Hey everybody,

My first few days of life in Montana have been very refreshing. Upon arriving here and meeting with staff and students I have really felt like I am in the right place. Our group (including staff) is made up of 16 students coming from 10 different countries in the world! I have another Canadian brother here from Saskatchewan so thats pretty awesome. I feel so privileged to be able to take time and attend this school with such a diverse group.

Today we had our first lecture from a man named Bob Fitts. You may have heard of him as he has written a lot of 'mainstream' Christian worship songs. It was a privilege to hear him share his journey from becoming a passionate musician to a sold-out worship leader whose influence has become world-wide. He encouraged us in our dreams and reminded us that God is the one who places the dreams we have in our hearts and that he is faithful even when we are faithless. This was a comforting reminder to me who is constantly bombarded by own expectations. I think we need to do our part in obeying what God has called us to do but ultimately it is Him who orchestrates the opportunities, talents and people he chooses to put in our path. I'm looking forward to hearing more from him the rest of the week.

I have my first one-on-one vocal lesson tomorrow so I'm pretty pumped! Montana is so beautiful I will try and take more pictures.

Thanks for your prayers and support, this will be a rich season.

"he who has called you is faithful and he will surely do it" (fulfill His call by hallowing and keeping you)

learning to worship!

-Jer

Thank you Lakeside

Hey everybody

Just taking a few minutes to reflect on these past few months before I head into a new chapter of my life in Montana.

Thanks. In the last few years of going out and returning from the missions field, Lakeside Community Church has been a home base for me.

The congregation has welcomed me back on several occasions and has given me opportunities where I can serve Christ with them. Upon my most recent return from bible school in Taiwan I was entrusted with the privilege to lead worship for our church. This, being my passion, has stretched and challenged me in making worship something real; to help create an atmosphere of gratitude and broken desperation for Jesus to be increased in our lives. The times we as a band shared on wednesday night practices were a spiritually rich time for me. I think we collectively learnt that worship is beyond the music aspect but goes right to our heart motivation. We can so easily sing a song on Sunday morning but never allow the message of the song to characterize our lives. I feel I, as well as the band, have really benefitted from open discussion and authentically engaging in each others lives. This open and broken atmosphere is, what I feel, makes an effective, God honouring group. Pride has a way of puffing ourselves up in our own estimation and really restricts us from seeing the brokenness of our human condition. It has been when I've really come to terms with my own bankruptcy and desperate need for God that I've found myself crying out to him with a pure heart. Paul teaches in that 'when I am weak, he is strong' and that 'his power is made perfect in weakness' yet this goes against the mentality of our culture. It's survival of the fittest! One of the greatest comforts to us is that God is not looking for perfect people who have it all together. In fact he is looking for someone WEAK enough to use so that what he DOES use us we will know for certain that this was not a product of our own smarts or ingenuity but HIS grace and power.

Thanks again. To the church who has been faithfully invested in my spiritual growth and financial support thus far in missions. I am looking forward to further partnership and expecting that God will reveal more to us as we follow his call to 'seek and save the lost'.

I hope you'll be able to follow along with me in missions as I do my best to update you on what God is teaching me.

I would also love to hear from you guys so please shoot me an email sometime!

I will try and shoot another blog out once i'm settled in to the base and show you some pictures of where I'll be living.

"Dwell in me, and I will dwell in you. Just as no branch can bear fruit of itself without abiding in the vine, neither can you bear fruit unless you abide in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever lives in Me and I in him bears much fruit. However, apart from me you can do nothing." John 15:4-5

Because of Christ

-Jer

Leadership Summit 2009

The Summit: I had the privilege to attend a two day satellite conference this past week with some of the leaders of my church and learn more of what it means to be a leader. We were able to hear from a wide variety of speakers from all over North America in all different spheres of society who shared personal experience, teaching and modern methods of empowering leadership.

Harvey Carey: One speaker who resonated with me the most was a man named Harvey Carey who pastors a church in the poorest zip code of the poorest city in Detroit Michigan. This man was intense! He had a strong and loud message of empowering leaders to genuinely engage in "playing the game." He shared an illustration of how the modern church does church and translated it to a scenario where someone attends a big football game. The teams runs out on to the field and forms into a huddle but instead of a quick huddle and going to play the game they remain in a huddle for an hour and then leave the field. Carey submits that this is how the church is functioning. We huddle in a building once a week but seem to hesitate in our call to bring the message to a broken community. I think this message brought conviction to everyone who heard it as I think we spend so much time trying to build a functional church (a functional Christian life) that we lose the focus of what the church was intended to do. Every Sunday morning he takes his church out into the community, shares a message from the word (in parks, drug-selling areas, homeless shelters) and then goes out and reaches out in practical ways such as door to door evangelism, praying for people and giving out bibles.

What if we invested more on the call of Jesus to reach the lost than trying to perfect the church structure?

What if we created platforms where God's word can be lived out?

What if we really loved the people we hate?

Sometimes I need to remember...

Church: a people after the heart of God.

Ministry: a selfless intentionality wherever we are to allow the gospel to be shared.

The Gospel: The amazing message of the Fathers love who sent his son to die for the atonement (full and satisfying payment) of our sin which allowed us to be in right-standing relationship with God.
Worship: To posture ones life in gratitude and brokenness. Offering our choices, energy and agendas as a "living sacrifice" (Romans 12:1)

So WHAT? I was left with a greater desire to step outside the status-quo of cookie cutter religious Christianity and continue to seek a real and raw relationship with the Creator of the universe. I was inspired to break out of the magnetic pull of conformity, to lead with confidence and to discover more about who God created me to be.

My prayer is that this next stage of my life in Worship School will develop the practical skills to use my passions and influence to build the hope of the world which is the church.

Please feel free to add, encourage or even challenge me in anything I write on these blogs. I don't have all the answers but I am eager to learn more. Lets grow together in this!

Thanks for all your love & prayers!

"May God grant you your heart's desire & fulfill all your plans! May we shout for joy over your salvation, & in the name of our God set up our banners! May the Lord fulfill all your petitions!" Psalm 20:4-5

Because HE lives!

-Jer

AWAKEN 2009 - Lakeside Montana

This past week I attended a gathering called AWAKEN and experienced the power and unity that comes from community. Some 25 people from all over North America travelled to engage in a conversation about how we, as believers of God can better become followers of Jesus Christ in our spheres of influence.

The vision of Awaken was birthed out of the reality that the God of the bible is truly the God of today. In the Old Testament, Israel was given specific instruction on how to properly make sacrifice for their sins that would make them right with God. Once a year the High Priest would go into the Holy of Holies (part of the temple where God's spirit dwelt) and make a sacrifice on behalf of the entire nation of Isreal. In this process, the priests would tie a rope to the leg of the High Priest with bells attached so if he was struck dead in the Holy of Holies that they would be able to pull him out without themselves being struck. The whole idea in this is that, when Jesus died on the cross and resurrected, we were given the Holy Spirit inside of us. This day was what the Isrealites had been waiting for, that one day they wouldn't have to make sacrifice for their sins but that God would provide a sacrifice and that they would be able to harness the actual spirit of God inside of them. We see in Acts 2 where the Holy Spirit fell for the first time on the church and people began manifesting the power of God's spirit. This really struck me. We have the spirit of God living in us! What does that mean? 1 Peter 2:9 tells us that 'we are a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.' We need to see that we have the authority, not because of anything we've deserved or earned but that God chose us out to be his 'royal priesthood'. I think, as a priest, we are to be an example of what it looks like to devote our lives in single-minded pursuit of God.

This week was a time where we were able to seek God for the visions and passions that he has put on our heart and look at how we can influence the seven spheres of society (Family, Church, Education, Media, Sports/Arts, Business, Government) through with the intentionality of discipleship and sincere love. We collectively realised that before we can change the world we need to change ourselves; every action has a reaction and that if we place our relationship with God as the primary goal, then we will be able to participate in what God is already doing in the world and in the church.

I hope all this makes sense so far, I have a lot to process still and hope to share with you all that God has been speaking to me in this last week.

"Apart from me you can do nothing" John 15:5

Until the world wakes up

-Jer

'I know the plans I have for you'

It all started on Monday morning when I got up before work to spend time with God. During prayer I was immediately prompted to pray for my buddies Manassa (Fijian guy) and Chris (Korean guy)((See picture^); two guys who I did my bible school in Taiwan with and who had invested, encouraged and inspired me in my heart for worship. During our bible school Manassa had suggested that I come to South Korea and serve the church he had been and planned to return to. This invitation intrigued me as I had, in my last few years of being in missions developed a heart for the Korean people and was inspired by their passion and depth of intimacy with God. ((Korea is the fastest growing Christian nation in the world and is quickly becoming the biggest sender-outer of missionaries out into the world.)) God is doing something amazing in Korea and I have been dreaming of the day when I would be able to come and be a part of it. Anyways, back to my monday morning right..After praying for these guys I turned on my computer to check my email and lo and behold there was an email from Manassa inviting me once again to come and serve this church in South Korea. The invitation would involve me contributing to the church in the area's of leading worship, teaching english and speaking at bible studies. I can't explain the ecstacy of that moment where it seemed like God was confirming this dream and showing me a glimpse of an opportunity to serve once again overseas...Now, after waiting an eternity (a week...) of knowing when I would be going go Korea I know now that I will be heading there following my School of Worship in Montana. On top of these exciting opportunities I have just recently given the priviledge of being one of the worship leaders at my church. I believe that this experience will stretch my growth musically and in leadership. I hope to invest my remaining time in Canada to this commitment and pray that God would bring a spiritual depth and intimacy as our church grows in making Worship more than 4 songs at church but a posture of our lives.

For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope. Jeremiah 29:11

Learning to Worship

-Jer