This is a quick blog that I posted on the G42 Leadership Academy blogsite. We have an amazing series of courses linedup, with some world-renown teachers, prophets, and leaders.  And keep checking out the blogsite, the interns are now posting there, and it will give you a real insight into some of the things we are doing!

Please keep in prayer about finding a place for the school.  We could stay in our current villa and take over the rest of the rooms (we are sharing it right now with another church), but it will take some major upgrades to the plumbing, kitchen, and repairs [maybe a future short-term missions trip?].  Or we could move into another place, but we need a place that is big enough, with some room for expansion, unfortunately nothing is jumping out at us as we search…//Dave

Here’s What You’re Missing…

Spain, g42 | No Comments »

I took a team of the interns to Morocco last week after they completed their first term at the G42 Leadership Academy.  Our primary mission was to make contact with some new “friends” that are living and working inside Morocco to bring peace, hope, and love to this nation caught between Islam and the West.

In one of the medinas -

Morocco is interesting in that it sits on the Straight of Gibraltar, just an hour-long ferry ride from Spain and Europe.  Because of that it is one of the more ‘progressive’ Muslim nations, trying to hold on to the rituals and rules of Islam while at the same time, embracing and befriending the West.  I was struck by the true “Clash of Civilizations” going on in this nation. On one hand, it is truly an Islamic nation, with tight controls on behavior, dress, and religious practice.  On the other, the younger generations listen to American pop music, dress in trendy European styles, and enjoy practicing their English.  And here we were, American (i.e. Christian) tourists who were continually the object of attention for most locals.

On the trek near Moulay Idriss

Since our goal was to make contact with as many future partners as possible, we traveled around quite a bit.  We were based in Meknes, which was a medium-sized city that was central to many of the places we wanted to travel.  So we did, by taxi (7 people jammed in one taxi for 2 hours–fun!) and train, and by foot.  We got to trek into villages and speak to locals with a mix of Spanish, French, and Arabic; we got to wander in old medinas full of colors (and smells :^P ); and we got to visit and play with orphans at the Village of Hope orphanage in Ain Leuh, Morocco.

The Village of Hope isn’t really an orphanage, it’s more of a children’s home.  And it was nothing like we expected–it wasn’t rows upon rows of dirty beds, bored children, and dusty grounds.  It was an oasis of family, community, life, and love!

A bit of background–in a Muslim society, sex out of marriage simply “doesn’t happen.”  If somehow a girl does get pregnant, she is shuttled off to the city to have an abortion or off to the country to have her baby, leave it at an orphanage, and then return to her life.  In fact, we were told that Muslims believe that orphans are born without a soul, therefore it is okay to kill them.  So orphans in Morocco really don’t have a chance to ever re-integrate into Moroccan society.  BUT, at the Village of Hope, each orphan is actually adopted by a family that commits to raising that child as their own until they are 18 years old.  There are currently 4-5 families with 8-10 “children” (natural and adopted) each that live at Village of Hope.  They live in community, and their children attend school on the grounds, provided by Moroccan teachers, in Arabic.  The parents come from South Africa, Holland, America, the UK, and around the world.  So these kids get to grow up learning multiple languages, in a family that loves and cares for them.  It’s an amazing concept!

And the Village of Hope reaches out to the community as well: children from local villages attend the school, they are currently building a clinic that will not only care for the families on-site, but will care for villages as well, and they bring in local tradesmen and farmers to teach the children to be workers and leaders.  They are truly building a generation of Moroccans who will re-enter society, no longer stigmatized, but who will be a light to their fellow citizens!

…

That is just one place that interns and graduates may be involved in the future… I will try and write more soon.  Just as an update, the June term starts Monday 15 June, with four new students in addition to the five already attending.  We are growing quickly and we are hopign to move into a larger, more modern facility by September!  Please be in prayer that a property opens up that will be perfect for us. Other than ongoing classes, this is my highest priority right now, to find a place that will have the sleeping capacity, classroom space, and a large kitchen to accomodate all of the students we are planning on having.

Thank you to everyone who is following us and praying for us on this journey…. and thanks to Michelle for letting me use her photos…!

Khalid, (with Sean and I) our unofficial tour guide for the city of Moulay Idriss

Adventure, Community, Orphans, Travel | No Comments »

The following blog was written by Tara Stephenson, who will start at the G42 Leadership Academy in the June term. She is just one of the many who are coming to begin a life of community, discipleship, and become a part of what we call the 42nd Generation — of people realizing their inheritance in Christ! Tara finishes the World Race this month, so continue to pray for her as she takes this next step.
//Dave

After 13 countries, 4 continents, 1,000’s of orphans, 30 different cultures, 21 languages, countless number of people experiencing God’s love all in 11months: My journey has just begun.

God took me around the world to show me His love for all of humanity. In the midst of this crazy journey, I saw and experienced a lot of suffering. Instead of fleeing from God, I saw a deeply rooted love He has for each person. In the places where some would say God abandoned, that was where I found Him. The hope and love that God expressed through me transcended all language and cultural barriers. The message of Christ pierced thousands of hearts this year and I can’t wait to be dancing and singing with them in heaven for-ev-er.

With all of your prayers and support a girl has walked away from a life of prostitution. Coco, an African mother suffering with HIV, has finally found hope for her eight children. A tiny church body in Guatemala is encouraged and strengthened. A Myanmar village hit by Cyclone Nargis (May 08) heard the name of Jesus for the first time. A Thai masseuse felt the power of the Holy Spirit and was healed from her thyroid. A Gypsy village in Romania starts to understand the power of loving one another. And a young 23 year old American girl was gently guided to death of herself only to find a life worth living in and for Christ.

Like I said, my journey has just begun. After experiencing the amazing power of God, I can’t help but live a life sold out for Him.

God has revealed my next step in life. I have been praying about how I am to be used in His Kingdom. This year has allowed me to dream freely and think beyond any limitations I have placed in my future. Adventures in Missions has partnered with Generation 42 Leadership Academy located in Mijas, Spain.

The academy will be a perfect transition for me after the World Race. G42 and the World Race is rising up leaders for the Kingdom of God. They are passionate about empowering generations to use their gifts in the way God is calling them. They are passionate about the Kingdom being planted all over and seeing the church arise.

I see this school as being a next step in discovering more of the ministry God has started in me.

I am planning on attending the academy June 15th and will be there for six months. Please pray about supporting me in this next journey in prayer and financially. To support me click here. Just type in Tara Stephenson and any money given will go directly towards my personal G42 account.

Leadership, Spain, World Race, g42 | 1 Comment »

Hello again from the Hearn family.

It’s now May, our 5^th month in Spain, and already we’re realizing that we’re exactly where God wants us to be.  Although we’re really just starting, you can see that He has paved the path for us, and we’re already seeing fruit in the lives around us.

We started our first term of the G42 Leadership Academy on the 2^nd of March, with a class of six interns.  We are blessed to have this group, as they already realize the authority, boldness, and power that God has given them.  They’ve been challenged by teachers and their world is getting rocked with the responsibility that we’re sharing with them—to bring light to the dark places of the world, and bring the hope of Christ to a desperate people.  A typical day at the academy starts at 9.30am with a two hour class, right now the subject being covered is “Covenant”-what covenants are, what they mean and how do you walk in covenant today? All good stuff.   We just had two excellent guest teachers, Jon Marsden teaching on the pastoral side of ministry and Ted Hanson teaching about the prophetic, and activating it within the interns.  They were blown away and totally challenged by both.  This is not milk they are being fed, but hard core steak!  The interns then break for lunch and have class again from 2-4:30. After class, a different team each week makes dinner and we all eat together and hang out and chill at the ‘kitchen table’.

Student life.

In this first class alone, we have pastors, evangelists, teachers, and other tremendous gifts.  We are enjoying living in community, and having them in our apartment for some fun times and good food. It is a wonderful thing that we live between the school and the village store, so we are forever having “pop-ins” and we get to just drink and hang with all the interns on a more one-to-one basis.  We also have some brilliant game nights where your stomach hurts from laughing so much.  These are top-notch people devoted to the call of God on their lives; there is no mediocrity in them at all.  We just love being with them. And of course, they also get to enjoy the beautiful countryside, the beach, and traveling on the weekends.

Family life.

A normal day for  Bec is dropping  the girls off at school, hanging with Ben at home or having coffee with the school mum’s (it IS a hard “ministry”, but someone has to do it), picking the girls up at 2.00pm and chilling at home for a few hours, or having the girls’ friends over.  Then off to Villa Los Grillos (the name of the school villa) to eat and hang with the interns until about 7.30pm.  Meanwhile during the day, Dave has been the school shuttle driver, accountant, administrator, web master and graphic designer etc… He has had the opportunity to sit in on a few classes, but most of the time, he is just too busy.  He has taught a few classes on leadership, and is in the middle of planning the interns’ practicum in Morocco, where he will go with them for a week and put into practice the last three months of studies. This will be exciting to see God move in this Muslim country.  Bec will also be teaching a class here soon based on the book by Bill Johnson and Kris Vallotton, “Supernatural Ways of Royalty.”    We eat with the interns four nights a week and have three evenings with just our family.

Emma is still full of ideas, and she fills notebook after notebook with lists, business ventures, party plans, game ideas, and yet another role she would like to fill as she grows up.  She is enormously generous and recently tried to spend all of her savings on a cake for Rebecca for Mother’s Day.  Gabriella has definitely blossomed in Spain—she actually enjoys school, and is showing a creative streak that amazes both of us.  She is so helpful and kind to little Benjamin, a mommy-in-training for sure.  Benjamin has also grown into his own, after many ‘trials and errors’ learning to walk, he is now running around the house looking for the most expensive and dangerous items to pull off of shelves.

All of the children love spending time at the Villa with the interns, and have taken over the role of school mascots… but the interns love them and have fun chasing them around the house. What a wonderful thing to be brought up with that environment as part of your life.

It is an amazing life, and we are blown away that we get to live it.   There is something to be said about being absolute sure you are where you are supposed to be.  It has been a long time coming, but we know without a doubt this is the right time the right place and the right vision. Our family itself couldn’t be in a greater position—after a (miraculously) smooth transition, we are enjoying our time and our life.  It seemed like the first few months we were adjusting to all of the new bugs and viruses of Spain, but now everyone is healthy and the sun is finally shining on the Costa del Sol!

Thank you for joining us on this adventure, thank you for your generous support and prayers. We love hearing from you and hope you keep in touch!

-Talk to you later!

Here are some photos of Dave and the students ministering at a youth camp over Easter week.

Community, Family, g42 | 1 Comment »

Ben was supposed to have a CAT scan amd MRI this week to make sure that everything is right, and that the slowness in crawling ,pulling up  and catching himself is just  a milestone he hasn’t reached yet.  The hospital haven’t called us.  But as I wait, I just keep reading the gospels and Jesus healed everyone, all different ways. Telling them  ” you will get what you believe”.   So I a little caught between ‘faith and works’and having these tests, or just plain believing God to take care of Ben until everything in his little body works together.   If any of you have any godly wisdom on this………..  This boy is so wonderful.  You can see in his eyes, the sweetness and thoughtfulness.

Gabriella got over her rash and tonsilitis, she still has some strange bumps all over her tongue, but she is doing just fine.  Her artistic talents are coming out moreand more, and she is  attempting to draw, paint all the Mr. Men and stick them on her  door.    she loves the empty toilet roll tubes, and picking up random junk off the street. In her mind it is all so useful and can be made into something.

Family, Friends | 1 Comment »

This would have been an excellent blog for photos.  Unfortunately, I have none.  Good start, eh?

Anyway, the interns and staff did some work around the yard of our villa last Saturday.  We pruned trees and hedges, cut the grass and weeds, chopped down some dead trees, moved piles of dead palm trees that were previously (YEARS ago) chopped down.  We also cut down limbs that were blocking sun from the lemon trees.  I have to say, we did an excellent job, and after a days work we really made the front yard look good.  It went from weed-covered and strewn with years of trash piles, old limbs, and lifeless trees, to something that is orderly, beautiful, and refreshed.  We even found an old wall that was covered over with weeds and underbrush that also looks really good.

We extended the little vegetable garden, tilled the soil, and extended another small retaining wall so that we can begin to plant our own fruits and vegetables.

One of the foundational scriptures that the interns are learning is Genesis 1:28:

God blessed them; and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it; and rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”

In a nutshell, “Bring Order to Chaos.”  Make the entire world look the the model of Eden- fill the earth with mankind (and the Glory of God), subdue it, use the plants and fish and birds and animals to clothe, feed, and work the earth.  To make the earth beautiful with (live!) plants, flowers, and animals.  We are teaching the interns to be “Order Bringers”–okay, I made that up– to bring God’s order and light to the earth.  Another foundational teaching is to leave every place better than we find it–to improve our surroundings, or to leave people feeling better, or in some cases, to ‘leave no trace,’ but in all cases to leave things better.

The place looks great.  I will post some pics once I get the camera.

Anyway, the itching.  Obviously, something that we got into - I think it was the huge overgrown hedge we pruned down- had some sort of skin irritant.  No, it wasn’t poison ivy or oak, we’re smarter than that.  But by the evening, almost everyone was covered with a rash on their legs and arms and our skin was crawling!  The next day was a Sunday, thank goodness the pharmacy is the one thing open on Sundays… and thank goodness for the Spanish health system, where all you have to do is show the pharmacist your rashy arms and she goes to the back and gets you some cream or pills marked “For Prescription Only”  Sweet.  Anyway, even with the cream, we were itchy for a good two and a half days.  Argh.

Funny, Spain | No Comments »

I just finished reading The Gift of Psalms Devotional, the latest in The Word of Promise audio bible series. The Word of Promise audio bible uses celebrity voices to bring life to scripture, and this devotional selects 50 psalms and provides devotionals on different subjects related to those psalms. (It uses the NKJV and the devotions are penned by Lori Jones)

I think this devotional, as its name implies, would make an excellent gift for someone who appreciates the poetry of the psalms. Even the devotionals use very effusive words that seem to emphasize the poetic nature of some psalms. On me, however, this flowery wording is a bit lost. The same goes for the CDs: it seems like the celebrities are auditioning for the latest Shakespeare flick–they go over the top a bit.

That being said, it does offer some insights. I mentioned it in a past blog of mine here, regarding the 23rd Psalm.

The book itself comes in hardback form, and it includes 3 CDs in a sleeve in the back of the book.

(Disclaimer: I received a free copy of this book from Thomas Nelson publishers as part of their blogger review program. Even though I wouldn’t put this oneamong my favorites, I hope they keep sending me their books!)

Books, Christian Sites | 1 Comment »

The irony of remembering to blog since it is Wednesday, is that I have absolutely nothing to blog about!!!!

Our container has arrived, it has cleared customs (thank you God), but is now stuck in Cadiz because the dock workers or some workers are on strike!!!!  But I figure we have waited over three months what’s another few days?   Although, I have to say that  I am looking forward to mashing potatoes etc with a masher and not having to use a cheap fork, that bends each time i try to mash. Having something else to wear too, will be a really good thing. I have never worn the same outfits so many times. It’s going to be like Christmas.

Gabriella came home yesterday with a swollen neck and a rash all over her body. By this morning her fever was gone but she had spots allover her face.  And now they have moved to her arms.  It’s the craziest thing,as she feels just fine.   It has motivated me to take Ben and get him caught up with his shots.  We are 4months behind and one of them is MMR.  So I am going to go back to the Drs tomorrow and see what they say.  I went today to try and ask if the vaccinations were free. I thought my Spanish was really good, but the receptionist  told me to come back tomorrow and speak with the other lady that speak English.( so much for all that practicing in my head!)

Emma wrote a note to the school principal today,asking of she could set up a booth in the playground,and sell stuff during recreo (playtime)….she will one day be on Fortune 500 front cover.

The other night she told Dave and I that she had “prayed for7 minutes”, asking God to make her favourite stuffed dog, come to life.  She asked us what we thought. So as good parents we said that “Hubble” was a stuffed toy  and that it wasn’t going to happen.  With tears in her eyes she told us, ” but anything is possible with God”…….what could we say?   I told her that God can do anything HE wants to , but he might also know that I couldn’t handle a real dog in this tiny place…..Such faith, man I need some of that.

I really want to begin seeing God move and do something.  I need to be a part of something that is supernatural. People set free, kids healed.  I want to stop talking about it,and stop hearing about it, I want to see it and do it.
I want to hear the Holy Spirit more and know when to speak up and when to stay silent.  When to be bold and when to stay back.
Patience has never been my strong point, but I am torn between ‘everything in it’s time’ and feeling like I am letting God down by not doing more. Its hard to explain in writing, but i just don;t want to be living this great life, but have no eternal affect…….

Maybe next week I will have something to blog about!!!  or at least upload photos of all my favourite things that should be arriving, and  the memories to go with them.   ( lots of junkin’day memories)…

vive Espana

Bec

P.S. A photo of some of the interns preparing their meals, and a nice group pic!

Community, Family, Spain | No Comments »

Wow.

theiheartrevolution.com

Christian Sites, Radical Living, Shepherd | 1 Comment »

I really have never been a fan of the 23rd Psalm-I guess it always seemed a little “soft” for my tastes.  But I read the following devotional from The Gift of Psalms Devotional (which I will post a review of soon) and I thought it was pretty good.  I am teaching Servanthood at our Leadership Academy right now and I think the concept of a “shepherd’s heart” ties very closely to the servant heart of Christ.  Here it goes:

The Lord, the Shepherd of His People

Perhaps one of the most well-known passages in the Bible, Psalm 23 was written as a tender and comforting testament to God’s loving care of believers.  The imagery of Psalm 23 draws heavily from David’s experience as a shepherd and points to Jesus, our Saviour, who said, “I am the good shepherd” (John 10:11).

David knew the requirements of being a good shepherd: provision, protection, and guidance of his flock.  He knew that his sheep needed him and he would go to great lengths to protect even one lamb that wandered away.  In saying, “The Lord is my shepherd,” David declares God’s sufficient and complete care of His people.  And to that statement he adds, “I shall not want” (v. 1).  We are the sheep, and the Shepherd attends to our daily needs–and the reserves of His nourishment and grace never run dry (v. 2) [Amen ! - dlh3] The Shepherd finds us when we wander and leads us back tot he paths.  David, who had experienced God’s forgiveness and restoration when he sinned and wandered away, proclaims in verse 3 that God will not allow us to wander beyond His reach–He will correct us and bring us back into His fold.

…

Can you be as confident as David in God’s provision, protection, and nourishment?  Often the trials of life can seem difficult, insurmountable.  But God is with you in every circumstance.  Nothing is too great for  Him to handle.  So when you find yourself afraid, in a hard place, and with little hope, remember God’s promises to lead and guide you through those valleys.

I always seem to forget that the writer of this Psalm was my hero, King David.  The warrior-king-priest-lover-poet!  And that I need to strive to be a warrior shepherd–not just a warrior–and to be willing to provide the guidance, the love and caring, that is necessary for a hurting world.  Dear God, help me to find and be willing to minister to those who are broken and hurting–let me be a reflection of your shepherd heart!

Books, Shepherd | No Comments »