Family Photo Shoot! Thank you Amanda!

Evangelism in Queenstown and Recent update

Hitting The Streets 

 

Even though we will soon be running a discipleship training school and taking students overseas for missions, we feel its just as important that the staff spend time praying and evangelizing in Queenstown as well. Our team has been meeting weekly to pray for specific things such as:

• Love for Queenstown as though it was our hometown 
• That people would become aware of God’s existence as they look at the beauty surrounding them
• Young travelers come from all over the world to party, find adventure and a purpose for life…our prayer is that they would find God in this place to fulfill that ultimate need for purpose and identity

 

One of our goals with evangelism is approaching strangers with wisdom and boldness.

Evangelism testimony from Lindsey:

Amanda (one of our staff) and I were in downtown Queenstown, looking for someone to pray for on our evangelism day. I prayed “...God, let the specific person you want us to witness to come to us!” We stopped to watch a group of people trying out a new outdoor activity called slack-lining. As we stood there, a man in his early thirties came straight up to us and suggested we try it out and we joked that we would probably fall. We chatted for a bit and I told him the reason we were hanging out here was because we were offering prayer for anyone that needed it and asked if he needed prayer. He said he didn't believe in prayer because God didn't answer his prayers now or when he was a child who grew up in a broken home with an abusive dad. He asked why God could be so passive if he was a God of love. Why did bad things happen to him as an innocent child? I have to be honest, I wasn't prepared for a deep discussion…I thought if he wanted prayer we would pray a simple prayer and if he declined, we would simply smile and walk away. However, this guy had a valid point and it was something I needed to face head-on because I too have thought of this question many times. I realized, even if I had prepared for this talk ahead of time by compiling all the “right” words to say and relied on my own intellect, in the end they would be empty words in my my own human attempt to try to convince him. I had this moment with this person, I knew I would most likely never see him again, all I could rely on was faith that God would help me in this situation. This was my one chance to show him that God is real and that God is good. I prayed to myself “Holy Spirit guide me in this conversation right now, give me the right words to say to help him become more aware of your presence and your existence.” I felt God was in this and brought to my mind certain scriptures from the Bible. Here’s what I said: 

“God did not cause bad things to happen to you, it says in the Bible every good thing comes from God and there is not even a hint of change in His character. We are born into a world that is full of sin and all kinds of evil and man-kind is affected by it." I explained the battle for his salvation, that God fights for it and that satan wants to make sure he doesn't receive it. "The devil is the author of lies, out to steal, kill and destroy. (John 10:10) God goes with us He will never leave us or forsake us, He has been with you your whole life. It says in the Bible, 'if you draw near to God, He will draw near to you'.” 

He said he’s asked and has quit asking because he doesn't get answers. I told him to keep asking because God makes a promise that he will find him. I told him that God wants Brian to want God with all of his heart, not just part of it. "Keep seeking him, keep asking and pray that he will reveal himself to you."

Our conversation went back and forth as he shared his thoughts and opinions and I shared mine. He was listening the whole time and genuinely interested in our conversation. The desire for this person to encounter God became even stronger that I asked again “Are you sure you don’t want prayer?” “You mean stand here awkwardly and pray?” he said. “Yes!” I replied. So he let me! As I prayed I felt God press on my heart to tell Brian how much God values him, that he is here on this Earth for a purpose not just by chance. I prayed that Brian would search for God and find him.

I believe he was the one God wanted me to find that day.  

Evangelism testimony from Jeremy:
Last Friday, Tyler Pippin and I "Hit the Streets," asking the Lord to guide us direcly to the people He wanted us to pray for. I instantly had a desire to go to McDonalds; (I'm not sure if I was just hungry or that is were God was actually leading us....) After we ordered our $2 McChickens we approached two individuals from Singapore and Malaysia. I mentioned part of my job was to meet new people and talk to them about their culture and beliefs. They seemed interested and invited Tyler and I to sit with them. We talked for about 30 minutes before we were able to transition the conversation into a spiritual one. We mentioned how God was a God of love and how we take teams all around the world to help and love people. We soon found out one of them was Buddhist and the other grew up in a Christian home and fell away from the Lord. By the end of the conversation, we were able to pray for both of them! I love praying for people from different religions. Even though they didn't fall on their faces repenting and accepting Christ, I know we planted a seed. Statistics say, (obviously God can work outside of this) it usually takes 6-7 positive encounters with a Christian before individuals commit their lives to Christ. I'm happy to say we may have been 1 of the 7 positive encounters.  

Update on Arise DTS school starting in January

The school has over 20 confirmed students and 7 confirmed staff including ourselves. We have been reviewing and praying over the applications for the school starting this January with  a few students in the waiting process and more applications coming in. We can’t wait to see how God is going to impact these student's lives! 

Building Community

We have been visiting several churches in the area that we feel a connection with. It’s exciting to see that they have the same vision for Queenstown that we do, to see the young adults saved as well as at the tourists. They have been very welcoming to us and we are thankful that God is building a connection with these people to not only partner in ministry with but have friendships with as well (something very important and necessary to have when you’re doing full-time ministry). 

We got another vehicle donated to our base!

A local businessman from Queenstown asked our director if there was anything our base needed. We said we needed another van and within weeks we were blessed with a turbo diesel 9 seater Toyota van. Our base now has three vans, all of which have been 100% donated to our Base.

Prayer points

* Housing for Students: We need to House 30 people by Januarry
* Continual Passion for Evangelism in the City and dedication to the Lord's work
* 2 or 3 more monthly supporters. We are so blessed to be in full-time ministry and can't thank everyone enough for their generosity. We both love working hard. As YWAM Staff we are required to fundraise 100% of our salary and we are 90% there! If you are interested in supporting us, just reply to this email and we will help you get started :)