We came home (from our wonderfully refreshing USA SUMMER 2010 Tour) to a repaired kitchen (it had been gutted because of water damage). What a relief to have that fixed! And to add to that excitement, we quickly arranged for new carpet to be put in the living room. Then with a little added touches of paint, our ceiling makeover was complete. We were finally able to fully organize our kitchen, put up our decor + make this place cozy.

What a huge change it made. It is actually beginning to feel comfortable. (Though there is still an intense, ever-present mold battle because of how wet it is here in NZ, we are feeling better about this house!)

We’ve been spending lots of time with our new friends, the Willems (who also moved here to plant house churches—they are from South Africa).

YWAM update: The current school leaves for outreach this week. The next school begins in a month!

Two weeks ago we hosted a Danish girl who recently graduated from the YWAM Brisbane base in Australia. She had been traveling around New Zealand a few weeks after her school ended and stayed with us one night before flying back home. It was neat to hear about life in Denmark and encourage her in her calling back home.

This weekend we hosted an Australian YWAM student who recently graduated from the last school.

This weekend was also the epic earthquake which rocked this city. Though there were no fatalities (Thank you Lord!) there is severe damage throughout our neighborhoods, the city + the region.

Needless to say, as a result of being here, we don’t have much to update everyone on…. soooo… consider this a bit of a “blog-cation” (holiday as it were). BUT, if you can’t stand the idea of not having even the tiniest morsel of news, then have a look at Kate’s post about our trip to Illinois/Iowa and watch a video about an interesting healing that we experienced when we jumped out on a limb called faith. HERE

We also wanted to take this chance to express our deepest and warmest gratitude to each and every one of you who read our updates and keep us in prayer. You are absolutely PRICELESS and we appreciate you more than words (upon words, upon words) could ever express.

May our Father bless each and every one of you this month in ways that you never expected! And, if we can, we’d love to encourage you to step out of your comfort zone, put your ego on the line, and see what God’s been waiting to do in and through you! The Kingdom of God is HERE NOW and you are it’s physical expression!!

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!