Teaching a Passion

I was given the opportunity to teach a few days on one of the schools that we run here in YWAM (Youth With A Mission) Harpenden. The Foundations in Community Development (FCD) school looks at all aspects of how to equip and enable community's to develop in a positive way, both those in developing nations and developed nations.

My Passion revolves around conservation and environmental stewardship and sustainability, so this is what I got to teach on, focusing on environmental stewardship. It was a really fun few of days, with lots of discussions and exploring together what it means to be a steward of this earth and looking at why as Christians we are called to do this.

This is the second time I have been asked to teach on this subject and it has really challenged the way I think about the way I live, especially the way we look after our environment. We live in such an incredible world, such a gift from God, and I for one want to see it flourish.

A New Chapter

It is always exciting to be able to start a new chapter in a book, especially when the last one was so exciting. I feel the same way about getting married, and what God has spoken to me and my beautiful wife Christy about.

The last couple of years have been incredible, God has touched my life in a way that has left me changed forever, and I have had the privilege in being apart of God touching so many other lives around me also. I have witnessed people healed physically, spiritually, emotionally. I have witnessed God provide in some pretty crazy ways, when nothing seemed possible. I have never felt so full of Joy and Hope as I do now and feel more alive and more real than ever. This last chapter has kept me of the edge of my seat!

So I am really excited about this next one, especially with the way it has started. We got married on the 6th October in the states, in a town called Hudson which is where Christy's home church is. After everything that we were involved in we had about a month together in the states to organise everything that needed sorting. All the doors just seemed to open for us when we needed them too, every little detail fell into place. We spent much time praying together also, for the day and for what it would look like next. Our photographer fell into our lap, a woman of strong faith, and only an hour away, we were her last booking of the season. The flowers worked perfectly, and the food was amazing, and family on my side who were thinking they would be unable to make it happened to get time to be able to join us.

A small example of God's faithfulness in the day, we prayed and felt we should marry on the 6th, even though we wanted to marry earlier (looking back this would not have been possible). We wanted to get married outside in Christy's backyard, but that door closed very quickly. So we prayed and felt like we should do everything, ceremony and reception at her home church. We are so glad we listened and submitted to this as the temperature dropped and we even got light snow on our wedding day!

Our biggest prayer for the day was that it would be a God focused ceremony. We were so blessed by what people said after. "How you really know God was present", "that it felt like a real wedding, not just a show/ceremony", "how full of Joy it was".

We are both so thankful for what God did and has done since, how he has brought us together. We are both really keen on continuing to write this chapter with him and see where we end up.

January DTS 2012 Graduate

The last 8 months have really been amazing, with 20 trainees from 12 different nations, it has been a real mix of ideas and experience. Such a privilege to spend this time with them, going through teaching and leading a team on outreach. To be a part of what God has done in and through them and to look back on it with them makes what I do so worth it.

This is the second School that I have staffed, and I really enjoy the graduations, they are full of both excitement over what has happened and also over what is too come. One of the greatest joys about staffing a DTS (discipleship training school) is watching how much people change and grow over the time, and also to hear what they are planing to go to next, where they feel God is taking them. Which is why we not only give our trainees a certificate of graduation, but also commission them into what God is calling them too by praying for them.

The evening itself was simple yet full of joy. As each of our trainees came up to collect their certificate they marked on a map of the UK where they had been with a thumb print. as the evening went on the board was filled with lots of colour. We had worship and a time of reflecting on some of the ways which we have all seen God impact our lives and the lives of those we met over this school. We finished by presenting the certificates and then spent the rest of the evening in a mixture of joy and sadness as we spent time together for the last time before people started to head back home.

The school was called Impact UK, and these guys certainly left a mark everywhere they went. As well as being greatly impacted themselves. God has really done so much over these last 8 months in and through all these guys, and I am excited to hear what they go on to do.

A Week In Bow

It has been a busy year so far with the team I am helping to lead here at Youth With A Mission (YWAM) in Harpenden. We have Just got back from spending a week in an area of London called Bow (famous for the Bow Bells). We went to help a local church, All Hallows Bow (AHB-www.allhallowsbow.org.uk), to run a number of activities during the Olympics to help them build relationships with the local community. We also got to spend time in Stratford, close to the Olympic venues sharing faith with the different people we met.

We spent most of our time helping to run a café, showing the Olympics for the local community. We got to have a number of really good conversations with people, seeing them come day after day. One or two of them even came along to join us on Sunday for the service. We also went round the local area talking with the people who live locally, and even getting to pray for people. Amir, one of the guys who was with us got to pray for healing for a man with terrible knees, to the point he could not walk more than to the park bench outside his house and back each day. After talking and praying with this man, he saw a big change in his knees physically, and the man was able to walk without pain. We also got to run sport with the local kids, especially football, which they all really enjoyed. Loads of people ended up joining us in the café after we met them in the local area and talked and prayed with them.

We were also treated to some amazing views of London from people who lived close to the church we were staying in.

It was a really good way to finish off this part of the DTS (Discipleship Training School) that I have been helping to run this year. God has been so amazingly faithful in providing finances and other logistics to enable everyone who came to complete the whole school.

Tent City

Here at YWAM (Youth With A Mission) in Harpenden we are having a very busy summer. The campus I am working on at the moment is hosting a great deal of YWAM Internationals summer outreaches for the Olympic season. This basically means that over the whole summer we will be seeing over 2000 people pass through the gates of the property as we go and share who God is with the people we meet, especially in London, and pray for them.

We have had to set up what we call a tent city on the back field attached to the property to accommodate all the extra people. It has been a lot of fun so far, and we are only half way through everything that is happening.

It has been a real privilege to be able to hear all that God has been doing during this summer to date, with several hundred people committing their lives to Christ and even more asking for pray and seeing God answer. From healings of all sorts of injury and illness, to stories of provision of travel and daily needs, to God opening a way for things to happen when nothing seemed possible. We are so excited to see what else God is going to do this summer, and so blessed to be apart of it.

The Circuit Riders

My team and me spent the last couple of weeks involved with a school here called ‘The Circuit Riders’. This was a two-week course aimed at greater freedom in Christ and intentional evangelism (www.ywamharpenden.org/training/circuitriders). We had about 200 people join us here in Harpenden for this, which was pretty intense. We spent time in worship and intercession everyday, as well as receiving teaching focusing on our relationship and identity in Christ. We also went into Harpenden, Luton and St Albans to offer prayer and talk to people about God and life.

I really enjoyed the two weeks and felt like I gained a much better understanding of what my faith means to me and why I do what I do. We had a really great time, and were challenged a lot in whom we are.

Our times out in the different towns were also amazing. I got to have a number of really good conversations with people about what it means to live a life after Jesus, and to pray for a number of people. I am not sure that the area really knows what hit it, with over 200 young people dividing between the three locations and sharing the love of Christ in each different place over the two weeks. God was amazing over the time and we ended up seeing over 70 healings (from sprained ankles, to a lady who was partially sighted getting full sight back). We also had 129 people invite Christ to be their saviour over the two weeks.

I am sure it will be one of those times that I remember, and I know it has helped to give me a push into more of seeing God’s kingdom come.

A Week of Transformation

My DTS (Discipleship Training School) team and I spent our final week of our outreach working in an area of Bolton called Daubhill with a ministry called PFJ (Passion For Jesus). We spent this week on a plot of land, which used to be a community Garden, but has not been touched for a number of years, meaning it was massively overgrown and full of rubbish. It took us three days to clear the weeds and rubbish, trimming all the hedges, cutting the grass, tiding up the rose garden and replanting the old flowerbed, to transform it into an area for playing and enjoying. The other encouraging thing is that the church which is next to the plot of land were wanting to take on the responsibility of maintaining the land, they just needed a bit of help to get it going.

It was really nice for the team to be able to do something practical, something in which you can see visible results happen in the time we had available. Especially as this was the final week of our time as a team, so to achieve something together was really valuable.

The local community were also really enthusiastic about it, they would come and talk with us as we worked, making sure we were kept well hydrated and fed. One woman who has lived in the are all here life (nearly 80 years) said she has watched the area go downhill over the last 10-15 years, and it is just amazing to see something positive happening. It is also such a blessing that such a diverse team, from so many places would be willing to come and do something like we did.

We also spent the evenings in a couple of the local parks with a slack line, uni-cycle, and other items of sporting equipment. This was a really great chance to meet more people from the community and just have a bit of fun.

For me the week was not just about making a nice green space for the community to enjoy, it was also about being able to help bring a bit of joy and hope to an area of the city that has slowly been neglected. These people as much as anyone else deserves something to brighten up there summer!

Liverpool Connection!

Me and the team I am leading at the moment spent Friday June 8^th in Liverpool. We ended up making a random connection with another group from Youth With A Mission that had come over from Boston. When I first said Hi to them they were amazed, as they had met one of the other outreach teams that the current Discipleship Training School I am helping to lead sent out in Glasgow. So to meet us was crazy, especially as it was all unplanned, God is so funny like that. I met them because I had left the rest of the team to take a walk with God to encourage people as I went. Walking round the city centre, going left where he told me and right where he told me, talking to people as I went and eventually God lead me straight to this other team.

While I was talking to one of the guys two skater kids came past us and we got talking. I found out that the guy I was talking with (Matt) had been talking with them a bit yesterday. This conversation really broke my heart and challenged me greatly; it started off with the older of the two (who was around 16) saying that he would rather believe in science than God, which is where the conversation had ended the other day. The only problem with this is that I am a trained scientist (I did a marine Biology Degree) which meant that the defense he was trying to use about science fell down. Then I felt God tell me he does not feel loved, so I asked him if this was true and he just said yes, in an almost defeated way, and almost started crying. So I got to tell him how when I met God properly for the first time 5/6 years ago I was filled with an overwhelming sense of being fully loved, like I had never felt before. This brought back all the emotions for me too. We got to talk about this for a bit longer at which point his mate who had listened said he thought that maybe this was a good thing, maybe they should meet God themselves. I had to run at this point as my team were leaving, so I left them with Matt and another guy to talk about what this meant, saying yes to God, saying yes to Jesus.

The whole thing brought me back to that place of such thankfulness for the fact that God loves me, and everyone else for that matter, no matter how much we may have messed things up. And how much it breaks my heart to know that others do not feel loved at all, it makes me angry that people do not know this, that the world has lied to them, telling them that they are not loved, or valued, that they have no hope. It was one of those moments that brought into sharp focus the reason for why I do what I do, why I listen to God and follow what he is saying.

Spreading Hope in Stockport

I spent the day spreading hope in Stockport with my team and Stockport family church (www.stockportfamilychurch.org.uk) on Thursday (June7th).

We spent some time praying before we went and asking God for words of encouragement to put in a big box for people to come and take from. We also spent some time praying about the weather, as it was supposed to rain for the whole day, when we got into Stockport the rain stopped and did not start again until we left, which was amazing, God is so good.

When we arrived we started with worship (a guitar) and continued this for the whole time we were out. We also set up a question board for people to come and write on and headed out with a video camera to ask people what hope is.

It was such a fun day, the worship was very significant, as people would come and stop and then start asking us why we were around, as did the question board. It was a really great time of being able to answer questions about hope and God, and bless people, some of them even asked about coming to church to find out more. One of my favorite stories came from one of the guys on the team who had gone out with the encouragement box; they managed to stop a guy who travels around on a mobility scooter. This guy looks like a pirate with a bandana on his head and he asked if he could take three notes to which they said yes. After he read them he started asking about whom God is and about where the church was as all the notes had been very specific and significant to him. The funny thing about this is I had managed to give him a note the week before when we just came to pray round Stockport to see what God wanted to do.

The video camera was a lot fun, most people told us that hope was looking forward to better in the future. One woman even told us that hope was what she had found when she met Jesus the year before. It is amazing to see God at work in people, and to go and be apart of that is so exciting.

The Flame Passes...

As we all know, I hope, the Olympic flame is passing round the UK at the moment on a tour prior to the opening ceremony in July.

The team I am leading at the moment happened to be in Bolton when the flame was coming through. Since this DTS (Discipleship Training School) is a UK focused one due to this being the Olympic year, we thought it would be really cool to go and see the flame and pray for the place and the Olympics at the same time. So we headed down to Bolton town centre an hour or so before the flame was due to pass through the town centre and spent time praying and speaking out scripture to bless the people. It was a really big party atmosphere, and it was really amazing to be a presence of God in that place.

 

It was one of those ‘once-in-a-lifetime’ situations, I am probably never going to see the flame again like this, so it was really amazing to be able to join in the celebration, but also to be able to pray for it as well as I know prayer makes such a difference.

 

Invading Space!

The YWAM (Youth With A Mission) team that I am leading at the moment in Newcastle had an opportunity to partner with an organization that calls itself space invaders!

http://www.spaceinvadersgateshead.org.uk/

Over the last couple of weeks we have joined these guys for 4 days of renovation on a house. It is being used to give local youth, some of which have been excluded from school, a space to be creative. The youth do a mixture of helping to renovate the house and simply be creative, for example of the final day we were with them they were given a pile of wood and told to create something, they came out with things from bookshelves to a swing.

We spent the time helping the project to strip a number of rooms of the many layers of wallpaper, and then fill the holes ready for them to be re-painted.

The project is not run by Christians, one of the ladies who work on the project is and she told us that having us around made the atmosphere seem so much lighter. One of the other ladies was also very curious about why we had come to join them, and asked a bit about our faith, she also accepted being prayed for on our final day with her.

We had a lot of fun, and it was really nice to be able to see the progress as we come back each time.

Faith in Newcastle

I have recently been in Newcastle with a small team working alongside YWAM (Youth With A Mission) in Newcastle. The guys in Newcastle had put together a number of different activities for us. One of these was something called a faith day. An open day on our schedule in which we ask God what he wants us to do and follow his lead. The rules are no returning for 12 hours and you are not allowed to take any money, food etc, it is all done by faith, trusting God in everything.

I really enjoy being involved with these, especially with a group who have never done it before, as it really does teach you trust in God and hearing his voice.

 

So we headed into town and after praying as a group and asking God about what our morning should look like, we went around and spoke to everyone we found who was on crutches, asking if we could pray for them. We got mixed responses, but did get to pray for more than a dozen people. My favorite lady was an older woman who was waiting for her sister; she had arthritis in her knees. After talking for a while about the city and her memories of the place we prayed with her. We also stopped to talk with quite a few homeless people and got to pray with all of them.

At lunch we asked God what we should do, and felt like we should go to a local park and enjoy the sun. So we headed there and had a nap for about an hour before we had a time of intercession for the city. This was a really powerful time, with everyone hearing the same things from God.

We felt like we should then go and do some practical gardening work, so we eventually got connected with an asylum seeker from the Ivory Coast in Africa and helped him with his garden. This was great as when we finished he gave us tea/coffee, as much as we could drink, and as many biscuits as we could eat. We were told a couple of days later that our visit had helped to lift him out of his hopeless mood and get him fired up again for life.

We also got a call from the YWAM leader in Newcastle after we left him to let us know that someone had made us a curry and brought it round, so when we got back we got to enjoy that. We had more than enough for the next day also!

We ended our day down at the station, where I sat and had a long conversation with another homeless guy. I really enjoy just chatting and giving people time and an ear to listen. He told me as I left that I had made such a difference to his day, that by just stopping and giving him some company it had really helped him.

All in all we had an amazing day. We not only got to see God touch a few lives, but also provide for us. The comment from one of the guys was it was a great day for addressing attitudes he had, and to really confirm to him both that God is real and that there is a reason for him being here.

One of the craziest things I have ever done…

It is May 24^th and today I had a day off from the set ministries that my team and I are currently involved with here in Newcastle. Since the sun was out I thought I would enjoy it. So I asked God where He would recommend for my day off as I had a number of different ideas and He suggested I head to Whitley Bay. So I went and got myself a ticket for the metro and went to the platform to wait. A man followed me onto the platform and asked the guy I was standing next to a question. He then looked straight at me and turned and quickly moved to the other end of the platform.  I felt very strongly that I needed to ask the man if he had met Jesus. So I got on the train and went and sat next to him, again he looked right at me and before I could say anything he got up and moved to the other end of the carriage. So I sat there and prayed for him wandering what to do. I had heard him say to someone else that he was going to Whitley Bay, so I decided to be patient and wait till we got off to talk to him.

He decided that he would get off 5 stops later, only halfway to Whitley, So I quickly asked God and felt I should follow him. So I jumped up and got off the train just as the warning tones started to tell people the doors were closing. He was already off the station at this point, so I ran after him and when I caught up with him asked him straight up if he had met Jesus. He looked shocked and then told me no he had not. Then he told me all about everything he was suffering from and about his painful past. He had a number of mental instabilities such as bi-polar, paranoid schizophrenia, learning difficulties etc (I will not put it all down, it was quite a lot). When he finished I told him that Jesus could heal him and take that pain away, so he started to list it all again, and ramble. I simply said in the name of Jesus and he fell silent, at which point I was able to ask him his name and if I could pray with him, to which he said yes.

After I had prayed with him he managed to role up a cigarette and get his third match to light it. As he managed to get it lit he suddenly stopped and dropped it on the floor and simply said I need to go. In that moment something in his face changed and he walked off. I headed back to the station and continued onto the beach and had an amazing relaxing day in the sun.

I realised today that being open and obedient, even if it seems crazy, releases so much of the blessings of the kingdom. When I stepped out in faith I had no idea what was going to happen, I was expecting him to tell me to get lost, but God showed up and blessed both him and me. God is pretty amazing, I did not see radical things change on the spot, but I am ok with that. As long as I am trying to live my life in obedience to what God is asking that is enough. At the end of the day my responsibility is to do what God is asking of me, what happens after that is his.

Healings in Walker

As a Christian I know that God is able to heal, I know this to be true, as God has healed me. However, I still struggle to actual believe that God will heal when I take a step of faith and pray for someone. So I often argue with myself when I am out to actually talk to people and offer to pray for healing.

On Saturday (19^th May) the team I am leading at the moment were helping some of the local churches in Walker, which is in Newcastle, to run a marquee and football cage in the Walker Festival. The festival is not actually a Christian run event, but the churches in Walker come together to do things in the festival to connect more with the local community.

 Our time was going to finish with worship in the marquee, and so we spent the hour before hand walking round the festival praying. God has been challenging me recently to be offering the blessings of the kingdom to all I meet. So after a bit of time walking round and praying, and noticing lots of people on crutches. I went to find one of the other people we are working with to come and speak to people and offer prayer. I had done my normal arguing, but got to the point where I did not want to argue with myself any more. I do not want to be afraid of blessing others.

 The first lady we spoke to had injured her foot the night before, and was in quite a lot of pain. She said we could pray for her after a bit of hesitation, but she told us nothing had changed when we finished. We were not to be discouraged, and headed for another small group of people, one of whom was using a crutch. This group were very eager for us to pray. Not only the older woman who was using the crutch but others also, they were a family. The older woman suffered from arthritis of the hips, which she needed an operation for, but had been told that due to her epilepsy an operation would be too dangerous. So we prayed for her and the change was immediate. She told us that the severe pain that had been in her hips had gone. She then walked away toward a bench but quickly came back to tell us that she was no longer limping! Her daughter then told us she had bad knee pain, and swollen ankles. So we prayed for her and she told us that she felt really light as we prayed, and that the pain, which she had described as heavy before, was lifted. She wandered off to join her mother and a couple of other members of the family. The woman’s son stayed with us longer and told us about losing his father and how hard he had found it since. He also wanted prayer so we prayed a blessing over him, and the change in him was incredible, when he wandered away he almost floated. He was at a complete lose for words after we prayed, which he had not had any problem with before.

After this we headed back to join the others for the worship that the churches wanted to finish with. It was really encouraging for me to see God do amazing things when I take that tiny step of faith and reach out with the blessings of his kingdom.

Igniting Hope in Cardiff

I have the privilege of leading an outreach as part of the Discipleship Training School (DTS) I am working on with Youth With A Mission (YWAM). The team I am leading is going to three different locations over an 8-week period in the UK.

Our first stop has been Cardiff to join in with an event called Ignite Hope 2012. This is a youth conference where young people come to hear teaching and challenge about who God is, what it means to have faith and then to go out and put it into practice all over Cardiff.

We had the pleasure of joining with another team of like size from Colorado in the states and the ignite team to run this event. We spent two days putting the site together, constructing marquees, putting up bouncy castles and the like, setting up staging and cafes etc. The event was then over four days, before we took it all down again.

The actual event was amazing, with over 150 young people wanting to invite Jesus to be their saviour and Lord for the first time. We had the privilege of being a part of the prayer team and getting to sit and talk with a number of these guys about what it means to become and Christian. We have also been able to pray with people for healing and seeing them become well. The outward focus activities was also an amazing chance to be able to talk with people all over Cardiff and not only share what we believe, but also help to clean up areas practically (from litter picking to cleaning graffiti and re-painting)

The presence of God has been very strong during this weekend, especially in the worship. I really enjoy seeing young people come alive and want to reach out to others and bless them, and to be apart of this weekend has really blessed me and challenged me in who I am and what I believe.

An Easter walk

In Harpenden, which is the place where I live and work with YWAM (Youth With A Mission), the churches get together each year on Good Friday and walk through the town together finishing with prayer and worship on the green in the middle of the town.

This year was my first experience of this and it was more fun than I thought it would be. Possibly because there were over 200 of us walking through the town, which was really interesting  when we crossed the roads, we would go across about 50 at a time so we did not cause too much disruption.

It was a really beautiful day for it and I am really glad I went down. Very refreshing to see the church doing something together, with representation from most of the different denominations here in Harpenden.

The SORJ graduate

As a Campus for the University of the Nations (http://uofnkona.edu) we run a number of training courses other than the DTS (Discipleship training school), which is one of the areas I currently work in.

One of these schools, the School of Reconciliation and Justice (SORJ) graduated last week. This is the 4th that has been run here in the last 4 years. The school is focused on bringing God's reconciliation and restoration into all areas of society (http://ywamharpenden.org/training/sorj). The trainees have teaching about biblical world view and what that means in a broken world and how to bring this into every day life. The majority of trainees come from nations that have been torn apart by war with a view to return and help rebuild their nation on biblical foundations.

It is always such a joy and privilege to be apart of hearing their vision and sending them out again from this place to pursue God in what they are doing. Really amazing bunch of people.

Fear!

I was in Coventry a couple of weeks ago with the Discipleship Training School (DTS) that I am currently working on. We joined with a number of other DTS's from around the country for a week of teaching and evangelism alongside the local churches.

One of the days was a teaching on fear. During this time God started to speak to me about obedience and I realised in that moment that fear had robed me of so much of the life I should have! But more than this, it crushes us as people, and I realised that I was sick of living in fear. I actually walked outside during the session as it hit me that hard and started to pray. As I was talking to God I saw a man on crutches walking along the street and felt God tell me I should go and offer to pray for him, so I said to God that if he comes this way at the junction I will. Obviously he did not, and God reminded me about what he had been talking to me about with obedience, so I got up and ran down the street after this man. When I reached him I told him who I was and what we were doing and asked if I could pray for him and his leg. He simply said no turned round and carried on. As I walked back to the building we were using I asked God what that was all about, why had I run down the street to be told no after He had asked me to go. He said this to me "What I am asking of you is obedience, to do what I am asking, to offer the blessings of my kingdom to all you meet, that is your responsibility. Your responsibility is not what the people you meet do with that offer". God is incredible, so gentle and firm, and so full of love, wanting everyone to be offered the chance to know him and be restored.

A Gathering In Coventry

So here at YWAM we like to get together ever so often and we call it a gathering, for the DTS's it is a week of teaching on evangelism and actual reaching out. Over the last couple of years YWAM in England has been focusing these weeks on the cities here in the UK that are involved in hosting Olympics events. So 167 of us gathered in Coventry for a week, including a school from Norway and one from Italy, to hear teaching, reach out and come along side local churches.

I always love these, this being the fourth one I have been involved with. They always challenge me greatly in my faith, and I see God touches so many lives, it is such a blessing to be able to be a part of it.

One of my favorite stories from this week happened on the first day and it sets the bar for what the rest of the week was like. One of the outreaches that was being run alongside one of the churches was something called "Say One For Me". This is where people can come and give a request for prayer and a small team are on hand to be praying. One of the first people who came in had had a stroke about 4 years before which had left him limited in his movement, after the pair who had sat with him had prayed they asked him to try to do something he could not before, and he immediately lifted his right arm and started to move it around. They asked if God had done anything, if there was any improvement, to which he answered that he had been unable to move his arm since the stroke! Absolutely incredible. We got to pray with so many people during the week and see them healed and set free. People who had been using crutches walked away carrying them etc.

There was a number of other things to be involved with, one of my favorites was called "I Am..." which lead to some really interesting and deep conversations about belief and God and purpose and destiny. The churches and the christian union at the university really enjoyed having us around and joining in with things that they already do.

I had the pleasure of talking with a few different people other the time we were in Coventry, people I met on the streets who I was able to meet up with on more than one occasion. Two of them gave their lives to God. Not because I argued them into it, actually we did not talk loads about God. They said it was because I helped them to find value and hope again by giving them time. I feel so blessed being able to talk to people like this, who just want to share life, and to be able to do that with them. When you let God love you and love through you the world really does move.

Intercession

At the start of this month me and a good friend of mine were asked to take on the responsibility for intercession on the YWAM campus I am currently working on. It was a real privileged to be asked to do this as intercession is something I have a real passion for. being able to spend time listening to God about what is on his heart for this time and coming along side his purposes and pray life into them.

I had the pleasure of leading the first session and saw God move in an incredible way.  When praying about it before hand we felt God say that we were to have no agenda, but simply come before him expecting. We were not sure exactly what this meant, but that is what we did, we came to intercession without a list of things to be prayed about, or a country in mind.

It was one of the most powerful times of intercession I have ever been apart of. We spent most of the time as a community breaking apathy over the place before we turned outward to speak life and blessings over the nations. It is amazing what happens when we allow God space to do what he has on his heart to do, and not put a box around him!

I am really looking forward to what God has for this season, and spending time as a community hearing him on that.

A Week Of Blessing

Youth With A Mission (YWAM) has a number of different locations across the UK of varying sizes. As a school we felt that it was important to invest in other YWAM work here in the UK (as we are the 'Impact UK Discipleship Training School'). So we divided up into small teams and went to most of the other YWAM locations across the UK.

I took a team of 3 guys with me up to Leeds where a team have been established for about 2 years, and have a particular focus on Justice and the Arts. It was really refreshing to be part of a small team that is just starting out, as I also have a desire to be helping to establish new work.

We helped the team do a number of things, including a survey of the local area to ask people what they see the needs are. Prayer walking and art ministry with kids who have been excluded from school due to behavior. My teams favorite activity was something called "club angels". This is a new project which YWAM Leeds are getting involved with. It is basically being the hands and feet of Jesus in the local nightclubs. I always enjoy doing this sort of thing, just reaching out and being real with people, picking them up when they need to be. Also blessing the staff who work in the clubs, helping to pick up glasses, chat to the security when not much is happening etc. Its all about being a blessing and walking with God in places that maybe you normally would not venture, as he is already there, just waiting for his people to come and join him.

We all had a really good time, and I know that one or two of the guys are keen to be able to go back and do more with the team in Leeds.

School Breakthrough

The last few weeks of the Discipleship Training School (DTS) that I am currently involved with here at YWAM Harpenden have been incredible. The speakers that we have had come in have really built on each other with the theme of identity and freedom in Christ. The results have been that the trainees who are doing the school have been able to break off the fear and passivity that they have struggled with since they arrived.

We had a time of original design and stronghold prayer last week, which is where small teams of people pray with each trainee and listen to what God is saying about them. How he created them and what gifts they have, and then ask God what is coming against that. It has really touched my heart how much of a difference this has made to each and every one of them, to take hold of that identity and to gain the confidence in who God says they are. To stand against the lies that they were believing and declare the truth of who they are. God is so good.

I am really excited to see what God will do through them in the coming months as we are now looking toward various different short term outreaches round the U.K.

Hope

We have just finished a week of 24/7 prayer here at YWAM Harpenden. The focus of the week was hope and the restoration of hope in the U.K. It was given this focus "Hope, expect with confidence" as God has been speaking to a lot of different people here about hope over the last few months.

I was really excited to be able to do this, as I have a real heart for seeing God move in this nation, and restore the inheritance and identity that this nation carries. So to be able to have a focused time with everyone else here to really seek God and cry out for this was amazing. There is now a real excitement here on the campus about what God is doing here in the U.K. and what this year and beyond could mean.

It is also really exciting to see the evolution of the prayer room which we established here on the campus about a year ago, and to see the art work develop and the space get used more and more. You get a real strong sense of Gods presence as you enter the space, and I always come out feeling revived, such an incredible space.

Winter Batchwood

We did our first Batchwood trip of the year last week. This is the ministry to the local club where we take water and lollies’ and spend time talking with the clubbers, taxi drivers and bouncers. It was certainly one of the coldest nights I have done, which changed who we got to interact with. Because of the cold, people did not want to stand around talking at the end of the night, instead they wanted to get in the taxis and find somewhere warm quickly. Most of our time was spent with the taxi drivers or bouncers, which would normally be spent with the clubbers. It was a great opportunity to strengthen our connection with the people who work here. The bouncers really enjoy our presence, but they also do not normally get a chance to talk and ask questions, as they are also busy. So to have a chance to talk to them and go deeper than just a hello, the same with the taxi drivers, was really amazing. We even got asked by a couple of the taxi drivers when we would next be back as they wanted to talk more about hope, and what it means to have hope.

I am always really encouraged when I go and get to talk with people about life and to share about who God is. I also really enjoy taking people down who may never have done anything like this before, and to see them be nervous when we go and excited and wanting to go again when we are returning. To be able to be a part of that is so special, to share with others about God is such a gift.

A New Intake :)

The Impact UK DTS (Discipleship training school) has gotten off to an amazing start, with 22 trainees from 10 nations, we have a really diverse mix of people.

We are now two weeks into the school, and it has been a real pleasure to be a part of it. The trainees are all very willing and eager to get involved with the teaching, and it has been so much fun to be able to spend time with them in the evenings, and over meals as well. I love the live learn environment that a DTS creates, sharing more than just class time with the people you are discipling. I always enjoy being apart of the schools, seeing what God is doing in peoples lives, and helping them to step more int who they are, and their relationship with God. It is always such an amazing experience, one that continues to challenge me, and how I live.

I am really looking forward to what these next months will bring.

Blows my mind....

On Tuesday evenings we get together as a community to spend time worshiping God and to hear teaching. It is a really good way to see each other and connect and also spend time with God corporately, as a body.

Last Tuesday (10/01/2012) was the first one of the year after our Christmas break. We felt very much as a campus that we are entering a new season with God and that we should mark it with an offering for those people who have debt in the community. It was one of those evenings that really challenges your world view and how you see God. So what we did was write those peoples names up on a board with the amount of their debt. Then we each asked God how much we should give. Close to £4,500 was given and most of the debt was wiped out.

What really impacted me about this was the level of faith that was displayed. How many churches have you ever been in where all the members debt is shown and then the rest of us give what we can to help those who are in need. It is quite a radical thing, but was how the early church lived and operated. The generosity of the evening was inspiring, and the way it touched those who were in need was very special to be apart of. It was also a very challenging evening, as here in YWAM no one actual gets paid, we all live by the generosity of churches and individuals who support the work we do, so to see the amount that was given is actual quite incredible. I love living and being a part of something like this.

Cover to cover

We started the year as a community by reading the bible from cover to cover out loud. As this year is such a significant year for this nation (England) as well as the wider UK we felt we should start by declaring the truth of who God is and what he has done and is doing. When we were praying about this God gave us the verse from Isaiah 55v10-11 “As the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return to it without watering the earth and making it bud and flourish, so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater, so is my word that goes out from my mouth: it will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.” So we figured that we should speak out the word of God over this coming year.

It took us about three and a half days to do, without a break. People came and did an hour at a time, and everyone said how much they enjoyed it, even those who were reading lists of names! It was such a great excuses to be able to sit and read the bible for an hour without being interrupted, and know that you could do that. It was so well attended that we are looking at doing this more often over this coming year.

I myself got to read all of Mark’s gospel, as well as Hebrews, James and 1 Peter. It was really good to be able to read an account of the life of Jesus in one go, out loud, such a blessing.