Declaration, Manifestation, Confirmation, Revelation: Part 2

The following accounts are blips of stories from some of our new found friends while here at ARISE:




He was being raised by his grandparents, but he was on the streets. He was in a gang and going no where. One day he was picked up by a young evangelist. “Man, you’re going to come live with me.” The evangelist told him. He has been for the last year or so. He is so full of joy. What a cool guy Lord. He’s smart and is easy to like by everyone. His whole life is changed. He’s just amazed at his life now and is so thankful that You are in it.

At 11 years old, he hung out with the boys seven years older than himself. He learned fast how to make fast money. Along with the drugs he was selling and doing, he had 2 daughters by the time he was 23. He was deep into his gangster lifestyle. He had his pack of people who worked with him and one day he was going to go “handle” a situation for some of his pack with a “friend”. His friend backed out last minute. He was so angry about it. But thankfully that stopped him from murdering someone. He was getting sick of this life with friends that didn’t stick. When his wife was birthing his third daughter, a different woman than the other two, there were complications. Something was going wrong with the birth. His wife called her uncle and he immediately came and showed the most genuine concern that he had ever seen. Her uncle’s compassion and care surprised him and he knew there was something there that he needed. Her uncle knew You, Jesus.  He was introduced and his life will never be the same. He’s learned a better way and wants to teach others the better way.

He was like the other troubling percentage of the population of teenagers and men, in the church and out of the church, leaders and  non leaders; he was addicted to porn and was addicted to masturbation. He had recently met you Lord, and understood that his addictions were keeping a wall between You and him. His battle was as fierce as they come. He needed extreme measures for extreme times. He couldn’t do it on his own. He couldn’t fight the battle in private. He constantly was asking You to change his heart. He kept Your word close to his heart and in his mind. As he told his story of victory today, tears still gripped him and his voice still shook as he remembered how difficult the battle was. Lord he gave You so much credit for helping him. He said he wants to continue to have you lift him up in victory. He said he loves You and wants to follow only You.


He was just randomly looking at YouTube. He came across some presentations given by one of Your men, Lord. As he continued to watch that series, he decided he needed to get more of them. He realized that what he knew as truth was contrary to Your character and found out the real truth. He studied it out. He didn’t want to be deceived. So many websites went against and belittled what he had just learned. People that came from where he was going bashed and gave soil for seeds of doubt to grow. But he pressed on in his search for truth. He found out that Your word is consistent. Your character has been deeply skewed by all of the world. Lord, he said he found truth that keeps being true the more he studies it. He has such a confidence in You.


What is all of this about? What  made these different situations have the same outcome? There must be life to these words. The bible is living and  powerful. It is living because it still has relevance for today. It is powerful because as Paul explains, it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes. (Rom 1:16) We can hear about these things our entire lives and miss it. What about this evidence? There is so much of it if we look for it. God knew we’d need hard evidence. But something else is included in all of this. A testimony. Lives being changed. Personal evidence to harmonize with hard evidence. What’s your testimony? If you have a hard time answering this question, ask God what He is doing in it.

Declaration, Manifestation, Confirmation, Revelation: Part 1

The following accounts are blips of stories from some of our new found friends while here at ARISE:

She was on her way to Broadway. Seven years of her life had been devoted to training for this. Music lessons, voice lessons, countless hours practicing. This had been her dream since she was a little girl. Her daddy always new she make it big singing. She was going somewhere. Then she met God. Her new knowledge shook up her world. What would become of her dreams? Auditions were making her nervous. She felt a little stuck. She knew too much to give up the new found truth she had. Her lifelong dreams were knocking at her door. The three agents were interested in only her auditions out of her group. Her daddy didn’t understand when she turned them down. Her teachers shook their heads. God, what are You doing in her life? She turned down her dreams. What new dreams will You give her? She’s not sure, she said. But she told me she was sure that You are leading her. She told me she knew You were holding her hand. I can’t wait to see.


His arms were tattoos. His shaved head and goatee and broad thick build made him look tough.  He said he’s been clean and sober for 3 months.  “God’s been working in my life” he told me. His marriage had taken hard hits. His kids had taken hard hits. He told me he had a social worker pray for him. He says he is learning amazing things about You every day, God. He says he’s wants You for good. His wife came and picked him up today. His three boys were there too. He kissed her and picked up his youngest boy and kissed him too. Once he was all packed up and ready to leave he came in to say goodbye to everyone. “Thank you everyone! This has been the most powerful 2 weeks of my life. God bless all of you!” God I would love to meet him again.




Her daughter just had a breakdown. She is 15 and her older sister, 20, called her mom to tell her that her sister was so drunk. Dangerously drunk. She was crying for her to come home to help. Later, the 20 year old daughter was living with her dad when one day he dropped her off at her mom’s house and said that was it, he couldn’t handle this trouble making 20 year old. But her mom had just met God through the last breakdown of her other daughter. She went to a counselor because she was too stressed to deal with her daughters. She found out that she was a lot of the problem. Her counselor asked her what she thought of  God. She believed there was a God, but nothing further.  Then her counselor asked her if she would like to do bible studies.  She started them and her life changed. So when her 20 year old was dropped onto her porch she had some new tools. Now her daughter is involved with the church and health ministries. Her other daughter loves academy and is making amazing friends. God, she told me the last 4 months have just been amazing. She said she can’t believe the transformation in her whole family. She’s so excited God. She is a new mother, a new person. She has new kids. It’s amazing to see.

She grew up in the church. She has an amazing family and went to an amazing school. She’s heard bits and pieces of what she’s “believed” her whole life. She never looked outside of her faith, but she never looked into it very deeply either. She never “fell away” but she wasn’t ever very connected. She is discovering for the first time truths that she should know by heart. She says they are changing her life. She says her faith is finally her own. She has new questions, and she is finding answers. She said she can’t understand why so many people within her church miss it. She is falling in love with Jesus and is more sure about the character of God than ever. She says she has such purpose in life. God, keep leading her.

The Road to ARISE

Two weeks ago, just outside the little town of Waitsburg, I saw what no driver wants to see. In my rear view mirror, I saw following close behind me a cop, and then a couple seconds later that cop flashed on his lights. We pulled over and I gave him the necessary documents.

This was not the way we wanted to start our trip to California. Danelle was sleeping, and woke up to the unpleasant site of flashing lights. I told her what happened and we waited for the cop to return to our car with the verdict, the sort of process that always seems to take an unnecessarily long time. Through the rear view I saw him walk back to our car, and then he simply returned our papers and said, "make sure you slow down, I'm just going to give you a verbal warning."

I love warnings! We don't have the money to throw away on speeding tickets right now. We would not have been able to enjoy the drive to California as much if we would have gotten the speeding ticket. We were planning to do some camping on the way to California and the first place we stopped at was Crater Lake National Park.

Crater Lake is gorgeous, it has to be some of the bluest water I have ever seen. From Crater Lake we drove to Redwoods National Forrest and then to Bethany and Gill's new house to spend some time with them and get cleaned up before heading to the ARISE program. It was great being with them, and biking along the lake path. We look forward to spending more time with them and the rest of the family there on Thanksgiving break.

We arrived at Arise last Monday, it is beautiful here. There are 49 students in the ARISE class. The students come from South Africa, England, Australia, and North America. Many of them are at the program by the providence of God. For example there is another student here also named Kevin. The reason he is in the program is because he was on youtube and by "chance" he came across a Discover Prophecy Serries that David Asscherick was presenting. This was so persuasive to him, he spent a year studying and reading nonstop. He is convinced, and wants to be baptized. There is numerous stories like this of the different students who are here from all sorts of backrounds, religions, and belief systems.

We are in class Monday through Thursday and also will be doing community outreach on the weekends. The daily schedule is busy, but we also have time to unwind. Danelle and I have rediscoverd our love for tennis and Saturday night we played from 8 PM until 1 AM in the morning. Our teachers Matt Para and David Asscherick played with us.

Today we went swiming at a place called Candy Rock. I never knew California was so preaty. Next weeknd we are planning on visiting Yosimitie National Park. We are so thankful for the opportunity to be here and be apart of this church. A church is more than a building it is a community of believers whose passion it is to represent Christ.