Off to Nigeria, and a few other stops

As a Jesus-filled 2010 comes to a close, 2011 is already looking like a great year to serve in God's kingdom. After a short rest at home, an amazing door has opened to go to Africa on January 14th to spread the love of God!

I am going on a 6 week teaching trip in Africa with 2 friends of mine. One is a fellow staff friend, Chris Chun, from the Awaken DTS, and the other is a a YWAM staff member Dan Baumannn, who has been discipling myself and Chris over the past 7 months. Dan speaks in many YWAM Discipleship Training Schools around the world, and Chris and I have an amazing opportunity to travel with him and step out in teaching as well. My heart is stirred at the thought of pouring out all that God has been putting in my heart.

We will start our trip in Nigeria for the first 3 weeks. The last two weeks will be spent in Cape Town, South Africa. Most of the time we will be speaking in DTS's in these countries and anywhere else that the Lord allows us to pour out His love. Though I have never stepped out in teaching like this before, i feel an encouragement from God to lean on His words and trust what He wants to do in each DTS.

Please be praying for us (especially Monday through Friday as we speak). Again, this is something new for me, and I will be in great need of prayers. I feel the Holy Spirit is going to use this trip to truly impact hearts in Nigeria and South Africa. Thank you for your prayers!

Bless Africa Lord!

Home for the holidays

9 flights, 11000 miles, 40 hours of travel time, a quick stop in Hawaii, a quick stop in California, and I am back in my hometown of Bradenton, Florida. (where I fell asleep for about 2 days). It has been amazing to slow down to spend a few days with family.

The past few days, I have been thinking a lot about the last six months of life. It has been quite a task for me to sum up my months staffing Discipleship Training School with YWAM, and I am not sure I am done processing all that God has done in the nations around the world and the 55 students that came to Kona 6 months ago. Nations have been truly i

mpacted with the love of God as we heard of many from almost every team coming to know Jesus. More importantly, 55 students have hearts that have been impacted for the rest of the

ir lives with the love of God. For example, one of the students who went on outreach with me, is now re

turning to YWAM (along with around 10 more students) to begin a life dedicated to reaching the lost in the nations of the world.

As for a more complete look at DTS, I will put up the video summarizing DTS tomorrow as well as give an update on an exciting, and fast approaching, 2011. An opportunity has come that I cannot wait to share with everyone. I hope everyone is having amazing times with their families for the holidays and stirred about what God has for you in 2011! (I know I am)

Happy holidays

Last days in Mumbai

The bittersweet goodbye to India is only a day away. As we have taken the day to look back at God's faithfulness, power and love at work over the past 3 months, I am at a loss for words. It has been such a humbling experience to share about the kingdom of heaven with so many, and see so many come into His eternal kingdom.

More than what has happened in India, I am blessed to see all 6 students on this outreach hungry for more of God, and expectant for their futures to change cities and nations. Not one is leaving unchanged or ready for God's love to bring revival wherever they go. Some will continue in missions for years, while others return home with changed hearts and a testimony of God's love.

I look forward to sharing much more soon about the overall aspects of outreach and what God has taught us all. Bless everyone!

Chase

Indian thanksgiving and house churches

Oh Turkey Day... pumpkin pie... sweet potato casserole... and gravy, sweet gravy... how I missed you this past Thursday. I am a simple man, and I simply love Thanksgiving. I would argue that there is no sweeter or more delicious holiday in the year. As I awoke this past Thursday morning, there was no smell of Thanksgiving, but we praised the Lord anyway. :)

And then the Lord blessed us... myself and my team were treated to a surprise Thansgiving dinner that certainly was unforgettable. There was actually turkey on the menu! (but it was out of season, haha) But there was also steak on the menu! (which was in season and also surprising being in India) So, myself and the team had traditional steak thanksgiving meals! haha, it was a surprise and a blessing.

As for this week, we continued to see the Lord show us how hungry the people of India are for God. more have come to know the Lord in house churches and we continue to see freedom and love move people's hearts closer to the Lord each night. I love sharing the Lord's love with each and every hungry soul. There is such a need for servants in this city and country, but the Lord is moving in so many ways here. Blessings and love, and happy steak thanksgiving!!!

Only two weeks left and we want more from God!

Our time in Wardha

Here is a video I put together of our time in Wardha. It was my first time editing anything like this, but I will get better. Hope it blesses you!

The Bustle is Back

After cramming into a local train Monday, waving down some taxis, meeting a variety of people in the city of 20 million, sweating while eating some chicken masala, and visiting a Muslim district with a mosque on every block, I knew I was back in Mumbai. It is good to be back in this city and full of opportunity.

We have had a blessed week serving in a new community of Islam known as neighbors to the locals. There is a need for open doors there, and for a commitment. We have met some amazing contacts for this field if any are interested long term.

I have a video summarizing our time in Wardha, central India, but my comnputer froze and is not working. So I will try my best to find a way to get it up for everyone to see the amazing time the Lord gave us in Wardha. Bless y'all and see most in a month.

I'll be in Florida a few days before Christmas and will be visiting with as many as I can. For now, we keep our focus and continue to bring the kingdom of love.

Goodbye villages, Hello Mumbai

The time has come for our team to leave the beautiful plains in central India. Wardha, our current city, has been nothing but an orchestrated blessing from Jesus. Friendships with the workers in this ministry are certainly not temporary and I look forward to seeing freindship with this organization grow. (myself and brother Kishur, who pastors village house churches and smiles constantly, after church today)

After visiting many unreached villages, my heart leaves full of love and expectancy for the future in these lands. At the pastors conference this week, we spent 3 days in prayer and joyful worship concluded by the pastors washing each others feet. God is truly blessing them in love and unity. Brother Ashu, the director of the local Dinbandhu outreach ministry in Wardha, has been an amazing servant and I hope to see more teams come to bless this organization...maybe I will come back one day too. :)

And now we head back to the city of crazy transport and people everywhere. We hope to minister in slums through preaching, bless orphanages with available hands to work, and see God reveal Himself to workers in Bollywood. These are going to be some busy weeks in Mumbai where the lost desperately need the love of Jesus. Lord, open the doors...

Update in central india

I tried my best to do this video many times, but it turns out there are around 1.3 billion people here and not a lot of places to hide. Hope you enjoy and know that there is a more detailed update coming on Saturday! Joy!

Wardha has seen a great light

Hello from Wardha, a small city in the heart of India.

From before the beginning of this outreach, God was putting His lost children on my heart. I felt He would be leading our team to call people to His loving arms. In the past two weeks, I have been blown away by the love God has for the people of India. But before I share some stories, let me tell you about Dinbandhu ministries, the friend of the poor.

Dinbandhu was started about 15 years ago to reach the unreached villages and slums in Central India. Now having 3 training centers, I am convinced the Lord will continue to bless this ministry. A basic outline of ministry starts with building friendship with unreached villages. A team then comes in and preaches the gospel of Jesus as well as pray for the sick. With those interested, a house church is started in one night! Dinbandhu then sends their team back to each village once a week for discipleship as well as to select leaders to attend their training center for one year. These centers focus on making disciple of Jesus, but they also teach each person a trade for work when they return to their village. I have been personally blessed to see such dedicated servants serving to bring change to hearts first and communities too.

In almost every village we attend, there are some who are captured by the love of Jesus and all that He offers. For example, we visited an unreached slum tonight and saw 22 desire to follow Jesus. It makes me want to rejoice and dance every time God's grace and love brings His children home. I am trying to post a video with a short update too, but it is taking a while...

I will share more soon, but for now I must sleep.

Love you all and keep praying for open doors to share the gospel! ... God truly loves His children

The colors of India

We are now in the lands of central India. We have taken a train from the largest city in the country for 12 hours to the city of Wardha in central India. Upon arrival, my spirit was refreshed with the peace of country lands and fewer honking horns. Our expectancy of God to move powerfully in the villages grew as we met with the leader of this church-planting group, Ashu. His vision to see God's love invade the villages through mercy ministry and the gospel is inspiring. They have planted many churches and we look forward to helping a few more get started.

I shared at a house church of about 20 people last night. Already there members are traveling to other villages to start house churches to spread the gospel, and it was a true honor to share with them a word of encouragement. I felt great destiny on many in the room and was humbled to share what I felt was on God's heart for their church.

I am continually blown away at the doors God opens for our team and eagerly await the next opportunity to share His kingdom of love. How good is our God?

Until next time...

Mumbai, the city of many cities

Hello blog-following friends,

I have a quick minute here in Mumbai (site of slumdog millionaire and bollywood). Stepping out of the airport, taxis and rikshas are flying everywhere. Crossing one street seems to be an impossible task, yet as we depart for New Mumbai (our current place of stay) there is an obvious method to the chaotic traffic of this city of 20 million. In fact, to this day, I have yet to see one accident, and there are usually 6 cars lined up in 3 lanes with motorcycles in between them.

Getting settled has been smooth with the help of our amazing contact Sitaram. Please bless him with your prayers. The food is something that will probably keep me coming back to Mumbai. Chicken curry with roti any meal.

This past weekend we served a youth festival with teams from Indonesia, Korea, USA, Malaysia and Sri Lanka and saw many commit there lives to missions following the preaching of the word. We have been able to hang with and bless some folks in Bollywood and are looking forward to more open doors soon.

We are leaving for Wardha tomorrow to work with a church-planting group. Our team is very expectant and excited about the upcoming months to serve villages and share the loving gospel of Jesus.

Thats all for now, bless y'all

BIP!

Team India and some dreams

As we head to India on Friday, there is a great amount of expectation and nervous excitement. Personally, my heart is stirred and hungry to run after God with the people of Mumbai and surrounding villages. Though I expect India to bring time's of intensity, I continue to feel that our team will cling to Jesus. It may get wild, but our heart is that we keep our Lord at the center of all we do.

Please lift our team up in prayer as we seek to spread the love of God and shine in some dark places. Current prayer requests are growing together in the Presence of God as a united team, to be attentive to the Holy Spirit's leading, and for wisdom as this is my first time leading an outreach.

I love you all so much and cannot wait to share what the Lord is doing in India and how He uses our team to be a part of his plans.

"Lord, I have heard of your fame; I stand in awe of your deeds, O Lord. Renew them in our day, in our time make them known; in wrath remember mercy." Habakkuk 3:2

India here we come!

Hello again friends,

In just four weeks, I will be leading a team of 9 to the country of India. Though this is my first trip to India, I certainly feel the Lord has been preparing my heart and the hearts of our team for a truly powerful trip to India. Myself and my co-leader Shawna have been working hard to prepare this trip. Now that we are almost done dealing with the struggles of obtaining an India VISA, we have been able to start setting up ministries opportunities. God has been so faithful to open up some amazing doors to share the love of God in India.

First, when we arrive in India, we are hoping to have a few days to a week of bringing Christ's love to the sets and people of Bollywood, India's Hollywood. Following this, we are taking a 10-12 hour train ride (should be an experience) to Wharda to work with a church-planting group for four weeks! There is an opportunity to share the Gospel with very young believers and maybe some who have never heard of the wonderful love of Jesus and who He is. My heart is moved each time I think about this chance to share on the life of Jesus. Followin

g this, we will take the train ride back Mumbai to work in slums, orphanages, and the red light district for a month. This is the basic outline of our trip to India. God is good!

There will likely be a few minor changes to the trip with possibly one major change for our month in Mumbai, but I will be sure to keep everyone updated. Pleas

e be praying that we see the people of India just as the Lord does and that we follow His leading in India.

Here is a photo of our team of 9. (They are amazing!)

There is so much more to share on this team and India. So please call, email and ask any questions you have. Love and joy from Jesus...

Strictly Business

An heir in Christ Jesus

What does God see when He looks at me? Does he see a sinner stuck in sin? A slave unworthy of love? an illegitimate child? one too dificult to be helped? one having to earn a blessing from God?... this week in the Awaken DTS, we began to recieve a piece of how God the Father views us, and the importance of receiving His blessing.

John Leach, this week's teacher, spoke on the importance of seeing ourselves as God sees us. Too often, we try to perform or live life worthy of love. We hear that God loves us, but sometimes we still try to earn it from Him. We are "all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus."(Coll. 3:26) There is no opportunity to earn love, only to recieve the love Jesus offers through His work conquering death. For "God sent the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out, "Abba, Father." So you are no longer a slave, but a son; and since you are a son, God has made you also an heir." (Coll. 4:7) To walk out life from an identity as a son and an heir in the kingdom of God brings a freedom to run after God with a heart captivated by the Father's love. Hearts become captivated by the love of God rather than trying to avoid sin, and God reveals His beauty as we seek Him. Our school got another taste of the love of God this week, and hearts, including mine, are burning brighter to bring this love to the nations.

The outreach to India is beginning to take shape among our team of 9. One month will likely be spent in Central India with a church planting organization and the other t

ime will be spent in Mumbai. Plans will take more shape soon, but be praying for unity and preparation among our team. We are feeling the Lord wants to move in mighty ways of healing, deliverance, and revealing His Presence among us. Please be praying into our VISA process too. It is quite difficult to get a VISA to India, and we are working hard to get all 9 team mem

bers into India.

Here on the right is a picture of me and my good friend Chris Little (from South Carolina). I just thought this was a classic picture of some southern folk.

Love and blssing on everyone who reads my ramblings. Jesus is alive!

Heaven's Perspective

"Your kingdom come, Your will be done, on earth as it is in Heaven."

...on Earth as it is in Heaven...I wonder what the Lord wants the earth to look like? Are there sick people in heaven? is there depression? loneliness?...I dont know exactly what it looks like, but I want everything God has for us before I get there. Lord, bring Your kingdom to Earth.

3 weeks into DTS update!!

God is love

Hello hello, its been far too many days since I have been able to share what God has been doing in Kona Hawaii. In short, the love of God love is tearing down walls in hearts, filling empty places, and setting us on fire to spread His kingdom. There is so much to share, so be ready for a video tomorrow or the day after! There are some amazing things happening in Kona!

Cannot wait to share what God has been doing in the Awaken DTS!

Awaken DTS has begun!

Oh snap! After getting back from a whirlwind trip at home for Christian Leavitt's wedding, things didn't slow down as I began meeting some of our 58 students. On our first ministry night the same day I got back to Hawaii (a little bit jet-lagged), I was so blessed to hear one student say "no one really prays for me like this back home." The first two days have been good as the students and staff are challenged with the fundamentals of Christianity and hearing God's voice. As I shared my testimony on the second day of class (as seen in the picture), I was unknowingly captured in my usual "go gators!" opening as I share where I am from. God instantly opened a door for me to share with a student later in the day too. It seems the good times are just beginning

Thank you to those who have been praying for this DTS. God has only just started what he has planned for this school, and I ask you to please continue praying for the students and staff here. Have some joy from the Lord, and go gators!

Meet the Awaken DTS Staff

I wanted to introduce everybody to my fellow staff friends. This is on a hike we took last weekend. We have also decided that our Summer DTS will be called the AWAKEN DTS instead of Classic DTS. The Lord has been preparing us to go deeper into what He is doing in our lives and the incoming students. We want to be truly aware of all that God has for us in this life.

The students arrive tomorrow and lectures begin on Monday July 12th. We have a "final" number of 57 students in our school (that's a lot). I am so excited to get this school started.

Also, a reminder that I will be home this weekend and hope to see as many folks as possible as we celebrate Christian and Cami's wedding!!!

Arrival Day

Arrival Day for the students is less than a week away! We have spent quite a bit of our time preparing for the coming students, and there is a good amount of anticipation among the staff for the Summer DTS (which we are calling the Awaken DTS) to start. Outreach locations are starting to really take shape, and for me...I will have to wait until next week for a final spot.

The base has emptied out with the spring quarter coming to a close, but it feels like a campuswide family is starting to take shape. There is so much joy in the family of God as brothers and sisters in Christ that my heart has been longing to bring more into this family, whether it be students or locals here in Kona. Psalm 133 sums up my thoughts I think.

I thought everyone might enjoy the video below. Taylor and Julia are in Canada for a few weeks, but it was amazing while they were here. One last thing, Ill be home from July 8-10 for Christian's wedding, so hopefully I can see as many of my Bradenton friends and family as possible!

Fun in the Mailroom

After undergoing some jam packed weeks of training and orientation, I am feeling more and more established on staff here in Kona. Our Summer DTS staff team continues to grow (we have 17 members so far), but it continues to feel like a long lost family I forgot existed. We are still busy preparing for the school, incoming students, and working out team roles (sometimes I can sneak in some basketball too), but I am realizing that this is probably going tobe the most restful week before the students arrive. These are some amazing staff friends I am getting to know with Kurt (from Canada) in the middle and Chris (from Cali) on the left.

Also...outreach location is coming soon! (Looks like a nation I didn't expect either!)

Thanks so much everyone for being a blessing in my life. love and miss y'all from Bradenton, Gainesville, and around the world.

"Let God love you, love God, and let others watch"

Here at the University of the Nations, it seems there is always something to do or a meeting to attend. In the midst of all the doing, I have found rest and assurance in what God truly wants from us. In the words of a leader here on campus, "fall in love with Jesus, let Jesus love you, and let others watch." Perhaps your like me, and you find yourself so busy doing, that you forget that God truly just wants to give His love. As I learn to rest in His love, I find joy and strength in each day. With that, may you feel and receive God's love every day, and watch the Lord use you to change the world around you.

First Weeks on Base

Hey everyone, my first weeks on base here in Kona have been amazing. There has been quite a variety of things to do and people to meet, but it has been a blessing to get settled out here.

After a busy first week of getting housing, setting up finances and orientation as a staff member among other things, I decided to take it easy and hike the second highest mountain in Hawaii my first weekend here! Though altitude sickness, cold temperatures

and being slightly out of shape tried to slow me down, here is one reward of the beautiful view at 13500 feet.

As a staff member of the Summer DTS, we have been busy contacting students, preparing for outreach locations, and coming together as a team. Jesus really brought our

team together quickly on our staff retreat as we spent time in worship, sharing testimonies, praying for each other and playing washers (kind of like cornhole). Each of us feel that the Lord has some big plans for our school of potentially 70 to 80 students! There will be much more to come on this.

Blessings

Welcome to Kona

Hey everyone, I am going to write on this blog pretty regularly as well as send out pretty regular video updates. A fellow staff friend came up with the name, not bad if you ask me. I have only been here a week, but the whole campus is really fired up about what the Lord is doing. It is an amazing atmosphere to experience, and I hope that you all can come visit me at some point!

Ok, thats all for now.