What Ministry Can Look Like
Well me and my Team 43:19 were in Cusco, Peru, for about a week or so. We just last week arrived in Spain with the rest of the Squad for a Debrief. But as promised in my last blog I want to wrap up South America for you guys. As mentioned in earlier blogs we had a Leadership Development Weekend in Mancora, Peru, which consisted of the whole Squad. Then we traveled to Lima, Peru, for an all Squad Week which was when we switched into our new teams. During that it was a week of planning and dreaming for the future and really doing a lot of inner community discipleship. Read some of my previous blogs for that! After Lima, we ended up in Cusco, Peru to finish of our last month in Latin America.
Before I mention what ministry was like in Cusco, let me share again what life looks like for Fusion Squad and also some back story. Well to start, we truly believe life is ministry and ministry is life. ?This really is birthed from what Jesus said in Matthew? ?22:37-39?, “Jesus replied: “ ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’” Ministry isn’t going to church, it’s not a mission trip, it’s not doing something for God, although He wants us to. Ministry is an expression of the heart. It’s an overflow of worship to God that turns into love for Him and love for others. This practically looks like being available at all times to love God and love people. To really take a step back and ask for the Father’s heart. To look for the one. To be interruptible in order to hear something from God, be changed, and then give it out. Ministry isn’t a check in the box it’s a way of life! Ministry is really ALL of Romans 12! Go read it 🙂
So here on Fusion Squad that’s exactly what we do. We move from place to place and start a new life. A life where we shop to live and we meet people and we begin to build relationships. We focus on something called Listening Prayer. Simply put, it’s the idea and practice of asking and listening for God’s heart over whatever is going on. We ask God, “where do we go and stay? Which city? Who is in your heart and what kind of way can we love these people? This city?” We don’t have set “ministry,” or “partnered churches.” We go to a new town and then find those people, organizations, churches and whatever else. It’s a pretty cool, life giving, challenging thing. The biggest reward of it all is learning more about the Father’s heart which then pushes you to grow in intimacy with the Father which is what life is all about anyways. Again, I’m sure I’ve explained this before but now you know even more 🙂
So once my new team and I were in Lima, we began to dream, pray, and ask God what did the last week in Peru look like? Different things were spoken to different people on the team but a common denominator was the heart for Children’s Ministry but a way to help love kids not through a church and even this idea that it wouldn’t be “Christian kids.” So with all the other things God has spoken to us we traveled to Cusco, Peru. Here we immediately got situated and grocery shopped and got to know the area. The elevation change definitely took a big hit to our bodies but we adjusted. During our time, we watched a sermon series and did bible study but a special thing we do is called Passion in Action. This is where each team member has an opportunity to share their passion or one of them with the team. It’s beautiful to see how the body of Christ becomes very effective when it’s united and loves each other and then goes out! Pretty life changing. Within these Passion in Action moments we meet people and find God’s heart. One day we drew some paintings and handed them out to whoever God led us to. For me it took a couple days but finally I found my guy on our trip to the Lake Humantay. This was an adventure day! Wow.. It was beautiful. Check out a recent blog for details on that. We are riding up to the mountain and I’m talking to the guy and just felt God say hey, it’s him. So gave it to him, he smiled and it felt right. Wasn’t able to talk to him more about it but I feel as if I did what I was supposed to. Share love and plant a seed. Something Important to know is hearing from God is building relationship. Learning what his voice is and what is your voice. Earlier I tried giving my picture to some guy thinking God was saying it’s him but I was rejected. And.. that’s okay! I smiled and moved forward. So sometimes practicing hearing his voice and walking in boldness is uncomfortable but it’s always fun and you end up closer to Jesus and walking with more faith and hope. That was a fun moment. So yes… Children’s Ministry. One of the days we were out talking to people a lady came up to one of my teammates and gave him a flyer for a barbecue. He talked and smiled but that was it. Maybe 10 minutes later I’m talking to this other guy who is sharing his artwork with me and I hear Forrest and the rest of the team yell and get excited. Well what they found out was that on the back of the flyer was news that the barbecue was to help raise funds for the kids in an organization called CooperarPeru and not only that, free volunteers were needed. Well.. before this we were enjoying getting to know the city and the people and God was doing some great things within our team but we new we needed to be with Kids. This was God being faithful and providing a way. We immediately got to know them and began serve the following days after Easter. This organization helps kids in the mountain within 3 basic ways; Education, Physical Health, and Emotional Health. The kids come in and learn how to brush teeth and wash hands and then homework is done and then activities of fun learning are done and then food with a song or two. It’s all volunteer base and it’s pretty chaotic but so good for the kids. Jackie, one of my teammates has written a phenomenal short blog on this, so PLEASE READ IT. I share this because it gives you a glimpse of what ministry is like. A bunch of praying and worshipping God through song with the team, bible study, and really just getting filled up with the Father’s Heart to then go and share it with love to the city. Sometimes God is specific and sometimes it’s a little mystery but it’s a process of learning His voice. All in all, it’s simple, life is ministry and ministry is life and what this means is, life is meant to be loved and love. So let’s go love God and love people.
South America was a very good time. I was filled with memories from my years in Mexico and I was full of life as I started something new. It was tough.. Being away from everything that has ever made me who I am allowed God to teach me new things and dive me deeper into His love. Although, I’m nowhere near finished and there’s still much more to go deeper. I’ve learned that I’m forgiven to come Home. I’ve learned that Home is in the Father’s arms. I’ve learned how to function and be satisfied without anything. I’ve learned to be bold and talk to people. I’ve learned more about what John 3:16 is. I’ve learned life is ministry and ministry is life. I’ve learned what constant community is like. I’ve learned to seek the lowest. I’ve learned to be the lowest. I’ve learned many things or better said, I’m aware of all of these things and I’m learning to go deeper into all of them.
Me and my team 43:19 are now about to start El Camino De Santiago in Spain. This is a route that takes you through all of Spain and much of France. We will not be doing it all but we are starting in Pamplona, Spain, and headed to Leon, Spain. This will be around 17 to 20 days of walking. This is the plan and as we go we will see where God leads. I’m traveling very very light. I have my guitar, and in my guitar bag I have, 2 underwear, 2 shirts, a rain coat, toothbrush and deodorant and a charger with some headphones. Literally having nothing! How fun and crazy is this!?! Our intention is to walk 6 to 8 hours a day and just fall in love with God and people. Many people do the Camino for “self-discovery.” So our heart is for us to personally grow in intimacy with the Lord and as we do that to love on these other travelers. The Camino is a very social travel and many take it. We are excited for this but honestly have no real idea what we are getting into. Be praying for us!
Well.. that’s a wrap of South America and we just finished our 2nd debrief with the whole Squad and now we are all on our teams ready to take on Europe. So please subscribe to my blogs and check out what else God has done. Thank you guys and love your prayers and support.
I’ll post pictures on a later one! WiFi isn’t good here in this cafe. Thank you!
