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Beach Reach: Day 2

Jesus is being exalted and experienced in the midst of the country’s largest party…and the last 24 hours have been a great time of ministry! Last night our UT team had a van shift from 11pm to 3am and we had several opportunities to see God do some amazing thing. I have not gotten an official count yet, but I know of at least 10 spring breakers that came to faith in Christ last night!!

There were definitely some logistical problems with the first night of giving rides since we have so many new Beach Reachers. Pray that those kinks get worked out quickly.

After we slept in and got up and grabbed lunch before hitting the beach. While we were on the beach out students did a great job of prayer walking, looking for the people God wanted them to connect with, and then serving them. The UT did an amazing job of representing the Kingdom of God an loving people. My small group got to talk with a group from Ohio and another group from Notre Dame for a long time. Both plan on getting rides from us tonight. Pray they continue to experience the love of Christ.

I also had the chance to share the Gospel to a Hare Krisna teacher/monk this afternoon. He was actually very interested in my understanding of how Christianity compares to other religions. Pray that God cuts through the idol worship in his life and reminds him of the truth he heard today!

Thanks so much for praying for us so strongly! Keep it up!

Beach Reach: Day 1

We made it to South Padre!  Our first day on the island is under our belt and everyone is ver eager for Beach Reach to start.  Yesterday (Saturday), we spent more time training the students on what to expect on the beach throughout the week as well as helping unload trucks with all the Beach Reach supplies.  We gave the students most of the afternoon off to settle into their rooms and rest.  By the evening, we got to meet all the other teams as they were arriving at dinner.  FBC Port Isabela fed all 700 of us!  After dinner, we all loaded in our vans, prayer-drove the island and then ended up in the parking lot of Island Baptist Church, which is our base of operations for the week.  The students spent about 2 hours mingling through the crowd and praying for each new person they met that God would move in them and through them this week.  After that, we all hit the sack and got some rest.

Today is our first full day of ministry, so please pray for us:

1) That no one get’s sunburned or sick on the beach

2) That students begin to feel confident in being a “friend of sinners”

3) That God would go before us and begin to soften the hearts of those we will meet

4) Pray for Chris, a security guard here at the hotel.  I’ve already had a few conversations with him answering his questions about what we are doing here.  He seems very intrigued by it all.  Pray that I have more time with him and that I am able to share the heart and reason we are here ministering to people.

Thanks!  I’ll update again tomorrow.

The Good News Side of The Bad News

I drive by this Islamic Association building almost everyday, and today I had to stop and take this picture.  The statement on their board does an amazing job of summing up in one sentence what the Muslim belief is all about.  The reality is that there’s a large amount of truth to what is on this board. But the whole truth is left out.

The Truth is that our deeds do matter…and we are “captive” to spend eternity with the fruit of them.  But that’s just the bad news…don’t forget the good news!! When I was eight years old and asked Jesus to forgive me of my sins and be the Lord of my life…my deeds were placed on the cross with Jesus and His deeds were credited to my account! That’s the Christian message.  The world says to live your life as good as you can and hope your deeds are good enough.  But there is no  hope in that.  How good is good enough?! No religion can answer that except Christianity.  Jesus Christ says, “your deeds aren’t ever good enough…but mine are and you can have them.”

So don’t be held captive by your deeds when you can be set free by the deeds of Christ!

My thoughts on Tunisia & The 1st Internet Fueled Revolution

I recently came across this article on the internet’s role in the revolution spreading throughout the Middle East.  As I read it, I saw how the personality of this current generation has played a huge role.  There were two things that struck me the most.  One, was that it’s being admitted that the Tunisian government was outwitted by a young and bored generation.  But one that was also well-educated and armed with nothing but cyber cafe’s.  If the government had tapped into the potential of the younger generation, they would have better understood the social media strategy being launched against them.  But instead of appreciating that demographic…they restricted it.

That restriction led me to my second thought.  America most definitely has a young, bored, well-educated and well resourced generation on our hands.  But I don’t think they would ever pull this off.  The reason?  The average Tunisian young adult is oppressed, uncomfortable and longing for the chance at a 20hr-a- week job.  The American young adult is playing Xbox 20 hours a week.

My take-aways are these two thoughts…

1. We need to get really uncomfortable…really fast.

2. As John Piper said about it today in one of his tweets, “Lord Jesus, cause this “first internet revolution in the world” to serve the advancement of the gospel.”