is such a unique balance. We yearn to love people. Every student we talk to, we want them to feel loved by CHRIST LOVE IN US. We hope and pray to build relationships, and not ones that they feel deceived in. We don't want them in any way to feel, and we don't want to be motivated by, that we are just being their friends to somehow trick them into believing the gospel. On the other end, we desperately want these students to know the true gospel. Some don't know it! We want to make sure they know the truth of the gospel that lies in Scripture! So, there is a delicate balance between building loving relationships and sharing the TRUTH! Help pray for every member of the team that out of their Spirit-filled life, we would be able to have discernment in each of these situations. Pray for all of our ministry on these campuses. Pray we would not be discouraged by hard soil, or jealous of how God may be growing someone else's ministry on the team. Our definition for successful evangelism is taking initiative in the power of The Spirit to share the gospel and leaving the results to God. Pray we are all reminded of this. And please continue to pray for my leadership, as I seek to lead the team. Some praises on my end: I have shared the gospel 4 times with students already and been able to answer many questions about Christianity. One person we talked to was an international from China. We got to answer his questions about the broken nature of humanity and how that is what makes Jesus' sacrifice necessary. While he did not come to faith, I definitely saw his heart move closer during that conversation. Also, me and my partner met two guys and had another great conversation. We opened with a spiritual survey to know their beliefs and then went right into sharing the gospel with them. Afterwards, we didn't just leave them like we didn't care about them. We stayed around and talked about Australian and American things for another hour. We exchanged phone numbers and it definitely gave me a sense of encouragement. As I end this entry I would like to leave you with a piece of Scripture I am currently memorizing (I pray it helps you as much as it does me) Pslam 130:
Out of the depths I cry to you, O LORD; O LORD, hear my voice. Let your ears be attentive to my cry for mercy. If you, O LORD, kept a record of sins, O LORD, who could stand? But with you there is forgiveness; therefore you are feared. I wait for the LORD, my soul waits, and in His word I put my hope. My soul waits for the LORD, more than watchmen wait for the morning, more than watchmen wait for the morning. O Israel, put your hope in the LORD, for with the LORD is unfailing love and with Him is full redemption. He Himself will redeem Israel from all their sins

Introverts

I don't know how many of you have ever taken a Myers Briggs test (I am an INFJ), or really any personality test at all, but we have done that with the whole team this past week. It is a very good self awareness exercise. It helps one to recognize their tendencies around other people, in learning, making decisions, and in connecting with God. There were ten questions about whether one is an introvert or an extrovert. I answered introvert for all 10! God has definitely taught me over the past couple of years how much of an introvert I am, and how that affects my walk with His people and Himself. My energy gets immediately drained at parties, but I am replenished when I can remove myself and just be alone with my thoughts. We went over these tests in my discipleship time with each of the guys this week. I think it was great for every one of them and our team as a whole because it helps us to learn each others tendencies so we can be better unified. Last night was one of the times that this test came in handy for me. I was in a definite funk for no reason starting around dinner last night. I was able to hold myself together through dinner, but afterwards I knew I had to fix it. The team went out to a shopping center, but I had to remove myself from them for a couple of hours to be alone with my thoughts and my Creator and Savior. I took this time to listen to worship music, read, and examine my funk. I know from previous missions experiences that Satan uses these funks to keep us down on trips and keep us away from the rest of the body of Christ and Christ Himself. So coming to God in this funk was a top priority for my. I listened to a Mark Driscoll sermon on how Jesus gives life, and that message is so refreshing at any stage. No matter how you are feeling, the simple fact that the Incarnation, Death on the Cross, and Resurrection happened begin to work in your heart. Jesus paid it all, and is the only religious figure still alive so we can have hope in Him! I started jotting down a lot of scripture that I wanted to memorize over the next few weeks and one of the passages was Psalm 27:4 "One thing I ask of the Lord, this is what I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord and to seek Him in His temple." Seeking the Lord in my funk did a world of wonders, and this morning I woke up fresh and anew. Continue to pray for these times that may be difficult for me, especially as a leader and having to lead during them. Pray for our team as well, that we may be unified and grow together; no matter who is having a rough day. Thank you guys so much for all the prayer you have lifted up, our team will always need it!

Be My Everything

To begin I would like to share with you a story I read:

A dear friend of mine who was quite a lover of the chase, told me the following story: 'Rising early one morning,' he said, 'I heard the baying of a score of deerhounds in pursuit of their quarry. Looking away to a broad, open field in front of me, I saw a young fawn making its was across, and giving signs, moreover, that its race was well-nigh run. Reaching the rails of the enclosure, it leaped over and crouched within ten feet from where I stood. A moment later two of the hounds came over, when the fawn ran in my direction and pushed its head between my legs. I lifted the little thing to my breast, and, swinging round and round, fought off the dogs. I felt, just then, that all the dogs in the West could not, and should not capture that fawn after its weakness had appealed to my strength.' So is it, when human helplessness appeals to Almighty God. Well do I remember when the hounds of sin were after my soul, until, at last, I ran into the arms of Almighty God

"In himself, nothing; in God, everthing" is how A.W. Tozer puts it. The simple truth that we are helpless, nothing. Unable to deal with this world on our own strength. As a leader, the temptation is to say that I did this or I achieved that. My flesh wants to do things by its own strength and give itself the glory. Yet, in truth, nothing I do will account for anything in the end. It is all based on Christ's sacrifice. My leadership and walk with God should propose to be a reflection of that truth. On the one hand, I am utterly helpless, as weak and fragile as a newborn babe. Yet, God views me through the sacrifice of His son and provides me with all the equipment that I need. In myself, I am a sinner who sometimes does morally good things. In God's eyes through the sacrifice of His son, I am a righteous saint who sometimes sins. Many Christians have this view of heaven that Jesus is begging to the Father on His knees asking for forgiveness for each one of our sins. However, JESUS ALREADY MADE THE PAYMENT! God is a God of justice and does not ask for double the payment. Jesus has already one the case, by presenting the evidence of His own sacrifice He atones for every one of our sins, shortcomings, and sorrows. This is the truth I hope to cling to, as I realize my inadequacy to lead through my own strength.

Leadership

Man this trip to Australia is going to teach me a lot, and it already has. Deuteronomy 18:2 talking about the Levitical priests says this "They shall have no inheritance among their brothers; the LORD is their inheritance" I read that today and it struck me as a minister of God's word and leader of His people here in Australia. I think for a couple of reasons. One is that I am dependent upon every one of you and everyone supporting me to even be here to minister. The other is that this trip has already taxed me after just three days. There are many free times for the students to enjoy, but the leadership team constantly has pressing matters to attend to during these times. Now, by no means am I complaining, because I have enjoyed myself so much here and am learning so much. Also, every one of the students are so amazing and I am seeing God in each one. But it hits me that as a leader, there is a higher standard and more work to do. Yet, the LORD is the inheritance for the ministers for His word. And that puts my heart back into such a position of peace!
Like I said I have already learned a lot on this trip. For those of you who don't know me all that well, I hate making decisions. Yet, as the Project Director I am looked towards to make the decisions. And many of these decisions are spur of the moment type ones. I am trusting in God to do His will through each of these decisions. I am also learning how to keep short accounts within the team and make sure everything goes smoothly. Conflict and disagreements arise, and are bound to arise even more, so it is important to deal with these in a Godly manner. Hands on training! The last is in flexibility. I am not the biggest detail person, but there have been many things that have happened where the details have changed on us and we have had to make certain calls because of that. Patience and keeping a peaceful mind is so important not to become upset in each of these moments. All of this being said, myself and our leadership team could definitely use your prayer! I beseech you to pray for us to strengthen our team. Thank you so much!

Hey I Just Met You

Our whole team arrived here yesterday! It was so exciting getting to see many of their faces for the first time! I had known five of the members from UCLA, but the other nine came from all over California (Cal Poly SLO, Chico State, Stanislaus, Merced). Everything that we had been planning over the past six months became more and more real as each student walked in. The couple of days before the briefing started I had become a little nervous about leading this team and how good I would even be. But as one of the coaches for our team reminded me, "The safest place you can be is in God's will." I know I am in the Lord's will in this mission, and have been affirmed by all of the support that you guys have been giving me. And I know I rest safe in the number of prayers that are being lifted up for this team, not only from my prayer warriors, but every one of the support teams the students have put together.
We had our first time to sit down and get to know each other as a team last night. It started out light, just like any other time you get to know people in a semi-awkward group situation. Then the students and us started sharing how we are doing coming in to this mission. They were so incredibly vulnerable, and it was amazing to see God at work in that room. We heard about pain, hurt, struggles, and victory. Students affirming, encouraging, and praying for one another. To tell you the truth, it was the type of sight that words cannot totally grasp. To hear where some students were coming from just made me amazed that they were even at briefing. God's sovereign hand was in all of it. We have been focusing at briefing on how to love the lord, love our team, learn a new culture, and launch a movement. It is so great to share with the student's our leaderships vision of the project and what their days will look like. I have been getting so pumped and it has been amazing. Thank you all for your prayers!

Grandma Betty

Grandma Betty is my grandma, and I am proud of it. She has constantly been an inspiration to my faith and has loved me always. She is always praying, seeking through Scripture, and has her mind set on the kingdom of the Lord Almighty. God has certainly used her in my life as a model of a servant of Jesus, and one who loves unconditionally. Before I left to begin my training at briefing, she gave me a piece of Scripture as encouragement. She gave me James 5:20, "Let him know that whoever brings back a sinner from his wandering will save his soul from death and will cover a multitude of sins." Now this verse may have a lot of theological stuff in it about people wandering from the faith and whose sins are covered. While those are important topics, they are not as important as the great piece of theology that screams out of this verse. SAVING A SINNER BRINGS SAVES THEIR SOUL FROM DEATH! It is always God who saves, but He uses us a people to plant, water, and sow the seed of faith in others. This whole process is about bringing someone to life who is currently dead. I once was dead, but now I'm alive because of Christ and His sacrifice for me. Honestly, I go to Australia this summer for two reasons. God consistently affirmed me that it was in His plans for me, and that I will get the blessed opportunity to bring Australian sinners back to life. Not that I can't do that here, because all of us certainly can. In fact, I don't do it near as much as I should. As John Piper puts it, "The world will tell you that you are arrogant, not loving, if you spread the message of Jesus's saving work as the only way to God. But God calls it love!" This is an amazing truth, and I pray that in Australia our team could save sinners. I have the way to life, how awful is it for me to keep it and not tell the world that Jesus is a spring of everlasting water that can save them from hell. I pray to always remember this, not only to help me in Australia, but throughout the rest of my walk with God on Earth. Thank you Grandma Betty!

Deuteronomy

Deuteronomy 1:30-33 "The LORD your God who goes before you will himself fight for you, just as he did for you in Egypt before your eyes, and in the wilderness, where you have seen how the LORD your God carried you, as a man carries his son, all the way that you went until you came to this place. Yet in spite of the word you did not believe the LORD your God, who went before you in the way to seek you out a place to pitch your tents, in fire by night and in the cloud by day, to show you by what way you should go"

I have been reading the book of Deuteronomy lately. Throughout the past couple of years in my education at UCLA, I have read a lot of the Old Testament (mostly due to my Hebrew/Jewish Studies minor). I have loved so many of these classes. Don't get me wrong, there are a lot of things taught that I don't agree with. However, learning these things and learning the history behind a lot of the texts has been so incredible! I love the beginning of Deuteronomy! It is just Moses speakin a bunch of truth to the Israelites. He reminds them of where they have come from. God was so prevalent through everything that led them out of Egypt. They were so quick to forget what God had done for them. By remembering these things and trusting in God to lead the way, the Israelites would be able to take the promised land. My favorite part of this section is that God carries us as a "man carries his son". Too many times I do things of my own strength. It is a good reminder that God carries me all the way home to heaven! This lesson is one I pray to keep with me all summer!

Prayer

Prayer is of vital importance to God and our relation with Him. We have the Creator of the Universe on a 24 hour line, yet so many times our relation to Him is as a stranger. I am so thankful for the prayer that everyone reading this blog is providing, and am overjoyed at the relationships each one of you have built with the Lord. Hopefully, the gospel of Christ is permeating every part of your lives and I will pray this as much as I can for everyone I know. I wanted to give everyone reading this blog a number of prayer requests. This missions trip to Australia needs God, and God will be invoked by prayer. So here are some things you could be praying for me, our team, and the trip:

• That God would move in the hearts of Australian college students, leading them to Christ. That they would grow in fervor for Him and lead others to Him. Ultimately, that the nation of Australia would become a Christ-centered one!
• That our team would have the courage, wisdom, boldness, and strength to persevere. Every member on the team will undoubtedly run into trials and times of feebleness. Pray that God gives us Himself, so our ministry would be fruitful in His eyes.
• For our team to look towards the will of God. This trip may not be as fruitful in our eyes as we want, or it could be way more than we could ever believe! Either way, let us trust God that His will is being done through us!
• For safety, ease, and peace in all of our travels. That the flight and transition to hostel life would go great. That everything administratively would continue to not be a hassle.
• For each of our walks with the Lord, including my own. Ultimately, our own walks with Jesus are the most important things in our lives. Pray that these relationships do not suffer do to our ministry. Pray that our walks would be our foundation to reach others.

Thank you so much for all your help and all you are doing!

Roarin

"The citadel of God is taken only by those, who storm it in dreadful earnestness, who besiege it, with fiery, unabated zeal" E. M. Bounds

I am currently reading a book by E. M. Bounds titled The Necessity of Prayer. Prayer is a vital par to the ministry that God has called me to in Australia. I love this quote from his book. It captures my desire. I am by no means perfect at getting there, but I yearn to have a fiery zeal that demands God's kingdom. However, it is most important to recognize that this will never be accomplished out of my own strength. It most be achieved by leaning on God, as an ever flowing stream of peace, power, and action. I want desperately to be a part of the kingdom of God, but this comes first by recognizing my need as a sinner to draw from the strength of the Lord. His promises will endure, and I ultimately belong in heaven with Him.

Along these lines, I wanted to take a minute to explain the title of my blog page. I love the song Rorain like a Lion. One of the lines says "My God's not dead, He's surely alive, and He's living on the inside, Roarin like a Lion". I want God's Roar in my heart to be heard throughout the nation of Australia. That will only come with me allowing myself to be used as God's vessel, and be His mouthpiece (just like Moses). In this, God will use me. I want to Roar like a Lion to the Aussies. But again, I must draw close to God in prayer to do this. I read the Chronicles of Narnia series over the past three months, and Aslan reminded me so much of the character of God. C.S. Lewis did many a great favor by personifying God in a different way. The most important thing I recognized is that God is a powerful being, but still the most intimately comforting one as well. This balance is one of the things that makes God so AWESOME! I can't wait to show Aussies this!

Hello!

Hello to everyone reading this!  This blog will be a place where I will try to keep my supporters updated on what God is doing in Australia, on our team there, and on His place in my heart.  I cannot thank each of you enough for praying for me, and for many of you financially supporting me as well!  I will do my best to post as much as possible, but I can't make any promises! Thank you so much!