Week Nine: Discipling Nations

"This city is tired of praying for peace..."

It is a weary thing to pray for a place and see healing and have the work ruined by individuals who's plan is not at all peace, but we do not stop praying.

This past week we discussed reconciliation. The best idea I have heard about peace between people is this, not that there is not fighting or that there is no interaction but that literally everything is moving and turning together and made of a million different pieces and working properly. Picture the difference between a car turned off and a car flying down the highway 80mph and all you hear is the hum an engine and the road beneath you. That is peace.

What we are doing as a team is bringing peace to this nation. We are a small group of individuals, working together in peace, we all have different task but on goal. We as individuals work with God to maintain our own peace (everything working together), then as peaceful people we work with other Christians (peaceful people, working together) and then we encourage others around us to join the peace as a fully functioning part. It's how the Body of Christ works, and when everything is working together well, people are happy to join in and the body grows! That is how we, as a Church, are disciplining the nations.

God has called us to something bigger than our own salvation. While it is important it is simply a small part of the big picture...it's only the beginning. How many of us can't wait for the end so heaven can come and we'll be happy. Yeah. Me too. But it's a sad state of mind...because if your not happy here, you won't be very happy in heaven because my friends, Jesus has already brought heaven here...it's at hand. It is within reach. Every time you dream of walking down streets of gold...go for a walk around your neighborhood, because Christ is already there, he is redeeming it. When you dream of a mansion on a hill, invite someone to your small house for dinner to show him how it'll be when you have one, He is redeeimg your life.

One last thing. Some of us, including me, struggle with not being in full-time ministry because it doesn't "feel" like we're serving the Lord. There are many facets of this world though that you already serve Him and he needs you there. The Arts. Science. Education. Communication. Government. Economics. The Church. In order to disciple a nation we need to be involved in ALL of the Nation. If there were individuals willing to serve in the places God has called them, there can be great leaps in the way our world works. I feel called to Ireland, so I'll give it my best while I am here. Many people are quite content with their jobs and need to remember that God is there with them, no matter how insignificant it seems.

The plan of God is big. It is greater than anyone of us and spans colors, races denominations, seas oceans and countries; it is not above them, it includes all of them. What if God's plan did not involve destruction but redemption? What if the fire that destroys this world is his love? What if heaven is just below the surface and we need only to reach out and take it? The Church will disciple the Nations.

Cheers Friends.
Maeder

Week Seven and Eight: Dublin and St. Patrick

Wow. It's been a good few weeks. The week before last our team was in Dublin to serve at a small YWAM missions conference where leaders from east Europe came together to discuss a vision for Europe and to find out what God is doing in other places. It was great to see so many different people and languages get together in the same room for the same purpose. There were discussions about helping the poor ( a program in York, England, I think, called Street Angels) and discussions about ministering to prostitutes in Amsterdam and Berlin. There were leaders using the Arts to reach people and it seems that there are cafes in every country that a YWAM leader helps at....The gospel and coffee always seem to go together :) What ever the task, there is a YWAM base somewhere doing something to try to heal the nations, and it's excellent to be a part of it.
While I was there it was fun to be in the Dublin. There were all kinds of things to see but they all cost money...Book of Kells, St. Patrick's Cathedral...it's a bit of a tourist trap. The cool part was being able to talk to the manager of O'Shea's Pub. I was able to tell him who I was and Why I was there and some of our vision for this beautiful Island! In the end though it was only a conversation but there was something good about a protestant having a kindly chat with a protestant...a small example of what we're working towards.
Last week we had two great opportunities. The first was a prayer walk of sorts. We started by praying for the Shankill and we walked down to City Centre praying for businesses as we went. We walked past to Docks where the titanic was built right up the other side of the city to Stormont, the local parliamentary building. We prayed for the politics here, not for one side or the other but that they would be instruments of peace, rather than conflict.
On st. Patrick's day we had a weird but great outreach. Our job was to go to a place in town where there were drunken riots last year and work with a church there. we Handed out flyers for free burgers and coffee and tea and then we walked around several blocks with a big trash can and pick ed up bottles. It was fun to talk with the folks there. They asked us what we were doing and why. The overall attitude was better and there were no riots! I haven't heard yet but I'm sure the city was appreciative...hopeful we can do it next year.

A personal note: When I had initially told you all about the YWAM trip here, I told you that at the end on the time we were going to South Africa to "Practicse" What we were learning. But for some of us in the group our plans have been changed. I am one of 11 students that will be taking the message of reconciliation to Israel and Palestine. For several weeks our team will be in the Middle east crossing the lines back and forth to work with orphanages and youth groups, meeting people and building community. It will be an exciting time.

Week Five: God of this City and Risky Business

It's amazing, actually, seeing God work. I've been in several different places and have heard the same prayer, that God would change this city. No one is praying for a particular denomination, no one is trying to convert people to Catholic or Protestant, what they care about is the well being of the people, that they would find God without "religion" (the problem) by seeking Jesus. And some are stepping out and risking much, in hopes that a few might be saved.

I told you that there is a business man here who is Christian and opened a cafe on Shankill (Protestant Belfast) in hope of building community in a safe way. After running the cafe for a while he began walking up and down Falls Road (Catholic Belfast) selling pastries (his other job) and wondering if it might be God's will to start another Cafe of the same name on the Falls road. He believed it is. So this past week I was in the new cafe painting and getting it ready to open this week. It's a great story of a person who believes in the Larger community of God with out boundaries or titles. but it's the irony that makes the story awesome.

First of all, he is Protestant English and by all means should be hated on the Falls Road, but he's been talking to owners all up and down the road letting them know what he is about. Secondly, because he's trying to do something so different he has to use his own money for the start up (Many thousands of Pounds) and is literally risking everything, including his life, to build bridges between the two communities. The funny part is this, This protestant is opening a shop on the corner of Falls Road and RPG Avenue (Yes, Rocket Propelled Grenade Avenue!) and on the side of his cafe is a 2 storey mural of an armed Irishman from the Easter Rising in Dublin...You can't make this stuff up. Our God has an amazing sense of humor.

That's all for now. I'll be away next week in Dublin for a conference of missionaries from western Europe. I'll catch up with you all later. Thanks for your prayers!

Week Four: To Know God...

Hello Friends. I feel as though I would be amiss to not let you know the intensity this week has had. Everyday we have a morning of lecture followed by an evening of work, outreach or free time. This week the lectures we given by a an awesome lady named Anne Sloan. She is a counselor of sorts and taught about Personality. I'm an ISTP if anyone cares. It was great because she taught about how we work together in the body of Christ, all different but with the same goal, namely evangelism. But these lectures were only a bit of the week that conspired.



On Thursday night one of our students, named Msizi, passed out and was unconscious and not responding. His roommate was the only one there and they called up to the house where the rest of us live. We immidatily began to pray. We also called our friends who were out that night at a prayer meeting called Belfast House of Prayer (BHOP) They also began praying. There are many cool parts to this story but I'll try to keep it succinct. The folks at house of prayer prayed for three things:

1. That the student would gain consciousness and be sitting up.

2. That he would be energized and ready to go and

3. That the doctors would find no reason his collapse.



Withing a half hour they receive a text from one of our staff..."Msizi is doing well. He's gained consciousness and is SITTING UP in the waiting room. He feels FINE but the doctors insist on keeping him here for observation because they ran some tests and CAN'T FIND ANYTHING WRONG with him."



If ever you wondered, yes the Lord hears and answers our prayers .

But it does not end there. I titled this post to Know God because I feel like I'm reaching a deeper relationship with God by hearing his voice. The next part of this post will be peculiar but powerful.



As we were praying for Msizi the Spirit seemed to come over the handful of us at the house. There were about 7 of us including Anne who had been staying there the week. We started praying for several of the students there at the house. Then someone felt we should pray for the house. That is meaningful because I felt the same. Here is why. The neighbourhood where we work lies on either side of a strip of road about a mile long called the Shankill Road (search belfast history on wikipedia). By some strange plan of God, our house is as the top of the road (literally the last in the row before the road ends) and the flat (where Msizi and other students live) is at the bottom. So, I explained to the other students that how over the past few weeks I had a sort of vision of a giant golden staff stuck in the ground up at the house and a second one by the flat, sort of like how a contractor will stake out the land before he builds a house. I told them how I felt that Lord had marked this road as his and he was about to begin work. We prayed through the house which is three stories.


Now there are three rooms that happen to be on the very corner of the house overlooking the end of the Shankill. In each room I felt the Lord giving me a prayer and each prayer also lined up with the overall mission. In our lounge we prayed for COMMUNITY, that people would be able to seek the Lord together and have fun and good times filled with joy and peace. The third floor was a room where many of the girls lives and someone had commented about how child-like it was...perfect! We prayed that the peace found in that room might topple over into the street and that the CHILDREN of the neighbourhood might break free from the depression and oppression of their past and lead fun, joy-filled lives in their youth. The Second floor was the hardest.

None of us felt comfortable in that room, it was painted dark to begin with and was cold but there was still something really wrong with it. We prayed for many minutes and nobody was feeling anything in particular. I asked Anne (who was living in that room) what she felt and she had no answers so we all stood there in the dreariness of the room. Then I felt something come to mind, it was a little awkward so I said "Do you mind if I pray something weird?" everyone said "You might as well, the whole night has been weird." And so I prayed as I felt. I began to pray against the spirit of adultery and immediately as I prayed, everyone else felt it to and began to follow along and almost instantly the room began to feel cleaner and lighter. I can't know how to give an explanation. I have always lived quite conservatively in my faith, but as time passes here, and I press into the Lord, I'm finding that there may be depths of him I have yet to know.

I pray for peace and wisdom as I seek him more. There may be heaps more that I discover about the Lord as I read his word and pray and work out this salvation of mine.

Thanks! More to come next week... The lectures are about the Holy Spirit! So who knows...?!

Week Three: Relationships

During this time here in Belfast we spend a lot of our time focusing on our relationship with our community here in Belfast, but this we we spent time learing about relationship with our family. It was a spectacular time of internal investigation and turning our fears and hopes to the Lord. The most excellent part of the week was the opportunity we had to exercise the verse in Ephesians 6:2-3- "Honor you Father and your Mother, the only commandment with a promise, that it may go well with you and that you may enjoy long life on earth" where we stood up and honored them out loud to the group.

So, right now, I would like to do so again by honoring my father, who has instilled in me a fun, life-and-people-loving personality waiting with excitement for whatever come around the corner (including angry dogs...a down side of this past week :( and then my mother, who has instilled in me a good work ethic and straightforwardness. Thanks for being awesome parents. I love ya!
Thanks also to Mrs. Vickie and Larry, my awesome step parents. They were more than patient with me when I was growing up and a bit of a jerk at times :) Thanks for supporting me.

Next week we'll host an evening for the elderly at a local cafe called the Feed Cafe'. We sold half of our tickets, so hopefully it will go well.

Ill have more next week! Thanks Guys,
Cheers
Mike

Week Two: Countryside and Vision of the Mission

Wow.

There really are no words to describe

the Irish countryside, especially from this photo I took early in morning at the Old YWAM base in Closkelt, NI. We went there last weekend and began out first phase of lecture on the "Father Heart of God" The speaker's name was Mike Oman and he spent hours, not simply lecturing, but telling stories of how the Lord had worked in his life. Everything from providing everything he needed to the time when things got rough and the Lord gave him direction. The most meaningful verse he gave that week was in Psalm 139, the thesis of God's love for us. In it is says how much he care for us, how he knows our ways, he hems us in behind and before and was even involved in out making.

After leaving Closkelt we drove about an hour to Rostrevor... The leadership here at YWAM had decided to GIVE the Closkelt base away to another group earlier this year not know what the Lord may be doing. Within only a week of getting here, the Lord gave them a new campus, the Estate at Rostrevor. It's name was the "Christian Renewal Center" and served as a place for many different Christians to come and pray and interceed for this island. It is a 20 Room, 9+ bathroom sort of mansion with a dining hall, conference room, many studies and sitting rooms. It is both a place to rest and to fight (spiritually, of course :) While we were there we interceeded for this nation with many other leaders, both Catholic and Protestant alike for the building of this nation. It was blessed.

We returned here for many other lectures about the Father Heart of God, but I was particularly intrigued by what the Lord would lead me into...

I was walking one night with some of the student home when we were stopped by a young
boy(15) smoking a cigarette. He asked if we would rather walk through the park, it being a shorter route. My friends declined but I was curious, so I went along. We only fiddled in Idle chatter, he asked me If I met any movie stars and what kinds of animals just run about. We reached the end of our walk and he had to go. I didn't know if I would ever see him again. A few days later , I saw him on the street and I stopped him. We ended up walking all the way back to my house and we had quite a conversation. This is part of his story and a glimpse into the purpose of my mission here.

His name is Dillion and is 15. His folks divorced when he was 3 or 4 and at one point his mother had kidnapped him back, but now he lives with his dad again. Both of his folks are unemployed and live off benefits (welfare). He spends his weekends drinking and has also taken a position at a bar cleaning tables. His listens to screamer rock music constantly and sometime, to pass time, will go to the "Peace line" to pick a fight. He wanders the street mostly because there is nothing else to do. I had the opportunity to meet his folks who just turned their head to see me and then turn back to watch TV. This is the entirety of his life. He is part of my mission here, and a glimpse into the numerous problems that lie here in Belfast, as he is not a mionority.

Please pray for me and the people I meet here.

Week One: What is Belfast?

Asian Food.
Architecture.
Rain
And the Irish, wait no British wait, what?

Well one thing is for sure, they love Asian food. There is a Chinese food shop literally every block, sometimes two side by side. But food aside, I must say this is the most amazing place I have ever been.
The first week has most;y been overview, history and orientation. We have taken two tours, the first of downtown (City Centre as they say) where we saw the tow cranes used to build the Titanic. We saw the mall and the Capital building also (in the pictures on Facebook). This is a beautiful city...most of it at least.
We took a second tour of the many murals that were painted during the troubles depicting many different "martyrs" and paramilitary groups that carried on the war. With that we visited the "Peace Line" or Wall that separates the two communities.
We as a mission live in the "poor" part of town know as the Shankill Road- the British protestant side of the wall (the Irish Catholic side being Falls Road). It's a two or three mile stretch of pavement where many of the "Troubles" took place over the past 40 years. there is still evidence of the destruction by way of hollowed out buildings, "rubbish" covered foundations, and dirty sidewalks. They say say that people on either side of the wall can go the first 18 years of their life without ever meeting a person from the other side (only 3 block away)
That said, I have had a most excellent time meeting the people here. This Thursday was particularly awesome. Several of us went to the Belfast House of Prayer where a small group of committed Christians meet to pray for the city. I was great to meet some Christian Northern Ireland folks and worship and pray with them. After an amazing worship session a few of us YWAM'ers went to a local pub. When we were there a group of local musicians began to play traditional Irish music. I think they were a little skeptical about the group of Americans there but when they had played my favorite Reel i said "That the Tam Lin, that's my favorite tune!" the fiddle player handed me here fiddle and let me play a couple of songs with them. I'm not sure how any of you feel about periodically visiting a pub, but I'm excited to get to know these folks and intend to go back.
That's about all I have time for now. We'll begin to start our outreaches this week and visit a new facility in the Irish Country Side where we begin our first weekly lecture- "The Father Heart of God".
More to come. Please continue to pray.

Cheers
Mike