Archive for June, 2010
It’s been a busy week with meetings almost everyday.
Monday we had our YWAM staff meeting at base.
Tuesday we went to our South African’s friends’ house for a prayer meeting.
Wednesday we had a meeting with some YWAM staff at our house + later hosted the McNeill’s over for prayer for the city also.
Thursday I met my new English learner.
Friday we met up with folks down at the city square who do food + music outreach.
Saturday we enjoyed dinner with our new Afghani friends.
Sunday we joined in with a home church and later attended the welcoming gathering for the new DTS out at Oxford. We stayed the night on base because…
Monday we attended the morning worship gathering and staff meeting. Straight afterwards we met with a local girl who is really involved with city ministries and the skate scene.
BUSY! And tomorrow I go tutor at the Spreydon English Center, then we meet up with the South African’s again. Then Wednesday we meet with some outreach coordinators who just moved here from the States! We are grateful for God’s open doors! Good times!
Have a listen to this powerful decree. Wake up Church body!
“Decisions that Define Us” by David B. Crone
Read by Graham Cook
A few weeks ago I shared a couple bits of audio with you guys (see post “People of Peace“) that I found inspiring. Not really sure if anyone had a chance to listen, but either way, I’d like to make it a common practice to share some of the best stuff here with anyone who may be interested. (I’ve even added a category for it)
This is an address from Pete Grieg at the 10 year anniversary gathering of the global 24-7 prayer movement. If you’re not familiar with the movement, I highly recommend reading up on it. The main site is HERE and you can watch a video about it HERE.
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Pete Grieg – Magnificat (right click to save)
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Additionally, I’d like to recommend reading “Red Moon Rising: How 24-7 Prayer Is Awakening A Generation”. I (Noah) have just begun reading the book upon Kate’s suggestion and out of a desire to see how prayer can change the world. If you’re interested, you can get the book HERE
Also – for those of you who did listen to the 2 talks from last post, here is an update from Tim Scheuer.
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Tim Scheuer Update (Part 3)
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Love to hear any feedback you might have on any of these.
(Click To Enlarge)
I often get frustrated at the lack of compassion and “holy anger” we, as believers, seem to possess (myself most of all). We’re surrounded on every side and infected with sloppy and self-pleasing apathy. And I don’t mean passivity in words, for our culture is over saturated with passionate words on every issue under the sun – but I refer to the relative non-existence of unbridled passion. The kind that leads to a radical change in behavior.
They used to say that the pen was mightier than the sword, but I think it can now be said that the keyboard has replaced the pen and that, in it’s extensive takeover, it has actually diluted most of the impact writing once had. Words have become so pervasive that they’ve become like crackling static in our ears, completely devoid of meaning and stripped of power. So where does that leave us? What do we have that is still mightier than the sword (and less violent as well)?
We’ve been told by our grandmothers, mothers, and so many others for years, “actions speak louder than words”. If that is indeed true (which I believe it is) the question is then, “what will we DO to initiate change in our world?”. What will we start to do NOW, that we aren’t currently doing, that will have a positive impact on those around us… that will speak volumes beyond our excessively empty words?
What we do doesn’t have to be momentous, it just has to be SOMETHING. I think most of us tend to be paralyzed by the “go big or go home” mentality and, as a result, we will never do something big because we haven’t bothered to do anything AT ALL.
Or maybe we just don’t care enough to inconvenience ourselves. The static of words and media has made our hearts so numb that we don’t even know how to be passionate anymore. Maybe we just need to let ourselves get mad enough to stop caring what everyone else thinks and starting doing something about it. Maybe it’s okay, even GOOD, to be furiously angry if it means we’re willing to make a change for the better.
Here is a stirring quote from Danish pastor, Kaj Munk, killed in 1944 by the Gestapo for his open resistance to the Nazi takeover in Denmark.
“What is, therefore, our task today? Shall I answer: “Faith, hope, and love”? That sounds beautiful. But I would say – courage. No, even that is not challenging enough to be the whole truth. Our task today is recklessness.
For what we Christians lack today is not psychology or literature…what we lack is a holy rage – the recklessness which comes from the knowledge of God and humanity. The ability to rage when justice lies prostrate on the streets, and when the lie rages across the face of the earth…a holy anger about the things that are wrong in the world. To rage against the ravaging of God’s earth, and the destruction of God’s world. To rage when little children must die of hunger, when the tables of the rich are sagging with food. To rage at the senseless killing of so many, and against the madness of militaries. To rage at the lie that calls the threat of death and the strategy of destruction peace. To rage against complacency. To restlessly seek that recklessness that will challenge and seek to change human history until it conforms to the norms of the Kingdom of God.
And remember the signs of the Christian Church have been the Lion, the Lamb, the Dove, and the Fish… but never the chameleon.”
- Kaj Munk
Background on Kaj Munk from Time Magazine 1944: HERE
We must remember as believers, that our battle is not against men or the power they wield, but against the spiritual chains of oppression, greed, pride, and all of the dark forces that plague human hearts. May our Father in heaven teach us how to be angry again… how to stand up and live for what we know is right. We want to see the world changed in our day. May it be so!
To view the larger version, click on the arrows at the bottom!
May—June 2010 NZ Update from Kate Cremisino on Vimeo.
It’s probably the same for everyone, but it felt to us like the month of May lasted about a week. It literally whizzed by at an unearthly speed. As a recap, we thought we’d toss together a bit of video so you can see what we’ve been up to. Excuse our crazy behavior – it seems the mold in our house is starting to have an adverse affect on us (either that, or we just had more outtakes than we did good video so we decided to use it all). Ha!
As we head into Winter, we’ve really been feeling like God is establishing a season of prayer and preparation for what He wants to do in Christchurch and in New Zealand. This has to be bigger than just us and requires the involvement of as many believers as this city has to offer. We’ve been contemplating what it might look like to initiate 24-7 prayer in Christchurch and how God might be wanting to do that. These thoughts and impressions are merely in their infancy, but, if you would, maybe just spend the next 60 seconds praying for the city and what God has in mind here. We can’t wait to see what is coming and we can’t wait to tell you all about it when it happens.
