Thankfully some friends and family gave us an excuse to break the coat-and-scarf monotony of winter to have a taste of summer. We will be traveling July 18 through August 16 in the States, attending weddings and family gatherings. Our stops will be Colorado, Iowa and California and we can’t wait to celebrate Nathan & Sarah’s wedding (Noah’s brother), Paul & Jaya’s wedding (house church friends), and Kate’s family gathering in Keystone (among other things). We’ve also been craving good ol’ American food like never before: Chipotle, Heidi’s, Panera, Chili’s, Taco Bell—watch out, here we come!

The last month has been filled with God opening doors with new friends and ministry partners while He continues to speak revelations to us about this city and its people. We’ve befriended a couple our age from South Africa which has been a direct answer to prayer as they also moved here with a heart to see house churches planted in the city (this is literally a mind-blowing miracle). We are so encouraged by them and our other contacts here, including a network of home churches we are praying, worshiping, and learning with.

Prayer is a BIG thing on our hearts lately. We feel God has called us into a season of intentional prayer for the city and the people – especially because we’ve seen that before large moves of God He always calls His people to prayer. We have been dreaming of a city-wide 24/7 prayer room here, but are still waiting on the Father for this. Whatever He’s got planned for Christchurch, It’s gonna be huge! The years of apathy and unbelief are coming to an end — we are moving into a season of miracles, repentance and discipleship!

On the practical side of things, we are currently gutting the kitchen, with the help of YWAM, and repainting the lounge (family room). We’ve continued to have new problems at the house, but Noah is apparently pretty handy with the jigsaw (among other things) so he’s been able to get things repaired and working. We are hoping by spring to have this place looking fantastic and functioning like clockwork! (Thanks also to Andrew Rosie for his wall repairs and all-around good humor!)

The new YWAM school, The Skiers + Snowboarders Discipleship Training School, has begun! We will be partnering with them on Friday evenings for outreach in the city – specifically engaging with youth at the skate park, working with internationals at Rice Cube (an English + Bible study focused outreach), ministering to people downtown and spending some hours praying for transformation in Christchurch from the prayer room in our home.

Kate has finished her English Tutoring training and is now tutoring a young mother from Bhutan. We’ve also befriended an Afghani couple through another English program Kate volunteers with. We have thoroughly enjoyed spending time with them and pray earnestly for an opportunity to share with them the story of the humble King who redeems the world!! (prayer request!)

This month we hosted one traveler, a friend from Colorado (hey Kat!) who was in the country for study abroad. Next weekend we are hosting Kate’s YWAM DTS directors who are also flying through on their way north.

As June ends and July begins, we bless you in the name of Jesus and urge you to keep pressing on toward the goal: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength,” and “Love your neighbor as yourself. There is no commandment greater than these.”

We love you all – full speed no break,

Kate + Noah

Monday we had our YWAM staff meeting at base.
Tuesday we went to our South African’s friends’ house for a prayer meeting.
Wednesday we had a meeting with some YWAM staff at our house + later hosted the McNeill’s over for prayer for the city also.
Thursday I met my new English learner.
Friday we met up with folks down at the city square who do food + music outreach.
Saturday we enjoyed dinner with our new Afghani friends.
Sunday we joined in with a home church and later attended the welcoming gathering for the new DTS out at Oxford. We stayed the night on base because…
Monday we attended the morning worship gathering and staff meeting. Straight afterwards we met with a local girl who is really involved with city ministries and the skate scene.

BUSY! And tomorrow I go tutor at the Spreydon English Center, then we meet up with the South African’s again. Then Wednesday we meet with some outreach coordinators who just moved here from the States! We are grateful for God’s open doors! Good times!

YWAM Oxford

“Decisions that Define Us” by David B. Crone
Read by Graham Cook

This is an address from Pete Grieg at the 10 year anniversary gathering of the global 24-7 prayer movement. If you’re not familiar with the movement, I highly recommend reading up on it. The main site is HERE and you can watch a video about it HERE.

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Pete Grieg – Magnificat (right click to save)
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Additionally, I’d like to recommend reading “Red Moon Rising: How 24-7 Prayer Is Awakening A Generation”. I (Noah) have just begun reading the book upon Kate’s suggestion and out of a desire to see how prayer can change the world. If you’re interested, you can get the book HERE

Also – for those of you who did listen to the 2 talks from last post, here is an update from Tim Scheuer.

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Tim Scheuer Update (Part 3)
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Love to hear any feedback you might have on any of these.

(Click To Enlarge)

They used to say that the pen was mightier than the sword, but I think it can now be said that the keyboard has replaced the pen and that, in it’s extensive takeover, it has actually diluted most of the impact writing once had. Words have become so pervasive that they’ve become like crackling static in our ears, completely devoid of meaning and stripped of power. So where does that leave us? What do we have that is still mightier than the sword (and less violent as well)?

We’ve been told by our grandmothers, mothers, and so many others for years, “actions speak louder than words”. If that is indeed true (which I believe it is) the question is then, “what will we DO to initiate change in our world?”. What will we start to do NOW, that we aren’t currently doing, that will have a positive impact on those around us… that will speak volumes beyond our excessively empty words?

What we do doesn’t have to be momentous, it just has to be SOMETHING. I think most of us tend to be paralyzed by the “go big or go home” mentality and, as a result, we will never do something big because we haven’t bothered to do anything AT ALL.

Or maybe we just don’t care enough to inconvenience ourselves. The static of words and media has made our hearts so numb that we don’t even know how to be passionate anymore. Maybe we just need to let ourselves get mad enough to stop caring what everyone else thinks and starting doing something about it. Maybe it’s okay, even GOOD, to be furiously angry if it means we’re willing to make a change for the better.

Here is a stirring quote from Danish pastor, Kaj Munk, killed in 1944 by the Gestapo for his open resistance to the Nazi takeover in Denmark.

“What is, therefore, our task today? Shall I answer: “Faith, hope, and love”? That sounds beautiful. But I would say – courage. No, even that is not challenging enough to be the whole truth. Our task today is recklessness.

For what we Christians lack today is not psychology or literature…what we lack is a holy rage – the recklessness which comes from the knowledge of God and humanity. The ability to rage when justice lies prostrate on the streets, and when the lie rages across the face of the earth…a holy anger about the things that are wrong in the world. To rage against the ravaging of God’s earth, and the destruction of God’s world. To rage when little children must die of hunger, when the tables of the rich are sagging with food. To rage at the senseless killing of so many, and against the madness of militaries. To rage at the lie that calls the threat of death and the strategy of destruction peace. To rage against complacency. To restlessly seek that recklessness that will challenge and seek to change human history until it conforms to the norms of the Kingdom of God.

And remember the signs of the Christian Church have been the Lion, the Lamb, the Dove, and the Fish… but never the chameleon.”

- Kaj Munk

Background on Kaj Munk from Time Magazine 1944: HERE

We must remember as believers, that our battle is not against men or the power they wield, but against the spiritual chains of oppression, greed, pride, and all of the dark forces that plague human hearts. May our Father in heaven teach us how to be angry again… how to stand up and live for what we know is right. We want to see the world changed in our day. May it be so!

It’s probably the same for everyone, but it felt to us like the month of May lasted about a week. It literally whizzed by at an unearthly speed. As a recap, we thought we’d toss together a bit of video so you can see what we’ve been up to. Excuse our crazy behavior – it seems the mold in our house is starting to have an adverse affect on us (either that, or we just had more outtakes than we did good video so we decided to use it all). Ha!

As we head into Winter, we’ve really been feeling like God is establishing a season of prayer and preparation for what He wants to do in Christchurch and in New Zealand. This has to be bigger than just us and requires the involvement of as many believers as this city has to offer. We’ve been contemplating what it might look like to initiate 24-7 prayer in Christchurch and how God might be wanting to do that. These thoughts and impressions are merely in their infancy, but, if you would, maybe just spend the next 60 seconds praying for the city and what God has in mind here. We can’t wait to see what is coming and we can’t wait to tell you all about it when it happens.

It’s been just over six weeks since we arrived in Christchurch! We’ve been trying to keep the blog populated with little things here and there, so please check out posts from this last month for more specific info. In the meantime, here is a quick synopsis of what’s been happening with us in New Zealand:

HAPPENINGS at the HOUSE

—We’re fortunate to have a giant, smooth, white wall outside our house that just seems to scream “Vandalize me!!” We’re hoping to catch a tagger in action one of these days and invite him and his fellow “spray artists” to paint a mural on the wall with Noah… we’ll see though (pray for a connection somehow).

—We are continuing to transform the house into a welcoming guest-friendly environment (including the extraction of a medley of “interesting” smells).

—A YWAM team from Marine Reach, Tauranga, may be staying with us in the middle of May and we’ll be keeping them busy with various ministry opps around the city (should have some good stories following their stay—pray that God would use them in the city in amazing ways)!

—We are currently thinking about hosting a weekly community dinner here for neighbors + folks we meet (pray for the correct timing in this and also that we can meet people who want to hear more about the good news of the Kingdom!).

HAPPENINGS in CHRISTCHURCH

—God has been speaking to us about His desire to “rain down and make this land fertile again.”

—We have begun to network with different believers in the city, praying and seeking the Lord together.

—God is calling us to a time of prayer and preparation for the work He wants to do here.

—We have been joining the current YWAM DTS in doing street evangelism every Friday night in the city center (see a post or two below this).

HAPPENINGS with KATE

—Kate volunteers at a local church to help teach English to second-language learners.

—She is taking a course through English Language Partners and will soon be paired with a refugee for one-on-one tutoring.

—She is continuing to write for RELEVANT Magazine.

HAPPENINGS with NOAH

—Noah illustrates 4 days a week for the Duck Co. + has various other design projects lined up in order to pay the bills.

—He has been meeting regularly with other house church guys in the city. Good things are happening…. details to come soon.

—Speaking at a home gathering Sunday, May 2 about “The Power of Story”

Pictured Above: Gethsemane Gardens – a prayer garden overlooking the city where we’ve felt led to wait on God.

PRAYER NEEDS

—Protection: mentally, physically, and most of all, spiritually

—Patience in waiting on God to open more doors + diligence to keep checking handles (figuratively. We’re looking for unlocked homes or anything weird like that —ha!)

—Pray for Kate’s new muslim Afghani friend from the English program to have an open heart to the gospel of the Kingdom!

—For Our Marriage: Honoring one another / Supporting one anothers needs

—For Christchurch: That God’s Kingdom would come in ways the city has never seen before. Also for MANY more workers for the harvest (Luke 10:2b).

—Pray for continued favor with neighbors + people we meet.

—Pray that God would pave the road before us and that we would hear His directions easily.

—Pray that God would bring ministry partners that share the vision for a transformed Christchurch.

CELEBRATIONS

—Not sure if we mentioned it before, but we found a car (see over-dramatic photo above)!!

—God has been waking us with dreams + revelations in the night mostly regarding the city (please pray for more as they have been encouraging to those with whom we’ve shared them).

—God amazed us with much-needed financial provision this month!! We sold a parked domain name for a significant amount, blessing both our family and another family as well – God has continued to show us through His unorthodox provision that He has us right where He wants us. It’s been truly miraculous!

—We are so grateful to be in this ministry house + are grateful for our relationship with the YWAM Oxford staff. YWAM is experiencing some really incredible changes —we’ll keep you posted as they continue to develop. We’re excited to be a part of the ministry during this season.

—Our Two year anniversary is May 25! (So far, so good! ha!)

Today I came across one of THOSE and I wanted to share it with you.

This is from an Australian guy called Dave Lawton who is living the gospel in a way that most of us have given up on. We’ve decided that our western culture has no interest in the gospel and so we’ve stopped trying. Reaching the “lost” is something we talk about often and yet we don’t do it… almost at all. Dave is seeing otherwise, but I’ll let the audio do the talking (uh, terrible unintentional pun).

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• DAVE LAWTON – Church Planting For Everyone
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Another bit of audio I found VERY inspiring in the same stream of thought: An American guy doing ministry in Sydney, Australia and seeing an openness to the gospel that most would have said was not possible in the West.

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• STEVE ADDISON w/ TIM SCHEUER – People of Peace
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If you listen to these, I would love to hear your thoughts and what stood out to you… and what you feel you can do to change the way you live your faith.