Joshua Muller's second update re Street Invaders

Hey guys,

Well, we’re on day six of our mission, and things have been intense. I haven’t updated you since Bootcamp though, so I’ll update you on that first.

It was an amazing time. God did cool stuff over the course of the week. The times of worship were amazing, and the teaching was awesome too. One highlight for me was getting to pray with a girl to receive the baptism of the Holy Spirit, and hearing her receive the gift of speaking in tongues.

Another highlight for me was the night of our commissioning. It was an amazing night. The normal commissioning consists of everyone getting prayed over, and often receiving prophecies when God gives a message to the people praying for said person.

An average commissioning night is more than an amazing time, but I especially enjoy the memory of this year’s service for a couple different reasons. First off, I should mention I was put in charge of praying with my team after they had been commissioned. It was cool being able to do that, and bond with the team in that way.

After the students had been commissioned, I was called up, and was commissioned. The things they prayed and said were definitely an encouragement to me. Afterwards, I came back to my team, and they prayed for me. When they were praying, I just felt the love of God and His presence SO strongly. I almost cried. It was so amazing. There was another amazing thing that happened that evening. Between praying for my teammates as they came down from being commissioned, I was chatting with a friend of mine that was on my SI team in 2008. The conversation turned to the baptism of the Holy Spirit and speaking in tongues. I remembered that he mentioned at our mission together that he had never received the baptism of the Holy Spirit, and ever since I had always wanted the opportunity to pray with him to receive it, but I had never seen it or taken it. As we were talking, and this thought came to mind, I realized that this was the moment I had been praying for. I asked him if he wanted me to pray with him to receive the Holy Spirit and the gift of speaking in tongues, and he said, “ya”.

So I prayed with him and he started speaking in tongues. In was an amazing time.

Since then, my team and I have come to North Central Regina, and we’ve been working in the neighborhood in various ways to share God’s love. We helped clean up a couple’s garage that had been flooded during the crazy rain this summer. We did some work at the Regina Food bank, and helped out at a community festival that was being put on for the neighborhood kids and families.

So far, however, my favorite ministry that we’ve done has been the work we did on Thursday.

We got together with a guy that works with Soul’s Harbour Rescue mission.

We choose a block to minister to. Then we went door to door, offering free yard work, and telling the people that we would be having a barbecue with free hot dogs and juice. The ministry that our team was able to do was really awesome. While some of our team was doing the yard work and such, others took time to talk to people in the neighborhood, and a few people on our team had a chance to pray with a lady. It was a really cool time, and a really cool concept I thought.

Well, I best go. We’re on a really crazy schedule that sometimes prevents us from getting the sleep we need, so please pray that God will give us the energy we need to stay healthy and complete our mission. Also, please pray for continued team unity. This years compassion team is one of the most amazing teams I’ve been on. Pray that God would keep us as one, that we would continue to hunger after Him with everything that’s within us, and that any attacks from the devil would have no effect whatsoever

Thank you all for your continued prayer support!

God bless!

Joshua Müller

Next Update from Stephen Muller re Street Invaders

Hey yall!

How are you all doing? The past week has been amazing!
My team is working in Regina with kids ministry and street evangelism type stuff.
Mykala Dotchkat is also on my team :)
Tuesday night we went to victoria park for an outreach evening. and...

WOW! God is amazing!

Within the first 2 minutes I found myself sharing Christ with 2 guys who were smoking weed.
I’m stoked to see what else God has planned for us.

So... Ya...
Miss you guys!

God bless!

Stephen Müller

Big Island Update

Jim was unable to get hold of Rachel before the tent meeting. He will try again later. If he doesn't have any luck he will try again in the morning.
God bless.

Gina

Big Island Outreach Update for Thursday

A lot of work got done today. One third to one half of the main floor is tiled. The basement is framed in completely. Rachel put insulation in the floor for soundproofing. Twenty four kids showed up for a thing called Kids Stream. The men are working on the floor tonight and the women have a ladies night out at the tent. Women only. They will be costuming themselves with whatever they can find. Rachel has taken a lot of pictures to put together with Jim's. Also, a man named Cory also took a lot of pictures and will send them to us when possible.
The work that everyone went there to do is getting done. Praise God.
Please continue to pray for everyone involved in the mission. This includes the people who are being taught how to teach the adults and the children.

Gina

Ephesians 2:10 - "For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do."

Update for Big Island Outreach for Wednesday

Jim made it home safely. He really enjoyed himself. We will continue to update the blog by talking to Rachel every night. This one should have been posted last night. I am a bit late.
The floor is nearly finished and ready for tile. Needs just a little leveling first. Got the natural gas hooked up the the furnaces. Framing in the basement is finished. Plumbers and electricians should be there Thursday. Had a kids programe in the afternoon with 32 kids showing up. Isn't that awesome. Two native women, who are in training to teach sunday school, helped with the children.
Rachel reported that they were having a severe thunderstorm and very heavy rains when she was on her way to the tent meeting. She said that she had never heard thunder that loud before.
Please pray that the weather for the rest of the week is good so that they can get as much done as possible. Unfortunately, they are a little short on supplies.
I will talk to Rachel again tonight at six thirty and post another report.
Sorry that I am late with this one.

Gina

Big Island Outreach Update for Tuesday

I just talked to Jim and he said that it rained all night. As a matter of fact, it rained so hard and so much that the big meeting tent collapsed. They spent a good part of the morning putting it back up so that they could hold tonights meeting. Once that was done they put on some more siding. Unfortunately, they ran out of siding. It had started to rain again so they had to go inside anyway. They spent the afternoon stapling the floor. They realized that the floor was not meeting flush in places so now they have to get some floor patch before they can lay the tile. The rest of the afternoon was spent cleaning the main floor spotless so that it is ready to tile. The stairway that they built yesterday, they finished today.
Jim said that Rachel is thoroughly enjoying herself. Another good thing to come out of this trip is that Rachel and Jim got to know each other. Funny how something like this lets you get to really know someone that you see all the time.
More people were just showing up at 6:30 tonight to help for the rest of the week.
Jim has had some awesome things happen to him spiritually. I know that this trip has changed him in a good way. Praise God for all that He has done.
Focusing on someone else and their needs will always bring you closer to God.
Jim will be home sometime tomorrow. Rachel will be staying until the end of the week.

Gina

Philippians 4:19 - "And my God will meet all your needs according to His glorious riches in Christ Jesus."

Big Island Outreach Update

I talked to Jim at 6:30 tonight and they got a lot of work done today. They cleaned up the upstairs of the building to get it ready to mud. They built walls for two bathrooms and a set of stairs to the basement. They also put on a lot of the siding. Supplies were needed, so they had to wait until two this afternoon for someone to get back from Bonnyville with the needed supplies otherwise they may have gotten a lot more done. Jim is enjoying himself and Rachel is getting to the type of construction work that she wanted to do. Praise God.
Please pray for their safety. There were two minor accidents today, everyone is fine but no accidents would be much better. One of the men shot a nail through his finger with a nail gun. Jim was stepping down from a sawhorse, someone had left a hammer just below it and he stepped on it. He fell and hurt his right ankle and his left wrist. Thank the Lord it was not serious and he continued to work for the rest of the day.
There is a three hour service in the tent tonight even though it is raining. Everyone will just put on their rain gear and attend.
Jim says that he will get to meet the Chief of the Indian band tomorrow. He has been a follower of Jesus for about three years.
This is all really cool to learn about another culture and their following of the Lord. Awesome.
Both Jim and Rachel felt called to go on this mission. I praise God for putting this on their hearts and making it possible for them to go.

Gina

Romans8:28 - "And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose."

Big Island Outreach

Just to let everyone know the crew going to Big Island today made it there safely. They have toured the church to determine where they will start tomorrow morning. The plan is to have the upstairs for the church ready for Friday night service.
They have a big tent set up right now and they hold service every night from 7 until 10.
Jim said that they have a lot of drywalling to do and a floor to put down.
Please pray that the weather is good and that everyone remains safe and healthy.
Praise God that another building will house people praising Him.
I will update the blog again tomorrow night.

Gina

Sex talk

Why is it that for something that God created and said was good, we as people of God most never talk about the subject of sex?? I know that those who are not Christians do so, and often crudely. Yet for us who are in Christ... we most never talk publicly about it.

I was sent this link to article by Joe Beam. he wrote a great article on the subject of porn. I hope you take the time to read it. Then.....let's talk...

-PK

__________________________________________

Internet Porn is the New Sex Ed?

by Joe Beam
President, LovePath International

If I opened Details magazine before, I don’t recall it. I don’t think I’ll open another. The September 2009 issue caught my eye with quarterback Tom Brady’s name in huge orange letters on the cover.

That was the bait. The hook set when I noticed a smaller cover title, “Generation XXX: How Internet Porn Became the New Sex Ed.”

Be aware that I’m one of those people that takes seriously Jesus’ prayer about His followers being in the world but not of the world. (John 17:13-18) I seek opportunities to interact with people outside of church contexts, and love to be on secular TV or radio answering questions from people that are not remotely religious. Just the other day I was on the top-forty station 107.5 The River in Nashville with morning hosts Woody and Jim. These guys are very bright, extremely witty, and faster than lightning, so it’s a thrill-a-minute to be on their show taking calls from their listeners about relationships while Woody and Jim jump in readily. (They’re hilarious, but they’re also quite good at helping people.) All calls during this particular show happened to come from women living with their boyfriends. The most interesting was the lady who asked if her boyfriend’s obsession with porn, and resulting decrease in sexual activity with her, should be something for her to worry about or was she overreacting. She wanted an answer before she married him.

That was still on my mind when I ran across Details.

After thumbing through more than 70 pages of ads for clothes apparently designed for men that have never eaten, I finally found the table of contents on page 72 and flipped over to the article. It was saturated with language you’ll never find on Crosswalk, so I held my nose as I slogged through it to see if the author, Eric Spitznagel, had any information I could use.

Though he focused much of his article on porn use by teens, his message directed itself to adults.

He began by sharing “fond memories” of his first exposure to porn when he was fourteen, then explained how his experience pales in comparison to what a modern 14-year-old has available today. He stated that there are more than 400 million pornographic web pages, “The awkward truth, according to one study, is that 90 percent of 8-to-16-year-olds have viewed pornography online…By the time they’re in high school, America’s porn-fed youth have already amassed an encyclopedic knowledge of smut.”

He went on, “According to a 2008 survey, one in five teenagers have sent an explicit photo of themselves to someone else or posted one online.”

It gets worse.

He writes, “In fact, ‘porn readiness’ is now a source of pride. While on tour promoting her memoir, [porn actress] Jenna Jameson was reportedly stunned that 13-year-old girls kept telling her she was their role model.”

Spitznagel wasn’t writing about how bad this is, but rather thinks of these teens as “sowing the seeds of a sexual revolution.” I believe he’s right about those seeds, but the revolution won’t lead to greater sexual satisfaction as he seems to think. Just the opposite.

So why doesn’t someone do something about this?

The article quoted former State Department staffer Mary Eberstadt’s comments in Policy Revue, “[Porn] is widely seen as cool, especially among younger people, and this coveted social status further reduces the already low incentive for making a public issue of it.”

From the time kids first plop down in front of a TV, they are exposed to sexual situations that were not allowed even to be mentioned in polite society just a few years ago. That desensitization, along with the Internet, makes moving up to porn easier than it was for previous generations. I’m not claiming we should go back to hiding information and forbidding discussion about sex, but I certainly see that the current fixation with sexuality as portrayed by porn is having a dramatic effect on marriages, beginning years before the marriage itself. As porn becomes the new Sex Ed (my work with marriages leads me to believe he is right about that), it creates a set of expectations about sex in marriage that are quite literally impossible to fulfill. This doesn’t happen just with the guys; it’s happening with the gals as well. The porn from teen years becomes the disaster in marriages years later. Not just from the memories, but because porn usage continues into marriage for millions of people.

Why is that a big problem?

As people watch porn – whether they’re 13, 33, or 63 – they start to buy into the idea that most people, especially the spouse they have or are going to have, should always be ready and willing to have sex. Not only that, from exposure to the multiplied variations of sexual behavior modeled in porn, they expect their partner to have sex in every manner possible. For example, Spitznagel writes, “According to a study by the Centers for Disease Control, the number of heterosexuals having anal sex nationwide has almost doubled since 1992.”

Add to this the fact that as spouses age, gain weight, and get wrinkles, they don’t compare physically to most of the women and men in porn. One woman said to me, “I wish I had the money to have cosmetic surgery from the top of my head to the bottom of my feet so that maybe my husband would want to look at me rather than those women on the Internet.”

From my perspective, it appears that the American expectation (maybe worldwide) is evolving into marrying a spouse that doesn’t age or change physically, thinks about sex constantly, talks, acts, and dresses seductively, can’t wait to jump into bed (or more exotic locations), makes every lovemaking session extraordinary, and does everything either of them has seen, heard of, or imagined.

Will all who have that marriage please raise their hands?

Real life isn’t like porn. Even the real life of porn actors isn’t like porn. People get tired, become preoccupied, develop broader interests, grow passionate about other dimensions of life, change after childbirth (both genders), and age a little every day. Occasionally, they don’t like their partner. Life isn’t nonstop sex. Sometimes I hear someone say that men think about sex every 30 seconds, or some such number. Ridiculous. Life is broad, complicated, and demanding. My friend, outstanding sex researcher, writer, and expert Barry McCarthy, PhD, spreads the message broad and wide that we shouldn’t expect every sexual encounter to be great. As we communicated about this article, he urged, “Emphasize the crucial importance of positive, realistic sexual expectations: The most important being that less than 50% of sexual encounters among happily married, sexually functional couples have outcomes that are mutually satisfying, and 5-15 % of sexual encounters in marriage are dissatisfying or dysfunctional.”

I’m aware that there are very frustrated husbands and very frustrated wives that are angry because they feel that their spouses are sexually inhibited, or seemingly don’t care whether sex occurs or not in their marriage. As part of completion of my PhD in sexology, I currently am designing a weekend workshop for married couples that will have one goal – helping couples develop a sexual life more fulfilling to each of them. Yet, no matter how good the weekend workshop will be (ahem, it’s already very good), it will not make every day a great day of sexual fulfillment. We may seek great sex in our marriages but we should accept that valid research indicates that about half our sexual encounters in marriage aren’t going to be wonderful. Seek outstanding sex in your marriage, but be realistic in your goals and expectations.

As a proponent of great sex in marriage, I shout from the rooftops that porn is not the answer to achieving great sex. It creates impossible expectations that lead to misery. If one of you pursues porn, you will drift emotionally from your partner into an imaginary world that will never exist in reality. If you use it together, you will eventually reach the point where your lovemaking relies on the stimulation of watching others and not at all on intimacy between the two of you.

While I pray that parents and church leaders will discuss sex, including porn, openly and frankly with teens, my purpose is to discuss it frankly with adults. According to McCarthy, about 15% of men and nearly 5% of women compulsively use porn. Barry isn’t a Christian, so his views aren’t “stained glass” church rhetoric. Instead his insights root themselves in solid research and education. Of compulsive porn users, he states matter-of-factly, “For them it is very destructive.” If the studies Spitznagel cites are accurate, it’s frightening to think how much higher those percentages will be when today’s teens become adults. How many individuals – how many marriages – will be destroyed when “porn ready” teens become husbands and wives?

However, right now let’s talk about people already married.

If you are both into porn in your marriage, please believe me when I say that my experience with thousands of couples demonstrates that you will develop problems with your intimacy, self-esteem, and fulfillment as a couple. Stop now. Save your future by rescuing your present.
If one of you is into porn and the other doesn’t know, don’t think that it isn’t hurting your marriage. Every exposure to porn immerses you into a fantasy world that erodes the real world you could have together. It will change you; maybe it has already. Think you can keep it a secret? Get real. When your spouse discovers, he or she will very likely feel betrayed, rejected, unattractive, and abandoned. Do they have the right to feel that way? Yes. You have violated the marriage covenant. (Matthew 5:28-30)

If one of you is into porn and the other does know, the spouse not into porn should take the lead in demanding the removal of porn altogether. Get rid of the Internet, just as you would remove an addict’s access to alcohol. Check up on missing time and missing money. Seek out a Celebrate Recovery group in your area (you can find locations online). Finally, do something immediately to salvage the future you can have together. If your marriage is in trouble, let us help. Our success rate over the last decade is three out of four marriages, even when porn, adultery, or other things have deeply hurt the relationship. If not us, let someone help. Don’t think a slap-on-the-wrist and a promise to do better will solve a problem that is deep-seated, especially an addiction such as porn.

I believe that a couple can overcome porn’s affects by learning a new kind of sex education. However, it is very unlikely that they will until they solve the problems in their marriage, especially unrealized expectations on the part of one, or feelings of betrayal by the other.

By the power of God, you can have a great marriage and a great sex life.

Act now. Save your future.

Jesse Bowman's Grad Video

Here is Jesse's video that was shown on Sunday... CONGRATS Jess!