I am a little
behind on my blogging (sorry), but slowly but surely catching up…
Just hours
after the YWAM Jubilee event ended, we immediately jumped into the Call 2 All
event. While many of the same people
were involved, the atmosphere and activities there were very different. Instead of a celebrating the work God has
done and is currently doing, Call 2 All focused on the work He wants to do in
the future through the thousands of young people who came from all over the
world to Tauranga that week. We mainly
worked as ushers, parking attendants (or “marshalls” as they are called here),
and general errand runners – but we worked in shifts and got to participate in
a lot of the conference.
For the
participants, the days were filled with informational sessions and
presentations about various ministries, organizations, and ways to get
involved. The nights were a time of
collective worship that I cannot really express in words. It was, in itself, nothing special – just a
band on a stage, and a few people giving occasional prayer or a message. However, night after night, this became a
time that was anything but ordinary. I
truly believe that God showed up in a big way on those evenings and changed
people’s lives forever. It rained one
night, which forced us into the gym…what started as a bit hot and crowded
became a platform for some truly miraculous (and I’m not just throwing that
word around) stuff. Stuff like healing
and prophecy and real spiritual movement…the kind of stuff that continues to
make me kind of uncomfortable, but I am finding it harder and harder to
deny. I don’t want to get into a big
theological discussion (not yet at least), but God does crazy stuff when you
ask Him to.
The next
night, the final night of Call 2 All, was amazing and influential as well, but
in a different way. It was a night that
saw over 2000 people seriously commit to take real action in the coming years –
from planting churches, to starting a new ministry, to supporting missions
financially, the list goes on… It was also
a night when over $22,000 was selflessly given up to help expand the ministry
of Call 2 All and the many ministries they support. It’s so important to recognize that this
money was given by people who probably don’t have the money to give in the
first place – missionaries, students, pastors, etc… people who are usually the
recipients of that kind of money – but people who trust in the Lord to provide
and give freely what was never theirs to begin with. Others that night found a calling to a
specific country, region, or people group while standing and praying on the largest
map in the world. For me, it was an
amazing night of worship – no healing, no commitment, no revelation about
future ministry – but awesome, focused, free worship between me and God, which
is exactly what I needed and I think was exactly what He wanted. Call 2 All ended the next day. We helped clean up, tear down tents, stack
chairs, etc. and folded up the big mat one last time.
Our last few
days in Tauranga were spent helping out with various chores (painting, organizing, moving
rocks from a pile at the bottom of a hill to a pile at the top of a hill) at
Changepoint Church – our church away from home and where we attended House of
Prayer. We were sad to leave so many great friends in New Zealand, but excited for Australia.
Which brings
me to now – on the floor of a house in Mareba, Australia – just a stop to drop off one of the teams before we head to our ministry sight in Wujal Wujal. Two days ago, we caught a bus to Auckland and
slept in the airport before getting on a 7am flight to Australia. We stayed with a friend of a friend in
Brisbane for 2 days and this morning took a flight to Cairns
(pronounced Cans). We will be doing our ministry for the month in Wujal Wujal, a remote Aboriginal town in the rainforest of north Queensland. From what we know so far, our ministry will consist
primarily of various construction projects and outreach in a few Aboriginal
communities there. I don’t know many details,
but what I do know is that the nearest bank to where we are staying is 3 hours
away, and due to a small hurricane hovering just above Australia’s northern
coast, much of northern Queensland is under flood-like conditions. I will do my best to get to internet access
as often as possible. Until then, please
continue to pray for us and our ministry, it will only get harder and harder each
month. Also, keep spreading the word
about our ministry – try to tell at least one other person about this blog
every day. With more prayers and more
support, we can grow and reach so many more.
Thank you all so much for your constant prayers and words of
encouragement – they really do mean so much.
God bless.
