Letter to Epikos Church

The
freedom of your heart and soul will manifest in the freedom of your
body and actions….. “Where the spirit of the Lord is there is
freedom.”

Howdy
Epikos!

Let
me start by saying, I MISS YOU! Through this letter it is my hope to
both encourage you and challenge you. Let me tell you a little bit
about the last nine months of my life on mission.

As
some of you already know, since October of 2009 I have been on
mission with The World Race. The World Race is an 11 month mission
trip, to 11 different countries. We started the mission by flying to
Central America, serving in Guatemala and Nicaragua. In Guatemala we
partnered with a ministry that makes water filters for people in
villages, including some Mayan villages. We also took shifts at Casa
Jackson spoon feeding formula to extremely malnourished babies. In
Nicaragua, we served at an orphanage called “The Quinta”.

After
Southeast Asia we flew to Africa and spent three months there. My
team spent two months in Ghana, partnering with Campus Crusade and
evangelizing at the University of Cape Coast (ask me about the two
African Traditionalists who gave their life to Christ, knowing they
may face extreme persecution). Nigeria was our last month in Africa.
My team traveled all over the country preaching at Crusades,
teaching in churches, and leading worship sessions (ask me about the
extreme circumstances of this month).

Our
last continent switch finds us in Eastern Europe. In Romania we
worked with a Hungarian Pastor visiting Gypsy villages, and also did
some street evangelism in the city. In Prague we partnered with the
IHOP (International House of Prayer), thanks to Epikos’ very own Tom
Clyde! Tom really fought for my team to get there, with his prayers
and emails, and we are very grateful to Tom! We had the opportunity
to lead worship and prayer sessions. I am currently in Moldova doing
sports and music ministry. Our final month is in Ukraine, and then
I’ll be home in September!

What
I’ve Learned?

I
have learned the importance of community. On the race there is no
escaping it, you are part of community 24/7. Community forces you to
face things about yourself that you otherwise may never address, or
even notice. Think about all the openness and accountability you
experience once a week for a couple hours during church or small
group, and now imagine being in that atmosphere everyday, throughout
the entire day, for eleven months…. yeah, its been a season of
quickening!

It’s
easy to hear and believe that God has the ‘best’ for you, but God has
brought me to a new level of understanding, where I know deep down in
my spirit that God has the BEST for me! This year I have experienced
incredible highs and lows, and through it all God has shown me that
He works all things together for the good of those who love Him.
I’ve learned that most of the time God wants to save us through
the trial, instead of from the trial. I’ve learned the
urgency for quick repentance, no matter how small the wrong, and the
power of humility in every circumstance.

I’ve
also learned that It’s good to see where you’re going, but It’s
important to value the process and not focus only on the
breakthrough. There is something to be celebrated along the way,
before the great breakthrough, and if we’re not careful our hunger
for what we don’t yet have will cause us to actually disregard or
disrespect what we do have. Take what you have, treat it faithfully,
and then your promotion comes.

Encouragement

I
want you to know that what you have is unique. You belong to a bible
teaching Spirit led church that has built a worshipful community
through love. Amidst the hundreds of churches all over the world I
have visited, there are maybe a handful that come close to what you
have. You are so blessed to have Danny as your pastor, and to have
such an incredibly talented worship team. Please do not take these
things for granted. There are places like Vietnam and Burma, where
the body of believers may long to worship freely, teach Biblically
and allow the Spirit to move, but because of government oppression
they don’t have that privilege. Embrace the freedom you have and use
it to honor God and bring Him glory.

Challenge

Here
are some challenges for you! If I elaborated on everything here, I
think this letter would be about 50 pages long. If you want to hear
more about any point, email me!

never
settle ~ be accountable to each other ~ call each other to a higher
place with the Lord ~ get prophetic, listen to God, pray for people,
get words for them ~ pray for your leaders, submit to their
headship/authority, allow them to speak into your life, get
vulnerable ~ befriend someone you normally might never talk to, love
them, listen to them, serve them, learn from them ~ lay down all that
would hinder you, don’t waste your life, there is no time to waste,
give all that you have ~ find that thing that will ignite passion in
your heart, that you know is from the Lord, and then focus your
prayer and focus your devotion on it, don’t be so wide spread in your
purpose that you’re ineffective ~ be with Jesus, allow yourself to go
places with God you’ve never gone ~ feverishly remove hurry from your
life, enjoy the journey, thank God for the small things ~ rebuke fear
and be ruled by peace ~ humble yourself, forgive each other, confess
sins, declare truth, listen to God ~ Finally,
some lyrics that challenge me:

“I
don’t know the suffering of people outside my front door, and I join
the oppressors of those I choose to ignore. I’m trading comfort for
human life, and that’s not just murder it’s suicide, and this too
shall be made right.” (Derek Webb, This
too shall be made right)

I
hope you’ve been challenged and encouraged, thanks for reading! God
bless and see you in September!