As I write this, we’re sitting in a condo in Keystone, Colorado. There aren’t many things that could get us to back to the U.S. so quickly (after only 4 months in New Zealand) but this is one of those exceptions. I like to call it the “brother-getting-married-card”. Basically, Kate and I have one sibling each and a marriage ceremony featuring either one triggers a multi-thousand dollar chain of events ending in the “land of the free, and the home of the brave” (and you expect a wedding present too!?! ha!).

Needless to say, as a result of being here, we don’t have much to update everyone on…. soooo… consider this a bit of a “blog-cation” (holiday as it were). BUT, if you can’t stand the idea of not having even the tiniest morsel of news, then have a look at Kate’s post about our trip to Illinois/Iowa and watch a video about an interesting healing that we experienced when we jumped out on a limb called faith. HERE

We also wanted to take this chance to express our deepest and warmest gratitude to each and every one of you who read our updates and keep us in prayer. You are absolutely PRICELESS and we appreciate you more than words (upon words, upon words) could ever express.

May our Father bless each and every one of you this month in ways that you never expected! And, if we can, we’d love to encourage you to step out of your comfort zone, put your ego on the line, and see what God’s been waiting to do in and through you! The Kingdom of God is HERE NOW and you are it’s physical expression!!

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.

Happy May Day to our friends + family (and a Happy early Mother’s Day to our “Mums”). We trust you are enjoying the new buds and blooms of spring. No, we aren’t jealous one bit (okay, maybe a little)! It’s fall here, but it’s been relatively warm which has given us a taste of summer and should tide us over for the next three months until we return to the states for wedding season!

It’s been just over six weeks since we arrived in Christchurch! We’ve been trying to keep the blog populated with little things here and there, so please check out posts from this last month for more specific info. In the meantime, here is a quick synopsis of what’s been happening with us in New Zealand:

HAPPENINGS at the HOUSE

—We’re fortunate to have a giant, smooth, white wall outside our house that just seems to scream “Vandalize me!!” We’re hoping to catch a tagger in action one of these days and invite him and his fellow “spray artists” to paint a mural on the wall with Noah… we’ll see though (pray for a connection somehow).

—We are continuing to transform the house into a welcoming guest-friendly environment (including the extraction of a medley of “interesting” smells).

—A YWAM team from Marine Reach, Tauranga, may be staying with us in the middle of May and we’ll be keeping them busy with various ministry opps around the city (should have some good stories following their stay—pray that God would use them in the city in amazing ways)!

—We are currently thinking about hosting a weekly community dinner here for neighbors + folks we meet (pray for the correct timing in this and also that we can meet people who want to hear more about the good news of the Kingdom!).

HAPPENINGS in CHRISTCHURCH

—God has been speaking to us about His desire to “rain down and make this land fertile again.”

—We have begun to network with different believers in the city, praying and seeking the Lord together.

—God is calling us to a time of prayer and preparation for the work He wants to do here.

—We have been joining the current YWAM DTS in doing street evangelism every Friday night in the city center (see a post or two below this).

HAPPENINGS with KATE

—Kate volunteers at a local church to help teach English to second-language learners.

—She is taking a course through English Language Partners and will soon be paired with a refugee for one-on-one tutoring.

—She is continuing to write for RELEVANT Magazine.

HAPPENINGS with NOAH

—Noah illustrates 4 days a week for the Duck Co. + has various other design projects lined up in order to pay the bills.

—He has been meeting regularly with other house church guys in the city. Good things are happening…. details to come soon.

—Speaking at a home gathering Sunday, May 2 about “The Power of Story”

Pictured Above: Gethsemane Gardens – a prayer garden overlooking the city where we’ve felt led to wait on God.

PRAYER NEEDS

—Protection: mentally, physically, and most of all, spiritually

—Patience in waiting on God to open more doors + diligence to keep checking handles (figuratively. We’re looking for unlocked homes or anything weird like that —ha!)

—Pray for Kate’s new muslim Afghani friend from the English program to have an open heart to the gospel of the Kingdom!

—For Our Marriage: Honoring one another / Supporting one anothers needs

—For Christchurch: That God’s Kingdom would come in ways the city has never seen before. Also for MANY more workers for the harvest (Luke 10:2b).

—Pray for continued favor with neighbors + people we meet.

—Pray that God would pave the road before us and that we would hear His directions easily.

—Pray that God would bring ministry partners that share the vision for a transformed Christchurch.

CELEBRATIONS

—Not sure if we mentioned it before, but we found a car (see over-dramatic photo above)!!

—God has been waking us with dreams + revelations in the night mostly regarding the city (please pray for more as they have been encouraging to those with whom we’ve shared them).

—God amazed us with much-needed financial provision this month!! We sold a parked domain name for a significant amount, blessing both our family and another family as well – God has continued to show us through His unorthodox provision that He has us right where He wants us. It’s been truly miraculous!

—We are so grateful to be in this ministry house + are grateful for our relationship with the YWAM Oxford staff. YWAM is experiencing some really incredible changes —we’ll keep you posted as they continue to develop. We’re excited to be a part of the ministry during this season.

—Our Two year anniversary is May 25! (So far, so good! ha!)

As most of you know, I (Noah) work as an illustrator for a large company that makes tourist apparel. This part-time job is the main way in which we attempt to sustain ourselves here in New Zealand as we are prohibited from having employment of any kind INSIDE the country (our missionary visas do not allow “in-country income”). As I’m illustrating during my work day, I often have the privilege of listening to a wide variety of teachings and sermons from all sorts of different people. Most of them are good – sometimes they’re inspiring – but occasionally I’ll come across something that I just find PERFECT for the season of life that I’m in.

Today I came across one of THOSE and I wanted to share it with you.

This is from an Australian guy called Dave Lawton who is living the gospel in a way that most of us have given up on. We’ve decided that our western culture has no interest in the gospel and so we’ve stopped trying. Reaching the “lost” is something we talk about often and yet we don’t do it… almost at all. Dave is seeing otherwise, but I’ll let the audio do the talking (uh, terrible unintentional pun).

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• DAVE LAWTON – Church Planting For Everyone
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Another bit of audio I found VERY inspiring in the same stream of thought: An American guy doing ministry in Sydney, Australia and seeing an openness to the gospel that most would have said was not possible in the West.

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• STEVE ADDISON w/ TIM SCHEUER – People of Peace
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If you listen to these, I would love to hear your thoughts and what stood out to you… and what you feel you can do to change the way you live your faith.

Christchurch Downtown Recap from Kate Cremisino on Vimeo.

ALSO:

Last night, a group of the YWAM students felt God leading them to “pay for a prostitute.” (Prostitution is legal here!) They had met a specific girl previously and last night felt to pay for her time, since she is out “working”. A few girls took her out for coffee, while a bunch of other guys and girls hung back and diligently prayed for the girl in the meantime. My friend Joanna updated me afterwards that they got really deep wtih the girl, and that she is joining them for a movie tonight. So it went well. If I hear anything else, I will let you know!

Greetings Friends!!

Soooo… we are finally back online! It’s been awhile, but we’re here. AND, because we haven’t really had proper internet access up until recently, we really fell behind on updates… so, in order to catch up, we decided to do another audio update. This one is a bit longer (sorry!) because we seem to have had lots of things to cover from the moving/assimilation process of the last 3 weeks.

One method for listening to this might be downloading the audio and putting it on your iPod (if you have one) and then, just before you go to bed, pop your headphones on and have a listen. In the future we’ll be keeping any audio updates we do much shorter so that you can listen right here online. (which is option number 2, and quite viable as well)

We’re missing everyone VERY MUCH!!

*** HEADPHONES RECOMMENDED! ***

The Cremisphere – April 2010 by noahcremisino

We thought we’d try our hand at the “Audio” update. We’d LOVE to hear your thoughts on this. If everyone likes it we’ll do it again… if it’s too long or nobody wants to sit and listen to us ramble, then maybe will try to stick with typing. Leave your thoughts below.

The Cremisphere – March 2010 by noahcremisino

These last few weeks have been crazy busy as we’re preparing for the ACTUAL MOVE. For those of you who don’t know, we finally got our visas back… and they were APPROVED!! Since then we’ve nailed down a solid departure date and it’s coming up so quickly! We will be boarding our flight on Tuesday, March 9th at 1:05 PM and from that point forward, our lives will be turned upside down (and not just because we’re on the bottom of the planet either).

Here are a few of the things we’ve had to do (and are still doing) over the last two weeks to prepare:

1. BUY TICKETS:

Pretty obvious. We’re flying from Denver, to Los Angeles, L.A. to Honolulu, Honolulu to Auckland, and Auckland to Christchurch. We figured after all of the chaos of moving we could use a little time to recoup before diving head-long into the deep-end of a new culture, so we’re staying a few days in Hawaii on our way. Everyone likes to ask about travel times… if we were to do this journey straight through we’d be in the air for about 15 hours. However, with layovers and time changes, it takes almost 2 full days (we leave on the 15th of March and arrive on the 17th – 42 hours later).

2. PLAN CRATE SHIPMENT:

You’d think this would be easy… I mean, it’s just like packing a few boxes and running them down to the UPS store, right? Not even close. Before this process I’d never heard of ISPM-15 Certified Heat Treated Wood, Customs Clearing Brokers, Bills of Lading, LCL, or any of the other foreign terms commonly thrown around in the international freight business. I felt like a complete idiot trying to talk to the expediting company, but we eventually got through it.
At this point we’ve had a special crate built out of bug/fungus/mold/bacteria-free wood, it’s about the size of 2 wide coffins stacked on top of each other (sorry for the awkward visual). This Thursday, it will be filled with our remaining earthly possessions (aside from the stuff we hid in my parent’s basement – thanks Mom and Dad!) loaded in a truck and sent on it’s way. The shipment should take about a month to arrive in NZ whereupon we have to hire a Customs Broker to negotiate our crate through customs, hopefully avoiding a potential month+ fumigation quarantine and any other legal obstacles. It might sound silly, but we wouldn’t mind your prayers for the safe transport of our stuff… thanks!

3. SELL OUR CAR:

We got rid of one car a few months back (Kate’s parents bought it – thanks guys!!) since then we’ve been sharing the Xterra. Not a problem at all, but now that we have to sell that one too… it gets a little more difficult. If we don’t have a car, we can’t do everything else we need to do (see #5), but if we don’t sell it before we go we’re in a bit of a jam… you see the difficulty. We’ve spent the last 2 weeks cleaning, shampooing, fixing, taking photos, posting on CraigsList, fielding calls, showing it to unresponsive buyers… fielding more calls, showing it to more buyers… and freaking out because we only have a week left. Needless to say, we still have it. Praying that the right buyer will come along… ASAP! POSTED HERE If you know anyone in CO in need of an SUV pass it on.

4. SAY BYE TO FRIENDS/FAMILY/GUY DOWN THE STREET:

This is an ongoing process and I’m sure most of our friends are thinking “you’re STILL HERE?!”. It’s hard to believe we’re actually leaving everything we call “normal life” and we’re starting from scratch. To those of you whom we didn’t get to see “one last time”… we love you, we’ll miss you… and come visit us!! (please!)

5. A MILLION OTHER TINY THINGS:

Can’t forget to close this bank account and wire this other money to the new bank in NZ… and book that hotel… and figure out how to get the crate from this house to that warehouse at the right time… and terminate the auto insurance… and pay that last phone bill… and get a power converter… and see this and that person… and do our taxes… and get one last burrito… and…

6. OH, AND WORK:

On top of all of this, Noah is still working doing both freelance projects as well as getting started on his part-time illustration job. Kate jut put her last day of work a few days ago as well…

Beyond all of this, I think the most frustrating thing for us is knowing that though our goal in moving is to “do ministry”, right now we’re too busy MOVING to even think about what it is we’ll actually be doing when we arrive. This, of course, is normal and will only last a season, but it feels like a deviation and a major distraction from our main purpose. It actually reminds us quite a lot of the season of preparing for a wedding. It should be a special time in which the bride-and-groom-to-be are focusing on their personal character and mentally preparing for their union, but it is instead spent going mad trying to plan a huge, expensive party for all of their friends and family. In fact, it’s not unlike real life in which we all spend so much time making provisions for our lives that we forget to actually LIVE THEM to the fullest.

I’d love to have some beautiful conclusion to share… a memorable lesson that you can apply to your own life… but we just don’t yet. We’re in the middle of the madness and we’re continually looking to the Father for each breath of fresh air. We know it won’t last much longer (at least not this part of it) and that gives us much comfort… and, who knows, maybe that’s somehow comforting to you as well.