Hello everyone,
Thank you very much for your prayers up to this point! I can see how God is going ahead of us and moving in the Holy Spirit to draw people to Himself and it is a humbling thing to participate in the work of the Lord here in Camotes.
I apologize for the lack of updates. We’ve been much busier than expected and, to be honest, I’ve been a bit out of sorts lately. I came to the Philippines with preconceived notions of how this mission trip would play out and even of the things I would learn from it. God, in His usual way, has greatly surpassed my expectations, though. I can honestly say that nothing about the way I live this life has not been touched by the way God has moved in the past weeks. God has brought me to grips with the reality of His love and, ironically, what true love is – more than what we teach in seminars, it is “the art of losing myself in bringing Him praise.” I believe it is Max Lucado who says that the problem with a living sacrifice is that it keeps crawling off the altar. Dying to myself and letting Jesus Christ live through me is indescribably hard. It means counting myself a stranger here on the earth, both in West Point, MS, and San Francisco, Camotes. It means casting my strengths, weaknesses, fears and victories on the altar and realizing that they are useless to me in my own power. Gladly, it also means taking them up again and watching them become more than I could ever imagine in God’s power.
One of the first Bible studies I led here I began with 1 Corinthians 13:1-3 – “And now I will show you the best way of all. I may speak in different languages of people or even angels. But if I do not have love, I am only a noisy bell or a crashing cymbal. I may have the gift of prophecy. I may understand all the secret things of God and have all knowledge, and I may have faith so great I can move mountains. But even with all these things, if I do not have love, then I am nothing. I may give away everything I have, and I may even give my body as an offering to be burned. But I gain nothing if I do not have love.” God has used every Bible study I’ve led here to teach me something. In fact, it seems that I’m always the one who needs the lesson most. My team teaches True Love Waits seminars in local high schools and 1 Corinthians 13, as the renowned “Love Chapter,” has been our main Scripture reference. I’ve read it more times than I can count in teaching high school students and yet managed to miss what God was teaching me with it. A lack of enthusiasm for the work here and the conviction that my ministry was not what it should be led me to ask God how I had gone wrong even when o
ur team has seen a fair amount of success in establishing Bible studies and seeing people come to Christ. The verses above were once again brought to my attention and I found myself guilty of being a noisy bell, a crashing cymbal, and a loveless laborer in the field of lost souls. As the verses affirm, I found myself with nothing when I was attempting to the do the work of the Lord in my own power. It was quite strange to feel so far from God while on the mission field.
God brought a song to mind in the midst of this turmoil by a band called Starfield that’s called, “Reign In Us.” Some of the lyrics are below:
Lord Jesus, come lead us
We're desperate for Your touch
O Great and Mighty One, with one desire we come
That You would reign, that You would reign in us
We're offering up our lives - a living sacrifice...
We cry out for Your love to refine us
Cry out for Your love to define us
Cry out for Your mercy to keep us blameless until You return
The Lord Jesus must reign supreme in our hearts if we are ever to be used as a blessing to His people. We must forsake all else in the pursuit of the desires of HIS heart if our lives are ever to count for anything. God, He reminded me, has loved me in a most amazing way and the love of God is something that flies in the face of human logic. Because this is true, there is no possible way to love people like God loves people without the help of God. In short, I am learning to lean on God for all things, to pray with expectancy, to love with His peculiar sort of fierceness and abandon, and to consider this life worth nothing unless it's spent testifying to the gospel of God's grace.
I'd like to leave you with some lyrics to one more song ("Shadowfeet" by Brooke Fraser):
I am changing
Less and less asleep
Made of different stuff than when I began...
I appreciate your continued prayers and I'd ask you to pray for the following individuals by name in the next few weeks:
Neda (church member whose neighbors are new believers)
Jacinto, Junlo, Jenny, Dinit, Reggie, and Linette (new believers among whom we are trying to establish on-going Bible studies)
Joey (a man who is truly thirsty for the truth and who has asked that we come speak to him about salvation!! Please pray for the Holy Spirit to draw Joey to God!)
Arnel, Alvin, and Reynold (young men in the church with great leadership potential among their peers)
pino teammates this morning after a night of celebration, prayer and fellowship with them in Cebu City. Sally and Jetter were more faithful and encouraging teammates than anyone could ask for. Our team treasures their friendships and greatly desires to continue to be a part of God's plan for their lives in the future. We sent them off with our prayers and encouragement and great confidence that they will make huge impacts for the Kingdom. 
last update while I'm in the Philippines because we leave Wednesday morning. Your prayers have made all the difference this summer and have never ceased to encourage our team. It is more than a blessing to have your support and I pray God has led you to a better understanding of His love this summer, too.
