Merry Christmas

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

Christmas Service in Our Home

This last Sunday we had our weekly gathering inside our home, as we were expecting a really small turnout with most of the students gone now that finals are over; however, to our surprise we had about 35 people in our living room celebrating the birth of Jesus together!

It was so sweet having a Christmas service where we sang CHRIST-mas songs together, read the Christmas story out of our children's book, discussed the humble gift it was for Jesus to come to earth, and ate dinner together as a family.  We also sung 'The 12 days of Christmas' and had a comical white elephant gift exchange too!

Ah, God is so good!  This has been one of the best quarters Holly and I can remember in our 8 years in IV...we are stunned at the goodness of God in the land of Isla Vista and are living in great expectation for all God is going to do in 2010.

An Exciting Sunday Gathering

Sunday, December 6, 2009  4pm

bikes parked in the front of our house

we ran out of seats this Sunday!

a view from the back

a view from the front :)

worship was awesome!

a view from the patio

inside the house eating after the service

people in the back still praying way after the gathering ended

Jason & Clay praying for someone in the kitchen while everyone is eating

We had one of our most amazing gatherings of the school year this last Sunday!  For one thing, we have been so blessed by having so many new students coming on Sundays…each Sunday we are excited to have a whole new group of people we’ve never met before showing up!  And this Sunday was no different!

This Sunday a group of young people from the Bethel Supernatural School of Ministry was here with us, leading the service.  It was such a fun time! 

Basically, we just want to testify of the things we are seeing God do out here, with bringing a growing group of UCSB students into family, a family where we are seeing God’s love poured out in ever increasing ways.  We are seeing God speak into people’s lives and He is using each other to give prophetic words of encouragement to one another.  We are also seeing Him heal people!  On Sunday alone, a guy’s eye got healed of pink eye (he came with it all red and left with it cleared up and white again after getting prayer from a word of knowledge), a guy’s knee got healed, a few people’s legs grew out causing back pain to be healed, and lots of people got prayed over and ministered to in really powerful ways.

We had such an amazing time together just watching God work and bless people.  After the service, people were all over the house eating and fellowshipping and praying for each other, and there were several groups of people still out in the back praying and watching God do these awesome things!  It was so fun to all be together and to have all of these people so hungry for God and watching Him touch them and speak to them!

We are praising God for this exciting season He has been taking us into in Isla Vista!  May Jesus be the banner over this city and the satisfaction of students hearts.  We're expecting great things in 2010, as most students take off this week once finals are done.

Can I pray for you...

This last week there has been a conference taking place in SB called, "Power & Love." I have never been a big conference fan for a variety of reasons, but I felt I was supposed to go and bring as many young people from IV as I could. Well, to say the least I have been blown away by the teaching and all the good things that God did in my own life, my wife's life, and all the people that have gone. The men running the conference are really big on getting the church out of the four walls and into everyday life. One way they do this is they teach us stuff and then they have us break up into groups and go into the city to have lunch, cruise around, shop, etc...but while we are out we are listening for the Spirit's direction and putting the love on people (sounds like the ministry of Jesus). I have only been able to go out once this week, though the time I went out, Todd White, who was one of speakers, asked me if he could go out with the crew I was with. We had such a blast loving people and seeing people getting healed of various things! Right from the beginning there was this gal sitting on a bench right in front of Borders Bookstore on State St. She had her left hand all wrapped up, so I walked up to her, introduced myself, and asked her what was wrong with her hand. She began to explain to me how the ligament in her finger was messed up and how she could not touch her thumb to the rest of her fingers. So I asked if I could pray for her and she said sure. So I put out my hand with my palm facing up to have her rest her hand on mine and then I put my other hand on top of it and asked God in the name of Jesus to heal her hand.

It was a short prayer, filled of faith, and God's love for her. She said 'Thanks for praying for me.' I knew when she said that she was expecting me to say have a good day and move on, but I said 'You should try to move your finger, because it may be healed.' So she thought about it and then to her great surprise, wide-eyed, was able to move her thumb to touch the rest of her fingers. I then asked her on a scale of 100, how much better was it? She said 90. So I said 'Well let's keep praying,' and without any hesitation she stretched her hand back out and this time as I was praying she said her hand was getting warm (which is a good sign that God is touching it). Once we were done praying she was completely healed, so thankful, and so receptive to the love of God. I later saw her using her healed hand to eat her lunch with a big smile on her face.

Thank You Jesus for expressing Your love in such a tangible way! "..they will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover." (Mark 16:18)

Thankfulness

This last weekend we enjoyed a wonderful time in Vista with my parents, sisters, brother-in-laws, and many kids! Not to mention, 44 people total for our Thanksgiving dinner! As I (Jason) get older I am appreciating more and more the relationships that God has given me with my family…my heart is full of thankfulness for who each of them are to me and how the Lord is working in their lives.

Relationships are in end in life, never a means.