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Pastor Owen asks, “What Captivates You?”

Recorded LIVE at HAVEN, Friday, April 17, 2009.

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It’s Coming!

It’s coming and im so excited to see what God will do, I leave March 17th to go to Ecuador, the middle of the world, for a month!!!!!!!!!!! How insane is that, God totally supprised me! I honestly did not think it would happen, but as I prayed, God continued to lay on my heart to go. When God wants you to go, He DEFINITLY makes a way, and provides. Please keep me in your prayers, as I know that this is a work of His Spirit and I never want to get in the way of what He is doing. . . may God Bless you richly as I prepare to go start the adventures in the middle of the world. . .

Psalm 85:13 (NKJV)
“Rightousness will go before Him, And shall make His footsteps our pathway”

(taken from Sarah’s blog at http://sarahalysinecuador.blogspot.com/)

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Charlie Hall - New Year

Delirious? - Inside Outside

Penn talks about sharing your faith:

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“You’ve got a whole lot of living coming to you.”

Our day at the Children’s Emergency Hostel can be summed up by the answer of one 11 year old boy, named Kendell.

You see, the Children;s Emergency Hostel is an orphanage for children who are still in elementary school. The tough thing for all these kids is #1 there are a lot of them so they can’t really go places and #2 because there is so many of them they never really get any one-on-one attention or affection.

So this hot and humid Monday in the Bahamas, we would pick up these children and take them to a beach called Goodman’s Bay. When we got to the orphanage we packed the bus with as many children as possible. The goal was to spend the entire day with two to three children, getting to know them and just simply lavishing them with God’s love.

Well, back to the story. We had been playing with the children in the beach but now it was time for lunch and let me tell you, you don’t know what hunger is until you go with us on one of these trips. Before lunch we gathered all the children onto this kind of stone ledge where they could sit. Carol and Rebecca did some kids songs with them that they totally got into and then I shared a bit with them on Jeremiah 29:11.”For I know the plans I have for you,’ declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, to give you a future and a hope.”

Well, this is where Kendell(picture with Tim, up to the left and all the way to right) comes in. I asked the group what the word “FUTURE” means. I called on Kendell and his answer was classic and quite possibly the best definition of future I’ve ever heard. He said, “You’ve got a whole lot of living coming to you.” His statement struck me as I stood there on that beach. I thought yeah, now that you’re a christian you can be sure that, ‘you’ve got a whole lot of living coming to you.’

So, we played football on the beach. We threw a couple of kids in the air in the water and it turned into a line of kids where I wasn’t sure if I would ever be able to lift my arms again. One little girl, probably about 9 years old, must have come over to Brad and I about 30 times. We’d have them curl up like a cannonball and we would shoot them over the oceans surface like the cannonballs that came from the pirate’s ships that once filled the Bahamian Islands.

To you, this may seem insignificant but that we were spending time with them as a father or mother would spend time with their children was as they say it, “just what the doctor ordered.” These little children on the ride home were falling asleep with our arms around them feeling like they may not have felt loved for possibly their entire lives (picture bottem left).

What a place to spend your life? Talk about meaning and purpose. These children need people like you in their lives.

Well, when we got back to their orphanage we decided to stay there for a little while. When I initially arrived there was one young man that I was looking for. He was a 13 year old Bahamian boy named Sydney. Last year I spent the whole day with him but unfortunately he was punished when we got there so he didn’t get to go to the beach with us.

I spent some time with him when we got there. He looked good. He was having some trouble in school but oh how I longed to see him know the Lord and be put in an environment where he could grow in a relationship with God.

We would soon have to leave…but I don’t want to leave out Nate “Indian Jones” Malone. There was this sky scraping palm tree with humungous coconuts. You know, the kind you see and say oh, only if I had a fire truck and could climb up its ladder then I could get those coconuts down. Well, next time you’ll say only if I had a fire truck or a Nate Malone around.

Let me tell you, he climbed all the way to the top of the tree next to the palm and began to whack the coconuts on the Palm Tree like you wouldn’t believe. It was amazing. He must have hit some of those coconuts 50 times each. But it was all worth it when one of those coconuts would drop out of the sky and the kids would run for it with utter excitement.

Sydney got a hold of one and he made sure I ate as much of it as I wanted. I just remember his extra large smile. What a special young man.

As much as none of us wanted to go, it was time and regretfully we loaded into the bus on our way back to the ALC. We’ll never forget that day and we’ll never forget those children.

On a seperate note, it is so important that we don’t get lost in the American Dream. We, must live for more than a family, two cars, a house, and a job. Jesus!!! He must be our Lord and leader of our lives and we must be willing and then Go when the needs arises.

There is too many without for us to occupy all our time and energy on the attainment of “stuff.”

Can I tell you that when you get it, you’ll find like everything else you’ve trusted in, it’s not what it seems.

Spend your life on something that matters. If its spending your life in the Bahamas and giving your life in service to the Lord by being with these children, then go.

God bless.

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So, the previous day was exhausting and that’s why church and our snorkeling excursion were exactly what we needed.

Church started at 9:30 and everyone needed to bring their bathing suits with them because we were going straight to the boat for snorkeling from church.

Traveling in the Bahamas is much different then here in the states. First off, they drive on the opposite side of the road then us. Also, it’s not a large country, much smaller than just the state of NY we live in. And the other thing is, just like we have to watch out for hitting a deer here in NY. In the Bahamas they have potcakes. I’m not sure if I’ve told you about them already but man are they everywhere. You’re probably like what the heck is a pot cake? Well, a pot cake is a dog and they’re everywhere. They call them pot cakes because when the women would cook rice in the huge bowls and the bottem would get burnt they would go out back and dump out the pot cake. Well these stray dogs all over the island would come and chow down hence the name pot cake.

So anyhow, church was great. The worship was sweet. There was actually a white Bahamian man leading the worship team and it was crazy. You could clearly see he was white but when he spoke he had the thickest Bahamian “hey mon” accent.

The message was great also and it connected right in with what our devotions had been on that week. It’s crazy how God orchestrates things. He was definitley in control our entire trip.

After church we headed over to Stewart’s Cove, the name of the place where’d we be going snorkeling. Everyone signed there lives away and you’ll find out in a minute why. Soon after, we boarded the boat to leave. We were given our mask, snorkel and flippers but I was a bit shocked everyone didn’t get some sort of weapon as we would be jumoing in the water in the the middle of the ocean.

Our first stop was incredible. There were fish everywhere and the water was beautifully amazing. Neko, Reshawn and I swan off together and we actually saw a shark swimming in the open waters. It was a bit intimidating to say the least. The weird thing that still kind of freaks me out when I think about it, is that we were looking at the shark and I wanted everyone else to see it too, so I picked my head up out of the water and started yelling for the rest of the team so they could come… I didn’t want them to miss it. Well, when I put my head back in the ocean the shark was gone. I was looking very carefully all around for it when suddenly from right under neath me I felt the current of the water shift and like a powerful train the shark breezed right below me. I thought I was going to lose it.

Neko and Reshawn seemed to love every minute of it.

At our second stop Nathaniel and I were swimming around and we saw a huge sting ray. Nathaniel followed it around and we were just in awe of how this animal glided through the ocean. It was absolutely spectacular.

While we were on the boat from on stop to the next Brad started to talk to one of the Bahamina guys on board. Eventually he sent the guy over to me. His name was Deano. When he first cam over he thought Brad had said we were on a fishing trip but I explained that we were on a mission trip and that this was kind of like our day off. IHe asked me what type of stuff we were doing there and I told him aobut the outreach at the park, and the trip to the orphanage and the ministry in the AIDS camp.

Then, the weirdest thing happened. He said to me, “so, what are you guys doing next?” I said, after this we’re going to a neighborhood called Adalaid. He looked at me with a quizical look on his face and responded, “oh wow, that’s where I live.” There was a strange pause and then he had to go becasue we had gotten to our next stop.

Now this was the stop of all stops. The dive of all dives. When the captain shut the engine off and we looked over the side of the boat there were sharks circling the boat. When I say shark I am not sure what image pops into your head but I know what I see in my mind. It was the huge shark that was along side of us there. I had never seen a shark that close outside of an aquarium. It was unthinkable that anyone in their right mind would actually get in the water with these man eating beasts. But, as the thought was passing through my mind, I saw Nate Malone being the first person to slip in amongst the man eaters. Eventually, I saw as everyone on the team, even Eileen “I wish the sharks were trying to eat me” Hughes was in the water with the sharks. That’s when I realized it was my turn. Wow!!! What an experience.

After we all came back to our senses and climbed into the boat, we were back to shore before we knew it. What a day… I was absolutely exhausted.

We got back on the bus with the expectation to go to Adalaide, a small village on the out skirts of the Bahamas.

When we arrived, it seemed like there was no one any where to be found. We drove through and I was ready to go, but our camp guide, Jen suggested we drive down to there little beach front and see it. We pulled onto this one lane road that led down a long way to the beach. Everyone got off and started to stroll toward the beach when I realized that a small white pick up truck was trying to back down the road but our bus was in the way. I could tell that Jen was trying to back out but the road was so narrow. Narrow road, hmm I think there’s an illustration there. As I was leading her back out on the narrow road, a man walked up to me who was selling a carribean fruit called kanips(spelling is probably wrong).

He and I walked and talked all the way down to the beach. I don’t remember how it started, but before I knew it we were talking about the things of God and I saw Rebecca and Carol praying. I knew they were praying for this man and the salvation that God was planning for him and his household.

I shared with him that Jesus became sin for us and that He gave us His righteousness if only we would believe. At the end of our time together, and Carol and Rebecca praying, this man, Fado, asked what he needed to do to receive Jesus. It was absolutely a plan that God had ordained before I woke up that morning (more like before I was born).

While we were leading Fado to the Lord, the rest of the team met up with an unlikely person. Deano, our shark guide from our snorkeling expedition, had come to the beach after he got off of work and hooked up with the rest of the team. Nate Malone and the team were sharing with him about the love of God displayed through Jesus.

How incredible is it to be used by the Lord?

Just ask everyone who went to the Bahamas.

More to come soon.

God bless

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So, where did I leave off…

Yes, yes, yes. We got a good nights rest the night of Junkanoo(we got a good nights rest every night in the Bahamas because we were so tired and it was so incredible hot…in a good way).

The day ahead of us would be a hard one. We had decided to move the time of the Jump Off at Pinewood Gardens Park from a start time of 11 am to a start time of 4 pm. You see, the day before, we were passing out fliers when a christian Bahamian woman told me that the only people crazy enough to go outside at 11 am in the Bahamas were us and that we should move the outreach to later in the day when it wasn’t so hot. (Lets put it this way, I’m sweating just thinking about how hot it was). 

So, the first thing we had to do was go to the park, put up posters with the new time on them, and pass out updated fliers.

When I got back to pick up the team they told me that at least 50 children had already showed up for the event @ 11 and there was one 15 year old guy who told me that he was going to wait there for us until 4. I laughed and said, ‘see you later then.’

We got back to the ALC, prepared all the supplies, sports equptment and food for the outreach, had lunch, a moment to rest and then off to the park once agian.

Now, last year we had between 50-75 young people show up and it was amazing.

Well, when we arrived at the park this year kids were already waiting. Nate and a young girl walked around picking up glass because there was trash and broken beer bottles all over the park. Edy and Eileen prepared their face painting booth. Nate, Time, Carol and I began to set up the kids olympics, and Owen set up the grill for all the hamburgers and hot dogs.

Before 4 o’clock even came there was so many young people waiting that we decided to start. Now remeber there was only a total of 11 of us on the team, so how many people could we really run an event for? Hmm. I guess we’d soon find out.

I’m not sure exactly what happened next because so many people were there, but at one point in the midst of a footall game I was playing, I stopped and looked around and saw the Children’s Olympics going on, Nate playing football with at least 15 people, Edy and Eileen painting kids faces and so much happening and I just stopped for a moment and praised God for how He was using us.

On a side note, there’s nothing like being a tool in God’s hands when He’s using you to help others.

Well, the food was ready, but I knew that before we did the food we should have a time for all that were there to hear the good news of Jesus Christ. I shared with them the infamous t-shirt analogy, decribing how Jesus switched shirts with us. We explained to them how Jesus wants to take their dirty shirt and give them His perfectly clean shirt. It’s always interesting to see the spiritual light go on in people hearts when they get that Jesus Christ already paid for their sin and that He wants to give them His perfection.

Now, it was time for food. We tried to keep order during this time but it was like trying to plug a hole in a dam with only your finger. It would be like the eleven of us trying to get a stampede of 500 bulls to stop dead in their tracks. We didn’t have nearly enough hamburgers and hot dogs so we cut them in smaller pieces and thy we gone it seemed before we could blink our eyes. Also, school supplies and prizes and candy were given out to all the kids.

What a blast we had? How cool it was to hang out with all of those kids. I can still see many of their faces in my minds eye. Oh Lord, do something fantastic in their lives.

Neko, was with us all day, watching us serve in his coomunity, and this was the beginning of him learning to serve the Lord by serving others also. Reshawn came to the event and brought some friends and ended up leaving with us and staying with us for the rest of the week.

Neko and Reshawn were such a blessing the whole trip. Day by day they became more and more part of the team.

The Jump Off in Pinewood Gardens park was a testimony of what God + a group of surrendered christinas can do. The odds were against us 250-11 but truly God + you always equals the majority and the victory.

Oh yeah, I almost forget to tell you that yes, even in the Bahamas, when the Jump Off takes place it always rains, but no worry, God was there and He was glorified.

Coming up next:

Trip to Orphanage

Salvation of Fado, Trip to AIDS camp, Salvation of airport security guard & more.

God bless and I hope all of you can come with us next year. Hike!!!

Pastor Billy

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As promised, here’s the clip that we’ve all fallen in love with and have been anxiously awaiting it’s internet debut. after watching a grueling, three hour scrabble match, Nate decides to share his feelings on words like wirpy, zu, and ay….so, without further ado…

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So, I’m back in good ole’ NY now but I’m going to reminiss with you about our Bahamas 2008 trip.

I left off with Marcus, that was cool wasn’t it. I hope you saw the God story in it. I’d say that the verse that best describes our week would be:

Ephesians 2:10 “For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.”

So, Thursday night I was trying to get a hold of Neko or Reshawn with the phone numbers they gave us last year. If you’re wondering, Neko and Reshawn are two Bahamian teenagers we were blessed to lead to the Lord last year at the Pinewood Gardens outreach. They ended up coming to church with us last year and then spent the remainder of the week with us. On their last day with us we went to a place called Cabbage Beach (I consider it to be the most spectacularly beautiful place in the world by the way) and before we left we explained what Baptism is and then we baptized them. The whole team circled up in the water and locked arms to brace from the waves and their Neko and Reshawn pledged to serve God with their lives.

So, now back to this year, I try to call and reach Neko first. Apparantly I got his grand father on the phone and he told me Neko had moved and then proceeded to give me about 15 phone numbers where he could possible be reached. Uhh! I thought to myself, I’m never going to reach him.

I switched gears then, and tried Reshawn instead. I guess his broter or something picked up and they gave the phone to Reshawn. It was good to here him. I told him we were in town and asked if he’d want to come and spend the week with us again. He was real excited and said he’d try to reach Neko too and tell him.

Well, I decided I’d try one of those numbers for Neko and on the first number I left a voicemail with my number at the camp and that we were in town and that I’d love for him to come. A few hours went by and I was talking with the camp director Michelo when this car drove up into the camp. He thought it was someone who was lost and I just followed his lead. When we got to the car a young man got out of the car. I didn’t recognize him at first and then realized, it was Neko! I couldn’t believe it. We kind of hugged and stuff and then I said to him, “What are you doing here?” He replied, “I’ve come to stay with you all.”

I was all smiles. How cool is God I thought to myself. Neko told me about the scholarship he was offered to run track for a college in Texas and how he would also be playing football for the college. What you don’t know is that, me, Bobby and Nick Cassasse taught him how to play football the year before.

Well, a few hours after he arrived we left for Paradise Island. It’s almost indiscribable. You go from a place that is dirt poor to a resort called “Atlantis” that is ranked amongst the most glamorous and spectacular results in the world. It’s a perfect picture that illustrates how we as Americans live versus how the rest of the world lives. While we’re partying other people are basically starving ad living in absolute poverty. They don’t call it a third world country for no reason.

The night was amazing anyhow. We saw this amazing aquarium known as The Dig and then rushed off to a parade known as “Junkanoo.” To the Bahamian, this parade means a lot because this is how they celebrated when they learned they had been freed from the British. Originally, when they found out they were free, they picked up “junk” off the street, put it on themselves and started dancing and singing and making music. That’s why they call it JUNKANOO (Junk-on-you).  Neko told us all about the hard work that goes into being a part of Junkanoo and how he had done it a few years earlier. We had to get to bed because we knew the next day was the Pinewood Gardens outreach. It would be the hardest day of our whole trip, but we really didn’t know how hard it would really be. We planned but our plan was a tiny hill in comparison to the Mountainous plan God had for us that next day…way short.

 Be blessed. In the Lord. He loves us all. The Bahamians. The Americans. The Africans. The Europeans. The Australians. The South Americans. He loves you more than you know my friend (Romans 8:38-39).

Stay tuned to the blog as I’ll tell you all about the rest of the trip later.

 Pastor Billy

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Wow, truly the trip has been better than I expected.

When we finally arrived here on Wednesday morning we had already endured an entire night up together at Miami International Airport (Nate was the only one who could sleep.) We experienced so much in the airport from Tim really breaking up a fight(this is true and has nothing to due with my previous post).

We saw Rebecca turn into an airport worker directing people to their proper terminal and tidying up the line for the American Airlines front desk. Oh yeah, don’t forget about the Buddhist Monks, you’ll have to ask Rebecca about that. But, we did eventually make it to the Bahamas.

 When we got here there were two pleasant surprises for us. 1.) The water and electricity in the camp had been cut off earlier that day by our friend Tom. So, as you can imagine we were all ready to take showers but couldn’t. 2.) It was our day of work at the ALC camp grounds and we were going to work in the baking hot sun, literally it seemed like you could fry an egg on the hood of the bus.

We made it through day one, finally got some rest, and arose early the next morning ready to do ministry. Our camp director for the week, Jen Repachi, I hope I’m not messing up her name was awesome. She may have been tiny but boy could she drive that bus. Well, that first day there were lots of memorys; the kids playing soccer, the girls getting their faces painted but what I remember the most was the man Marcus. He was a 31 year old Bahamian man who grew up in this rough neiborhood we were ministering in. He spent some time with us and Tim was privelaged to be used by God to lead Marcus into a relationship with Jesus Christ. Before we left Tim gave him his bible and Marcus was utterly floored.

Later on we saw where he lived and litterly he had no windows and no door on his apt. It was crazy. Well, to make a long story short Marcus ended coming home with us that morning and spending the rest of the day with us. We went to Pirates steps together and then to Jaws Beach (there’s more about Jaws Beach in my previous post).

While at the beach, Marcus informed me that his grandfther had a heart attack. What’s crazy is just the previous day, the day before he came into a real relationship with God, his grandfather had said to him that his health was failing and that he wanted him, Marcus, to get things in his life right. The next day was the day he received the Lord Jesus Christ and that was the day his grand daddy(as they say it in the Bahamas) had the heart attack. Wow, I couldn’t believe how God had planned it all out.

Well, that’s it for now. I’m writing inside the bus and its just starting to get dark. You may be wondering, why are you writing in the bus at night? The mosquitos are like swarms of locust they consume everything in their path, even humans. If you dont believe me just ask Alyssa Hughes.

God bless and we’ll see you soon. Pray for us because we’re going to the AIDS camp tomorrow and it is also Neko and Reshawns last day with us, but I’ll explain that story later.

Love,

Pastor Billy