Graduation

The Discipleship Training School (DTS) Christy and Myself have been helping to lead since September 2013 has now graduated. We have spent the last 6 months learning more about God and our identity together, seeing greater freedom in our lives and those around us and have spent time in several different nations sharing about the Love of Christ with many different people.

It has been quite an incredible journey and we are so grateful to God for the transformation in individual lives and what he is leading them onto. I have been apart of a number of different schools and this has to be one of my favourite times, when we get to stop and reflect on all God has done, both in our own lives and all those we got to meet along the way. To know that we will never be the same, that this experience has laid a foundation for the next journey we get to have with God.

We are both really excited to hear where each of the trainees goes on to do. It is always such a privilege to be able to be apart of what God is doing, and it is one of the main reasons we do what we do, to see the freedom of Christ come to many different people.

Prayer room

On our recent trip to Malaga in Spain our team got to help the church we were working with organise a 24-hour prayer event covering the first 3 days of the year. We spent time together praying and brainstorming ideas and came up with 7 different stations. We then spent several days before hand turning cardboard boxes into a variety of different items, such as a cross, an archway, armour etc. The idea was that people could spend an hour or two with God in the prayer room, and have some specific focuses of pray during that time. It worked really well, and the people in the church really liked the way we had put together the space.

My favourite station was the communion station. In this place there are two seats, one for you and one for Jesus, and bread and wine are laid out on the table. Here you sit and break bread with Jesus and reflect on what he did on the cross and through the resurrection and it gives an opportunity to have time and a conversation with Jesus.  This was the place where I felt closest to Jesus and all the worries of life seemed to fall away. I have tried to keep this going since as it reminded me of how important it is to stop and take time with him each day.

The team all had a lot of fun, being able to use their creative skills to make something special for others. It also helped to bring us together as a team. We did this very close to the start of our outreach together and so it was a really great team building activity. We each got to take time in the prayer room over the time it was running, and everyone made similar comments about how significant different stations were to them.

Praying over a city

Christy and myself believe that prayer and worship is a very important part of outreach. We believe that prayer or intercession allows us to understand God’s heart for a place, the people who live there and what it would be like for his kingdom to move in a place.

So during the recent outreach that we lead to the south of Spain we made sure we included this regularly in our time. On one of these occasions we felt that we should climb the mountain over looking the city in which we were ministering and spend time worshiping God and praying over the place. It was a beautiful day and we set of fairly early to get to the top.

It was a pretty amazing time, with all our prayers focusing on identity and freedom, and that Jesus would be know by the people. As we came back down it felt like we had done something very significant and special. Our time doing this helped us to see what God was doing in this part of Southern Spain, which helped us to better engage with the people we were talking with every day.

Welcome visitor

We arrived at Church on the last Sunday of our recent outreach to find a man in a florescent jacket waiting outside to come in. I got to sit and have a chat with him, he was not a Christian, and had lost his wife to cancer about 3 months earlier, she was a Christian. He was walking from the Isle of White to Herne Bay and it was his birthday on the Monday so wanted to come somewhere he knew he could be with people and also to honour his wife’s memory.

As we talked he told me that he was probably very close to becoming a Christian, inviting Jesus into his life, but he had one question in scripture that was confusing him. The question he had was why and what did Jesus write in the sand. So we talked about it and I showed him a passage in Daniel where God writes on the wall of the palace. After we had talked for about 15 minutes he said to me thank you, I have no more questions.

At the end of the service the church leader felt he should ask if anyone want to give their lives to Jesus and The guy I had been talking with stood up and invited Jesus into his life. The change in him was amazing; as he left he seemed to have a fresh hope, he walked out of the door lighter. It was great to see God touch his life in a really significant way, it really made my day to be able to talk with him and be apart of his journey.

God is faithful to heal

Last month we got to experience God fulfil a promise that we felt God give us several years ago, and we are so thankful. Christy has been unable to tolerate wheat/gluten all her life, when she eats it she experiences a lot of pain.

While we were leading a team on outreach between December and February to Spain we spent some time praying for healing for each other. Christy and I have been praying for the last few years for healing in her digestion based on a promise we felt God give to us. While we were praying as a team she felt a shift in her stomach area and then she felt God say I have given you new intestines, now you can eat Pizza! Pizza is one of Christy’s favourite foods. The next day we went to get pizza together and to step out in faith that God really has done something.

So we enjoyed pizza together, normally Christy would start to hurt about an hour after eating. She had no pain, and has not had any pain since; we have been able to enjoy Pasta, bread, doughnuts etc. It has opened up a whole world of food for us.

It has both humbled us and caused us to rejoice in the promises and faithfulness of God. God is truly amazing, and we are so excited to see what else God is going to do, it is an amazing adventure.

A Special New Year

While we were on outreach in Spain Christy and I had the privilege of being able to baptize one of our team members, Nina.

It was the first time either of us had been asked to baptize anyone so we were very excited. After we had talked about when and where we decided that what better way for her start her year but with a public declaration of faith.  As we were staying on the coast of the Mediterranean we thought it would be fun to do this in the ocean.

New years day was sunny and warm, one of the best that the local pastors have ever experienced. We headed down to the beach and spent some time worshiping and hearing Nina’s story of coming to faith, before heading into the ocean.

It was a really special day, and being able to share it with the church we were working with made it even better. It was very encouraging for all involved. To hear how she came to know God and what He has done in her life is really inspiring. It makes doing what we do worth every moment, seeking after God and seeing him changes lives for the better.

DTS Outreach 2013

Christy and myself have just returned from leading a DTS outreach (Discipleship Training School Outreach) to Malaga and Sevilla in Spain and Brighton in the UK. We spent about two months travelling and working with different churches and ministries in these different cities with a team of 10 people from 7 different nations. The DTS is a 6-month teaching and practical missions course that YWAM (Youth With A Mission) run. It helps to give young people a good understanding in what it means to live a life for Jesus and how and why to share this with others.

The group we took grew so much in their love for God and passion to see others healed and come to know God. When I look back over the time we get to spend with all the trainees it always blows me away how much God does in each and every one, including myself, and how what God does propels us all to want to go and share this amazing gift with others.

The team got to share with and pray with so many people. We saw God heal people from simple sports injuries to food allergies up to things like arthritis and mental disorders. We also got to be apart of over a dozen people getting to meet Jesus properly for the first time. The change in those individuals was incredible, the Joy and lightness with which they walked afterwards.

I have been involved with this now for the last few years and there is nothing I would rather be doing, getting to be apart of Jesus transforming lives and restoring people to wholeness. It is such a special gift.