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wollongong

Links to Get Informed

 

Mission Frontiers

A magazine or e-zine by the US Center for World Mission. Dedicated to calling the Church worldwide to reach unreached peoples while reporting on the amazing things that God has been doing to accomplish his purpose in the nation.

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God Network News

Tired of listening to the daily stream of bad news in the media? Then check out, God Network News and find out what God is doing to reach the least reached peoples of the world.

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Momentum Magazine

A magazine or e-zine packed with stories, stats, and information to help people build Drive, Energy, Effort, Inspiration, Power, and Strength as they labor to reach the unreached.

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Christian World News

by CBN News, reports on the church in Eastern Europe, Central Africa, Latin America, and the Middle East. Stories focus on missions and revival and provide in-depth coverage exposing the persecution of Christians worldwide.

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Lausanne World Pulse

is an online, monthly magazine providing missions and evangelism news, information and analysis.

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History Makers

A website to help inform, develop, inspire and disciple Christians into becoming history-makers who make a difference in the world. Jam-packed with front-line news, media downloads, and other missions info.

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Calcast

A pod-cast that includes inspirational teaching, stories of what God is doing in the nations through media and the arts, and news casts from various staff members of Create International.

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Globalcast

is a pod-cast with a global perspective! Go beyond borders and meet ordinary people doing meaningful things all over the world. As once was said, &quot;There's nothing so powerful as the heart of a volunteer.

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Story4all

is based in Ireland and is part of a growing network of believers throughout the world who are committed to bringing the Story of God to all peoples ... orally. There are many stories about how this is being done.

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Radical Living in a Comfortable World

A challenging and inspiring blog by Seth Barnes, the director of “The World Race”, an innovative, one year missions opportunity.

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Links to Get Resourced

 

Indigitech

An extensive database of resources and information to prepare and equip people for cross-cultural ministry..

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Create International

A ministry producing evangelistic media in the heart language and cultural style of unreached people groups, as well as media for mobilising the church into frontier missions. Create International also provides training opportunities.

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Call 2 all

A worldwide movement calling the church to a renewed, focused collaborative effort to fulfill the Great Commission where the Church is NOT, rather than where it is. It's purpose is to network, train and focus the body of Christ to work together.

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Go Connect

A networking site with hundreds of links to missions mobilisation & prayer resources, news, missions training, opportunities, and much more.

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Operation World

A prayer resource that opens up every country of the world for anyone who wants to know what God’s been doing there. It gives the “big picture” on missions breakthroughs and strategic prayer points for each nation.

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Joshua Project

Joshua Project II’s mission is to highlight the people groups of the world that have the least Christian presence in their midst and to encourage pioneer church-planting movements among every ethnic people group.

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Finishing the Task

A network of mission agencies and churches wanting to see reproducing churches planted among every people group in the world. They’ve identified 639 unreached, unengaged people groups with populations above 100,000.

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Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary

The home of the missiologists & researchers who publish the World Christian Encyclopedia and World Christian Database. It’s the world’s foremost source of missions research, stats, and trends.

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The Traveling Team

The purpose of the Traveling Team is to educate and equip college students to become World Christians who fulfill their responsibility in World Evangelization. Their site has a wealth of resources and information for World Christians to become more informed.

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Global Research

Global Research department of the International Mission Board of the Southern Baptists has a goal to provide accurate, relevant and strategic information for multiplying churches among all peoples. A wealth of information about the unreached world.

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Links to Get Trained

 

US Center for World Mission

God cannot lead you on the basis of facts you do not know. Hear daily about the incredible things God is doing throughout the world and where you might fit in most strategically. A variety of different training options are available.

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Perspectives on the World Christian Movement

A missions training course whose vision is to mobilise the Church worldwide for cross-cultural mission to the least-reached people. Perspectives on the World Christian Movement can also be taken online.

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Kairos Course

A condensed version of Perspectives, it is a missions training course with a vision is to mobilise the Church worldwide for cross-cultural mission to least-reached people groups.

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YWAM International Frontier Missions

50,000 people will die each day without Christ. The goal is to change this by helping people take the Gospel to those who have never heard. YWAM IFM trains people to go and start churches where none exist.

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One Story

It’s been 2,000 years since Jesus walked the earth, but millions of people still haven’t heard the story. OneStory’s unique two year training program in chronological Bible storytelling has been tested in multiple countries and many languages. OneStory is a partnership between 5 different missions agencies.

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YWAM Australia

From art evangelism to community development ...from children at risk to frontier media...Youth With a Mission Australia offers many missions training opportunities at locations from Perth to Darwin to Tasmania, and numerous bases in between..

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Bethany College of Missions

Bethany College of Missions program offers a combination of biblical and theological studies, discipleship and introductory courses to missions and cross-cultural studies followed by Global Internships; field-based experiential and academic learning.

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Trek

An intense short term mission opportunity, designed to help you learn, grow and serve. You will partner with our international missionary teams as they engage in holistic church planting that transforms communities among the least reached.

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Mission Training International

Missions Training International offers training to help individuals and families to be effective cross-cultural messengers. MTI focuses on character development training and debriefing. Their programs are community based, family-friendly, and experiential.

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Christ for the Nations

An international, interdenominational organization that exists to train and equip men and women with the Word of God, in the power of the Holy Spirit, and with a lifestyle of worship, to reach the nations with the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

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History Makers

 

Links to Get Activated

 

Preemptive Love

"We give away what we call 'preemptive love.' We sell hand-made Iraqi shoes that are truly amazing. We use all the proceeds to fund heart surgeries for children who would otherwise die without some sort of outside help.”

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Discover the Journey

Discover the Journey exists to incite awareness on behalf of children around the world experiencing injustice and suffering, Initiate heart transformation in our culture, and Inspire right action in response to Christ's love for humanity.

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Iris Ministries

Iris Ministries is led by Heidi & Rolland Baker and includes 5,000 churches all over Mozambique and into neighboring countries. They also care for almost 2,000 orphaned children at their centers as well as run missions training schools. Stories, blogs, opportunities.

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Micah Challenege

A global campaign to mobilise Christians against poverty; to deepen Christian engagement with poor and marginalised communities, and to influence leaders of all nations to fulfill their promise to achieve the Millennium Development Goals.

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Invisible Children

Storytellers, visionaries, humanitarians, artists, and entrepreneurs; they are eager for change and willing to pursue it. By telling stories of those in regions of conflict and injustice, they hope to inspire us to use our voice for change.

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24-7 Prayer

Inspired by the Moravians, 24-7 Prayer has become a worldwide, non-stop prayer movement. Prayer, missions, and justice are the focus. 24-7 partners with Operation World to inform prayer warriors about global issues and prayer concerns.

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Love 146

Love 146 works toward the abolition of child sex trafficking and exploitation through prevention and aftercare. They train aftercare workers, multiply safe-homes, aid development programs in high risk communities and provide a voice for these victims.

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Student Volunteer Movement

An international network of students, leaders, churches, and organizations serving a grassroots mission movement among today's emerging generation toward the fulfillment of the great commission in our lifetime.

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The Sold Project

A group of twenty-somethings using media to create awareness by documenting the experiences of children in the vicious world of prostitution - and in so doing, giving them a voice.

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Ywam Mercy

Ywam Mercy operates in more than 100 countries. By providing anything from agricultural assistance to health care to micro enterprise development, YWAM Mercy seeks to meet the felt needs of those living on the edge of survival in both crisis and long term development situations.

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Links to Get Going

 

Mission Adventures New Zealand

Mission Adventures is a short-term mission program designed to give your youth group hands on experience in missions. You and your team will be actively involved in strategic evangelism and meeting the needs of people overseas. This isn't a trip where you come and watch the missionaries work. You are the missionaries.

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Marine Reach

Marine Reach provides both spiritual and physical care to the poorer more isolated island and costal communities around the world through the use of ships. Using specialized medical and ministry teams Marine Reach gives opportunities for young volunteers to serve and express Christ's heart of compassion to the poor.

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Youth with a Mission

Youth with a Mission (Ywam) has 1000’s of people & 100’s of ministries in almost every country of the world. Our passion is to know God and to make Him known. 1/2 of YWAM’s staff comes from non-western countries. We focus on evangelism, mercy, training, and discipleship.

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Pioneers

Pioneers mobilizes international teams to glorify God among unreached peoples by initiating church-planting movements together with local churches. Run a coffee shop in Turkey, start a factory in China... just a few of the innovative missions strategies that they embrace.

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Frontiers

An international organization, recruiting, sending and serving teams of ordinary people for long-term service to the Muslim world. Their members serve in businesses, community development, and other services to those who are in need.

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Operation Mobilisation

Oeration Mobilisation works in every continent and on every ocean (via two ships), seeking to demonstrate and proclaim the love of God. In every situation OM teams adapt to the local culture and situation, finding the best ways to share Jesus.

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WEC International

WEC International reaches out to people who have limited or no access to the good news of Jesus Christ, particularly where there is no church. We work in multicultural teams to plant multiplying churches among these people.

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MBMS International

MBMS International is the global mission agency of the Mennonite Brethren church in North America. MBMSI works with MB churches to make disciples and plant churches globally. Short and long-term work among least-reached people groups.

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Surfing the Nations

God is calling surfers across the globe into missions. Surfing The Nations reaches out in His name through international surf missions targeting the countries of the 10/40 Window.

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The World Race

The World Race challenges people in their 20's and 30's to take a year of their lives to live like Jesus lived, while traveling around the world. A missions adventure that involves at least 10 countries in 11 months. Participants range in age from 21-35.

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Ywam Thailand

Ywam Thailand has a multi-faceted approach to communicating the Gospel, making disciples, and ministering to the physical, social, and spiritual needs of Thailand's unreached peoples and those of surrounding nations.

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AFWAN Project

A short-term outreach to Arab Muslims holidaying on the Gold Coast of Australia...serving them through developing friendships. An excellent opportunity to reach the unreached in a western setting.

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notforsale

Not For Sale - Stop Paying for Slavery Tour

July 2010 | < Previous | Next >

Our team has recently found out about Not For Sale, which is a Campaign to fight the global slave trade and end human trafficking. Not for Sale is conducting a tour called Stop Paying for Slavery which is a multidimensional, multimedia, multi-day experience aiming to bring together education, law enforcement, faith communities, corporations, consumers and all justice seekers in the fight to end modern-day slavery.

It seems that the emerging generation is becoming a lot more aware of social justice issues such as fair trade, traffiking and slavery. That's a good thing - however It doesn't take much to feel overwhelmed by the transformation that needs to take place. We're going to be attending a Stop Paying for Slavery Tour event in our area and we're hoping it might give us some practical ideas on how we can make a difference. Below is an extract from the Not For Sale web site, which gives us an indication that each and every one of us has a part to play:

"Every coin in your pocket and dollar in your bank has a face value – a precise amount that is listed on your bills and coins. But for every coin and dollar you have there is another, more significant face value. The face of the young boy mining tantalum in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the face of the little girl farming cocoa beans in Cote D’ Ivoire, the face of a father making bricks in India, the face of the mother selling her body in Cambodia. These faces are hidden behind company logos, corporate brands, and even “Made in the USA” tags

“Stop Paying for Slavery Tour” educates corporations and consumers on the true face value of our dollars. Our everyday actions can have monumental repercussions for those in captivity. We will see change once we not only address the supply side of the equation, but also the demand side: the corporations using cotton harvested by small children forced into labor, and the consumers who complicitly purchase the t-shirts.

Each of us has purchasing power that can perpetuate or end the modern-day slave trade. The “Stop Paying for Slavery Tour” will educate, enlighten, and inspire to that end. The tour illuminates each of our invisible connections to the slave trade, revealing the true face value of our dollars. Every person has a role in the modern-day Abolitionist movement. Come ready to be engaged, and leave ready to take action."

Check out the links below to find tour dates and locations in your area.

Stop Paying For Slavery Tour 2010 | Dates & Locations| Promo Video

-AW

 

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Prem Sewa Image

Being Frank

June 2010 | < Previous | Next >

During a recent trip to India's centre we met Frank, a lively German man with grey hair and wisdom lines around his eyes. For every story of God’s impeccably timed faithfulness in the past forty years he’s also got a joke that will make you laugh (or roll your eyes). His journey with God has resulted in nearly a thousand children currently living and learning in three locations, and thousands who have come before. Prem Sewa.

The kids speak for themselves - they love school, the day's structure, eating three meals, and space to play marbles, cricket and to skip rope. They regularly meet for worship and prayer with eyes tightly shut and arms lifted high. Simply coming to Prem Sewa for some is their biggest dream fulfilled - and then they’re offered education and are encouraged to go even further. Frank has handed over the school’s directorship to Bapu, who once showed up from a village as a shy nine year old and is now a well-educated and compassionate man who understands the childrens' needs and has great aspirations for the school.

We spent three weeks capturing the stories of Prem Sewa on film: a man who followed God to the desert and saw flowers and schools emerge, a large work passed on to indigenous leadership, and the endless stories of boys and girls given opportunity to see anew. The story absorbed us as well - we left Prem Sewa impacted by God's faithfulness and generosity towards His children.

For more information check out: www.premsewa.org

-BD

 

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artinmissions

Art in Missions

May 2010 | < Previous | Next >

When I was about 5 years old and in kindergarten I showed my teacher a drawing I had just made of Goldy Locks and the Three Bears. At first I was a bit frightened by her response because she made this long-winded and loud gasping noise like I had created something blasphemous. She then told me how good she thought it was. I was relieved. It was a bit like this growing up.

I've always loved to draw, paint and create things and it came pretty naturally for me. I continued to develop drawing skills throughout my childhood and teen years. It's quite sad to admit but probably 50% of the time i spent learning to draw was during Math, Science and English class. I had this idea that I was going to be an animator or a children's book illustrator someday and figured I didn't need to worry about subjects that weren't relevant to my future.

In 2006, I got connected with a ministry called Create International. The goal of this ministry is to communicate Jesus to unreached people groups around the world using audio/visual tools. It's a sobering truth that the west is continuing to re-evangelize itself while spending very little effort in comparison on places still needing to hear the Gospel for the very first time! This had always been a concern and burden on my heart since I left high school and I was so excited to hear of a ministry with a passion to reach the unreached using media.

Create was primarily producing videos when I joined, but was slowly integrating visual arts into their ministry as another way to communicate. It's been a privilege to work in an office with some really talented and committed people. Since joining, I've been able to make comic books, posters and viral videos all with an evangelistic message for various language groups found in the 10/40 window.

It's been a huge learning curve for me as I've taken on these various projects not necessarily knowing how to tackle them. The process starts with a long-term missionary who expresses a desire to have evangelistic tools custom-made to assist them in their ministry in a particular nation. In one situation, we decided to make a short comic book about the prodigal son for young people in an unreached area. I went back to this story told in Luke and prayed about how to make this story contextual for a teenager living in there. I researched their city, their way of dressing, how they relate to one another culturally, etc. Then I came up with the characters and sketched them out, inked them, scanned them and then coloured them in photo shop. Next, I added the word bubbles and then the English text. Finally, we sent the files back to our contacts and they had them and retyped in the local language and professionally printed out. And now this simple comic which illustrates the Father's love, is being distributed all over the that country by the thousands, inviting them into a relationship with the Father through Jesus.

Every project I have had the privilege of working on has been unique in style and format because each one is tailor-made to speak to a different cultural audience. I've done projects in PhotoShop, or hand painted with water colours, and right now I'm working on something that is combining hand painting, photoshop and video. The projects are always different, but I guess one thing I'm continuing to learn and grow in is being sensitive to hearing God during the process and allowing Him to give me input and direction as I research and create things.

Its awesome to think how God knew what He was doing in my life while I was growing up. He was the one that gave me artistic ability and a desire to be a part of bringing His Kingdom to earth. As I've awkwardly followed His leading, he's brought me to a place where I can be creative in the context of missions. It's amazing and humbling to look back and see without a doubt that God actually took time to think about me and who I am, and find a place that I can do what I love for His Glory.

-NM

 

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YWAMNZ

Ywam New Zealand Ship Tour - Testimony

April 2010 | < Previous | Next >

The YWAM NZ Ship tour - what an experience! For most, the visit from those involved in the tour was short. It was exciting, inspirational, encouraging and informative, but still brief. However, for a small, lucky few it was like a dam opening up. I am privileged to be one of those few.

You see for the last (maybe) three years, I have been consumed by the thought of evangelism - the excitement, the experiences, and of course the prospect of spreading the gospel to the ends of the Earth. But I'm not going to lie, I'm intelligent and the idea of University is strong. I would absolutely love to enter that swarm of academia, intelligence and people that have the same drive and spirit to expand their minds. This actually suits missionary work perfectly; doctors are always needed, team management people and such, people who have the skills not only to deliver the word of Christ but to deliver some sort of assistance at the same time. So what was the problem? Well I don't want to be a doctor. In fact, although the idea of University is overwhelmingly attractive, no course in any university even remotely interests me. I actually want to get into 3D Animation, which requires no qualification higher than an advanced diploma. AS well as this, what skills could a 3D Animator bring to someone on the other side of the world in order to give them the chance to experience the love of Christ?

And so I felt stuck, stranded, left out to dry. I had absolutely no idea what i was going to do.

And yet out of all of those involved in the Ship Tour; out of all of those involved in various subsections of YWAM; the people who ended up at my youth group, were those involved in Create Emerge. In fact when they said what they were involved in, about five of my fellow youthgroupians turned and stared at me. It was most certainly a God-send. Here was not only an idea but an actual group who merged two opposing sides of my life. A group that took my passion for design, for movement and for media, and squished it with my unrelenting thoughts of missionary work. It was an opportunity. A turning point in my life. A revelation of sorts.

And so the dam has let go my passions. It has managed to take my ever-widening life and channel it in a direction, in one direction. For some, myself included, we have had these huge events that change our lives; events like the acceptance of Christ, maybe Parachute, or a mission trip. But for me, the event that changed me, the one that gave me hope was an hour session with YWAM. What an experience.

-KW

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music in missions media

Music in Missions Media

January 2010 | < Previous | Next >

I grew up in Canada with an electric guitar and a hand held tape recorder. In high school I used to sit around and wait for ideas, be it riffs or choruses or verses, and if something came I'd quickly hit the big red button so I wouldn't forget it. Never getting around to working these ideas into actual songs ensured these ideas were kept “magnetic” and useless.

I finally started finishing music in first year of university because I was forced to do so for a song writing class. At the same time as taking this course, I was taking a recording course, and that combination set me off in the direction of my dream vocation - making music full time. I went to an audio recording school the next year and learned about the technicality of it all, but I was still much more concerned with musical composition than circuits and signal flow. When I got home, my parents sacrificially helped me buy a recording studio and for the next year I sat around with my cousin in the studio making our dream album (this was my main purpose for buying a studio), while supplementing my income by taking some clients. All I could possibly get wasn’t quite enough. Eventually I found my way onto a ‘missions media’ team with a bunch of amazing people, calling themselves Create Emerge, who actually had some use for what I had to offer in music composition and audio engineering. The only problem was they were going to be located in Australia and I couldn’t take my studio gear out there - too expensive to ship. Thus, I’ve been using portable gear, like a laptop with a couple of audio programs, a keyboard controller (like a mini-piano), and a microphone or two.

Now, a good amount of the time is spent sitting in an office with my headphones on, plugging away at that keyboard, making layer after layer of instrumental music for whatever video production the team is working on.

I’ve had the chance to work on a pretty wide range of projects, from full length dramatic films presenting Jesus to specific people groups which required music in a culturally appropriate style, to much more stylistically familiar music for projects intended to inspire a young Western audience to engage in missions. It’s always been about finding a balance. At first I was a bit frustrated with the idea of needing to write music to please the ears of people. I wanted to pursue creating music that might just disrupt the listener because something about it sounds fresh and new. While I still have the desire to pursue ‘brave new waves’, I have found that there is a lot of creativity needed in the balance of it all. If there isn’t something new and inspiring in a soundtrack piece, it gets boring pretty quick - but if there’s too much sonically going on at the wrong moment you’ve lost the audience’s concentration on the visuals. Finding something fresh while still being relatively minimalist is probably for me the hardest way to approach writing, but it seems to produce the best results for what we do. ‘Minimal’ is relative, and there have been plenty of opportunities for me to explore that have translated well to the screen, even providing opportunities for the video editors to go to a new level of creativity.

I’m happy to say songwriting is becoming more of a discipline for me. On a Monday morning I try to come in expecting to get something down, and I think my quality of work has improved because of this.

As far as music composition goes, I mainly use a program called Reason, which contains nearly all the elements for a piece of music that you could want . For example, I don’t play drums, but with this software and the keyboard controller, I am now able to program a beat to a song with all the nuances, to the point where a listener wouldn’t know that it wasn’t a real live drummer - AND I can adjust any timing issues I might have had in the recording pass. I’m also able to use instruments that are well beyond my price range, like a piano from Abbey Road studio, or a Hammond B4 organ through a warm, gushy Leslie speaker cabinet.

For audio mixing I have a program called Pro Tools. The video editors give me their audio files once the timeline of the video is set, and I put it into Pro Tools and use the bag of tricks that the program offers to bring all the levels to a nice place and compensate for any poor audio quality

The best bit about Pro Tools for me at the moment is that it integrates with Reason really well, so you can be working on a ‘song in a box’ in Reason while bringing in acoustic elements through Pro Tools (eg. recording an Egyptian oud melody, acoustic guitar, singing, beat boxing, narrating).

I didn't just join this team because of the opportunity to make music. I joined because God, through this team, was opening my heart up to his love for me, and consequently for the world. I didn’t have a lot of passion for the Kingdom or a clear idea of what it was all about when I first joined, but through the relationships that were formed around a great purpose, I couldn’t help but eventually begin to get energized by the Perpetrator towards the purpose of bringing the Kingdom on earth as it is in heaven. I’m hopeful that God will continue to use what I have to offer in music, but am grateful that in the past four years of being a part of this team that it hasn’t been all about music for me. New passions, interests, and skills have grown in me alongside the music, that I didn’t see coming. These new things have rounded out my life experience and given me more to reinvest into the Kingdom - and I know with God there can only be more of that coming.

-CD

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Pacific Link - Open Day

Pacific Link - Open Day

Nov 2009 | < Previous | Next >

Since our last entry the Pacific Link has left the Queen's Wharf in Wellington and is on it's way down to Dunedin. During its brief stay in the 'Windy City' our Youth Connection Team made it down to the dock for a tour, and we got to see first hand the amazing work that Marine Reach is involved in througout the South Pacific.

You can check out the full details of the ship and the Marine Reach ministry at www.marinereachministries.com, but here are some interesting insights into life onboard the Pacific Link that caught our attention. For example, how about doing 1 load of laundry per week? For a colour separator like me that would be a challenge! Then there's the water situation. There is a desalintor on board that can create 1 ton of fresh water per day, but when you're sailing to a pacific Island and sharing that between all the crew for drinking, showering, and everything else, that means the showers can be limited to 60 seconds per person. The heart of the ship though is the health clinic. When the ship docks in Fiji, Samoa, or other Islands, the clinic becomes the main hive of activity with people coming from all over to receive free treatment from the Marine Reach staff. There is one main operating room and a small waiting room. The operating room specializes in opthemology and dentistry but has many resources to provide people with primary health care as well. If people come with eye problems they are also able to receive a pair of donated glasses.

Above: Images from the Pacific Link Open Day in Wellington

The amazing thing is, Marine Reach New Zealand is giving their ship away to YWAM Australia to help them start a nautical ministry to reach out to Papua New Guinea in a similar way. In doing this Marine Reach have embarked on an inspiring voyage of faith, trusting that God will provide another ship. If you want to be a part of the Pacific Link farewell in New Zealand you are welcome to come tour the ship during it's "Open Days" as it docks the following locations:

Ship Tour Dates

 

 

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YWAMNZ

Ywam New Zealand Ship Tour

Sept 2009 | < Previous | Next >

Scheduled for Oct - Dec. ‘09
Believing for another wave of young Kiwis to the nations

A Voice & A Wave In 1982 a voice that challenged and spurred the Western body of Christ to integrity and action, became only an echo as the person behind it died and was buried in the ground. The church reeled at the news of the deaths of Keith Green, his children, and his friends. After the initial shock, Keith’s wife, Melody, felt like God wanted to use Keith’s life and testimony beyond the horrible tragedy. “The Keith Green Memorial Tour” soon began. His call of missional ‘no compromise’ echoed not only in North America but was carried on a Mercy Ship called Anastasis around New Zealand in 1983. The Anastasis visited many ports calling people to obey the Great Commission, and resulted in an unprecedented wave of young people that responded to ‘the call to go’. The following year saw missions training programs and bible colleges in NZ packed to capacity and over 1000 young New Zealanders launched into foreign missions. New Zealand became the world’s number one missionary sending nation per capita. It is from this historical precedence that the Ship Tour grows. The discipleship call has not changed, although the voices have, and YWAM New Zealand & Marine Reach Ministries are gearing up to sound the call again, 26 years later.

The Ship From October to December, 2009, the ‘Pacific Link’ ship will be a hub, traveling to 8 different port towns/cities in New Zealand. It will spend about a week in each port, with a variety of events planned around it... school group tours, on-board presentations, and city-wide youth events. In the three to four weeks before the ship docks, there will be teams serving in the community, and presenting a missions call in Christian high schools, churches, youth groups, and young adults groups,

The Tour Vision To engage the youth of New Zealand in a mission focused way of life, providing them with training opportunities, challenging their faith and connecting them to the poor and needy of the world.

We believe that God wants to champion His call on every single young Kiwi to make a profound difference in the lives of others. The tour will present a biblical foundation for missions in every sphere; give young people a current visual image of what missions looks like around the world; and provide a gateway for them to engage in missions ac- tivity within their local community and the world abroad.

The Create Emerge Role To facilitate, train, and provide media resources for the ‘Youth Connection Teams’ which will be focussed on giving missions presentations in Christian high schools, churches, young adults groups, and youth groups.

 

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equip

Equip - Preparing your team for outreach

Aug 2009 | < Previous | Next >

Every year, thousands of teams set off on short term trips to share the gospel. Language and cultural barriers can make clear communication of the gospel incredibly difficult. What if we could equip them to witness in an engaging and culturally relevant way? Equip makes sure to provide outreach teams with the tools and information necessary for them to be as effective as possible for the time they are on the field.

Eliza, an Australian missionary, testifies: "On our recent outreach to Jakarta, we spent one day with a family in a slum. We showed them the “More than Dreams” video of a young Muslim lady who had a vision of Isa Al Masih (Jesus) and became a believer. Two of the ladies decided to give their lives to Christ."

“are we doing all that we can to make the Gospel heard and understood?”


Last century, pioneers began to equip teams with tracts and a hand powered cassette tape player. Today, teams can fill their iPods, laptops, MP4 players and mobile phones with evangelistic films and gospel messages. Our Equip training package helps people to embrace these new technologies in order to reach the people in their heart language.

JoAnne reports: "When we got to Reny’s house, he and his Muslim family were not as cheery as usual. They got the notice that their community would be demolished in 2009 and all residents would be forced off the land. As the perfect combat tool against hopelessness, we were armed and ready with Create International’s Refleksi film in Indonesian on our laptop. The movie, which they really connected with, was a segueway to talking about Isa Al Masih. Reny’s family thanked us for telling them more about Jesus’ news, which they had never been told before."

To find out more and watch the Equip promo video click here

 

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Engaging Hope

Engaging Hope - Becca

July 2009 | < Previous | Next >

If you’ve managed to get a hold of the Engage DVDs, then you’ve probably met Becca. She’s the birth attendant who sings. I thought I’d give you a little update, in her own very articulate words, about what she’s been up to over the past year. She recently returned from a trip with her team which took them to South East Asia as well as West Africa for a number of months. Here’s a story from her time in Africa:

It’s good to be here. It’s really good. There are gorgeous tree-covered mountains that surround the city (that feels like a big village with dirt roads and visible waterfalls) and we’re getting the students started at two hospitals in the area. The first birth we assisted with was a mother who is living with HIV. Hope continues to be confessed in exile. The hospital is small with a very low level of equipment, but the midwives we work with are full of life.

I was checking on the staff and students in the labour room who were assisting the midwife, and arrived just in time to see a baby boy born blue and limp. We rushed him to the theatre and did our best effort at resuscitation despite only having the equipment that our team had in our labour room bag. After 30 minutes he took his first spontaneous breath and after an hour was transferred to a larger hospital. I went to visit him and his mother, a beautiful woman called Sabina, at the regional hospital and he was in the intensive care unit, but breathing really well. The nurses said he had greatly improved in the night and have a lot of hope that he will recover.

There’s really nothing as terrible as seeing a baby born without the great cry of deliverance that is meant to come. This week I’ve been thinking about Jesus, born into the world in such vulnerability - God’s great confession of hope, His own bearing of a child in exile. The students that helped with the resuscitation and vocally interceded the whole time caught a clear glimpse of why we do this - of the battle that surrounds each birth and the invitation of God to be people that will engage those terrible moments with hope and compassion and action.”

-CD

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latest presentation - Marion

Reverse The Curse - Marion

Jan 2009 | < Previous | Next >

A dance studio inside a portable building was the venue for one of our latest Emerge presentations. The hosts of this particular gathering was a 55+ group, a group not renowned so much for its dancing, at least as far as we know, but rather for its commitment to support and pray for missions.

It’s not surprising then that we were invited to share some of the stories of people God is using in inspiring ways around the world. We were able to give them follow up reports on stories they had already been tracking with and praying for, share with them a little of our recent journey including the completed Engage Missions Mobilisation Package and give them a sneak preview of our latest story from Cambodia.

Our latest story is the journey of Marion, a 70 year old Grandma from Adelaide, Australia who God has called to set up a fruit drying factory called RTC (Reverse The Curse) to employ landmine victims in Cambodia. This is a lady who previously had no experience in business or drying fruit. Despite this God has led her each step of the way and at times given specific details on how to solve problems as they arise.

Get this for example, she needed a machine to dry fruit, however to buy the machines would have cost more than she could afford. So, God showed her a creative way to modify air-conditioning units so that the warm air being produced while cooling the office could be harnessed and used to dry the fruit.

RTC currently employs 25 landmine victims who are viewed in Cambodian society as having got what they deserve through karma and most often end up begging on the street or making next to nothing in some sort of labour. Not long after beginning this project a few years ago, her staff began to ask about Jesus, and soon they were asking her about having a church. Now, most of her staff are coming back to their place of work on Sunday mornings for a church service, and deeper transformation is taking place. The confidence level of these people has increased enormously, the burden of supporting their families is dramatically assisted, and there is a real atmosphere of love,trust and family in the factory. Marion hopes to eventually employ 100 workers. She’s recently bought a farm and has plans to build a new factory, accommodation for workers and a church.

This is a story which is still in what we call ‘rough cut’ stage of production (you know, the stage with lots of disclaimers) but despite that, it has had quite an impact. I’m sure the 55+ / 70 year old grandma connection may have had something to do with it in our latest presentation, however I have a sneaking suspicion that this example of radical obedience is going to inspire young and old alike.

For more information about this story check out the RTC site:

www.reversethecurse-cambodia.com

-AW

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Can't lose Journey

Can't Lose Journey - Jackie Pullinger

Dec 2008 | < Previous | Next >

Jackie Pullinger is one of those modern day ‘ordinary heroes’ who have greatly inspired me in my journey. Her voice can be heard in the ‘Voices Intro’ segment on ENGAGE, saying “I’m longing for those who will be rescued out of slavery to go back to those who are still in slavery”.

As a young woman, Jackie knew she was called to missionary work but was turned down by every organization she applied to, being told she was too young and inexperienced. So, on the advice of a trusted minister, she bought a one-way ticket on the cheapest boat she could find, and prayed about where she should disembark. Eight stops later, she felt God prompting her to get off in Hong Kong. She was quickly moved by the plight of criminals, prostitutes and drug addicts in the infamous ‘Kowloon Walled City ’, one of the poorest and most dangerous places in the world - a ‘no man’s land’ which was not policed and largely under the control of gangs.

In a recent San Franciso Chronicle article, Jackie describes her beginnings…”I walked around Hong Kong and saw people dying, kids in the street, old people with begging bowls,” she recalled. “I thought maybe I could manage one street.” She chose that street and quickly began distributing food to the poor and taking them to hospitals when in need of a doctor. She also stepped into the middle of gang fights, pleading for the brawlers to stop. “ 1

Today, more than 40 years later, she still ministers in Hong Kong through ‘St. Stephen’s Society’ www.ststephenssociety.com/flash/index.html , the ministry she founded . According to the same article, “Jackie Pullinger doesn’t look like a typical Christian missionary. Popping out of a car in traffic-choked streets, she wears stylish sunglasses and long strings of pink beads over a sparkling blouse…Now in her early 60s, Pullinger has spent the past 41 years picking gang members, prostitutes and heroin junkies off Hong Kong’s streets and steering them into rehabilitation programs. ‘It’s a journey, a can’t-lose journey,’ she said.” 1

She has left a huge legacy, rescuing hundreds from lives of bondage to drug addiction. Although St Stephens Society is explicitly Christian, the success rate of their intensive prayer-driven rehabilitation programs have won favour with the Hong Kong government, which donated the land where their new centre was recently built. “Today, Pullinger organizes weekly meetings in the roughest Hong Kong neighborhoods and offers shelter and rehabilitation to 200 heroin addicts, prostitutes, street kids and gang members.” 1

Many of the rehabilitated former drug addicts have since become staff members with St Stephens Society or missionaries in other parts of Asia - those who were rescued out of slavery are going back to those who are still in slavery. Jackie’s inspiring biography, entitled ‘Chasing the Dragon ’, is available from Christian bookstores or online.

1 ‘Hong Kong Missionary Uses Intensive Prayer to Help Heroin Addicts’ , by Jacob Baynham, San Francisco Chronicle, Friday, December 14, 2007

-KB

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Preemptive Love Coalition

Preemptive Love Coalition

Dec 2008| < Previous | Next >

About three years ago I had the privilege of travelling to a mountainous region of the Middle East often referred to as Kurdistan or literally ‘The Land of the Kurds”. I spent about a month being immersed in Kurdish culture, including multiple sessions of drinking chai (tea) with the locals and listening to their stories…of which they have many. I fell in love with the people of this hospitable but very “non-touristy” corner of the world.

The Kurds have a long history of being despised and mistreated . In fact, a well known Kurdish proverb says “The mountains are our only friend”. Over the last twenty or so years, the Kurds have periodically been in the news, especially during the 1980’s and early ‘90s when Saddam Hussein’s forces carried out a series of 281 chemical attacks and experiments on the Kurds of northern Iraq. The most devastating attack occurred in 1988 in the town of Halabja, killing thousands of people, most of them civilians. It’s estimated that 3,200-5,000 people died on the spot and 7,000-10,000 were injured. Thousands more died of horrific complications, diseases, and birth defects in the years after the attack. In fact, experts believe that those 281 chemical attacks have contributed to the high rate of life-threatening heart disease among children in the region today.

So, when I recently heard about a couple of guys who are currently living in Iraq and using some really innovative methods to make a difference in the lives of Iraqi children who are suffering from heart conditions, I was eager to find out more. They call themselves The Preemptive Love Coalition and here’s what they say about themselves on their website www.preemptivelove.org

“We are a few Americans living as civilians in Iraq. No ammo. No guns. Just armed with love and the profits from your purchases , we give away what we call ”preemptive love.” We want to do something to contribute to the future of these wonderful people. In order to accomplish that, we sell hand-made Iraqi shoes that are truly amazing. We use all the proceeds to fund heart surgeries for children who would otherwise die without some sort of outside help.”

-KB

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Upick

Parable - Land In Process

Dec 2008| < Previous | Next >

I grew up in an area with very abundant produce farms; especially berries. You'll often see signs inviting the public to drop by a farm and pick for yourself, and once you've filled your buckets you pay by weight. There seems to always be enough for the farmer to be able to offer this and to make the shipments to their major buyers as well.

I've also travelled to parts of the world that seem completely inhospitable to organic life – the earth looks cracked and dead, there hasn't been a drop of rain for months, and if you wanted you could
scoop a handful and put it in a shaker to salt your food. You marvel at its starkness (like the salt flats of Utah, the Arctic Tundra, the Sahara Desert), and then you get out of there.

Jesus compares us to land in Mark 4, in the well known parable of the Sower. The farmer seems to scatter seed everywhere, regardless of the land's quality. There's the seed on the path where the birds decimate everything, there's the rocky ground, the land with thorns, and then there's the good soil that has these varying crop yields – 30, 60, or 100 times what was sown. Wouldn't a good farmer abandon the infertile land, identify the soil with the highest production capability and concentrate her efforts there?

Potential - Humanity in Process

A farmer would have to be reckless to sow valuable seed as indiscriminately as portrayed in this parable. God would have to be recklessly hopeful to invest himself in humanity so indiscriminately at the highest cost. But God isn't reckless. His hope is informed by his infinite intelligence. He created us in His image and sees clearly the potential of every one of us that has lived and is living. The seed God sows is His likeness – it's the Word – Jesus, the Son of God. He's so confident in the seed's life-giving power and our potential to grow, that He claims in Isaiah 55, '(my Word) will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire'.

God is going to do what he set out to do in the creation, and is committed to co-operating with humanity in this vision from beginning to end (Gen 1:28, Mat 28:19-20). His Kingdom, this fertile land all over the earth that is to be a dwelling place for God and man together, is coming. As we choose to open up the ground of our own hearts, He comes. As we choose to extend the Word beyond ourselves to the ground he leads us to cultivate, He comes.

Will we co-labour with this recklessly hopeful, loving God to produce in ourselves and in all of creation the full potential of the harvest? This is our commission.

-CD

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