After you watch this video, featuring the poetic genius of Mike Perez, share it on Facebook and Twitter by setting this as your status and/or tweeting this:
Your life feel too small? You're not alone http://bit.ly/dZKQgb
Here is a blog about an exciting new ministry from the founder and director of Adventures in Missions Seth Barnes. You can read the original on his blog at http://www.sethbarnes.com/?filename=new-ministry-launches-kingdom-dreams
I've had a dream for many years now to see a generation fully alive. It's a dream of my children's generation seizing the opportunity to wake up to the greatness within themselves - God's kingdom dream for their lives. And it's been a thrill to see that God has been speaking to other people like me who share this dream.
Since starting the World Race, I've watched that dream, like a jonquil in spring, unfolding. And today we took another step toward it. A team has been working behind the scenes to build a ministry that helps people realize their dreams.
The ministry is called Kingdom Dreams and today we went public with its first web site.
Kingdom Dreams will help young world changers (and maybe some older ones) in a number of ways:
assessment
coaching
networking
dream development
God created everyone with a dream - a dream of making this world a better place, bringing the love of Christ to those who haven't felt it. Unfortunately, most people stop short of realizing theirs. But we believe that no one should miss their dream. We believe this world needs you to dream God's dreams.
So what is a kingdom dream?
A kingdom dream is the idea or thought that makes your heart skip a beat. A kingdom dream is that passion you've had since you were a little boy or girl. A kingdom dream is what you would give your life to... if only you had the time, the resources, or the security.
A kingdom dream brings health to the sick, food to the hungry, life to the dead. A kingdom dream is God's will manifested on earth. And Kingdom Dreams wants to make sure everyone of God's dreams can be realized.
Take a look at the web site and let us know what you think. You may have a dream - let us know about it. Or consider joining us in making God's dreams come to life.
I made it safely to Gainesville, GA! I am working on settling into the my house and have been enjoying getting to know my 7 roommates. At work the last couple days I have been working hard to gain perspective and wrap my brain around all the tasks for this coming spring. We have lots of exciting changes coming in training and I can't wait to see how God is going to work through them.
Until then, I have a confession... I am a Trader! (see video below)
There was a really great message at church today. Dary Northrop, our senior pastor, talked about the Christmas story. This is his 25th year of preaching the Christmas story here at Timberline and every year is different. I really love what God highlighted for him this year. He talked about being in God's perfect Will and things not always seeming so "perfect." Mary was 9 months pregnant when she have to travel the 60+ miles from Nazareth to Bethlehem. Not very good timing God... Couldn't you have just had the census before Jesus was conceived or a couple years after he was born. But God had his reasons for everything. There were prophecies that Jesus the Son of God would be born in Bethlehem. This is something that I believe that God probably explained to Mary once she got to heaven. "Sorry Mary I know that must of stunk to travel so much when you were so pregnant, but thank you for being a good sport and not complaining. I really love you and know that I had an important purpose in it all."
I can't wait till it is my turn in heaven for God to replay my life for me. I think he will point out all the times he was proud of me, the times where he saved me from danger or the times he guided me to joy or times where he is laughing as I try to "assert control over my life" and fail only to return the control to Him.
God is not restricted by time. His perspective is much greater than the here and now. When we give him control of our lives ad I mean truly allow him to lead us, there are times where we just have to put our faith in him because things just don't make logical sense. Our mission trip to Haiti is one of those times.
I was invited to go to Haiti this past summer by my pastor Reza. I was explained that it would be a trip for a select number of men to prepare us to lead future trips. As time pasted the trip evolved and turned into a large team of 21 men, woman and children eager to serve the Lord and the children of Son of God Orphanage in Haiti.
It was really neat to see the Church pull together to support this orphanage in all ways possible. The missions department put on an "Orphan Sunday" where we had a concert that highlighted the needs for parents locally as well as all over the world. We set up a table and now have ever one of the 126 orphans sponsored monthly making sure they have all the basics of life. The children of Timberline Church packed over 4500 meals in bags to be brought down with us to Haiti. As a team we have filled 30 suitcases full of medicine, cloths, soap, diapers, games and other supplies.
Everything was coming together. We had put together a schedule with different activities and events to "love the fatherless" as the Bible commands us to do. We were going to put on a Christmas service for them and tell them about the Savior being born. The country has been hit hard with Cholera and many of the children from the orphanage are in the hospital, but we have meds to bring them so everything was going to be ok. We had grand plans, but....We are not there.
A week before we were suppose to leave, the riots began and they closed down the airport to any international travel. One of the favored candidates for president, "Sweet Micky", was eliminated from the running and his supporters hit the streets. There appears to be corruption in the counting of the votes and America is threatening to with hold aid if the problem is not resolved.
This is one of those moments in life that I have to just say... I trust you God. I don't understand, but I trust you that with your much bigger perspective you have a much bigger plan in this all. I trust that when we do get to go down to Haiti whether in March or in the summer that it will be your perfecttime for us to bring down the supplies and the perfect time to love on those children of yours and get to encourage them. It doesn't always come easy but I have faith in your plan for my life and your timing of it all.
My church put on a Christmas Family festival tonight with all kinds of fun activities. They had a hay ride, a live nativity scene with real people, donkeys, sheep, and even a llama. They had dinner, carolers, cookies and a silent auction. They had purses, cards and much more made by ex-prositutes in India for sale and they had a stand collecting old camping gear for the local homeless.
I have helped out in many ways for many events but this one was a first for me.I was asked to"play a homeless teen"to help Homeless Gear raise awareness and collect warm cloths and gear for the homeless teens in the area. It was quite the experience! I dressed in a beanie, hoodie, old jeans, and my dad's old jacket and held a sign that read "Please Help! I have no home. Must live outside all year. Please help me eat and stay warm. 17 and trying to survive."
I was briefed before we started on some facts about homeless teens. I was atonished by the things I learned.
1) The average age for a homeless person in Colorado is 9 years old.
2) There are 900 students in Poudre School District (Fort Collins) that are considered homeless.
3) Children under the age of 18 are not allowed to stay in a homeless shelter so most are left to sleeping on the streets
I couldn't believe the things that I was learning, but these are no where near to the craziest things that I learned. Tonight I got a glimpse of what it feels like to be a homeless person.
I could not believe it, but I guess our costumes worked because over half the people truly thought I was homeless. People would come up and ask me "Are you really homeless?" I held a can with a couple dollars in it as part of the costume. Parents would stand about 10 feet back and send their children up to put a couple dollars in my can. People made big arcs around our table so they didn't have to talk to me or smell me maybe. No one would look me in the eyes and I felt like a burden to everyone. I could just hear them saying in there heads"I can't believe this homeless kid had the nerve to come into our nice church and hold up a sign during our Christmas event. How rude! Get a job!"
The worst part about it for me was not how others treated me but how I felt inside.The first thing I wanted to do was tell everyone that I wasn't homeless. That I worked for the Church.That I had a job. That I was successful. The saddest part was when people looked at me the way they did all I wanted to do was tell them that it wasn't what it seems. That I was better than that. That they shouldn't feel sorry for me or look down on me cause I was just like them. That it was all an act....
I got a glimpse of what it feels like to be homeless. I got to experience the way people look at you, the way people treat you. I found out that I have a lot of pride left in me.That I must still care what people think of me. Tonight was an eye opening experience.
I have been blessed. I grew up in a loving family who was able to provide for me. In a family that loved me, cared for me, taught me right and wrong, and taught me about Jesus. I grew up in a beautiful home and have always had food on the table. I am blessed.
Tonight I was humbled once more and now have one more thing to add to the list of prayers. When the temperature drops at night and I grab for the extra comforter I will be praying for the homeless. Not just the "drunk old veterans with signs" that we most often think about but the teenagers and young children on the streets. I will pray for warmth and protection. I will pray that they will be connected with foster parents and a warm home or at least with the kind people from Homeless gear so they have what they need to survive another night.
I just finished day 4 of my "Orphan Fast." It has really affecting me. I have been tired, weak, and sore. Totally worth it though because every time I am hungry or crave another food besides soup (quite often) I pray for the orphans of the world. I pray for protection, provision and for men and woman to step up and make a difference for the orphan population all over the world.
My chicken and rice soup I eat twice a day
When I started the fast I wanted to make sure I was not altering my life to much to make it easier on myself. So the first day of the fast I still went snowboarding all day. The second day I still did my Crossfit workout (75 pull ups and 75 dips) and even got my tetanus shot. All of this said I am struggling today. I am sore all over from my legs to my arms. My body is not able to recover from the exercises as fast and I have been tired and weak through out the day.
One more day and I will be done with this fast but I won't be done praying for the children of the world. Specifically the children from Son of God Orphanage in Haiti as I prepare for the trip in two weeks. Please join me in praying for God's favor on the children. That God will protect the 126 children as the number of people affected by Cholera rises to 75,888 and the number of deaths rises to 1,721. (http://tiny.cc/lxoen)
I have been asked many times "Is even safe for our team to go down there right now?" We have talked to a doctor and received the go ahead. We will be drinking bottled water the entire time as well as we are taking Doxycycline for Malaria which conveniently is also a backwards way of preventing Cholera.
I would still love your prayers though for the safety and health of our team, contacts and of course the Orphans.
I will keep you updates as more develops. Thanks for the prayers!!
(kids from Son of God orphanage... sadly they are holding the wrong flag... Go Buffs)
In only 20 or so days I will be embark on another journey to a foreign land to love on the unloved of the world. This time my walk with the Lord will take me to Haiti to an orphanage called 'Son of God Orphanage.' Son of God is home to over a 125 children ranging from new borns to teen agers. Like most orphanages around the world Son of God has struggled to get enough food for the children. Timberline Church has teamed up with a non profit organization to ensure that the children have enough food every day. But even if the orphans of the world have food they rarely eat as well as you and I eat. That got me thinking what would it be like to eat like an orphan for 5 days...
(me eating at "Black Cat" in Vietnam... not exactly what an orphan eats)
When I first felt compelled to do what I call the "Orphan Fast" I wanted to find statistics about what the average orphan ate. How many meals they received a day. What kind of food they ate most often.... but then I realized I didn't need a statistic from a website to know what an average orphan eats, I have seen it first hand all around the world. I have visited orphanages in Nicaragua, Vietnam, Ghana, NIgeria, Serbia, and Romania. I have lived in the houses with them. Slept where they slept and ate what they ate (sadly they often cooked seperate heartier meals for us). But I have never eaten this way while surrounded by American Culture... Let alone American culture around the holidays. So I decided to do the "Orphan Fast" to remind myself why I am going down to Haiti, why my heart is broken for orphans and to remind myself to pray for them every time I get hungry or crave food.
(Sunday eating rice and oil in Abiye orphanage in Nigeria)
The most common meal I saw for orphans all around the world would be rice and soup. There were variations in central america they would have rice and beans. In Africa they would have rice with oil on it, Europe it was always soup and in asia it was most often rice or noodle soup. When the meal was soup it would often be a broth base with some rice or noodle, minimal vegetables and rarely protein. They would most often eat twice a day. So that is what I will eat too...
For 5 days (11/27-12/1) I will not be eating Delicous Thanksgiving leftovers but rather I will be eating:
-only 2 meals a day
consisting of
-Turkey broth soup with some rice, minimal vegetables and little to no protein
I would normally say please be praying for me during this time but I would prefer if you took the time to be praying for the orphans or the world. Specifically the orphans at Son of God Orphanage in Haiti that God would prepare their hearts for our visit and that God will protect them from all the harm that is happening all around Haiti right now.
"A man's heart plans his way, But the LORD directs his
steps." -Proverbs 16:9
It
is funny when we try to plan our whole lives out ourselves because the reality
is when you give your life to Christ he has the greatest and best for you
whether that is your plan or not.
I
have spent the last year and a half planning my life towards living in Fort
Collins and working for the fire department here. I have jumped through all the
right hoops and set myself up for success, but in the end my "perfectly plotted
plan" is not what God has for me right now. He has something so much greater.
Two
weeks ago I took off from my internship here with my home church to join my
World Race family in Georgia.My
good friend Matt Patch explained what happened best when he wrote...
"One hundred
eighty-five young adults showed up this past Saturday...
One hundred
eighty-five young adults had their faith tested over the past week...
One hundred
eighty-five young adults made a decision to change the world, starting with
themselves...
One hundred
eighty-five young adults saw a glimpse of what is to come, Kingdom.
One hundred
eighty-five young adults became World Racers.
This is just the
beginning."
That
week I was able to be a part of something so much greater than myself. That
week I was able to be a part of training the January 2011 World Racers. I was
part of the training staff that helped guide 185 young adults through a process
of truly finding themselves.They
first must transform themselves before they go to the nations to transform the
world.
After
my year on the field I can say without a doubt that what The World Race is
doing is changing the world. Everyday orphans are being fed, clean water is
being brought to the thirsty, and the love of Christ is being shared with
hundreds. All because there are men and woman willing to quit there jobs, sell
everything and rely on the Lord.
On
Tuesday I made the decision to forgo my dreams of being a firefighter to join
The World Race training staff in furthering God's Kingdom. I will be moving out
to Georgia in the beginning of February to begin my commitment of training up
the next generation of world changers.
The
training camps have grown considerably from my training camp of one squad
totaling 45 racers last August to 4 squads totaling 185 last week. The
projection for the May 2011 training camp is 400 racers. This means that I will
have an intricate part in this transition of the World Race. We will have the
challenge of finding a location that will house 400 people as well as
developing a plan to keep intimacy as this movement expands.
I
can honestly say that my training camp before my World Race was the greatest
transition point of my life. I was able to let go of the sins of my past and
embrace who I am in Christ. I can not wait to be a part of making this a reality
for thousands of racers to come.
This
MUST continue... and you can continue making sure that this happens by helping
me raise up MORE AND MORE radical disciples that will go into the nations and
love the fatherless, feed the hungry, and yes... raise the dead! You are a part
of this happening when you give to support my ministry with Adventures in
Missions and The World Race. You are vital to this ministry. I need your financial
support as a staff member. I am raising my salary and working tirelessly to see
what you and I both want to see happen... the nations changed by the love of
Christ. Would you please consider supporting me and this ministry by partnering
with me to see this happen?
This
will soon be my full time job and I am looking for monthly supporters to join
me. I will be responsible to raise $10,000 this year which represents half of
my income. Please prayerfully consider the sacrifices I am making to make this
happen and how you can partner with me. Together we can be the change we want
to see in this world!
My good friend Tyler Zabor read my last blog "My life got flipped, turned upside down"He said he was greatly encouraged by my surrender. Tyler is currently reading a book that talks about this and graciously sent me a chapter that hit home.
It was exactly what I needed to hear right now. Below is the chapter from "Abide in Christ" by Andrew Murray. I know it is long but please consider reading it. It gave me a new perspective on the surrender that I am currently making to allow my dream of firefighting to be a "dream deferred" and go to work for Adventures in Missions.
When we first except Christ we must surrender our sin of our life but as we continue on our journey He will continue to ask for our surrender.
Excert from Abide in Christ by Andrew Murray
Chapter 16 -- FORSAKING ALL FOR HIM
""I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ, and be found IN HIM.+--PHIL.3:8-9.
WHEREVER there is life, there is a continual interchange of taking in and giving out, receiving and restoring. The nourishment I take is given out again in the work I do; the impressions I receive, in the thoughts and feelings I express. The one depends on the other--the giving out ever increases the power of taking in. In the healthy exercise of giving and taking is all the enjoyment of life.
It is so in the spiritual life too. There are Christians who look on its blessedness as consisting all in the privilege of ever receiving; they know not how the capacity for receiving is only kept up and enlarged by continual giving up and giving out--how it is only in the emptiness that comes from the parting with what we have, that the divine fulness can flow in. It was a truth our Saviour continually insisted on. When He spoke of selling all to secure the treasure, of losing our life to find it, of the hundred-fold to those who forsake all, He was expounding the need of self-sacrifice as the law of the Kingdom for Himself as well as for His disciples. If we are really to abide in Christ, and to be found in Him--to have our life always and wholly in Him--we must each in our measure say with Paul, "I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, that I may win Christ, and be FOUND IN Him."
Let us try and see what there is to be forsaken and given up. First of all, there is sin. There can be no true conversion without the giving up of sin. And yet, owing to the ignorance of the young convert of what really is sin, of what the claims of God's holiness are, and what the extent to which the power of Jesus can enable us to conquer sin, the giving up of sin is but partial and superficial. With the growth of the Christian life there comes the want of a deeper and more entire purging out of everything that is unholy. And it is specially when the desire to abide in Christ uninterruptedly, to be always found in Him, becomes strong, that the soul is led to see the need of a new act of surrender, in which it afresh accepts and ratifies its death to sin in Christ, and parts indeed with everything that is sin. Availing himself, in the strength of God's Spirit, of that wonderful power of our nature by which the whole of one's future life can be gathered up and disposed of in one act of the will, the believer yields himself to sin no more--to be only and wholly a servant of righteousness. He does it in the joyful assurance that every sin surrendered is gain indeed--room for the inflowing of the presence and the love of Christ.
Next to the parting with unrighteousness, is the giving up of self-righteousness. Though contending most earnestly against our own works or merits, it is often long before we come really to understand what it is to refuse self the least place or right in the service of God. Unconsciously we allow the actings of our own mind and heart and will free scope in God's presence. In prayer and worship, in Bible reading and working for God, instead of absolute dependence on the Holy Spirit's leading, self is expected to do a work it never can do. We are slow to learn the lesson, "In me, that is, in my flesh, dwelleth no good thing." As it is learnt, and we see how corruption extends to everything that is of nature, we see that there can be no entire abiding in Christ without the giving up of all that is of self in religion--without giving it up to the death, and waiting for the breathings of the Holy Spirit as alone able to work in us what is acceptable in God's sight.
Then, again, there is our whole natural life, with all the powers and endowments bestowed upon us by the Creator, with all the occupations and interests with which Providence has surrounded us. It is not enough that, when once you are truly converted, you have the earnest desire to have all these devoted to the service of the Lord. The desire is good, but can neither teach the way nor give the strength to do it acceptably. Incalculable harm has been done to the deeper spirituality of the Church, by the idea that when once we are God's children the using of our gifts in His service follows as a matter of course. No; for this there is indeed needed very special grace. And the way in which the grace comes is again that of sacrifice and surrender. I must see how all my gifts and powers are, even though I be a child of God, still defiled by sin, and under the power of the flesh. I must feel that I cannot at once proceed to use them for God's glory. I must first lay them at Christ's feet, to be accepted and cleansed by Him. I must feel myself utterly powerless to use them aright. I must see that they are most dangerous to me, because through them the flesh, the old nature, self, will so easily exert its power. In this conviction I must part with them, giving them entirely up to the Lord. When He has accepted them, and set His stamp upon them, I receive them back, to hold them as His property, to wait on Him for the grace to use them aright day by day, and to have them act only under His influence. And so experience proves it true here too, that the path of entire consecration is the path of full salvation. Not only is what is thus given up received back again to become doubly our own, but the forsaking all is followed by the receiving all.We abide in Christ more fully as we forsake all and follow Him. As I count all things loss for His sake, I am found IN Him.
The same principle holds good of all the lawful occupations and possessions with which we are entrusted of God. Such were the fish-nets on the Sea of Galilee, and the household duties of Martha of Bethany--the home and the friends of many a one among Jesus' disciples. Jesus taught them in very deed to forsake all for Him. It was no arbitrary command, but the simple application of a law in nature to the Kingdom of His grace--that the more perfectly the old occupant is cast out, the more complete can be the possession of the new, and the more entire the renewal of all within.
This principle has a still deeper application. The truly spiritual gifts which are the working of God's own Holy Spirit within us--these surely need not be thus given up and surrendered? They do indeed; the interchange of giving up and taking in is a life process, and may not cease for a moment. No sooner does the believer begin to rejoice in the possession of what he has, than the inflow of new grace is retarded, and stagnation threatens. It is only into the thirst of an empty soul that the streams of living waters flow. Ever thirsting is the secret of never thirsting. Each blessed experience we receive as a gift of God, must at once be returned back to Him from whom it came, in praise and love, in self-sacrifice and service; so only can it be restored to us again, fresh and beautiful with the bloom of heaven. Is not this the wonderful lesson Isaac on Moriah teaches us? Was he not the son of promise, the God-given life, the wonder-gift of the omnipotence of Him who quickeneth the dead? (Rom.4:17). And yet even he had to be given up, and sacrificed, that he might be received back again a thousandfold more precious than before--a type of the Only-begotten of the Father, whose pure and holy life had to be given up ere He could receive it again in resurrection power, and could make His people partakers of it. A type, too, of what takes place in the life of each believer, as, instead of resting content with past experiences or present grace, he presses on, forgetting and giving up all that is behind, and reaches out to the fullest possible apprehension of Christ His life.
And such surrender of all for Christ, is it a single step, the act and experience of a moment, or is it a course of daily renewed and progressive attainment? It is both. There may be a moment in the life of a believer when he gets a first sight, or a deeper insight, of this most blessed truth, and when, made willing in the day of God's power, he does indeed, in an act of the will, gather up the whole of life yet before him into the decision of a moment, and lay himself on the altar a living and an acceptable sacrifice. Such moments have often been the blessed transition from a life of wandering and failure to a life of abiding and power divine. But even then his daily life becomes, what the life must be of each one who has no such experience, the unceasing prayer for more light on the meaning of entire surrender, the ever-renewed offering up of all he has to God.
Believer, would you abide in Christ, see here the blessed path. Nature shrinks back from such self-denial and crucifixion in its rigid application to our life in its whole extent. But what nature does not love and cannot perform, grace will accomplish, and make to you a life of joy and glory. Do you but yield up yourself to Christ your Lord; the conquering power of His incoming presence will make it joy to cast out all that before was most precious. "A hundredfold in this life": this word of the Master comes true to all who, with whole-hearted faithfulness, accept His commands to forsake all. The blessed receiving soon makes the giving up most blessed too. And the secret of a life of close abiding will be seen to be simply this: As I give myself wholly to Christ, I find the power to take Him wholly for myself; and as I lose myself and all I have for Him, He takes me wholly for Himself, and gives Himself wholly to me."
So here I am at home in Fort
Collins, CO. My countdown on my computer is no longer counting down the days
till the end of the race but rather counting up. I just looked today and it is
14 days since I landed back in the States.
I may have finished "The
Race" but I definitely have not stop running. 1 Corinthians 9:24-27
I landed Friday Sept 3rd and
got home and to bed around 2am. Slept for a couple hours before getting up to
be baptized at 8am Saturday morning!
It was an absolutely incredible experience and the perfect way to enter into my
new life in the States. I was able to spend the first couple days with my whole
family including my brother and his wife who life in New York City. It was so
good to see everyone and get to catch up on the past year.
So Whats next?
The Internship
It was only three days before
a new "race" began. I started my year long internship with the church on the
Tuesday after getting back. It was a hectic first couple of days as I went
through the orientation and worked my way around the massive building. I am one
of 8 interns the church took on this year and one of 4 that my particular
ministry has. I am working with the young adults ministry called Nine70.It has been only a week and a half since
I began but I truly feel at home there and feel part of a family. I had been
praying that God would provide me with a solid Christian community and he has
no doubtable been faithful in that.
Training Camp
I am very excited to say that
my relationship with AIM and The World Race is not over yet. I was invited out
Georgia to be a "trainer" at the training camp for 3 World Race squads and a
specialty Human Trafficking squad. I am so pumped to be back in the World Race
community pouring out everything that God has taught me this past year and
really activating a hunger in the new racers for what God has to show them this
year. It is an added bonus that many of my fellow L-squad members will be
volunteering as well!
Mission Trip to Haiti
My desire for missions and
sharing God's love to the nations has not gone away either. My church has
teamed up with an orphanage called "Son of God Orphanage" in Haiti and has
agreed to partner with them for the next 10 years supporting their immediate
needs, teaching and training them how to sustain themselves and eventually
releasing them to support themselves.
I have been invited to join a
select group to go down to the orphanage in December. The five of us that have
been selected will then turn around and lead our churches future mission trips
to Haiti. I am extremely honored to be a part of this group and really excited
to see what God has for this amazing group of men that he has called to this
trip.
I first want to say thank to
you all that have supported me on The World Race. I could not have done it
without your emotional and financial support.
I would like to ask you to prayerfully consider partnering
with me again as I prepare for this trip to Haiti.
If you feel led to support
me:
Make checks Payable to: Timberline
Church
In the memo Line include: Josh
Woodmansee-Haiti 2010
Send Checks to:
Josh Woodmansee
1107 Devon Way
Fort Collins, CO 80525
THANK YOU, THANK YOU,
THANK YOU for supporting me and believing in me and the work God has been doing
through me!
I hope through my blog
this past year that you have been able to see a glimpse of what God has done in
the Nations and what you have made possible! I love you ALL! God Bless!
Since starting 
There was a really great message at church today. Dary Northrop, our senior pastor, talked about the Christmas story. This is his 25th year of preaching the Christmas story here at Timberline and every year is different. I really love what God highlighted for him this year. He talked about 
It was really neat to see the Church pull together to support this orphanage in all ways possible. The missions department put on an "Orphan Sunday" where we had a concert that highlighted the needs for parents locally as well as all over the world. We set up a table and now have ever one of the 126 orphans sponsored monthly making sure they have all the basics of life. The children of Timberline Church packed over 4500 meals in bags to be brought down with us to Haiti. 
A week before we were suppose to leave, the riots began and they closed down the airport to any international travel. One of the favored candidates for president, "Sweet Micky", was eliminated from the running and his supporters hit the streets. There appears to be corruption in the counting of the votes and America is threatening to with hold aid if the problem is not resolved. 
I have helped out in many ways for many events but this one was a first for me.
I could not believe it, but I guess our costumes worked because over half the people truly thought I was homeless. People would come up and ask me 
I
have spent the last year and a half planning my life towards living in Fort
Collins and working for the fire department here. I have jumped through all the
right hoops and set myself up for success, but in the end my "perfectly plotted
plan" is not what God has for me right now. He has something so much greater. 
The
training camps have grown considerably from my training camp of one squad
totaling 45 racers last August to 4 squads totaling 185 last week. The
projection for the May 2011 training camp is 400 racers. This means that I will
have an intricate part in this transition of the World Race. We will have the
challenge of finding a location that will house 400 people as well as
developing a plan to keep intimacy as this movement expands.
This
MUST continue... and you can continue making sure that this happens by helping
me raise up MORE AND MORE radical disciples that will go into the nations and
love the fatherless, feed the hungry, and yes... raise the dead! You are a part
of this happening when you give to support my ministry with Adventures in
Missions and The World Race. You are vital to this ministry. I need your financial
support as a staff member. I am raising my salary and working tirelessly to see
what you and I both want to see happen... the nations changed by the love of
Christ. Would you please consider supporting me and this ministry by partnering
with me to see this happen? 
I landed Friday Sept 3rd and
got home and to bed around 2am. Slept for a couple hours before getting up to
be baptized at 8am Saturday morning
It was only three days before
a new "race" began. I started my year long internship with the church on the
Tuesday after getting back. It was a hectic first couple of days as I went
through the orientation and worked my way around the massive building. I am one
of 8 interns the church took on this year and one of 4 that my particular
ministry has. I am working with the young adults ministry called Nine70.
My desire for missions and
sharing God's love to the nations has not gone away either. My church has
teamed up with an orphanage called "Son of God Orphanage" in Haiti and has
agreed to partner with them for the next 10 years supporting their immediate
needs, teaching and training them how to sustain themselves and eventually
releasing them to support themselves.
Here is a blog from my pastor
Reza about his first day from his trip to the orphanage 
