Teaching in the DTS

Next week I will be teaching in our fall Discipleship Training School (DTS).  The topic I will be teaching on is Evangelism.  I have three hours a day, which is a good 15 hours next week I get to teach 30 eager young students about evangelism. I absolutely love these times where I am able to speak in the DTS schools.  i would appreciate your prayers as I prepare for next week.  I am actually a bit nervous in one regard as I am trying a new thing out.  usually in day one I focus on the students definitions of what they think evangelism is, and then I form my teaching rite there on the spot with them.  However, I have felt the Lord leading me to spend the entire first day on a topic I have never really taught on at any length.....hell.  My teaching is called "5 of Satan's Best Kept Secrets About Evangelism".  I would appreciate the prayers, and that the Lord would speak through me and the students would have open hearts.

Alistair is doing great!  The above picture was taken yesterday as he was hanging out in the crisp fall air of Oregon!  We are adjusting quite nicely to life with six kids!  God is faithful!

572 Bibles in 2 Hours as Youth Groups Bless Salem

This Saturday we hosted another EXIT outreach.  We did not manage to get all our cities Exits covered, but the 7 youth groups we had participating had a blast and did a great job.  The outreach was from 10:00-12:00 and they ended up passing out 572 Bibles!  Some groups even bought some lunch for some homeless people who were begging at the same exits.  The weather was cold and miserable, but Jesus was glorified.  Exit is a great outreach that provides a great platform for youth groups to bless their city, and do outreach together.  Please pray for the 572 seeds that were planted!

Alistair Timothy Makes His Appearance

We are proud to announce that on October 24th at 11:35 pm Alistair Timothy came into the world!  He weighed a solid 8 pounds 13 ounces and was 20 inches long.  Sarah is doing great.  As you know Sarah was two weeks past due, and so her doctor suggested that she take some castor oil to see if that would speed the process up.  So, she tried it....5 hours later Alistair was born!  Who is to say that old methods don't work anymore!  The delivery went great, and we are back home now.  Kids love him like crazy, and it is basically a competition on who gets to hold him the most.  Thank you all for your faithful prayers!

Jesus died for Cyrus

The above picture I had taken today of me and my Iranian friend Cyrus while I was doing the Gospel Guy. You all know of Cyrus, as he is the gentlemen who had me over for tea a couple weeks ago.  Cyrus is an amazing man, very loving, caring, but also very lost.  Today I had a particularly deep conversation with Cyrus about absolute truth. Cyrus believes that truth is subjective to our own experiences. I shared about the fact that as a Christian, I take an objective stance when it comes to truth.  We talked for over an hour, and to be honest I felt outclassed in some regards as some of the questions Cyrus posed were very hard. But as we neared the end of our talk, I really felt the Holy Spirit working on his heart.  I shared with him the perspective of salvation by grace through faith....something he had never heard of.  He is of the mindset that we must work out our salvation through our deeds, and is very skeptical of the church for the hypocrisy it has shown.  Anyway, God loves Cyrus, and I see him softening his heart.  Please continue to pray for Cyrus, and that we would soon turn to Jesus for salvation.  Pray for me, that I would have wisdom when speaking to Cyrus.  If anything talking to Cyrus has done, it has really forced me to dig deep into figuring out what I truly believe in terms of the questions he poses.  In the end of our conversation, I told him that even though he is 61 years old, Jesus looks at him as a child in need of a Father.  When I said that, I saw something change in his countenance. God is after the heart of Cyrus.

Leo Gives his Life to Jesus

The above question was the one I posed today while I was downtown Salem doing the Gospel Guy.  Lately, I have been praying for salvations on the streets as we do the Gospel Guy.  I want to see people come to know Jesus, and at times I grow discouraged when it seems that all I do is plant seeds.  So today, a young man named Leo walked up to me and honestly answered the questions by stating he had no idea what the purpose of his life was.  We spoke for over an hour, and during our conversation, I could sense the Holy Spirit working on his heart.  As we talked, he began to get gut honest and real about how lost he was, and how full of sin his life was.  His eyes began to water as I shared the Gospel with him.We spoke of the reality of God's righteous judgment, and that one day we all will be held accountable.  I shared with him the amazing message of the love of Jesus Christ, and the conversation eventually ended up with Leo receiving Jesus into his life.  I then was able to connect him with a local youth pastor in town here who Leo happens to live nearby.  God's work on the life of man is so amazing.  Pray for Leo, and that the new life he has in Christ will be rooted in the word, and that he finds a good church.

Exciting Things Lay Ahead for Mission Adventures

One of the greatest challenges we face in Mission Adventures in North America, and Internationally for that matter, is fully committed program leaders. The turnover rate for our programs in terms of leaders is crazy, and it is hard to see our MA programs firmly planted in their locations because of this. The turnover happens for many reasons, from young leaders trying new things every two years, to bases simply not having the manpower to run successful MA programs.  One thing we want to bring to the for front in our mission is the need for YWAM to get back to it's main routes.....youth and evangelism. Well, we are excited to try something out to help address our need for committed leaders who desire to do Mission Adventures full time, and it will be coming in March, in the form of our first ever School of Mission Adventures.  This will be running out of Vancouver, Canada.  The school will be three months long, and have many purposes, but the end result we hope to see are well trained future Mission Adventures leaders.  I have helped in the structural formation of the school, curriculum, etc...and will be going to Vancouver a time or two to either teach or serve alongside the staff there.  Please be praying for this school!  It will actually be an accredited secondary school of YWAM's University of the Nations, so this is exciting!!

Pumpkins and Waiting for the Baby

The above picture is of the kids at a near bye pumpkin patch.  The kids are doing great, and enjoying homeschool.  The keep pretty busy for sure!  Sarah was due October 10, so it is only a matter of time before the baby comes!  We are super excited for the new arrival, and have decided on the name Alistair Timothy. Thank you all for your prayers!  We will let you know when the little one arrives!

Above picture of Sarah and I on her due date at the Pumpkin Patch!

Amazing What a Sign Can Do

The past few weeks have been an amazing time with the Gospel Guy.  The Lord continues to challenge me as I have had countless opportunities to share the Gospel.  This past week, I spoke with a young 20 year old kid who has recently gotten involved with a cult. I spoke with a man involved with Wicca.  He told me of how he casts spells on others, and that he worships many gods. Both of these men were very nice,but oh so lost.  Every time I do the Gospel guy, the Lord breaks my heart for the lost.  One man in particular is a 62 year old Iranian man named Cyrus.  A few weeks ago, he approached me and we talked, and had a great conversation.  Cyrus does not believe in God at all.  Over the past few weeks, he spoke with me while I did the Gospel Guy, and today he invited me into his home for tea.  I of course accepted and it was a great time. Please pray for Cyrus. He is so alone, and needs Jesus so bad.  He is very open to the Gospel, and he has asked to go to church with us.  Please continue to lift of the ministry of the Gospel Guy in prayer, which I do on Monday's and Fridays.

Video of Youth Pastors Olympics!

We had an amazing time with our 2nd Annual Youth Pastors Olympics!  Check out the video by going to this link!

http://www.ywamsalem.org/community-life/youth-pastors-olympics/