Mele Kalikimaka!

"Mele Kalikimaka" from the Big Island!
This week saw the end of our nine month School of Biblical Studies. On Wednesday I had the privilege of graduating students from China, Palau, Switzerland, South Korea, Finland and the United States; and commissioning them into a new season of fruitfulness in the Kingdom of God. Several of them will be attending SBS outreach, traveling to Costa Rica to teach the Bible and Bible study tools there, some are returning to staff YWAM training schools here in the Islands, and some are returning to their homes and mission fields to be a light and a witness in their own communities. These past nine months I have witnessed the faithfulness of God in some amazing ways, from financial provision, to visas for international students, to physical healing. It has been an incredible privilege walking with these students, and partnering with you in the Kingdom work God is doing here in Kona and through our prayers and efforts in the nations.

Final week's class on Revelation with guest speaker, John Randerson!

break time with the class, lots of snacks and coffee

New projects, places and prayers
In both my personal prayer life and in my prayer times for you as a ministry partners, I have really had the sense that God is speaking "new beginnings" as a crucial message for 2012. As I look back on the past year, and ahead to new challenges, the faithfulness that I have experienced from God translates to a sense of excitement and expectation for what He will do in the coming months. Even though there are always uncertainties, and steps God may ask each of us to take in faith, that faith can be founded on the fact that He has been worthy of the trust we've placed in Him, and will continue to prove Himself faithful into the future. As we celebrate Christmas and the holiday season with friends and loved ones, my prayer for you is that you are reminded of all the ways God has been faithful to you in 2011, and that as you look ahead to a new year, any doubts, worries or fears will be replaces by an expectancy to see how the Lord will prove his unending love and good intentions towards you in the next 12 months!

The Gospel spread among nations
This spring I have several projects I will be working to get started. I will be taking some teaching trips to Central America, sharing in Bible schools there and visiting my students on their "outreach phase" of SBS. Along with this, I am hoping to do some networking and promoting of different ministries at work there. God is using his people in Central America to lead the way in areas such as music, literature, environmental stewardship as well as mercy ministries and justice incentives. Projects that really excite me, and I hope to be able to share more with you in the coming months as I network and advocate for some of them. As I return to Kona from visiting my home church for the holidays, I am beginning work on curriculum for a new course within the University of the Nations. My hope is to prepare a Bible course that will be comprehensive enough to give young people a solid foundation in the word of God, while at the same time providing each student with the opportunity to radically process their own call, and discover what God says in His word about the area of society they are called to revolutionize.

Prayer for Nations: United States
I have felt compelled to pray for my own nation over this past month as we usher in a new year. In getting to travel to other nations and share the gospel, one of the things I have come to realize is how blessed I have been by the Godly heritage my nation has from it's birth.
As I network with and hear reports from good friends serving in groups like International House of Prayer, The Call, and YWAM USA, I believe that the coming year is a critical time in the history of the United States to return fully to the Lord. I don't know exactly what this may look like, but I do think a major part of it will be the writing of "In God we trust" on the hearts of the people of my nation. The meaning may be lost on our dollar bills, but if the history in the Bible tells us anything, it shows that when people turn their hearts to the Lord he is faithful to bring healing and restoration to their land.
As the people of God, we have the opportunity and the responsibility to get this ball rolling! Take time with me this Christmas season to pray for a radical return to the one all hearts long for, and a revelation of Jesus, born in a manger, now reigning in glory forever!
My nation needs this message as desperately as any other. I pray that the good news brought in human form that we celebrate Christmas day awakens your heart in a new way this December 25th; and that the joy we know as believers is spread to family, friends and neighbors!

"See, I am bringing you good news of great joy for all the people: to you is born this day in the city of David a savior, who is Christ, the Lord!" Luke 2:11

Update from the Islands

Island happenings
Hello! Greetings from Kona once again. The training quarter is more than half way over, and the rainy season has given way to what is going to be a hot summer! The Biblical Studies students barely notice however. They have been busy in what all of them admit has been the most academically challenging two months of their lives :-). By the end of this quarter, they will have completed historical research and compiled their own inductive commentary on almost every chapter of the New Testament. Please keep our campus in prayer this week. This is the final deadline for students to pay their tuition and outreach fees, and there are still many waiting to see how God will bring in the funds they need to complete their programs. God has been challenging us here on our campus not to settle for "little victories" like the people of Israel when they left Egypt. After their first victory, they wanted to pitch their tents and settle there, when the whole promise land still lay ahead of them. My prayer as we walk together towards the purposes of God in our lives, is that we would not be "settlers," but become "more than conquerors" (Romans 8:37) in all the areas God want's to bring victory in our lives!

The UofN students of April 2011, gathered at the Plaza of Nations

A short trip to the mainland
The end of May found me in California for the first time ever! I had such a week of divine appointments, I feel like I have to share because God was seriously so amazing in preparing the whole trip. I was able to attend the wedding of a great friend, but also visit with several other friends from ministry in years past, and had incredible times of mutual encouragement, prayer, and networking for the Kingdom of God. I met with a friend from years ago who had gone back to school and is now feeling called into missions again, and feeling led to Indonesia in the area of education, along with a group of their classmates from Fuller Theological Seminary. The amazing thing about this is that a colleague of mine is currently working closely with the Indonesian government to develop B/A degrees for educators across the country, that will be facilitated by the University of Nations. Not only that, he lives less than an hour's drive from where we were sitting having lunch! They are setting up a time to meet and discuss God's dream of discipling this nation of Indonesia through Christian higher education.

Grassroots News
I want to share with you a new ministry that is starting up in YWAM, and is already making an impact in the area of news reporting. For years now, God has been challenging us as a mission to use our network (permanent training locations in 187 nations) to network and share stories of hope, and what God is doing around the world. Grassroots News is a response to what we have felt is a calling of God on our mission, and this summer, YWAM trained reporters will be broadcasting news stories from every nation on earth as part of the network launch. I would encourage you to check out this internet TV channel, as it is a great place to find up to date breaking news without political or advertising agenda, and exposes the hope, rather than the despair that is so often the focus of breaking news. Just to give you some examples, YWAM's grassroots news reporters were submitting breaking news stories of the earthquakes and relief efforts in Haiti and Japan before any major news networks had anyone on the scene!

God at work in Indonesia
There has been an on-going urgent education discussion with educators and christian leaders of Indonesia dialoguing with Loren Cunningham, founder of Ywam's University of the Nations (UofN). Indonesia has passed a law that by 2015, ALL teachers in ALL schools must have a bachelors degree or they will not be able to continue teaching. This will affect approximately 1.7 million teachers including 30,000 christian teachers teaching in Christian schools. This potentially will result in the shutting down of Christian schools. The body of Christ in Indonesia in cooperation with christian educators have a plan to establish over 1000 E-LEARNING CENTERS throughout Indonesia served by local churches to provide E-learning to christian teachers to help them get their bachelor's degree that is government approved. This is the first phase. Each e-learning center will serve between 20-40 teachers studying part time in the evenings over a one year cycle. A key to this strategy is providing FACILITATORS at each e-learning center who "LOVE THE LORD AND LOVE THE LOST". They will provide on-going discipleship, mentoring, coaching and guidance to the teachers so as to impart Jesus' heart to love and disciple the children in their classrooms .

UofN International has been formally approached to help train these FACILITATORS in Indonesia using much of our DTS content and values. Loren has made a call internationally and at least 10 of our largest bases in Ywam worldwide and Ywam leaders from Indonesia has responded to this challenge. Mark Brokenshire, International Dean of UofN's College of Education is facilitating this partnership. FACILITATORS coming for training will be sent by their local churches who are starting up these e-learning centers. UofN's primary task is to help train and disciple 4000 FACILITATORS within the next 2 years. Transformed facilitators will in turn transform teachers who will transform students who will transform an emerging generation What an opportunity to disciple a nation! UofN Bali will begin the first FACILITATORS training this July and will establish a pilot e-learning center shortly after.

Would you pray with University of the Nations and the body of Christ in Indonesia as we embark on these two challenges? Pray that the Lord will strengthen our partnerships and bless our friendships especially at key leadership levels. May He grant us faith to do the seemingly 'impossible' because He has spoken and He is able to accomplish as we hear and obey.

The scoop from Kona

Aloha from the Big Island!
Well, It feels like time has been flying by this past month. In the midst of the craziness of sending 300+ students on outreach, and welcoming another group of 300+ to the University of the Nations for the next three months, I have really felt your prayers as God has continued to give me energy, and provide for me and the ministry here in miraculous ways. He has brought together an incredible team of staff that I am privileged to work with, as well as a group of students who are so hungry to study God's word! Our class is 22 people, ages 18-62 representing 9 nations... and somehow, they all ended up on the same rock in the middle of the Pacific ocean. The atmosphere on campus is something I haven't felt at this level here in Kona before; just this contagious expectancy for God to do big things, and a huge desire to press into Him and get all the vision, the equipping and anointing He desires to pour out. Please pray that God continues to stir the hearts and minds of staff and students here, not growing weary, not getting distracted, but fully committed to the places he sends us, both our local communities, and outreaches.

Class of SBS Kona Hawaii, 2011

School of Biblical Studies
The school I am teaching this year is a nine month, intensive course which takes the students through every book in the Bible. This course is the most rigorous cirriculum the University of the Nations offers The method we use is called inductive Bible study, and the students receive teaching on each book, and also have significant time spent in self study examining the text, researching historical context and processing application as the Holy Spirit directs. Last week I taught the introduction classes for this course, introducing the students to this method, as well as going through the book of Titus. This week we are currently studying Acts, which our visiting speaker (Dr. Mark Smith: archaeologist and history professor) has been suggesting would be better titled "The Acts of the Holy Spirit" instead of the title given in the middle ages "The Acts of the Apostles." It has been an incredible two weeks, seeing the students grow in their confidence in studying God's word, as well as their understanding of the history, culture and geography of the New Testament world.

Students prepare skits for historical re-enactments of Titus

God at work in the islands!
This morning I was profoundly impacted by an intercession time we had as a class. One of our staff on campus came to our class and shared about an upcoming trip they are taking to North Korea. In our time of prayer together, one of the SBS students from South Korea, Hwansik Kim, began to pray out with conviction for the people of North Korea. In getting to know Hwansik this past week, I learned that just 6 weeks ago he finished his term of service with the South Korean army. Just months ago, Hwansik was sitting in the driver's seat of personnel carrier at the edge of the de-militarized zone between North and South Korea after a North Korean artillery strike of a south Korean island. Two nights ago he was describing to me how he felt as the army was moved to def-com 1, and the engines were revving in preparation for a war that was just barely avoided after an incredibly stressful and intense time. Today Hwansik along with his classmates and staff engaged in a different battle over North Korea, as we prayed that the plans and purposes for the people of that nation to be realized in this generation.

My brother Josh and I leading worship at Kona Coast Chaplaincy

hiking into a crater: Volcano National Park, South-point of Hawaii.

Prayer for Nations
North Korea:

I wanted to use this section today to invite you to join in our intercession topic this week. North Korea has been on prayer lists of people all over the world for years and years, and God is indeed moving there. A century ago, the capital of North Korea, Pyong- yang, was referred to as the Jerusalem of Asia, because of the radical work God was doing there, stirring up revival. No one from that time would recognize the city now, which has been the seat of oppression and deception of an entire people group for many years. This week in our prayer times we have been believing for a continued and accelerated move of God to open the doors of this nation. Praying for ways for God's people to go in, for the lost to be found, and even prayers in faith for the future North Korean believers who are soon to be called into the global harvest field!

SBS staff hard at work in the office!