Outreach

Adobe Flash Player not installed or older than 9.0.115!

As our Kona campus prepares to welcome hundreds of new students this week, we are thrilled to see the first updates from our teams that just hit the road.  Reaching out to 27 nations, our missions teams are sharing the love and truth that they've experienced during the lecture phase here in Kona. 

Find out about our 5 1/2 month DTS (Discipleship Training Schools) programs here.  Schools run year round with the next edition beginning in September.

Hope to have you with us as we reach out to the nations!

Island Breeze -- Takes a Jailhouse on a Journey to the Pacific Islands
by Charlene Malnor

Island Breeze brought a taste of the islands to women jailed at a detention center in the state of Kentucky on April 28, 2010. There are over 300 male inmates and about 50 female inmates living in that facility.

The women were dressed in striped and solid colored jail suits, which indicates the type of crimes they committed. They lined up to enter a small box-shaped room with high ceilings and no windows. Correction officers were also positioned at each corner of the room.

First of all, I'm a skeptic. I was never the type to easily buy in to the idea of God using me to speak to His people, so when our leaders explained the concept of community outreach to us, I was immediately uneasy. Growing up, I have always had a negative view on things like this because of my own insecurities and doubts. And, there's no denying that talking with people you've never met can easily lead to some painfully awkward situations.

In an attempt to get past these walls in my Christian walk, I began praying that God would reveal Himself to me in new and miraculous ways. I asked persistently for Him to show me something undeniable, something amazing. After all, it says in the scriptures that those who seek Him wholeheartedly will find Him… It's just a matter of when.

About an hour before our group left campus for our local community outreach I was already unsure about whether or not I even wanted to go. In an act of obedience, I went to the meeting trying to keep and open mind about the whole experience. During the introduction, God began to stir something in my heart. Why was I doubting Him? Why was I so negative about sharing the Gospel with strangers? Isn't that exactly what Jesus and His disciples did? By the end of the meeting, we were ready to head downtown and I felt something completely different inside of me. I prayed earnestly, "God use me tonight! Reveal Yourself in ways I have yet to see. I want to see You move, Father!" I teamed up with my friends, Emily and Kelsey, and we hit the streets.

Roses and Red Lights by Crystal Mattila

How do I share God’s heart to women trapped in a lifestyle of sin that many of them are in, not even by their own choice? Can I really make a difference in the short time that we are in Amsterdam? How will they know the sincerity that is behind this rose? Will they know that I’m not just doing this because I feel “sorry” for them? I wish they could see and know our Father’s heart for them. I want to convey, in my eyes that they are beautiful, wonderfully made. I hope my eyes convey the dignity that is rarely given to them. My heart hurts. If I could, I would hold each one of them and tell them...there is a better way. There is a Man who loves you, passionately. He is trustworthy and good. Faithful. He is the essence of Purity. He is your Hope if you will let Him be. He will be your Rescue. He never designed you to live in this sort of bondage. He sees the real you behind this plastic smile that you’ve practiced for so long. He holds your heart... His heart breaks over the way your heart has been broken time and time again. He didn’t create you for this!!! He created you to live a life of joy. He created you to know true intimacy with Him! He paid the ultimate price for you. He will never leave you. He loves you more than you love yourself. Life doesn’t have to be this way. I know your heart is broken, I know you question the meaning of life. It can be different. There is Hope.

Meet Dave, a Kona local and my dear friend. Dave is the owner of Artistic Creations, a tattoo and piercing parlor about a stone's throw from campus. I met Dave while browsing around the local shops on one of my evening strolls downtown with my roommate Lindsay. As an artist myself, I am always inspired by the art created by others and I popped in to see his work. Very quickly into our conversation I realized he had formed some opinions about us "young, overzealous Christians."

And he was right. Often times we, as believers, get too excited about sharing the Gospel that our lives often look like a first grade "show-and-tell". We can't contain the enthusiasm we have for the Gospel and how the Lord has healed our hearts and freed us from our own addictions that sometimes we forget to listen. We know that our God is for everyone, and each of His creations is priceless in His sight, but we forget that our God is not "one size fits all". Our approach must fit our audience.

Dave had had enough of us young Christians marching into his shop to tell him about the Lord. He just wanted someone to plop down on his couch and listen to his story, and at the very core of our beings that's what we all want - to be heard.