Spring is in the air!

Aloha from the Big Island!
Spring has come early for me this year, Kona, Hawaii tends to do that to people :-). This past week, students from my last school returned to their homes from a three month outreach, teaching the Bible in Costa Rica. It was an incredible privilege to spend the better part of a year walking with this group pictured below (My staff, students, visiting lecturer and myself). I won't ever forget them, and hope to cross paths with each one in our continued service to the Lord. This quarter is looking a little different from the past year, as I am preparing coursework for several U of N classes, as well as serving in the local community.

Introducing the School of Mapping for Missions:
A good friend of mine is leading a new school in Kona that will impact global missions for decades to come. The school will teach missionaries the skills to use maps as a strategic tool in missions. I will be teaching one day a week in this course on the geography of the Bible, and the importance of location and physical geography in God's story! I am really excited about the new cirriculum and am looking forward to seeing this new school bear fruit for the Kingdom.

Props to Jill Thornton: Map-maker extraordinaire and SOMM school leader

Serving the Kona Community with Kona Coast Chaplaincy:
I have been blessed with the opportunity of serving in a church here in Kona for the past several years. As an outreach to the community, we set up tents, chairs and a sound system at a public area near the ocean for prayer, worship and teaching. Many tourists and locals are drawn by curiosity every week, and they always have a chance to hear the gospel preached and accept Jesus. This quarter I will be preaching several times as our pastor is traveling to Taiwan to serve on the mission field there. Please pray for the continued favor of God upon these services in what we lovingly call "the most beautiful church on earth!"

Josh and I leading worship for an open air Sunday service

Innovations and Revival
The school I am leading this year will highlight a new Bible study tool developed here at YWAM Kona. The Sourceview Bible is the first major change to the formatting of the Biblical text since chapters and verses were added almost 500 years ago. This breakthrough layout highlights the dramatic narrative of the Bible and greatly enhances the reader’s ability to experience the power of God’s story. If you are looking for a new and exciting way to study God's word I would strongly encourage you to get one for yourself. If you do, be sure to check out the "acknowledgements" page, you may see a name you recognize in the editorial section!

available here

Prayer for the Nations: Mongolia
The current school of Biblical Studies is preparing to be sent on outreach to the country of Mongolia! I am hoping to go with this team at least part of their time there as support staff, and hopefully teaching in some of the YWAM schools or churches with needs in the area. Some of the very first missionaries I ever knew were sent out to Mongolia, and I can remember dreaming about going there as a boy. Join me in praying for the purposes of God for this country!

Into 2012 we go...

Greetings from the Big Island:
A lot of things have been happening here at YWAM Kona, and it is an exciting time for all of us to be involved in the global harvest of souls God is conducting! The school I have been leading the past year has graduated, and the students have moved into different areas of ministry, where they will use their Biblical training to evangelize, disciple and equip more workers in the nations they are called to. I just returned from visiting some of the staff and students of the SBS who are on an outreach in Costa Rica, serving the local body of Christ there.

School in Tijuana, Mexico:
The first week in February found me for the first time in Mexico, teaching the book of Ezekiel in their class. I was really blessed to be a part of their school, and see the things God is doing in that location. Staff and students there are very involved in the community, facilitating teams who come to build houses for the poorest of the poor, and doing evangelism and prayer walks in some of Mexico's hardest neighborhoods. The SBS students pictured here are studying God's word for nine months with the intention to see it transform their mission field of Tijuana, Mexico.

students in the Tijuana SBS in their classroom

The main building of YWAM Tijuana Del Mar, equipped with
kitchen, cafeteria, campus worship room and cafe.

New dorms built on the YWAM campus to facilitate more missionaries!

Prayer for the Nations: Costa Rica.
I want to ask you to partner with me this month in praying for Costa Rica. Not only are my students on outreach there right now, but I believe this is a critical season for Costa Rica to rise up as a Christian nation, and begin discipling the other nations of Central America. Pray for the Bible distribution of the next months; that God's word would spark a desire for more and more Costa Ricans to know Him!

In my time with the SBS outreach, I was able to catch up with some friends serving in different areas of Costa Rica, among the youth, in churches and ministries across the country. It was a really great time of fellowship, both with the outreach team and with my "tico" and "tica" friends that I have met on past visits. Pray for unity among the believers in Costa Rica; that initiatives like the Bible distribution project with cross denominational and organizational barriers. Pray that those receiving the Bible for the first time will be drawn into communities that will nourish them and challenge them in their faith. We can also pray for Costa Rica's huge tourism industry: that travelers that make the trip to Costa Rica for physical rest and vacation will come to find rest for their soul as they are ministered to by the people of God in that nation.

SBS outreach team in prayer before a ministry time.

SBS student teaches a youth group about Ephesians and the armor of God.

With friends from Pura Vida Missions on an excursion to San Jose

Taking the bus...

Fellowship around the YWAM dinner table: Heredia, Costa Rica

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

From Kona to the Nations...

News From the Island:
I hope this update finds you well! The past two months have flown by here in Kona, and I am still catching my breath from a few weeks of travel. Last month, several hundred students were sent out on international outreaches from Kona, and over 500 new students joined the university, coming to Kona to be trained for missions in all vocations; from counseling, to film making, to worship leading etc. The School of Biblical Studies is nearing its end, only two months of lectures to go! some of our staff and students will be going on international outreach, and I am helping to prepare programs for them in Costa Rica and Haiti. In addition to my SBS duties, I have been teaching in the Discipleship Training Schools on the Bible, going through the methods of Inductive Bible study and also teaching I John. This week I will be helping to train the outreach teams headed to the Middle East, I'll be sharing some cultural content as well as history of the area, but the main thing that God has been putting on my heart is discussing how we as Christians go as peacemakers (Matthew 5:9) and without representing any other authority or agenda, become ambassadors of the Kingdom of God. I'd appreciate your prayers for wisdom as I sort through these things and how to prepare young people to enter these tough areas for the Gospel.



Workshops, conferences & visits:
I feel incredibly blessed as i look back on the past month and realize what I have been witnessing is truly kingdom history in the making. September ended with YWAM's "University of the Nations Workshop," which gathered together missions leaders and YWAM trainers from across the world for a time of fellowship, planning and testimony. We had a chance to hear from international leaders about the impact the Gospel is making in transforming communities and nations. Shortly after the workshop, I flew to Colorado Springs, Colorado to be part of the "Vineyard Missions leaders conference" Which was an equally incredible time of hearing testimonies from all over the world. How God is blessing and empowering a world-wide church planting movement, which is creating Christ-centered, hope giving, self sustaining and "multiplyable" communities of transformation across the globe (I don't think there is a shorter way to say it :-). This past week I was also able to be home in PA, and briefly visit with friends and family, as well as share at VCF @ the Barn, my home church. Quite a whirlwind time, but I could definitely feel God's grace on every aspect of my travel, preparing divine appointments, and even delays that worked out for the best :-) you can't plan that stuff!

Colorado Springs, Colorado: For the Vineyard Missions Leaders' conference

Taking Bible Study to the Nations:
As I have been working with Bible teaching and training for some time, one of the burdens that God has put on my heart is to package our Bible study cirriculum in ways that can be adapted to meet the needs of believers in other cultures and settings. A Bible training program in rural China would need to look different than the 9 month SBS we run here in Kona. In the same way, Bible study among new Haitian believers can be adapted to utilize the strengths of their culture, and maximize their engagement with the scriptures. In the past few months, I've been part of a team developing some new training that the U of N will begin to offer in other nations. Two forms of training that will shortly become available are the online SBS (where students who work full time can enroll part time in an inductive Bible study course with online resources, class discussion times and staff grading submitted homework) and a new Bible Survey Course, where students engage with the entire Bible, and utilizing small groups, and class discussion to explore the major themes and topics in the word. I am trusting the Lord that these courses will provide the opportunity for many people to study God's word who would not have otherwise been able to.

My sister, Soriya Greenplate made the trip down to Kona
along with my parents, Paul and Cindy. Soriya and I led
worship for the Kona Coast Chaplaincy, my home church here.