God's word to YWAM Boston in 2010

YWAM has been established in Boston since October 2006. We have seen success and defeat; we have experienced hardship and joy. Many had tried to pioneer a base here and all had failed. This time, for the original 6 staff members who established this base, that was not an option.

John and I are thankful they fought to stay and we get the unbelievable honor to serve with them daily.

Many of you know or maybe not the spiritual challenges of this city. Boston is the most evangelized city in America and yet has the lowest demographic of Christians. A news survey last year asked Americans "Does God exist? The top 4 states to answer "No" were Massachusetts, Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont. YWAM Boston seeks to reach this city in a culturally relevant and engaging way through simple street evangelism and through the arts. 

Originally the puritans came to Boston to reach the Indians for Christ! Boston was a mission sending city; Harvard was first pioneered as a ministry training center! Thousands were sent from Boston to preach the gospel in China and South Korea- now nations that are seeing huge numbers come to Christ.

Our dream is that Boston would once again be like this. Return to it's roots. 

A new friend of our base came to speak to us today. She had been praying that God would speak to her about the plans God had for us here in Boston. The word she bought was amazing! We want to share that word with you.

She said God spoke Isaiah 61:4:
"They will rebuild ancient ruins,
and restore the places long devastated  
for generations"

She shared that God wanted us to know that a time of great blessing was coming; that the way would become easier, that our fight would become less intense and we will begin to see massive fruit! She told us God wanted us to speak out and ask for the things we want. So one by one we told God our dreams, our needs, our desires and it was such an intense time! The lady speaking to us said she felt like the Lord was sending angels to His storehouses to get all the things we were requesting! We choose a wall in our building and called it our "Wall of declaration" where we wrote all our dreams and one by one we will tick them off as God fulfills them!

We asked to see over 100,000 coming to Christ every year! For the Universities to see revival! For a dance studio! For releases in finances! For more workers! For new creative ideas! For healing and miracles!                                                                                                

                                                                   

John and I have been here with YWAM for 2 years and we were so encouraged by the Lord this morning. The journey has been tough but this morning we were reminded once more why we do this.

God is so good and our hearts are overflowing.

Thank you to those who partner with us in this ministry, thank you that we can dream together for God's kingdom to come to this world.

To Him be the glory!

                                                                                            

 

New Year, Same God

Isn't it comforting to know that however much the world changes our God is never changing. His mercy is still endless, even as the evil in this world grows. He is still forgiving, even as we all still sin. And despite how we may feel the truth is He is still sovereign over everyone...every leader...every politician. No matter what happens in this world His kingdom will never cease or lesson in power. 

So much has happened in a year in John and I's lives; marriage, new families, new home, near death and all the while we were held by the hand of God. The lessons he has taught us through trial and through joy have been priceless- I would not change a thing about how this year has gone. Every suffering produced perseverance and with this came deeper faith and trust in Jesus.

As John and I walk into the next season of our lives, we know there will be many struggles and challenges but equally we know God will bestow many blessings and joy.  YWAM Boston has big plans for 2010! Scary plans that right now seem impossible but we trust and know God will use us. All he needs are willing hearts.
Right now we have the pleasure of hosting a team of 20 Korean Students from a University DTS. They are so on fire for Jesus and have been preaching and performing around the city of Boston and seeing many come to the Lord! It is both wonderful and challenging to see their passion for Jesus. I will be joining them as they perform on the streets this afternoon and John and I will also join them tomorrow.  

On another note we have another team from Tyler Texas arriving today and they are also here to share Jesus with people! Boston this week is getting hit hard by missionaries so please pray that many would come to know the Lord. It is always encouraging to me personally to have people coming along side us in our mission in Boston; they hold us up and keep us going. The challenge to meet this city is immense and we need a body of believers not only standing us in prayer but also physically standing with us :)

Coming up... we have our dress rehearsal for our production called 'Encounter" next Friday and our first show on the 23rd January 2010. If you know any church who would like to host out show we will be doing a north east tour from February :)

"Who is this motley crew" I hear you cry? :) 
Well Jesus told us in prayer to have a birthday party for him in the very center of Boston and that we did! We have gift wrapped bibles, cake, hot chocolate and a Live Nativity! We sang, we danced, we laughed and most importantly we told people that Jesus loves them!

It was a chilly day but our spirits were high with anticipation. We have never done an outreach quite like this. We put on our costumes, all from the thrift store and we laughed as we saw each other transform into the Nativity characters (although the biggest chuckle was reserved for when we saw our huge cardboard sheep- Larry the Lamb as he became known). We piled all our stuff into the van and off we went, in all our costumes, over all our layers to keep warm! I was admit-tingly a little scared but excited! After all our God is pretty funny so we knew we could go in confidence. 


As soon as we arrived the strange looks began! We set up and started the party! At first I felt a little embarrassed approaching people looking crazy but I soon mellowed and began to enjoy the reactions of people. If I don't mind looking a fool for anyone, it's Jesus!
I got to share the gospel with people, the Christmas story and simply pray and bless people :) So many were so happy we were there; many laughed and smiled as they came to us asking "Who are you? What are you doing here? This is so cool"

God's spirit filled the city that day! The singing seemed to resonate loud down the streets and even over busy traffic many turned heads to hear our praise. 

To God be the glory! Merry Christmas and blessed new year to you all!

As Christmas approaches...

I love Christmas! There I said it! I am unashamed of my childlike love for this season. It just makes me giddy! I love the gift giving and receiving, I love the decorations, I love the parties- all the material stuff which sometimes as Christians we can deem as unimportant really matters to me! And do you know why? Because Jesus loves fun! He loves parties! He loves smiling and laughing! He loves giving and receiving! You better believe that our Lord became fully human, just like us! It amazes me still that Jesus who was in Heaven; the most pure, fun, happy, peaceful place for all eternity left to come to this world- He left the party. He left to come to us. He went from eternal joy with no sadness to a harsh and cruel world. He went from being fully accepted to rejected the moment he entered this world. He was illegitimate, rejected by his hometown, he was hated by the religious establishments, he had many followers but few who were friends, he never married, he never had money (he even had to borrow to pay tax!), all those he healed, befriended and loved betrayed him when he needed him most; not even one stood by him and to top it off he died the most humiliating death reserved in those times for most obscene crimes.
And do you know why?
So we could go to the party, so we could experience joy, acceptance, fatherly love and all the blessings He never had.
He came for us, He died for us.
So we don't have to be solemn this Christmas; whatever is happening in our lives, God still reigns and He will never leave us or forsake us! So this year I want to challenge you who read this to go to as many Christmas parties as you can and be joyful! Be the guest who stays the latest, dances the most and laughs the loudest because  if you know Jesus then you have something to celebrate. And if there are people at the parties that don't know Jesus, tell them! Tell them why they have a reason to celebrate!

Our outreach team is going out into Boston on Saturday and we are having a birthday party for Jesus with music and cake and even a nativity scene! We are going to dance and laugh and sing and invite all those around to join us in celebration!

God is with us!

Our First Thanksgiving

It was certainly a strange Thanksgiving, just the two of us in a apartment. We broke with tradition again and got a duck! :) We had a wonderful time together and joined with some friends in the evening.

It got us thinking about just how great this holiday is, history aside how wonderful it is to just sit with people you love and be thankful. Can't every day be Thanksgiving I thought? Can't every nation celebrate this? We have so much to be thankful for. A good friend of ours always says the devil cannot touch a thankful heart and how true this is. There is something about being  thankful that opens our eyes to see outside ourselves and to the goodness in our world and the  glory of God our creator. If John and I sat and listed all the things we are thankful for it would take a good while! John's very life is a miracle this year! I believe if we, as believers, started each day with thanksgiving we would drastically improve not only our internal selfs but also the world around us! "Enter his gates with thanksgiving" the psalms command us! We need to be thankful. It just works.

We at YWAM Boston now enter a busy season until our Christmas break. This week we have an outreach team from New Haven, Connecticut who we will be training in Evangelism and taking out onto the streets of Boston and on Thursday we will host a worship night for all the people we meet! 

Also on an exciting note we have our first date of our North East Tour of our full stage production 'Encounter'- Our first show is in Raymond, NH on January 22nd 2010! We have an open dress rehearsal at Cambridge Dance Complex on January 15th 2010. 
John and I have a real passion to reach the lost through theater and this is especially exciting for us; we have been dreaming with God about this for so long. This kind of ministry is when we feel most alive- please pray for our preparations, much needs finishing before we take this  show on the road!

We love you all, thanks for reading , more news soon...

As the leaves crunch under our feet...

As Fall gives way to Winter and the warm coats come out it is hard to believe another Autumn has gone by! We shall miss the crisp nights as they give way to frost filled mornings :)

However, even with the temperatures dropping we are still seeing many people stop in and see us when we go out to the streets to worship.
This last week we went to Copley Square, right in the center of Boston, to simply share Jesus with people; we again had free coffee and we sang worship. As John drew the crowd playing his Saxophone I went out to ask how I could pray for people; so many people were broken and hurting.

She insisted she did not need prayer and  life was all good. She did want a free coffee though. As we talked I asked her about her life. She told me she was addicted to drugs and had no home. I asked her if she ever prayed and she said sometimes. I told her that Jesus had not forgotten her and she asked me to pray for her. We prayed God would provide a place for her to live; she wanted to believe for this but confessed she found it hard to trust -Maureen

God works in so many ways. Sometimes he leads us to people who are ready to receive Him, who hear the gospel and are instantly renewed. Sometimes he leads us to plant seeds with those who are losing faith, like Maureen and other times we are simply placed there to listen and love people.

Who knows what a simple "God Bless" spoken to in love does to a person who just strolls past? Who knows what hearing worship does in a persons heart as they run by? We serve a mighty, awesome God whose plans are so far beyond anything we ca perceive or imagine.

Next week we are going to Connecticut to speak at a young adults group as well as leading a youth group service in Worcester; please pray that we would be open to all God wants to do. We will keep you posted...

 

Sharing Jesus on the city streets!

What a privilege it is to share Jesus! What an honor we are given in the Great Commission to "Go into all the world and share the gospel with every living creature" (Matthew 16:15).

Last week we performed worship on the streets of two areas of our city. Cambridge, the home of Harvard and Somerville, a town close to Boston Center. 
We always say as a ministry if you can reach Boston, you can reach the world and this proved true. We got to share Jesus with people from Paris, Italy, Belgium and Haiti! All in one night :) 

People are drawn by the worship, approach for our free coffee and stay to talk about Jesus. Many approach surprised! "What are you doing here?" they ask; when they hear that we are hear to bless and pray and share Jesus with them they are astounded! So many have questions, so many have deep needs, so many are touched that someone cares.

I approached a man called Wallace this week. He went to walk by but was stopped by the music and he stood and listened. I asked him if he needed prayer. He looked at me and said "Recently I have been searching, I have been feeling guilty because I know I sin, but I don't know what to do, will you pray for me?" We prayed. We talked. I shared the gospel. He confessed he had many questions but said today was a turning point.

The photo above is John playing music with a man he met on the streets. The man  was so compelled to worship with us!

There are so many stories to tell just from these two outreaches! 


God is working in this city, bringing people to Him. We see desperate and hurting people every week put their trust in Jesus. The kingdom is advancing in New England.

Thank you for partnering with us in this. Your prayers and contributions are truly making a difference.