This may be the last update for the week...maybe

Right now we are at Bennie's house again.  Yesterday we did get to spend time at Ganas which is a house for children whose parents are either in jail , abandoned them or had to give them away because they couldn't financially provide for them.  We cleaned floors in the dorms and dining room and cleaned bathrooms.  Then we got to play with the kids.  There is about 25-30 kids/teens that live there.  The SOBA team and KC team will be heading back there next Friday and Saturday to do a VBS for them. 

Yesterday and today have been days to kind of recover/relax and get ready for going back to the jungle.  We all went to the hospital on Wednesday night.  Melissa is still needing to regain her strength as she is fighting a stomach infection.  Please keep praying for her so she may rejoin the team.  She has been staying at Bennie and Patty's house for the past few days.  She was pretty sick on the drive to Quito from Manta.  
Bethany, Haley and Sarah were treated for traveler's diarrhea no parasites!!!  YAY!!!  We were given meds and 6 Pedialytes to all drink over three days!!

So again the goal is to get as healthy as we can before leaving tomorrow morning at 8am.  We are joined with the Kansas City team tonight- they arrive around 11:30pm.  Tomorrow we leave and are very excited (yes, in the midst of getting sick) to get back to the people we have met and left.  I realize a lot of our updates have been about our sickness, and I haven't really spent time sharing about all the amazing times we have had. 

We will being hosting a VBS in the village Monday- Wednesday.  Then, Thursday is a free day!!! Friday and Saturday we'll spend the morning at "Ganas" the house for children.  Then we'll spend the afternoons in a Park near the church serving alongside the members of La Vina!  Then Sunday, we'll have church with La Vina (our first Sunday in QUITO!) and then we will head back on Monday! It'll fly by!!! 

Thank you all for your prayers! 

Update: Words from Haley

Hey this is Haley and right now we are in Quito.  We just finished dinner with Bennie and his family at his house.  Which was really good to have a sit down dinner at their house that was the first time SOBA got to eat at their house.

Last week when we were in the jungle and i thought it was amazingly beautiful.  I loved all the different kinds of butterflies there were.  There was one in particular butterfly that I really loved seeing- is super pretty it's black with white swirls and on the inside of the wings it's blue and black with a red spot.  Because I am the only girl from our school who isn't afraid of bugs i was the official "bug exterminator" for the girls.  I knew my role- to come running every time I heard a scream or a shrek!!

From the moment we arrived the people who greeted us were very nice and hospitable.  Especially the pastor's wife, Sanda!  When we were all sick she became all of our "Moms" and took care of us.  She brought us special tea at night.


The kids are sooo sweet!!  It's really cool to see them grow in interaction with us and be so happy that we are there.  And by teaching them a clapping game i learned in high school; it was really fun to hear and learn all the words in English! They are soo cute when they are saying it back.  Can't wait till VBS in the jungle.

I'm still very tired and exhausted.  Please pray that I'd be renewed, especially when the KC team comes tomorrow.  There is still over a week left! Plenty of time left. 

We are in Manta right now! which is a beautiful coastal city!  we left our village yesterday around 1pm...we thought we were taking a taxi but realized we could 'catch the bus.'  so we all ran to the bus as he stopped right before crossing the river!  we made it to the bus and then took the ferry across....i have pictures but basically the bus drove up on a wooden flat boat and they chained us down and off we went across the river!!!  it was exciting and fun!  Then, we took three buses to get to Manta (the last bus ride was 11 hours and started at 8pm last night) we arrived early this morning!!  We were able to go to the beach today which was a lot of fun.  We had lunch with Bennie, Patty, Ashley and Trinity. 

Yesterday (Sunday morning) we were asked to help with the church's baptisms.  We helped the pastor, Enrique with a total of about 25-30 baptisms in the river.  Many were from the village we had been staying in and the other half were from a neighboring village.  It was really honoring to be a part of this amazing celebration. 

On Saturday- the students and staff helped kill three chickens that were served for Sunday's lunch!  The brave souls to slit the throats were Zach, Michelle and Melissa.  It was definitely an experience!!  Again, we have plenty of pictures to later post.

**Health Update**
Right now we have a pretty healthy team.  Most people were healthy by the time we left last night for our venture to Manta.  We truly believe the "schedule change" that Bennie sent out in his email update was definitely a God thing.  We stayed in the jungle for 10 days (not the original scheduled plan) and it really tested us as a group to push through the difficult times, yet it made us fully depend on God and each other through it all. ThAnK yOu for all your prayers!!!!  

We are all wanting a good night's rest for our last day in Manta tomorrow.  Thank you for all your prayers.  
**Thanks to Patty for letting me use her laptop!!**

We are in the JUNGLE!!!

Hola amigos and prayer warriors!!  Update from the SOBA 2011 group! Right now i (Sarah) am sitting in the town of Palora, which is a 20 minute bus ride from the town of San Jose de Palora (the village we are in).   please excuse the typing and grammatical errors. i am trying to type fast to catch our bus back.  so we got to the town of San Jose last thursday.  we were greated by an amazing and very welcoming group from the community.  right away we realized that this it the ´missionary´experience you read about.  our home is a wooden shack with a slab of cement as the floor.  we are grateful to have our mosquito nets!!! but it has become home and each day we are learning more and more with how to survive and enjoy living in the jungle. 

teaching started on friday with zach. he did an amazing job with the IBS overview.  there were probably 30 students whose ages ranged from teenagers to adults in their 50´s.  it was very awesome to see that they were HUNGRY to know how to study God´s Word from the first day!!!!  Thanks to Bennie´s church we were able to give them all Bibles, some for the very first time and some who needed new ones because of the years of use.   I video taped the passing of the Bibles out and will post when we get back to Boise. 

The next day Bethany taught Obervation through the book of Philemon.  we took a break on sunday.  we attened the church service there and hung out with the people in the community.  they took us on a ´two´hour hike through the amazon, which ended up taking 4 hours because we stopped at a friend´s mother´s house along the way.  then tuesday michelle taught interpretation.  then, haley taught on tuesday with application...and God showed up.  God used us and the fellow church members´/students to pray over one student though her personal prayer ministy.  it was really awesome to see God´s Holy Spirit move all over that room. 

**so i have to skip to other things**  please keep praying for healing.  we have 4 team members who are very sick right now.  Eric, Melissa Haley and Zach.  All of them missed class today and have been sleeping most of the day.  PLEASE pray for healing.  God has healed me, today i feel better....and today is the first day Eric has been really sick.  I was sick for three days.  Bethany has been sick on and off for the past three day.  PLEASE pray for continued protection for Michelle!! She has not gotten sick.  That´s all i can do for now. i will update in few days. sorry!!

Estamos en QUITO, Ecuador!!

We left Miami yesterday afternoon and arrived at Quito early evening (central time).  Last night the SOBA students were able to meet Bennie Gonzales and his family Patty, Ashley, and Trinity.  After dropping off our stuff at La Viña (The Vineyard church) we all piled into Bennie´s SUV.  That´s 12 people ;) in his 7 passenger vehicle!!!! welcome to Quito!!  it was only for a very short distance, so we could experience some local flavor for dinner.  we dined at a street vender and then walked to a small group at some church member´s house.  we got to meet some people who have been a part of La Viña since it first start (about 4ish years ago).  we jumped off the deep end and were quickly immersed into the culture because they were all speaking Spanish muy rapido (VERY FAST).  Melissa, Bethany and Sarah can understand and speak a little bit of Spanish, but for the others it was a ´little bit´of a cultural shock.  ;) BUT they enjoyed just getting to observe and laugh as people spoke Spanish and used their hands to talk, which helped understand what they were saying...kind of. :)   Then we came back to La Viña where we are staying for a few days.  We had very nice cots to sleep on!!! 

Today we are at La Viña and just finished eating breakfast.  The students are prepping for their teachings that begin in a few days.  This morning they met as a group and decided who would be teaching what parts of the Inductive Study Method.  After all their work today, we hope to go down town and walk around Quito´s historical parts of town.  Tomorrow we leave for Puyo.  Please continue to pray for our team and every person we come in contact with. 

Estamos en Cuidad de Sal Largo- :)

Well, guess I (Sarah) need some more brushing up on my Spanish and I'll get plenty of practice down in Ecuador.  We are in Salt Lake City right now.  We drove here yesterday right after church and stayed the night with Melissa's family.  We leave for Miami this afternoon and will have a 13 hour layover and leave in the morning for Quito.  We will arrive in Quito on Tuesday and spend Wednesday getting adjusted to the change and go through some training with Bennie Gonzales.  Then on Thursday we will take a bus to the village town of Puyo and from there go further in to the jungle.  Bennie will leave to go back to Quito that night, but we will have two translators with us.  And Bennie is connecting us to his local contact who is a native of the town/village.  The first few days will be very typical costume of 'warm climate cultures,' we will spend time getting to know one another.  We pray for a supernatural connection with them that surpasses all language barriers.
Then the students will begin their teachings early next week.  Please be praying for them.  We have been told that there will be 40-50 leaders from the communities that will attend the students' teachings.    Each student did really well on Friday and we (Eric, Melissa and myself) KNOW that they will do well.  Please keep them in prayer....it's a very stretching experience, but may of them have said they want to grow in teaching while on this outreach.  I hope to got to an internet cafe by the end of the first week to update again, but for additional updates please sign up at Bennie Gonzales webpage to receive updates form him about our group.  Sign up for SOBA2011 and Summer2011.

www.gonzalesfam.com


Thank you for all your prayers, support and future prayers.  We know we have an amazing family back in Boise, we are very grateful to be commissioned and sent out by true Disciplers.

Vamos a ECUADOR!!

The students are getting geared up for OUTREACH to Ecuador by having a mock teaching tomorrow!  They will get to practice teaching the Inductive Bible Study Method to our SOBA class. Please pray for each SOBA student as they are preparing their teachings for Friday and for next month.   SOBA starts the journey to Ecuador this Sunday.  We will leave after being prayed over during 2^nd Service.  We will enter the Amazon Jungle from the town of Puyo sometime next week. . Please pray for supernatural relationships to be formed with people that we meet, that the Language of Loving God would surpass the barrier of not speaking the same verbal language.   We will be spending a total of 3 to 3.5 weeks in the jungle.  There will be occasional trips out of the jungle, but on mission trips very little is ever really “set in stone.’’  J  The students will be teaching the Inductive Study Method through a few books with some of the possibilities being: Philemon, Titus, Philippians, Colossians, and Ephesians.  Please pray for vision and wisdom for deciding what books to teach and that the needs will be clearly highlighted from God.   SOBA will be teaming up with 4 people from Kansas City North’s Vineyard for the last 10 days of outreach.  Together they will be running a Vacation Bible School in the jungle villages and in the city of Quito.  The heart is to help the leadership in the Jungle Villages learn how to personalize their own VBS and utilizing their own resources.  Please pray for each child that comes through the VBS that they would feel empowered and know they have an important place in God’s Kingdom.  Please Pray for the adults that they would experience their inner ‘child-like’ spirit and enjoy freedom from a child-like faith. 



SOBA 2011 Ecuador Outreach Team
Bethany, Sarah, Haley, Zach, Eric and Michelle (Not Picture: Melissa)



Cultivating a Heart of Love!

Discovering Love from the Apostle John

Update from Hannah  

The last time I wrote was in March or April and I’ve actually learned a ton since then. We’ve done 4 or 5 books I haven’t ever read: 1, 2, 3 John, Gospel according to John, and Revelation. I’ve read the book John before but, I guess I never got to know the character of John.  When I heard it while growing up, I was probably messing around and not paying close attention!! But now, I see how he was an awesome apostle, most of the resource teachers (from SOBA) have referred to the book John as a love story or dubbed it ‘’the chick flick’’ gospel, or something else like that. At first when I heard that I was like, what?

And after we talked about it I was like oh my geez it is; but I discovered that I love the heart John has for the people and for Jesus. All that John was willing to do for Jesus, like take care of his Mom after he died and always pursuing after God, really amazes me.  

Now, we’re doing the last book Revelation (woohoo! party!). And if I am honest, while doing the work I’ll be like, “gosh, I’m so sick of this, I just wanna stop.” BUT then I remind myself that this is the last book and my thought changes to, “lets do this!” Hehehe. But I definitely want to put out there that the SOBA staff have been amazing at encouraging us along the way. They all did School of Biblical Studies, SBS (same kind of school just a different name) or SOBA; so they know how hard it is to concentrate on the last book.  And they just keep encouraging us to finish well, and I know for me, that means a ton. But yah, that’s all for me right now. :-)

Hannah LOVING on one of her neices

Viewing topic of Submission in New Light

Update from Zach

It’s hard to believe that that there’s only two and a half months left!  There are times when it hardly seems like I’ve been here for five months.  Yet, when I reflect back it does seem like that long of a time, because of what I have been learning.  We do more than just go through the New Testament book by book; we have topical studies thrown in to break up the work.  One of the recent topical weeks was a retreat to a cabin the mountains to go through Richard Foster’s book Spiritual Disciplines. 

 Though there was required work (reading and journaling) I must say that it was the most relaxing thing that I have since coming here to Boise.  Being able to get away from everything and be in a rural environment to just focus on the various spiritual disciplines was rewarding. 



Zach grilling hamburgers for a SOBA/VCOM fundraiser! 



Each student selected one of the disciplines to prepare a mini teaching to share with the rest of the group.  The one that I picked was on submission.  And I think I learned the most from being able to study this particular one. I realized how different the world views this topic compared to how God sees this topic.  The difference highlights how twisted the world is compared to how God sees everything that He created.  We (as a society) tend to view submission as a bad thing, yet God views it as a very good thing. 

The reality is that by Christ giving himself up as a sacrifice was the ultimate act of submission.  And even in that ultimate act of submission, society does not view it like that.  Make note, that submission is by no means being a doormat, just looking at Jesus one can see he got on the nerves of people more times than can be counted.  Submission is the willingness to be under the authority of God and the guidelines that He set.  This can create encouragement being under people placed in authority because they themselves are being subject to the Father, too.  

With all this being said there is still a lot that I need to learn about this topic of submission.  As well as learn and incorporate all the other disciplines in to my Christian walk.  These will help me in walking the straight path which the Lord has laid before my feet.  

Being Transformed: by Beginning in the Mind!



Update from HALEY

Haley (Left) with roomie Bethany (right)

A lot has happened since the last time I wrote an update!  We went to Organ were we helped with Bridge Town ministries.  It was very cool to step out in faith and go beyond myself by talking to people that were homeless and actually help them.  I think my favorite part was night strike when I washed homeless people’s feet.  It was amazing! I loved being able to talk and listen to them share about their lives.  It was rewarding to just be able to love on them and make them feel special and happy. It was an awesome time. 

I have been having a great time helping in youth group, here at Vineyard Boise. I help lead a small group at the end of every Wednesday night group.  I love working with the six-grader girls they are so funny.  I love all the other leaders there, too.  They are so nice and the whole experience has been a good break from all the school work we do.  

I also have found a new favorite book in the New Testament, Romans.  God really spoke to me through a particular verse.  “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds, so that you may discern what is the will of God- what is good and acceptable and perfect.” Romans 12:2.  I just love this verse. God really helped me to understand it for the original audience and then how to apply it more for me personally.  It was like a light went off in my head when reading this verse.  That’s why I think the book of Romans is so cool.  Every time we went over it in class, I was hit with something amazing.   

I just can’t wait for what lies ahead as we prepare for the rest of the year and for outreach to Ecuador.<3 Haley



Keeping Running



KEEPING RUNNING update by Michelle



Michelle, Haley, and Bethany
working at a lunch fundraiser for SOBA



From the time I applied to do SOBA, through to when I arrived in Boise (less than a month) God was in control, everything was falling into place.  All I had to do was follow.  Actually, what it really felt like I was doing was running to keep up. 

 

As time has gone on, life has slowed down.  Sure, there is the constant stream of work to keep me busy, but I feel like I have had time to rest, time to catch my breath and just be with God, letting Him love me, change me and prepare me for what He has for me. 

 

In class last week we watched a clip of Team Hoyt. I’d seen this clip a few times before, and always cried as I watched the father compete in triathlons with his disabled son.  It had always spoken to me of the love Father has for us. 

 

This time I saw something different.  As they came to the end of the swim part of the race, and the father lifted his son out of the boat to carry him to the bike, I pictured Father God lifting me up and carrying me in his arms as He ran.  I felt reassured that I am still in the race, although I’m not running like I was, I am still moving forward.  My loving Father who is with me as I ran, also sees my tiredness and gives me times of rest and recovery.  He is also the one who empowers me, encourages me and enables me to run.

 

As I prepare for outreach, which is only a month away, and look forward to future adventures with God, I can stand on the truth that all things are possible with God.  As I press in to Him, He will give me the confidence and strength to do whatever He calls me to.  When I struggle with fear and thoughts that I can’t do it, I will hold on to the three words Team Hoyt uses “YES YOU CAN!”  

Mx

Click the link below to watch a clip from "Team Hoyt" from NBC's The Today Show.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=flRvsO8m_KI 

Portland, OR is the only city in the U.S. to have a Dr. Martens Store

Leaving footprints while stomping around in

Dr. Martens

Update from Michelle

It’s really difficult to know what to blog about from the last month – it feels like so much has happened again. 

Of course, there’s been the deeply impacting National Outreach to Portland.  God was obviously preparing me before we went away, growing my confidence and getting rid of some more of the fear. 



Michelle took this photo in Portland.  We were doing a photo scavengr hunt and this shop was Michelle's favorite.  The only Doc Martin store in the U.S. 

God has continued to challenge me about not hiding the person He has called me to be.

After finishing my last blog with how I long to see the Holy Spirit move through the church and in the world, I’ve loved studying Acts and looking at how the Holy Spirit empowered the early church and the mighty works they did.  The example of Paul, how his life was radically transformed when he met Jesus and how he never stopped preaching the gospel, even though he ended up in prison for his faith. 

Even when standing trial before King Agrippa, Paul is not afraid to present the gospel and share his testimony.  I find it interesting that Agrippa, in Acts 26:27 says to Paul “Are you so quickly persuading me to become a Christian?”, to which Paul’s response is a comical “whether quickly or not” – obviously that is Paul’s intention – that’s what he is called to do. 

I love how the book of Acts ends.  Paul, under house arrest in Rome, is “proclaiming the kingdom of God and teaching about the Lord Jesus Christ with all boldness and without hindrance” – what a challenge to us to take every opportunity we are presented with to share Jesus and do the miracles He did.

Post from Staff's Perspective~~ LIBBY!

Read from what a Staff's Perspective!

Hear from Libby



Bottom Row L->R: Bethay, Libby, Zach and Eric
Top Row L->R: Michelle, Haley, Terra, Hannah and Sarah

          For as long as I can remember learning has always been a characteristic that has marked my Dad and Mom. There seem to be stacks or shelves of books in every room of their house; I love that. After graduating high-school, I did not go on to college but instead joined a missions organization for several years. My parents never hinted or made me feel bad for not going to college, but instead trusted I was learning in the place I was at.

        Now, as I am quickly approaching 30 I have decided to go to college:) Opportunities to learn and grow are all around you and I; the School of Biblical Action is one of those avenues for myself and our students to learn. I love when our students' eyes light up and they say "I never knew that's what it meant" or "Did you know...?!" or even when they are so tired but still push themselves to take make the most of this time.

         For me, I have been learning that the Bible always has something new to teach me, living out what the Bible teaches takes discipline, that God values both my emotions and logic to learn and that teaching others is a deep privilege. I am so blessed to call this my job. 
Post Entry for March 13th

All the way from

NEW YORK to OREGON Read about an impacting time that Bethany had from national outreach

Our school went to Portland, Oregon a couple weeks ago for National Outreach.  We worked with an organization called Bridgetown Ministries.  

Among many things I learned, one of the biggest is this…

I am realizing that I lived life so consumed by my schedule; and I have missed a lot of opportunities to share the love of Jesus with people who are screaming out for someone to confirm that there is hope in Him.

Bridgetown’s vision for their ministries is simply “to love people, because people matter.” I heard this many times while working with them and it grew on me more and more. This doesn’t always take the face of a homeless man or woman, though they do need a lot of love poured into them! This takes the face of tons of different kinds of people. There’s no specific age, race, gender, or type of people who need me to show them love every day. People are everywhere, just start doing it!

It probably won’t happen by me preaching to them all the time. Conversations can lead there, which is great and can result in powerful things. BUT there needs to be conversation before that can even come up.

What bad can come from showing someone God’s love by simple things?

Am I scared because I might get a bad reaction or make a fool of myself? So what? My reaching out to someone, introducing myself, and just showing that I want to listen… it might make someone’s day, or even change their entire outlook for that week… or it might have even bigger impact than that. I’ll never know until I talk to them.  So among lots of things, this has had the biggest impact on me recently :)  Even in the midst of a busy schedule, I am taking the time to be purposeful with starting these conversations.

Haley brings the California Sun through a big SMILE

Here how God has been transforming her from the inside-out

           

Blog Entry for 3/ 6/11

My name is Haley and I’m from Lancaster, CA.  I am very glad to be here!  It has been a challenge being here, but it's a good challenge.  As challenging as it is, it's been a very wonderful time.  Being here has brought me so much closer to God; and I have been learning something new about myself every day.  It is amazing to have the opportunity to get into the New Testament, to actually soak in it and to see how the original church lived.  At times it’s like I am here. 

Since I have been here, the book that has impacted me the most was James.  It really showed me not to take things for granted and to trust the Lord, because he will always be there.  I’ve also learned that sometimes I have to take time for myself, to drop everything and breathe, and to learn to take the baggage I carry and let Jesus take it. 

While reading Mark’s Gospel, he has made me very fond of John the Baptist, because he is awesome.  It would be so great to be so zealous for the Lord, oh how I wish I could be like him.  One of the best things that has happened since I have been here is developing friendships.  Everyone is like one big family; it’s so nice and loving.  They make it feel just like home. 

MOSCOW native, Zach Hacker, shares from his SOBA story

Photo from Outreach to Portland, Oregon

BLOG entry from 2/20/11

It is now the beginning of our ninth week and school has gotten into a bit of a rhythm, if such a thing can be here at SOBA.  We just finished the gospel of Luke, being the eighth book we’ve covered.  There are many things that I’ve learned in this time; and one that sticks out to me is just how engaging the bible can be to read that the word truly is alive.  I knew this before, but it was to a smaller extent, nothing like now. 

 I’ve also learned how far knowing a little background can help with understanding a book.  Knowing the historical background has helped me get a better understanding of just how culturally Jesus was out of place.  For him to say in Luke 18:16 “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them” was a big deal because that wasn’t something that was culturally proper in first century.  As well as how Jesus interacted with the women of the time, because women and children were considered second class citizens.

 Jesus was counter to the culture, he viewed everyone as equal.  Jesus taught his followers to view everyone else as equal, too. 

For me this relates to a little experience that we had a few weeks ago.  It was about 1:00p.m. on a Tuesday when we (the students) were all informed that from 3:30 p.m. that day until 12pm on Thursday of that same week we were going to homeless.  This was a bit of a surprise to say the least.  I know for me my initial reaction when I saw a homeless person was to judge them as somehow less than the rest of society.  But after two nights and a few days of being homeless myself, I saw firsthand that most of the people that were there had just been knocked down by life and trying to get back on their feet.  My stereotypical judgments didn’t apply to most of the people at the homeless shelter. 

That’s my SOBA story so far, and though it’s a lot of work, SOBA’s probably the most rewarding thing that I’ve ever done. 

CHECK OUT NEW SOBA GROUP Photos under the Photos TAB!!!

Get it LOCAL: Read about HANNAH FREEMON!!

Read about what's been going

on inHannah's LIFE!!!

There are multiple examples of what I have learned in the last 2 months. Most of those things I’ve been learning about myself. The first week of school I learned there was a thing or two that I thought I dealt with but figured out I didn’t.

I learned mainly about what God thinks about people and how everything they think they know doesn’t matter, which has made my life a lot easier. I have learned a lot about how much God values what I think, and that truth has made my self-confidence a lot higher than it was.

I have always known about all the parables in the bible and I figured I knew all there is to know about them.  Yet we’ve only gone through 2 Gospels (Mark and Luke) and by looking more into the historical background, the original reader, and the authors concern I have learned so much more.   I have learned about what the books were saying and how much of a sense of humor that Jesus had/has.

I’ve learned that people really are super ignorant. Like, the people Jesus talked to totally didn’t get what he was saying after he told the over and over again. I’m happy that God is God and not me because I would not have the patience for all the people that he has dealt with.

I’m excited to see what else God teaches me through this school!

Joy found in Working out His Salvation: Update from Eric McCray

Prayer Highlight: Eric teaches Feb 24 and 25

The Gospel according to Luke

This is my third year on staff with the School of Biblical Action, and each year on staff is always full of newness (wow! That is actually a word). This year the newest things in my life are my new marriage to my lovely and supportive wife Melissa and my new role as the SOBA leader. I count both as incredibly gracious gifts from my Savior and ones that I desperately never want to take for granted.

 

I have been discovering more this year than ever about the importance of being an active student of God and of the people he has placed in my life. My role as a husband, a teacher and a leader means absolutely nothing in this Kingdom if I stop (or am lazy about) following The One who first called me. An indirect mentor of mine, Howard Hendricks, says it this way, “I would rather have my students (and wife) drink from a running stream than a stagnant pool.” My greatest desire is just that, and I write this with tears filling my eyes, that the Holy Spirit would be that living water that fills my life without measure, so that I might be able to give to others in even the minutest of ways.

 

I’m incredibly thankful for who I have in my life. My average day is spent in a classroom with eight wonderful women and one other dedicated dude (sometimes it feels like I’m on a women’s retreat, haha)… and my daily goal, in and out of the classroom, is to forever resist the sin and temptation of climbing the proverbial ladder of life by intentionally guiding each one up to the top while staying at the bottom myself. Amen.

Read about Michelle's "Brilliant" Journey in SOBA!!!!

The past month hasn’t been easy, actually it’s been pretty emotional at times.  I’m getting through plenty of tissues - I’ve cried on at least 4 days every week. 

Saying that, I’m totally loving SOBA – even the crazy amount of study I have to do. 

There have been a number of events in my life where I know God has healed me emotionally - now I feel Him going to an even deeper level.  As a child I always wanted to be adopted.  Don’t get me wrong, I had great parents, but I just wanted there to be a special someone out there who chose me for being me.  On January 31^st, whilst studying Ephesians, God said to me “you are adopted, I’ve adopted you”.  I’ve read this passage so many times, but never before has it impacted me as deeply as that day.  I had a smile on my face so big my cheeks hurt!

From that day, I’ve felt like I’ve been growing in confidence – I’m a daughter of the King – how can I not be confident! 

In the past I’ve tended to shy away from dreaming, telling myself I could never live up to my dreams, and telling God He must have got it wrong to put these things in my heart.   I feel that I’ve been given permission to dream and I’m dreaming BIG.  The more I allow myself to dream the more excited I get and the more passion burns inside me to see the Holy Spirit move through the church and in the world. 

I feel I’m alive and living the life I’ve always wanted.

 

Seminar Update

The students are in their final week of the Seminar teachings.  It's been a long process with having two classes a day, BUT it has been worth the investment up front for a rich year of being in the Word.  The students have been learning the Inductive Study Method through 'charting' the books of Philemon, Titus and Philippians. 

Vineyard College of Misson -School of Biblical Action class of 2011

Back Row Left to Right: Eric (staff), Melissa (staff support- Eric's new Bride!), Bethany (student), Sarah (staff) and Zach (student).
Front Row Left to Right: Terra (staff), Hannah (student), Michelle (student), Haley (student)

Group Shot -> at Weekend Retreat
January 2011