New Year Update

Amanda and I are really excited about this coming year. Especially because our wedding is just a little over 6 weeks away. March 3^rd in Columbus we will be tying to knot! We are super excited to begin our life together, but there is much to be done before the wedding. Currently, we are raising funds for the wedding, and we still need to raise about $5,000 dollars to pay for everything. In addition to that we are beginning to look for a place to move into together up here in Fargo once we are married, and as you can imagine on a limited budget that is somewhat tricky. So, there is a lot still to be done, but we are excited and know that God will provide.

Not only are we excited about our wedding, but we are super excited about what is happening with the ministry this year. This year Amanda and I will be partnering with churches and communities throughout North Dakota (Bismarck, Jamestown, Lisbon, Valley City, and more to come), South Dakota (Watertown and surrounding communities), and Minnesota (Fergus Falls, Breckenridge, Alexandria, Elbow Lake, Pelican Rapids, Devils Lake). This year as our team begins to engage even more towns across Minnesota we are planning to engage anywhere from 30-40 communities, more than a 100 churches, and reach 100,000’s with the Gospel.

Here is how everything is going:

· Jamestown, ND - has a meeting this week where pastors from the community are coming together to form a steering/leadership team that will help put together a budget and a timeline for their community, as well as begin to reach out to churches who are not yet engaged.

· Bismarck, ND – Up until last week we thought Bismarck was not going to move at all. Then through a lot of prayer God provided us with a local man who was willing to talk to churches and key people across the town, and is leading the charge in Bismarck. We are hoping to meet with pastors in Bismarck in the next 2-3 weeks.

· Watertown, SD – Next week we are meeting with a local pastor of a Baptist church, and we also have an old friend who just moved into the city who will be working with us to gather more churches together.

· And God continues to open up doors across the region: In Pelican Rapids, we just were connected with a business man and youth worker who is going to engage local pastors. In Fergus Falls, we have pastors working on getting other pastors together. And then in Elbow Lake pastors are waiting for a day to meet with us to discuss how to engage their community.

We are not only excited about how the cities are moving, but we are also excited about He is growing our staff and ministry partners. Currently, we have a school of 20-30 students in Kansas City. In 6 months, they will be given the option to join our team. Along with that, we have schools ready to go in the Summer and Fall of this year that will be training more people, so we can engage more cities, and see more people come to know Jesus.

In addition to more staff we also are getting more ministry partners. The International House of Prayer will be joining us in cities across the country to help raise up more effective prayer movements that will being praying for revival and major moves of God. In addition to IHOP, we are also partnering with Child Evangelism Fellowship (CEF), Youth for Christ (YFC), and Stonecroft Ministries, that will be helping raise up a discipleship movement that will be discipling all those respond at our events, to help foster long-term community transformation in all the communities we partner with. One of the more exciting partnerships is our partnership with God TV who has agreed to broadcast some of our major events, which will enable us to preach the Gospel world-wide, and we are beginning to develop follow-up strategies for those who respond as a result of the broadcast.

It is awesome to see God open up doors, and to be a part of this amazing movement. Thank you so much for all of your prayers, support, and encouragement. It is because of you guys joining our team that this is all possible, and because of our team and the grace of God 100,000’s of people will hear the good news of Jesus Christ in 2012.

Conviction/Selfishness

Today as I was driving to pick up Amanda, my fiancee, God brought me to a stark realization. In his gentleness, He convicted me of my selfishness. He showed me how much He had given me, people He had put in front of me, and insights/revelations He had given me. Then He showed me how I had taken those lights, and put them under a basket.

Now this decision to hide the light that the Lord had given me was not intentional. It was not as if I had saw the light, and intentionally decided to keep it hidden all to myself. Rather it was a sin of omission. I had the light and simply did not shine it. I kept it within. Partly because of laziness/busyness, and partly out of insecurity.

This was because I really did not understand what I had. I did not see the light the Lord had given me, and so I hid it. It really did not register to me that words of so many people that I encountered will not make it to countless peoples ears, and revelations God had given me may never be directly given to anyone else. The words of freedom I was hearing could never free people from their chains, simply because they would never encounter them. Thus it was my responsibility to share them.

In fact, that is what this blog is all about. Currently, there are not many people who view it, but there are some. God's desire for this blog is that it would communicate messages to people that would not otherwise hear them. In doing so I would become a bridge for those are not where I am, and thereby connecting to where I am, so they can hear what I hear and receive revelations God has given me. This is my job as a steward of God's grace.

A job that I have not been performing very well. So for those who read this please forgive me for not sharing the light that God has given me. Forgive me for not releasing the grace of God that He has called me to steward. I have buried my treasure instead of multiplying it, and that action is not worthy of the Kingdom of God (Matthew 25: 14-20). .

This is both a plea for forgiveness, as well as a call for others to do the same. You see I did not share because I did not count what I had worthy enough to be read and communicated, and as a result I was both unthankful for the treasure God had given me, and robbing people of a treasure God intend me to disperse. For those of you who are reading this you have a treasure that the world is waiting to receive and only you can give it. So, let's join together in taking our light out of the basket and fighting darkness. Let's go take on darkness, which cannot overcome our light (John 1:5).

My prayer is that you would have boldness to proclaim the Gospel and the mysteries of the Kingdom of God. May God grant you wisdom and the revelation of his love and power in your life, and may you never be ashamed of the Gospel that brings life to all who believe. Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life. May God empower us to be guides to the lost world. And may our lights shine brighter than the North Star as beacons of hope to the lost looking for a way home. In Jesus name may it be so. Amen!