8 January 2011
The Mobile DTS that I helped with in October came back from traveling through Europe after Christmas, and I got to spend about a week with them in Herrnhut before they left for an 11-week missions outreach. There are four teams on outreach from the Mobile DTS, spread through Africa and Asia. It was a huge joy to see them again and spend some quality time while they were here.
The Marriage of the Arts DTS (the other DTS in Herrnhut that ran at the same time as the Mobile DTS) teams left for their 11-week outreach around the same time as the Mobile.
December and the beginning of this month have been a time of reflecting and remembering for me, and I want to share the most important things God has done.
When I didn't go with the Mobile DTS like I expected in November, I was first confused, then upset, and then I asked God what He wanted me to do and focus on since I was staying. He told me to build relationships with the Marriage of the Arts DTS students. I had no idea why I was held back to be with these students, but I decided to go for it and give it my all to love them.
I asked God if there was any specific person He wanted me to connect with, and I instantly thought of a guy I had seen around but never really talked with. Five seconds later, he and I walked past each other. I do not believe in coincidences. I had my task, asked God to help us become friends, and a week later we started chatting, and then started often spending time and praying together. His name is Danny, and he is from Aurora, maybe a mile from where I grew up. God really is good. He meant so much to me during November and December. With Danny I have experienced what scripture means in talking about iron sharpening iron.
As well, I read through a number of The Chronicles of Narnia books, and The Little Prince, Philippians and Hebrews with a few people during November and December. It was completely out of the blue, and I knew nothing about any of the people I read with when we began, but it opened the door that friendship came through by the time they left. I talked and prayed and sat with these folks for hours the last couple days before they left which was one of the best things I've experienced.
It was hard to be away from the school that I have such a deep God-given desire and love for. Before the Mobile DTS outreach teams left, we had a spontaneous time of prayer together – well, I challenged one of the students to pray for another student who he was intimidated to pray for, and he ended praying for nine people from the school, one after another.... He told me that even though I was not with the Mobile DTS, and they genuinely missed me and wished fI had been with them, he knew that it was the right thing for me and for people here that I stayed. Even though it was so hard to stay, I knew it is right that I stayed; and God confirmed what I knew was true but still hard to accept.
I am thankful that God is greater than my circumstances. He promised me when I stayed in Herrnhut that this and the coming times when everything seems to go wrong and it's not what I want, that when I ask Him what to do where I am, that there will be greater joy from the places where I could choose disappointment. And He did just that, and I believe He is going to do even more with the relationships I cultivated here in November and December.
Happy 2011
There have been nearly 150 students here at the little base in Herrnhut Germany since September/October, and they have now all left for 11-weeks of outreach, and a completely different season is upon me and the base staff in Herrnhut while the students are gone. We will be able to rest more by started each weekday at 9am (instead of 8am), and projects involving a lot of physical labor in different ways will be the focus. I will mainly help with renovating the kitchen until that project is finished. I am so excited for the change of pace.
I am also hoping and praying to visit a team (or maybe a couple teams) on outreach sometime in February, when they are midway through the 11-week outreach, to encourage them as they begin to get tired. I don't know yet if I will, or where, but this is one of my primary prayer needs, if you think of me. Ask that which team(s) to visit would be clear, and for the finances I need for flights and travel to visit them.
Grace and peace to you,
Christopher
Saturday, January 8, 2011
Tuesday, October 5, 2010
Brief: Mobile DTS
I'm trying to figure out the next move on a giant chess set in Lausanne, Switzerland. I won. (Twice.)
This is me and a couple of friends and a big platform swing. No, we didn't fall off.The Mobile DTS in Herrnhut has begun, and we are now two days into the school. My time is filled with staff meetings, lectures from speakers, evenings together with the staff and students, and scavenger hunts. More on scavenger hunts soon....
I'm also working on the October Newsletter to send out. If you want to receive it but did not receive the August/September letter, please email me that you would like to be on the list. Thanks!
It's late here, but I am training myself to use this as a space for short updates, maybe eventually everyday. I am doing very well, excited, and always wanting to hear and connect with you. Hope to soon.
Grace and peace,
Chris
Sunday, July 25, 2010
Thoughts On Healing and More
If you didn't already know, God has been healing warts on my hands. It's still amazing to me that this is happening. But I've come to realize it should be normal. Jesus called me to be naturally supernatural. "Proclaim as you go, saying, 'The kingdom of heaven is at hand.' Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse lepers, cast out demons" (Matthew 10:7–8).
I have to be honest – the last time I raised a dead person was, um, never. That's ridiculous, to raise the dead, isn't it? I don't know if I've even met a leper (although I think the warts I had count as a skin disease). And although I've prayed for healing and have met people with demonic influences over their lives, I don't know if anyone has been healed and I don't think I cast out any demons. But Jesus instructed the Twelve to do all this – including raising the dead! – before He was crucified and resurrected. Jesus gave them authority before they were trained up. They saw Him teach, heal, raise the dead, cast out demons, so they some idea of what Jesus did to copy; but they didn't have a class like Cleansing Lepers 101 before Jesus sent them on outreach.
This gives me great hope, for myself, and for anyone other Christian. I am receiving phenomenal teaching and training in Herrnhut and with YWAM. I know people with other organizations, for example InterVarsity Christian Fellowship, who are getting excellent training and equipping in God's Word and ministry. I think there is a need and a place for YWAM or IVCF or whatever. But this type of life is for everyone.
From what I've learned, here is what I've gathered that everything comes down to: 1) Because of Christ, I am God's son. 2) Because of Christ, I have the Holy Spirit living in me. 3) I obey the Lord in whatever I do. Knowing my true spiritual identity, and that I am God's tabernacle, and doing as God says are, I believe, the keys to making the most of the authority Jesus has given those whom He has called.
Anyway, that's what I've been thinking recently.
Ephesians 3:20 – "Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us,"
Grace and peace,
Chris
I have to be honest – the last time I raised a dead person was, um, never. That's ridiculous, to raise the dead, isn't it? I don't know if I've even met a leper (although I think the warts I had count as a skin disease). And although I've prayed for healing and have met people with demonic influences over their lives, I don't know if anyone has been healed and I don't think I cast out any demons. But Jesus instructed the Twelve to do all this – including raising the dead! – before He was crucified and resurrected. Jesus gave them authority before they were trained up. They saw Him teach, heal, raise the dead, cast out demons, so they some idea of what Jesus did to copy; but they didn't have a class like Cleansing Lepers 101 before Jesus sent them on outreach.
This gives me great hope, for myself, and for anyone other Christian. I am receiving phenomenal teaching and training in Herrnhut and with YWAM. I know people with other organizations, for example InterVarsity Christian Fellowship, who are getting excellent training and equipping in God's Word and ministry. I think there is a need and a place for YWAM or IVCF or whatever. But this type of life is for everyone.
From what I've learned, here is what I've gathered that everything comes down to: 1) Because of Christ, I am God's son. 2) Because of Christ, I have the Holy Spirit living in me. 3) I obey the Lord in whatever I do. Knowing my true spiritual identity, and that I am God's tabernacle, and doing as God says are, I believe, the keys to making the most of the authority Jesus has given those whom He has called.
Anyway, that's what I've been thinking recently.
Ephesians 3:20 – "Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us,"
Grace and peace,
Chris
Pictures
I haven't shared many pictures. So, to begin with, here are some photos of my hands after most of the warts have dried up:
The arrows show where groups of warts were on my hands. If you zoom in some, you can see tiny pink bumps. The warts shrank over a matter of weeks, and now the skin is almost completely smooth. (You can zoom in here.)
And this is my left hand. There were two warts below my index finger, where the arrows are. You can see that you is whitish, and the other is gone, now a pink dot. All the warts on my hands have turned white or black, then shrunk to nothing and become a pink spot. Healing is craziness, but so good!
I really, sincerely, literally believe that God wants to heal like this much more than anyone has seen or heard about. Now, I don't believe that God will always heal every disease right away. I know people have have had miraculous instant healing of broken bones or blindness, cancer, whatever. I know people who have been healed over time, like the warts on my hands. And I knew people who have been prayed for again and again, everyday, and nothing happens. I don't know why. But I know that Jesus told his disciples, which means he tells you and me, to heal the sick. No one will be healed if no one prays. I've experienced that God heals when I listen to him saying, "I want to heal this... pray this way..." and I obey him. How cool would it be to see healing become normal in the church again?
•
Here are some pictures of me and my class! I love all these people a lot. If you have facebook, you can find more photos tagged with me. Here are a very of my favorites.
In Wittenberg, in front of the Castle-Church where Martin Luther taught. =D
More on my trip to Wittenberg later. It was a great trip to see the site where the Reformation started.
The SOIP Men. We look even better in person.
The SOIP.
ME! In black and white. Beautiful.
More to come. Thanks for staying and praying with me.
Much love in Christ, who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us [Eph. 3:20],
Christopher
The arrows show where groups of warts were on my hands. If you zoom in some, you can see tiny pink bumps. The warts shrank over a matter of weeks, and now the skin is almost completely smooth. (You can zoom in here.)
And this is my left hand. There were two warts below my index finger, where the arrows are. You can see that you is whitish, and the other is gone, now a pink dot. All the warts on my hands have turned white or black, then shrunk to nothing and become a pink spot. Healing is craziness, but so good!I really, sincerely, literally believe that God wants to heal like this much more than anyone has seen or heard about. Now, I don't believe that God will always heal every disease right away. I know people have have had miraculous instant healing of broken bones or blindness, cancer, whatever. I know people who have been healed over time, like the warts on my hands. And I knew people who have been prayed for again and again, everyday, and nothing happens. I don't know why. But I know that Jesus told his disciples, which means he tells you and me, to heal the sick. No one will be healed if no one prays. I've experienced that God heals when I listen to him saying, "I want to heal this... pray this way..." and I obey him. How cool would it be to see healing become normal in the church again?
•
Here are some pictures of me and my class! I love all these people a lot. If you have facebook, you can find more photos tagged with me. Here are a very of my favorites.
In Wittenberg, in front of the Castle-Church where Martin Luther taught. =DMore on my trip to Wittenberg later. It was a great trip to see the site where the Reformation started.
The SOIP Men. We look even better in person.
The SOIP.
ME! In black and white. Beautiful.More to come. Thanks for staying and praying with me.
Much love in Christ, who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us [Eph. 3:20],
Christopher
Wednesday, July 14, 2010
Warts
God asked me to write something, and I asked Him what to write about, and He told me this. Enjoy.
I've been watching something amazing happen. I would call it incredible even, except that there are dozens of people who are witnesses. I love sharing this testimony because it seems incredible even to me sometimes, and I'm living it.
I've had a number of warts on both my hands for some years. Last year I started trying to remove them with medication, but it didn't work, and after some time the warts became worse and bigger. A few weeks ago Scott, my friend from the School of Intercessory Prayer, came up to me and told me God had spoken to him that he should pray for my hands, that the warts would die and my hands be healed.
You need to understand that I have been ashamed of my hands and the warts for years. I have been very self-conscience and did not like shaking hands with people. I often tried to hide them. I've used a medication, put duct tape on them, prayed that they would be healed, and nothing has happened or worked.
Until now. Scott asked me if he could pray for me, and the shame I had felt started to brake. He told me he got James 5:16. Which says, "Confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed." Scott prayed for me, and said he felt this was a process that would take some time and encouraged me to pray and speak healing to my hands as well. I took a few days to meditate on the verse and asked God how to respond, and He told me to go back to Scott and confess a couple things that I hadn't spoken into the light. Scott and I prayed again. A day or two later, a few of my warts started shrinking.
I didn't know what to think, but as the days went by they shrunk more. Scott came back to me, we went through this process again, and the warts keep shrinking and dying. The warts that are dying are specific, one wart or group of warts at a time, on different hands... it's always random which one dies next.
I don't get it. I really don't. I've never truly believed that God still heals people physically. I always believed God wants much more to heal people inside, spiritually and emotionally and mentally. Not the body. I've been thinking about this a lot the last few weeks. One girl in our class broke her leg, and we started praying for her healing right away. Her bone wasn't miraculously mended. There are other injuries in my class that haven't been healed, and I don't know why not.
I didn't see anything that gave me new faith that God could heal my hands. But I took another passage to heart out of James that Scott also gave me: "Ask in faith, with no doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind. For that person must not suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways" (James 1:6-8.) I set myself not to doubt but to receive... and now I am seeing past areas of shame become areas of glory and praise to God as He redeems my hands.
That sounds incredible still to me, and every morning when God's mercies are new, I see a wart has died a little more, and I praise Him that He is turning my confession and faith into healing. Cool.
I'll try to share pictures soon, and then again when the warts are gone.
In other news, I am going to Berlin on Thursday to the Nigerian Embassy for an interview to get a Visa for outreach. If you think of it and God tells you to pray for me, you could pray for the interviews. But even more pray for me in whatever way, for anything, that God brings to your mind. [And if you have a word or direction or image that He gives you to pray (e.g. Grace, or 'Let go' or a red balloon...), that would be encouraging.]
Thanks, and may you know even more God who heals both the spirit and the body,
Chris
I've been watching something amazing happen. I would call it incredible even, except that there are dozens of people who are witnesses. I love sharing this testimony because it seems incredible even to me sometimes, and I'm living it.
I've had a number of warts on both my hands for some years. Last year I started trying to remove them with medication, but it didn't work, and after some time the warts became worse and bigger. A few weeks ago Scott, my friend from the School of Intercessory Prayer, came up to me and told me God had spoken to him that he should pray for my hands, that the warts would die and my hands be healed.
You need to understand that I have been ashamed of my hands and the warts for years. I have been very self-conscience and did not like shaking hands with people. I often tried to hide them. I've used a medication, put duct tape on them, prayed that they would be healed, and nothing has happened or worked.
Until now. Scott asked me if he could pray for me, and the shame I had felt started to brake. He told me he got James 5:16. Which says, "Confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed." Scott prayed for me, and said he felt this was a process that would take some time and encouraged me to pray and speak healing to my hands as well. I took a few days to meditate on the verse and asked God how to respond, and He told me to go back to Scott and confess a couple things that I hadn't spoken into the light. Scott and I prayed again. A day or two later, a few of my warts started shrinking.
I didn't know what to think, but as the days went by they shrunk more. Scott came back to me, we went through this process again, and the warts keep shrinking and dying. The warts that are dying are specific, one wart or group of warts at a time, on different hands... it's always random which one dies next.
I don't get it. I really don't. I've never truly believed that God still heals people physically. I always believed God wants much more to heal people inside, spiritually and emotionally and mentally. Not the body. I've been thinking about this a lot the last few weeks. One girl in our class broke her leg, and we started praying for her healing right away. Her bone wasn't miraculously mended. There are other injuries in my class that haven't been healed, and I don't know why not.
I didn't see anything that gave me new faith that God could heal my hands. But I took another passage to heart out of James that Scott also gave me: "Ask in faith, with no doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind. For that person must not suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways" (James 1:6-8.) I set myself not to doubt but to receive... and now I am seeing past areas of shame become areas of glory and praise to God as He redeems my hands.
That sounds incredible still to me, and every morning when God's mercies are new, I see a wart has died a little more, and I praise Him that He is turning my confession and faith into healing. Cool.
I'll try to share pictures soon, and then again when the warts are gone.
In other news, I am going to Berlin on Thursday to the Nigerian Embassy for an interview to get a Visa for outreach. If you think of it and God tells you to pray for me, you could pray for the interviews. But even more pray for me in whatever way, for anything, that God brings to your mind. [And if you have a word or direction or image that He gives you to pray (e.g. Grace, or 'Let go' or a red balloon...), that would be encouraging.]
Thanks, and may you know even more God who heals both the spirit and the body,
Chris
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