Blair Nightingale - Serving The Kingdom

Taking The Gospel To The Turkana, and sticking it to the devil.

Sun, 7 Mar 2010 00:00:00 GMT

Hey all,

Tomorrow morning will mark our second week long excursion into the Kenyan bush to reach out with The Holy Spirit and expect great things from God.
The Turkana people are one of the many ethnic tribes here in Kenya and our whole team has the oppurtunity to spend a week with them teaching, preaching, visiting houses in the community and fellowshipping with the localized church body.
I have already spent some time there with the Turkana and I have seen the dark oppression in much of the area.
One home visit I participated in a few weeks ago saw one of my team mates, Holli, becoming breathless as she enetered the house of an older mother named Monica.
The Holy Sprirt has really moved in many of our students with physical intercessory burdens. They feel it before they hear it or see it and so that we know what God wants us to do.
Its been INTENSE.

She, Monica, told us that some "jealous" people in the community had gone to a local witch doctor to have her home cursed.
Since then she had suffered from night terrors, night sweats, constant snakes and rats in and only in the night. She would barely look us in the face.
We prayed diligently and ministered until the heaviness seemed to lift and when returning next week found her in better conditions. The snakes and rats had gone she said but still she would not smile, until one student Liz touched her hand, locked eyes with her and asked her to take her authority as a Daughter of God and shout the name of her LORD.
She did so, slowly becoming louder until she stood up and began jumping and shouting...SMILING, Yelling the name of JESUS!

                                          OH BOY. Do we want more of this or what??
    I sure do. Stealing people (who dont belong to him anyway) from the devil is a good thing.
We will be there Monday to Sunday this upcoming week and we as always need you prayers.

So we are almost half way done this trip already!!... It is hard to believe but there is still much to do.
I should remind you once again of the team blog page where the students seem to have been furiously blogging since we arrived.
You can check this out for so many of the great stories and burdens from our trip so far. I hope you will, I am positive it will bless you.

www.kenya.adventures.org (student blog page)

One last thing i would love to bring before you guys who are praying for us...THANK YOU.
The Lord has really shown me and several, if not most of the students on my team that though we are DECLARED by the Father children of His we, and definately I , harbour in many ways orphan hearts.
Like the lost kid who has been brought off the streets into a loving home and reassured of sonship again and again somehow still in his heart (and actions) he still feels he must stash some of his bread in the drawer,
just in case your new home doesnt work out.
Just in case your not really wanted.
Just in case you blow it.
Just incase God doesnt really want you there.
Fear becomes the name of the game and It makes genuinely loving and hurting for and celebrating for people very, very hard.

Romans 5:5 says that God pours His love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit. Not our ears or our eyes or anything else but our HEARTS. We need this. Truly, We want this too.
                               If God burdens you for this we would love your intercession.

                                                            Thank God for all of you.

I AM not ahsamed of the Gospel....For it is the power of God.

Tue, 16 Feb 2010 00:00:00 GMT

                                            Romans 1:16
I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes.

Two weeks in guys......two weeks.
So much has transpired since I last posted and I pray what I share will move you Christians to think about the power of sharing the Gospel and the true power of the Kingdom to which you have been called. I will share just a piece so far.

As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received.
                                                          Ephesians 4:1

Also to perhaps move to those who do not know the Lord Jesus to be made alive in the light of how awesome our God really is and how unlike the god the world who does not know him says he is. There is power in Jesus. For real. It just takes coming to Him and believing.
                                              Forget the world's words man, just believe.

There has been much talk thus far about the nature of our mission.
That is, how do we define the mission of any AIM team out on the field. This may seem like it should be obvious but we serve against an enemy who uses very gentle slopes to decieve and I can say that it is, and has been, far too easy to be consumed with projects, services, ministries and so on. Gospel and service becomes humanitarianism alone.
My co leader, Patrice Deaton, posed a great question however:
Are we really just another branch of the peace corps or are we Christian missionaries?

As I mediate on this statement I arrive at the truth that the difference is God's Spirit within us and that it all hinges on the Gospel of slavation for all who believe.
                                                It couldn't be more important.

As I mentioned already our team was preparing for an outreach to the Massai people of the lower plains here in Kenya.
Upon arrival I immediately noticed the "True Africaness" of this missions effort.
I am talking about being in the middle of no where, sleeping in tents, people in animal skin, tribal dancing....(at one point as my translator told the story of him killing a lion to become a man, we came across a group of ten Giraffe!)
This was my third trip to the contininent but this was the first frontier African mission.
We spent all six days that we were their waking up, eating and then breaking into groups and walking sometimes kilometer upon kilometer to visit homes.
Encouraging the believers and preaching, for many students the very first time, the Gospel of Jesus.
It was so much like the missions we liken to our own scriptures but I know it can be done anywhere!
People were getting saved every day! The students simply opened the word faithfully and let the Spirit work.
I spoke to one man after the Spirit's prompting the second day we were there.
I knew he was very proud and the leader of some of the people. I called him out on some things and challenged his perception of this weak, powerless Jesus and because of this insight from the Spirit I was able to share with Him of Christs strength and power and rule.
He thanked me for sharing and asked if we would pray for rain. There was serious drought and it had not rained in some time. We did so and then went home.
That night it rained so hard our tents flooded from the ground up. The reserviors overflowed and we were forced to sleep four guys in one bed in a mud house.

Two days later i saw him again and asked:
"Did you happen to notice that it rained the other night?"
He answers, I will never forget this,
" I have been back and forth through all the land and I have never met a man who knows the God who when he asks will send the rains."
             Paul says the kingdom of God is not a matter of talk but of power.
There is much power in the efforts of our God to reach the peoples of Africa and America and Canada alike.
I see that it is the great need of every believer to know and walk in the power of the Holy Spirit to show the world there is more to our Christian lives than morality and words but there is ACTIVE relationship with GOD.

GOD who is love, who brings rain, who saves wives and men and families and heals bodies and delivers us from the sting of death and will leave our very graves empty and powerless!

On the move...

Tue, 2 Feb 2010 00:00:00 GMT

Hey guys,

This is now my second try at this as I struggle to communicate in a tiny office on dial up internet.
Time has gone by qiuckly. Wasn't it just christmas??

My last post came having just come home to Canada from the novas teams in southern africa, only to qiuckly head back to georgia and help a friend move his place, meet all my AWESOME students at training camp, jump on another plane and fly to Holland for a day and end up here in Kijabe, Kenya.

Kijabe is as beautifull as one might imagine of this high mountain haven. There is a huge missions base here as well as hospital which serves the surrounding community.
My team (9 girls and 3 guys) has been so willing to recieve the work of the Holy Spirit and to follow his leading and I am looking to God for direction that we might be used of Him and be filled with friut and joy.
I also have a new co leader Patrice Deaton who I look forward to getting to know. Serious guys, this team is rocking my world, I am so excited for them.

Leading a trip of your own is not like taking a trip thats for sure, this is a whole different challenge.
I pray for just severe love for these students that I might help them in every way I can. I want them to grow, to engage and even to hurt the hurt of God.
I want them to see Jesus face, be Jesus miraculous hands, shout truth as Jesus mouth and shake the kingdom of darkness to the glory of the Father and the good of the gospel.
Of course i want these things too, and so it feels like "Follow me as I follow Christ"

Please, please pray, tommorow we head out to a nearby village. The village belongs to the massai people, an unreached nomadic group from right here in Kenya. Wow.
We are all excited.
Student blogs are to come next week at www.kenya.adventures.org

Dickens and The Gospel Of Jesus Christ

Thu, 24 Dec 2009 00:00:00 GMT

I had promised a Christmas blog to follow at some point this month and here we are already on December 24th.
I am certain you ALL have much higher things to attend to this evening as well as tomorrow but still maybe a few of you will catch this message before it all passes away for another year...

I recently, while in Mexico took in the new Jim Carrey "Scrooge" movie and upon exiting the theatre I was illuminated with words that went beyond a simple story of some old cranky Englishman and felt compelled to write them in an entry. The following are those written words.

    May we come to know and Love the Lord Jesus, remember that he is no baby in a manger    and may we seek His Spirit well beyond the shopping season of december 2009.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
   Scrooge is the story of a man's heart. Of every mans heart. An annually visited journey of vicarious salvation. Where a man might learn the darkest parts of his heart and meet grace.

It's a story we can celebrate because inside of us all we long it become our own. Its a story of repentance, truly it's a story of re-birth. Not a changed man but a new man!
We delight in the release of self.... the freedom and the joy that now flows from this new creation. Blessed, and made new by the refining night gone by. It was not Scrooge's "effort" that made any inner difference whatsoever, and certainly it was by no personal righteous merit that he should be given any such intervention! He was not deserving...at all
                                                            1st Timothy 1:15,16
Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners-of whom I am the worst. But for that very reason I was shown mercy so that in me, the worst of sinners, Christ Jesus might display his unlimited patience as an example for those who would believe on him and receive eternal life.

But how sad for us that this owned longing is scarcely personally considered, and like an unfound fortune, it passes silently through our lives once a year as something merely "seasonal" than as something deeply human and we fail to see ourselves or this great Gospel expression.

Was this Dickens intent?? I do not know, but certainly a piece of every heart could have inspired this story. From that place deep inside the soul which will (and does) endlessly seek reconciliation...perhaps, like Scrooge, in money. Perhaps not. Maybe something else.

I think we shall revisit it in some form or another as long as we are estranged from its archetype. This Christmas is about Grace come down from heaven and how that Grace, in the fullness of Jesus Christ, can make us completely new.
Its not about a religious system, or a building or a tradition. It is about God with us, that we might be saved.
                                                        2nd Corinthians 8:9
For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, so that you through his poverty might become rich.
                                                      2nd Corinthians 5:21
God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

Check this out if you like.....

Thu, 17 Dec 2009 00:00:00 GMT

Hey guys,
Very quick thing I wanted to ask of you.... There is a great update of my time in Swaziland from My co-leader Rebecca.
As well as some exposure to a ridiculous water crisis in the area we stayed in I feel is absolutely worth greater attention than it now recieves. Prayers and support!!!
*also could i ask you all to be speaking life and praying for our Ugandan teams as they have come up against some difficulty and they need rallied support. Thank you all.

http://rebeccaherndon.myadventures.org/ Right to the main page. thats all it takes.

Xmas blog coming soon. prayers for our travel please. Coming very qiuckly.....

Angels in Africa.....

Mon, 14 Dec 2009 00:00:00 GMT

Hey guys,

Man we've been moving a lot. Some great stories to tell to get you guys up to speed.
I have less than ten days in Africa!
So my journey from Swaziland to South Africa was an adventure in itself. A road that was liitered with angels and grace to get us along safely.
We started out the day at the Manzini bus rank in Swaziland, waiting in a kombi (van/bus) for it to fill up and take us to Nelspruit South Africa and meet up with the other team.
Well, after waiting almost 3 hours the driver came to us and said there were not enough people going so we would have to wait until tommorow morning.
                                                             Not ok with us.
We had to be in Nelspruit that night as we were expected there and we really had no reason to be in Swaziland anymore.
A woman in our Kombi then informs us that she will be moving on regardless, and that she will just take connecting Kombis the whole way.
      Bus by Bus by Bus By Bus By Bus by Bus. She was truly a God send and her name was Miriam.
We would have been TERRIBLY lost without her. So 10 hours and six Kombis later we made it to the Nelspruit bus rank but it was a LOT later than it should have been and there we were, two westerners with our packs stuffed to the top, hands full hanging around well after dark.
South Africa is a pretty dangerous place to begin with and this was really sketchy.
                                                So God sends another angel....
As we waited for our ride a securtity gaurd (owen) came and hung out with us, told us we were nuts for being out there and that if he were to leave us we would soon be in serious trouble. He let us use his phone, our ride soon came and off we went.

We then spent a few days with the team at "The Bater House", which is a South African home for Missionaries all over Southern Africa come to group up, rest, relax and get supplies from S.A.
I met some AMAZING people who told me life stories that seem right out of the scriptures.

There IS ANOTHER WORLD, ANOTHER KINGDOM WHAT WE SEE IS ABSOLUTELY NOT ALL THERE IS.
did they ever love and reflect Jesus.
I got re grouped with the S.A. Team, took a run into Mozambique (where I almost got arrested!...tell that story another time)
I have since moved again with the team to an Iris ministries (large Mozambique ministry) base called Michael's Childrens village out side of white river, S.A. It's a home for troubled children who have been abused and neglected and its a place where these children have a stable home and experience incredible restoration and healing by Gods care and grace.
We've been there two days now. Right now I am in town with a sick student and the others are back at the house seperating toys and clothing for a Christmas party that we will be planning.
Had an AMAZING church service yesterday, almost 3 and a half hours, dancing, singing and plain African craziness.
Living Stones Church: I am looking forward to worshipping with you and getting to see your faces. I need prayers to be in this 100 percent for the remaining time and I will see many of you very soon, God willing.

                                            What an amazing year it has been.
I'll be updating before the new year for certain, but thank you all for following, praying and supporting.
                                Its ALL because of Jesus' sacrifice for us on that cross.
                                    We have NOTHING with out it. Its all passing away.

Siyabonga Jesu

Mon, 30 Nov 2009 00:00:00 GMT

Hey guys!

So I am currently in a little grocery store in Mattata, Swaziland! It is amazing to be back here again and I am greatly blessed by these people already as I remeber thier hearts. I see so much goodness in them. They make me laugh.
I am with the Swaziland team for another week and a half and then I will be traveling back to South Africa to meet up with the other team.
  Currently we are settled into our living space at the Nsoko compound where we have spent the first few days we have been here meeting people in the community, watching amazing storms, playing some music (we have a flute player!), as well as meeting with the local pastor and getting into the vision he has for the community and where this team will fit into that over the next six months. The Holy Sprirt continues to minister to our brokeness and challenge us as we get to know each other and seek to find what Jesus is really about out here. We ahve recently been challenged about past dating and relationships that members of the team have walked through and just uncovering so much hurt and repenting of different sins. Its been deep and I feel like in our culture its a HUGE issue among our youth....and me i guess.

Meanwhile..
Nsoko project is an Aim initiative in Swaziland to provide orphan and widow care, food distribution, community development, youth ministries as well as provide a place for teams to land.
It is a bit different as I am no longer in the city area but way out into the rural areas of Swaziland.   Its hot and I hear there are a LOT of snakes. So far so good.
Tommorow we will be starting helping with a "vision trip" from America which means, get this.......
                                                      NFL wives. Like football, NFL.
                                               How random is that! but so cool.
My prayers from here are for the team to be hungry and get right into the ministries placed before them. I also hope to see some of my boys from last year which are difficult to find.

Please pray for an outpouring of His Spirit on us and the community, we need it so bad.
I am kind of in a wierd place right now where I am feeling less fervour and zeal and that scares the heck outta me. I want it gone. Immediately.

Thank you all so much for your support and prayers you guys are all amazing and faithful and I dont deserve the kind of people in my life that I have had.
                                Siyabonga Jesu....means "Thank you Jesus" in SiSwati.

People.

Sun, 15 Nov 2009 00:00:00 GMT

well we are drawing very near to the end of our time here in Mexico. The air is cooler and the setting is much, much quieter.

All of our students are now scattered to different places in Mexico for a week of outreach before they return to the base to say goodbye to one another as a group and board planes bound for south and central Africa. 6 months of African life lay ahead of them and excitement is stirred in every one them. I can see it.
So they are out bringing food and working hands to the communities that God has led them too and we leaders remain at the base for now.

For myself there is expectation of what is to come but there is also deep reflection on what has passed. The emotion of this reflection is somewhat surprising to be honest. I will miss this team, and as I accept this feeling of loss I realize that it will be a repetitious part of the call to which I am a part of.

People, coming and leaving. Greeting and going.

People are SO important to God. Obvious? Perhaps, but understood not so much.

People.

Last week we were were able to finish building a floor and pour the concrete for a roof in a home to be owned by a woman who could not afford it. As she spoke with us before we left she was filled with emotion and so was I. We praised not ourselves for a job well done, but our God.

For I worked harder than them all, but it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me.
1st Corinthians 15:10

Abundant life lies in Jesus Christ and He it seems, in the scriptures as well as my own experience, is quick to manifest His Spirit among the meeting of people in good work.
He works and wills in us (Phill 2:13) that we might do this, and then rewards us graciously with such good fruit. (John 15:16)

I was in a real funk of sorts last Sunday night, and on this same night of low spirits I was asked if I would preach among a Church body I had never before even met! Never formally preached before either, but it is very common in Spanish culture to have visitors share a word.
I saw opportunity to delight in my weakness and fellowship with the Jesus in power.
Without joy, I preached of joy and was given joy.

My message and m preaching were not with wise and persuasive words but with a demonstration of the Spirit's power....
1st Corinthians 2:4

And He said to me, "My grace will be sufficient for you for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly in weakness in order that Christ's power might rest on me.
2nd Corinthians 12:9

And so I preached, completely unprepared, from the Gospel of John and 1st Peter. They rejoiced over Jesus and we shared a meal together. Awesome. (LOVE spicy food now by the way!)

People.

We met in communities, visited prisons, built things, painted, studied, and learned of the sprirtual nature and so on and so on.... I have recieved grace upon grace to learn, do and see many things

these past 8 weeks but I suppose what will encompass them all is people.

People of whom The Lord loves and wishes for us to do the same in His power not our own.

A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you so you too must love another. By this all men will know you are my disciples if you do this; if you love one another. John 13:34,35

Next week I travel to Africa once again and I greatly look forward to seeing my boys from the Salesian school in Swaziland. Isnt that incredible, to go back already? What amazing grace!

Prayers for safe and productive flights are welcome. (you can do a lot on a 24 hour plane ride)
I will be there until the 22nd of December when I will return to Canada for a REAL Christmas!! and then venture on into the New Year. It will be exhausting travel, as I will be traveling to Africa and back through London and immediately moving on to Canada form Houston.
I count myself VERY blessed and excited but ask for some strength to stay in that spirit.

I have somewhat of a holiday blog to come shortly that I would love to share now but it seems a bit early for that yet, so it should come shortly into December.

Grace and peace to you all.

Do as I Do And As I Say

Mon, 2 Nov 2009 00:00:00 GMT

   Wow guys. What an intense week we just had down here.
It all stemmed out of us doing away with the schedule all together and pursuing God the way He would always have us do anyway: Look at Jesus and then do as He does.

Some discussions arose with the students about them feeling a lack of discipline and how they really wanted to dig in deeper, about how they "were feeling comfortable." We as a leadership team also felt this way about just how slow and spaced out things could feel if you let them get that way.
So..... We prayed and after a quite lengthy meeting we came to the conclusion we should just stop trying so hard and do what Jesus did. Literally.

So we went through all four Gospels and wrote down every scripture explaining Jesus doing something or having his disciples do something and then do it that day.
This meant literal word for word acceptance. None of this contextualizing business. No explaining what "Jesus really meant" in certain passages.
SO CHALLENGING. WE ATE LESS. WE SLEPT LESS. WE WORKED MORE. WE SAW GOD MORE.
We were more alive and close to Jesus! and yes we were insane in the worlds eyes.
Hmm, funny how that worked out.

John 7:17
If anyone is willing to obey my teaching he will know of the teaching, whether it is from God or whether I speak It from myself.

We were so challenged and we learned so much about our dependence on the basic things of life such as sleep and food and even planning! These things are all good things at times yes but they were always meant to point to our dependence on Him.
Since we have such an unending abundance of time and food, entertainment etc, it is almost impossible to overstate how much more of The Lord we can meet when we go against the flow of what our culture says is not even excessive and follow the Way.
This all simply came to the surface by obeying what Jesus did and said. Seems simple right?
   We fellowshipped deeper. We ate slower and richer. We heard Him clearer. We slept deeper. We were free from the numbness of endless craving and desire.

Jesus got up very early and prayed...."Do not waste a thing"...."go into to the towns and preach"..."you give them something to eat"...when you have a banquet invite the poor, those who cannot pay you back...

         It was hard and it took us to the end of ourselves so He might begin in us and gain glory.
            "My power is made perfect in weakness" and "For when I am weak then I am strong"
                                                      (2nd Corinthians 12:9,10)

     Below is an anonymous student entry into a community journal that was set out for use to those who desired to write in it as we conducted all night prayer this past week. I find it to be a great testimony to what the Lord is doing in these students.

Luke 9:23
The He said to them all, whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take us your cross daily and follow me.

So here we are: Sick, exhausted, thirsty, broken and HUNGRY, but in the sense that we are not satisfied with being comfortable. We are hungry for your Spirit and to be fed we must remove ourselves from this world and the rights that we think we must claim.
What must we deny in ourselves? Our whole selves we must deny, wholeheartedly devoted to you we come.
May we follow you without question or doubt, may we pray without ceasing. May we take up our crosses and follow you daily with every step we take and with every breath that we breathe.
Give us strength and boldness and faith to step out and become your fishers of men.
BREAK DOWN OUR WALLS of comfort, expectation and selfishness in the name of your Son who has graciously united us as one. Amen.

Amen indeed.

Body Building

Thu, 22 Oct 2009 00:00:00 GMT

John 21:16

Again Jesus said, "Simon son of John, do you truly love me?"
He answered, "Yes, Lord, you know that I love you."
Jesus said, "Take care of my sheep."

Greater Love has no other than this, that He lay down His life for his friends. John 15:13

Even as the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many. Matthew 21:28

Here we see Jesus defining real love while obliterating the dominating cultural idea of "leadership" that loves to command and always "looks upon" instead of "walks beside" those whom they are leading.

Sanctification is by the simplest definition: the process becoming more like Jesus. I am challenged and humbled qiute often these days as the Lord open's up my gaze to this new horizon on what it means to work, serve, engage, love and lead other people who love and desire Him.

We are all learning so much about The kingdom of God, and for me two things right now seem to be dominating my heart and my thoughts.

The first......His aim is His Glory. period. Everything leads there and it all ends there.
It's not about me, its about His glory. EVERYTHING, is for His glory.
Perhaps we can take a deeper look at that another time.

The second thing however is; His divine anointing of the affection of people. All people. All the time.

Serving them.

talking to them.

loving them.

engaging them.

being humble, real, honest, concerned, listening, talking less. Being outward not inward.

This may seem extremely obvious but relationship is a deep ocean of learning and for my often selfish and solitary personality this is a big learning process.
Leadership is first off all not leading but following the Master, who alone leads.
It is also chiefly, service and work. That others may get ahead in the kingdom and that The Name be lifted up............not that I have attained all this, I say with Paul. By grace and patience I learn.

So let me move on from this introspect and introduce to you the two teams that will be heading to Southern Africa with us (co-leader Becca and I) in November.
I am excited that you guys can actually see , at least in some way the ministry that God has appointed us too and also to see the faces of these wonderful, smart, hungry, funny and motivated people we get to be with every day.
We are learning to walk along side them that they might be built up into the instruments of the Kingdom of God that they are in Christ releasing power and love following The Way to the ends of the earth.

I've been to a gym to lift weights about a thousand times but this is real body building.

Swaziland Team

Playng Soccer and Spending Time With Family From Local Community

Bryan Marsh, Jonathan Melo, Jessica Leonardi, Katie Graves and Lila Dillon

(front) (Back)

The South African Team
Heading Off to Dinner After Some Debrief/Team Time

Cait Evangelista, Rebecca Florke, Jenny Christensen, Garret Berkley, Myles Long

You Can follow each one of them for news, support and prayer on thier own individual blog pages. I will put there names and links below and don't forget they will be up for the remainder of the year they are in Africa.

South Africa:
Cait Evangelista- http://caitlynevangelista.myadventures.org
Rebecca Florke- http://rebeccaflorke.myadventures.org
Jenny Christensen-http://jennychristensen.myadventures.org

Garret Berkley- http://garrettberkley.myadventures.org
Myle Long- http://myleslong.myadventures.org

Swaziland:
Bryan Marsh- http://bryanmarsh.myadventures.org
Jonathan Melo- http://jonathanmelo.myadventures.org
Jessica Leonardi- http://jessicaleonardi.myadventures.org
Katie Graves- http://katiegraves.myadventures.org
Lila Dillon- http://liladillon.myadventures.org

Please pray that they will be filled by and in fellowship with The Holy Spirit more than ever before and that the world would know whom they belong to by the way they love each other.
That I would serve them like Jesus and with carry His own Heart for each of them.

Exiles: Ask and Ye Shall Recieve..

Mon, 5 Oct 2009 00:00:00 GMT

So down here in Mexico we are teaching the students about being Exiles.

   This means if we are really God's people, then we must know and remember that we are infact passing through this world and that we do not remain bound to it and in a similar way remember we are a people at this time who remain exiled inside a certain culture, much like the Israelite's in Babylon.
And as we lie in wait for that final day we refuse to be conformed to the likeness of a surrounding world that does not love nor know their tender and awesome God.

As we well know, we North Americans have an extreme abundance of wealth. Some of us may find ability to dispute this only as we compare ourselves to another group from the same area of our own western world. But of course this is skewed. Most of this world has less. Much less.

And what is of much more if not of greatest importance is "does it, this abundance, get in the way of my surrender, connection, communion and obedience to the Lord?"
One in four American "evangelicals" (a term we toss around like wet laundry in a dryer) gives nothing of their own income away in year at all. We really do have a lot and we were discussing these things last Sunday as a leadership team on our way into Harlingen, Texas.

This is a conversation I know all too well. I have thought it, blogged it, debated it, prayed it, talked it, despaired over it and I suppose truthfully, I have mostly ignored it. The first week here at Novas struck on money quite a bit and we are not done yet.
                                                                       Why?
Because one of the fiercest battles that faces our hearts, church and culture, is the massive effects that our wealth can and does have on our Spirits. Numbing our hunger and our obedience while fueling ever increasing worldly desire, hedonism and distraction from our call of discipleship   It runs deep and He knew this to be true. That's why he talked about it so much.

So recently during some more conversation of these things, Jesse, a co leader of mine and I decided that despair and self condemnation of past experiences was of no motivating value or use at all.
However neither was the present and prevalent ignorance and inaction acceptable.
Bless The Lord! Instead He led us to simply look upon His own goodness in which we never find limit. He always has abundance and never withholds good things in His desire to love His kids.
                                     It's abundant generosity. This is His answer.
Divinely poured, I am soaked with thee and I wish, when I look upon this goodness, not to run or fret but to be of the same flow. Of the same nature.

He is so generous and we want to be generous just like our Good Father.
So we decided that we would see if would provide someone to have lunch with us.
Anyone. Just to bless them and fellowship in God's goodness. It would be our joy.

The other co leaders (Tanna, Becca, Brittany) were with us but were unaware of the ongoing conversation I was having with Jesse. So on the way I invited them into the conversation and explained that we were hoping The Lord would give just such a person to us.
Chili's was our destination.
Jesse was driving and no longer speaking.

We pulled into the parking lot as we would any other. We stopped and I was somewhat stricken with guilt.
I had talked about helping someone.

Thought about it.

                      Here I was once again about to eat a fine meal and spend it all on myself.
                                                         Not DOING a thing.
               He doesn't require my doing, that is religion. But I longed for it, and that is grace.

I certainly hadn't been looking very hard, but little did I know Jesse had been continually asking The Lord the whole way there to give us someone who was in need as we desired to be obedient and just give and fellowship with someone the world counted as a loss. A liability.

I stepped out of the Van and there was a woman approaching us. She looked rugged head to toe and had her hand stretched out toward us holding only a few dimes.
No one else in the parking lot at all.

" Blair" said Becca "This woman would like to know if we have any spare change so she can buy something to eat"

Jesse sat still in the van drivers seat staring forward out the windshield, all the passenger doors ajar....Fighting back tears in his awe and Joy.
I tell you guys I was so filled with Joy when I saw that woman I could have exploded right there and Jesse hadn't even shared his own quiet prayers with us yet.
I immediately shook her hand and invited her to have lunch with us. Her name was Pat and The Lord had given her to us and us to her.
                                                                                        Ask and ye shall receive.....

   We had the sweetest lunch. I just knew this was what it was all about.
   Oh man, the joy the feeling that washed over us. So awesome.

                                  Oh ya....turns out Pat is a prophet. Seriously. Incredible.

   She opened right up to us about how the Lord sends people into her life. How she has endured life on the streets for 18 years in Harlingen. She told us about how she has at times been turned away by those claiming the Lord's name and also encouraged by those whom The Lord sends her way to pick her up when she really needs it.
              She holds her head up despite the hard times and pain but still she smiles a lot.
                          It was truly abundant goodness. Thank you Jesus!!!
                      The Father has not forgotten anyone. Not you or I. Not even Pat.

Jesse leans over to me and whispers something so awesome to my ears......
"True fasting" he says simply.

                 Read Isaiah Chapter 58. You'll know exactly what he meant. I promise you.

                      His way of exile is so much better..............See you next week Pat.

Prayers..please.
- For Holy Spirit to continue to wreck us. No words. Just Him.
-to understand Christian leadership vs. common style of superiority and privilege
-That I would seek out people intentionally and consistently
-Pride. Gotta go.
-Authentic relationships.
-Border crossings (kinda givin a canuck a hard time)
-Passion and Love For the Father and this blessed position that I am in
-Burden for all these students, to hurt with them and for them.

                                               Love you guys. Thank you so much.
Oh and I should announce that I will be home for awhile at Xmas! yay 4 snow.
                               More details later and hopefully some pictures!

SCaTTeR BrAiN

Sun, 4 Oct 2009 00:00:00 GMT

Hey Guys,

                         I just wrote a whole page of words and I have deleted them all.
                                                        They were just words.

It seems profound experiences can be shared authentically when in direct communion, but profound experiences shared on computer monitors are tragically unauthentic.

What do I say?      Religion is dying.   Ok.    I can say that.      God is the one killing religion?
                                                                                                   I can definitely say that.

                                           I have been encountered numerable unexplainable supernatural works of the Holy Spirit this past week?                                                                Yup. I can say that too.

                                          This Novas team is so hungry. They are authentic. They are broken. They are blessed.

            We are alive.        We are full of the Living God.

    AGHHHH!!!!!!!! These are just more words! No one needs more words.

God's own Words are more than human breath.

        Psalm 34:8   Taste and see that the Lord is good.....

I am really having a hard time posting this blog. There is so much happening and all I want to say is "come and see for yourself."

According to the scriptures when Philip spoke to Nathaniel claiming to have found the saviour of the world in a man named Jesus, Nathaniel's reply to him was simply
                                                                                               "come and see for yourself" John 1 42
So.

   I am learning SO much.

Please don't believe the lie (whether you reading are a Christian or not) that the powerful workings of God The Holy Spirit have ceased or that they are some pipe dream fairy tale.

Week number one of Novas has been an incredible week. So much to say. These students are so hungry. There are in teaching sessions everyday. Ministry with there local adopted family's everyday. They are so hungry for The Lord its really challenging me. There has been intense warfare going on, spontaneous baptisms, the Holy Spirit completely wrecking our schedule.
I am learning a lot about leadership.

Patience.

Listening.

Pride.

Temptation.
The tongue.
Responsibility.

Again Jesus said, "Simon son of John, do you truly love me?"
He answered, "Yes, Lord, you know that I love you."
Jesus said, "Take care of my sheep."
John 21:16

I know the Lord wants to bring real freedom to His people.

"Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom."
2nd Corinthians 3:17

I have often heard this verse spoken as a reminder that because we are professors we are free.

True, we are free from judgement and condemnation but what about everything else in this life?

This verse is NOT so much a reminder but rather it is an indicator.

Who while free must be reminded of it???
Does the Apostle not say:
If there is not freedom is there really God's own Spirit reigning and being yielded to?

When God revealed himself to the nation of Israel held captive to the Egyptians what was the first thing He did?? What was the first step in His divine appointment and

plan for his people?

                                 He Brought them all out of captivity. That's what He did.
                                       Well that's been our week down here in Mexico. Freedom week.
              Bringing em out of captivity. Releasing people from sin issues. Guilt. Doubt. Fear.
       I'll say it again, "May your People BE your People" and in order to do that we must be free.
                                                              This is a huge problem in the body of Christ.
We sit and argue whether The Holy Spirit is in active power anymore!! We need Him so much.

I am just seriously considered deleting everything above....................words.
       Yes, they are worth something.......but
We don't need any more words. Those trapped in sin and unbelief don't need words alone.

Africa and America don't need words. My friends who don't know Jesus do not need more words.

Jesus. It's all about Jesus and He is showing up with a lot more than words.

1st Corinthians 4:20
"For the Kingdom of God is not a matter of talk but of power"

The world and its desires pass away, but the man who does the will of God lives forever.

1st John 2:17

"....................................................................................................................."

Grace is still the most supernatural of all power.

Nope Not Miller time...... It's Novas Time.

Fri, 18 Sep 2009 00:00:00 GMT

Hey Guys,

I want to let you all in on what's happening right now as we are now switching gears and will soon be out on the field! Thank You Lord.

First off we just recently finished another amazing Real Life training camp with a whole new group of students. There were four teams with some strong new leaders, many from previous world race squads and even some familiars from my FYM team last year in Africa. To see them at work was definitely a blessing.
The teams are now off to Swaziland, Nicaragua, Kenya, and India and your prayers for the teams to really hit the ground running and for their leaders to be strengthened are greatly appreciated.

Training camps can be challenging for students. They come from many different denominational backgrounds and are mixed together, stretched, poured into, tested, taught new things and put to work. Its a bit of a ride.
Some kids are hungry and go for it, while some hold on tight and can miss what the Lord would have for them but its all a process and this last camp was definitely a good one for all of us. The teams really bonded and for the most part went hard for it all week long.

We experienced some real power, stuff I simply cannot explain outside of The Holy Spirit doing what He does.
I was able to meet a girl named Brittany, who is now in India who has been thankfully following my blogs for the better part of a year.

I didn't know who she was but it was one of those cool God stories during a time of prophetic speaking (no, not doomsday and the number of the beast stuff), that really encouraged me and revealed more of the Lord's power. Which of course when you really experience it, it just fills you up with something so, so sweet and all you can say is;
"Thank you Jesus."

1st Corinthians 4:20

For the Kingdom of God is not a matter of talk but of power.

It's (prophecy that is) one of the most challenging things we ask the students to step into. We de-mystify it and then we listen to what the Lord says to us (HE is speaking!) and we speak that over people we have never met and the most amazing things happen.
It is completely counter to everything we as, shall we say, "monkey's and worm food", have ever been taught.

I rocks me every single time.

So now, as I said I am switching gears and I am once again headed to the nations (Mexico, Monday morning) to follow The Lord and walk it all out.

James 1:27

Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.

It is really our job as leaders to minister to the participants who are ministering to the people of their location. Which as of early next week will be Matamoros, Mexico for the launch of "The Novas Project." Novas meaning "a new path."

I will be there for 8 weeks doing really, two frames of activity each day with the students.

The first of which is really spiritual teaching, learning and discipling. This would mean teaching times including but not limited to that of theology, church, Bible history and origins, book studies, spiritual disciplines such as prayer, fasting, simplicity, study and also community, statements of faith and so on.

It's about hearing from the Lord, getting Him out of the tiny box we think He fits into, and struggling, (A lot trust me), and growing and loving....

Romans 12:2

Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is, his good, pleasing and perfect will.

The second frame consists of an outreach ministry. It's practical and it's relevant.
It will include things like child care, organic gardening, construction skills, relational ministry, VBS, networking etc.. and it will all be learned and lived each in its own focus week. Each team will focus specifically on one adopted Mexican family in a local community and this is where they will apply what they learn.

It will be exciting, challenging and surely exhausting. Which is good. I want to receive it in fullness.

The LORD is so good. Its ridiculous how relentless He is with us.

Please Pray for us. Pray for us all.
Pray that the pain of the world would break us and that the Love of The Father would fill us deeply........Ask the Lord what you should pray for and then do it.
Cover us in power and grace, this is the next generation.

1st Timothy 1:12,13

Amen.

The Martyr Meets The Archetype???

Sat, 29 Aug 2009 00:00:00 GMT

In his heart a man plans his course, but the LORD determines his steps.
Proverbs 16:9

The dead rise up to praise You
Your love goes far beyond the grave
It's life or death now,
Make your choice
Whose side are you on?
-From the Song entitled "One Man Parade"
From Becoming The Archetype's "Terminate Damnation" (nope, not Becoming The Martyr)

Four years ago, in the summer of '05 a twenty one year old kid (yes, kid) from Red Deer, Alberta, Canada....fresh out of drug/alcohol rehab (just two months earlier) stepped into a "Parable's Christian Store" with his mother, who unbeknownst to him had long been feverishly praying that The Lord would intervene in her son's life and save him from the bottles, the pills, the powders, the devil and himself.

Life for Death.
Light for Dark.

Yes that kid was me.

I had never been there before, I had always refused to go, but this time I agreed and soon I found myself wandering the aisles of "irrelevant Christian stuff."

None of which, I thought, would bring me fame, pride, money, girls or the career I desperately wanted.

And yet, my soul was indeed hungry, broken and longing for the Lord. I had been so ensnared and now I was inside this store feeling strangely emotional and feeling a familiar presence that I had run from so long ago.

I headed over to the music section only to find a new release by a new band.

That band was Becoming The Archetype.

I listened to it, dumbfounded that "christian metal' even existed and then I proceeded to purchase it.

That record was released that very day I entered the store.
That day was August 29th.

In the days ahead I listened to the lyrics above and became convicted, repentant and longing for the security now and forever of my Father in heaven who was always present and NEVER GAVE UP ON ME.

I soon gave my life to the Lord, attended a local church and was baptized with my mom and bandmates present for a very intense service.

Fast Forward........

This morning as I sat in the Starbucks here in Gainesville I have to say it was a strange feeling.

WHY?

Well because after walking with the Lord through time, relationships, sin, my own band getting signed and pursuing that, then leaving the band, going to Africa and all the life in between..........I was now in Georgia buying a chai latte' from the drummer of Becoming The Archetype who was currently right across the counter.

I sat in my chair not speaking to him, beginning to marvel at what the Lord had done.
Who in the world would've thought this band lived here in little old Gainesville! and what a profound and improbable connection this was!

It just bounced around my head and I thought to myself I have to journal this moment, so I asked Becca,

" Hey, what's the date today?" She replied, "The 29th..... of August"

O Lord how far you have brought your child!
and what a marvelous way to show your incredible power and your love to your servant!!!
Everything is in your hands and you are so, faithfull and so good!!

At this point I recognized the Lords strong hand in everything around me, and thanks to Becca, was able to sit and tell my story to this member of the band, "Duck" being his nick name.
He (the drummer no less) sat across from me listening to everything that had happened and how four years ago to the day his band was used by the Lord to bring back one lost sheep.

I tell you it was sweet.
It's almost too much. I just means so much that He would do this.

Uh, I also had to very awkwardly tell him that my own band name was remarkably similar to his own (Becoming The Martyr/Becoming The Archetype) and I recalled a conversation with friend/guitar player Judd Johnson some time ago about how the name similarities did not matter because a situation like the one I was now directly in would NEVER HAPPEN!!!

HA!

Looks like we both eat our words Johnson!! Man!

It was a full circle that no one could orchestrate but our great God and if this means anything to you reader's whether friend, family or stranger let it be this...........

For I was crucified with Christ and it is no longer I who live but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the son of God who loved me and gave himself for me.
Galatians 2:20

So I tell you today:
If you are running, PLEASE stop,
Get some rest already! He is waiting.

The world and its desires will pass away but amazing things in the Lord await you.

Great love of which the world has no stock nor will to share with you awaits.

Bingo!

Thu, 27 Aug 2009 00:00:00 GMT

So I am coming into my second month here in Georgia, deep south, U.S of A. and I want to continue to share just a little about what I'm experiencing in my open time leading up to leader training next week and NOVAS launch right after that.

I just returned home from a few days in Mexico doing some set up with Tag Thompson. We stopped in Memphis and I also got to see a little bit of Texas as well when we flew into Mcallen, which is basically a border town. It may seem ridiculous considering I have and will be flying all the time, but it freaks me out sometimes when the plane moves ever so slightly.
Man do I sweat.
You can pray for me I guess. This time around the flights were great. Thank you Jesus.
We then drove over the border where the Mexican army briefly (and kindly) searched our vehicle for drugs, which unlike in my shady past, we did not have.

We were able to see the AIM base outside Matamoros, where we will all spend the first eight weeks of Novas training. It was and will be VERY hot. Hotter than Southern Africa ever was which is surprising but true.
Tag and I were able to try real local Mexican food, yes even some tasty pig intestines. (which was a very small portion of what we had and is as weird as it sounds.) It was nice to just hang out with him as well.
I also spent a few nights staring up at the clear sky, full of stars thanking The Lord so much that while I was once driven to be content driving our band's tour van from town to town (always so exctited to go somewhere I had never seen before) He in all that time had the nations in store for me if indeed I would only say "Yes Lord, I will Follow you."

Isaiah 55:5
Surely you summon nations you know not,
and nations you do not know will come running to you,
because of The lord your God,
The Holy One of Israel,
for He has endowed you with splendor.

"Anyone who does not take up his cross and follow me cannot be my disciple."
Luke 14:27

Back here in Gainesville, some of you will never believe this, but I sat in a nursing home and played bingo with about eighteen elderly folks.

Yup.

Rock star goes bingo.
Awesome.

Me and one of my co-leaders, Becca, had been talking about doing something more fruitful in the actual community here and when I came home from Mexico she has found just the place.

And so in we went.... we are due back next Tuesday.

Mother Theresa once stated that in all the poverty she had seen the world over, of all the slums and the filth she had encountered a North American nursing home was surely the saddest.

As the immobile elderly, living breathing people daily look on towards a door hopefully waiting for family to visit, who surely never will visit.

I am also currently reading a book called the Vision and The Vow, a little piece of which I will leave you with until next time....

Pete Grieg speaking on "Growing up in our Grace":

"I believe the Holy Spirit is calling us at this time to grow up in grace and to move from a message of inward looking intimacy with the Father to active and sacrificial engagement with the pain and sin of the world. It's time to get our boots muddy-to cross the Jordan and inhabit the land."

"Whenever the Body of Christ combines intimacy with involvement, she walks the corridors of power (though I, Blair, must add that this does not necessarily mean political stature), she dances with the meek, she stands up for the rights of the poor, and she does all this with a true heart of worship both offensive and attractive to a watching world."

May Your People, BE your people

Sun, 16 Aug 2009 00:00:00 GMT

I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who has given me strength, that he considered me faithful, appointing me to his service. Even though I was once a blasphemer and a persecutor and a violent man, I was shown mercy because I acted in ignorance and unbelief. The grace of our Lord was poured out on me abundantly, along with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus.
1st Timothy 1:12

Hey Friends,

Well, training camp is officially over. Actually it has been for a few days now and it was a blessed time where I got to meet 30 students and walk along side them at least in part as the Lord prepares them for their time on the field in Mexico this fall.
It honestly went by so fast and I look forward to my time with all of them in September so that we can really pour into their lives and so I can really get to know each of them on a much more meaningful level.

The entire camp was five days long and included us leaders surprising them with their first task which was that they would be spending the entire night with no money or cell phones on the streets of downtown Atlanta. Yup, All night long.

Let me share with you that this was very cool but not so easy. I stayed with a team all night long myself as we grappled with poverty, drug abuse, having nothing monetary to offer to anyone who desperately sought it from us (which of course NO ONE believed us), mental illness, boredom, discomfort and sleeplessness all mixed with an amazing opportunity to connect with some Christian brothers down in the streets of of ATL.

It was an oppurtunity for them to begin to see the hard gap between different people and ask some hard questions about God, prayer, money, expectations, entitlement, deliverance, the Spirit and so on.

In the camp following were times of release as they learned of their identity in Christ and saw weight that had been carried for so long thrown off for good. They were filled with the Holy Spirit. They declared freedom for the people abroad whom they are to soon see. They declared freedom for themselves by Christs blood and called out lies of the enemy. I personally had the pleasure of spending 2 hours with a co-leader and student as he shed the shame and lies that stalked him constantly.
Indeed getting just a glimpse of something more. Something living and active. Something free. Something where things are truly different. Where Christ is King and where we are His people.

A King and His Kingdom Begins To Come To Clarity.

I feel compelled to share with all of you just exactly the importance and excitement I have in being a part of this ministry with AIM. My intent is not "oo-rah, were so great!" but to let you friends know one of the ways The Lord is raising up His people who are really His people and remind you that I get to be involved because of His love for me and because of His grace that flows through so many of you into my life......

So I went to a "Mega Church" this morning. It was huge, there were screens, lights, thousand of people, the band's (and what a band) first song was actually a U2 cover!!

????????????

It's funny I don't remember buying tickets but hey, they still let me in.

I wondered "What would it be like to bring a few friends from the streets into a place like this?'

Would they let us in?
Maybe, maybe not. I don't know.

I think the jig is up. Faking it sucks and frankly I think it's just plain dumb. That's part of what the Lord used to lead me off drugs some time ago. It's all fake and that is just not good enough for me.
We can go to church. Read the bible even. We can "do the do", play Christian so to speak and that will make of us a pretty good Nicodemus but past that it does absolutely nothing to save us, fill us, free us, glorify God, Lift up Jesus, or give us this NEW life as promised in Christ by Himself and the whole of scripture. And I've kind of noticed thats its a pathetic testimony to a broken world. ouch.

"I like Jesus, not the Church" is the slogan of the day, radical is less radical, books declaring the end of dead religion are flying off the shelves, emergent is the new cool and we all want to be "Red Letter Christians."
So there is all this cultural Christendom talk and rally but where is ground zero?? Whats happening?
Sometimes I feel like were still just talking.....and talking......and talking......
But Positively I can say that things are happening, and we get to be a real tangible part of that around here and those who support me and others are so valuable to this effort of making more than lip service sunday believers. It a place were people who are infact alive by the regenerating movement of the Spirit can please and pursue their King.
Every generation needs to be challenged and discipled and this is so true RIGHT NOW.

O' Lord That Your People May Be Your People And You Our God.

Jesus answered, My kingdom is not of this world. If My kingdom were of this world, My servants would fight, so that I should not be delivered to the Jews; but now My kingdom is not from here.

This is to my Father's glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples
John 15:8

It Is For Freedom That Christ Has Set us Free...(Gal 5:1)

"This is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel

       after that time," declares the LORD.
       "I will put my law in their minds
       and write it on their hearts.
       I will be their God,
       and they will be my people.

Jeremiah 31:33

***As for me I will have some down time in Gainesville helping out around the office until my leader training for Novas/Real Life starts at the beginning of September, I will be studying and trying to be a blessing in the work I'm asked to do with others so please pray for that whole process and purpose**

Hey Y'all!!

Tue, 4 Aug 2009 00:00:00 GMT

Everyone,

I just really wanted to write and touch base with you guys about where I am at right now as I get settled into Georgia and also to get you guys in the loop before some things start really picking up down here in the next couple of days.
It will become much more hectic around the AIM training center soon and there is some much needed prayer.

So I have been here over a week now and it really has been such a blessing. The first few days included being able to see more of Georgia than ever before as well as take a day trip to Chattanooga, Tennessee which just hits a certain spot for me as I love being anywhere I've never been before. (well, almost anywhere)

Theres a really good chance I'll sound a bit different before much time passes by as the deep accents and "y'alls" fly all over the place on a twenty four, seven basis. Funny.

People here in the south are incredible and I enjoy being amongst them each day, whether I step into a gas station or head into the office.

Big shout to Tag, Holly and Jack for letting me invade their house and sleep there too!

The last few days for me has included more of a focused time schedule here at AIM. I have specifically spent the last four days getting to know the other "Real Life" leaders that will be along side me in one way or another in months to come. We have all been taking part in the opening portion of the "World Race" training camp.

***Just A Side Note***

(If you do not know what the World Race is I STRONGLY encourage you to check out: http://www.theworldrace.org/)
It is an incredible calling for both men and women to travel around the world to eleven countries in eleven months pushing there bodies and spirits to the furthest lengths seeking The Lord, seeking kingdom, restoration, LOVE and something so much more than what we are told is "Normal Christian Living"
Described by one current "racer" as "A school for transformation"
1st Corinthians 12 1,2 quickly comes to mind.

We real life leaders have been blessed to be sitting in on some of the preparation work before their team launches later this summer.
I have seen The Holy Spirit move incredibly. Supernaturally. People are being set free, filled with The Holy Spirit, administering prophetic words.....

For God did not give us a spirit of timidity but a spirit of power, of love and of self discipline.
1st Timothy 1:7

How often are we experiencing God's holy and supernatural power in our Christian lives?

I spoke to a girl out front of the training center as I was playing guitar one night who shared with me, as she was flipping through a book of names, that her team (world race) had challenged her to seek a word from the Lord about her own name. At this point she had gone by a few different names and there was some identity and family confusion regarding who she was and what she was to be called. We spoke briefly and as she shared with me the "meaning" of my own name as well as my mothers name from the same book. We then said good night and parted.

Two nights later as we were all assembled together in a national park a man who came to speak to us, before starting picked her out of the crowd and spoke over her that God knew her name and went ahead to share that name with her. Precious, was that name. This was the stage of the evening and frankly this entire past three days.
I myself spoke prophetic word over people I have never talked too! Stuff I could never have known about there own lives. New for me, and nothing short of God's own hand in my life. God is moving and we are blessed.

There is a kingdom of God, a kingdom of power and of love moving in this very world and many of us are missing it.

Lord illuminate are hearts! Don't let us sleep!

for it is light that makes everything visible. This is why it is said: "Wake up, O sleeper, rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you."

Ephesians 5:14

Novas training camp starts in two days!
I will be with this team in Mexico until November and i am very excited to spend time with them sooner than later. There is some anxiousness about diving into this having not done it before, but I am trusting the Lord for what lies ahead.

I would like to humbly request your prayers for the travels of the new team coming in as well as there team unity and the Holy Spirits movement over them (fears, issues, conflict) and in them (pain, guilt, sin) for the the entire five days of camp.

Please pray for us leaders as we step into this calling set before us that we might have power, boldness, wisdom and of course love.

We need fellow members of the body to join with us in this. There is a powerful ministry here that God has formed and is using as an instrument of His will for His Kingdom and Glory and we ask for open doors to everything that he would have for us all.

Love all you guys,

Thank you so much for your prayers and all your support.

Later Y'all..........
Blair.

Jesus Bids Us Shine

Tue, 21 Jul 2009 00:00:00 GMT

"Of What Value Is Learning That Does Not Turn To Love?"
-Anthony of Padua

It is now less than a week before I leave for Atlanta, Georgia to begin another year of challenge, and pursuit, of blessings and fellowship with God and His people around the world.

As I sat here at home tonight I began reading over my past blog entries and comments that you all shared with me over the last year.
Let me say its very cool to look back on it all from this end of the trip.

It got me thinking........

Tonight I really feel like I need to put aside wrestling questions, theological depths, biblical doctrines, BIG THINGS, moral issues, social issues, His will, His Sovereignty, His Grace, Atonement, Regeneration, Bible teachers, Driscoll, Piper, Chan..............AGGH!

The list is long and at most times it is an unstoppable train pounding through my head to where it's easy to completely lose sight of The Lord in the massive and often overwhelming pursuit of the right stuff in the wrong way.

It brings to mind some words I was encouraged with this year;

"You don't need to understand everything, Just Do Good."

I don't think I took His advice.

So this time around lets leave it all behind and hopefully tell of and rejoice simply in how Jesus' love continues to flow all around the world and how He calls each of us to be the hands and feet. Yes, that He, is doing good.

And so I would like to tell you guys a story...........
Where?
MANZINI, SWAZILAND.
Who?
Myself and team-mate/good friend Davie Ingram, along with a local man from rural Swaziland.

Why?
Because It's all about Love and God is love.

Shaine Claiborne once wrote:
"I learned more from the tears of homeless mothers than I ever did from any book on Systematic Theology."

This particular story was quite near the end of the whole year. To me it was an answer to prayer and was truly heart breaking for us (which was the answer) and I would like to give Jesus the Glory because though I understand very little about so much I know that this world is SO broken but He is good, and I want to encourage you all in the same.

AND SO IT GOES.......

We (Davie and I) had just left the internet cafe and were on our way to the Gym that was in Manzini, where on occasion we would see one of the King's brothers in his animal skin and have a friendly chat with an extremely muscular nurse named Jerry.

Perhaps it was Gerry. We may never know for sure....

On our way down the hill, walking on the north side of the street we approached a man who to us was obviously blind, waving a long stick across the breadth of the concrete, tapping it often as he stepped those shallow, more cautious steps on his own way up the hill.
We were talking about something, the specifics of which I will never remember, but what I do remember is noticing this man in the midst of ourselves and then walking right on by him.
Just passing By as we tend to do with out a thought. Not proud of that.

Isaiah 58:7

Is it not to share you food with the hungry
and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter-
when you see the naked to clothe him
and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood?

I had just read in an email from a friend back here in (eastern) Canada, where she encouraged our entire team to....."live completely surrendered to Him all of this day."

As I walked past this man, the Lord began to urge me.

Speak to him. Stop. Go back. Speak to Him.

                                         "live completely surrendered to Him all of this day."
"Davie? We need to stop and go speak to that guy, I..... I think the Lord wants us to go and speak to him." and of course Davie being as he is jumped right on board. No questions asked.

We turned right around and approached him saying hi and telling him our names. Sadly I have since forgotten this man's name, perhaps Davie remembers and if he feels like doing so he can leave it for us below.
                                    But I can still see his face, I assure you of that.
He was an older gentleman. He had his cane in one hand and a small bag in another with what looked to me like some old clothes in it. His face was aged and rugged. Underneath his right cheek, all along the jaw line down through his neck was a fairly large area of swelling. He had a real sweetness about him. Quiet, broken, humble. Loved the Lord. I was instantly impacted by his gentleness of voice and stance.

I must say that upon seeing this man, after spending the previous eight months on the continent meeting story after story of hardship, this time, sadly, deeply, my heart of stone began to hurt.    Compassion was rising up, unusually. Very Strong. I can even now feel it as I recall him.

Its a great fellowship with The Lord Jesus to experience that real brokenness that He feels for "the least of these." Yes, I did experience brokenness before this, but not like this.
                                   It was only the beginning. I had only seen his face.

"I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh."
Ezekiel 36:26

We began to strike conversation and he began to unravel the great challenge that he knew as life.

"Where are you going?" we asked. He tells us that he was walking to the Red Cross to ask for soup. He had no food at home and this was not occasional but a daily venture for him. His ONLY hope for a meal.
Cane......... Bag.......... There isn't any soup in his hands because there isn't any soup. Today they sent him away empty handed. There is nothing left to give out.

"Where are you going now?" we continue.

"Home." he says.

Yes home. Which turns out is four hours away. Walking. Which is what he had to do because he simply does not have enough to money pay for public transport. Which would for us, work out to about a measly 70 cents.
              I have said in the past that we cant get by in this world without a vehicle.
              Maybe in our world. Which turns out is not the center of the universe. oops.

Each day our new friend walks into the city and then, he walks out of the city. Every day. Four hours in and four hours out.
Blind. On the side of the road, walking eight hours while tapping his stick as he exhausts the only hope he has to eat in a day.

The only hope he and his family have to eat in any given day.

He begins to tell us of this family. He is married to a woman he deeply loves (also completely blind from birth) whom he met while they were both undergoing sight impaired independence courses at a catholic services center.

He went on to tell Davie "I have never physically seen my wife, but I know she is the most beautiful woman in the world."

Together they have five children. Yes five children. He told us each of their names and ages.

I could see He was a proud father. Some of the kids were in school and some were not. Many Swazi family's are at the mercy of outside donations to enable children to get an education as school fees in Swaziland are STILL not free.

He was going home to tell five children and a wife there was nothing to be had. Nothing.

I am no father. I am no husband. I often don't consider my self much of a "man", but this I do consider:

I can only distantly imagine, in feeble thought what it is like to feel like you are failing your own family as head and provider.

Eight hours he walks. I suspect he would walk eight more for each of them.

The Swaziland government does pay him disability. They do give him something and that something is a check which he receives once every three months in which he is paid the sum of 100 South African Rand.

I do not wish to tell the conversion sum. It seems more profitable if you go ahead and do it now.
Your at a computer right now. Google. Bing. Yahoo. Ask Jeeves if you want.
It's nothing short of astounding.
He faithfully saved this "sum" of money from when he was very young and eventually traveled to South Africa to receive certification for switch board operation. He went to school and he was certified.
He returned home with high hopes of getting work only to find that stigma and ignorance would keep any employer in Swaziland from hiring him regardless of certification.

We then took this man to the local grocery store and helped him with as much as we could. His thin frame barely held up the heavy back pack we gave him. He thanked Jesus continuously and said to Davie what I will never forget:

"When I bring home soup my children sing, but today, my children will dance!"

We prayed over him, his eyes and his family, trusting in the Lord for great things. Soon after we put him on a kombi, and sent him on his way home to his wife and dancing children.

"The King will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.' Matthew 25:40

It was another hard look at a world severely twisted with sin, greed and imbalance. It certainly can be a bitter pill to swallow when such adversity is piled higher and higher on one human being but He forgets no one "..is always working, and so I too must work." (John 5:17 GNB)

Thank you Lord that we may do so.

Jesus bids us shine,
Then, for all around;
Many kinds of darkness
In the world are found-
Sin and want and sorrow;
So we must shine-
You in your small corner,
And I in mine.

-Jesus Bids Us Shine

Real Life, Coming At Ya.

Tue, 30 Jun 2009 00:00:00 GMT

Jesus tells us:

I have come that they may have life and that they may have it to the full.
John 10:10(b)

Indeed there does exist a narrow path of such great vitality, and wonder beyond the alluring illusion of worldly desire, shallow "Christian" commitments and what might appropriately be called "help along" hype but are we on this path?

And do we as Christians really know how to lead others down this road we all desire?

All desire it, for it is our created hearts deepest longing.
Maybe some will look to it, "safe" as spectators in the world.
Few will walk in it, and know abundant life In a risen Christ.
Christ tells us that.

"But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it."

Matthew 7:14

Consider the great differences;

Dwight Moody remarks scathingly:

I believe that more people stumble over the inconsistencies of professing Christians than any other cause. What is doing more harm to the cause of Christ than all the skepticism in the world is this cold, dead formalism, this conformity to the world, this professing what we do not possess.

And then that Of the great apostle:

Philippians 3:7,8 says:

But whatever was to my profit I now consider loss, for the sake of Christ. What Is more, I consider all things loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus our Lord for whose sake I have lost all things.

The differences in emphasis of either statement are apparent yes, but they do point to the same end which is of course really KNOWING Christ and being found in Him not simply knowing stuff about Him.

Interestingly, I have recently spoken to some non-Christians who are unaware that we as Christians really claim belief in a real relationship that goes beyond a set of rules, ideologies, and customs.
Furthermore recently browsing books concerning converted atheists I found interesting support, specifically long time atheist Alicia Britt Chole's "Finding an Unseen God" where she states of the four things she loves most about God the greatest she says is that "He is knowable."

I guess, compounding off Moody's above remark, I wonder to myself how many professing Christians are also unaware of this real knowing Him, rather than knowing about Him.

I know about Abraham Lincoln but surely I cannot KNOW Him because unlike Jesus he is not alive!

Paul Continues:

I want to know Christ, and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of sharing in His sufferings, becoming like Him in His death and so somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead.

Philippians 3:10,11

Friends, at this point you might be asking;

"What is the aim of all this?"

and "Where now is this coming from?"

"If we lose a generation to the Gospel it won't be because we didn't entertain them, but it will be because we didn't challenge them with the truth of the Gospel and the tragedy of this broken world that we live in." -Shaine Claiborne

I have been given and have accepted the opportunity, by and of the utterly amazing grace and love of my Father in Heaven, to join with Adventures In Missions (AIM) as what is technically known as a "Perpetual Leader."

And to answer the above questions of what and why?........

"In large part this acceptance is of a passion for The Lord that is growing constantly and really that very passion spilling into a desire for college age men and women, to forsake the world and give their everything to and for The Lord Almighty, the Kingdom of God and the Gospel of Jesus Christ which is the power of God."

TO KNOW GOD.

Brother Yun, a Chinese house church pastor of incredible faith and love stated once that there are many "believers" but Jesus calls disciples.

AIM is committed to raising up radical disciples, achieving much more than simple mission "trips" and to continually reach out to a broken world with the Love and Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ.

This coming year will mean relocating to Gainesville, Georgia for, at this point, the duration of one year with a small part of the year in GA and the other spent on the mission field leading college age "Real Life" teams to various global locations yet to be determined.
As for the immediate I will be on the leadership team for the "The Novas Project" this upcoming fall in Matamoros, Mexico.

Yes, there are a few things that are still being worked out, but The Lord has already thrown open doors for His leading and provision and I am trusting In Him.

The faithfulness, confidence, community and LOVE of Living Stones Church congregation, its entire leadership and missions team towards me, the kingdom and this great Gospel is truly amazing.

The testimony of their work for the Lord is not going unheard, no it is rippling and believers abroad are really being encouraged knowing of a body that faithfully seeks His face and reflects it actively everyday in a way that is witnessed.

Honestly when it is so undeserved, you just keep trusting me, helping me and loving me and sending me.
THANK YOU.

I HOPE AND LOOK FORWARD TO HEARING FROM ALL OF YOU IN THE COMING YEAR.

PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PRAY FOR US!!
WE CAN DO NOTHING WITHOUT HIM.

AND FEEL ENCOURAGED TO LEAVE ALL YOUR OWN PRAYER REQUESTS ON THIS PAGE FOR ME TO JOIN WITH YOU.

P.S. If any subscribers have received multiple update notifications, it is due some difficulty I am having with the page. Apologies and thanks.

The Time Is Almost Upon Us........

Fri, 17 Apr 2009 00:00:00 GMT

.......Two Roads Diverge In a Wood, And I,
I took the Road less traveled by (BY GRACE!!)
and that Has Made All The Difference.
-Robert Frost

I remember some time ago, 8 months now , sitting down and displaying a particular countdown on this very page.....
Well it seems it has once again become such a time, where the road winds to close and the next fork of the path begins to reveals itself over the hill. Where the days are moving ever more quickly, and disappearing into yesterday faster than I would like them too.

Where does this next road lead? I have no idea. It seems at this point there is another split in the road and to which shall I commit? I do not know!
"The Celtic Christians had a name for The Holy Spirit, An Geadh-Glas or The Wild Goose."
-Mark Batterson

And so the chase is on.

I had intended once again to provide for you all pictures of Salesian High School, where The LORD had placed and abundantly blessed all of us guys for the last three months. Once again I was unable to do so out of technical complications with the uploading of the files.
I will say that this past week was our final week with the boys and going into the "final stretch" of the year without having them to focus on will be somewhat of a challenge in itself as we were so thoroughly invested in what the Lord asked of us there.
It makes for somewhat of a large void.

Our HIV testing week went through without any crippling complications thanks to the Lords perfect provision. Against culture, peer pressure, enormous fear and even disapproval of parents almost 60 boys took advantage of the provided voluntary testing and counselling.
We were thrilled to triumph with them.

This all contributes to the ever approaching reality that the way things are now will not, cannot remain for much longer. The LORD never told me it would last, but only for a season.

I suppose I have been unclear about my increasing love for The Son, The Father, The Spirit and a new and strangely abounding love for this Swazi team, So let me say this:

I am ever frequently overwhelmed by all them all.
And that because I am experiencing HIS ever abounding Love for me through them all.

It is so hard for me to imagine that everyone of us will go to his corner of the Earth never to cross again on that same Earth. I am becoming a potent mixture of anticipation and apprehension.

I have asked the Lord at times on this trip to shatter my heart, so I may fellowship with Him and be ever more refined. Bound. Abiding.
I see now that this may be how he intends to do so.

Just last night I had yet another dream of saying goodbye.
Returning.
Seeing the trees, Driving the roads, buildings and buildings, back into the fast rushing river of commercial life and being filled with this strange sense of alienation.

Where did everyone go??
So much has changed.
I dont know this place anymore......
"I am become a stranger" , As The Psalmist says.

I struggle now for what else to write, what else to say....................

What now?
Wait and See.

The LORD will guide you always.... (Isaiah 58:11)

By the way, Tom Cameron. You've been on my mind, friend. I hope you are well.

"I AM" Offended!

Sat, 28 Mar 2009 00:00:00 GMT

He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him.
John 1:10-11

In him was life, and that life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it.

John 1:4-5

The Cross of The World.

For You. Not me.
Offensive? To Us?

We are all sinners.
We all Need Jesus.

Without Him there is no hope. With Him alone there is hope.

We loved the world more. Jesus Darkness more than light.

God Came. We Killed Him. He revealed Himself to us. We hated Him.
Trading gold for dirt. Eternity for right now. Pleasure for pain.
He calls to us.
We plug our ears.
Turn the music up.
God Is not listening.
Neither will I listen.
Devil?! That's a laugh.

Hell?? Judgment??

Politically incorrect.

So offended right now!
Truth is not relative.
For every or not any.
Who are you to say!
He is the one who says.
Say to them "This is

what The Sovereign
LORD Say's Whether
they listen or fail to
listen.

When I say to a wicked man, 'You will surely die,' and you do not warn him or speak out to dissuade him from his evil ways in order to save his life, that wicked man will die for his sin, and I will hold you accountable for his blood. But if you do warn the wicked man and he does not turn from his wickedness or from his evil ways, he will die for his sin; but you will have saved yourself.
Ezekiel 3:18-19

Who's really being offended?
Who has been offended?

A Look Inside.....

Sat, 7 Mar 2009 00:00:00 GMT

Hey guys,
Simply put I thought maybe you would all like some visuals of the Mission field that me and the other guys have found themselves in at Salesian High School.
HOWEVER, the file sizes I had intended to post are too large so I must re-size them all and then I will post them for you.
So consider this an advertisement of sorts.

They are coming soon.

We encourage you to keep praying because they are indeed working!
Students are hearing the Lord and are choosing change and though your prayers the lord is providing direction and massive community support( which we will need wisdom for) to be the infrastructure of this program long after we are gone from Swazi.
The hardest is yet to come, fatigue has at times found us but we are encouraged and eager to do the good work the Lord has set before us.

I personally can use all of your prayers in seeking The Lords will for me as this great adventure enters into its closing days. There is much to be done and I wish to remain focused on the task at hand but am unescapably mind full of the inevitable close of Africa FYM at this time in my life.
There are more than a few paths laid before me and I am looking only to the one which The Lord has ordained as His own will for me. I will be spending spring break here in Swazi and this point will be something I am seeking specifically at that time of rest, so If any could join me in prayer the week of March 14th to the 21st I would be so thankfull. Of course anytime is a good time!

Also feel free to leave your comments or prayer requests and updates about what The lord is doing in your own life guys!
I am surely interested in hearing what is happening on the other side of the pond.

Something I encounterd today that seems to require attention, that I would last but not least like to share with you....
Davie, Lorretta and I went into a shop today to see if they had any musical instruments for sale and alas they did not. After browsing shortly at some air rifles meant for hunting only and quickly deciding re entry to america would be costly if not just plain illegal we made for the counter where Davie purchased a small pad-lock for the gym.

The shop was obviously muslim owned and at first they were talkitive and inqiusitive about who we were and where we had come from. As we spoke they commented as usual about Davies likeness to Barack Obama but shifted to America's struggling economy, with almost a strange satisfaction.
They went on to comment that people might mistake Davie for Obama and that people would now be "gunning" for him. It was certainly strange and became awkward.

My intent in sharing this story is in absolutely no way to antangonize these men.
Nor do I desire to push something that granted is somewhat speculative.
Regardless of the situation it has stirred something inside.

I see plainly that in this very moment, the whole world over, be it by cultural, geographical, racial, gender based, political or "religious" division, we all simply need Jesus Christ SO badly.
There is so much hatred being harboured EVERYWHERE you go. Be it in America or Swazi or China or England or Somalia.

Muslim people need Christians praying for them: visions and dreams. This is already happening all over the globe. They have an intense devotion and belief that they posees the heart of the true God.

Jesus is that truth and He desires to know them and be known by them.

I suppose naturally we must never forget those who are already now on the mission field witnessing in the face of such extreme devotion by carrying this dangerous cross and even spilling there own blood on soil abroad trying to reach a people that has not known and are often not allowed to know the ressurection of our Lord Jesus Christ.

I have so much to learn and so far to grow, so I hope we may grow together in actually understanding and following through with our Lords command of care for even those that greatly dislike us.

I have often professed what I have not possessed.

So It seems as always, I too desperately need Jesus.

FYM Swazi: Salesian School Update

Sat, 21 Feb 2009 00:00:00 GMT

Hey all!

First off I would like to thank everyone who has responded to us in our call to be ambassadors of Christ's Truth and Freedom in Salesian High School with your prayers and support.
Friends and family as well as people we didn't even know before have been lifting this mission up and we are so thankful for that.

As many of you know as one gets further into a battle of the kingdoms there is an intensifying effect of opposition and it requires us to be ever closer to the Lords wisdom, strength and guiding Holy Spirit.

Without this covering we are unable to be effective in unity, session planning, awareness of the enemy, hearing the Lords direction and encouragement and of course our communicating by illumination of the Holy spirit the truth of the Gospel of Jesus Christ in the classroom and the hearts of these boys to which The Lord has instructed us to minister.
Otherwise its just another abstinence program with NO power. With no change. All words and no freedom.
The answers are not simply in instruction, not simply in education, not simply in scary statistics about sex because we all know that in the grips of culture and lust these things can and often do easily fade into the background by the oppression of the enemy, the world and the screaming desires of flesh whenever Gods Spirit is absent.

So what are we asking of you? And just what are we saying?

Keep Doing What You are Doing And Get Anyone and Everyone Involved.

PRAY IN FAITH.

INVITE AND EXPECT THE HOLY SPIRIT TO FALL ON ALL THESE BOYS AND US AS WE ARE TRYING TO "PREACH CHRIST CRUCIFIED"

As for what has been happening so far, we are now entering our third week of teaching and will be completing prep on our next lesson this Sunday.

Class thus far has consisted in the first session something of a "Siren session." A sounding the alarm if you will. Swazi is in danger.

Here's the truth about HIV/Aids in your country. 44 % infection rate. 32, average age of death.
Here's how advanced it is.

Here's the truth about how God sees it.
Lets ask WHY? Lets overcome. The choice is not ours but yours.

It was a very serious class, though we did have some laughs and some very rewarding Opportunity's to fellowship with the boys.

The second class mainly included tying in the previous week and personalizing the statistics, truth and dangers through factual illustrations involving real statistics within the country regarding HIV, STD's and teen pregnancy. (Statistics that have, by many indications worsened since last officially collected) They included colored cards which each student received randomly which would indicate the sexual status of that student, assuming an active sexual life.

I assure you this assumption is no stretch. Starting age of sexual activity in this country can be astounding.

We have been informed kids are sexually active sometimes as young as nine years old.

Obstacles are great.

Peer Pressure.

Media.

WESTERN media.

Female identity found almost entirely in men.

Pornography.

Gender roles.
Lust.
Wide acceptance of promiscuity.
Shame.

Silence.

Lies.

What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death?
Romans 7:24

But we know who is behind all of it.

Thanks be to God-through Jesus Christ our Lord!

Romans 7:25

And by the power of the Cross it has all been undone, if we all would look up and be filled.

In His service,

Tyler, Davie, Blair and Ryan.

Gaining Ground For The Kingdom: Fight with us!

Wed, 4 Feb 2009 00:00:00 GMT

Friends and Family,

We miss and love all of you very much and are looking ahead to when we are together again.

As for the here and now The Lord is calling on us few for a great and unique purpose.

Four of the Guys on the our Swazi team were given permission by a local priest last Monday to come into the local boys high school (Salesian High School) and preach/teach for eight different class periods every week until we leave! This is a phenomenal opportunity and the Lord is leading the way. He has already been preparing us and is providing for us information, community support and resources to pour into our planning time. We are all very focused on this opportunity and while we are now beginning to see the magnitude and challenge before us we have been assured that our Lord is going ahead of us and we are eager to go with Him.

Upon receiving the invitation we began to plan and schedule almost immediately but there remained a sense that we actually still had not received permission and blessing from the Lord to go ahead with this ministry into the school, valuable as it seemed. We conversed over Saul's impatient mistakes and King David's faithfulness in inquiring of the Lord while making descisions. (1st Chronicles 14:9-11)

We then took the time to pray and also asked a leader and friend from last semester, who is now in Canada, to pray about it and let us know if the Lord had spoken anything to her. She was not given any information or any update whatsoever as to the inquiry or the situation other than
"maybe pray for the boys school and see what ya get."

The reply is as follows:
Prayed for 'the boys school' and got a strange reply from the Lord.. well, hopefully only strange to me. Simple really, it began with Him emphatically saying 'YES' and then He added later, 'move ahead'.. Hope that means something to you.

We will be moving ahead, totally on faith that God will use us to build a gospel based boys leadership program. Stressing the urgency of the Aids crisis, gender roles, responsibility, discipleship and the freedom available from the cycles of temptation, sin and death through a deeper faith with Jesus Christ. Its about fellowship.
They need to know Jesus is more than just a superficial, intellectual recognition of heaven and hell. They say the gospel in Africa is a mile wide and an inch thick. Very shallow.

They will decide its future, and they must know the facts about this this fallen world.

Swaziland is the most "Christianized' nation in the world and it will be the next to disappear.

How can this be??

The Population in 2006 was about 1.1 million only last year in 2008 it sat just over 900,000 and know that there are many, many people being born every single day.

We need the Holy Spirit's Power and Presence. In us, in the class, in the boys lives.

His Conviction and His Redemtion. Freedom from the enemy, harmfull culture, hopelessness.
His Guidance and Encouragement. Renewal, Rebirth, Revival.

We as a Church can choose to come together on this now. We need your prayers.
Use post its. Reminders. Tell everyone you know. I would encourage you to copy this link and send it to someone.

Pray for the boys to be open with us, for relationship to grow, for the light of the Gospel as the only true salvation for this country and for their very own souls. Pray for our lesson planning.
Pray for Delivery, leading and for great zeal in seeking a holiness and fellowship with our God as we walk this new path with Him.

Thank You all,
Siyabonga,

Davie, Ryan, Blair and Tyler.

Mission: Swaziland.

Fri, 2 Jan 2009 00:00:00 GMT

Hey guys,

I will be heading for the tiny Kingdom of Swaziland in just 5 short days. I know that most people have never even heard of this country, so I really wanted to share some information about the area and the severe need that we will be facing in order to get us all on the same track for this next stretch of my year in Africa.

Swaziland is a small country, about the size of New Jersey. It is actually enclosed within the borders of South Africa and Mozambique. I will be flying to Johannesburg and then we will be driving six hours into Swaziland to our house in Manzini.

Swaziland is goverened by the last ruling absolute monarchy in Africa today.
The current King, King Mswati the III, is in his 22nd year of absolute rule. This once prosporous place has been devastated by greed and refusal to appropriately address economic and social problems within the Kingdom.

With sky high infant mortality rates, systematic rape, at least forty percent unemployment and the highest HIV/Aids numbers in the world: the tiny Kingdom Of Swaziland is in a downward spiral that threatens to wipe it off the map literally by the year 2025!!

Please pray for this Kingdom. For these people. For our team. For the ruling King.

Conviction. Repentance. Compassion. Change. KINGDOM.

For my own wreckless abandonment of this world for God's Kingdom.
This has been a struggle for me to do and I really want to take my eyes and hands completely off off this world in and beyond Swaziland.

Seth Barnes founder of AIM says this about Swazi:

"It's a country of of pain and contradictions, of death endured in the devastating quiet of a dark shack. It's horrific what's going on over there. Shame is a terrorist stalking the nation's girls and young women because of a culture that doesn't talk about what goes on in secret. It's nightmarish and someone needs to stand up and shout or at least talk about it."

Guys I've been thinking lately, Christians are to be Kingdom soldiers.
I am to be a kingdom soldier.
God is so very concerned about justice, about the poor, the hopeless, the fatherless and the dying.

He is less concerned about whether or not I go to this church or that church, or whether I sing this song or that one but what am I doing for the Kingdom???

He wants Justice! Mercy! Kingdom!

I must throw off this world, and step into the fight.

For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.

Ephesians 6:12

Me and the boys listened to a sermon last night entitled "God Dies." This retold for us the gruesome detail of crucifixion, the humility and sacrifice of the living God and His achievement at calvary.
He gave everything for me. He held onto nothing and for this He deserves my everything.

How often I serve leftovers to a Holy selfless God!

"The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field. When a man found it, he hid it again, and then in his joy went and sold all he had and bought that field.
Matthew 13:44

I want to be a soldier in Swaziland. I want to be a soldier until I die but talk is cheap and I'll need His grace and His spirit and all of your prayers.

....if you honor it by not going your own way and not doing as you please or speaking idle words

Isaiah 58:13

I Just feel at this point that I need to encourage all my Family at Living Stones Church.
There is such genuinity among you, there is Kingdom around you. You have loved me greatly. Thank you. Push on. Push in.
Engage the lost, broken, poor and the oppressed! God is there and He has promised His power and presence to you! I Feel overwhelmed for you guys right now.
Seek. Listen and go for it!

I will be with all you guys again from Swaziland.
Grace and Peace,
Blair.

Holiday/Debrief Update

Mon, 22 Dec 2008 00:00:00 GMT

Hey all,

The sun is very hot and Christmas hustle and decoration abound. Its strange at best to think that it is Christmas in 4 days and its thirty degrees out side!
We will cook a turkey and remember you all.
Christmas is God's scandalous grace put on man's calendar. Let us not forget that!

I just returned from a week of debrief at a riverside house in neighbouring St. Francis Bay. The whole awakening team was together for the very last time. It was a time of reflection, which gave us a chance to look back and absorb the many different challenges and experiences of the past three months.
Money, faith, church, The Cross, justice, action, scripture, leadership Genuinity, lukewarm, election, worship, discipleship and of course the list continues on and on and on.

There was a chance for self and team evaluation and on the last day a particularly special time of "Rock Star Awards." Which is simply put, a time we shared of honest thanks, goodbyes and encouragements for those on our team whom we by Gods grace and blessing had the opportunity to serve and walk with.

I must take the opportunity to single out my ministry team: Mary, Alexis and La, whom I find I will miss more than originally thought. Thank you all for walking with me. Literally. It was awesome.

We also took the time to look to the future. The future here in Africa and also beyond. This is exciting and troubling for me, as I look forward to the difficulty that will shape and grow in Swaziland this January but also need your prayers (REALLY) as to some important choices that are to be made after the year is complete.
The Lord has promised to guide me always and I will trust in that.

I will also spend the Holiday seeking and relaxing. It is very busy here and especially dangerous but we are being careful and enjoying it without too much trouble.

The last thing I would like to say is that my good friend Tyler Bussanich, who earlier in this trip had you could say an "encounter" with Gods Discipline and was no longer with us will be returning to S.A. on Monday!
God is faithful and powerful and He has redeemed a brother and friend as he done for me (and all of us!) so many times when we stumble. I rejoice. I am so glad to have him and look forward to it. He a passionate, good guy. Pray a safe journey.

Thank you all, until next
Grace Blair.

Ministry Update

Wed, 3 Dec 2008 00:00:00 GMT

Hey all,

I feel like there has been a lot of sharing of the sort of battles and struggle that is going on, and while these are in my thoughts and days I would also like to share some of the things My ministry team (Mary, Lisa and Alexis) and I have been doing.
We have been building amazing relationships in the community. I hang out with a 20 year old named Xolani or JT as everyone else calls him. Hes a really nice kid who teaches us about the culture. He just yesterday offered to takes me to meet some of the Gang members of the community. This coming right after reading the Nicky Cruz story. (If you don't know Nicky Cruz the book is called "Run Baby Run" or check his website)
We have a friend Theodora we have been visiting all year whom we all love. Jobs here are difficult to get. Thoedora has young boy name thandi (unsure of the spelling) to support. She expressed to us in tears one day that she had been relying on her sons father to support but wanted nothing to do with him and felt trapped and stuck. We encouraged and prayed with her to rely on God instead of any man. This was seemingly risky and difficult thing to do. But she had faith and of course God was faithful. She now has a job. We were so elated when we heard the news! It was amazing.
Praise. Kingdom come!
Regina is another friend of ours. She has three children. She works but it is simply not enough to feed her kids.
God lead us to her house with a mental image of the colour of her place which is different than most others, I told this story already but believe me it was so cool.
Her house had a fire. We literally prayed the intense smell out. We striped the walls, coated and painted it, this beautiful blue colour.
We spend every Tuesday and Thursday hanging out with the street kids here in J bay. We hand out sandwiches and get to know the kids better. There all crazy! There fun and we love em.
We have spent many afternoons in daycare's (Creche's) helping hugely sacrificial women as they take care of sometimes 30 children in a single room!
PRAY FOR THESE FAMILIES AND KIDS PLEASE IT IS NOT EASY FOR THEM!!!!
PLEASE PRAY FOR DION BY NAME, HIS LIFE IS SO SO HARD ON HIM. We would all love to see God free him from dissappointment and pain into His open arms.

I hope this short list of activities is an encouragement and a testimony that God is moving, despite question and confusion. Relationships are what hes all about.

I had the immense pleasure of being able to play the drums at many different out reach locations! African rhythym is way cool. AND.............................................

I will be going for Holiday to cape town as everyone else is home for Christmas.

But the big news is that my outreach will be moved to the Kingdom of Swaziland!!!!!

I am so excited about this. it will be intense, so please pray for the Swazi team!
and if you can find it I HIGHLY recommend the movie "without the king" its a documentary that came out last year and it would give great insight into where I am going, It is very powerful.

Thanks guys. I am thinking of all of you and will continue to fight this fight.

Grace to you.
Blair.

Poor Little Rich Boy: An Insight of "Common Or Christian?"

Sat, 15 Nov 2008 00:00:00 GMT

The axe is already at the root of the trees, and every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire." Luke Ch3 V 9

I am in such a weird place right now.
Maybe its a spiritual battle.

Maybe its my own tendency of fear.

Maybe its truth we desperately need to hear.

My faith is being challenged immensely. My salvation is often called to question! Communication has been scarce on account of not wanting to post incomplete thoughts and nonsense, but know this:

I am truly struggling with what it seems following Jesus must cost.

Things like the cost of discipleship in Christ vs. the reality of my own immense wealth. The need for radical extreme costly love in my relationship with God and His people. Deuteronomy 6:5 Says "With All Your Heart..."
This town were in is really Rich Meets poor and what is most troublesome is how attached to privilege my own heart is. Its ritzy and disgusting. Wealth is honestly a serious spiritual disadvantage. It certainly appears that way! It runs so deep.
Shane Claiborne says hes convinced that God did not simply make too little of stuff. Its just simply that 20 percent of us have 80 percent of stuff. The really hard part is that any response to that, that isn't completely out of love is totally meaningless. Now the fruit of the spirit is love. So I am praying for that love, Believe me!
I must honestly say to the Father, " I'm sorry I don't love you the way that I should. Help Me!"
The apostle Paul says that if there indeed is no God we are to be pitied more than any man. If I woke up today and it occurred to me that there was in fact no God,
Would I be laughed at and pitied by the world because of what I had done, sacrificed, rejected, been faithful too and chased after with the very breath of my lungs?? or would I simply be ashamed for a short time and blend right back in?

Can I give beyond comfort?
What in life right now is costing me for Christ?
Will I give only as long as it doesn't interfere on my standard of living?
The early church did not measure giving by what they gave but by what they had left. If one had extra while another died of starvation that person had blood on there hands. There is grace! But "Shall we sin because we are under grace?" Paul says " By no means!"
Am I a fool for Christ? I must be. But I am not. Lord help me.

Friends forgive the extremity of my thoughts, those who know me know I can be overwhelmed by such things but it seems of such great importance.
2 or 3 months before I came to Africa I received Isaiah 58 from the Lord. I had not previously read it.
It has come up in practical life, conversation, reading and even from another pastor from Pretoria who I had never previously met who believed the spirit wanted him to share with me from the word, Isaiah 58:11 ( a confirming scripture I shared with many of you before I left home) I encourage you to take out your bibles and share your thoughts. Its contents are of this very nature and I believe God is doing something and its hard to receive because its so counter-nature.

To lay down one's own life?
unless a seed falls and dies?
Holy, that is, Set Apart?
Common or Christian?
At first I thought they should never look the same, but now see they actually could never look the same.
Perhaps obvious to you, but not to me.

So Whats Been Happening????

Sat, 18 Oct 2008 00:00:00 GMT

Ok guys, there is so so much to fill you in on and after deliberating on it for awhile I'm going to do something I originally didn't want to do but I think I simply have to in order to get some "Backed Up" info laid out.
So I'm gonna fire this off in a bulletin style update. This isn't about eloquence, its about INFO.

HOME

-We stay at a compound Called UCSA (ooksah), its about a hundred yards from the scenery many of you saw in my Facebook pics. It's home.

-I stay in a bunk with the six other guys and I got a lotta love for em all.

Davie Ingram, Tyler Bussanich, Matthew Hussey, Andrew Anderburg, Ryan Carmichael, Kevin King.
Please take a look at all of their blogs.

-Jeffreys bay or JBAY is a major surf town
-Money exchange is very high
-There is a gym
-Street kids are all around, especially us guys (they call me "Batista")
-For those who don't know Batista is a wrestler and I get it a lot here

-So many liquor stores, I personally believe it's one of the foundational perpetuators of death in this country. It is really so so bad.
-Three main Cultures in Jbay are;
The black's which are Xosa. The "x" is a "k" sound in english but really it is a click. Very Cool. Almost all of my personal ministry has been with this interesting and awesome culture.
The colored's who speak Afrikaans.
The whites.

MINISTRY
-Monday to Friday we do Discipleship in the mornings and then in the afternoon our own Ministry

-My ministry was a collaborative choice between myself and my leaders. I was given House visits.

- I do House Visitations every afternoon for 4 hours, with 3 others (Mary, Alexis and La) and it is amazing, I don't want to be doing anything else right now. We pray and let God lead us to where there is need in the surrounding poor townships.

-We meet people, build relationships, pray, talk and laugh as well as address intense concerns that are often a part of there lives.

-Its about following the spirit. Its challenging to be obedient when you think " God wants us to go to a bubble gum pink house" It feels like your own thoughts, but sure enough if you listen and follow and have faith he leads to just such a house.

Wheres there's been a fire.
that happened a week ago.
And there's no money and no help and there's a huge hole in the roof.
And 3 kids.
and you never would have known.
And you know you can help.
Yes this happened and its testimony to the spirit is real and not alone. There is much to say of Jesus' work on this team.

Beat The Drum

- We all spent a week in a place called sommerset east for an Aids/Abstinence program called Beat the Drum
-This community has some of the highest HIV statistics in the world

-Beat the drum is a South african movie with an anti-aids pro-truth message
-The outreach was based on values and the undeniable need for the Holy spirit in living a Godly life

-We used the film as a basis to go into EVERY school in sommerset and in teams teach these kids the truth about sex and AIDS
-I taught a grade ten class with three others
-Almost all are sexually active and are greatly misinformed about the dangers of this life style
-There are so many cultural and spiritual things working against these kids every day

-teams built amazing relationship with kids in the classroom as well as confronted serious issues in our own lives

-It was a difficult week, I was very nervous and it was tough to get going but God is faith full and it turned out amazing
-Many kids gave their lives to Jesus
-At the end of the week our team and all the kids had an opportunity to be tested for HIV/Aids
-Scared me to death. Honestly. I've made a lot of bad choices before. I was negative however some of these kids were not.
-I spent the week staying with a Xosa family in the community. Mr and Mrs Xaluva.
-We are all very tired.

I will have an entire new blog shortly regarding my own walk with the Lord. There are some very big questions I'm wrestling with and I don't feel there's enough clarity to comment on it just yet.

Please Pray for;
-The kids involved in beat the drum. They will need your support to push on and stand up against this disease.
-Against the taverns and Alcohol abuse
-My team's energy, unity, and ministry. Personal pursuit of The Lord above all the "Mission" stuff here in Jbay.
-My leaders energy, guidance and wisdom.
-My own questions, growth, communication, pressure, reading, Sleep, wisdom, sacrifice and discipline. To be confident. Take risks.
Learn to LOVE MORE and MORE.

I know this post is a bit different but I feel it was really necessary just to answer a broad spectrum of inquiry.
I want you all to know that this is amazing.
I am growing. God is moving. Things are up and down and He remains our support line. I am being challenged spiritually all the time. I've been blessed to play drums three times since i got here! Praise.
Praise Him. He is so, so good to His people.

Love you all,
Blair.

Beautifull People

Sat, 27 Sep 2008 00:00:00 GMT

Hey Everyone,

I would like to just extend thanks as well as apologies for not updating sooner than this. There have been some technical and scheduling problems that have caused the updating process to be much, much longer than I would have liked.

I have to say that my original blog post which I currently have saved is a large update about surroundings, scenery, transition, settling in, exchange and all sorts of visible differences between my home in Canada (or even America), and being here in South Africa.

I will not be posting that today.

I feel as though the whole world we live in is really just a distraction from what is important. God and the people he loves. I am so distracted.

Every afternoon the ministry outreach that I personally am involved in is heading out on foot into the black and colored townships and asking God "Where do you want me to go?" and He directs us. And He does direct us. I already have had incredible encounters that I absolutely would have missed without His leading. Some thing as simple and seemingly random as;
"Go left, grocery store and something about bananas"

Is that just our thoughts or is it God? Trust and Go. Learn to discern the voice of The Lord.

Isaiah records ; "In a sun scorched land I will strengthen your frame."

I went left. There was a grocery store. The sign had bananas. I had never even been remotely close to this place before. The Lord directs a mans steps. Awesome. Beyond me.
Two Muslim men waited inside ready to talk about Christ, the trinity and it was truly incredible.
There's much more to say.
There are so many other people. God's people. Africa's people. That is really where I want to go with you this time.

What follows is a word for word journal entry from Sept 25th, after I returned home from my house visits that day. I will not edit or alter. It is my intent to give you a window into exactly where I was when God convicted me that this place, trip, mission, ministry, journey, really has nothing to do with exteriors in any way, shape or form. You may not understand all the particulars. This does not matter.

People.

Beautiful People.

Thursday, Sept 25th/08

The people of this city are beautiful. So much of there world is ugly but its much the same ugliness in our own country's. The African people are full of joy and pain. Peace and aggression. Softness. Brokenness. But beauty shines among them. They invite me into their homes and they shine. God has always been here. I have not. God always will be here and I will not. I so much want to ask God to just fix all the pain. He isn't going to do that all right now. I don't truly know why but I do know that He is faithful and that He loves these people and that He has a plan of victory and that in whatever way, He has chosen to include me in that.
The children are just like me. They are afraid. They play as I once did. They smile with beauty. They are with open arms.
What will become of them?
I know so little, Lord help me learn your heart.

Sweetness; I see pain. Longing. But also hope and such affection. A gentle spirit.

Kolani loves music. He's torn between his passion and that which is right. His friends. His art. His surroundings.

He tires of school.

I feel like I'm heading further into the space of how can I leave? What else could be this?
If God says "Leave your home" you must go.
Just as if God says "Go home," you must go home.

It's amazing God had done this for me. or that He has included me in this.
May your spirit saturate me so that I drown in your presence.
Do what you will O' God.

Grace and Peace to you all.

The Kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking, but of righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.
Romans 14:17

I am confident of this:
I will see the goodness of the Lord in the Land of the living.
Psalm 27:13