Sunday, January 23, 2011

UNITED STATES 2011 - Mission Connexion

Portland, Oregon
Sunday, January 23, 2011
.
Mission Connexion
This past weekend our IRIS missionary team of the Gellatlys and us got a chance to represent IRIS Mnistries by occupying a booth as an exhibitor at Mission Connexion Northwest. Many different missions organizations also had booths at Mission Connexion. There were many different workshops that people could come and attend as well. We got a chance to meet people who Holy Spirit drew to our humble booth and even prayed with some people.
.
Christian Young

Sunday, January 16, 2011

THE WORLD 2011 - On Day Seven of Fasting I Have a Dream

Vancouver, Washington
Sunday, January 16, 2011
.
On Day Seven of Fasting I Have a Dream
Our home church is seven days into a corporate 21 days of prayer and fasting. In fact, I have heard that thousands of churches are doing this nationwide as well. Different people are fasting from different things at our church. I have chosen to fast from solid food. Early this morning, on day seven, I had a dream that I know was from God. Here's the dream:
.
I was standing on a dusty road, similar to roads I have been on in my travels as a missionary. In front of me was a big school bus. The bus was filled with people from different nations. I recognized people from Asia, Africa, Europe and Latin America. They all spoke different languages and each of them had a specific number on them, ranging from the teens to the thousands. I immediately knew in my dream that each person in this bus represented an unreached people group. I also somehow knew that the reason so many people were sitting in the bus was because of partnerships between churches and different missions organizations that had been made, specifically I recognized a partnership between IRIS Ministries and YWAM, but I knew there were many other partnerships. There was one window of the bus that was open and I was conversing with two children that were from Latin America. I was so happy because we were taking this bus load of once unreached people "home" to heaven. All of the sudden a voice from outside the bus said to me, "Don't bother with learning their languages. These people aren't important." Then the bus began driving itself the wrong way down the dusty road. One by one, the people inside the bus began dying and disappearing. I raced after the bus and was shouting, "No! No! No!"
.
I then woke up from the dream and realized I really was shouting out loud, "No! No! No!" Right away I recognized this as a divine dream. Some of it was self-explanatory. Other parts of it I wanted to ask God for the interpretation. When I finally got up to really start my morning, I spent time praying and reading God's Word, asking the Lord about the meaning of the dream. The first place I opened to in the Bible was 1 Peter 2:9-12.
.
1 Peter 2:9 starts out by saying, "But you are a chosen generation." I knew right away that God was giving me insight into the dream. I have always believed that there was a special calling on the current generations of Christ-followers, which we are all a part of, specific to the fulfillment of the Great Commission to "Go and make disciples of every nation." I have more recently believed that we could be the generation that sees every nation (people group, language group) reached by the gospel of Christ in our lifetime. Statistically, of the 16,597 distinct people groups in the world, 6,916 of them, or 41.7% are unreached by the gospel of Christ. They have never even heard the name of Jesus. Verse 9 goes on to say, "(You are) a royal priesthood." Very simply, the responsibility of priests were to take the hand of God, and the hand of people, and join them together. This is our responsibility as Christ-followers. to bring people to God through His Son Jesus.
.
1 Peter 2:11 says, "Beloved, I beg you as sojourners and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts which war against the soul." This speaks to me in two ways: (1) As Christ-followers we are all sojourners and pilgrims in this life. Heaven is our home. We are just passing through. Yet so often we can get hung up with the material things of this world that hold us back from truly being able to really "go and make disciples." Often we build homes or buy houses with money we don't have and stake our claims. Many times we incur financial debt that renders us unable to have much time for anything other than paying that debt off. How many people have authentically been called to take the gospel to the ends of the earth, yet are unable to do so because of indebtedness? I'm not trying to make anyone angry. I'm just asking a question. I know of many would-be missionaries that this has happened to. I'm not saying that owning a home is wrong. Nor am I saying that everyone should be some kind of wandering gypsy. I believe that most Christ-followers probably ARE called to take root and grow right where they are planted. God began to reveal to me that the bus full of unreached people groups were perishing in part because of people that ARE called to the ends of the earth (either be going, giving or praying) have become choked out by the cares of this world and are unable to fulfill their calling. (2) Fasting is really starving the flesh and "abstaining from lusts which war against the soul." through this fast, as well as others, I have been able to quiet my flesh enough to hear what the Spirit is saying more clearly.
.
1 Peter 2:12 reads, "having your conduct honorable among the Gentiles (or nations), that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may, by your good works which they observe, glorify God in the day of visitation." Simply put, as we shine the light of Christ in this world, loving God and loving people, preaching the gospel in word and deed, ALL nations will glorify God. Jesus died so that EVERYONE can receive eternal, abundant life through faith in Him.
.
Tomorrow is the day in America where we celebrate Martin Luther King Jr.'s birthday. He stood for equality of all people and especially that every person, no matter what color their skin is, would have a chance to experience freedom. I, also, have a dream, that these thousands of unreached people worldwide who don't even have a chance at spiritual freedom apart from Jesus Christ, would be given a chance at the same the spiritual freedom that many of us Christ-followers enjoy. I know that it was just a dream that I had. And I have never believed to have received a word from God for the Body of Christ worldwide in my entire life. But I really believe that God's heart beats strong that these 6,916 unreached people groups have an opportunity to hear and respond to the gospel, that they might "glorify God in the day of visitation," and that He is calling His Bride, the Church to take the stand to see that these people have the same opportunity of salvation that we have. Imagine if it were YOU that was born in India or Africa, and you were just waiting for someone to come share the good news of hope in Christ with you. Thousands of these people are dying daily only to spend an eternity separated from God in hell simply because no one has come to share the gospel with them. We were made for such a time as this! Rise up, Church! It is truly a GREAT commission we have been given by Jesus, but He has given us the ability in our generation to see it fulfilled!
.
Christian Young

Friday, January 14, 2011

THAILAND 2011 - Starting an IRIS Ministries Base in Thailand

Bangkok, Thailand
March 1-14, 2011
.
Starting an IRIS Ministries Base in Thailand
God has recently opened a door for me to be a part of a team of 14 IRIS missionaries who will be traveling to Thailand in order to start an IRIS base there. The focus of this particular IRIS base will be on loving and rescuing those victimized by the sex slave trade. Thailand is the hub for a huge portion of the world's sex slave trade. We will mostly be spending time in Bangkok and Pattaya, working alongside other organizations and listening to Holy Spirit as to where the most strategic location for IRIS to start a base will be. We will be doing plenty of outreach in the bars, speaking with and ministering to the girls and boys who sell themselves for sex everyday.
.
I was originally asked to go because there was only one male missionary who would be on the team. We all prayed together and asked the Lord to show us if I should go on this trip and He answered with words and visions. It is a bit of a step of faith for us, as we are living week to week on the financial support that comes in for us. Yet we are confident that the Lord is leading us in this decision. I will be accompanying Jesse and Tanya, our missionary teammates as this is the first leg of their journey throughout Asia. Myself, Jesse, Tanya and a few others from the team will also be taking a two day journey into the mountains of Kanchanaburi with our mobile sound system and video projector to partner with YWAM and show the "Jesus film" to unreached peoples in a village. Statistically, Thailand ranks #11 of all countries in the world with the most unreached people groups and also has one of the least amounts of evangelical population in all of Asia.
.
Christian Young

Tuesday, January 11, 2011

UNITED STATES 2011 - 11 Skaters Come to Christ in 1-11

11 SKATERS COME TO CHRIST IN 1-11
The number eleven might not mean much to most people. But for a while now nearly every time I look at the clock it reads 11:11. I am writing this post on 1-11-2011. I believe we are in the eleventh hour. In plain English, Jesus said that He would return to the earth to be with His people forever which would be the twelfth hour, and He gave a lot of clues as to what the world would look like in the days nearing His return. Now I'm not one of those crazies that places dates on when Jesus is coming back, but I believe we are right at the door of when Christ will return, and that 2011 is going to be an important year in the history of mankind.
.
The book of Revelation talks about two separate harvests that will be taking place surrounding the return of Christ. I believe that the first of these two harvests in Revelation 11:14-16 deals with a great harvest of souls that will come into the Kingdom of God through a personal, hand-holding relationship with Jesus Christ. The second of the two harvests in Revelation 11:17-20 deals with God's judgment that will take place upon the earth. I don't find it coincidence that in the first few weeks of 2011, we have seen 11 skaters give their lives to Christ. One skater prayed to receive Jesus a few weeks ago after Ricky had given the message, then last night ten more guys raised their hands and prayed, asking Jesus to enter into their lives. Amazing! And the really cool thing is that the guys who are teaching through the gospel of Mark every week and leading people to Jesus are skaters who gave their lives to Christ through FacePlant SkateChurch five years ago when we first started FacePlant Ministries. Check out the pictures of these guys teaching their peers (Curtis Christensen not pictured):

.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
Josh Newton (L): July 2008 (R): January 2011
.


.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
Ricky Brewer (L): July 2008 (R): January 2011
.


.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
Victor Marquay (L): July 2008 (R): January 2011
.

.
PIZZA AND SKATE NIGHT
We still had about 25 of us at SkateChurch last night in spite of the Auburn vs. Oregon National Championship college football game. We decided to change things up a little bit and have pizza together after the message instead of small groups. It was a blast! Check out the new pics from our "Pizza and Skating Night" and other nights in January at FacePlant SkateChurch.
.
Christian Young
FP SkateChurch Pastor









Shredding the mini-pipe at SkateChurch.......Grinding a rail at SkateChurch









Pizza and Skate Night at SkateChurch..................Little Caeser's Pizza baby!










Skateboards hung up on rails at Ripzu...Skaters gather to hear Bible teaching


.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
The fellas with their nerf guns.......Some of our FP staff eating at Taco Bell