2012 is already well underway! I’ve been looking forward to this year since the beginning of last Summer, and now its finally here! We’ve been dreaming about all that God is going to do this year in our lives and in the nations and it’s no longer a dream, but the beginning of reality!
We are going to see the hungry fed, young missionaries raised up and sent out into the world, children grow in their understanding of the world they live in and the God who made them, and music written and poured out before the Lord! The first fruits are already being seen this past January.
DTS Staff and Students
On January 5th we welcomed about 12 new staff to our DTS family. We have a brand new crew of young staff members who are spending the first 3 months of 2012 preparing their hearts for the DTS this April. We will introduce them more properly in a few weeks, but we are so confident in this group and all they are going to accomplish by God’s grace this year. We are busy building community, growing in our leadership and serving the campus before being joined by our students this April. And believe me, they are coming! We have about 70 applications for the Fire & Fragrance DTS we are leading this Spring. We are praying for all of these students to complete their applications and trusting that we will have about 60-70 students. That is about twice the amount of students from last year! God is moving through DTS and multiplying missionaries into the nations! We are excited about the things God has in store for this group of staff and students.
Fighting Hunger with the Foodmachine
God has stirred our hearts to use the Foodmachine to more effectively send our outreach teams out with powerful mercy ministry in their tool belts. We have been working with the developers of this technology for the past few months planning for them to visit our campus and train our staff on this technology so we could take it out with us this Summer! We are planning to do this in Cambodia during July and August. Take a look at this video of myself and a few of our staff being trained and building our very first mini Foodmachine! It’s really happening!
On March 2nd I am flying with my friend Evan Thomas (from the company that developed the Foodmachine) to Cambodia to teach on a DTS and scout out the land for the Foodmachine outreach this Summer. We will be in Battambang with our long-time friend Garth Gustafson for about one week preparing the way for what God is going to do there this July and August. Tickets are purchased and the plans are all coming together! We are excited about how God is going to use our DTS family to fight hunger with the Foodmachine!
Raising Up World Changers at The Learning Center
Ronda is thriving as a first grade teacher and constantly amazing me and her staff with her endless creativity and commitment to her students. I don’t know how she manages to juggle all the balls she has in the air and be such a woman of grace at the same time. She prays for all the families of her students and is such an encouragement to each of them as they partner together to educate their children. We are taking advantage of our location in Hawaii to give our children amazing opportunities to see different parts of creation. Just last week we spent the day on a field trip going whale watching. We saw humpback whales just a few feet from the boat we were on with the entire Learning Center school. What a memorable experience! I never knew raising up world changers could be so fun!
Writing New Music to Sing over the Nations
At the end of 2011 I felt the Lord challenge me to write music this next year for a brand new album in the near future. I have asked my friends around me to hold me accountable to pursuing this part of my calling. I have set aside a morning each week to seek the Lord and develop new songs to use in the prayer room and corporate worship here in Kona. I have written a couple songs this year already and more are on the way! I am looking ahead to this September through December to produce another album of original songs that will ignite hearts to follow Jesus wholeheartedly! Please pray for me as I spend this time before the Lord writing new music to sing over the nations!
