Hello Family & Friends! Just wanted to make a post here with some prayer requests for the end of our trip coming up.
Saturday the 15th--Pray for our outreach bbq that we've invited all our new Aussie friends to. This will be a great time to say goodbye to the students here and continue to get them plugged in to the Student Life (Campus Crusade) movement here on campus.
Sunday the 16th--Pray for our travels as we move from Newcastle back down to Sydney. We are all pretty tired from four great but long weeks on campus and travelling and moving the team can be stressful.
Monday and Tuesday the 17th and 18th--Two full days of debriefing. Please pray that we would be able to help our students process their experiences on Summer Project and how God has worked in and through them. We want to send them off well and help ease the transition from a close knit community to going back home. It can sometimes be lonely and isolating for them.
Wednesday the 19th--We fly back home, so prayer for travel mercies and saying goodbye to the students we've poured into all summer.
Thank you for tracking with us and praying for us this summer. We have appreciated the support and the emails/facebook messages too. Blessings to you all!
Friday, August 14, 2009
Tuesday, August 11, 2009
Unity and Spiritual Warfare
Yesterday was a day of breakthrough for the women on our team. When you put together an odd number of young women for a Summer Project, it can be challenging. Frustrations had built up among some of the gals and it hit the fan yesterday (meaning it all came out on the table). Several of the girls got the opportunity to work through a Biblical model of conflict resolution and confrontation with each other. It was beautiful to see them share openly and honestly with each other about how they had hurt one another. And then seeing Christ bind their hearts together in unity was wonderful. The evening followed with each woman sharing her heart about various hurts and pain in her life and the other girls rallying around and encouraging her and asking good, safe questions. It was a lovely time, as they dropped down their walls and offered each other their hearts.
Our team has been feeling some spiritual darkness and even attack (dreams and feeling the presence of evil). We have prayed through our hostel, in each room. Last night after the women's sharing time, we decided to make posters with scriptures and words declaring that the name of Jesus is more powerful than the Enemy. For about an hour, we blasted powerful praise and worship music and put these posters up all over our living areas. It was a powerful evening! Everyone slept soundly last night and there is a new sense of peace and rest at the hostel.
We truly serve the Name that is more powerful and last night was a beautiful declaration of that. We serve the God of emotional and spiritual breakthroughs and also the One who is more powerful than our Enemy. I feel more in love with Jesus today and I believe our team does too.
Our team has been feeling some spiritual darkness and even attack (dreams and feeling the presence of evil). We have prayed through our hostel, in each room. Last night after the women's sharing time, we decided to make posters with scriptures and words declaring that the name of Jesus is more powerful than the Enemy. For about an hour, we blasted powerful praise and worship music and put these posters up all over our living areas. It was a powerful evening! Everyone slept soundly last night and there is a new sense of peace and rest at the hostel.
We truly serve the Name that is more powerful and last night was a beautiful declaration of that. We serve the God of emotional and spiritual breakthroughs and also the One who is more powerful than our Enemy. I feel more in love with Jesus today and I believe our team does too.
Sunday, August 2, 2009
Third Week at the Uni (pronounced "You-Knee)
We have entered our third week of ministry on the University of Newcastle campus. Our students continue to engage in spiritual conversations with the lost and share their faith with boldness. We are in the process of recruiting students for the FIRST ever Campus Crusade weekly meeting at this university! We are the third Summer Project to come to Newcastle, but the first to be received by a local Campus Crusade staff team. A lot of what we've been doing has been providing "man-power" to meet lots of students and invite them to be involved in the spiritual movement that is beginning here. It is a pivotal time in the history of the ministry and we are excited to be a part of it!
It has been a treat to get to know our team better individually. Nathan meets with the guys individually each week and Julie meets with the gals. We've invited our students into openness and honesty about their lives, their family backgrounds, and their sin patterns. It has been refreshing to see God break through in their lives and begin the process of healing. We have been reminded that every single one of us is dysfunctional and has issues. It has been encouraging to invite our students into the process of being real with others, and modeling that for them.
Julie here. I wanted to share about a moment last week where God really met me. I had my first terrible, horrible, no-good, very bad day in Australia. Everything seemed to go wrong and I kept messing things up or forgetting to do something that I had promised, and I just felt like a real loser. I can tend to take pride in looking like I “have it all together” and that day it was painfully obvious that I am not perfect and don’t have it all together. As I was feeling down and frustrated, I felt like God just spoke to me and reminded me that I am in the Room of Grace, where it’s safe to be myself in all of my dysfunctions and faults, reminding me that I am loved and accepted unconditionally. It was a sweet moment with the Lord and it brought tears to my eyes after feeling somewhat hardened emotionally the earlier part of the day. God was gracious to invite me into NOT having it all together and speaking His love to me in that moment.
Nathan here. I can tend to depend on my own strength believing that I need to prove my worth by accomplishing tasks for God. I have been known in the past as Johnny crusader i.e. share my faith with anything that breathes. As I Jumped head first into evangelism I would receive pats on the back, leadership positions, and the praise of others. Due to discipling the guys on project and administration there is less time for me to do evangelism and “prove my worth.” He continues to teach me to rest in Him and know that through Him my value is not dependent on how many gospel conversations but simply being his son.
It has been a treat to get to know our team better individually. Nathan meets with the guys individually each week and Julie meets with the gals. We've invited our students into openness and honesty about their lives, their family backgrounds, and their sin patterns. It has been refreshing to see God break through in their lives and begin the process of healing. We have been reminded that every single one of us is dysfunctional and has issues. It has been encouraging to invite our students into the process of being real with others, and modeling that for them.
Julie here. I wanted to share about a moment last week where God really met me. I had my first terrible, horrible, no-good, very bad day in Australia. Everything seemed to go wrong and I kept messing things up or forgetting to do something that I had promised, and I just felt like a real loser. I can tend to take pride in looking like I “have it all together” and that day it was painfully obvious that I am not perfect and don’t have it all together. As I was feeling down and frustrated, I felt like God just spoke to me and reminded me that I am in the Room of Grace, where it’s safe to be myself in all of my dysfunctions and faults, reminding me that I am loved and accepted unconditionally. It was a sweet moment with the Lord and it brought tears to my eyes after feeling somewhat hardened emotionally the earlier part of the day. God was gracious to invite me into NOT having it all together and speaking His love to me in that moment.
Nathan here. I can tend to depend on my own strength believing that I need to prove my worth by accomplishing tasks for God. I have been known in the past as Johnny crusader i.e. share my faith with anything that breathes. As I Jumped head first into evangelism I would receive pats on the back, leadership positions, and the praise of others. Due to discipling the guys on project and administration there is less time for me to do evangelism and “prove my worth.” He continues to teach me to rest in Him and know that through Him my value is not dependent on how many gospel conversations but simply being his son.
Friday, July 24, 2009
Prayer Requests and Answers to Prayer
-We thank God that our team is teachable and willing to learn
-We praise God that He has given us extreme travel mercies and given us advocates to help us along the whole way
-We praise God for the unity on our team...they not only love each other but they LIKE each other too!
-We thank God that He is giving us marital harmony and we have been mostly on the same page, which is encouraging...please continue to lift this up to God, that I (Julie) would follow Nathan well and be a cheerleader/support to him in everything.
-We thank God for the students' lives on the University of Newcastle campus that have already been touched
-Pray for continued open doors to the gospel on campus
-Pray for us as we pour into and disciple our 12 students (for strength, wisdom, endurance, God's Spirit in us)
-Please pray that our team would continue to walk into authenticity and remove the masks we all hide behind (overachieving, performance, always wearing a smile, pretending to be strong, being goofy/center of attention, and more)
-Pray for us that we would point our students to Jesus in everything and that they would connect with Him deeply
Thank you for your prayers and support as we lead this team. We seriously have felt your prayers over the past week and a half. We need you and are so grateful that you are beside us in this! More in the weeks to come...We love you!
-We praise God that He has given us extreme travel mercies and given us advocates to help us along the whole way
-We praise God for the unity on our team...they not only love each other but they LIKE each other too!
-We thank God that He is giving us marital harmony and we have been mostly on the same page, which is encouraging...please continue to lift this up to God, that I (Julie) would follow Nathan well and be a cheerleader/support to him in everything.
-We thank God for the students' lives on the University of Newcastle campus that have already been touched
-Pray for continued open doors to the gospel on campus
-Pray for us as we pour into and disciple our 12 students (for strength, wisdom, endurance, God's Spirit in us)
-Please pray that our team would continue to walk into authenticity and remove the masks we all hide behind (overachieving, performance, always wearing a smile, pretending to be strong, being goofy/center of attention, and more)
-Pray for us that we would point our students to Jesus in everything and that they would connect with Him deeply
Thank you for your prayers and support as we lead this team. We seriously have felt your prayers over the past week and a half. We need you and are so grateful that you are beside us in this! More in the weeks to come...We love you!
Ministry in Australia
We have just finished our first week of ministry on the university of Newcastle campus. Our team of 12 students have been absolutely AMAZING. They are so brave in walking up to Australian students on campus and initiating conversations. They have built friendships already with Aussie's and are talking about spiritual matters with their new friends.
Each day we take the 10 minute train ride to campus, arriving at about 11:00 am. We are on campus until about 4 pm, at which time we take the train back to our hostel house.
Australian students are very open to spiritual conversations. We have been shocked at how many students have no spiritual background whatsoever. It's very different than the US, where it seems that most people at least have a context for what we're talking about. Here at the university, this may be the first time these students have really heard about Jesus. They are open to conversation and really seem to enjoy talking with our students. Each day our students get on the train to come home and have stories of the students they got to talk to and the encouraging conversations they had with Aussie's.
Next week we will be helping the local Campus Crusade staff team start a weekly meeting (kind of like a weekly youth group time). We will be inviting lots of students to come and start to get involved with Campus Crusade (it's called Student Life here). Please pray that the local staff would be able to secure a location and time on campus for this weekly meeting. And pray for our students as they invite their new Aussie friends to come. And pray that students' hearts would be touched as they begin to hear about Jesus and see Jesus in the lives of our students.
Nathan and I have the privilege of discipling the students on our team. We have 7 guys and 5 girls. We spent a lot of time this past week meeting with students individually and pouring into their lives. It is truly amazing how they have been opening their lives up to us, what a privilege. Please pray for wisdom as we engage in their hurt and pain and joys, and speak love and truth into their lives. Also pray for strength for Nathan, as 7 guys is a lot to disciple weekly.
Our team is amazing and we feel SO blessed. The theme of our trip is authenticity...authentic relationships with God and others and then inviting others into authentic relationship with God and people. We are reading a book called "True Faced" about being real and vulnerable and open. Our team has courageously stepped into this concept and are learning to remove their masks and walk into authenticity. Please pray for us as we continue to model this for our team and invite them to walk with us on the journey of being real and vulnerable. The Lord has given us a great team for this and it has really become a safe place for them to be real.
Next blog will be more prayer requests and also how God has been answering prayer...
Each day we take the 10 minute train ride to campus, arriving at about 11:00 am. We are on campus until about 4 pm, at which time we take the train back to our hostel house.
Australian students are very open to spiritual conversations. We have been shocked at how many students have no spiritual background whatsoever. It's very different than the US, where it seems that most people at least have a context for what we're talking about. Here at the university, this may be the first time these students have really heard about Jesus. They are open to conversation and really seem to enjoy talking with our students. Each day our students get on the train to come home and have stories of the students they got to talk to and the encouraging conversations they had with Aussie's.
Next week we will be helping the local Campus Crusade staff team start a weekly meeting (kind of like a weekly youth group time). We will be inviting lots of students to come and start to get involved with Campus Crusade (it's called Student Life here). Please pray that the local staff would be able to secure a location and time on campus for this weekly meeting. And pray for our students as they invite their new Aussie friends to come. And pray that students' hearts would be touched as they begin to hear about Jesus and see Jesus in the lives of our students.
Nathan and I have the privilege of discipling the students on our team. We have 7 guys and 5 girls. We spent a lot of time this past week meeting with students individually and pouring into their lives. It is truly amazing how they have been opening their lives up to us, what a privilege. Please pray for wisdom as we engage in their hurt and pain and joys, and speak love and truth into their lives. Also pray for strength for Nathan, as 7 guys is a lot to disciple weekly.
Our team is amazing and we feel SO blessed. The theme of our trip is authenticity...authentic relationships with God and others and then inviting others into authentic relationship with God and people. We are reading a book called "True Faced" about being real and vulnerable and open. Our team has courageously stepped into this concept and are learning to remove their masks and walk into authenticity. Please pray for us as we continue to model this for our team and invite them to walk with us on the journey of being real and vulnerable. The Lord has given us a great team for this and it has really become a safe place for them to be real.
Next blog will be more prayer requests and also how God has been answering prayer...
Life in Australia
The birds...so far we've seen parrots, kookoburra's ("laugh, kookaburra, laugh"), stork-looking birds, black birds with a long yellow beak, and this strange black bird that sounds like a child talking or calling out. It still startles us when we walk by one and hear it!
We have to remember to look left instead of right when crossing the street, since they drive on the opposite side of the road. And they drive fast here! We've realized that pedestrians are not respected in the same way they are back home, so we find ourselves hurrying across the street a lot!
Trains!!! We love the train system here. We wish Corvallis had a cool train system like they do here in Australia. After our two day team briefing in Sydney, we rode the train two hours north to Newcastle. The countryside we passed through was beautiful....lots of bays of water with sailboats and small ships, open countryside (surprisingly green), and various little towns. And now we take the train to campus every day, since it runs through the city. The only time I've gone running so far on this trip is several times running to try to catch the train at the platform!! Whew, made it each time. :)
Australia is very similar to the US, but we've been surprised that we and our team have experienced some culture shock. We had an extremely hard time setting up three cell phones to be able to use here. We have phones so our students can call Aussie students here to set up ministry appointments at the university. Nathan spent several days trying to figure it out and having it not work. Something that would take 2 hours back home can take two days here. But we are settling in well and it seems more like normal life now. There are just times where it requires more patience from us, I suppose that is a good thing the Lord is inviting us into.
Slang...we are picking up on Aussie slang and learning some interesting new words! "Aussie" means Australian. "How'd you go?" or "How you goin'?" does not mean what was your mode of transportation, it means how are you doing. "Heaps" means lots. "Juicy" means really (example, I'll pick you up juicy quick at the train station.) "No worries" means thank you, or no problem. "Cuddle" means hug (example, could I have a cuddle?) "Mozzi's" means mosquitos. "Brekkie" means breakfast (they use a LOT of abbreviated/shortened words like that). "The Uni" means the university. "Take Away" means to go (like at a restaurant).
It is fun hearing the accent every day and getting to know the Aussie way of life. In the next blog I'll update about the ministry we've been doing.
We have to remember to look left instead of right when crossing the street, since they drive on the opposite side of the road. And they drive fast here! We've realized that pedestrians are not respected in the same way they are back home, so we find ourselves hurrying across the street a lot!
Trains!!! We love the train system here. We wish Corvallis had a cool train system like they do here in Australia. After our two day team briefing in Sydney, we rode the train two hours north to Newcastle. The countryside we passed through was beautiful....lots of bays of water with sailboats and small ships, open countryside (surprisingly green), and various little towns. And now we take the train to campus every day, since it runs through the city. The only time I've gone running so far on this trip is several times running to try to catch the train at the platform!! Whew, made it each time. :)
Australia is very similar to the US, but we've been surprised that we and our team have experienced some culture shock. We had an extremely hard time setting up three cell phones to be able to use here. We have phones so our students can call Aussie students here to set up ministry appointments at the university. Nathan spent several days trying to figure it out and having it not work. Something that would take 2 hours back home can take two days here. But we are settling in well and it seems more like normal life now. There are just times where it requires more patience from us, I suppose that is a good thing the Lord is inviting us into.
Slang...we are picking up on Aussie slang and learning some interesting new words! "Aussie" means Australian. "How'd you go?" or "How you goin'?" does not mean what was your mode of transportation, it means how are you doing. "Heaps" means lots. "Juicy" means really (example, I'll pick you up juicy quick at the train station.) "No worries" means thank you, or no problem. "Cuddle" means hug (example, could I have a cuddle?) "Mozzi's" means mosquitos. "Brekkie" means breakfast (they use a LOT of abbreviated/shortened words like that). "The Uni" means the university. "Take Away" means to go (like at a restaurant).
It is fun hearing the accent every day and getting to know the Aussie way of life. In the next blog I'll update about the ministry we've been doing.
Thursday, July 9, 2009
Down Under
Next Wednesday, July 15th, we will board a plane to Sydney, Australia with 12 students from Oregon State University and around the United States. We will have a three day briefing in Sydney, take a train 100 miles north to Newcastle, and do 4 weeks of college ministry in the University of Newcastle campus. Below are some FAQ's in case you are curious.
What will we be doing on campus in Australia? We will work alongside the Campus Crusade team (5 staff/interns) who are stationed in Newcastle, planning and running outreach events, and helping build the spiritual movement on campus. Our students will build relationships with Aussie's (Australians) and initiate lots of spiritual conversations. They will learn to share their faith, their testimony or story of what God has done in their life, and learn to disciple others.
What are the dates of our trip? July 13 through August 19...students arrive at our briefing site in the U.S. on the 14th
Where will we stay? In backpackers hostel's in Sydney and Newcastle. Most of the time we will be in Newcastle, with a few days of briefing and debriefing in Sydney.
What is our theme/hope for the summer? Authenticity. Authentic relationships with God give way to authentic relationships with people, which gives way to inviting others into authentic relationships with God and others.
Stay tuned for more from Down Under...
What will we be doing on campus in Australia? We will work alongside the Campus Crusade team (5 staff/interns) who are stationed in Newcastle, planning and running outreach events, and helping build the spiritual movement on campus. Our students will build relationships with Aussie's (Australians) and initiate lots of spiritual conversations. They will learn to share their faith, their testimony or story of what God has done in their life, and learn to disciple others.
What are the dates of our trip? July 13 through August 19...students arrive at our briefing site in the U.S. on the 14th
Where will we stay? In backpackers hostel's in Sydney and Newcastle. Most of the time we will be in Newcastle, with a few days of briefing and debriefing in Sydney.
What is our theme/hope for the summer? Authenticity. Authentic relationships with God give way to authentic relationships with people, which gives way to inviting others into authentic relationships with God and others.
Stay tuned for more from Down Under...
Monday, May 11, 2009
Living from the Heart
We are experiencing God in new ways these days and learning to live from the heart. The Lord is doing an amazing work in both of us and is reminding us of our true identities in Him. We are living from the heart...He is breaking us of people-pleasing, anger, sin patterns, and unhealthy coping from past wounds. It is amazing how good it feels to be FREE...free to live as the people that God truly created us to be, reflecting His image.
The Trinity looked in a mirror and saw His reflection. He broke that mirror into millions of pieces, those pieces being us...you....me. We each bring an attribute of God's image and character to time, space and history. What do you bring? Who has God created you to truly be? What reflection of God's character and image do you bring? May we encourage you to live freely in who he has created you to be, even if society doesn't think it's cool or if the enemy of our souls has stomped on that aspect of who you are?
The Trinity looked in a mirror and saw His reflection. He broke that mirror into millions of pieces, those pieces being us...you....me. We each bring an attribute of God's image and character to time, space and history. What do you bring? Who has God created you to truly be? What reflection of God's character and image do you bring? May we encourage you to live freely in who he has created you to be, even if society doesn't think it's cool or if the enemy of our souls has stomped on that aspect of who you are?
Wednesday, February 18, 2009
Please Welcome Janine Into God's Family!
Julie here. I want to tell you about a student named Janine. She is a freshman this year at OSU. I met Janine about a month ago through an outreach Campus Crusade did. Janine and I started meeting every week to talk about God and spirituality and the deeper issues of life. She was so open and wanting to hear about Jesus. Through the times we got together, I shared the gospel with Janine. She had a chance to ask a lot of questions and even wrestle through some doubts she had. Over the weeks it was clear that she had a very good understanding of the sacrifice Christ made for her and of what that meant for her life. For the last several weeks, she would say, "I am so close to giving my life to Christ."
Yesterday when I met with Janine, she said she was ready to surrender her life to Christ. She knew it meant giving up the throne or driver's seat of her life to Christ. We prayed together and she gave over control of her life to Jesus. It was a beautiful sweet moment (in fact the sun came shining out from behind the clouds right after that!) :) Right after that, Janine said "I'm so happy, I can't stop smiling!" She said she felt like a huge burden had been lifted off her shoulders.
I will continue to meet with Janine weekly to disciple her in the basics of following Jesus. Please pray with us for Janine. My hope is that she will catch the vision for sharing with others about her new relationship with Christ and come to a place where she can lead others to Christ and disciple them....thus "spiritual multiplication" happening. We serve an amazing God!!!!!
Yesterday when I met with Janine, she said she was ready to surrender her life to Christ. She knew it meant giving up the throne or driver's seat of her life to Christ. We prayed together and she gave over control of her life to Jesus. It was a beautiful sweet moment (in fact the sun came shining out from behind the clouds right after that!) :) Right after that, Janine said "I'm so happy, I can't stop smiling!" She said she felt like a huge burden had been lifted off her shoulders.
I will continue to meet with Janine weekly to disciple her in the basics of following Jesus. Please pray with us for Janine. My hope is that she will catch the vision for sharing with others about her new relationship with Christ and come to a place where she can lead others to Christ and disciple them....thus "spiritual multiplication" happening. We serve an amazing God!!!!!
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