Lima, Here I Come!

I’m happy to say I’ve finally booked the ticket to Lima, and I’m scheduled to fly there on Wednesday, February 18th.

I wanted to book a ticket sooner, but found out after just completing my G class driver’s test on Monday, that it doesn’t start new 5 year cycle before I need to renew it, but that the date in August my of me previous G2 driver’s license was the date it expires on. That means, apparently, I couldn’t renew it any earlier than 6 months before the expiration date, which took me to February 13th as the earliest possible date. I’m glad I found that out before booking a ticket out of the country, or life would be really difficult down the road when back in Canada!

I wanted to make sure that neither I nor the lady from the Ministry of Transportation I talked to on the phone (after being on a wild goose chase with 1-800 numbers out the wazoo before finally reaching someone who didn’t tell me they were surprised I was given their number) got the date wrong. So, Wednesday the 18th it is when I booked the ticket, to have some grace period if the 13th was not the correct date for renewing the license. I’m counting the days….

Currently it is basically the middle of summer in Peru right now, and many schools start their new semester in the coming weeks. I’m looking forward to escaping the cold and snowy Canadian winter. Lack of air conditioning, and heating is going to be something that will take me some getting used to. Learning a new language and living in a culture further different from my home than Holland ever was in comparison, will take me some getting used to. Specific prayer requests include asking God to help me adjust and adapt to such a new culture and atmosphere.

As for another more practical request: I’m currently sitting around $800/month in pledged support, just short of my goal of $1000/month. This budget is also trusting and having confidence that the pledged support will come in (you’d be surprised, even when the economy is doing good…). At the time of writing this, I’m currently awaiting response from some leads which would help me reach my total goal altogether. I have money saved in the bank that is intended to fully finance my language school almost immediately after I arrive, and my visa which I will be applying for after being in the country for 3 months.

I know right now is a pretty unique moment in history and that there is a lot of instability in the economy. I was laid off from my job just before Christmas (who has since gone bankrupt), but saw God come through with over a thousand dollars for this trip–outside of Christmas money family members gave to me – in the next 5 days. He has been faithful and has paved the way for my trip despite the circumstances in the natural realm around me. I don’t say that to encourage you to support me, but just to encourage you that the total opposite of what I was expecting to happen happened—giving me encouragement that I was stepping out in God’s will in His time and that He is faithful to provide.

In other news, I’d also like to point out that the Fire On Your Head Blog is working nicely now. Few to no minor glitches and bugs, and we have a forum working. Feel free to check that out if you’d like to start any debates about anything written there, podcast episodes we’ve done or just start any open-ended discussions on related matters. Friday morning I also recorded a couple podcast episodes with Dan and S.J.”Father Love” Hill concerning judgment, the Nephilim in Genesis 6, Sodom and Gomorrah, false prophets and doomsday prophecies concerning the new president of the United States. I can’t wait to post the first one online, because even though I was pretty quiet for that discussion (angels having sex with women in the Bible or in modern real life was never really an issue I did much study on ), these discussions were the reason I love making this podcast–just talking about stuff you don’t hear a lot of preaching on. S.J. rocks. And the podbean site is regularly ‘featuring us’ as a highly listened to podcast on their site. Rock on.

That is all the updating I feel like sharing for now. Thanks for reading, thanks for praying, and thanks for being there.

Also, if you live and shop in the states, please check out my online gift card store.

The land of windy rain

I’m finally taking advantage of an opportunity to blog. It’s not for lack of internet access or time necessarily, but I’ve had other internet related things to be doing with the time I’ve had online. Other than the busy weekend I had when I first arrived back in Holland, I’ve been taking it pretty easy just visiting. When the sun IS out, it’s been 20 degrees Celcius which is practically a heat wave here for August. Otherwise it’s been rainy. I don’t mean normal rain, but the kind that turns your umbrella into a kite.

I realize I’ve posted an article below this entry on the Lakeland revival and Todd Bentley’s separation from his wife. I will not be blogging about it, and think the posts I’ve already posted are still relevant with the latest developments. If I do decide to make my opinion known it will be on the podcast, if at all. It’s not a burning priority to me. Besides, I’m sure all his detractors are feeling pretty vindicated that his life is falling apart in front of millions of people. I’m going to be spending my energy praying for him and Shonnah as opposed to defending or talking about it in the blogosphere.

Anyway, moving along with my updates.
I arrived last week on Thursday morning, and managed to lug my luggage in the rain to my friends Dima and Tanya’s, where I had a good 4 hour nap in the afternoon to counter the jet-lag and the fact when you travel overnight going east, you lose your night. I took 3 melatonin to help me sleep during the flight, but I sat behind this fat kid who must have had ADHD because he couldn’t sit still if you held a gun to his head. So I wound up making myself more tired with the melatonin but unable to actually sleep since I’m cursed with the afliction of being a light sleeper. But anyway, it was good fellowship with Dima and Tanya, and later on in the week as a fruit of that fellowship I wound up recording the latest podcast for Fire On Your Head with Dima.

The next day early in the morning I got up to make my way to the Malieveld in The Hague, only to find Rotterdam has decided their public transportation system is not crappy enough, so they’re doing re-construction and the simplest way I knew how to get where I wanted/needed to be wasn’t possible anymore. I wound up not getting to the prayer meeting until 10am or later, but when I did there was maybe only 800-1000 people there. Obviously way beneath my expectations. Apparently it was what was expected on the part of the people who organized it, but there’s going to be a larger event in Septmber 2009 with more organizations and churches on board for it. I’d love to see that day with the Malieveld filled with praying Christians, but I highly doubt I’ll be here for it next year.

Then I was able to spend the rest of the weekend at the remainder of this year’s Fire For Life Summer School. Again a rather small group, but there was a strong sense of community. I got word from Dan that Bob Gladstone, the guest speaker for the first part of it has given us permission to post his messages on the podcast, so be on the look out for those if you weren’t able to attend but know that those would impact you. I’ve got one edited and posted so far, so as time permits I’ll finish editing them and uploading them. Spread the word, I think the vision he helped cast for sweeping change in the Netherlands and whatever country you find yourself is worth sharing with as many people as want it.

Other than that, I’m just hanging out with Dutch people, sleeping in most days of the week like my body is still on afternoon shifts, and I have posted a new podcast episode as I mentioned, and it might be weeks before Dan and I can sit down to record one about the latest weeks in Holland. Due to my busyness and Dan’s plans, we might be posting them online sporadically and less often than we had been in the winter (once a week is no longer possible for either of us, both with pinning him down for an appointment and for the hours that go into editing and publishing each mp3 on my part). Be sure to stay posted to hear the latest developments with Dan, as I won’t mention them here, so as to not steal any of his thunder next time we record a podcast, but you’ll want to be made aware of the latest developments. God has a sense of humor, I’ll say that so you don’t expect the worst or any bad news.

It’s been a great time in Holland, I’ve been blessed with how almost everybody has a witness inside them that my time here is over and God is leading me to Peru. Frank Pot, my team leader while I’ve been here came over in the morning for coffee and he blessed me and released me to move onto Peru, and we discussed the possibility of bringing a team from the Netherlands on a mission trip to Peru, since, he’s burning on his heart to see a European FIRE School start somewhere and some time soon. I know we’ve been talking about it for years, but it seems as if there’s more momentum toward fulfilling that dream now than there was before. There’s things beginning to finally happen here, that I’d love to be a part of but know my time is over and the direction my path is taking me is to Peru.

Some of you have asked about the podcast and my answer for now is this: I’m going to keep doing them, but I’ll never be doing one alone. I like the talk show format, I think it’s more dynamic and I always learn something from Dan and others when I co-host with them. It was with some amount of foresight in the winter when I knew I’d be done in Holland that I changed the name of our podcast feed to simply “Fire On Your Head” so it didn’t matter what country/countries Dan and I found ourselves in. As one of my pastors says, “your calling works wherever you are”. So long as Dan wants to keep doing the show, we will be. But it will gradually just be a place we put our show and any of our preaching mp3s, and the shift will move away from posting mp3s of summer schools. We aren’t deleting any that are already on there, but we merely won’t be posting many more after these messages from Bob Gladstone. I’m quite proud of the solid collection of teachings from men of God I really respect on our podcast.

Anyway, I’m here until Wednesday, almost every night I’m here I have plans to be somewhere, and maybe an afternoon or two aren’t figured out, but rest assured, I have things burning in my heart I’m studying in the Word and things like that and will continue blogging like I used to. I just make no promises about how often.

Blessings and fire on your heads.

No Perishing Point

Greetings fellow fire-breathers.
Did you know, though tested by fire, your faith has no perishing point? I’m going to be getting to that in a moment.

I had determined the next time I had some time to myself to spend it writing a study or a teaching on my blog, I had planned on getting around to this. I heard a sermon on Dave Roberson’s podcast sometime ago while I was still in Holland that set me off thinking about this. This is the guy authored the book about praying in tongues that I have linked on the right, and pastors the Tulsa Family Prayer Center. I thought the teaching was phenomenal–as is almost anything I’ve ever heard him teach. It was called “Your Faith Has No Perishing Point“. You know a good teaching impacted you if you can remember the point a long time afterwards.

I’m not ripping off what I got from him in it, but in the Body of Christ, I don’t see why we need to cross-reference each other as if truth from God is copyrighted–BUT, I say I first heard this from listening to Roberson so that you don’t think I’m smarter than I really am and realize I got started on this path when I heard that sermon.

Lately (as in the last 18 months) I’ve kinda swung the pendulum the other way in my thinking about faith and how it works. You can click on one of the tags below for more entries on the subject and see some of what I mean and have grown into. But some people get really offended at the implication that faith is something that grows and is developed–in other words, the idea of having more, implies you must not already have enough–and that gets used to condemn people for not being at certain stages of their life. Even when you’re not, people think you are doing that to them. Of course, I think it’s wrong to push people and make them feel worse about situations they’re in and beliving God for help getting out of.

I try to be careful how I communicate that to people who are really discouraged or needing breakthrough in their life, of course, and I’d never beat other sheep of God’s for not being healed and put guilt on them and blame them for not being healed yet. That is wrong (and oddly enough, by virtue of teaching HOW to grow in faith, it’s an accusation I get launched at me often, but if you hear me out you’ll know the truth behind my words).

That being said, I cannot for the life in me find what many people think about faith (and having it or not enough of it), IN the Bible. Our faith IS “growable” and spell checker is not letting me write that word, but it IS the word I want to make up/use–growable. But one thing I’m finding about faith, and this is what I want to write this time–that it has no “perishing point”.

Look at this:
“In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, though it is tested so that the tested genuineness of your faith—more precious than gold that perishes by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.” 1 Peter 1:6-7 ESV

Gold and silver are perishable things (1 Pet 1:18). Those type of things are something I’ve spent considerable time mediating on and thinking about. Gold and silver are things you find in the ground, in caves or hidden in safe places. They require finding. They aren’t just on the surface of the ground for any passer by to have who couldn’t care much less about finding it. At intense temperatures with a lot of heat, these valuable stones are purified and all the dirt and dross burns away after a certain point.

Gold has a certain perishing point, that if you kept the temperature rising, it would eventually turn to liquid, and if you kept increasing the temperature higher still, then eventually the gold would evaporate. Or if you took a pile of gold and projected it into our sun, at some point before it got right near the sun it would have completely dissolved. Your faith has NO point at which it dissolves or perishes–according to Scripture. Peter refers to it as being more precious than gold, that perishes though it is tested by fire. Gold, not faith is the object here being referred to as perishable. Can you imagine that or think about that for a moment?

Later in the same chapter Peter says “Having purified your souls by your obedience to the truth for a sincere brotherly love, love one another earnestly from a pure heart, since you have been born again, not of perishable seed but of imperishable, through the living and abiding word of God; for “All flesh is like grass and all its glory like the flower of grass. The grass withers, and the flower falls, but the word of the Lord remains forever.”

And this word is the good news that was preached to you.”

1 Peter 1:22-25

If our souls need purification, and we’re born of imperishable seed, and not perishable–then why do so many of us spend so much time dwelling on and feeding ourselves with perishable stuff and dwelling more on the ‘perishable’ realm of our lives? I know bunches of Christians that read the Bible for 5 minutes a day -if at all– but gosh don’t ever ask them to quit the TV for a week or suggest withdrawing from the internet for 1 week to dig into and dwell on that imperishable stuff that doesn’t fade or have a perishing point.

Give that some thoughtful meditation.

Pictures from Ministry Trip to Tarma, Peru

Over 4000 Types of Potatoes In Peru

How’s that for a title?
Either it’s true, or Dean Milley is pulling my leg. Considering that other Peruvians at the dinner table didn’t correct it, I figure this was not an instance of which he was pulling my leg in his Newfie accented English.

I’m at his apartment right now while he and his other guest/ministry director left for church, and since I was waking up from a nap when he asked me if I wanted to come, I declined, thinking something else was going on. Funny how sleep or lack of it does that to your mind.

So I’m sitting here listening/watching to the streaming live footage of the Florida Healing Revival. I also unsuccessfully attempted to talk to my mom over Skype for mother’s day. And now, after a relatively busy few days, I’m just chilling alone at the apartment where I’m at now, and thought I easily had time to post an update since I don’t know when my next opportunity will arise.

But this will have to be quick and brief.
As the pictures below indicate, I got to preach to a youth group last night at the Fresh Oil Church (I forget how to pronounce it in Spanish, but that’s the name). I don’t know what else to say other than it was exciting, and my interpreter was very encouraged about the whole affair and thought the youth were very captivated by it. I preached primarily out of Romans 8 about the creation groaning for the revealing of the sons of God, and correlating it to this generation that God has been waiting for. At the end, one of the leaders there gave an altar call for people to get saved or rededicate their lives and four people came forward. Praise God!

Today I went with Dean, Nina, and Sherry–all newfies (which means I was outnumbered in my proper pronunciation of the English language)–to an English church this morning, where a church out of Florida operates a satellite church here and puts on a DVD from the church back in the USA. It was in a movie theatre. It was pretty cool. Other than the fact it was about the marriage bed, and NOT as singles-friendly as they insisted at the beginning. I am all for talking about real issues in church, but I can’t say sprucing up your sex life with your spouse was a very appealing topic to me nor is it even where I’m at in my relationship with Christ. But it had a cool feel to the atmosphere, and the free gift they gave to first time visitors was a 10 soles gift certificate to a restaurant that apparently has a franchise close to where I’m staying. So praise God.

Well, Dean, Nina, and Sherry are back and in a moment everybody’s leaving to go somewhere for ribs. I don’t want to miss out, so thanks for reading, and please keep in prayer the potential to speak to another youth group this Saturday. I’m awaiting confirmation about it, and the possibility to teach at Ron’s Bible school–this will happen, but I have to make sure not to overlap it with something else that day.

Blessings, and fire on your head.

Please Send Revival To Peru

Greetings my fellow revolutionaries,
Or should I say, revivalists? I will get to that in a moment.
First, this week’s updates are in order.

I’m no longer in the apartment I was staying in, but have moved in with Dean Milley, a missionary from Newfoundland who’s been here for 6 years. He youth pastors at a church in the area, and I’m going to be staying with him until I go home May 29th. And, he has actual internet! Praise God, so now I can update posts and pictures more speedily, and possibly record a podcast or two with Dan while I’m down here if he’s up for it, which I think he isn’t for the next couple of weeks while he has friends visiting him in Holland from the States.

What else to share in such a brief amount of space? I mentioned already how sunburned I got? Well, my skin is still peeling and flaking. I’ve never gotten one so bad before. I also tentatively have every Saturday and one Friday night booked for speaking to youth groups down here, and Ron has invited me to speak in his Bible School this Saturday or an upcoming one. I still have to get that part figured out.

This Sunday morning, I got to teach one of the Sunday school classes at Catedral De Fe (Cathedral of Faith), a very charismatic and large church here. My interpreter spoke to the youth pastor and he invited me to speak on short notice in his class with about 20 teenagers. I basically taught this, and this. And at the end got to pray with about 6 of the youth who had never been baptized in the Holy Spirit before, and were left speaking in tongues–albeit very inhibited but still starting it. The youth pastor and my interpreter Sara were both really pleased with it and felt I’d pushed them further out of their comfort zones than they normally go. Good to hear!

And finally (for now), have any of you heard about what God is doing in Lakeland, Florida? A revival so big it fills a baseball stadium of upwards of 12,000 people! I’m blown away and excited. I’ve heard nothing but good things from friends of mine in Charlotte, N.C. who drove down for a few days. In a personal e-mail, Brian Parkman referred to it as “Brownsville times ten” in terms of the raw power of God.

So on Monday night I went over to Ron and Michelle’s and we watched that night’s service live on the God.Tv site, and were just blown away at what’s going on. The first thing Todd Bentley (the tattooed Canadian man instrumental in this move of God that He has used mightily) did was call forth anyone there that was from the Netherlands, and they went forward and he laid hands on them and called forth the fire of God and told them to take it back to Holland. It makes me all excited to see the fresh things God’s doing all over the continent at this kairos moment in history, and in the months leading up to 08.08.08 on the Malieveld.

Afterwards, Ron, Michelle, and their other guest who is one of their children’s teachers whose name slips my mind as I write this–all began to pray as we turned the laptop off and just sought God intensely. Bring it to Peru!

Anyway, I’m not going to go into detail about it since you could Google search it and find out more for yourself. And there’s plenty of cowards with keyboards out there spouting off all their opinions about Todd Bentley and how this is fake and so on. Blah blah blah.. I just want God to move and I find it undeniable when I watch the live footage that God is breaking forth in something fresh, and this is just the beginning of something…

Come on God!

Anyway, here are a few more pictures for those of you who stubbornly refuse to join Facebook and see my pictures there..

Pictures April 29th, 2008

Pictures April 22nd, 2008