New Wine  – Hillsong
Spirit of the Living God – Vertical Worship
Love on Fire – Jeremy Riddle
Defender – UpperRoom
Surrounded (Fight My Battles) – UpperRoom
Spirit Lead Me – Michael Ketterer and Influence
Im Listening – Chris McClarney
Lily of Valley – MuteMath
Way Maker – Leeland
Yes I Will – Vertical Worship
You are my champion – Dante Bowe
Ever Be – Kalley
Tremble//What a Beautiful Name – Phil Wickham
You’re the only one –  Chris Renzema
Afio Mai/Peace
Broken Prayers – Riley Clemmons
Fighting for Me – Riley Clemmons
Run to the Father – Matt Maher
Nothing Else – Cody Carnes
Remind me youre here  – Jason Gray
Make Room – Jonathan McReynolds
Gallows – Jess Ray
Angels we have heard on high – Phil Wickham

During the first break, I called over all four of the women from Rapid City. I told them the story from my time in Louisville. We were all encouraged by God working in the hearts of the people in Rapid City. Later in the week, one of the women emailed the following, someone “mentioned that you have Ugandan connections. We have many questions about taking healing groups to the Hands of Love ministry in Uganda as early as next May. Our hope is to share it to the staff on their two campuses. The 180 staff members serve more than 2200 orphaned and abandoned children. Is there any way we may talk with you tomorrow before the afternoon session starts?”

Needless to say, we talked. As many of you know, God continues to place Uganda in my path. I have yet to travel to this country even though I had tickets purchased earlier this year. All in due time.

In that brief conversation, God brought about numerous Kingdom connections including my friends Dorothy Taft with The Market Project , Mike Studdard with Africa Bible Project, and more. I told these ladies that God keeps bring Uganda in front of me. Then these God-fearing women of God said, “yes of course. We were praying last night about you joining us in Uganda in 2020”. So we are prayerfully considering what God would have us do together for His Kingdom purposes. Please pray with us.

Below are a few quotes from participants of the Denver trauma healing equipping session. The Spirit was moving in remarkable ways. Praise His Name.

• As a domestic abuse survivor this curriculum gives me hope. In my own experience as well as that of many of my friends who are domestic abuse survivors, the church’s handling of abuse can be just as damaging, if not more so than the original abuse. This curriculum is an encouraging resource to help churches start to do a better job of dealing with a complex and very often dangerous situation.
• My initial intent was to gather information to take to a specific group in the missions field. However, I find this training is so valuable in everyday life. We all know people with “heart wounds” who can benefit from this model and curriculum.
• Instead of just coming to learn and hear information, we were allowed to experience the training through personal application. This would translate into us knowing the information provided in the course deep in our souls.

I had no idea what to expect about this conference. I did not know if 5 or 500 people would attend the breakout sessions. People are extremely interested in trauma healing and Jesus graciously allowed 200-300 people to attend the two breakout sessions. People from all across the US and around the world.

Read below about Jesus: The Ultimate Dot-Connector!

Chris and Rebecca*:
They approached me after the first session with other people gathered around. They had a medical emergency while in South America with their youngest son. They thought he was dying and even died. Thankfully he is ok now but they are unable to travel back overseas at this time. They have three older kids who saw the whole situation. They asked for trauma healing for the kids and for them as they help their kids. I told them we offer such things and to contact me.

They walked away and planned to contact me later. I went to hear another speaker. However while in the session I thought how I should have prayed with them. So The Spirit told me to leave the session and go find Chris and pray with him. Mind you that we are at a church building that hosts 26,000 people on Sunday and over 3,000 people are attending this conference and breakout sessions are happening.

I am on the second floor but can see the first floor. I walk out of the session and look down at the main lobby. Yep! You guessed it. Chris is standing downstairs with a man and two women. I assume it is his wife. As I get closer, I realize he is talking with two of my friends.

Chris kindly says that the breakout that I shared was why God brought him to the conference. Praise Jesus! I tell him why I walked down and offered to pray with him. He graciously allowed me. As tears roll down his face, I hug him and tell him that I love him. Keep praying for healing for this family. I plan to see them in early 2020.

Deborah:
From Nigeria and working there. She attended both sessions even though they were the same info. She wrote this email to me: “I am a pastor’s wife, I am a trained counselor with specialty in trauma healing ( interfaith ) From Rwanda. I feel so privileged listening to you talk about faith base trauma healing and I believe God has a purpose for connecting us.” She told me in person that she needs this training even though she is a pastor’s wife and trained counselor.

The previous week I was in Philadelphia for a small gathering for 30+ people from roughly 12 countries regarding trauma healing. One of the men attending . . . from Nigeria. I have already connected him with Deborah.

Other in-person responses who want trauma healing training:
One woman asked for Arabic materials now because she is traveling to Syria, two women working with Somalis – one in MN and one in KS, a Kenyan woman working in Kenya, organization working in Gaza and need for member care, a Christian university in California, university in Nashville, inner healing organization in FL, orphanage in Cincinnati, healthcare clinics, and more. Not to mention all the emails, phone calls and text messages.

I thank Jesus again for your prayers. Keep praying with me!

Dave is a practicing Buddhist who was born and raised in the South yet by his own admission “never experienced Christianity”. When I asked him back in January what he is hoping for in 2019, he answered to “deepen my spirituality.” Later that week, I met with Dave to discuss several matters and give him a Bible per his permission. However, when we met that Friday, he brought his girlfriend, which was great but unexpected.

Much of our conversation centered on me and Amanda getting to know each other. She too was raised in the South, read the Bible for undergraduate projects, and grew up with Hindu friends and enjoyed playing with saris. The discussion included questions about what they thought about Jesus and the Bible to them answering my questions related to Buddhism. I asked Amanda what she found appealing about Buddhism. She responded, “Steve that is the wrong question. The fact that you asked that question implies there is an answer.” As you might imagine, I was left a little confused and wondered what questions I could and could not ask.

At one point, I asked Amanda if she thought this moment and we were real. Her answer will stick with me for awhile. She said, “the idea of this moment is real.” We continued to talk for about two hours. Fun, engaging, mind-boggling conversation. At the end of the conversation, Amanda said another interesting thing. She clearly and directly stated, “I would like to come visit your house some time.” That was shocking for this well-travelled yet still Southern boy. I do not think I have ever had someone invite themselves to my house. We made plans to have dinner with them later in a few weeks. Afterwards, without Amanda around, I gave Dave his first Bible and encouraged him to read Mark and Ecclesiastes. We planned to talk about it later.

Over the past two and half months, Angela, my friend Andrew, and I have visiting with Dave and/or Amanda on multiple occasions. We had dinner with them one evening along with other friends. It was an enjoyable evening of laughter, good food, and silly stories. In February, Andrew and I joined Dave and Amanda for Sunday prayers at their local monastery. Andrew and I observed several new things and asked numerous questions. Side note: one of the most troubling scenes at the monastery was the array of practicing Buddhists – most from Vietnam had been practicing from generation to generation and several others were like Dave and Amanda – born in the South but “never experienced Christianity” as Dave told me previously.

Probably my most encouraging and truly enjoyable times with Dave have been while the two of us sit together at a coffee shop and ask hard, challenging questions of one another. He told me recently that he does not feel like I am trying to convert him. I immediately said, “that’s right. I am not. If I could convince you of something, then someone else could come along and convince you of something else.”

I have been reminded recently that we have a responsibility in proclaiming the Word (Romans 10:14, Mark 16:15) but also that “no one can come to me (Jesus) unless the Father who sent me draws him. Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to me” John 6:44-45. Also I have been reminded that countless have tried in multiple ways to gain salvation/eternal life/enlightenment but “there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved” Acts 4:12.

Pray that Angela, Andrew, others, and I will love Dave and Amanda as ourselves (Mark 12:31) and they will see our love for one another (John 13:35).

More to come. Pray for Dave and Amanda now. May the Spirit of The Living God move in their lives.

So I became aware. Aware of God’s desire for all peoples to know Him. Aware that the Bible does not center on me or man but on God’s glory. Aware that I and you are commanded to make disciples of all peoples. Aware that one day people from every tribe, language, tongue, and nation will gather around the throne to worship the Lamb. Aware that missions exists because worship of the One True God does not.

In that same year, some friends of mine made me aware of unreached peoples (3.6 billion unreached people in the world today) and the 10/40 Window (Of those 3.6 billion people, 88% live in or near the 10/40 window). These particular friends were working among Muslims (In the 10/40 window there are 724 million Muslims). They invited me to travel in the summer of 1998 with them and a team of other college students to a country called Azerbaijan  I thought Azer-bai-what?? Where is that located? I was given a book called Operation World which provides an overview and prayer needs for the different countries and peoples of the world.

My time in Azerbaijan had challenging living conditions and I was sick a lot. However, God chose to expose that small team to amazing and life-altering experiences. We were able to meet several people of peace and even enter into a small town that only had Westerns visit once previously. During that time, we were invited to stay with the leaders of that town and eventually give them their first ever Bible in their language. God opened and continues to open the hearts of men and women around the world to His love including Muslims.

I truly believed that God called me to make disciples among Muslims for the remainder of my life.

So in 1999, I moved to Egypt to learn language and culture as my team traveled throughout Northern Africa and the Middle East assisting in various tasks and projects. Needless to say, God used this time to expose me to numerous peoples, experiences, and a life-time full of stories. During my time overseas and in the years ahead, God made it clear that He still wants me to make disciples among all peoples but He was refining that vision.

God wants me to make disciples of young adults who would go to Muslim peoples everywhere they might live.

So over 20 years later, I continue to do the same thing just under a different entity. Angela and I long to equip the church to love and serve the nations here, there, and everywhere.

Dr. Piper’s message at Passion 1997 – Passion for the Supremacy of God

Statement that you heard a refugee say to you:

• They cried because we prayed for them in name of Jesus.
• Thanks for making us feel human again.
• In reference to the Bible: this is my greatest treasure now.
• The Bible gives freedom.

How has your view of refugees changed?

• We are more connected to them than I thought.
• The refugee crisis is not just negative as most media portrays but it is God’s kindness and grace to them to hear gospel in a new country.
• Their journey is not necessarily the worst part of their story. What were they running from?

How has your view of God changed?

• In midst of difficulty, He is there.
• He is calling us to engage the crisis of the ages but we are ignoring it.
• I have more confidence in prayer. He answers in specific ways and abundantly.
• We are called to be an ambassador for refugees back in USA not just be an American ambassador to refugees here.

Guest Post by Jonathan Jones

My prayers are usually filled with lifting up my needs to God, the needs of people close to me, and asking Him to reveal Himself to people I have been sharing the gospel with. Do I think to sit in silence before Him much to see what He has to say about all these things? Usually not. However, God taught me the importance of waiting upon Him this week and tuning my hear to listen to guidance He gives through the Holy Spirit.

We had only one week to spend in Germany, and I felt a slight pressure to make the most of every moment I had during that short span. One emphasis our leaders had brought to our attention was looking for the person of peace in any context who would listen to the gospel and show you to their sphere of influence. We went through several passages in the Bible regarding finding a person of peace such as the woman at the well, Jesus sending out the 72 followers, and Peter coming to Cornelius. We knew on the second day that we needed to spend much more of our time in prayer before engaging the people in the apartment complex we were headed to. Our leaders gave us specific things to pray for as we went and one of them was that God would point us to the people who would have open hearts and had a spiritual hunger. During our morning worship times, there was a time where we simply sat before the Lord and allowed Him to say to us whatever He wanted to say. With this in mind, I wanted to spend plenty of time in prayer before talking with the people there and listening for any guidance or word from the Lord. We split up into two groups to walk around the block a few times and pray for the people we would meet. My wife and I were a pair and we began to walk and pray that God would lead us to the right people that day. As we were walking along, I began to just be silent and listen for anything God had to say. Like I said earlier, I am usually the one doing most of talking but I was filled with a sense of expectancy in what God was going to do this week. Then a name and a place came into my mind as I was listening for the Lord to speak. I thought it was odd at first that I received a specific name and place, and at first I figured that I could have just come up with that in my own mind. As I reflected on it, I sensed that the Lord really had given me a specific name and place for someone He wanted us to meet. I told my wife that I believed God said we were going to meet Ahmed in front of a specific building.

We finished our time of prayer walking and met back with the rest of our group. They asked me what the plan was, and I told them that God said we were going to meet Ahmed in front of a specific building. My wife and I went to the apartment buildings to find some people to talk to. We did not find many people open to listening to the gospel at first, or there was a language barrier that was difficult to overcome. We even met a few guys named Ahmed, but they were not in front of the building God told me he would be. We went inside the building one more time with a person who invited us in. We stayed and talked with him in limited English for a few minutes but decided it was time to leave when he only wanted to show us some videos on his computer. As we were walking out of that building, there was a man standing right outside the door. I stopped and asked him for his name and where he was from. Our translator spoke his language and we began to talk. I asked him if God could do a miracle in his life, what would he want Him to do? We prayed together after he told me what he wanted God to do for him, then I told him that God did a miracle in my life. He asked what the miracle was and I began to share my testimony and the gospel. As I was sharing with him, I noticed another man standing close by who seemed to be listening very closely to what we were talking about. The man kept moving closer until he was right beside us. I had not met him yet but he obviously seemed to understand the language our translator was speaking. After I finished sharing the gospel with the first man I met outside, I asked him if I could share with him another story about Jesus. He agreed and I shared the story of the prodigal son using some pictures on my phone. At this point, the other man who had been interested in what we were talking about was right beside us as I showed them the pictures and shared the story with them. When I asked the first man I was talking to what prevented him from following Jesus, he told me he was muslim and couldn’t consider following Jesus. The man who came up during our conversation though was still there and he wanted to invite us up for tea. I asked him what his name was, and he told me it was Ahmad and we were right in front of the building God told me he would be in front of. We went up to his apartment to have tea and talk some more. I asked him if we could come back and share more stories about God and he told us he wanted to learn more.

Listening to God during our time in Germany helped me see the real importance in prayer. I was amazed at what God was doing there and how He was giving us His guidance as we waited and listened to Him. This experience has transformed my time in prayer and my realization that I cannot do anything apart from Christ. Waiting on the Lord and listening to Him will be essential to the way I spend my time in America as I seek to share the good news with my neighbors from around the world.

Guest Post by Kacie Jones

The power of prayer is the biggest “take-away” that I have from this experience. Over and over again during our week in Germany, the Lord reminded us of His faithfulness through answering prayers.   On our first day, the training was long, and we did not have as much time to visit the refugee centers.  We’d been encouraged to prayer walk for an hour or so first, but because we only had about an hour and a half we did not spend as much time in prayer.  We jumped straight in by sending two pairs into the center while one pair prayed outside the center.  Though we met people and were able to share the Gospel with them, something was off. Feeling a little defeated and uneasy about our time that day, I didn’t say much to anyone about it.  Later that night, my husband and I talked about how we should have definitely prayed more before entering.  As we joined with our small team, everyone seemed to agree.

The next day as we met with our larger team, one of the members spoke up that she’d been impressed upon to pray for unity within our groups.  This was the beginning of a day filled with prayer for our group as a whole.  As we arrived to the neighborhood we’d work in, we prayed more than ever for very specific things, and then we would listen and wait.  He would answer.  During one of our walks around the block of our center, my husband was given an extremely clear name and location of a man that we would meet. Later that afternoon while sharing with another man who lived there, this individual- the one God had shown my husband, walked right up and joined the conversation in the exact spot told to my husband.  Our team was eventually invited to his apartment to have tea and continue sharing with him and his roommate. Everyone we’d met was invited to a picnic at the park the next day, and though he did not come, his roommate did.

At the picnic our friend’s roommate enjoyed conversation and a lot of soccer. Through conversation we found out that this man had some influence from followers of Jesus in his life.  Another man that came to the picnic was a friend we had briefly met as we were leaving the center.  As he arrived to the picnic he immediately greeted us by name.  He had certainly seemed to be a person of peace, which is something we’d been praying for.  My husband was able to share with him, and he asked to hear more.

The next day, we went to our center again to see this man who was eager to hear more.  Everyone around the center was busy painting, as it seemed to be a workday.  Though we did not see the friend we intended to meet, we were able to meet with the roommates again.  They were eager to learn and read from the Bible, but we did not have an interpreter and communication was limited.   We left that day not knowing for sure if we’d be able to return the next day.

That night we were told of two guys, who were believers, that could possibly meet the next day with my husband and these men that we’d come to love as friends. That evening we got the text that everything was worked out, and my husband joked that God had already answered his prayer before he’d voiced it.

Though this only scrapes the surface of what I saw God do in Germany, it still amazes me how easily we forget His faithfulness. Sometimes we get so busy trying to do the work, but He gently reminds us that it is all about Him. We must abide in Him. Maintaining constant communication with our Father is the only way to serve Him effectively.

“Prayer does not fit us for the greater works; prayer is the greater works.”
–Oswald Chambers

Guest Post by Andrew Schniepp

They used to be so far from my mind. I saw them on TV. I experienced them from afar with my friends and family. However, I never understood the full magnitude of those days. I would always think to myself… it’s only one day.  Germany, for me, was much like a wedding day. It was an incredibly special time with the Author of my life. It was one of those moments in life where I offered everything I had to God. And He didn’t leave me hanging at the altar.

Months before Germany, I spent time prepping, praying, and learning different ways to talk with others about Jesus. People asked about Germany and what I was going to be doing while I was there. I simply responded, love people and talk to them about Jesus. Basically, I was saying, “I do.” to what Jesus commands. But like any bride or groom, I’m not sure if I knew what I was getting myself into.

In Germany, God was and is on the move. We prayed and He spoke. He told us where people were going to be and what their names were before we even met them. He opened closed hearts to His goodness. People who once totally rejected the notion of Jesus as King expressed desire to read what is true in His Word. Someone even decided to make Jesus the Lord of their life in the middle of a train station! In short, when we offer all we have to God, He responds.

Germany was a time for me much like a wedding day. It was a sweet, tangible time where I can look back and see how much God loves me and the rest of His children. However, our relationships don’t stop at wedding days. We are in relationship with a living God who speaks and loves us on days that we are angry, sad, and question whether He even cares. It is in these wedding day moments where we truly offer it all to Him that we hear His voice. It is not because He loves us more in these moments, but because we depend on His voice to guide us in these moments so we actually end up listening.

There is an advertisement campaign in Germany that continually presents the question, “What is your next move?” These advertisements are for cigarettes and they all come with a disclaimer that “Smoking can kill.” After wedding days like Germany, that is a great question. Are we asking ourselves what our next move is? Are we willing to kill ourselves and depend on God for the days after the wedding? He promises to continue to show up.