THAILAND 2011 - Packing Up and Heading Out

Pattaya, Thailand

Friday, February 25, 2011

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Packing Up and Heading Out

In three days I head out to Thailand where I will meet up with 14 other IRIS missionaries. First I fly in to Bay-jing, Chi-na, then to Bangkok, Thailand. It's been fun packing up my exterior-frame pack with enough clothes for over two weeks, sleeping bag, toys (that my children picked out which I will give away to children in Thailand), guitar and even my skateboard (just found out a few days ago we will be doing some skate park ministry in Pattaya)

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Again, our focus of this trip is to hear from God together as a team on where we can start an IRIS Ministries base in the near future. For those of you who don't know much about IRIS Ministries, it was founded by Rolland and Heidi Baker, who have a HUGE HEART for the poor, broken and outcast of this world. About a year ago Heidi and some other folks from the IRIS tribe went to Thailand and were wrecked when the reality of how many boys and girls are vicitimized by the sex slave trade hit them. From there plans were made with Yonnie Cheng (who is co-leading this trip along with Jesse and Tanya Gellatly) to take a team of IRIS missionaries (of which I am blessed to be a part of) and begin the process of starting an IRIS base which will focus on rescuing these boys and girls from forced prostitution, taking them in, housing them and giving them training and job opportunities, which will in turn give them dignity and hope of a life that doesn't involve them selling their bodies every night. This is the love of Jesus. This the heartbeat of Papa God. I know that eternity will look different because IRIS is taking this step to join other organizations involved in similar endeavors in Thailand. Another key to the DNA of IRIS Ministries is constantly being wrecked in God's presence and carrying His glory to the darkest places of the earth, preaching the gospel and operating in the signs, wonders and miracles as laid-down lovers of Jesus Christ. We are stoked! We are ready! And I absolutely believe that we will see the wonders of God on this trip!

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We would love if you would join us in praying: (1) for the IRIS team (and our families) from March 1st to March 15th as we minister in Bangkok, Pattaya and Kanchanaburi; for protection (in this very spiritually dark climate) and a sensitivity to hear the heartbeat of Papa God; for unity within the team; (2) for all those we will come into contact with; that God would show His unconditional love and compassion through us to those victimized by the sex slave trade as well as any others we connect with otherwise; and that God would prepare their hearts for receiving the gospel; (3) for IRIS Ministries as they will continue the process of setting up a base; direction from God as to a strategic place to do this; for future  missionaries and workers who are called to this very special task of rescuing these boys and girls long-term.

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Thank you so much friends, family, supporters. God has provided wonderfully for me to be able to take this historic trip (a special thanks to those who have financially given toward this endeavor...may God richly bless you and return to you hundred-fold that which you've sown into his Kingdom through our missionary family). I will make sure to blog on the trip after I get back on March 15th as I will not have our computer with me. Catch up with you all on the flip-side.

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Heaps of love, grace and peace,

Christian Young

UNITED STATES 2011 - Battle Royale and Another Seven

Harvest Time at FacePlant SkateChurch

The fun continues at FacePlant SkateChurch on Monday nights. This past two weeks we saw seven more skaters come to Christ. 5 kids gave their lives to Christ over a week ago after James taught on Jesus calming the storm from Mark 4:35-41. We also broke up into small groups and prayed for each other as almost all of the kids said that they had "storms" going on at home. Many, if not most of the skateboarding youth community here in Vancouver, Washington come from broken homes. So it is amazing to be able to support one another and pray for each other at SkateChurch every week. 2 more kids made first time decisions to follow Jesus last night as Ricky spoke on the man possessed by a legion of demons from Mark 5:1-20. We are seeing a mighty harvest of youth coming to Christ. So far we have seen 25 youth come to Christ in 2011 alone. That makes at least 265 young people who have prayed to receive Jesus Christ since we started SkateChurch in 2006. To the best of my knowledge, here is the breakdown of salvations every year at SkateChurch:

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2006 - 80 first time decisions to follow Christ

2007 - 83 first time decisions to follow Christ

2008 - 58 first time decisions to follow Christ

2009 - 10 first time decisions to follow Christ

2010 - 9 first time decisions to follow Christ

2011 - 25 first time decisions to follow Christ

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2006 to 2011 - 265 first time decisions to follow Christ

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Maybe it sounds a bit repetitive when we write about youth placing their faith in Jesus Christ week in and week out, but to us, this is the main reason FacePlant SkateChurch exists. Every time one of these skaters raises their hand and prays with us, inviting Jesus Christ into their lives, the angels are partying in heaven as new names are being added to the Book of Life. So we like to party with the angels over these young skaters, many of which wouldn't darken the doors of a normal church. Hope you can celebrate with us!

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On another note, the guys continue to find ways to amuse themselves. They now have a game they have made up on the mini-pipe called, "Battle Royale." They all drop in and skate the mini-pipe at the same time, trying to knock eachother off their boards (it's okay parents, haven't had any injuries). The last man standing wins. Fun stuff.

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Christian Young

FP SkateChurch Pastor

UNITED STATES 2011 - Seven More Youth Come to Christ

Seven More Youth Come To Christ

We have really seen some amazing things take place during the 21 days of prayer and fasting at Whipple Creek Church. One thing we were specifically praying for as a church is a harvest of souls coming into the Kingdom of God. We've just recently seen seven more youth come to Christ over the past few weeks. On January 17th Zach taught from Mark 4:21-25. After his message four youth raised their hands and prayed to receive Christ. The following week, on January 24th Chad spoke on ark 4:26-29 and three more youth not only raised their hands and invited Christ into their lives, but did so publically in front of their peers. Our staff and interns are on a teaching rotation so that not one person has to have the responsibility of giving the Bible lesson every week. I am so proud of our FacePlant SkateChurch staff and applaud them for the wonderful job they are doing in studying, preparing and delivering the message week in and week out.

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Please Invite People To FacePlant SkateChurch

I would like to take a moment and just ask that you would invite any skater you know to come out to FacePlant SkateChurch on Monday nights. Chris Gilbert has so graciously allowed us to use their skate park every Monday night. Our attendance seems to always fluxuate; some weeks we have 15 skaters and other weeks we have over 40 skaters. There seems to be no rhyme or reason as to who attends and when. One thing we really need to have in order for it to be worthwhile for Ripzu to continue to let us utilize their facilities is an attendance of at least 30 skaters at FacePlant SkateChurch every Monday night; at least if we want to keep the cost down to $4 per skater every Monday night. Ripzu Skate Park has an overhead and it has to make sense in order for them to be able to pay their lease payment and utilities. So this is just a call to invite friends to come and skate, as well as a challenge to all the regulars; if you call this your church home, please do all that you can to make it out consistantly on Monday nights, not only to keep our costs down, but because you are probably missing out on something that God has for you if you aren't getting fellowship anywhere else. We care about you and want you to continue to grow in your walk with God. There are so many times that skaters are encouraged by a teaching or by being prayed for by their peers during small group interaction. Anyhoo...hope to see you guys as much as possible. We love all of you!!! =)

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Christian Young

FP SkateChurch Pastor

UNITED STATES 2011 - Mission Connexion

Portland, Oregon

Sunday, January 23, 2011

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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.
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Christian Young

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

Vancouver, Washington

Sunday, January 16, 2011

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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:

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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!"

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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!

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Christian Young

THAILAND 2011 - Starting an IRIS Ministries Base in Thailand

Bangkok, Thailand

March 1-14, 2011

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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.

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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.

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Christian Young

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.

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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):

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

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

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

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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.

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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

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