Well so far the orientation to Mission Adventures here in Orlando is going pretty well. I really enjoy being in a micro-community with a missionary mindset. I got an initial confirmation Monday that I'm in the right place. Our group leader Colleen Crawford told us how the churches that sent their youth groups on missions trips through Mission Adventures were incredibly impressed with how their youth matured spiritually in just two weeks. It was just the confirmation I needed to know that my efforts impacted people well beyond just the brief encounter in the summer. We ARE transforming people's lives!
Within 90 minutes of landing in Redding, I learned of Bethel students engaged in business solutions to extreme poverty. Monday I heard a powerful teaching from Bill Johnson on how life on Earth offers us the only chance to worship God in the midst of our pain, suffering, loss, and confusion. When we are in heaven we won't have the chance to give God that gift. Bill's teaching reaffirmed this ongoing theme that suffering matters. Suffering creeps me out but I can not deny that suffering somehow leads to intimacy with Christ. Monday night gave me a few a hours to meet a great house church where blue collar types mingled with Bethel alum. Prophecy and healing flowed amidst their faith and love. God gave me a chance to pray for healing for one of the guys. This tested my faith when his knee actually got a little worse in the first couple of minutes of prayer. That hurt my pride. Fortunately during the second bout of prayer his knee healed completely. V...
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