3-Day Conference @ Our Home

We had the most amazing weekend hosting a 3-day conference at our home! The testimonies and stories of all the good things that happened are endless...the conference began Friday evening and ended after midnight on Sunday w/people slowly trickily out of our home.

To sum up the weekend it's probably easiest by saying it in one word: love

Knowing the love of God and experiencing it with one another. Saturday night we were able to take the majority of those who were attending the conference out to Jesus Burgers - it was one of the best nights of the year as we saw several people receive Christ and over 20 people being physically healed of different things on Del Playa!

Jesus is so so good, life is fun when we do it with Him! This song sums up our weekend and everyone who was apart of it:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ls68i1Y4Quw&feature=related

Thank you Jesus!

The loss of Samuel's 1st tooth

My boy lost his first tooth this last week! He was so stoked to tell me the exciting news when I got home and show everyone that has been visiting us. When he was asked about the tooth fairy by a few of our friends he politely told them that the tooth fairy does not exist...ha, ha - true statement; however, dad is taking him out to yogurt tomorrow to celebrate the lost of his 1st tooth!

Easter Sunrise Service...He has risen!

This past Sunday was our 8th annual sunrise service as a church family...it's one of my favorite days of the year as we get to celebrate the resurrection of Christ, eat breakfast together at our home afterward, and enjoy special blessings like baptizing a beautiful sister in Christ this year.

These last few years I have teased the fellowship by telling them that if Jesus rose from dead, they can rise from their bed! C'mon, Jesus calls Himself the resurrection & the life - He has risen and given life to all who believe in Him.

The picture of me holding the lamb was a demonstration I was giving of Jesus being the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world...Easter is a day to help the world remember the resurrection of Jesus, and I am thankful that every day is a celebration of this!

A Family Trip To Nor Cal

16 of us from the IVC family went up to Redding, California this last week for the UCSB Spring Break...there is a church located in Redding that is experiencing the love and power of God in a radical way. It was such an honor to be involved with this church for a week and meet different students that are attending The Bethel School of Supernatural Ministry. The majority of our trip was just being together as a family and going to different meetings, attending some classes, and immersing ourselves in their culture. As you can see from these pictures we had an incredible time!

And without me writing a small story book, we had a crazy experience at in In & Out restaurant in Fresno on the way back to IV...healings broke out & we prayed over several people between eating our food - it was gnarly! The one picture you see is of this gal whose arm was in a sling because she had messed up her rotator cuff and could not use her arm. After two of the gals on our trip prayed for her, God completely healed it right in the middle of the restaurant...c'mon, amazing! She ended up taking off her sling and moving her arm around, and she was tripping out to say the least...God is good, always!

We Love Our Kids

Here are a few pictures taken by our friend Rob Wang this last weekend...we're so thankful for our children, each have brought tons of joy to our life!

"Behold, children are a heritage from the LORD, the fruit of the womb is a reward" (Psalm 127:3)

Family Time

These are a few pictures from one of our Sunday gatherings taken by our friend/adopted college daughter Krissy...Holly and I are beyond blessed & grateful to be apart of a church that loves the Lord and one another so much! God is doing great things in IV!

Take it to the streets....

"Then the master told his servant, 'Go out to the roads and country lanes and make them come in, so that my house will be full.'" - Jesus

It's interesting how comfortable we as believers can get in our lifestyle and forget that Christ asked us to go to the places where the broken, hurting, and downtrodden are living and invite them into relationship with Him.

Normally on Saturday we host Jesus Burgers in the front lawn from about 11pm until 2am (& some people stay out even later on certain nights). However, this last Saturday we decided to go to the streets instead of do the Burgers...so about 25 of us went out and realized afterward that God had gone before us.

The group I was with was able to give words of knowledge to several people, pray over a few people, and then get into two really long conversations about Jesus on Del Playa, the infamous party street that everyone walks on going from party to party on Friday and Saturday nights.

One conversation we got into was absolutely amazing, as the guy began to open up his life to us and his honest need for Jesus and people like us in his life. We talked to him for about 45 minutes and he wanted my number. I gave him my number in a Gideon Bible and handed him it. He was so thrilled to receive the Word and my number, but literally right when he was rejoicing in his Bible and the conversation with us, the police pulled him to the side because he had a beer in his back pocket and was under age. They ended up taking him away and telling us he had several warrants out for his arrest. We're praying for our new friend, but the timing of us meeting him was a sheer act of God.

Our friend Derika blogged about her night too: http://derikabrendsel.blogspot.com/2010/03/praying-in-streets.html

Learning to skateboard

The kids thought it would be cool to learn to ride the skateboard...Samuel pushed, while Hope and baby J tried to keep their balance. These kids are always up to something, causing momma and me to laugh all the time.

For instances, I came across Hope the other day in our backyard hovering over a bush with her pants down. In a state of shock of what I was looking at I asked her what she was doing. Only to have her respond, "Samuel just peed in this bush I want to do the same daddy."

Daddy Time

I love Tuesdays, as I attempt to make it my day of rest. This is not always possible with the lives we live, but it is something I really need to do as often as I can on this day. Today I had one-on-one time with Samuel & then with Hope. For those of you who don't know, Holly feeds the kids a lot of healthy food, which is why dad needs to keep them somewhat exposed to some of the fine delicacies of life like frozen yogurt.

Watching the kids eat their yogurt with so much joy today always serves as a subtle reminder to me of the Father heart of God who delights in seeing His children enjoy life...kids have such a way of expressing satisfaction, excitement, and thankfulness in its purest form.

Come Love the World

This last Friday 4 of us traveled south to Ventura for an event called Come Love the World. The event brought together different mission organizations to share what is going on with their ministry.

They asked IVC to come and share about the Jesus Burgers, and invite others to come join us on Saturday nights. I think we were one of the only local ministries, as many of the other organizations were doing work overseas or in other cities. It was a great night as I shared for about 3 minutes to the entire group concerning what we are doing in IV, most of that time being used to talk about the Jesus Burgers.

Check out this slide show: http://annajoyphoto.myshowit.com/comelovetheworld

Here are my favorite pictures #11,60,63,70,82.

"God so loved the world that He sent His only begotten Son..."

The Gospel of Grace

The last two Sundays God has had me preaching a message of grace to the fellowship...the gospel that says that we can do nothing to earn forgiveness, righteousness, love, acceptance, or salvation besides faith alone in Jesus. The gospel of grace is amazing when we really get it because it frees us from living by laws, rules, standards, and opens us up to a love relationship with God. It's interesting how we tell people before they come to Jesus that they can do absolutely nothing to earn salvation besides trusting in Jesus, yet once they do that, and come into the church, we often start giving them a list of things they need to do now. The Christian life was meant to be lived by grace alone, not rules and laws. And only Jesus can live like Jesus, our role is to allow His life to be lived through our life by abiding/resting in Him. This kind of life naturally produces fruit as my orange trees naturally produces their fruit...I have yet to see my orange trees stress out trying to be an orange tree and produce fruit, yet I have often seen in my own life and others Christians this being the case.

There is a reason we are called human-beings, not human-doings. When we learn to be with Him and allow for Him to live His life through our life than doing/fruit bearing is not something we even try to do, rather it's who we are.

One of the great Bible expositors of our time, Martyn Lloyd Jones, once wrote this about the gospel of grace:

The true preaching of the gospel of salvation by grace alone always leads to the possibility of this charge being brought against it. There is no better test as to whether a man is really preaching the New Testament gospel of salvation than this, that some people might misunderstand it and misinterpret it to mean that it really amounts to this, that because you are saved by grace alone it does not matter at all what you do; you can go on sinning as much as you like because it will redound all the more to the glory of grace. If my preaching and presentation of the gospel of salvation does not expose it to that misunderstanding, then it is not the gospel.

Park Time

This last Saturday we went to a park in Santa Barbara...the kids had a blast, as they got to play and spend time with my family that was in town this last weekend.

Jeremiah is growing fast, faster than we want sometimes. He is becoming his own little man and we have officially classified him as the strong-willed child. Maybe on one of these post Holly can write up a few stories, they never cease to amaze me. However, he is an awesome kid, always up for an adventure!

Baptisms in Isla Vista

This last Sunday we baptized 3 young men in the Pacific Ocean right after the Sunday gathering...it was such a joyful celebration of the work of Jesus in taking our old life on the cross and giving us new life in His resurrection!

"We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life." (Rom 6:4)

Testimonies of New Life in Jesus

I love watching this video as it reminds me of what Jesus is doing in Isla Vista, not to mention I love hearing & seeing Jesus change lives in a radical ways as He did with my life in 2001.

This video was done by the campus ministry Real Life, also known as Campus Crusade for Christ. Both our home and the Del Playa ministry house was used in this video.

http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=539845240664&ref=mf

"But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us." (Romans 5:8)

365 Faces 365 Days

This super sweet gal named Courtney visited the church Sunday for a class assignment at UCSB and she documented her experience on a website she created this year:

http://365faces365days.com/c/2010/face-39-jason-the-joyful-gift-of-giving/

Interview on live TV about IV, IVC, family, & life

In mid-December I was asked to do a live interview on TV for a show called Fishers of Men.

In was an honor and privilege to be able to share about some of the things that God is doing in Isla Vista and His church.

http://blip.tv/file/3055119

A Special Visit from Friends

Last August, we went to Family Camp and God brought into our lives a very special blessing in the cabin next door to ours...a family with four little girls almost the same ages as our kids, with more similarities to us than we have even realized so far!  When we said goodbye to them after a sweet two days of wonderful bonding, we invited them to come visit us in Santa Barbara, and they said in a very genuine way that they would really try to do so.  This last weekend, that became a reality!

Cory & Becky Jo, and their four daughters Cora Lee (5 1/2), Adri Ann (4 1/2), Katie Jo (3), & Anna Mae (11 mo.) arrived on Friday afternoon and we took them on a tour of Isla Vista, showed them the DP  Houses, and then went on an adventure on the beach.  It was so beautiful out and we had so much fun.

After a fun dinner together, we got all 7 of the kids ready for bed, and Jason read the older ones the Bible, and they all had a fun slumber party in the kids' room together while we got to have such an encouraging time fellowshipping with Cory and Becky Jo.

The next day was Samuel's birthday, and after a blueberry pancake breakfast & opening a few presents, we set off for a hike at Ellwood, and even got to enjoy seeing some of the Monarch butterflies.  Samuel LOVED having the girls here and has become very good friends with them, especially Cora Lee.  He said several times over the two days how she was his best friend!

Later that afternoon we enjoyed Samuel's raw blueberry "cheesecake" (thanks Lindsay!) and everyone loved it.  We then ate dinner together again, got the kids ready for bed and had to say bye as they headed back home to the Palm Springs area.  

We were so thankful for the blessing of that time together.  All of the kids loved it so much and we are just so thankful that God has given us friends that are in such a similar place in life as us, are so like-minded and love the Lord so much.