Tahoe 10' Team

True Community

2010-09-13T22:32:00.001-07:00

Community in the Church does not begin with people. Unity with God on a personal level does not begin with community amongst men. We often seek a remedy for loneliness in other people. However, community that begins with man is selfish and is in fact not community at all. We cannot understand fellowship in the church or Christ's desire for his bride to develop unity unless we are right with God in a personal sense. The highest form of communion is absolute surrender of the self to God, to be "One" with the Father as Christ was in the flesh. When we are connected to God on a personal level then we are able to truly love people with the same love God has for us. The pursuit of community and fellowship has the potential for adultery. Do we as believers seek satisfaction for loneliness through man before God? If so, our loneliness will only increase, whether consciously or subconsciously. God is anxious in wait to satisfy our desperate need for love and companionship. Do not trade a relationship with God for man. Rather, let us foster an intimate love for our Savior so that we may have sincere love for others.

Update Update Update

2010-03-26T12:12:00.000-07:00

It has been a crazy few weeks here in Tahoe! We recently moved houses! The Gouldings, who graciously allowed us to stay in their home, have left Truckee for the season. So we prayed for a new place to live, and the day before the Gouldings left, a brother from church offered his house for us to stay in. We now live with our buddy Paul and everything is going great here. We have been fortunate enough to have many visitors fly in to spend time with us. Friends from Moody, Georgia, Arizona, and Michigan have come join in the ministry and encourage their brothers. We miss them all dearly! In the past few weeks we have gone surfing, held our weekly wax nights, and worked intentionally at our jobs. God is still moving here in Tahoe! Many of us feel lead to stay here for the summer and continue doing our best to further His kingdom. Our last wax night was last night, but we will continue working with Snowboarders for Christ through early April in other forms. The Snowboarders for Christ crew from Colorado came out earlier this week. We met the founders of the organization, snowboarded with them, and had a great time enjoying the fellowship of brothers. They are a great group of guys who love the Lord with all their hearts. They snowboard for His glory instead of their own, and that stands out on the hill!
As we look forward to the last few weeks of the snowboard season, and for some us, our time in Tahoe, we want to make the most of every minute we have. We need prayer! Please be praying that we will be effective in representing Christ every where we go. Every conversation counts! We also need guidance for the summer. Some of us are still unsure as to where God wants us living, working, and ministering. Pray for guidance, and thank God that He always provides for our necessities.
Looking back at the time we have spent here, it is incredible to see what the Lord has done! Andrea accepted the Lord, and her heart is on fire, and so hungry to know the Savior more. She, along with the rest of us, has grown a lot this season. We thank God for how the Body has been able to encourage one another in Truckee. We also thank God for our opportunities to serve in various places with lots of different people. God is so great, and His grace is unfathomable.
Thank you all so much for reading this, and your prayers have truly had a great impact. Keep it up brothers and sisters!
Your fellow soldiers,
The T4 guys

T4 Teams with Project Snow

2010-03-26T11:50:00.000-07:00

Skipping church is usually frowned upon, but last Sunday we felt the Lord wanting us to do something a little different with His day. A friend through Snowboarders For Christ told us about a snowboarding program for foster children in the Reno area. It is called Project Snow. The organization has been donated snowboarding equipment from many companies such as Forever Board Shop in Kansas City, 32, Clif Bar, Standard Films, and private donars. They fit the kids with gear and then take them up to Mt. Rose to learn the sport of snowboarding. The mission of Project Snow is to target the unhealthiness of kids today. At the mountain the children are taught proper eating habits, stretching, and the benefits of staying active through sports like snowboarding. T4 volunteered to spend the day with these kids and love them like Jesus does. While many of the children had seen great pain in their short lives, they were the greatest! And they can shred!!! God says when we serve the people He created, we are serving Him. Please be praying for the beautiful children in the picture above. They need the Lord, as we all do. We thank God for a chance to love these children!
For more information on Project Snow, check out this link. http://www.projectsnow.org/
All for His glory,
- The Guys at T4

A letter from Jonny

2010-02-23T23:52:00.001-08:00

Greetings, Church, I hope that this letter finds you well, pressing on towards the prize (phil 3:14).

It's been over two months since I and the team assembled here in Truckee, CA. Our partnership with the local church, Sierra Bible, has been a tremendous blessing. They've been so good to us. We were kindly placed in the home of some hospitable members of the church and have been invited to so many meals. It's been a blast meeting with the college group on mondays, awana on tusedays, youth group on wednesdays, and snowboard outreach on thursdays.

Our group is split into two teams, one working at Soda Springs and one at Tahoe Donner, both ski resorts. We work 3/4 days a week 8am-4pm. We've got a ton of co-workers from South Africa, Argentina, and Chile. As our days go by we've been looking for chances to talk to them about Jesus, ask them questions about their lives, and invite them to an event or outreach. On our days off, we go to the big ski resort and snowboard. While there, we've met with friends and made new ones. Because of the common experiences on the mountain, we've got a ton to talk about and get excited over.

Shortly after arriving here in Truckee we met Andrea. She worked with us and didn't have much going for her. She was living in her truck and just barely getting by. One of the guys on the team gave her $100 for her personal needs and she was amazed. We had alot more to show her though. over the next 2 weeks we invited her to college group and over to our house for meals. She saw Christ in us and was called to be a daughter of God. It was a pleasant encouragement to me to remember that if people can see a decent picture of Christ (and the Spirit moves) they'll be broken and want in on this Christ following thing that we do.

Living with 5 dudes is fun. It's also really testing. Team conflict and dynamics have played a huge part in our time here. I wrestled through arguments and finances, and when I was at the end of my rope I turned to Jesse, the youth pastor and the main contact of the local church. His calm guidance pointed out that I should be careful not to look at just numbers, situations, and logistics but that I should focus on the spiritual world that we live in. He encourged me to stop brooding over event details and start with praying the event. Instead of just hanging out with people after church service, take measures to listen to their hearts and petition the Lord for their needs. In place of just yelling good bye to teammates in the morning as they head off to work, pausing to pray and commission them to serve the Lord for that specific day. I know that a lot of you don't live with a big group of random Christians, so you may not have to deal with all the animosity and hurt and miscommunicaiton that comes up like it does here, but you can look at things spiritually if you want to make a real lasting difference.

Our time here has gone so quickly. I urge you to be intentional with every day. Be clear and focused on the goal of serving others and proclaiming Christ. That means that when you meet with Christians talk about the opportunity that is going to come up after watching that movie with an unbeliever. don't just have friends over to "hang out", make sure that Jesus is the main event. When you are at theater practice with a Christian sister, make sure you compete with each other to be more excellent in hopes that someone would ask why you work so hard....and then point straight to Christ. When you're closing a business deal or teaching a snowboarding lesson, affirm the glory of God has he has made this economy possible and this wonderful natural world. Make sure that every Christian with you knows that they have to be all in on it.

Pray that our co-workers would continue to come to the Lord. Pray that we would be loving towards one another and encourage one another to bold acts of faith. Pray that we'd find a place to stay for the next month (our current house parents are moving to Hawaii). Pray that we'd remain focused on Jesus.

Thank you so much for your prayers and financial support. Thanks for the text messages that encourage. Thanks for asking about us at church. We've got another month or so to go here, and it's going to be an all-out sprint as we run this race.

for His glory,

Jonny Wong

Steve's Update

2010-02-23T22:55:00.001-08:00

Hey everyone, if you are reading this right now (as Jake has said) it truly does mean so much to us. Knowing that there are literally hundreds of people following us on this blog and praying for us is just mind blowing and truly exemplifies the power and unity that does exist in the body of Christ! It has been amazing to see how much the Lord has provided up to this point, and it will be amazing to rejoice together when we see how the Lord provides at the end of this week. Which for those of you who don't know... we have to move out of Florie and Jerry's house by this coming up Sunday, its Tuesday, 5 days. But the cool thing is that non of us are worrying whatsoever, for from what God has done so far- we KNOW that He will be faithful.

As for myself personally, i have grown sooooo much from the experience of living side-by-side with five other people in a small area for the past two months. The Lord has taught me so much in the areas of sacrifice, service, forgiveness, grace, selflessness, care, and love towards others and learning to always put others before yourself. When iron sharpens iron, sparks will fly! but the results are amazing. I thank the Lord everyday for the blessing of being here... (between you and me, the snowboarding is some of the best in America, God is good, sooooo good). But we only have a little over a month left, and if everyone could pray that we could focus hard and really strive at having a huge impact before we leave, that would be much appreciated. For we have set forth an amazing base of friendships from working and riding with people for months now, they have seen our actions and i pray they will listen, and we will have the strength and opportunities for our words to follow. Other than that, my friend Abby from Georgia will be coming from March 11-14. I am super stoked about her coming, and the days cannot seem to go by quick enough! It should be pretty entertaining having her see what true snow really looks like, and will be a blessing having her join the team for a few days in ministry.

Jake's Update

2010-02-23T22:00:00.000-08:00

Hello family and friends!
This trip has meant a whole lot to me. In thinking about what God has done for me, about 100 things come to mind. The biggest thing I have learned so far is to be intentional with everything I do. Yeah yeah yeah we have all heard to do that before. But this concept has finally become real to me. I have also grown in appreciation for all the incredible people in my life. I have found that there are too many incredible people in too many incredible places for me to be with. I guess that is a good problem to have!

My older brother Kyle came out last week to Tahoe with his friend Scott. I had a blast riding with them at Squaw Valley. Tomorrow my wonderful girlfriend Jaci will arrive and we look forward to serving the Lord together here for a few days! I am still doing online classes and trying my best to keep up with those. As summer approaches I have been thinking and praying more and more about returning to Tucson. I can't wait to get back to my friends, parents, brothers, and my sister. After summer is Chicago again!
Thank you all for your prayers and for reading this. Knowing that you believe in this mission means so much to me and the guys. We would love to hear your words of encouragement and wisdom. All of you made this trip possible. God bless!
- Jake

A Goodbye From Brad

2010-02-23T21:31:00.000-08:00

Hi, my name is Brad
I am leaving Tahoe early to go back to Roseville, CA. When I go back home I will be getting ready to go on another mission trip to Mexico. In Mexico I will be building houses for people who are homeless, also we will be giving out clothes to people who need it. The reason for going home early is to get plugged into my home church and help out with the youth group to raise the money needed before the trip. During my stay in Tahoe, i have grown so much spiritually. I hope I can show my friends at home how great God is by telling them about all the things we did here.

Thanks for all your prayers and support.

Time Cruncher

2010-02-22T20:24:00.000-08:00

I am always amazed how time seems to fly by us. One day we are back in Chicago and now we are two and a half months into our ministry in Tahoe. God has done so much in our lives and in the lives of friends and co-workers. In a way it is sad to think about how the snow is going to melt soon and we have to travel back home. All of us guys feel so blessed to be apart of what God is doing in Truckee. There little over a month left before we have to leave and now it's crunch time! Since God has allowed us to develop so many friendships and connections we need to make the most of every opportunity to minister in this last month. Pray that we will be diligent with our time and continue to spread the love of Christ with every person we come in contact with! God is love and His love conquers all!

First Video Update

2010-02-14T22:30:00.000-08:00

Steven on Big Air @ Northstar

2010-02-12T08:16:00.000-08:00

Shooting in HD VIDEO!!!!

2010-02-11T17:57:00.000-08:00

New Amigo

2010-01-29T17:54:00.000-08:00

It was been two weeks since our last post and allot of things have been going down. Cold season is here as everyone has taken their share of being sick. Jake was the first one to get sick so we blame him for our own misery. Besides that we have been continuing our wax nights on Thursdays. It's exciting to see such a great turn out each week with both new and returning people. Each week we have around 30 to 40 people show up to get their boards waxed and/or eat some good food!

Another big change is that our group has increased in size. One of our coworkers over at Tahoe Donner Ski resort named Danny is a believer and a solid guy recently became homeless and was need of housing. Danny has a heart for the Lord and serving others so we decided as a group to invite him to live with us. After talking with our host family everything was a go and Danny is currently living with us. However, because of Jake, Danny is also sick at the current moment.
Please pray that God would keep us healthy so we are able to work and serve.

Friends + Snow = Awesome

2010-01-15T17:47:00.000-08:00

There is never a dull moment in our lives. Everyday is filled with a new adventure. While we are only working part time our schedules have been packed. On Mondays there is the college group at night where we have dinner, fellowship and spend time in the word. Every Tuesday is Awana and a few of us have been helping out with the events. Wednesday nights are a reign of chaos as junior highers and high school teens flood the church with high doses of pure adrenaline and fun. Thursdays are when we host our wax nights and minster to unbelievers through a free dinner and board waxing. When we aren't working on the ski hills or church events our time is spend with new friends on and off the hill. God has blessed us with so many friends from the church, at work and people we befriend on the slopes. Our home seems to always be filled with friends and excitement.

Today was another amazing day. A couple of our friends from work and the slopes spent the night after a long day of riding. Yesterday we rode with a group of 12 guys at Northstar Ski Resort and it was a blast. This morning a bunch of us went back country riding and formed a narly 30 foot jump. It was a gorgeous day with tons of sunlight and deep powder. The mountains are beautiful and they attest to the skill and craftsmanship of God in creation.

SALVATION IS HERE !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2010-01-11T22:46:00.000-08:00

So right now all of us guys are celebrating like crazy because God is able to save. Tonight one of our coworkers accepted Jesus Christ as her lord and Savior!!!! How awesome is our God. We have been praying for weeks that God would soften her heart to the gospel and she has chosen to follow the one true God!!! In just a couple of weeks we could see God slowly moving in her heart and we are overjoyed to call her our sister! We have been inviting her to all the church events and wax nights and has been showing up regularly. In less than a month a person who was damned to hell is now risen in Christ and sealed for heaven! It could only be by the power of God! We are so overwhelmed and overjoyed by God's goodness and that He allowed us to witness his grace.

Please continue to pray for Andrea as she now starts a whole new life. She is dead to her sins and is now risen in righteousness through Christ. Pray that God will continue to show himself to Andrea, as He already has, and that God will protect her from the lies of Satan. Jesus is alive and he alone can save us from our sin!!!

God is Good, all the time; all the time, God is Good!

New Years Eve Party

2010-01-09T18:15:00.000-08:00

Steve rocking a rail at a New Years Eve party in the church parking lot.

First Wax Night

2010-01-09T14:27:00.000-08:00

This Friday Snowboarder's for Christ set up the very first wax night in Truckee, California and it was off the wall! The concept of the wax night is a way to spread the love of Christ through providing a free dinner and waxing for people's snowboards and skis. How can anyone pass up a free meal and gear tune up? We have been planning this type of event for months and it was exciting to see everything finally come together! The event took place at Sierra Bible Church, were we are serving, and over 25 people showed up to the event. We made a spaghetti dinner for visitors to enjoy while we waxed and tuned their boards.

God is so good and is moving in many ways. A few of our coworkers were able to make it to the wax night and we are so excited to see such a great turn out. Through this event we were able to share the gospel and show the love of Christ to a bunch of local unbelievers. One Guy named J.J. came to the event hearing about a free waxing for skis without knowing the event was connected to a church. He was super receptive to the gospel allowing Jake and Ryan Egan to share their testimony with him. People ending up staying till 12:00 at night. We are so energized and excited to see what God is doing and will do in the future. Please pray that God will continue to soften hearts and open way to the gospel

new casa. new friends

2010-01-04T18:29:00.001-08:00

So we moved into in with a couple from the church. Jerry and Flori have opened up their home to the five of us ruffians for the next 2 months. Their generosity frees up alot of our funds for other ministry expenses and there's no way we would be able to rent a home like the one that they have it. It's going to be a fantastic base and a great location to invite our co-workers over to.

A quick word on Sierra Bible Church. The 5 of us have been on the receiving end of a great deal of love. I'm pretty sure that we've been given over 300 cookies in the first week alone. We've been invited to peoples houses to eat close to 10 times. We were allowed to stay in the entire church building (by ourselves) for 2 weeks as we were transitioning into housing. For everyone who tries to plan a missions trip and spends tons of time crunching numbers, what happened here is unique and un-plannable. But that should stop all y'all churches from making it happen for other teams that come into your church body!

Jobs are a blessing. We've got buds from Argentina, California, Brazil, South Africa, New Zealand, and all over the US. They know who we are and they're seeing our lives. In a couple of minutes the teammates who work at Soda Springs will arrive to the church building with the friends that they have invited. Monday nights are the young adult/college group nights. We'll be chowing and doing some worship. Normally there is some Bible and fellowship. Our pals from Tahoe Donner ski area are already here with another to come. Some know Christ, but most do not. Here's to a winter of sharing truth with new friends.

following Jesus isn't rocket science.

2010-01-01T22:28:00.000-08:00

It's amazing how easy it is to forget the basics. Jesus Christ came and died for our sins and sometimes I forget that I should be super amped about sharing that with some new people. So, after the smoke settled on our first two weeks and the hectic confusion came to meet God's sovereign death grip, everything was still ok. More than ok actually, because Christ gave us a reason to come to Tahoe.

Housing- So we were mega split on housing. Some of us wanted to rent a house and others wanted to stay at the church and some wanted to accept an offer to live with a local church family. Everyone's amped about moving in with this generous family. Their hospitality and ministry to us will set an example for us as we turn to love on snowboarders.

Jesus Christ is freedom. Getting caught up with parties, girls/boys, and worshiping snowboarding is slavery. I got a chance to ride Squaw Valley the other day. I rode with a buddy from work and we headed up to the mountain super early. Riding the gondola up to the lifts we watched as a snowboarder in his mid 20's lit up some marijuana in the confined space. In the bench across from me, I watched as a teenage snowboarder observed with bright eyes. He was watching his role model live the rebel life that he so wanted. I asked the little guy what is name was. Maverick. I never asked if it was his real name, but we rode together for next 5 hours. He showed us his mountain and I asked him about his life. After lapping the terrain park for a couple hours we took a break and spoke about God. I don't know where his heart is at, but I think that he got to see mine for a bit. I want Maverick to choose freedom.

one week in

2009-12-27T21:37:00.000-08:00

All 5 of us got jobs at ski resorts. We split up into two groups and work at two different mountains. Some of us are at working as ski instructors, snowboard instructors, or kiddie ride facilitators. Work has been really busy through this holiday season, and we're meeting tons of new co-workers everyday.

We are still currently living at the church building and today, being Sunday, found us stashing all of our gear in a side room as people showed up to Sunday school. As we examine our ministry approach, housing options are bountiful. A couple in the church has opened up their home to the 5 of us and we're looking to see if it'd be a good fit with all of the ministry ideas that we had in mind.

It's a really neat feeling to be floating around Sierra Bible Church in the morning before service. People come up to us and ask us how we're doing and honestly care. We've been invited to dinner countless times and have been meeting church members intentionally and even as we are at work or passing through town. It's a cool feeling to have the church body so involved in our lives.

God has been so good to us. He's placed us in a body of believers that is serious about being the Church. We've been given so much and the expectations are so high for the ministry. It's our will to humbly move forward knowing that God will further His own glory with or without our help yet strongly desiring to be a part of His plan.

boots on the ground

2009-12-21T15:38:00.000-08:00

2000 miles in the Ford Taurus brough the Tahoe Team to the much anticipated meeting with our last member, Brad, in the parking lot of In-and-Out burger in Reno, NV. After so many phone calls and internet meetings, it was great to finally meet in person!

We set up base camp in Reno and were warmly greeted by a local family. The next morning was spent scrambling through housing leads and job openings. A 30 minute drive placed us in the town of Truckee, which will be our home for the next several months. Over the course of a couple hours, we looked at a couple of options for leasing a cabin and were offered jobs at a local ski hill. The next day in Truckee we were offered even more jobs as snowboard instructors! With these options, we chose to split our team (as to not dominate the small hill with too many personel) and placed 2 workers at the smaller resort and 3 at the larger. This works very well with our transportation situation (we have 2 cars). The smaller resort is just minutes away from our housing.

As for housing, there's a couple of great cabins that fit our profile. The rent's not that crazy and the location is great. And then there's our host: Sierra Bible Church. They have stepped above and beyond our expectations. Even through all my studies in missions and church, I don't know if this is normal! They have warmly embraced us even before we did anything. There hospitality is on a level I never though possible. In one Sunday morning service we meet dozens of members at the church, tons of youth, and the ministry team. We were presented to the church and the love just started pouring out! We were given more job offers and housing opportunities.

With so much expectation upon our arrival and so much excitement surrounding the ministry, our work is cut out for us. We came to minister and Sierra Bible set the bar. It's our time to do what we came here for.

With thanksgiving for what God has already provided, we look forward in prayer to see what He has next for us. Our ministry plan is to be re-aligned and we've to make some decisions with housing. Thank you for all of your support and keep these points in prayer!

We have arrived!!!

2009-12-19T09:28:00.000-08:00

After 7 tanks of gas, a case of red bull and 35 hours of straight driving, we have safely arrived to Reno, Nevada. God is to be praised for so many reasons. It is a huge blessing that a Ford Taurus with a trailer was able to take us 2000 miles without breaking down. Upon arrival we met up with our fifth team member Brad Carlson and we are excited to have him with us. He is great guy with a passion for the Lord. Please continue to pray for us as we search for jobs and a place to stay in the Truckee/Donner area. God is Good!!!

one week and counting (down)

2009-12-09T07:42:00.000-08:00

As the Tahoe Team wraps up koledge here in Chicago, anticipation builds for the coming winter season. It's a hustle to turn in the final papers and cram as much studying as possible into every night, but a 2000 mile road trip keeps us focused and pressing forward.

God has been so good to us and moved many hearts to generous giving. We've been blessed to receive such donations and are excited to see God bring in the other $6000 we need to set up an effective ministry base (and feed ourselves). If you could offer up a prayer for this need it would be great, but our biggest need is found elsewhere. Our approach to mission is that of Tentmaking. In a nutshell, a tentmaking missionary intentionally enters into a culture to work in a "secular" job place with the goal of preaching Christ there while earning his daily bread. It's a staple of our ministry approach and as of one week before we show up to Tahoe, not one of us on the team has a solid job offer. I know unemployment is on epic proportions, but I serve a God who owns the cattle on a thousand hills. Pray that we would get plugged into the jobs that would best help us reach our snowboarder friends!

New Bro Joins the Team

2009-11-19T21:23:00.000-08:00

Brad Carlson has joined the team! He is from Roseville, California, and is a boss on the slopes. He has a big heart for ministry and snowboarding just like the rest of us. He felt lead to enter snowboarding ministry, got in contact with Snowboarders for Christ in Tahoe, and they connected him to us. Brad will be living with us in Truckee as a fifth teammate spreading the good news and fighting for the glory of God. This decision took intense prayer in Chicago and in California, and we are very excited God has extended our team to five.

Keep checking the blog! Video bios are soon to come!

T4 was in the school paper

2009-11-12T18:10:00.001-08:00

We had the blessing of being in the school paper this past week. We were interviewed and gave a summary of what our mission in Tahoe will be. This allowed us to get the word out around campus to the student body mass. One thing that is really important to us as students is to have the support of our peers. This was a huge help.

The pieces- falling together.

2009-11-10T14:54:00.000-08:00

Truckee, CA- this tiny town is the launch pad for excursions to the local hills and resorts. It's here that desperate ski bums, vacationing millionaires, and the eager migrant make their home. This is going to be our base of operations for the next couplde of months. Our mission is a little different though, we're obsessed with the people not just the mountains. We love mountains, don't get us wrong. We just love the God who made the mountains more.....and we want Truckee to worship Him for who He is.

In the team headlines- we've got a bid out for a local house. It's got everything we want, let's just hope that we can make the price right. Also when it comes to jobs, we're switching it up. We're no longer looking at Squaw Valley, but we're now focused on working as snowboard instructors on small, family-style hills. We've already got some interviews lined up! Stay tuned to see how God keeps changing our plans and puts us right where we need to be.