Winter Asia Trip Canceled *PFFFFFFFFT you spit out your coffee at your desk*
Last week I received news that all of our non-American team members were denied visas for the second time. The reasons are very strange and unexpected… ranging from missing US arrival stamps in passports to the consulate worker simply not being impressed by the quality of handwriting by some of the students on their applications. My focus is not on the reasons they were rejected, but that it’s the “first time in years” that this has happened to our visa agent and that most of our team still has no money, even to reapply for visas.
Our Asia team sought the Lord over the weekend and met Monday where together we decided to put off the trip. One belief that is shared among all staff and students here is that this is a good thing. God has gotten our attention and does not want us to move a step further without being in complete unity. This situation has rallied the entire campus to come along the SOW(School of Worship) for support, and has brought each one of us in the SOW back to our knees in complete, daily obedience to the Holy Spirit. Many on the team have been getting word from the Lord about serving and continuing to grow in our school’s internship.
The leader of the internship has asked me to pray about staying with the SOW in its internship phase…a thought I had not thought would be possible until spring since I’d be out of the country. With their need of support and my families sensing a move in this direction I’ve happily agreed to stay involved but with a new role.
SOW Internship Quarter 1 2012
The Internship is a continuation of the School of Worship, but is meant to shift our staff and students from ‘program’ to ‘community’. Where the school focuses around our classroom lecture times with a different speaker each week, the internship will provide more opportunity to apply and grow in what we’ve been getting infused with, while staying grounded in scripture and in prayer as a family.
From January 5th to March 31st we will…
- · Serve, soak, and teach in the 24/7 prayer room here on campus
- · Study music theory, grow in our skills as musicians
- · Grow in songwriting and to record new songs in the recording studio
- · Learn to lead in and play in a worship team
- · Serve the campus community by leading worship for schools and departments
- · Outreaches into Kona, the islands of Hawaii and international locations
- · Prepare to plant future SOWs and to bring our message of intimacy and worship back to our churches, communities and families.
Please continue to pray for us and for this pioneering school. These past two months have been two of the most important months in my own walk with the Lord. He is so good, the Spirit is so desiring to be among us in more personal and greater ways. We’re all fare from arrived, but my desire for more of the Lord and my understanding of His character is greater today than it was yesterday, just like my relationship with my wife. Jesus doesn’t call us His bride to be cute, or to make dudes feel uncomfortable and insecure in their identity, but because we have FULL ACCESS to the THROWNROOM OF GOD and have His heart.
We’re continuing to pray and are taking steps in preparation for April’s Multi-Cultural School of Worship. This will be a bilingual school, English and Korean….which is an area of ministry that I have a great passion for. At the same time we’ve been asked to help our friends with their Performing Arts DTS again in April. I guess it all depends on who cuts us a bigger check the word of the Lord. :p
Regarding finances we’re still in need of new monthly supporters. We now have a growing debt to the campus that graciously doesn’t throw us out on the street. You can scroll down to find a paypal button if you feel led to support our families’ work.
I’m really enjoying this blog, it’s way easier to update than my previous mailing list, and no one was really responding to the mailing (except for people wanting to be removed from my list ha ha) Also there’s an open invitation to spam my blog with advertisements for Apple in exchange for an iPad.
Blessings,
-Noah (and Family)
