HEY GUYS!
I am in the newark liberty international airport waiting for my flight to take off back home to san fran...
unreal...
my time in irealnd is done...i am in awe right now.....and filled with so many emotions right now as i sit here and process WHAT THE HECK JUST HAPPENED!
..
U
but i haveSOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO MUCH to tell you about my week last week in the republic of Ireland doing outreach in the catholic communites there!
GUys thanks for your prayers!
i can't wait to talk with you all in person!
MUCH LOVE!
All the best!
IN HIS GRIP,
megan
Monday, July 28, 2008
Monday, July 14, 2008
Week...who even knows...But i do know that WE SERVE A BIG GOD!
HEY!
..
U
can i just start off my saying that i TOTALLY MISS YOU ALL LIKE CRAZY and wish you all could be here to experience the things that i am experiencing!
God is so faithful and this week i was able to experience a wee bit of his BEAUTY!
This week was a LOT LOT LOT more chill which was so needed after the craziness of sonshine week! But tuesday i had the opportunity to go with Sharon and Melvin to Melvin's biblestudy/prayer group that he has. What the group is a friends and family who wanted to support melvin when he went to Mozambique almost 4 years ago. So they met the frist tuesday of every month to pray....GUYS PRAYER IS SO IMPORTANT! That is something we have done SO much of!
So melvin asked me to share my heart and bring a verse to share with the group. It was great to be around people who are equally passionate about missions! I shared a little bit about who i am and what i am doing with my life right now and then i talked about Isaiah 55 again and it is funny because Daddy, you gave me ISAIAH 55:11 when i was in south africa a year ago but it is NOW impacting my life which is such a testimony for that verse which tells us that GOD'S WORD DOES NOT COME BACK VOID! and i praise him for that! So after i talked we spent the next hour in prayer for Mozambique, for all of the missionaries we knew that are in this world! It was so humbling to get prayed for too. I love how i am so willing to pray for others but then when it comes to me i feel like my prayer requests are "important" or "major" enough...ya know...but it has been good for me to GET OVER MY SELF and ask for help and let others bless me...
Then on wednesday morning we woke up early and meet the heartbeat team at 8 in the morning to go on a prayer walk around the Portglenone Forest. It was a beautiful crisp morning and in stead of sitting in a room praying(and potentially falling asleep hehe) we walked and prayed for their trip to Mozambique! It is funny because i feel like i am going to Mozambique now lol...who knows...maybe someday i will! But the forest was BEAUTIFUL! The middle of the forest has a the River Bann running through it and O MY WORD i wanted to jump in and have dad circle around the boat and do a wakeboard run on the PERFECT GLASS WATER! lol
So after an hour of prayer in the forest we went back to the WB and had another prayer time with the whole WB staff...We discussed a lot about sonshine week...pro's and con's and what could happen differently and better...and they were then talking about why was then not a total revival of the town...why were lives not being changed LEFT AND RIGHT because so much preparation and TONS of prayer went into this week. But again acknowledging that God is in control and that his ways are not our ways and his plans are SOOOOOOOOOOOO much better then ours and that his timing is PERFECT and we just have to wait on him!
Waiting on him in something that right now i am struggling with...i know that i am probably not the only one who is thinking this right now but ok so many people went around this world and saw GOD MOVING this summer...
so what are we going to do with that
you cannot have encounter with God like we all have and NOT be changed by it...
but what change needs to happen?
How are we going to make APU a place that fears God and that pleases God and a place where RADICAL, CrAZY, but faithful little things happen for God?
How do we take the ways we have seen God work, the excitement we have in our hearts back to our Churches and not let that fire be extinguished!
It was so OBVIOUS that i was meant to be here this summer and i am so sad that my time is coming to a close here but now i am wrestling with the idea of WHAT DO I DO NOW!?!?!?!
I have seen such passion and such excitement in Christians that they can't help but tell everyone they know about it...why is that not the case for us at home...where is the difference....
we shouldn't have to TELL people we are christians...they should take one look at us and the things we are doing for them and for Jesus and KNOW that "wow these guys have something different...what is motivating their unselfish and impartial love"
WE PRAISE A RISEN SAVIOR...HE BROUGHT US FROM DEATH TO LIFE...WE CAN HAVE COMMUNION AND FRIENDSHIP WITH THE GOD OF THE UNIVERSE...we need to start acting like it...we need to have a CONTAGIOUS faith...
so if you could be praying for me to figure out how God wants me to respond to him. and you as my friends and family PLEASE hold me accountable to NOT fall back into complacency!
ok i will get off the pulpit now...
..
U
so on Wednesday afternoon it was BEAUTIFUL so after being in meetings all day Ricky, Rebekah and i went to Newferry which is another side of the River Bann and relaxed a little down time! It was lovely! Then on wednesday night we went to the prayer meeting at GP!
why dont we have more prayer meetings....
THis week we sang some worship songs and then we had to go and find someone we didn't know and pray with them! So the first guy i prayed with was Michael and He was a lovely and it was great to get encouragement from him and be prayed for by someone who loves God wholeheartedly and then i prayed and while i was praying he started speaking in tongues and it was such a great holy spirit moment and you could feel God's presence in that place! He started then talking about tongues and how God has given him the gift but has also given him the gift of interpretation...GUYS GOD IS BIG AND WE CANNOT WRAP OUR HEADS AROUND HIM NO MATTER HOW HARD WE TRY! it is just great to see a new and amazing aspect of God...
Then i prayed with Ian who is a young guy who wants to go to Uni(college) for media... Great to see a young guy who wants to take God into his workplace!
After the hour of prayer we then sang again and then we FELLOWSHIPPED! Green Pastures has such a welcoming atmosphere and the people there are so lovely and filled with the spirit!
O MY WORD BUT FUNNY STORY! so ricky, rebekah and i were eating our lunch at the People's park in Ballymena and we had just sat down and were enjoying the beautiful day when BAM we felt something wet hit us...A BIRD HAD POOPED ON US! we were all sitting on different sides of the table but we ALLL got hit with it! It was so funny! just thought i would share!
Also this week i had the chance to go up to a wee down called Downhill and go up a mountain and look over the coast of Northern Ireland...look onto Scotland...and see the beautiful forests and country side! I was in awe of the peace that i was overwhelmed with! It is crazy to think though that while i am looking at such a peaceful scene...that our brothers and sisters around this world are in such distress are being tortured for their faith...the people who are in sudan, india, china, afganistan and are seeing such chaos and turmoil...but the God we serve is in each place and can offer us peace even when around us their seems to be no hope! We just have to trust in him! Not saying that the turmoil and madness will stop...but the peace that our Father gives passes understanding!
On Saturday it was July 12! The 12 starts the night before with BONFIRES...there are bonfires in each village and they are SUPER SUPER BIG i took a picture and i will put it up soon of what they look like...but it is sad because it is a place for the young people to come and hang out--but they hang out and drink and do drugs at the bonfire...so again a negative connotation to the bonfire.....Since I missed the 4th of july for USA i had to so something patriotic so i got to participate in a wee bit of Northern Irish pride! It was a lovely day and i went with Lisa and Lavina(girls from GP) up to Ballyclare to watch the bands (each town has an Orange order which then makes a drum and flute or accordion or bagpipe marching band) so in the morning each Orange order marches in their own town then gets on a bus to the main march in the specific town and then marches there...then listens to a Political/Religious speaker then marches back to the bus and goes home and marches again in their town (after a visit to a pub or two). The girls i was with were not 100% supportive of the events that went on during that day because much of it is protestant pride and a bashing of the catholics! So we did not participate in much of the day...but it was a wonderful time to see what it was like on the 12th of July! There is still a lot of drama between these groups and when you add a whole day of drinking onto that things get ugly! But the girls i was with know where NOT to go so we avoided that!
Sunday morning went to GP in the morning for hte Frost time and it just so great to be with believers! And now i have transitioned from Jo and Mark in Ahoghill back to Sharon and Melvin in Antrim...so i take the GP bus to church! It is such a ministry because people WHO dont have cars or can't drive can get to church!
(we should thinking about how we can get people to church......)
and then on sunday night Richard Fleck or just FLECK preached about Paul and Silas being freed from Prison in Acts 16:16
PLEASE CHECK IT OUT!
16Once when we were going to the place of prayer, we were met by a slave girl who had a spirit by which she predicted the future. She earned a great deal of money for her owners by fortune-telling. 17This girl followed Paul and the rest of us, shouting, "These men are servants of the Most High God, who are telling you the way to be saved." 18She kept this up for many days. Finally Paul became so troubled that he turned around and said to the spirit, "In the name of Jesus Christ I command you to come out of her!" At that moment the spirit left her.
19When the owners of the slave girl realized that their hope of making money was gone, they seized Paul and Silas and dragged them into the marketplace to face the authorities. 20They brought them before the magistrates and said, "These men are Jews, and are throwing our city into an uproar 21by advocating customs unlawful for us Romans to accept or practice."
22The crowd joined in the attack against Paul and Silas, and the magistrates ordered them to be stripped and beaten. 23After they had been severely flogged, they were thrown into prison, and the jailer was commanded to guard them carefully. 24Upon receiving such orders, he put them in the inner cell and fastened their feet in the stocks.
25About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening to them. 26Suddenly there was such a violent earthquake that the foundations of the prison were shaken. At once all the prison doors flew open, and everybody's chains came loose. 27The jailer woke up, and when he saw the prison doors open, he drew his sword and was about to kill himself because he thought the prisoners had escaped. 28But Paul shouted, "Don't harm yourself! We are all here!"
29The jailer called for lights, rushed in and fell trembling before Paul and Silas. 30He then brought them out and asked, "Sirs, what must I do to be saved?"
31They replied, "Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved—you and your household." 32Then they spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all the others in his house. 33At that hour of the night the jailer took them and washed their wounds; then immediately he and all his family were baptized. 34The jailer brought them into his house and set a meal before them; he was filled with joy because he had come to believe in God—he and his whole family.
Guys i have to go!
But i love you all and i praying for you and can't wait to see you!
Thanks for all the prayers and emails and comments!
GOD IS FAITHFUL!
IN HIS GRIP,
megan
Prayer:
~My brother Ryan is having surgery on the 17th so if you could be praying that it will go smoothly and as pain free as possible!
~That i will be able to figure out how to respond to God and apply what i have learned at home
~For all of the people who are on mission trips throughout this world in Ghana, Iraq, Nigeria, Nepal, China, Mexico...
Praises
~That i have been able to see his beautiful creation and get closer with him!
~That i am being challenged to think about life in a way that i have not before!
~That i have such a wonderful friends and family and are supporting me! and that i even get this opportunity! I am so incredible grateful!
~Next week i get the chance to go down to the Rebupilc of Ireland to work with OMS--more details coming soon!--
..
U
can i just start off my saying that i TOTALLY MISS YOU ALL LIKE CRAZY and wish you all could be here to experience the things that i am experiencing!
God is so faithful and this week i was able to experience a wee bit of his BEAUTY!
This week was a LOT LOT LOT more chill which was so needed after the craziness of sonshine week! But tuesday i had the opportunity to go with Sharon and Melvin to Melvin's biblestudy/prayer group that he has. What the group is a friends and family who wanted to support melvin when he went to Mozambique almost 4 years ago. So they met the frist tuesday of every month to pray....GUYS PRAYER IS SO IMPORTANT! That is something we have done SO much of!
So melvin asked me to share my heart and bring a verse to share with the group. It was great to be around people who are equally passionate about missions! I shared a little bit about who i am and what i am doing with my life right now and then i talked about Isaiah 55 again and it is funny because Daddy, you gave me ISAIAH 55:11 when i was in south africa a year ago but it is NOW impacting my life which is such a testimony for that verse which tells us that GOD'S WORD DOES NOT COME BACK VOID! and i praise him for that! So after i talked we spent the next hour in prayer for Mozambique, for all of the missionaries we knew that are in this world! It was so humbling to get prayed for too. I love how i am so willing to pray for others but then when it comes to me i feel like my prayer requests are "important" or "major" enough...ya know...but it has been good for me to GET OVER MY SELF and ask for help and let others bless me...
Then on wednesday morning we woke up early and meet the heartbeat team at 8 in the morning to go on a prayer walk around the Portglenone Forest. It was a beautiful crisp morning and in stead of sitting in a room praying(and potentially falling asleep hehe) we walked and prayed for their trip to Mozambique! It is funny because i feel like i am going to Mozambique now lol...who knows...maybe someday i will! But the forest was BEAUTIFUL! The middle of the forest has a the River Bann running through it and O MY WORD i wanted to jump in and have dad circle around the boat and do a wakeboard run on the PERFECT GLASS WATER! lol
So after an hour of prayer in the forest we went back to the WB and had another prayer time with the whole WB staff...We discussed a lot about sonshine week...pro's and con's and what could happen differently and better...and they were then talking about why was then not a total revival of the town...why were lives not being changed LEFT AND RIGHT because so much preparation and TONS of prayer went into this week. But again acknowledging that God is in control and that his ways are not our ways and his plans are SOOOOOOOOOOOO much better then ours and that his timing is PERFECT and we just have to wait on him!
Waiting on him in something that right now i am struggling with...i know that i am probably not the only one who is thinking this right now but ok so many people went around this world and saw GOD MOVING this summer...
so what are we going to do with that
you cannot have encounter with God like we all have and NOT be changed by it...
but what change needs to happen?
How are we going to make APU a place that fears God and that pleases God and a place where RADICAL, CrAZY, but faithful little things happen for God?
How do we take the ways we have seen God work, the excitement we have in our hearts back to our Churches and not let that fire be extinguished!
It was so OBVIOUS that i was meant to be here this summer and i am so sad that my time is coming to a close here but now i am wrestling with the idea of WHAT DO I DO NOW!?!?!?!
I have seen such passion and such excitement in Christians that they can't help but tell everyone they know about it...why is that not the case for us at home...where is the difference....
we shouldn't have to TELL people we are christians...they should take one look at us and the things we are doing for them and for Jesus and KNOW that "wow these guys have something different...what is motivating their unselfish and impartial love"
WE PRAISE A RISEN SAVIOR...HE BROUGHT US FROM DEATH TO LIFE...WE CAN HAVE COMMUNION AND FRIENDSHIP WITH THE GOD OF THE UNIVERSE...we need to start acting like it...we need to have a CONTAGIOUS faith...
so if you could be praying for me to figure out how God wants me to respond to him. and you as my friends and family PLEASE hold me accountable to NOT fall back into complacency!
ok i will get off the pulpit now...
..
U
so on Wednesday afternoon it was BEAUTIFUL so after being in meetings all day Ricky, Rebekah and i went to Newferry which is another side of the River Bann and relaxed a little down time! It was lovely! Then on wednesday night we went to the prayer meeting at GP!
why dont we have more prayer meetings....
THis week we sang some worship songs and then we had to go and find someone we didn't know and pray with them! So the first guy i prayed with was Michael and He was a lovely and it was great to get encouragement from him and be prayed for by someone who loves God wholeheartedly and then i prayed and while i was praying he started speaking in tongues and it was such a great holy spirit moment and you could feel God's presence in that place! He started then talking about tongues and how God has given him the gift but has also given him the gift of interpretation...GUYS GOD IS BIG AND WE CANNOT WRAP OUR HEADS AROUND HIM NO MATTER HOW HARD WE TRY! it is just great to see a new and amazing aspect of God...
Then i prayed with Ian who is a young guy who wants to go to Uni(college) for media... Great to see a young guy who wants to take God into his workplace!
After the hour of prayer we then sang again and then we FELLOWSHIPPED! Green Pastures has such a welcoming atmosphere and the people there are so lovely and filled with the spirit!
O MY WORD BUT FUNNY STORY! so ricky, rebekah and i were eating our lunch at the People's park in Ballymena and we had just sat down and were enjoying the beautiful day when BAM we felt something wet hit us...A BIRD HAD POOPED ON US! we were all sitting on different sides of the table but we ALLL got hit with it! It was so funny! just thought i would share!
Also this week i had the chance to go up to a wee down called Downhill and go up a mountain and look over the coast of Northern Ireland...look onto Scotland...and see the beautiful forests and country side! I was in awe of the peace that i was overwhelmed with! It is crazy to think though that while i am looking at such a peaceful scene...that our brothers and sisters around this world are in such distress are being tortured for their faith...the people who are in sudan, india, china, afganistan and are seeing such chaos and turmoil...but the God we serve is in each place and can offer us peace even when around us their seems to be no hope! We just have to trust in him! Not saying that the turmoil and madness will stop...but the peace that our Father gives passes understanding!
On Saturday it was July 12! The 12 starts the night before with BONFIRES...there are bonfires in each village and they are SUPER SUPER BIG i took a picture and i will put it up soon of what they look like...but it is sad because it is a place for the young people to come and hang out--but they hang out and drink and do drugs at the bonfire...so again a negative connotation to the bonfire.....Since I missed the 4th of july for USA i had to so something patriotic so i got to participate in a wee bit of Northern Irish pride! It was a lovely day and i went with Lisa and Lavina(girls from GP) up to Ballyclare to watch the bands (each town has an Orange order which then makes a drum and flute or accordion or bagpipe marching band) so in the morning each Orange order marches in their own town then gets on a bus to the main march in the specific town and then marches there...then listens to a Political/Religious speaker then marches back to the bus and goes home and marches again in their town (after a visit to a pub or two). The girls i was with were not 100% supportive of the events that went on during that day because much of it is protestant pride and a bashing of the catholics! So we did not participate in much of the day...but it was a wonderful time to see what it was like on the 12th of July! There is still a lot of drama between these groups and when you add a whole day of drinking onto that things get ugly! But the girls i was with know where NOT to go so we avoided that!
Sunday morning went to GP in the morning for hte Frost time and it just so great to be with believers! And now i have transitioned from Jo and Mark in Ahoghill back to Sharon and Melvin in Antrim...so i take the GP bus to church! It is such a ministry because people WHO dont have cars or can't drive can get to church!
(we should thinking about how we can get people to church......)
and then on sunday night Richard Fleck or just FLECK preached about Paul and Silas being freed from Prison in Acts 16:16
PLEASE CHECK IT OUT!
16Once when we were going to the place of prayer, we were met by a slave girl who had a spirit by which she predicted the future. She earned a great deal of money for her owners by fortune-telling. 17This girl followed Paul and the rest of us, shouting, "These men are servants of the Most High God, who are telling you the way to be saved." 18She kept this up for many days. Finally Paul became so troubled that he turned around and said to the spirit, "In the name of Jesus Christ I command you to come out of her!" At that moment the spirit left her.
19When the owners of the slave girl realized that their hope of making money was gone, they seized Paul and Silas and dragged them into the marketplace to face the authorities. 20They brought them before the magistrates and said, "These men are Jews, and are throwing our city into an uproar 21by advocating customs unlawful for us Romans to accept or practice."
22The crowd joined in the attack against Paul and Silas, and the magistrates ordered them to be stripped and beaten. 23After they had been severely flogged, they were thrown into prison, and the jailer was commanded to guard them carefully. 24Upon receiving such orders, he put them in the inner cell and fastened their feet in the stocks.
25About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening to them. 26Suddenly there was such a violent earthquake that the foundations of the prison were shaken. At once all the prison doors flew open, and everybody's chains came loose. 27The jailer woke up, and when he saw the prison doors open, he drew his sword and was about to kill himself because he thought the prisoners had escaped. 28But Paul shouted, "Don't harm yourself! We are all here!"
29The jailer called for lights, rushed in and fell trembling before Paul and Silas. 30He then brought them out and asked, "Sirs, what must I do to be saved?"
31They replied, "Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved—you and your household." 32Then they spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all the others in his house. 33At that hour of the night the jailer took them and washed their wounds; then immediately he and all his family were baptized. 34The jailer brought them into his house and set a meal before them; he was filled with joy because he had come to believe in God—he and his whole family.
Guys i have to go!
But i love you all and i praying for you and can't wait to see you!
Thanks for all the prayers and emails and comments!
GOD IS FAITHFUL!
IN HIS GRIP,
megan
Prayer:
~My brother Ryan is having surgery on the 17th so if you could be praying that it will go smoothly and as pain free as possible!
~That i will be able to figure out how to respond to God and apply what i have learned at home
~For all of the people who are on mission trips throughout this world in Ghana, Iraq, Nigeria, Nepal, China, Mexico...
Praises
~That i have been able to see his beautiful creation and get closer with him!
~That i am being challenged to think about life in a way that i have not before!
~That i have such a wonderful friends and family and are supporting me! and that i even get this opportunity! I am so incredible grateful!
~Next week i get the chance to go down to the Rebupilc of Ireland to work with OMS--more details coming soon!--
Monday, July 7, 2008
EXTREME MAKEOVER!
Hey guys! Let me apologize about my last post! i was really rushed for please excuse the messiness of it and all the spelling errors! But now it is monday afternoon and i have some down time to finsihing talking about what went down this past weekend!
SUNDAY was brilliant!
I went to church of Ireland again and got to experience that side of christianity...the side that is very ritualistic but i think that it is good to remeber the sacredness of God and have fear and respect and reverence for him! Then after that Rebekah (from heartbeat) and Jo set off to do some site seeing! We went to the coast and went to a Rope bridge called Carrick-a-reed! It was super fun and on the way we met a girl who was from california and went to DEER VALLEY HIGH SCHOOL!
unreal!
such a small world! Then we rushed back to green pastures to get ready for Sonshine Sunday! THe church was PACKED! there were the regulars but all of the washbasin staff said that there were TONS of new people! We were expecting 50 kids to come and 120 SHOWED UP! it was LETHAL! so the service started out with a video of what we did during sonshine week and the song that played during it was the new Chris Tomlin Song GREATER THINGS HAVE YET TO COME GREATER THINGS ARE STILL TO BE DONE IN THIS CITY.....and it was sooo powerful and such a perfect song for what we were trying to accomplish this week! and Then the washbasin picked one wee girl Natasha to do a mini makeover on becuase she was able to stay close with Christ in spite of hard times that hit her! Then they did a home makeover of a old man who had made a huge impact on this community and the church! It was lovely! Then all of us kids club people did a dance and song that we had learned this week! Then after we sang the testimonies began!
The theme for the night was called "The Hunter and the Hunted" so the first guy that talked was David and he was part of the Police during the troubles and he shared his past and his hatred towards the catholic people and how he had such bitterness and rage---but GOD TOOK HOLD OF HIM and broke him down and made him realize that he needed to let go of the grip that he had on his life! So his story was truly a blessing to hear....BUT THEN IT GOT EVEN BETTER...he takled about how he had recently heard from a friend about how an IRA terrorist had come to know the Lord and turned his life around....so David told us that he felt that the Holy spirit was telling him to go and make peace with the man that in his past he was trying to kill!
THEN
the IRA man got up on stage and shared HIS testimony...and the way that he shared his was that he gave a SMALL description of what his life was like before christ beucase he did not want to give Satan the glory but he wanted to talk about how GOD had transformed his life becuase then he could give GOD all the glory! And to see how these two men who HATED each other and had both done some terrible thigns to each other could now stand on stage together and embrace as Brothers in Christ was truly an EXTREME MAKEOVER! I was in tears becuase it is not something they could have done on their own! BUT ONLY THROUGH CHRIST! and they acknowledged that!
The Passage for this week has been 2 Corinthians 5:17 but here is a chunk of the chapter!
11Since, then, we know what it is to fear the Lord, we try to persuade men. What we are is plain to God, and I hope it is also plain to your conscience. 12We are not trying to commend ourselves to you again, but are giving you an opportunity to take pride in us, so that you can answer those who take pride in what is seen rather than in what is in the heart. 13If we are out of our mind, it is for the sake of God; if we are in our right mind, it is for you. 14For Christ's love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died. 15And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again.
16So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view. Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer. 17Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! 18All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: 19that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men's sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. 20We are therefore Christ's ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ's behalf: Be reconciled to God. 21God made him who had no sin to be sin[a] for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
After the men spoke about forgiveness and reconciliation and how those are the ways to TRUE freedom in christ Pastor Jeff talked! He talked about how God doesn't just patch up our lives and cover stuff up like putting a table clothe over a stained table....HIS BLOOD GETS UNDER THE TABLE CLOTHE AND INTO EVERY PART OF OUR LIVES! There is no sin, no wound, no brokeness, no pain to big for God to heal!
Guys, there were so many people who came to know the Lord last night it was TRULY an honor to be in a place where the spirit was so alive and moving so much!
And worship was truly amazing and we didn't want it to end and i know that though this week is over, the work God is doing IS FAR FROM OVER!
we planted so many wee seeds this week! God is faithful!
Isaiah 55 talks about how God's ways are not our ways and how He knows what he is doing and HE WILL NOT LET HIS WORD COME BACK VOID! what a promise and a challenge for us to keep pressing on towards the goal! We need to be doing alllll we can to take people out of the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of LIGHT! and what a marvelous light it is!
So thanks again for your prayers and for you love and support! It was a LETHAL week and now we are all in recovery mode!
Remeber that Faith is spelled--R I S K!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Take some risks!
IN HIS GRIP,
megan frew
Praises:
~That at least 12 kids from kids club came to know the Lord this week!
~That i was about to meet some AMAZING people from this community and serve alongside them!
~That God is alive and working and moving in people's lives! And transformation and complete LIFE CHANGE can occur and is occuring!
Prayer:
~That all the seeds we planted will be able to spring up and that we will be able to see people's lives transformed! And that all the wee ones and older people who were saved can have the courage to stay strong and grow in their walk withthe Lord!!!!!
~That i will be able to understand how God wants me to take all the thigns that i am learning home with me and stop complaining about the church i see and with his grace become the church i see over here and the church that i dream of
~I am leading a bible study tomorrow night with people from OMS so if you could pray that i will be able to be the voice that God can use to speak to the people God has chosen to be there!
SUNDAY was brilliant!
I went to church of Ireland again and got to experience that side of christianity...the side that is very ritualistic but i think that it is good to remeber the sacredness of God and have fear and respect and reverence for him! Then after that Rebekah (from heartbeat) and Jo set off to do some site seeing! We went to the coast and went to a Rope bridge called Carrick-a-reed! It was super fun and on the way we met a girl who was from california and went to DEER VALLEY HIGH SCHOOL!
unreal!
such a small world! Then we rushed back to green pastures to get ready for Sonshine Sunday! THe church was PACKED! there were the regulars but all of the washbasin staff said that there were TONS of new people! We were expecting 50 kids to come and 120 SHOWED UP! it was LETHAL! so the service started out with a video of what we did during sonshine week and the song that played during it was the new Chris Tomlin Song GREATER THINGS HAVE YET TO COME GREATER THINGS ARE STILL TO BE DONE IN THIS CITY.....and it was sooo powerful and such a perfect song for what we were trying to accomplish this week! and Then the washbasin picked one wee girl Natasha to do a mini makeover on becuase she was able to stay close with Christ in spite of hard times that hit her! Then they did a home makeover of a old man who had made a huge impact on this community and the church! It was lovely! Then all of us kids club people did a dance and song that we had learned this week! Then after we sang the testimonies began!
The theme for the night was called "The Hunter and the Hunted" so the first guy that talked was David and he was part of the Police during the troubles and he shared his past and his hatred towards the catholic people and how he had such bitterness and rage---but GOD TOOK HOLD OF HIM and broke him down and made him realize that he needed to let go of the grip that he had on his life! So his story was truly a blessing to hear....BUT THEN IT GOT EVEN BETTER...he takled about how he had recently heard from a friend about how an IRA terrorist had come to know the Lord and turned his life around....so David told us that he felt that the Holy spirit was telling him to go and make peace with the man that in his past he was trying to kill!
THEN
the IRA man got up on stage and shared HIS testimony...and the way that he shared his was that he gave a SMALL description of what his life was like before christ beucase he did not want to give Satan the glory but he wanted to talk about how GOD had transformed his life becuase then he could give GOD all the glory! And to see how these two men who HATED each other and had both done some terrible thigns to each other could now stand on stage together and embrace as Brothers in Christ was truly an EXTREME MAKEOVER! I was in tears becuase it is not something they could have done on their own! BUT ONLY THROUGH CHRIST! and they acknowledged that!
The Passage for this week has been 2 Corinthians 5:17 but here is a chunk of the chapter!
11Since, then, we know what it is to fear the Lord, we try to persuade men. What we are is plain to God, and I hope it is also plain to your conscience. 12We are not trying to commend ourselves to you again, but are giving you an opportunity to take pride in us, so that you can answer those who take pride in what is seen rather than in what is in the heart. 13If we are out of our mind, it is for the sake of God; if we are in our right mind, it is for you. 14For Christ's love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died. 15And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again.
16So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view. Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer. 17Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! 18All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: 19that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men's sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. 20We are therefore Christ's ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ's behalf: Be reconciled to God. 21God made him who had no sin to be sin[a] for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
After the men spoke about forgiveness and reconciliation and how those are the ways to TRUE freedom in christ Pastor Jeff talked! He talked about how God doesn't just patch up our lives and cover stuff up like putting a table clothe over a stained table....HIS BLOOD GETS UNDER THE TABLE CLOTHE AND INTO EVERY PART OF OUR LIVES! There is no sin, no wound, no brokeness, no pain to big for God to heal!
Guys, there were so many people who came to know the Lord last night it was TRULY an honor to be in a place where the spirit was so alive and moving so much!
And worship was truly amazing and we didn't want it to end and i know that though this week is over, the work God is doing IS FAR FROM OVER!
we planted so many wee seeds this week! God is faithful!
Isaiah 55 talks about how God's ways are not our ways and how He knows what he is doing and HE WILL NOT LET HIS WORD COME BACK VOID! what a promise and a challenge for us to keep pressing on towards the goal! We need to be doing alllll we can to take people out of the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of LIGHT! and what a marvelous light it is!
So thanks again for your prayers and for you love and support! It was a LETHAL week and now we are all in recovery mode!
Remeber that Faith is spelled--R I S K!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Take some risks!
IN HIS GRIP,
megan frew
Praises:
~That at least 12 kids from kids club came to know the Lord this week!
~That i was about to meet some AMAZING people from this community and serve alongside them!
~That God is alive and working and moving in people's lives! And transformation and complete LIFE CHANGE can occur and is occuring!
Prayer:
~That all the seeds we planted will be able to spring up and that we will be able to see people's lives transformed! And that all the wee ones and older people who were saved can have the courage to stay strong and grow in their walk withthe Lord!!!!!
~That i will be able to understand how God wants me to take all the thigns that i am learning home with me and stop complaining about the church i see and with his grace become the church i see over here and the church that i dream of
~I am leading a bible study tomorrow night with people from OMS so if you could pray that i will be able to be the voice that God can use to speak to the people God has chosen to be there!
Saturday, July 5, 2008
SONSHINE WEEK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
O MY GOODNESS DID THAT JUST HAPPEN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
sonshine week 2008:
KidsClub theme was Champions Challenge! So each day we looked at who Jesus was in relation to a team!
So we are going to breakdown day by day!
Monday:
we arrived at the WB at half 8(8:30) and started the morning with worship and prayer--whcih is what we did every morning! it was wonderful to have the jump start and encouraged to face the day adn it is something that i valued so mauch becasue it is true we are fighting a battle and stan is not happy about that so if we start the day giving God all the glory then we are equiped to face the battle that the day holds! So once we had an all volunteer group prayer time we slip up into our teams so the silly swimmers which is my team meaning the wee ones from P1-P4 which is ages 5-8 and then there was the hyper hockey team which was P5-P6 which is ages 9-10 and then there was the reilly rugby team which was ages P7 and First Year which is ages 11-12! So the silly swimmer team met in the back hall of the washbasin which was all decorated as olymic grandstand! it was LETHAL =) and Monday's theme was talking about Jesus is our TRAINER! So we start the morning off with some fun games to keep the kids entertained then at half 10 we start off with our mc's 118-118 which is a funny show that is popular over here--you should youtube it!-- so they do a dance which going along with the champions challenge theme was like a workout routine!!!!!!!!!!!! and then after the dance we did three songs that all had motions and dances moves and the kids LOVED um! THen after worship there was a little drama skit that went with each day's theme! So on monday i got to participate in the drama so that was SUPER fun! then after the drama everyday we had a different memory verse! Monday's verse was John 15:14 If you love me you will obey my commands! After the memory verse we would watch a DVD clip about a bible story and then after the clip a leader would come up and reexplain the story and the bible verse! Following the story was the QUIZ time! Quiz time was super fun becuase it was all about getting the leaders as messy/wet/humiliated as possible so games that were sticking your head in water then in flour trying to get the most points for your team! just silly stuff to make it fun for the kids to ask questions! Then we would go into our JAM groups which are JESUS AND ME time! I have a wee group of 9 kids who were all 8! I love how God uses everything in our past to prepare us for what he has in store for us today! I worked with third graders all this year at Cornerstone in sunday school and now i know why!!!!!!!!!!!!! God is so faithful! My group had Rebekah, Rachel, Alyssa, Nicole, Steven, Matthew, Matthew, Reese, Corrin. So in our JAM groups we did a little craft and then had a wee worsheet that explained the story. Then after JAM time we would send them home and go have lunch as a team! After lunch we would prepare for our afternoon activities! Afternoon times were for the older kids who were P5 and higher--9-12 year olds! So monday's afternoon activies was a photo challenge so i had a group of fun boys so we ran around Ahoghill for two hours! i will post the pictures soon!
Then at like half 4 they go home and we cleaned up had dinner and then got ready for FUN NIGHT! Fun night is a time where bounce houses, and boothes are set up all round the washbasin and the diamond in ahoghill. My job for the fun nightwas PUPPETS!!!!!!!!!! so much fun....but here is the thing...we spent so much time in prayer for the weather on monday night that God would NOT LET IT RAIN..and what happened monday night...IT RAINED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! but That did mattter there was still a great turn out of kids and families! The puppet show starts with a song and then we go into a dialogue and they always want me to talk because they like my accent! =) so i got to do it and i LOVE that kind of stuff so it was a blast! THen we end it with two more songs so by the end o man your arms are KILLING ya! but it is all worth it becuase we get tot share the gospel in a different and fun way! Then after that i went to the car park(parking lot) in the back of the washbasin and helped with the sumo-wrestler suits! It was so mcuh fun and priase the Lord i bought that rain jacket! I would have been hating it if i didn't have that! But some great times with all the leaders! But fun night isn't just about the fun! it is a time for us to talk with kids, parents and families about the rest of the week and what God is doing in thier lives and in our lives! I know that great things happened that night even though the night did not go the wya we planned it!
So we started the week with a super long day! but it got us pretty pumped up for the rest of the week!
So tuesday rolled around and we did the same routine in the morning but tuesday theme was Jesus is my HEALER! so we got to talk with the kids about who in their lives where sick! BUt the question we asked them was "are you on Jesus's team?" it was wonderful to find out that most of my group were christians...but pray for wee steven, matthew, and corrin becuase they were the ones who were confused and didn't know if they were on Jesus' team. And pray for Corrin becuase we talked about how God can heal his dad and i know that if God does heal his dad that he will be able to see the POWER that Christ has! The verse for the day was Heb 11:1 For faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see! Tuesday's afternoon activity was mini olymics and again we prayed so much for God to stop the rain..but again it RAINED! and so we couldn't go to to the football pitches(field) to do the olymics so we went to the presbyterian church down the street and had like 12 stations of fun little games that we did! It was a great day where the kids were able to have fun and keep buliding those relationships with kids becuase once you gain their trust they TOTALLY OPEN UP TO YOU! tuesday night was not a required thing but there was a night called Shelter which is for women and it is a time to listen to a lady who had two daughters with severe physical disabilities and talk about her testimony and how God worked in her life! Her book is called Under the Rainbow--i forget her name but i will let you know later--and what is cool about shelter is that throughout the whole week in the mornings there were times for women to come in and be pampered by getting hteir hair done, getting their nails or toes done, get a message and just talk with someone for a while! Women need to know that they are loved and this was a great way to show them the LOVE OF GOD! that their Daddy loves them!
Also, throughout the whole week there were coffee mornings which was a time when anyone could come in andd get free tea and coffee and talk with someone...there was a creche(nursey) where mummies could drop their wee babies for free! Also, there was a team that reached out specifically to the old folks and went to nursing homes throughout the villages doing puppet shows, pampering and just talking!
ALSO! there was a team called streat reach which was out each morning doing stuff within the village like cleaing pub toilets and washing windows but their main focus is the youth...the kids who are out on the streets drinking and doing drugs and just being youth! So every afternoon/evening there was something for them to do! Pray that all of the relationships built will be able to grow and that there will continue to be questions raised by the youth about Jesus!
then there is clean up which goes around and cleans up people's yards and asking anyone if they needed anything done!
FINALLY! there was a door-to-door team that went out into the village and gave more gifts out and invited people to sonset supper which was on friday night and asking them about how they felt about Jesus!
so as you can see there is alot going on throughout the week!
wednesday was when we talked about Jesus being our TEAMMATE! and the verse was 1 Cor. 12:27 Together we are the body of Christ, and each one of your is part of that body! It was brilliant! Wednesday afternoon was the "party!" so we did some dances and then played more games and i had an AMAZING group of boys who loved the games and were super competive! =)
but wednesday night was GREAT! we went to GP and we did ITS A KNOCKOUT competion which is a whole field full of fun obstacle course bounce house stuff. I was on a team with Joanne(kids club MAIN leader) and a couple other guys from the kids club! It was such a blast and the point of this night is to get all of teh different churches in the area to come together and hang out so we were playing against people form church of ireland and from the presbyterian churches in the area! such a fun time!
my team ended up getting like 2nd or 3rd place! and SUCH A MIRACLE! THE RAIN CLOUDS LITTERALLY PARTED! it didn't rain until we were almost completely done with our competiion! and it was so wonderful to see the sky blue and bright ONLY above US!!!!!!!!!!!! and then there was a FULLLLLL rainbow in the sky and it was so exciting! GOD IS GOOD!
and then rebekah and i did the sumo suits when it was POURING down rain and it was so much fun! Then we stayed at GP hannging out until like midnight!
Thursday was probably the best and most important day for kids club!
this was when we talked about how Jesus is our subsitute! the verse was Romans 5:8 how God shows his love for us in this way, Christ died for us while we were still sinners and we talked aobut Jesus and the cross and O MAN you could feel the spirit and the presence of God in that place! pray that God will touch each one of the kids lives who are on the bench of life who are not christians yet but are thinking about it!
Then on thursday afternoon were supposed to do its a knockout with kids club but it POURED! so we went to GP and had a game time and during that time i got to talk with these two girls from Poland Natalia and Paulina and it was great to hear their story and they were catholic girls and i got to talk to them about what that meant to be catholic and what they thought about all of this Jesus stuff and the washbasin so i told them what i thought about life and jesus and christianity and catholicism and pray that they can bring their family on sunday to GP for our sunday night sonshine week service!
but it was great to have these kids see GP and see that church doesn't have to be an OLD building that only has a sanctuary! While i was riding home on the bus with the wee boys they were so amazing that the church had a play place and tvs and pool tables! but it was great to tell them that GOd does NOT dwell in a building but he dwells in our hearts and that is what the church really is!
Friday was the final day and i couldn't believe that it went so fast! The theme for Friday was that Jesus is teh champion and we got to talk about the RESURECTION and how we serve a RISEN SAVIOR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
the Verse was Heb 12:1 Now let us run the race that is before us and never give up and how we should remove anything from our lives that owuld get in the way and the sin that so easily holds us back!!!!!!!!!!!
Guys---we had TEN KIDS come to know the lord this week! it was AMAZING to hear their hearts and see how their wee lives were changed but how that also helped change the leaders lives as well!
Friday night was AMAZING!
we had athing called sonset supper where all of the families that we had been talking to that week could come and here about people whose lives had been some extreme makeovers! We had Marvin Andrews who is a football players from the Rangers team in Scotland and Alison Stewart a women who was on the streets and in jail but is now saved come and share their testimonies! GUYS GOD WAS THERE AND HE WAS WORKING AND SPEAKING THROUGH THESE PEOPLE!
there were a lot of youth there to see Marvin and he was SO passionate about his faith and had SOOOO much Faith in God and the power that He has!
Look up Marvin Andrews and ALISON STEWART's stories! You will be blessed!
guys there are so many more stories i want to tell you but rightnow i am off to BELFAST to go to a worship night with people from GP so i will write more tomorrow! but i love you all and cannot thank you enough for your prayers!
God is still moving and working!
Tomorrow night is the church service where a guy from the IRA terrorist and a preacher are talking about how their lives have been through an extreme makeover!
so pray that God can save souls tomorrow night through these testimonies!
..
U
love you all!
stay strong!
happy 4th of july!
KEEP BELIEVING!
JESUS IS ALIVE!
HE HEALS!
HAVE FAITH!
..
U
IN HIS GRIP,
megan
sonshine week 2008:
KidsClub theme was Champions Challenge! So each day we looked at who Jesus was in relation to a team!
So we are going to breakdown day by day!
Monday:
we arrived at the WB at half 8(8:30) and started the morning with worship and prayer--whcih is what we did every morning! it was wonderful to have the jump start and encouraged to face the day adn it is something that i valued so mauch becasue it is true we are fighting a battle and stan is not happy about that so if we start the day giving God all the glory then we are equiped to face the battle that the day holds! So once we had an all volunteer group prayer time we slip up into our teams so the silly swimmers which is my team meaning the wee ones from P1-P4 which is ages 5-8 and then there was the hyper hockey team which was P5-P6 which is ages 9-10 and then there was the reilly rugby team which was ages P7 and First Year which is ages 11-12! So the silly swimmer team met in the back hall of the washbasin which was all decorated as olymic grandstand! it was LETHAL =) and Monday's theme was talking about Jesus is our TRAINER! So we start the morning off with some fun games to keep the kids entertained then at half 10 we start off with our mc's 118-118 which is a funny show that is popular over here--you should youtube it!-- so they do a dance which going along with the champions challenge theme was like a workout routine!!!!!!!!!!!! and then after the dance we did three songs that all had motions and dances moves and the kids LOVED um! THen after worship there was a little drama skit that went with each day's theme! So on monday i got to participate in the drama so that was SUPER fun! then after the drama everyday we had a different memory verse! Monday's verse was John 15:14 If you love me you will obey my commands! After the memory verse we would watch a DVD clip about a bible story and then after the clip a leader would come up and reexplain the story and the bible verse! Following the story was the QUIZ time! Quiz time was super fun becuase it was all about getting the leaders as messy/wet/humiliated as possible so games that were sticking your head in water then in flour trying to get the most points for your team! just silly stuff to make it fun for the kids to ask questions! Then we would go into our JAM groups which are JESUS AND ME time! I have a wee group of 9 kids who were all 8! I love how God uses everything in our past to prepare us for what he has in store for us today! I worked with third graders all this year at Cornerstone in sunday school and now i know why!!!!!!!!!!!!! God is so faithful! My group had Rebekah, Rachel, Alyssa, Nicole, Steven, Matthew, Matthew, Reese, Corrin. So in our JAM groups we did a little craft and then had a wee worsheet that explained the story. Then after JAM time we would send them home and go have lunch as a team! After lunch we would prepare for our afternoon activities! Afternoon times were for the older kids who were P5 and higher--9-12 year olds! So monday's afternoon activies was a photo challenge so i had a group of fun boys so we ran around Ahoghill for two hours! i will post the pictures soon!
Then at like half 4 they go home and we cleaned up had dinner and then got ready for FUN NIGHT! Fun night is a time where bounce houses, and boothes are set up all round the washbasin and the diamond in ahoghill. My job for the fun nightwas PUPPETS!!!!!!!!!! so much fun....but here is the thing...we spent so much time in prayer for the weather on monday night that God would NOT LET IT RAIN..and what happened monday night...IT RAINED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! but That did mattter there was still a great turn out of kids and families! The puppet show starts with a song and then we go into a dialogue and they always want me to talk because they like my accent! =) so i got to do it and i LOVE that kind of stuff so it was a blast! THen we end it with two more songs so by the end o man your arms are KILLING ya! but it is all worth it becuase we get tot share the gospel in a different and fun way! Then after that i went to the car park(parking lot) in the back of the washbasin and helped with the sumo-wrestler suits! It was so mcuh fun and priase the Lord i bought that rain jacket! I would have been hating it if i didn't have that! But some great times with all the leaders! But fun night isn't just about the fun! it is a time for us to talk with kids, parents and families about the rest of the week and what God is doing in thier lives and in our lives! I know that great things happened that night even though the night did not go the wya we planned it!
So we started the week with a super long day! but it got us pretty pumped up for the rest of the week!
So tuesday rolled around and we did the same routine in the morning but tuesday theme was Jesus is my HEALER! so we got to talk with the kids about who in their lives where sick! BUt the question we asked them was "are you on Jesus's team?" it was wonderful to find out that most of my group were christians...but pray for wee steven, matthew, and corrin becuase they were the ones who were confused and didn't know if they were on Jesus' team. And pray for Corrin becuase we talked about how God can heal his dad and i know that if God does heal his dad that he will be able to see the POWER that Christ has! The verse for the day was Heb 11:1 For faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see! Tuesday's afternoon activity was mini olymics and again we prayed so much for God to stop the rain..but again it RAINED! and so we couldn't go to to the football pitches(field) to do the olymics so we went to the presbyterian church down the street and had like 12 stations of fun little games that we did! It was a great day where the kids were able to have fun and keep buliding those relationships with kids becuase once you gain their trust they TOTALLY OPEN UP TO YOU! tuesday night was not a required thing but there was a night called Shelter which is for women and it is a time to listen to a lady who had two daughters with severe physical disabilities and talk about her testimony and how God worked in her life! Her book is called Under the Rainbow--i forget her name but i will let you know later--and what is cool about shelter is that throughout the whole week in the mornings there were times for women to come in and be pampered by getting hteir hair done, getting their nails or toes done, get a message and just talk with someone for a while! Women need to know that they are loved and this was a great way to show them the LOVE OF GOD! that their Daddy loves them!
Also, throughout the whole week there were coffee mornings which was a time when anyone could come in andd get free tea and coffee and talk with someone...there was a creche(nursey) where mummies could drop their wee babies for free! Also, there was a team that reached out specifically to the old folks and went to nursing homes throughout the villages doing puppet shows, pampering and just talking!
ALSO! there was a team called streat reach which was out each morning doing stuff within the village like cleaing pub toilets and washing windows but their main focus is the youth...the kids who are out on the streets drinking and doing drugs and just being youth! So every afternoon/evening there was something for them to do! Pray that all of the relationships built will be able to grow and that there will continue to be questions raised by the youth about Jesus!
then there is clean up which goes around and cleans up people's yards and asking anyone if they needed anything done!
FINALLY! there was a door-to-door team that went out into the village and gave more gifts out and invited people to sonset supper which was on friday night and asking them about how they felt about Jesus!
so as you can see there is alot going on throughout the week!
wednesday was when we talked about Jesus being our TEAMMATE! and the verse was 1 Cor. 12:27 Together we are the body of Christ, and each one of your is part of that body! It was brilliant! Wednesday afternoon was the "party!" so we did some dances and then played more games and i had an AMAZING group of boys who loved the games and were super competive! =)
but wednesday night was GREAT! we went to GP and we did ITS A KNOCKOUT competion which is a whole field full of fun obstacle course bounce house stuff. I was on a team with Joanne(kids club MAIN leader) and a couple other guys from the kids club! It was such a blast and the point of this night is to get all of teh different churches in the area to come together and hang out so we were playing against people form church of ireland and from the presbyterian churches in the area! such a fun time!
my team ended up getting like 2nd or 3rd place! and SUCH A MIRACLE! THE RAIN CLOUDS LITTERALLY PARTED! it didn't rain until we were almost completely done with our competiion! and it was so wonderful to see the sky blue and bright ONLY above US!!!!!!!!!!!! and then there was a FULLLLLL rainbow in the sky and it was so exciting! GOD IS GOOD!
and then rebekah and i did the sumo suits when it was POURING down rain and it was so much fun! Then we stayed at GP hannging out until like midnight!
Thursday was probably the best and most important day for kids club!
this was when we talked about how Jesus is our subsitute! the verse was Romans 5:8 how God shows his love for us in this way, Christ died for us while we were still sinners and we talked aobut Jesus and the cross and O MAN you could feel the spirit and the presence of God in that place! pray that God will touch each one of the kids lives who are on the bench of life who are not christians yet but are thinking about it!
Then on thursday afternoon were supposed to do its a knockout with kids club but it POURED! so we went to GP and had a game time and during that time i got to talk with these two girls from Poland Natalia and Paulina and it was great to hear their story and they were catholic girls and i got to talk to them about what that meant to be catholic and what they thought about all of this Jesus stuff and the washbasin so i told them what i thought about life and jesus and christianity and catholicism and pray that they can bring their family on sunday to GP for our sunday night sonshine week service!
but it was great to have these kids see GP and see that church doesn't have to be an OLD building that only has a sanctuary! While i was riding home on the bus with the wee boys they were so amazing that the church had a play place and tvs and pool tables! but it was great to tell them that GOd does NOT dwell in a building but he dwells in our hearts and that is what the church really is!
Friday was the final day and i couldn't believe that it went so fast! The theme for Friday was that Jesus is teh champion and we got to talk about the RESURECTION and how we serve a RISEN SAVIOR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
the Verse was Heb 12:1 Now let us run the race that is before us and never give up and how we should remove anything from our lives that owuld get in the way and the sin that so easily holds us back!!!!!!!!!!!
Guys---we had TEN KIDS come to know the lord this week! it was AMAZING to hear their hearts and see how their wee lives were changed but how that also helped change the leaders lives as well!
Friday night was AMAZING!
we had athing called sonset supper where all of the families that we had been talking to that week could come and here about people whose lives had been some extreme makeovers! We had Marvin Andrews who is a football players from the Rangers team in Scotland and Alison Stewart a women who was on the streets and in jail but is now saved come and share their testimonies! GUYS GOD WAS THERE AND HE WAS WORKING AND SPEAKING THROUGH THESE PEOPLE!
there were a lot of youth there to see Marvin and he was SO passionate about his faith and had SOOOO much Faith in God and the power that He has!
Look up Marvin Andrews and ALISON STEWART's stories! You will be blessed!
guys there are so many more stories i want to tell you but rightnow i am off to BELFAST to go to a worship night with people from GP so i will write more tomorrow! but i love you all and cannot thank you enough for your prayers!
God is still moving and working!
Tomorrow night is the church service where a guy from the IRA terrorist and a preacher are talking about how their lives have been through an extreme makeover!
so pray that God can save souls tomorrow night through these testimonies!
..
U
love you all!
stay strong!
happy 4th of july!
KEEP BELIEVING!
JESUS IS ALIVE!
HE HEALS!
HAVE FAITH!
..
U
IN HIS GRIP,
megan
Sunday, June 29, 2008
Week 3: GREAT!
Wow...again i say...what a week! God is so good you guys! This has been just as busy of a week as ever! Sonshine week starts ON MONDAY! so things have been soooooo crazy getting the final stuff done for that! It is like combining planning for homecoming, winter banquet, all school retreat and march madness into one week! One thing tha ti have seen this week is how God uses EVERY thing in our past to prepare us for what he has today! All of my time spent at berean and doing stuff in student government has helped TREMENDOUSLY in the prep for sonshine week! but o man guys has it been challenging becuase i am spending a lot of time doing the little behind the scenes stuff and that is super humbling for me! Also, it has been SOOOOOOOOOOO hard to ask people for rides and stuff! O MAN! Also, there was a change of living arangements that happened this week! I am now staying with Jo and Mark Looney! Mark is a Rev. in the Church of Ireland! They are lovely people who are so gracious and have opened there house up to me! Again a humbling experience!
So a little recap of the week!
Starting with saturday! Last saturday i went to an OMS United Kingdom orientation! It was wonderful to be with 15 other people, yougn and old who were going over seas to do missions work! There was a team going to HAITI!!!!!!! (God would have them there!) a team going to Ukraine, Uruaguy, and Mexico! So we did a lot of cultural awareness games, things like preparing our testimonies and personality profile tests and stuff! It was very interesting becuase it hit me that being at HOME is almost harder for me then being over seas! All you APU people probably remember when Francis Chan talked about how we all would probably be willing to go and get on a plane and go to africa to do BIG thigns for God in a place where we dont know anyone and then come back in two week and then go right back to the routine of home....but WHY IN THE HECK ARE WE NOT WILLING TO DO THE THINGS WE DO ON MISSION TRIPS AT HOME! so saturday was pretty emotional for me becuase how am i going to take the thigns that i have learned here about God back and make them change the way i look and function in my community....i dont know yet BUT God is faithful and he knows what he is doing!
Sunday:Had the opportunity to go to sharon and melvin's home church:Antrim Baptist which was in a wee hall that held about 100 people and they had a celebration for all the kids that went to sunday school! It was still on the traditional side of church and we did all hymns and then did communion. Then SUNDAY NIGHT! THE HEALING SERVICE happened at GP! Wow guys! God is so good! HE IS ALIVE AND WORKING! When we step out in Faith! God rewards that! Pastor Jeff talked about Mark 11:22-25 and how to unlock healing we have to H-Have Faith and took someone out of the congration and said @with God you have to just jump sometimes' and he leaped off of the stage into the guy's arms and what a visual it was to see trust and faith that he had in his friend! then he talked about how he had Krohn's Disease and it was really acting up about 2 years ago when the chruch was getting started and he talkeda bout how the holy spirit told him that this sickness was not from Him and that is was not from the devil that Jeff was causing this sickness becuas eof his anxiety over getting the church started! And so he said that he had to trust that God was in control and that even after he prayed for healing and released his anxiety that he still was having pain==BUT== when you pains dont tell you that you are healed--look to the WORD of God(ISAIAH 53-by MY wounds you are healed) tells you that you are!!!!!!!!!!! then the letter E-Entertain no Doubt using verse 23--KNOW that you can move the mountain! Don't doubt! then the letter A- ASK! verse 24--be specific in your asking for healing! he also used John 15 where it talks about abiding in God! [Dare to ask and Dare to belive!] then last but not least the letter L=LET ALL OFFENSES GO! verse 25! let the offenses go...such a simple statement but yet so hard to do sometimes! and then verse 25 goes on saying if you hold anything against someone FORGIVE THEM!!!!!!!!!!!!!! so that your Father can forgive you! Don't hold grudges with people! For give them!
After Jeff talked about that there were some prayers that we said outloud using verses like Psalm 107, Proverbs 4:20, Rom. 12:12; John 14:20; Prov, 12:18, 16:24; Psalm 118; Exodus 23:25-26 to read out loud!
and guys....then he asked people to come up for prayer if they needed healing...and can i just tell you that like half of the 'house' got up! People are hurting...people are in pain....WHY DONT WE ASK THEM IF THEY WANT TO BE HEALED? I know that many times people think that God owes it to them to heal them...but if we look at this passage from Mark...there is a part that we must do...we have to be right with God...and i think that we miss that sometimes! The service started at 7ish and there were people there getting prayed over until 10:45ish! AMAZING! and i acactually got to talk with pastor jeff the next day and he said that he got SO many calls of people saying that they woke up HEALED!
what a step of faith....
can people see our faith being lived out...
faith is spelled-RISK-- are we taking any risks...are we jumping out on a leap of faith when the only thing we have to hold onto to is Jesus...becuase then and only then will God work in AMAZING ways!
..
U
on monday did lots of prep for the kidz club with Joanne who is the leader of the kids club at WB and then on tuesday morning with Joanne we went to a nursey school(preschool) graduation to do a puppet presentation! GUYS PUPPETS ARE SO MUCH FUN! it is kinda hard to do and i got thrown into the deep end cuz i have never done them before! But the wee ones are SOOOOOOOOOOOO cute and it was great to be able to share that God loves them through a fun and easy thing like puppets! and then after that we went to Cullybackey High school again for lunch club and to do preparations for an assemble that we were to do on thursday! Guys it rocks...here(like so many other places other then the states) YOU CAN TALK ABOUT GOD IN SCHOOLS! wb has built a wonderful relationship with the vice principle of CHS and he is a christian too so they have some amazing opportunities to share the love of christ with these kids!
So the theme for the assembly was GLADIATOR! so we had a blow up bouncey obstacle course and a jousting bouncey thing. So we split them into teams of 150 on one side and a 150 on the other side and had them go through the course to see who won...then they had team members do the jousting! After the fun games, a professional body builder==the real life gladiator!==shared his testimony! Then we watched a video with clips from the passion of the Christ movie and following that Adam on heartbeat team shared his testimony and gave an appeal! I know that God used that all of the time that they had spent at CHS this past year to soften the kids hearts towards God and i know that God's word does not come up void (Isaiah 55) and that those kids lives will be turned to Christ!
Friday night and saturday morning we had training time for sonshine week and then as teams came back to the WB and had team bonding time! I am so dang excited for this week guys and the visual that i have in my head is this light that leaves the WB and leaves GP that permeates through the streets of Ahoghill and Galgorm and this light is so contagious that people can't help but come out of their houses and see what it is!
please pray that this is true! That lives will be turned from the way of darkness to the kindgom of LIGHT!!!!!!!!!!! So much prayer and prep and more prayer and more prep has gone into this week!
I KNOW that God has big things in store!
Jeff challenged us to EACH DAY...pray with some we meet and share the gospel with someone...........
WHAT A CHALLENGE
but then i realized
that is what EVERYDAY should be.....
Also, amazing story! On friday night i met this couple named Richard and Susan! They are LOVELY and they were talkig about how He went to ORU in Oklahoma! (MIRIAM GOES THERE!) and for like 45 minutes we talked about all the ways in which God provided for them...God for provided money for tution 'randomly' when they didn't think they were going to make it-how he provided food and diapers for their baby when they were on their last bottle and last diaper==and Susan is a hair dresser but didn't have enough money to buy products and then she got a call from someone back in ireland who had just wired money into her account but the lady told susan that GOd told her that it was to be used for beauty products!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
i was in AWE of their trust and faith in God and it inspired me so much to live a life of TOTAL reliance on God! Guys...we do we think that God is not going to provide for us! He knows what we need...and what WE WANT doesn't always mean it is going to be what is best for us...God knows what is best for us and he is going to make it happen in HIS timing! Our Job is to trust! and not to take things into our own hands!
So this morning i had the chance to go to the CHruch of Ireland with Mark and Jo! and i think that it is so funny i have been to a different church each sunday i have been here! Chruch of Ireland is a lot more like the catholic church but it was great to see how another place does worship....
what do u think God is saying when he looks down on us and sees his body so divided......
that is what is beautiful about the Washbasin! It is a interdenominational organization that meets the needs of the people in the village no matter what they belive about the holy spirit or spiritual gifts!
I have to run but i cannot thank you all enough for your prayers and support! I am so excited for sonshine week and to see people come to the Lord!
My prayer is that you can be challenged by our brothers and sisters over her to put your faith to the test and to expect God to show up! Take a step of faith! do something that you think you would never do!
FAITH IS SPELLED RISK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
..
U
love you all and miss you like crazy!
IN HIS GRIP,
megan
So a little recap of the week!
Starting with saturday! Last saturday i went to an OMS United Kingdom orientation! It was wonderful to be with 15 other people, yougn and old who were going over seas to do missions work! There was a team going to HAITI!!!!!!! (God would have them there!) a team going to Ukraine, Uruaguy, and Mexico! So we did a lot of cultural awareness games, things like preparing our testimonies and personality profile tests and stuff! It was very interesting becuase it hit me that being at HOME is almost harder for me then being over seas! All you APU people probably remember when Francis Chan talked about how we all would probably be willing to go and get on a plane and go to africa to do BIG thigns for God in a place where we dont know anyone and then come back in two week and then go right back to the routine of home....but WHY IN THE HECK ARE WE NOT WILLING TO DO THE THINGS WE DO ON MISSION TRIPS AT HOME! so saturday was pretty emotional for me becuase how am i going to take the thigns that i have learned here about God back and make them change the way i look and function in my community....i dont know yet BUT God is faithful and he knows what he is doing!
Sunday:Had the opportunity to go to sharon and melvin's home church:Antrim Baptist which was in a wee hall that held about 100 people and they had a celebration for all the kids that went to sunday school! It was still on the traditional side of church and we did all hymns and then did communion. Then SUNDAY NIGHT! THE HEALING SERVICE happened at GP! Wow guys! God is so good! HE IS ALIVE AND WORKING! When we step out in Faith! God rewards that! Pastor Jeff talked about Mark 11:22-25 and how to unlock healing we have to H-Have Faith and took someone out of the congration and said @with God you have to just jump sometimes' and he leaped off of the stage into the guy's arms and what a visual it was to see trust and faith that he had in his friend! then he talked about how he had Krohn's Disease and it was really acting up about 2 years ago when the chruch was getting started and he talkeda bout how the holy spirit told him that this sickness was not from Him and that is was not from the devil that Jeff was causing this sickness becuas eof his anxiety over getting the church started! And so he said that he had to trust that God was in control and that even after he prayed for healing and released his anxiety that he still was having pain==BUT== when you pains dont tell you that you are healed--look to the WORD of God(ISAIAH 53-by MY wounds you are healed) tells you that you are!!!!!!!!!!! then the letter E-Entertain no Doubt using verse 23--KNOW that you can move the mountain! Don't doubt! then the letter A- ASK! verse 24--be specific in your asking for healing! he also used John 15 where it talks about abiding in God! [Dare to ask and Dare to belive!] then last but not least the letter L=LET ALL OFFENSES GO! verse 25! let the offenses go...such a simple statement but yet so hard to do sometimes! and then verse 25 goes on saying if you hold anything against someone FORGIVE THEM!!!!!!!!!!!!!! so that your Father can forgive you! Don't hold grudges with people! For give them!
After Jeff talked about that there were some prayers that we said outloud using verses like Psalm 107, Proverbs 4:20, Rom. 12:12; John 14:20; Prov, 12:18, 16:24; Psalm 118; Exodus 23:25-26 to read out loud!
and guys....then he asked people to come up for prayer if they needed healing...and can i just tell you that like half of the 'house' got up! People are hurting...people are in pain....WHY DONT WE ASK THEM IF THEY WANT TO BE HEALED? I know that many times people think that God owes it to them to heal them...but if we look at this passage from Mark...there is a part that we must do...we have to be right with God...and i think that we miss that sometimes! The service started at 7ish and there were people there getting prayed over until 10:45ish! AMAZING! and i acactually got to talk with pastor jeff the next day and he said that he got SO many calls of people saying that they woke up HEALED!
what a step of faith....
can people see our faith being lived out...
faith is spelled-RISK-- are we taking any risks...are we jumping out on a leap of faith when the only thing we have to hold onto to is Jesus...becuase then and only then will God work in AMAZING ways!
..
U
on monday did lots of prep for the kidz club with Joanne who is the leader of the kids club at WB and then on tuesday morning with Joanne we went to a nursey school(preschool) graduation to do a puppet presentation! GUYS PUPPETS ARE SO MUCH FUN! it is kinda hard to do and i got thrown into the deep end cuz i have never done them before! But the wee ones are SOOOOOOOOOOOO cute and it was great to be able to share that God loves them through a fun and easy thing like puppets! and then after that we went to Cullybackey High school again for lunch club and to do preparations for an assemble that we were to do on thursday! Guys it rocks...here(like so many other places other then the states) YOU CAN TALK ABOUT GOD IN SCHOOLS! wb has built a wonderful relationship with the vice principle of CHS and he is a christian too so they have some amazing opportunities to share the love of christ with these kids!
So the theme for the assembly was GLADIATOR! so we had a blow up bouncey obstacle course and a jousting bouncey thing. So we split them into teams of 150 on one side and a 150 on the other side and had them go through the course to see who won...then they had team members do the jousting! After the fun games, a professional body builder==the real life gladiator!==shared his testimony! Then we watched a video with clips from the passion of the Christ movie and following that Adam on heartbeat team shared his testimony and gave an appeal! I know that God used that all of the time that they had spent at CHS this past year to soften the kids hearts towards God and i know that God's word does not come up void (Isaiah 55) and that those kids lives will be turned to Christ!
Friday night and saturday morning we had training time for sonshine week and then as teams came back to the WB and had team bonding time! I am so dang excited for this week guys and the visual that i have in my head is this light that leaves the WB and leaves GP that permeates through the streets of Ahoghill and Galgorm and this light is so contagious that people can't help but come out of their houses and see what it is!
please pray that this is true! That lives will be turned from the way of darkness to the kindgom of LIGHT!!!!!!!!!!! So much prayer and prep and more prayer and more prep has gone into this week!
I KNOW that God has big things in store!
Jeff challenged us to EACH DAY...pray with some we meet and share the gospel with someone...........
WHAT A CHALLENGE
but then i realized
that is what EVERYDAY should be.....
Also, amazing story! On friday night i met this couple named Richard and Susan! They are LOVELY and they were talkig about how He went to ORU in Oklahoma! (MIRIAM GOES THERE!) and for like 45 minutes we talked about all the ways in which God provided for them...God for provided money for tution 'randomly' when they didn't think they were going to make it-how he provided food and diapers for their baby when they were on their last bottle and last diaper==and Susan is a hair dresser but didn't have enough money to buy products and then she got a call from someone back in ireland who had just wired money into her account but the lady told susan that GOd told her that it was to be used for beauty products!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
i was in AWE of their trust and faith in God and it inspired me so much to live a life of TOTAL reliance on God! Guys...we do we think that God is not going to provide for us! He knows what we need...and what WE WANT doesn't always mean it is going to be what is best for us...God knows what is best for us and he is going to make it happen in HIS timing! Our Job is to trust! and not to take things into our own hands!
So this morning i had the chance to go to the CHruch of Ireland with Mark and Jo! and i think that it is so funny i have been to a different church each sunday i have been here! Chruch of Ireland is a lot more like the catholic church but it was great to see how another place does worship....
what do u think God is saying when he looks down on us and sees his body so divided......
that is what is beautiful about the Washbasin! It is a interdenominational organization that meets the needs of the people in the village no matter what they belive about the holy spirit or spiritual gifts!
I have to run but i cannot thank you all enough for your prayers and support! I am so excited for sonshine week and to see people come to the Lord!
My prayer is that you can be challenged by our brothers and sisters over her to put your faith to the test and to expect God to show up! Take a step of faith! do something that you think you would never do!
FAITH IS SPELLED RISK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
..
U
love you all and miss you like crazy!
IN HIS GRIP,
megan
Friday, June 20, 2008
Week TWO! "Faith without action is dead"
James 2
14What good is it, my brothers, if a man claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save him? 15Suppose a brother or sister is without clothes and daily food. 16If one of you says to him, "Go, I wish you well; keep warm and well fed," but does nothing about his physical needs, what good is it? 17In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.
18But someone will say, "You have faith; I have deeds."
Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by what I do.
19You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that—and shudder.
20You foolish man, do you want evidence that faith without deeds is useless[d]? 21Was not our ancestor Abraham considered righteous for what he did when he offered his son Isaac on the altar? 22You see that his faith and his actions were working together, and his faith was made complete by what he did. 23And the scripture was fulfilled that says, "Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness,"[e] and he was called God's friend. 24You see that a person is justified by what he does and not by faith alone.
25In the same way, was not even Rahab the prostitute considered righteous for what she did when she gave lodging to the spies and sent them off in a different direction? 26As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without deeds is dead.
I think that so many times that we as an american christian church can be "chained to the pew" and are sunday morning christians that spent more of their time in their christian community and we not willing to do what James calls true religion "Religion that God out Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress aand to keep oneself from being polluted by the world." (1:27) One thing that has hti me to the core of my heart is the fact that the Washbasin and Green Pastures church are so active in their community. They are ALWAYS doing something in their villiage to get people connected with Christ and to a place where they are welcomed. I will address this more later...
..
U
To break down the week a little...monday night was our kids club meeting so this is for all the leaders of the kids club during sonshien week to meet and brainstorm and practice what we are going to be doing! We learned some fun and crazy dances to songs! But guys there are going to be like 300 kids there and this is such an amazing opportunity to bring the name of Jesus to them! Please be praying that i will be able to know how to lead these wee kids to the a closer relationship to the lord and for those who dont' believe that i can point to the cross!
My days have been filled with TONS of work preparing for sonshine week! On tuesday we delieved all those gifts we packed last week to the people of Ahoghill! My partner Chelsie is an adorable young girl about 14 who has a passion for Christ and is helping with kids club too! We went to about 40 doors that night and encountered everything from Christian's who were super encouraging and were attendeing sonshine week...to people who didn't know what sonshine week was and wanted to know more...to people like Paul...Paul was an older man who once he opened the door i new this wasn't going to easy. Paul was where all black and had a shaved head with a mohawk of black hair. His eyes were piercing and were a blue, almost turquise color that i have never seen before. When chelsie handed him the gift the first thing he says is "oh i dont agree with you christians!" and goes off for like 20 mintues about how he is tormented by evil spirits and believes in Chinese religion...while he is saying all of this--i could feel the oppression of that house---there was evil there...and i would try and interject my thoughts and opinions but it wasn't time for that...he needed to vent and to get out his frustration...about half way through i asked if he wanted us to pray for him and he wanted nothing to do with our God or our prayers! but looking into his piercing eyes...he was in bondage...he was truly tornemented and couldn't be set free unless he turned to Jesus...he also went off on how he hates the pople in America and the UK who say they are christians and belive in capitalism becuase why are they polluting the earth and using its beautiful reasources yet say they love God and his creation...also he talked about how the rich are rulling the world and they are not doing a very good job and why is it that there are so many people who are dying with aids in africa and the rich aren't doing anything about it! Why are the governments who say they are christian(aka america) letting these thigns happen!
Let me tell you this was a slap in the face! I know that my eyes have been opened this year to some of these issues and right now i am reading a book my Shane Clairborne (THAT YOU ALL SHOULD READ) called Jesus for President and it addresses some of these issues! So i am being bombarded by another way of thinking! The thigns that i have thought about my country since i was born are now having to be rethought! I am not saying that i hate america or i am not going to support the things going on in my country! But you know what i mean...it is hard and challenging when you hear the other side! I WOULD challenge you all to check out the book or the website jesusforpresident.com and see what i am talking about. and i pray that today your thinking would be challenged! And just because your thinking is being challenged doesn't mean that you are going to change your mind about antying...i am just saying that by being forced to answer some hard question you can made your ideas stronger or adapted them to a new way of thinking.
---sorry guys this is super rambly but i have a short amount of time and i praise God for this little down time!---
Also on tuesday ---God withheld the rain for 90% of our delievery but the last 30 minutes it was POURING! but that didn't stop us from doing what we had to do! And it was hard for me to becuase when we were talking to Paul i was like "we have so many bags to deliver still o my goodness" then God hit me in the head that HELLO it isn't about the task it is about the people! i can't lose sight of that!
..
U
Wednesday held more sonshine week prep! Also, the Heartbeat team is going to Mozimbique this summer and they did a change drive at Culleybacky High School whcihc is the school that they go to every tuesday during lucnh to build realtionships with teh kids! They made over a 1000 pounds! it was a blessing to them but o man counting all of that money was a great way to learn the money! the bank of ireland hated us coming in with a 1000 pounds of change!But then on wednesday night: the bus from GREEN PASTURES came to the house in Antrim to pick me up for the wednesday night prayers meeting! It is great that they have busses that go to all of the villages in the area to pick up poeple hwo dont have rides to get to hcurch! This weeks time focused on what the years ahead held for the chruch! It was wonderful to see their passion and their vision for the next couple of years!
Guys...they EXPECT god to do great things! That is challengeing for me becuase i think that so many times i dont make my plans BIG enough ya know...i thnk we can become a little to caught up in the common sense of it all when we forget that luke promises that NOTHING IS IMPOSSIBLE FOR OUR LORD!!!!!!!! (tiff)=)Pastor Jeff talked about Luke 14 and the Parable of the Great Banquet! He said that we need to be inviting people to this House Party!(their church) but the passage talks about how when we invite people we know sometimes they give excusses as to why tehy can't come and so then it says that we need to go out into the streets and alleys of the town and bring in the poor, the crippled to blind and the lame to the banquet! and that even with all of those people in the church THERE STILL IS ROOM! and we need to then go to the roads and coutnry lanes and make them come in so that the Hosue of the lord will be full!
are we doing that?
He talked about how our best harvest is many times amoung the pople that we dont know.....so HOW ARE WE MAKING THAT HAPPEN! GP and the WB have a team called streetreach! and guess what they do...GO OUT INTO THE STREETS and do whatever the community needs! Each team member is assigned an area and they help with home improvements and yard work...during holidays help single parent family with needs and then they build that relationship with them so that they can then invite them to church!!!!!!!!!!!
guys how can we do that in our towns? ---->that is the question i am wrestling with.....pray that my thoughts can be sorted out....
Yesterday...thursday was CRAZY!
Rebekah (whom i praise the lord is here with me) and i spent to whole day 9-9 working on stuff!!!! but last night was a blast we helped in the upper room because there was a party for all the kids who are part of this thing called Coaching for Christ (a futball team/league that all the coaches are christians and have devotions and stuff but they work in the community--again another way to get the name of Jesus out there without people the intimiation of a church serivice) had their end of the year party! So Rebekah and her brother Steven(who is the chef of the upper room) served 60 boys under the age of 13---CRAZINESS!---but marvelous! and now it is friday and Sharon and i are sitting in the COMFORT inn becuase it is our day off and then we are heading back to her house then to Killrea (her parents house (where we got spend fathers day!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!Her dad is farmer and her mom is an adorable house wife!) Because Sharon and melvin are having a fundrasing bbq for their africa trip! pray that all that goes well and that God holds out on teh rain!
Tomorrow i am going to an OMS orientation thing....i dont realy know detials about it but i am sure it is going to great!
i have to go and get detials done for the bbq tonight!
guys i love you all an dmiss you so much! and i LVOE LOVE LOVE hearing your comments! so keep um coming!
but i want to know how you all are doing as well!
Thanks again for the love and prayers!
IN HIS GRIP,
megan frew
Praises!
~God gave us some amazing opportunities to share his love to the people of Ahoghill and Galgorm and Gracehill through gift delivers.
~I have made some truly GREAT relationships with some great brothers and sisters in teh Lord!
~God is faithful in providing for all my needs(emotionally, social, and spritiually) and is giving me the strength that i need to get through these crazy long and amazing days!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Prayers:
~That we will get everything done for SONSHINE WEEK which is rapidly apporaching in ONE WEEK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
~That i will be able to know how to take what i have learned home with me and ACT upon it!!!!!!!!!!!!
~That the healing service on sunday night for GP will be God honoring and that poeple will be able to come and encounter the Lord AND BE HEALED!!!!!!!
14What good is it, my brothers, if a man claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save him? 15Suppose a brother or sister is without clothes and daily food. 16If one of you says to him, "Go, I wish you well; keep warm and well fed," but does nothing about his physical needs, what good is it? 17In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.
18But someone will say, "You have faith; I have deeds."
Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by what I do.
19You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that—and shudder.
20You foolish man, do you want evidence that faith without deeds is useless[d]? 21Was not our ancestor Abraham considered righteous for what he did when he offered his son Isaac on the altar? 22You see that his faith and his actions were working together, and his faith was made complete by what he did. 23And the scripture was fulfilled that says, "Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness,"[e] and he was called God's friend. 24You see that a person is justified by what he does and not by faith alone.
25In the same way, was not even Rahab the prostitute considered righteous for what she did when she gave lodging to the spies and sent them off in a different direction? 26As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without deeds is dead.
I think that so many times that we as an american christian church can be "chained to the pew" and are sunday morning christians that spent more of their time in their christian community and we not willing to do what James calls true religion "Religion that God out Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress aand to keep oneself from being polluted by the world." (1:27) One thing that has hti me to the core of my heart is the fact that the Washbasin and Green Pastures church are so active in their community. They are ALWAYS doing something in their villiage to get people connected with Christ and to a place where they are welcomed. I will address this more later...
..
U
To break down the week a little...monday night was our kids club meeting so this is for all the leaders of the kids club during sonshien week to meet and brainstorm and practice what we are going to be doing! We learned some fun and crazy dances to songs! But guys there are going to be like 300 kids there and this is such an amazing opportunity to bring the name of Jesus to them! Please be praying that i will be able to know how to lead these wee kids to the a closer relationship to the lord and for those who dont' believe that i can point to the cross!
My days have been filled with TONS of work preparing for sonshine week! On tuesday we delieved all those gifts we packed last week to the people of Ahoghill! My partner Chelsie is an adorable young girl about 14 who has a passion for Christ and is helping with kids club too! We went to about 40 doors that night and encountered everything from Christian's who were super encouraging and were attendeing sonshine week...to people who didn't know what sonshine week was and wanted to know more...to people like Paul...Paul was an older man who once he opened the door i new this wasn't going to easy. Paul was where all black and had a shaved head with a mohawk of black hair. His eyes were piercing and were a blue, almost turquise color that i have never seen before. When chelsie handed him the gift the first thing he says is "oh i dont agree with you christians!" and goes off for like 20 mintues about how he is tormented by evil spirits and believes in Chinese religion...while he is saying all of this--i could feel the oppression of that house---there was evil there...and i would try and interject my thoughts and opinions but it wasn't time for that...he needed to vent and to get out his frustration...about half way through i asked if he wanted us to pray for him and he wanted nothing to do with our God or our prayers! but looking into his piercing eyes...he was in bondage...he was truly tornemented and couldn't be set free unless he turned to Jesus...he also went off on how he hates the pople in America and the UK who say they are christians and belive in capitalism becuase why are they polluting the earth and using its beautiful reasources yet say they love God and his creation...also he talked about how the rich are rulling the world and they are not doing a very good job and why is it that there are so many people who are dying with aids in africa and the rich aren't doing anything about it! Why are the governments who say they are christian(aka america) letting these thigns happen!
Let me tell you this was a slap in the face! I know that my eyes have been opened this year to some of these issues and right now i am reading a book my Shane Clairborne (THAT YOU ALL SHOULD READ) called Jesus for President and it addresses some of these issues! So i am being bombarded by another way of thinking! The thigns that i have thought about my country since i was born are now having to be rethought! I am not saying that i hate america or i am not going to support the things going on in my country! But you know what i mean...it is hard and challenging when you hear the other side! I WOULD challenge you all to check out the book or the website jesusforpresident.com and see what i am talking about. and i pray that today your thinking would be challenged! And just because your thinking is being challenged doesn't mean that you are going to change your mind about antying...i am just saying that by being forced to answer some hard question you can made your ideas stronger or adapted them to a new way of thinking.
---sorry guys this is super rambly but i have a short amount of time and i praise God for this little down time!---
Also on tuesday ---God withheld the rain for 90% of our delievery but the last 30 minutes it was POURING! but that didn't stop us from doing what we had to do! And it was hard for me to becuase when we were talking to Paul i was like "we have so many bags to deliver still o my goodness" then God hit me in the head that HELLO it isn't about the task it is about the people! i can't lose sight of that!
..
U
Wednesday held more sonshine week prep! Also, the Heartbeat team is going to Mozimbique this summer and they did a change drive at Culleybacky High School whcihc is the school that they go to every tuesday during lucnh to build realtionships with teh kids! They made over a 1000 pounds! it was a blessing to them but o man counting all of that money was a great way to learn the money! the bank of ireland hated us coming in with a 1000 pounds of change!But then on wednesday night: the bus from GREEN PASTURES came to the house in Antrim to pick me up for the wednesday night prayers meeting! It is great that they have busses that go to all of the villages in the area to pick up poeple hwo dont have rides to get to hcurch! This weeks time focused on what the years ahead held for the chruch! It was wonderful to see their passion and their vision for the next couple of years!
Guys...they EXPECT god to do great things! That is challengeing for me becuase i think that so many times i dont make my plans BIG enough ya know...i thnk we can become a little to caught up in the common sense of it all when we forget that luke promises that NOTHING IS IMPOSSIBLE FOR OUR LORD!!!!!!!! (tiff)=)Pastor Jeff talked about Luke 14 and the Parable of the Great Banquet! He said that we need to be inviting people to this House Party!(their church) but the passage talks about how when we invite people we know sometimes they give excusses as to why tehy can't come and so then it says that we need to go out into the streets and alleys of the town and bring in the poor, the crippled to blind and the lame to the banquet! and that even with all of those people in the church THERE STILL IS ROOM! and we need to then go to the roads and coutnry lanes and make them come in so that the Hosue of the lord will be full!
are we doing that?
He talked about how our best harvest is many times amoung the pople that we dont know.....so HOW ARE WE MAKING THAT HAPPEN! GP and the WB have a team called streetreach! and guess what they do...GO OUT INTO THE STREETS and do whatever the community needs! Each team member is assigned an area and they help with home improvements and yard work...during holidays help single parent family with needs and then they build that relationship with them so that they can then invite them to church!!!!!!!!!!!
guys how can we do that in our towns? ---->that is the question i am wrestling with.....pray that my thoughts can be sorted out....
Yesterday...thursday was CRAZY!
Rebekah (whom i praise the lord is here with me) and i spent to whole day 9-9 working on stuff!!!! but last night was a blast we helped in the upper room because there was a party for all the kids who are part of this thing called Coaching for Christ (a futball team/league that all the coaches are christians and have devotions and stuff but they work in the community--again another way to get the name of Jesus out there without people the intimiation of a church serivice) had their end of the year party! So Rebekah and her brother Steven(who is the chef of the upper room) served 60 boys under the age of 13---CRAZINESS!---but marvelous! and now it is friday and Sharon and i are sitting in the COMFORT inn becuase it is our day off and then we are heading back to her house then to Killrea (her parents house (where we got spend fathers day!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!Her dad is farmer and her mom is an adorable house wife!) Because Sharon and melvin are having a fundrasing bbq for their africa trip! pray that all that goes well and that God holds out on teh rain!
Tomorrow i am going to an OMS orientation thing....i dont realy know detials about it but i am sure it is going to great!
i have to go and get detials done for the bbq tonight!
guys i love you all an dmiss you so much! and i LVOE LOVE LOVE hearing your comments! so keep um coming!
but i want to know how you all are doing as well!
Thanks again for the love and prayers!
IN HIS GRIP,
megan frew
Praises!
~God gave us some amazing opportunities to share his love to the people of Ahoghill and Galgorm and Gracehill through gift delivers.
~I have made some truly GREAT relationships with some great brothers and sisters in teh Lord!
~God is faithful in providing for all my needs(emotionally, social, and spritiually) and is giving me the strength that i need to get through these crazy long and amazing days!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Prayers:
~That we will get everything done for SONSHINE WEEK which is rapidly apporaching in ONE WEEK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
~That i will be able to know how to take what i have learned home with me and ACT upon it!!!!!!!!!!!!
~That the healing service on sunday night for GP will be God honoring and that poeple will be able to come and encounter the Lord AND BE HEALED!!!!!!!
Friday, June 13, 2008
Week One: WOW...this is INSANE but completely AMAZING!
wow...unreal...i can't believe that i am here! Guys you would love this place! So much passion and so much prayer goes on here!
So i arrived on monday at 9:30 to Belfast northern Ireland! and Sharon Kelly was there to pick me up! Sharon works at the Washbasin and is in charge of the Heartbeat team (a group of 4 young adults who volunteer at the washbasin for a year). So from the airport i was ready to go(inside i was extremely tired...but that didn't matter i have been waiting for 6 months to be in ireland) so we headed off to meet the team and i knew once we opened in "african" style prayers (the kind of prayer where everyone prays at the same time) that i knew that i was going to LOVE this place!!!!!!!!1! There is a core of about 10 people who work at the Washbasin which is located in the heart of the village of Ahoghill (which is pronounce a-hock-ll--the guy at the airport made fun of me hard core when i said it A HOG HILL =) it happens! But the washbasin is an amazing thing...they are in the heart of the community...their idea is that is we can't get these poele to come to church..then we need to bring the church to them! They are all about building relationships--because if you dont have a relationship with someone then sure as heck they are not going to listen to what you have to say! So on monday night i attended a "Kids Club" meeting to prepare for Sonshine week! Sonshine week is a week devoted to outreach and community involvement, this year the theme is EXTREME MAKEOVER and the verse is 1 Cor 15:7--In Christ we are a New Creation!!!!! It is like a VBS but for EVERYONE each age group and people group has an activity...but you are know my love for the "wee" ones (they say wee before everything--and I LOVE IT) so i am doing the kids club during sonshine week!
So on tuesday i meet the heartbeat team-Helen, Adam, Ricky, and Rebekah-we talked about sonshine week AND their upcoming missions trip to Mozambique(which is right above south africa)
sharon's husband melvin was an OMS missionary for 3 years in Mozambique so their house is filled with africa stuff so i feel right at home! On tuesday we prepared for packing night which was a time to pack up 3000 gifts for the ahoghill, gracehill, and galgorm villages(which are the three villages surrounding the washbasin)--and yes i said THREE THOUSAND! these gifts consisted of a book introducing Christianity, a tape measure(becuase it is extreme makeover), and an invitation to participate in Sonshine week! So day two and i was already in charge of an invent! Rebekah and Ricky and I got everything ready and the night went great! Also on tuesday we went into the high school and did a lunch fun club...they have been doing this since the beginning of the school year...and this time at the school isn't a bible study it is just a hang out time...we brought every kind of video game you could think of...crisps(chips) and snacks and nail polish for the girls....the point of this time is to BUILD RELATIONSHIPS! beaus then once they love and trust you, you can start talking about Jesus and they will respect you!
On wednesday we left the washbasin and went off site to a little cottage to go through a bible study called Freedom in Christ...it was a great time to reflect and to look at my life and deal with the sins i needed to repent off and focus on the things that Christ has set me free from! Then once we returned we set up for an event called Cosi--which again is a time for all the kids to come after school and hang out! play video games, pool, and watch tv...having the open door makes kids want to come!
Then wednesday night i went to a prayer service at Green Pastures Church with is run by the same people as the Washbasin...and O MAN WAS IT AMAZING! guys this church is only a year old and it is growing like CRAZY! as soon as you walk in you feel welcome! There are sofa's and tables and benches everywhere it is so homey. So the weekly prayer service consists worship(and oman some of the most passionate worshippers i have seen---and the best part of it was that they dont have a worhsip band, they use CD's but that doesn't matter ya know they just come to worship God-AND there had to have been at least a 100 people at the prayer meeting! Then Pastor Jeff Wright spoke a wee bit and then after Jeff gave us some specific things to be praying for we moved ot a time of prayer..and the way that it worked was that one person would stand up and prayer whatever was on their heart! it was phenomenal! i loved it! Also, they are doing a 24/7 prayer time for Sonshine week! guys...their church is small and there are people spending the night at the church praying for their community...it has been so challenging to see all of the things that these people are doing to impact and reach out to their community. There were people praying in tongues---and there were people interpreting those tongues...it was AMAZING and you could TOTALLY feel the presence of God there! and how awesome is this....next week they are having a HEALING SERVICE...they have put it in the newspaper...so be praying that this step of faith will be rewarded! I cant wait to tell you the stories!
Then...last night we had to opportunity to go to a crusade by Angus Buckin ---the guy who wrote Faith like Potatoes---which is the movie that Blommie had us watch when we were in South Africa! It was amazing to be in a room full of at least a THOUSAND Northern Irish people singing hymns and getting fired up out what God was going to do in their country! He talked about dying to self because nothing will happen when we are full of pride! (funny how God gets me on my pride EVERY time!)
It has been truly and honor to see God working here! He is alive my friends! I am so blessed and humbled that i am even here right now! I can't thank you enough for your prayers! Because it is by the grace of God that i am even awake right now! but busy is my middle name so this is nothing out of the ordinary!
Sorry this was very very messy and scrambled but i only had a wee bit of time before we are off to the next activity!
Thanks Again! Thanks for the encouragement! I love you all and miss you like crazy!
IN HIS GRIP,
megan
Praises:
~That i arrived safely and fit in with the Washbasin!
~That God is working through the washbasin and green pastures church to be the hands and feet of Jesus!
~That i have already had so many wonderful experiences with God and with these beautiful Irish people!
Prayer:
~For the Washbasin in preparation for Sonshine week! that God will work out all the details and that the gifts we pass out on Tuesday night and Thursday night will prompt people to ask questions about where they stand with the Lord
~For Green Pastures Church that the events and services that they are putting on this next week will help Christians and non Christians alike draw closer to the Lord!
~For strength and no sickness...i have busy schedule and i want to do as much as i can in the small amount of time i have here!
know that you all are in my prayers as well! Thank you! =) God is faithful!
Theme Verse for the Week
Matthew 6:1
"1"Be careful not to do your 'acts of righteousness' before men, to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven.
2"So when you give to the needy, do not announce it with trumpets, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets, to be honored by men. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full. 3But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, 4so that your giving may be in secret. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.
So i arrived on monday at 9:30 to Belfast northern Ireland! and Sharon Kelly was there to pick me up! Sharon works at the Washbasin and is in charge of the Heartbeat team (a group of 4 young adults who volunteer at the washbasin for a year). So from the airport i was ready to go(inside i was extremely tired...but that didn't matter i have been waiting for 6 months to be in ireland) so we headed off to meet the team and i knew once we opened in "african" style prayers (the kind of prayer where everyone prays at the same time) that i knew that i was going to LOVE this place!!!!!!!!1! There is a core of about 10 people who work at the Washbasin which is located in the heart of the village of Ahoghill (which is pronounce a-hock-ll--the guy at the airport made fun of me hard core when i said it A HOG HILL =) it happens! But the washbasin is an amazing thing...they are in the heart of the community...their idea is that is we can't get these poele to come to church..then we need to bring the church to them! They are all about building relationships--because if you dont have a relationship with someone then sure as heck they are not going to listen to what you have to say! So on monday night i attended a "Kids Club" meeting to prepare for Sonshine week! Sonshine week is a week devoted to outreach and community involvement, this year the theme is EXTREME MAKEOVER and the verse is 1 Cor 15:7--In Christ we are a New Creation!!!!! It is like a VBS but for EVERYONE each age group and people group has an activity...but you are know my love for the "wee" ones (they say wee before everything--and I LOVE IT) so i am doing the kids club during sonshine week!
So on tuesday i meet the heartbeat team-Helen, Adam, Ricky, and Rebekah-we talked about sonshine week AND their upcoming missions trip to Mozambique(which is right above south africa)
sharon's husband melvin was an OMS missionary for 3 years in Mozambique so their house is filled with africa stuff so i feel right at home! On tuesday we prepared for packing night which was a time to pack up 3000 gifts for the ahoghill, gracehill, and galgorm villages(which are the three villages surrounding the washbasin)--and yes i said THREE THOUSAND! these gifts consisted of a book introducing Christianity, a tape measure(becuase it is extreme makeover), and an invitation to participate in Sonshine week! So day two and i was already in charge of an invent! Rebekah and Ricky and I got everything ready and the night went great! Also on tuesday we went into the high school and did a lunch fun club...they have been doing this since the beginning of the school year...and this time at the school isn't a bible study it is just a hang out time...we brought every kind of video game you could think of...crisps(chips) and snacks and nail polish for the girls....the point of this time is to BUILD RELATIONSHIPS! beaus then once they love and trust you, you can start talking about Jesus and they will respect you!
On wednesday we left the washbasin and went off site to a little cottage to go through a bible study called Freedom in Christ...it was a great time to reflect and to look at my life and deal with the sins i needed to repent off and focus on the things that Christ has set me free from! Then once we returned we set up for an event called Cosi--which again is a time for all the kids to come after school and hang out! play video games, pool, and watch tv...having the open door makes kids want to come!
Then wednesday night i went to a prayer service at Green Pastures Church with is run by the same people as the Washbasin...and O MAN WAS IT AMAZING! guys this church is only a year old and it is growing like CRAZY! as soon as you walk in you feel welcome! There are sofa's and tables and benches everywhere it is so homey. So the weekly prayer service consists worship(and oman some of the most passionate worshippers i have seen---and the best part of it was that they dont have a worhsip band, they use CD's but that doesn't matter ya know they just come to worship God-AND there had to have been at least a 100 people at the prayer meeting! Then Pastor Jeff Wright spoke a wee bit and then after Jeff gave us some specific things to be praying for we moved ot a time of prayer..and the way that it worked was that one person would stand up and prayer whatever was on their heart! it was phenomenal! i loved it! Also, they are doing a 24/7 prayer time for Sonshine week! guys...their church is small and there are people spending the night at the church praying for their community...it has been so challenging to see all of the things that these people are doing to impact and reach out to their community. There were people praying in tongues---and there were people interpreting those tongues...it was AMAZING and you could TOTALLY feel the presence of God there! and how awesome is this....next week they are having a HEALING SERVICE...they have put it in the newspaper...so be praying that this step of faith will be rewarded! I cant wait to tell you the stories!
Then...last night we had to opportunity to go to a crusade by Angus Buckin ---the guy who wrote Faith like Potatoes---which is the movie that Blommie had us watch when we were in South Africa! It was amazing to be in a room full of at least a THOUSAND Northern Irish people singing hymns and getting fired up out what God was going to do in their country! He talked about dying to self because nothing will happen when we are full of pride! (funny how God gets me on my pride EVERY time!)
It has been truly and honor to see God working here! He is alive my friends! I am so blessed and humbled that i am even here right now! I can't thank you enough for your prayers! Because it is by the grace of God that i am even awake right now! but busy is my middle name so this is nothing out of the ordinary!
Sorry this was very very messy and scrambled but i only had a wee bit of time before we are off to the next activity!
Thanks Again! Thanks for the encouragement! I love you all and miss you like crazy!
IN HIS GRIP,
megan
Praises:
~That i arrived safely and fit in with the Washbasin!
~That God is working through the washbasin and green pastures church to be the hands and feet of Jesus!
~That i have already had so many wonderful experiences with God and with these beautiful Irish people!
Prayer:
~For the Washbasin in preparation for Sonshine week! that God will work out all the details and that the gifts we pass out on Tuesday night and Thursday night will prompt people to ask questions about where they stand with the Lord
~For Green Pastures Church that the events and services that they are putting on this next week will help Christians and non Christians alike draw closer to the Lord!
~For strength and no sickness...i have busy schedule and i want to do as much as i can in the small amount of time i have here!
know that you all are in my prayers as well! Thank you! =) God is faithful!
Theme Verse for the Week
Matthew 6:1
"1"Be careful not to do your 'acts of righteousness' before men, to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven.
2"So when you give to the needy, do not announce it with trumpets, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets, to be honored by men. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full. 3But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, 4so that your giving may be in secret. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.
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