Be Bold!

Looking back on the past 3 weeks I am so grateful that God gave me such an amazing opportunity to share His love. Although I learned many lessons, one of the most important is to always be ready to clearly explain the gospel. Two verses have been on my mind.

2 Timothy 4:2

"Preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching."

1 Peter 3:15 "But in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect."

God has really been showing me that I need to be ready to share the gospel no matter the time, day, or place. These past 3 weeks I talked with some Christians who were unable to clearly give biblical reasons for who Jesus is, why they are Christians, or could not explain the gospel. This really made me think because not too long ago I was in their position. As children of God we are called to boldly proclaim the name of Jesus and what He has done for us. I pray that as days come and go I will not miss any opportunities that God gives me to share His word; I also pray for my brothers and sisters in Christ that they too will be open to what God wants for them and who He want them to talk with.

~Kristen~

Sacrifice

Over the course of this trip I was continuously struck by the sacrifices made by the pilgrims, founding fathers, those that fought during the Civil War, as well as the brothers and sisters we met during the trip. It was clear that everything nobel, heroic and Christian was enacted by sacrifice. In the Bible the word used for Christian love is agapeo, which translated literally means sacrificial love. In fact the whole of the Christian faith is based on the sacrifice of Christ. Sacrifice is the ultimate expression of love as Jesus said, "Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends." This is the antithesis of today's cultural mantra of entertainment, amusement, comfort, and self. If we are to operate in the eternal economy of God we must embrace sacrifice as the language of true love. In the face of so great a cloud of witnesses I was always confronted by the question, "Are you willing to sacrifice?" My flesh cringes at the question, but it stokes the flame of my Spirit. What better way to live a life than to spend it in the glorious character of God! Beloved, we have one life to live, may it be bright and eternal. I ask you the same question, "Are you willing to sacrifice?"

Shaun

Fire and Earthquakes

What words can I use to describe the past three weeks? Incredible? Convicting? Stirring? Empowering? I think all of these would be excellent adjectives to use. God did some amazing things and brought much glory to His name. Our last few days touring Philidelphia and Washington D.C. with Dr. Millard were also very educational, as she told us that many of the things we as Americans treasure can be traced back to Christian roots. However, I think the thing that God most impressed on my heart during this trip is that we can trust Him. He is God and He is Sovereign. He knows what He is doing, and He has all the answers to any of our questions.
A passage that comes to mind is 1 Kings 19:11-12 which says "Then He said, 'Go out and stand on the mountain before the Lord.' And behold, the Lord passed by, and a great and strong wind tore into the mountains and broke the rocks in pieces before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind; and after the wind, an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake; and after the earthquake a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire; and after the fire, a still small voice."
During the last three weeks, our team experienced many instances of wind, earthquake, and fire, but it was in the moments of what seemed to be silence that the Lord spoke to me. I was really encouraged during my devotional times, and it was through these times I believe God was teaching me to listen for His voice. As we were talking to people, I didn't always have the answers, but I know God does. I believe one of the reasons He even brought me on the trip was to teach me to search for truth in Him. My prayer for you is that you will also know that you can trust God and that it is in Him we find our peace. Sometimes it feels that we are in the midst of a fire or an earthquake, but please do not lose hope! His voice will follow, but we must be listening.
-Jessica

Resilient Stagnance: the lack of footing to a Godly strategy

On the last couple days of the trip we were asked what God had shown us on the trip (what was the grand overarching theme), and as I look back at the Incredible dynamically diverse people and themes I think of one word, Strategy! America is called the melting pot and this is true by both ethnicity and religion. People believe a little bit of every system. They have been taken captive by a strategy that works. Dissillusioned by the world they search for something and Satan is there for them. They think we are arrogant because what they have found has the appearence of a solid way to enlightenment without God. We must then ask the dirty question what if they're right and were wrong? If we are wrong: we pay for our sins in another life, we pay in a temporary hell, we go extinct and cease to exist. What we need to understand is that if we're wrong we eventually reach enlightenment, but if they're wrong they burn in hell forever. We have a serious problem. People are dying and we aren't making ANY great strides to see them saved by the blood of the lamb (that is Jesus). The enemy has a strategy: He's deceiving the youngest generations, the west, and the church with a lie. So what is our strategy do we take back the culture or do we take back the authority? the answer is that we take back both! a good strategy for the church is quite simple that is get people saved. Get people in conversation, if you are to afraid then get them in church, if you are too afraid of that get tracts in peoples hands. but whatever you do, just do something! Pray and ask GOD to give you an idea of how you would be useful in His strategy and then go out and do it.

Quebec, Portugal, Boston, Plymouth, New Mexico.

Charles A. Chavez >Wednesday night- nobody seems to be around Plymouth MA, The team really wanted to talk to people though. After some but not nearly enough for a whole day Pastor Shaun decides The Boston Commons is our best option. On Thursday the team travelled to Boston, after arriving Teams of two went into the park to speak with people. Me and Amber were an evangelism team for the day we talked to some some people. We were asked questions we had no idea how to explain the answer. after some baffling conversation we prayed and worshipped. Me and Amber were both shaken but we pressed on, as we walked I wanted to go in one direction, but then Amber moved in a specific direction so I followed. We came up a hill full of people all by themselves our first option was probably asleep so rather than risk waking up random guy, we decided to move on to the next/ closest option. Our result was what we at first called green guy. Green guy gladly accepted our invitation to talk. We began an interesting conversation but as time went on his argument was strange. I would like to believe: he wanted a God but when his friend died at age 15 he couldn't find God, but God's been trying for him ever since. He wants to be with his friend when he dies but he doesn't know how to get there.He should have been in portugal but He instead decided going to boston by himself was a good idea I think God thought so too. we had a long conversation with him. I will continue to pray for him but only God knows the way into his heart so please pray for green guy from Quebec who we providentially met.

The Boston Meditate

Boston is definitely an interesting city with very interesting people. As partners in the park, Jake and I received a couple of rejections before speaking to a young local man, who had very interesting views. As well as, a couple who live in New York, although one was originally from Scotland. Which is pretty cool, if you ask me as well. They were very interesting as well. One was raised Catholic and the other is atheist. Please keep them in your prayers, as well as guy number one.

Trip number two was the more interesting, i guess you would say, out of the two trips. We talked to an amazing lady who had very interesting views. Basically, she was a Born Again Christian. She went to Christian college and everything! She moved to California for the ministry, but fell away from the faith because of her sexuality. She was at the point where she just wasn't sure about God, or the existence of God. So I gave her my number so we could stay in contact. Please pray that God works in her heart and waters whatever seeds are planted.

We also talked to this one guy. He was very interesting as well.

So this is the basic story. Jake and I were walking by this guy in meditation position. We didn't want to disturb him, so we were just gonna keep walking, but he looked over at us and smiled as we walked by. So, Jake, taking it as an invitation, waved and said "Hey!" The man looked at us and said, very mystically, "Hello, what is your journey in life?" Jake responded, "Well we're Non-Denominational Christians, our goal is to live for God." "That's very interesting,"replied the man. "Would you sit down with me and perhaps discuss this topic with me, I'm very open." So Jake said, "Sure. What do you believe?" "You know, I'd like to keep my spirit to myself, so buzz off." So, with raised eyebrows, we walked away and immediately started praying for him. We need to pray for this man, as well as others that are just as lost.

-Kimmie

Boston and Ireland

Yesterday, we went to the Boston Common, a park in Boston. It was lovely, but not as beautiful as Central Park. However, I do love Boston more than NYC! It is less stressful. Anyways, Danny and I were paired together. We got rejected by five or six people, which was really disappointing, but then we approached a couple of guys who were in their early twenties. We told them that we are going all across the east coast asking Americans what they believe. Then we asked them if they wanted to go through the card game with us. They both responded with a smile and a nod. Then one asked in a thick Irish accent, "is it okay that we aren't Americans?" Danny and I immediately replied that of course it's okay!

We went through the game with them and had a really great conversation about what they believe. When they finished the cards, we asked them if they would like to see the cards we chose. They both seemed eager to hear our opinion. We shared the gospel with them, and in the end they accepted both prayer cards. One of them asked for contact information and what church we go to!

I didn't expect to have such an amazing conversation because we were in Boston, Massachusetts, one of the most liberal cities in America. I'm glad that I was wrong! We were rejected so many times because God wanted us to talk with Adam and Matthew. It was a divine appointment, and I'm grateful for it.

-Arinea Esperanza Salas