Yeehaw! Hallelujah! Praise the Lord! Amen!<\/p>\n
Yes, I know I\u2019m geographically Down Under, but, wow, am I flying high right now! It\u2019s the Monday after the final weekend of the ARISE Australia program<\/a>, and I\u2019m sitting back to soak it all in, and, hopefully, to write down something about it.<\/p>\n Where to start? My mind is spinning with joyful thoughts. Here are some of the mountain tops.<\/p>\n First, and most obviously, my family and I moved to Kingscliff, Australia on March 4th, just over two months ago. We\u2019re here to help run the ARISE Australia program and to pastor the Kingscliff Seventh-day Adventist Church. This represents a fairly significant change of scenery for my family and me, as I\u2019ll be traveling much less than I have been the last several years. I\u2019ll still be traveling some, especially to events like the Light Bearers Convocation<\/a> and ARISE<\/a>, but on the whole we\u2019ll be putting our roots down for the next several years while our little boys turn into, gasp, teenagers. (Seriously, you blink and your kids are teenagers!)<\/p>\n Honestly, I\u2019m so excited to be a full-time pastor again that I can barely contain myself. I\u2019m all about depth, and not just breadth, for the next several years. Discipleship is my watchword right now, and I just can\u2019t stop thinking about it. The church is ready (and a little scared). I\u2019m ready (and little scared). Let\u2019s go with God!<\/p>\n Twelve decisions for Jesus on the graduation day of the twelfth class from ARISE\u2019s twelfth year!<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Second, we landed right in the middle of the second ever ARISE Australia program, and what a class it was! Energetic, enthusiastic, engaged, and even a little crazy\u2014that pretty much sums up the 2014 class. I basically landed after 36 hours of travel and walked straight into the classroom to teach on the covenants. I then taught for three weeks straight, with barely time to catch my breath. Ty and Jeffrey had already been here, and the class was clearly loving it and soaking it all in. James arrived about a month later to put the final stamp on things, and send the students out in the name of Jesus.<\/p>\n As part of the ARISE program, we always conduct full evangelistic presentations of Christ-centered messages to the public. This year meetings were presented by our outreach coordinator, Ashley Smith. It was his fourth meeting ever, and he did a fantastic job. Just a young man of 23 years, Ashley is without a doubt a committed and Spirit-filled preacher. And here\u2019s where things get very cool.<\/p>\n Twelve people made decisions to follow Jesus into the waters of baptism (one by profession of faith) as a result of these meetings and the ARISE program. (Actually, there were many more decisions, but twelve were ready by the ARISE Graduation, Sabbath, May 10.) And guess how many years ago ARISE was founded? Twelve! From 2003 (back in Michigan) to 2014. You can use your fingers to count if you need to: that\u2019s twelve years. But there\u2019s more, guess how many classes had graduated before this one? Eleven. That makes the 2014 ARISE Australia class the twelfth ever ARISE class!<\/p>\n Twelve decisions for Jesus on the graduation day of the twelfth class from ARISE\u2019s twelfth year!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Yeehaw! Hallelujah! Praise the Lord! Amen! Yes, I know I\u2019m geographically Down Under, but, wow, am I flying high right now! 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