Derek Brokkes: God Is Moving, Week

It is so exciting to me to be able to report to you all on what God has been doing over the last three months. I have to admit that the time that we have all been dispersed since our last gathering seems longer than that, and thankfully, God has been busy at work. Instead of loading you all down with a really long email, I'll send a few shorter ones throughout this week on what God has been doing. This one will focus on the small group that I feel the Lord told me to start.

When I was sitting with you all at Andrew's church in Denver listening to Matt Hulst share about his experiences at Bethel, my heart was stirred with passion. Not only were things happening up in Minnesota where Matt had made himself available to the Lord, but I was in the same stage of life as he was, going to a University. God challenged me to start a small group when I got back on my campus at Biola University, focused specifically on outreach, while also having times of prayer and accountability. Going into it I was completely at a loss as to how to go about leading it, so I told God that He would have to direct it completely. We started at an average of about 7 guys for the first few weeks, each week differing in our conversation and fellowship. Over the next few weeks we kept growing and saw a couple people even from other dorms joining. By the last meeting of the semester we had 12 people at the small group, and the small group will continue into next semester as well.

So far in outreach we have prayed over our campus, had times of listening to and obeying the Lord (in a very YWAM fashion), and visited a local Community College where we did survey evangelism. It has been a struggle to find a lot of ministry, but the Lord has brought people into divine appointment with us and moved strongly when we have stepped out. I have also talked to two or three other people from other parts of the campus who are interested in what we do in our small group, and they want to start parallel small groups in their own dorms. I am calling them..."Awaken Groups!" I believe its a pretty fitting title and people want to hear about them and get involved once they know what we are about. I am just seeing how many people on my campus want to be involved, but just need a spark to set off their readily kindled hearts. It just takes testimony!

This is just one area where God has shown his faithfulness, but I don't want to wear everybody out with one email. I will write one or two more later this week, but as for this area of God's move, pray for:

1. God's continued stirring on my heart and the hearts of those around me to pursue awakening in prayer and action
2. More opportunities for ministry and outreach to open up
3. A spirit of boldness on our group
4. Wisdom for me in how to lead the group

Thank you all for your partnership with and inspiration to me.


Its time for my second update. I hope this encourages you all where you are at right now.

In this time of revival, prayer is the vehicle that will drive the move of God. When I was at Biola last semester, I couldn't help but miss the prayer room that was so available in Kona. At Biola they have a prayer chapel, but it is always silent and not conducive to times of group intercessory prayer. I started trying to find a place where I could really just cry out to God, and the only place that I had was my own room when both of my roommates were gone, but even then it was only at times that my room was available and it would never be the most private of places. So I talked to my dorm senator about getting a prayer room started on campus. She told me to email a specific senator who was already vying for a prayer room to be started. Once I got into contact with him he sent me an email of a very specific and bold proposal that someone had already drawn up to build a prayer room on campus just for that purpose. It is so encouraging to see that God is already working in and through many other people, knowing that I can just partner with them many times.

God has also been speaking the importance of prayer in my family. My father and I went to breakfast once over my Christmas break in Colorado Springs, and the end result of our talk was that we were going to start praying with my other two brothers for an hour every morning. This was also in part because of the challenging messages we heard from Lou Engel and others at the One Thing Conference. These times of prayer have been great for our bonding as a family, but have also been trying. We have to be aware of the devil's attacks and vigilant against apathy and complacency in our prayers. We also are doing it at six every morning so it gets very tiring, but I believe that God is going to break through and speak and act in great ways. My brother Drew and I have also decided to continue this at Biola once we head back. We are hoping (or praying) for great revival on that campus, and God is already doing it!

So what you all can pray for with me is:

1. That God would speak and reveal His heart in what we should pray
2. For the Holy Spirit to stir many others to prayer on our campus
3. That God's glory would be revealed on our campus
4. For endurance in prayer and intercession

Thank you all again for your support.



This is the last of my three updates. I hope these have been encouraging and challenging to you. Let's remember who is in charge and what He is capable of. This update is focused on real stories of awakening.

Ever since my DTS I have questioned how I can bring passion back with me and truly affect the people closest to me. It is easier, I believe to start a new friendship, laying out what you care about and the passions that God has placed on your heart than to change old ones. Old friends many times just want things to be the way that they were before. They want what is comfortable. But change is possible for them through us, those who know them best. I thank God that my family already cares about the things that I care about, but now I have really seen the Lord moving among my close friends as well.

The first friend that I have seen this with is Jesse. Jesse has never been a bad kid, and in fact he has been strong in his convictions. But with that comes a bit of a hotheaded and prideful demeanor at times. When he has gotten a certain thing in his head, specifically about someone or something, he speaks it out and allows it to affect him. I was able to sit down with him one night and address this head on, seeing as how this attitude had just manifested that night. Jesse isn't irrational, and really he loves justice, but there was a lack of unconditional love for his enemies. I was able to just lay out the plain truth of Jesus' teaching to him in a way that directly challenged certain attitudes and actions that he so readily expressed. Jesse is a strong Christian man, and I in no way want to portray him as a bad person. He has so many qualities that I admire and respect, and he has made wise choices in his life. The point of this story is seeing a strong Christian move from focusing on his relationship with Christ alone, to now starting to look at how he can love and forgive others when it doesn't even make sense to do so. This is the step that we all must take to truly start to affect the world for the Lord Jesus--moving from an inwardly focused Christian life, to an outwardly focused one. Not focusing on injustices as they negatively affect us, but willingly suffering injustices so that we may advance the Kingdom. By the end of our conversation he said, "I don't know about you but I'm excited! This isn't the normal conversation that I have with people." The Holy Spirit is truly stirring on his heart in an awesome way.

The other person that I have seen awakening in is my friend Alyssa. This is quite a different story than the first. I met Alyssa two summers ago in between my DTS and SBS. We had connected pretty well, but I didn't know where her standards were at other than the fact that she was a Christian by name. I picked up on a couple things just by the way our conversations would go and concluded that her standards didn't match those of the Bible. We hung out a couple more times before I went to SBS, but I decided that it wasn't an uplifting friendship for the time. Over my SBS she was still on my mind as someone to keep in prayer and a couple times I texted to see how she was doing. I never got a reply, but over this break she approached me at the college group at our church thinking that I didn't even remember her, but she wanted to say hi anyway. Evidently she had gotten a new phone number and didn't get anything that I was sending her. This time however, I could sense a difference in her, ever so slightly. I ended up having a long conversation with her, having found out that she had a past that she was ashamed of. I was able to just speak truth to her, whether it be that she was forgiven and justified completely, or that I would be her friend and love her even if she messed up again, or even that weakness, when submitted to God, is where God's power is made perfect. She said, "I know it was God that you came back when you did." She had just broken up with a boyfriend of nearly a year and a half who she was almost engaged to. Since I have been in contact with her again, her heart has been tender toward the Lord, and she has expressed a deep desire to break away from the things of the past. I will be encouraging her to take steps to break from the past, whatever that looks like (if its DTS then so be it). God's timing is truly perfect.

In these situations, please pray for:

1. A deeper knowledge of the Lord's love and desires to these two people
2. A willingness to surrender everything to the Lord (specifically for Alyssa)
3. Strengthening in the inner being of each person
4. A deepening of intimacy with Christ

I love you all and pray that God will show himself mighty to save in your lives and the lives of those under your influence.

Heather's Story: God Is Moving, Week

Right now my life is in huge transition. In the last two weeks I have switched time zones, countries, communities and cultures. I went from a 7th floor apartment outside of Taipei, Taiwan, to a two story house in a tiny town in the middle of Illinois. It's been an interesting transition. I'm really thankful for the time that I had in Taiwan. I was doing a 9 month School of Biblical Studies with Youth with a Mission. It was 9 months of Bible study, tracing our way through the Bible, living each chapter and book as we studied it. I loved it. Also while I was there, I got to build relationships with some Taiwanese people. Two of my friends there ended up getting saved which was undoubtedly the best part of my time there. Two nights before we left Taiwan, we had a bonfire at the beach with our Taiwanese friends, most of whom did not know the Lord. It was that night that one of my friends decided to give her life to Jesus. After we prayed with her, she gave me a hug and said "Thank you for bringing God to me," it was one of the most incredible moments of my life. So good. I want to spend the rest of my life bringing God to people that don't know Him.

Now I am at home and I will be here for at least the next 5 months. I am planning on working with the youth group at my church and spending time building relationships with high school girls, giving them someone to talk to about whats going on in their lives and encouraging them to spend their time and lives on God and what is eternal. I'm really excited to be home for a while and building relationships here, and getting an idea of what God is doing in the church here at home.

Garrett Boyer: God moving week 1

It always seems like God isn't doing much around me when I'm not out in another country doing open airs or house churches but I couldn't be more wrong.  Is God ever not at work?  The answer is no!  And He's been teaching and showing me this!  I have currently been called to serve and take care of my friend, Dan, who is a quadriplegic.  While on a missions trip in Mexico with his school, Cedarville University, Dan attempted to do a back flip which resulted in him landing on his neck and crushing his spinal cord.  One of Dan's companions, who "just happened" to be a paramedic, rushed to his aid.  To make a long story short, the result of Dan's accident left him paralyzed from the neck down.  He has been in and out of hospitals not knowing what lies ahead.  But he's never given up or lost the hope that God has a plan. 
    Last summer, after my DTS, God called me to come home and reconcile with my family and get involved with my church.  In doing so I got involved with the college ministry there and attended weekly small group at the house of one of the leaders.  It gave me great hope to know that I wasn't alone in my home town.  Again, to make a long story short, God grew me so much more than I could imagine while being at home after doing my DTS with Youth With A Mission.
On Easter our leader asked the group if we would like to serve in some way.  After praying we felt we were to go over to Dan's house and have a small dinner and communion with him and his family and serve them in any way we could.  We had an awesome time of prayer and testimonies and took communion to dwell on what Jesus has done on the cross for us and what He has done in our hearts recently.  When the night was over I felt strongly that I was to serve beyond that one night.  I have known Dan since Awana so I wasn't ENTIRELY out of my comfort zone.  After a few weeks of helping out around the house and giving his parents some time to themselves, Dan asked me one day if I would be willing to come with him to school in the fall so he could finish classes.  He is a pre-law major at Cedarville University.  I told him I would pray about it.  After praying and dwelling on it for about two weeks, I felt strongly that this is what God wants me to do.  So I obeyed and told him to sign me up. After two weeks of minor medical training, we were on our way to Ohio to school.
In the first few months, it was hard getting used to my responsibilities. Dan is entirely dependent on me for everything from getting out of bed, to eating breakfast and getting ready, to going to class. I was only getting a few hours of sleep per night. I started having lots of feelings of frustration, fatigue, and even depression. I was hardly in the Word and barely ever took time to just stop and spend time with God. He has taught me so much through this. I am learning to find joy in intentionally seeking Him out and making an effort to break away from the world and stresses and just be with Him. Dan is part of an organization at Cedarville called OPE (don’t know why the college refuses to call it a frat). But OPE is a group of guys with a heart to know God, follow Jesus, and become more like Him in all ways. OPE’s central theme verse is

Proverbs 27:17
“As iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another.”

We have a weekly bible study and accountability group (called blade group) that has been amazing. It’s been so good to meet all these guys and befriend a lot of them. They have been so supportive and encouraging through all of this. But the most amazing thing is to see God moving in the hearts of these guys. Even in the short time I have known them I have seen huge changes and revelations. I know God is using my obedience to Him to show these guys a new side of God they’ve never seen. I don’t mean to sound arrogant or anything like that in any way, but through my simple obedience He has shown these guys the servanthood of God and what it means to fully surrender your life to Christ. It has proved to be a challenge for some and a joy for others, but nevertheless God has entrusted me this part of the “Awaken Message” and to bring it into the sphere of life that God has me in at this moment. God is alive and well and changing the hearts of many to bring Himself Glory and to share with us His perfect and Holy righteousness. God has shown me His power through my obedience over and over again. Whether I can see all that He is doing or not makes no difference, it’s knowing that He is at work all over the globe in EVERY sphere of life whether big or small, for there is no big or small with God. He is alive and at work in the hearts of the guys around me in order to bring about His ultimate purpose and He has allowed me to be a part of it. What more could I ask for? God is at work and wants us to join with Him.