My Life and Thoughts on a Blog

Always Living, Always Learning

2011-01-30T15:43:00.000-08:00

There is a lesson to be learned when real love is given
I feel like i have been a pupil for the past three weeks down under. A pupil in a teachers position. Its crazy how when given a role of leadership we end up learning more then we ever would as a student.
Recently God has been revealing to me what real christ love is. The primary meaning of the word "love" in scripture is a "purposeful commitment to sacrificial action for one another".
In our day, most define love as some type of feeling. We "fall in love," or two people meet and it is "love at first sight." But the world's love is a selfish matter. If you are attractive to me, be nice to me, meet my needs and love me I in return will "love" you. The world's love is based on getting something from some else. The world does not give love where is does not benefit themselves. If you do not please me then I have no love for you. Thus for the world love must be earned by making someone else feel good.
Emotions will vary, but a commitment which has its basis in biblical love will not be affected by the whelm of emotion or of one's circumstances. I was watching a movie a while back called 500 Days of Summer. It was a great movie but in the film boy meets girl, boy falls for girl, and suddenly out of nowhere girl decides she wants to stop being with him. This is a classic example of worldly love. We go head first into it based solely on our emotions.
Our example of true love is shown in God's love for the sinner. Romans 5:8 says "But God demonstrates his own love for us is this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us". This shows that true biblical love is a matter of will....not of emotion. God choose to love us and His love was not based on our meriting it in any way.
Paul talks about the true righteousness of those who profess Jesus Christ in 1 corinthians 13:4-8, "Love is patient, love is kind, it does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no recod of wrong, it rejoices in truth, it always protects, trusts, and perseveres. Love NEVER fails." Paul is speaking and telling us that if we do not do things in this "charity" love then it is not true love. When we say "charity" love we mean christ like love, "Agape" love. A sacrificial love, not an emotion based love. God is telling us that "charity" which is true biblical "love" does not fail. Relationships based on emotion fail, but those based on the tenants of true biblical love NEVER fail.
Today many churches promote a "feel good" religion. It is meant to appeal to emotions. This has had the effect of turning people on to emotion and feeling instead of true spiritual biblical love and commitment. Many today are motivated by emotion rather than being motivated by a commitment to the Lord.
The reason so many are in false doctrine and weak in faith and service to God, and are immature... is because they do not honestly know what the Bible teaches about Biblical love and commitment to Christ or they know and refuse to life in love as the Lord instructs. Their relationship with the Lord is based on how they feel rather than on the promises of God's Word. The same is true in their relationships in their marriages, with their children, family and friends. They evaluate their relationship based on the selfish idea that others should make them feel good and if they do not they are not loved or have the right to withhold love towards others. ILLUS: When I first came to Australia I met a woman who was offended because I wasn't a huge fan of contemporary So-Called Christian Music. She told me in glowing terms how she listened to a Christian Rock Station and the song so helped her get through the day. My friend....think for a moment about what she was saying? She got through the day by hearing a commercial singer, repeating phrases over and over to a strong rhythmic beat and that this helped her spiritually. By the way...the Buddhists, Oriental mystics and many other pagan religious do the same thing. The use music with a strong rhythmic beat to whip the people often into a frenzy.
This is a tough thing because I am very much a music mind. But I feel God has been challenging me to be based in his word, his truth. Music is great but many times music is there to cater to our emotionally charged relationship with the Lord. When our love with the Lord should be based with an "Agape" love. Now don't get me wrong there is some great music out there. But if your looking at music to grow you in the Lord that music should be calling you into action, urging you to go out and proclaim Christ's gospel of life and love.
These last three weeks down under have been a stressful/fun/rewarding/challenging time. God is challenging me with the true meaning of sacrifice and leadership. Giving true Christ like love is not easy, investing your life into lots of people is a draining life. But when you begin to see the fruits of your labor it is fuel to continue. God is good. God is love. God is people.

Flooding

2011-01-12T14:08:00.000-08:00

Hey everyone!
Just putting up a quick blog to let everyone know that I am alive and safe. I am living right north of Brisbane and as most of you have heard there has been massive flooding. The area I am in has seen some flooding but nothing close to what is occuring in Brisbane and surronding areas. Please be praying for all the victims and people affected by the floods. The government is talking billions of dollars worth of damage.
As for my organization, thi is giving us many many opportunities to reach out and love our community. With so many hurting and broken families due to the flood, we are stoked at the opportunity to love these people.

2011-01-06T19:42:00.000-08:00

I remember, what was it about 13 years ago, that Princess Diana was killed in a car accident? I remember when it happened, it was all over the media. Any television channel that you turned on had some kind of coverage of the latest developments of this tragedy. Then I remember, I think it was two days later, Mother Teresa died. The media was still saturated in covering the death of Princess Diana, now all of a sudden there was the death of another international figure to cover.

But, for some reason, Mother Teresa’s death never did receive nearly the same level of coverage that Princess Diana’s did. Now the media pundits defended this by saying that Princess Di’s death was somehow more tragic and shocking because, at 37 years old, she was so much younger than Mother Teresa who was 87 years old when she died. They would say that Mother Teresa would definitely be missed, but that she lived a full life. But I think that there was something else going on there.

I think this is a typical example of the difference between the world’s definition of greatness and Jesus’ definition of greatness. I’m not trying to trample on the memory of Princess Diana. The truth is, she was very devoted to helping people. She was involved in charity work right up until her death. Her charity work involved providing help for the homeless, children, people suffering from AIDS, as well as her campaign to ban land mines. But, at the time of her death, the overwhelming majority of the coverage that was given to remembering her life was not given to her charity work but to less servant-oriented aspects of her life.

I remember several times, I heard her courtship with Prince Charles referred to as a “fairy-tale” like romance. And, granted it was the first time in 300 years that someone from non-royal lineage married into the royal family. But let’s be honest, it’s still a big stretch to call their courtship a fairy-tale. It wasn’t like she was a peasent-girl who caught his eye one day while he was milling about the marketplace and they instantly fell in love. She came from one of the richest families in all of Europe. It wasn’t a story of a young woman going from rags to riches. It was more a story of a young woman going from one level of riches to slightly higher level of riches.

Mother Teresa, on the other hand, lead a life that could hardly be considered “fairy-tale.” She began her service as a nun at the age of 19. For her first twenty years as a sister, she served as a teacher in Calcutta. On September 10, 1946 she heard what she referred to as a “call within a call.” She believed that God was calling her to renounce everything so she could follow Christ to serve in the slums, to serve the poorest of the poor. She said that in a quiet prayer she heard a clear and distinct message that she was to “leave the convent and help the poor while living among them.” She felt it wasn’t a request but an order.

When she left the comfort of her teaching job at the convent she ended up on Creek Lane in Calcutta with no shelter, no company, no helper, no money, no employment, no promise, no guarantee and no security. But she held tight to her faith. She prayed “God, You only, only You. I trust in Your call, Your inspiration. You will not let me down.”

Before long, she had found a place to stay at the home of Michael Gomes. Plus, former students of hers began to join in her work. By 1953, 28 women had joined in her work. In 1952, she opened “Pure Heart,” the first of many homes for sick and dying street people. Here she is said to have, along with her helpers, cleaned maggots off the faces of leprosy victims, washed the emaciated bodies of the malnourished and held the hands of the dying. She continued the work of serving the poorest people of Calcutta that began in these humble beginnings the rest of her life. And the work that she began, continues today.

Now, I don’t want you to think that I am trying to over-exalt or detract away from either of these women’s memories. The point that I’m trying to make is that often there is a huge difference in what the world sees as greatness and what God clearly lays out as greatness in His Word.

We see this same confusion in today’s Gospel message. James and John are curious about what their position will be in God’s kingdom. They ask Jesus to allow them to sit at his right and left-hand side in this kingdom. James and John had somehow gotten the mistaken notion that true greatness was measured by how many people served you. But Jesus told them it was just the opposite.

Jesus contrasts the Roman and Greek view of greatness with God’s view of greatness. In speaking about the Roman and Greek rulers, Jesus says, “…those whom they recognize as their rulers lord it over them, and their great ones are tyrants over them.” So, in Greek and Roman culture, greatness was measured by how much power somebody could wield over people.

But, Jesus says that the opposite is true. He presents them with a totally different world view. He says, “But it is not so among you; But whoever wishes to become great among you must be your servant.” The reason why James and John thought that they should receive exalted positions was because they were a part of Jesus’ inner circle. This inner circle consisted of James, John and Peter. Jesus had a closer and more intimate relationship with his inner circle than He did with the rest of His disciples. He, of course loved all of His disciples equally, but his relationship with his inner circle was a little more personal and intimate. They were the first three disciples called, and Jesus’ ministry began with them. That’s why those three disciples were always able to make a connection with Jesus that the other disciples weren’t. So, in a way, it’s kind of understandable that they might think that they should have somewhat exalted positions, since they were still thinking on earthly terms.

Then Jesus kind of wraps this all up by saying that He didn’t come to be served, but to serve and that He also came to “…give His life a ransom for many.” Now when we hear the word, ransom, more likely than not we will think of kidnapping or something like that. But, Jesus uses it here because, back then a ransom is what was paid to release someone from slavery.

Jesus’ death on the cross saved us from our slavery to sin. When Jesus spoke of being the messiah and savior, the disciples, particularly those in His inner circle, thought that His life and power would save them from bondage to Rome. But, what Jesus actually meant was that His suffering and death would free them from their bondage to sin, which is of course a much more significant freedom. This is the confusion that James and John struggled with, and it’s believed that none of the disciples truly began to comprehend what Jesus meant by greatness through servanthood until Jesus’ death and resurrection.

James and John definitely, eventually did get it. James went on to become the first disciple to be martyred for his belief in and teaching of the Gospel and John went on to be a leader in the Jerusalem church and write the Gospel of John and three Epistle letters. He was eventually imprisoned on the island of Patmos for believing and teaching the Gospel of Christ. During his imprisonment on Patmos he wrote the book of Revelation.

What James and John learned was how to be good servant leaders. Servant leadership is when a leader humbles him or herself to be on the same level as those who serve.Mother Teresa definitely understood this. And, I would say that even Princess Diana understood this. But, she didn’t show her greatness through the “fairy-tale” like romance that she had with prince Charles or the lavish extravagant lifestyle that being a member of the royal family allowed her to lead. She showed her greatness through the humility and servanthood that she showed through her work toward helping others.

James and John, eventually understood this. Consequently, they are remembered not for the way they exalted themselves, but through the humility and servanthood that they showed through their ministries.

As Christians, we are called to be servant leaders to the world. We are called to show greatness not by exalting ourselves over others but by humbling ourselves and by serving others. It’s only through humility and servanthood that we are able to continue the work of Christ. It’s only through humility and servanthood that we are able to display the righteousness that Christ imparted upon us through His death on the cross, and it’s only though humility and servanthood that we are able to display true greatness.

Hope this brings some thought to your brains... Feel free to comment below. Also if you would like to email me, feel free to do so at andrewthetford89@gmail.com

Back in Oz

2011-01-04T00:31:00.000-08:00

Well hello there... It has been awhile since I last blogged but I am now back in the land down under! I arrived two days ago, and I am set to staff on the Discipleship Training School here on the Sunshine Coast. For the past two days I have been in staff training for 7 hours a day. The school starts on the 17th when the students arrive. This blog is going to be my way of letting all of you know what God is up to in my life and the community I will be working with. I cant wait to get started! Right now I am settling into my new home and starting this crazy adventure. Stayed tuned because every week I will be filling you guys in on all thats going on.

Be Blessed,

Andrew

Living Word Week

2010-03-01T19:06:00.000-08:00

Living Word Week

This week was living word week. Which simply means a week focusing of the bible. Before it began i was not looking forward to it at all, i figured it was going to be very long and boring. Once again i was wrong. Our teacher for the week is also one of the staff for our DTS his name is Bryan Hundsburger a canadian who is starting a bible school on the sunshine coast. The week started off with these questions and i challenge you to ask yourself the same:

1.Why am I here?

2. Where am I going?

3. Who is Jesus and do I really know him?

4. Why am I following him?

5.What does it mean to follow him?

6. Do I struggle obeying?

7. Am I willing to suffer for him? If so, how much?

8. Am I willing to die for him? Why or why not?

9. Is the life I'm living worth Jesus dying for?

I challenge you to answer these questions like its the final on your toughest exam.

Throughout the week I began realizing how the bible truly does hold all the answers to all the questions one could have. We learned about two ypes of christians, Bible based and spirit based. Bible based christians are led by the word of God and it leads to legalism. Spirit led christians sre only spirit led and it leads to mysticism. I feel God calls us to have a bit of each in our life. We learned a lot of crazy facts this week and here are just a few:

-92% of North Americans have a bible

-15% of North American christians look at the bible outside of church

-60% North American christians believe the bible is totally accurate

-1 out of 10 teens raised in christian homes think in christian morals

Some of these facts are crazy but all they do is cause me to realize how important the bible truly is. I was very convicted this week, i have been reading my bible on a consistent basis since i got here, but God still convicted me to take it more seriously and to put more heart into it. On quote that hit me hard is a quote from Harry S. Truman, it says "All readers arent leaders, but all leaders are readers". I feel a gift of leadership on my life and how am i supposed to lead if i have no knowledge of what I'm doing?

During the week we went in depth and "behind the scenes" on scripture and looked more in depth on scripture then i ever had in my life. The word is anything but boring and bland. I found out this week about how intriguing and exciting it truly is. I have been praying for wisdom a lot recently and i can honestly say i have found where the source of wisdom for man lies and it is in God and his word. Im so excited everyday to get into the word and see what else I can find in a scripture or book of the bible. My challenge to you is to really look into scripture when you read the word. When we look outside we see nature or whatever is out there, but if we really look into the scenery we see little things we didnt notice when we just looked outside. This is what I want for you when you read the word, to look into it and see the things in the scriptures.

On a different note my roommate from Switzerland got engaged on saturday and we are all real excited for him and keep him in your prayers as he prepares himself for this stage in his life.

God is moving here and its so amazing. Any questions or anything feel free to email me at thetfordaw@mail.lipscomb.edu. Also continue to keep my outreach team in your prayers as we are set to depart for our India and Nepal mission work on March 27th. Pray for our unity and our vision of what all God wants us to do on our trip. God is good and we are not, press into him and you will find him!!!!!

In Christ,

Andrew Thetford

Prayer Week... a.k.a WOW week

2010-02-21T19:20:00.000-08:00

This past week was a mind blower
This past week was prayer week. It was a lot less structured then other weeks, but we still had a lot going on. The leaders kept talking like this is one of the most amazing weeks and i truly wanted to get everything out of it as I could so at the start of the week i decided i was going to give up food and fast for the week. One of the major things we had going on was 24 hour prayer. Throughout the day our class was split up into groups of 4 and we would switch 2 hour shifts in the prayer room. This would go on the whole week.
During this Blog entry it might seem like I'm going kind of off topic at times but God did so so much this week and I'm trying to give away as much details as possible without telling the stuff that I feel isnt to be shared. So bear with me and we will try this out.
Monday morning we woke up and I was hungry but i kept just praying it away and praying that God teach me how to really fast and how to go about it. Once we got to the base we met a New Zealander named Leon. Leon was a big rugby player with a huge heart for prayer. Once he started speaking honestly all i was doing was being pitiful in my head and wanting food but then Leon said some thing, "This week God is going to break us down and ask us to give stuff up. But, God will take care of what you give up". After that I realized that God knows what I'm doing and he'll take care of me and i need to man up and stop complaining if I want God to work through me.
God calls us to an intimate relationship with him, most everyone wants that but with the stories Im about to tell you, you will understand what God taught me and that; in order to have an intimate relationship with him we have to be obedient.
Throughout the whole week we met everyday and Leon would open up the microphone and do harp and bowl type services. This is where we do worship and if someone feels lead to come up and share they can. We did this for hours everyday. People came up who laid down the last of what the enemy was holding against them, and some came up to give words of encouragement. My first shift in the prayer room was on Monday night. When i was in there I started praying for God to bless me and for me to show me things. This prayer didn't last long because i heard God tell me after a while "Bless others and you will see me". Once i heard this i decided to try praying for others. God started putting people from home and people here on my heart. God started giving me words and scriptures for these people that these people needed at that time in their life. God was working in me and i was in awe. This started me being obedient to him during the week.
One story from the week was this: We were in the prayer room and at the base where the room is there was an auto-diesel class taking place in the building next door and the kids were taking a smoke break and could see us praying through a window. When they did they started being disruptive and poking fun at us for being in a room praying. we shrugged it off. But then i felt God tugging on my heart to invite them in if they wanted. I thought that this was ridiculous but God really started pounding my heart so i became obedient and went to ask. around 6 of them came in and i told them we were people who loved the Lord and wanted to just hang out with them. After this they started opening up saying things such as: I'm agnostic, I hate God, God killed my best friend, and not one of them had a good thing to say about God. After this we just started talking in love and the Holy Spirit began to speak to these guys. After a while all of them left except for two guys and one of the two left was on my heart big time. I went up to him and he began to tell me his past and it was a rough one, this guy had been through a lot. God began to break my heart for him and before i knew it this tough tattooed automotive student had tears rolling down his face, and i began to get real emotional. God began to speak through me and say things i didn't even know i knew, but i just told him of how God loves him so much and doesn't care what has happened to him or what hes involved with in his life he wants to meet him where hes at. I felt so convinced that this guy was going to be able to have influence on so many guys that are going through or have gone through what he went through, so i told him that and that I'm 100 percent positive that God wants to use him. I prayed for him and then he went back to class. That night i had 2am-4am prayer session. During this time i prayed with all my might that God would be speaking to him wherever he his right at that moment. The next day we ate lunch and the guys were having their smoke break, so i went to chat with them. They began to grill me with tough questions and i let the spirit do the talking and humbled myself. They eventually had to go into class and i went into the prayer room. About 10 minutes later i heard God say go outside to the water fountain. I did and it wasn't even working so i brushed it off. As i walked back i heard someone say my name. It was the guy from the day before, he began to tell me how the night before he came up with the idea to write a book about what all he had been through and get others to write their stories as well and publish it as a book of testimonies. I have never had a bigger smile in my life so we talked for a bit and i prayed for him on his way back to class. God did this and i went and began to thank him for using a sinner like me to help someone in there life.
As the week progressed we began to see God clearer and clearer and God was speaking to everyone differently but the spirit of God was in full force. Two of my friends here were in a place of doubt with God at the start of the week. You could tell by just looking at them that they were in a frustrating spot with God. One of them was having a rough day and took the day off of lectures. He took a long walk on the beach crying out to God for some sort of sign that he was even real. At that moment there was a dog passing by and he prayed that if God was real he would accept even a dog coming up and showing affection toward him as a sign that God is there. Nothing happened and he was in even more frustration. Meanwhile my other friend had just left lectures and was frustrated as well so she went to the beach for a walk. While she was on her walk she was praying for some sort of sign and out of nowhere a dog came up. She and the dog played with each other for a long while and she said as she played with him she could feel Gods presence and felt like the way the dog was pursuing her is how God is pursuing her. After a while she walked home and the dog followed her all the way home then went on its way. The next day she shared this and my other friend who had no sign the day before began to break down because he realized something that God had been teaching us all week. "When you bless others is when you truly see Christ". His sign he was praying for went to someone else. And when he heard about the story it was a sign to him as well. I began to call God "Jehovah Sneaky" due to his sneaky ways of moving in peoples lives.
I can honestly say that God has spoken to me and moved in my life more this week then any other week of my life. Anyone can feel and see exactly what i experienced this week but you have to surrender, humble yourself, be honest, be wholehearted, and be obedient to his call. Once you began to lay down all of your pride God we will move in ways you have never seen before. So my prayer to anyone reading this is that you lay down your pride and begin to bless others constantly and in doing that God will begin to reveal himself to you.
Here are some things God taught me this week:
- God calls us to surrender so that we may have a full life.
- God will take care of what you give up.
- An honest heart is a humble heart.
- The first step to humility is a humble heart.
- Intimacy calls us to obedience and obedience drives us into intimacy.

I hope you find this blog to be uplifting and confirming that God is real. I also hope that it challenges you in your walk. I hope this challenges you to laid down things in your life and give them to God, and i encourage you to fast from things that is a top priority in your life and let God take care of them for a while because if you do i promise God will move in your life. But most importantly laid down your pride, there is nothing good that comes from pride and there is no room from it in anyones life so lay it down at the cross.
Anyway if there anything you need as far as prayer or anything you want to say, ask, or send to me my email is thetfordaw@mail.lipsocmb.edu and I'm always up to hear from anyone. And if possible i would love to have prayer for the guy in the first story because that story is just beginning and God is still putting him in my life. Also prayer for my upcoming trip to India and Nepal and pray for our teams unity and our time while we are there. Thank you so much for everything. I can still feel your prayers halfway around the world.
In christ,
Andrew Thetford

Fear of God

2010-02-15T14:59:00.000-08:00

Last week was amazing. I feel like every week here just gets better and better. It probably is because every week we are digging deeper and deeper into Gods heart. Last week we had a speaker come in named Glen Vines who is an Assembly of God minister who lived in Tibet for 10 years doing mission work. Glen was an amazing man of God who had a huge gift of prophecy.

The week started out with Glen telling us of how God wants us to fear Him enough to make good decisions. When God speaks to you, mainly through your conscience, the fear of making the wrong choice often makes you do the right thing. God spoke through Glen so much to us and he laid so many prophecies on our group and people in our group. I am kind of upset and unable to go in depth about his lectures because i lost my notes from the lectures.

But.... anyway God is moving in amazing ways. Last week the September DTS came into town from their outreaches for a week of debrief before heading home. This gave me an opportunity to just get a grasp on what all outreach is going to entail. The other group had their graduation on friday night and seeing all of them breaking down and so anxious/excited/sad to go home made me want to make sure i put everything i have into the rest of my time here.

Once Saturday came some of us went to a local national park with a waterfall(that we jumped off of), and it was absolutely beautiful. Some of us took a long walk in the park, which was a tropical rain forrest and it blew my mind with all i saw there. Sunday came and i chilled out most of the day then church came and there was a guest spaker but his message was amazing.

Sorry about the short blog this week but i can assure you that my next blog is going to be amazing, because this week is prayer week and there is already some amazing stuff happening here.

Thank you again to everyone for all yalls prayers, i can still feel them in my life. Also continue to pray for my upcoming trip to India and Nepal and the 5 others going with me, i believe God is going to show up big time.

Love,

Andrew Thetford

Evangelism- Byron Bay

2010-02-05T17:56:00.000-08:00

This week was crazy/amazing/draining. We left Sunday morning for Byron Bay. When we finally got there after the 4 hour ride we arrived in a pretty heavily hippie influenced town. The people here were very laid back and chill. Once we got there we met up with the YWAM Byron Bay base leaders ones name was Ian who is originally from Florida and he was going to be in charge of our evangelism for the week. The other was Kevin who was the base founder and would be teaching our lectures during the day. The church we were having lectures at during the day was an Assembly of God near the beech and the guys would be sleeping there during the nights and the girls in local houses.

The first night we all went to the Sunday night church service at the church and afterward went to the grocery to get some food, then came back and went to sleep.

Monday was our first full day in Byron Bay. We began the day with lectures from Kevin, the topic was obviously evangelism. Kevin is one of the most amazing men i had ever been around, he's one of those people who you can just see the face of Christ in. During the lectures he would tell us ways to reach the people of Byron and he instilled in us a heart for the people there. Once lectures were over we had lunch then we walked down and got our first glimpse of the beautiful beach of Byron. This place was beautiful, Ben Harper and Jack Johnson both apparently have houses here and have been known to give random unscheduled concerts around the town, but we weren't lucky enough to see any of them. Anyway we sat on the beach for a bit then came back for dinner then Ian came in and then a group from the mission organization called the World Racers(a group of 30 Americans who are going to 11 nations in 11 months preaching the gospel) joined us, and Ian began to tell us about how we were about to go into the streets of Byron with cardboard signs with some sort of words on them that would somehow spark a conversation with people so that we could tell them about Christ. We were all a bit intimidated, but after some worship and encouragement we hit the streets. My friend Cheets and I took my guitar and his drum because we wanted to simply encourage people with music that would bless people. Once we played for a good while we packed up and started to walk off. Once we did i bumped into a guy named Andrew and began to just talk and make sure he knew i wasn't a bible beater and let him know why i was here and what i was doing. He was very interested and i feel our talk really showed him what Christ was really about and how much Christ truly loved him. After that i saw a group of Aboriginal people in an argument (aboriginals in Australia are very oppressed people, very similar to Native Americans they turn to alcohol most of the time to rid the hurt and pain they have experienced all there life) and i felt like i was to go over there. When I did I met yet another man named Andrew, this Andrew was an aboriginal who has lived in Byron all his life and the Argument was because he wanted to go and beat up a white man who had called Andrews girlfriend a racist name. Through their drunken rage i feel God really gave them a sense of peace when we prayed over them. After this emotionally draining night we went back and feel asleep, but not until i had an egg cheese and ketchup sandwich which i have become very god at making.

Tuesday began bright and early with a a cup or two of coffee and lectures beginning at 8. We talked all about evangelism again and began to hit on the 7 spheres of Evangelism: 1. Home- Family, 2. Church- Religion, 3. School- Education, 4. Media- Communication, 5. Celebration- Arts and Entertainment, 6. Economy- Business, and 7. Government- Judicial. Once lectures ended headed inland about 2 hours to a town called Nimbin, Nimbin is the Amsterdam of Australia with hippies all over and any kind of drug you can think of. We went and felt the best way to bless these people would be by having a barbecue because they would all more then likely want some munchies after there visit to the cannabis cafe.

we were right about the cookout, they came in large numbers. We had live music in the central park and hot dogs and chips for free. The people here were very chill and open to here about what we had to say, we had many many good conversations here. When the sun began to drop we headed back to Byron for a group meeting. Our meeting was called because our leader Mallory felt like our group needed a time to just let God move. People then began to say things of how they think God wants to move and then one girl stood up and felt like we were to pray over another girl in our group who has scoliosis. We all surrounded her and prayed as hard as we could for healing because we knew the pain she had been going through on the trip and we all wanted her healed. Once e finished praying Bryan, one of our leaders, felt like she was to sit in a chair with her legs lifted up so we could see the difference in the size of her legs. When she did we could all see where her scoliosis had caused one of her legs to be an inch and a half shorter then the other. Bryan said lets pray again. And unbelievably her leg began to grow once we started praying and grew to be even with the other. We were all amazed at the healing that just occurred. We didn't know what to do other then praise God for what he had done. Others came up that night and other healings occurred and the Holy Spirit was so strong that you couldn't deny it.

The next day we began with more cups of coffee and a spirit of excitement for what had happened the night before. During lectures we had some great conversations about what to say when people ask certain questions about the gospel. Questions ranged from creationism to eternity. We all learned so much form these conversations. After this me and a couple guys went to the Byron lighthouse which is the most eastern point in all of Australia. This lighthouse was up on a mountain overlooking all of the coast and was amazing. After this and a beech chill session we went back to the church for church then Ian came in and got us ready for yet another night of evangelism. This night we were going to go into the central park of Byron and set up live music to draw people in and have free pizza and good conversation on the side. I played a set of songs then went to the sides and met two guys from Sydney who were in Byron on a summer trip with some friends, we then began to talk about faith for 3 hours. At the start of the conversation their hearts were very hard towards Christ and his teachings. They had grown up in a catholic school and felt like faith was forced down their throats and felt like they had come to the conclusion that there is nothing out there as far as a God. By the end of the conversation the guys hearts were so broken before the lord and the spirit had touched them so deeply. Once I showed them how real and down to earth God really is it really began to speak to them. I then prayed for them and they went on their way. I am still praying for them to this moment and I'm certain God is going to use them to further his kingdom. When we got back to the church we had some people in our group who had come in contact with some spiritual warfare and needed prayers for protection and we really felt an attack from the enemy and needed to get rid of that spirit in our group. We ended up staying up till 3:30 am praying and encouraging each other. God moved in amazing ways that night.

Thursday marked our last day in Byron. We had our last bit of lectures. Once lectures ended, we went down to the beach to host a beach volleyball tournament. We went around the beach and had locals, tourist, and anyone else come join. It was teams of four and got pretty intense, but it was a blast and a great way to bless the community. Once the tournament ended we had another cookout on the beach and invited anyone on the beach to come. We had yet another chance to speak of how amazing God to these amazing people. After the cookout we went back and all passed out due to exhaustion.

Friday we woke up, packed up and headed out. Byron Bay was an amazing week and i grew in my faith so much. We finally arrived back home to the Sunny Coast and now we are chilling out and recharging for a week of lectures focusing on "The Fear of God".

God is moving here and stirring and growing in me as well as everyone in our group. Continue the prayers because they are working. Thank you so much for the intercession!

Hearing the Voice of God

2010-01-28T21:32:00.000-08:00

This week marked the 3rd week i have been in Australia. It seems like i have been here for a lot longer yet so much shorter. Anyway last Saturday we had a day off lectures and took a trip up the coast about 30 minutes to a town called Nussa. The beaches there were absolutely beautiful and some of us took a scenic hike up to a cove called "Hells Gate". This was one of the prettiest places I have seen, and I'm sorry for all yall up in the snow but I was and still am enjoying so much sun and it has still yet to rain but as I'm typing this I'm seeing rain clouds come over the horizon and it hopefully is carrying much needed rain.

Lectures this week were on the topic "Hearing Gods Voice", on Monday we had two former DTS students come and speak on how they hear God and put it into terms college age kids can understand. Then the next four days the lectures were given by Borris a 37 year old German born surfer who works here at the Sunny Coast base. Borris had an amazing teaching style, he would tell life stories that helped us grasp the idea of hearing God and communicating with him. Since there is not really a 3 step process or exact way to hear God, these stories really helped.

One of the first things that was said was, "In order to do Gods will you have to hear God". This freaked me out because I felt to hear God was a one in a million chance and i truly want to live out my calling but i didn't feel i could truly hear God in my life. As we continued through the week I kept feeling something inside of me telling me that i wasnt fully giving everything over to Christ. The next day in lectures we talked about how we have to give up our rights, and just be willing to say yes to God. So that night i made a decision while praying that whatever came to my mind i would give up. Lots of things came to my head as i prayed and i wrote them all down. While i did this i realized that During this prayer while i fully handed those things over to Christ i could hear and feel him more clearly. The next day i challenged myself to do as we had been taught in our lessons and i tried to focus on blessing others and making my own life a byproduct. This became a huge blessing to me. Throughout the week little things kept coming into my head of things i should do, and i had no idea if it was God or just me so i finally said while laying in bed, "OK God I'm just going to try and do all these things that are coming up and if they are from you then cool but if not ill just be content looking like an idiot". Once i declared this i began doing things that i thought were stupid, but in the end i was truly blessed by the actions i was making. Hearing God has been something i have made seem almost impossible but through this week i have found that it really isn't all that insane, and God actually wants to speak to us. I know that this might seem like a crazy topic for some of you but here are some lecture notes i have that might help you:

1. You must be seeking God WHOLEHEARTEDLY and have fear for the Lord.

2. You must be willing to give up your rights.

3. God will speak however he feels. Crazy or normal he will speak however.

4. You must have character.

5. Try new ways to hear God. But, don't compare yourself to others. God speaks differently to all people. Just because he doesn't speak words to you he might wanna speak a different way. Don't be discouraged.

6. Just be willing to say YES.

7. If your having trouble giving up rights, ask God why your struggling.

8. Never specify to God how to speak to you.

9. Be proactive about God coming through.

10. If your desperately seeking God, its OK to be frustrated.

11. If your sincere on asking God then you cant go wrong.

12. Matthew 7:7, ask, seek, find

13. There are three voices in our head: God, us, and the enemy. The bible is a great tool to discern with, if its not biblical its not from God

14. God speaks to available people not cool people.

15. Hindsight is a beautiful thing when hearing and following through on Gods call.

This week we will be heading to beautiful Byron Bay Australia a town south of Brisbane for a week of evangelism. We will head out on Sunday morning and return the following Saturday. Please pray for us on this trip.

I ask for continued prayer for me and our group. I pray that i continue to have strength to give up my rights and surrender fully to God and his will for my life. Pray that our group is safe from the opposition and continues to hear Gods voice. Pray for all the outreach teams as we prepare to head out onto the mission field. Pray for my outreach team as we prepare for Nepal and India. Pray for India and Nepal. And most of all just pray to pray because that's where God meets us.

in Christ,

Andrew Thetford

any questions or anything just email at thetfordaw@mail.lipscomb.edu

Father Heart of God(First week of lectures)

2010-01-21T15:37:00.001-08:00

This past week we had a speaker named Ray McConnell who is from Florida but now lives as a missionary in Thailand. He spoke the whole week on the "Father Heart of God". When i hear this i wasn't to sure what all there is to know about the Father Heart of God. When we started getting into the lectures we began to understand just how much God truly loves us and cares for us like a father. The first verse we looked at to delve into this subject was Ephesians 1:4 "Long before he laid down the earths foundations, he had us in mind, had settled on us as the focus of his love, to be made whole and holy."

The whole week our group began to get a better grasp on Gods father heart and throughout the week words and visions came to many people. God has started speaking to some of us in crazy ways. The biggest thing for me this week was when i heard God speak to me. I was praying so hard and getting frustrated cause people were saying things about how God told them this and told them that, and I'm sitting there frustrated cause I'm not getting anything. Finally Ray gave us all versus to go for about thirty minutes and just pray about. When i got my verse i went to a corner and prayed over it. The verse i was given was Zephaniah 3:17 "The lord your God is with you, he is mighty to save. He will take great delight in you, he will quiet you with his love, he will rejoice over you with singing." As soon as i read this i started praying and God began to speak to me. He began telling me how I'm trying so hard to worship and praise him and speak to him but I'm not letting him worship, praise, and speak to me. Sometimes we get so frustrated because we are trying so hard to experience God and we don't let him experience us. Sometimes its hard to believe that the King of the world can hear our voice much less that he wants to sing and dance over us in all of our sin and mess.

Another thing we were challenged to do this week was write down anything and everything that is our first love above our love for Christ. When he first said this i didn't think there was really anything above him in my life but when I started to pray a whole page of things came up and it convicted me so much, so afterward me and some guys prayed over all of our stuff and decided to put all of those things aside until God was our first love.

Outside of lectures my small group of 5 guys have begun going through the book "Wild at Heart", this book is exactly what i need in my life right now. It is really speaking to our whole group and is showing me so much.

God is moving here and our outreach team is finally starting to get our trip together, i ask that if possible i can receive some prayer for our outreach team, pray for our teamwork, visions, courage, strength, and planning skills for our upcoming trip to India/Nepal.

Thank you all so much for prayers and support. I swear there are times i can feel prayers over me from halfway around the world.

With Christs Love

Andrew Thetford

p.s.- if there are any questions or anything your curious about that's going on with me here feel free to email me anything at thetfordaw@mail.lipscomb.edu

Outreach Location

2010-01-16T18:58:00.000-08:00

This week we were split up into 5 groups with a male and female leader to each group and given our outreach location for late march. Every student was given a sheet of paper and told to write down the top three choices of the outreach locations. The options were: india/nepal, india/bangladesh. china. bali/Philippines, and thailand/cambodia. I really had no idea which to write down but once they described each location The india trips seemed to be very out of my comfort zone. They spoke of how crowded, dirty, and smelly these trips would be. These seemed very intense and honestly i dont have a huge desire to go to india but i felt God tugging at my heart to go to India. So i ended up writing the India trips as my top two and china as my third. The next day we found out our locations and i was put in the India/Nepal trip. I was so excited/nervous. In our group we have two Norwegians, aSouthern Califonian, a Korean, a Minnesotian, and two leaders one from france and one from florida. I really feel God is going to reveal so much to us as we prepare and go on this trip.

I would really love some prayer and intercession from back home. Currently we are praying and asking God exactly what he wants us to do while we are there. We are taking these next 10 weeks and planning this trip and hoping it changes as many lives as possible.

This coming week we will be having lectures that cover the father heart of God. I pray that all of us come to find direction from God and wisdom this week. Once again myself as well as all of the students here would love some intercession and prayer from back home.

With love from Australia,

Andrew Thetford

First post from down under!

2010-01-14T05:04:00.000-08:00

Sorry about the long wait for my first post from down under but wi-fi has been though to get ahold of.

Anyway.... I'm here now and have been for a few days. Im already making some of the best friends i have ever had. There are people here in my DTS from all over including: Norway, Sweden, Finland, England, Whales, Australia, all over america, korea, france, switzerland, and other nations. Im already being so blessed by their culture and friendship. We are all getting really close and i have honestly smiled and laughed more in the past 5 days then i have in a long time. We are from all over and we are all seeking one thing and thats the spirit of God. Already we have all giving our testimonies and where we are in our walk with the lord and when we did it was one of the most emotional times in my life and we all grew together so much. Its amazing to have all these people and all of us start anew together.

The city i am in is called Maroochydoore and its 45 min north of the big city of Brisbane. Its right on the beach and its very laid back and people are very friendly. Our daily routine is to wake up around 7 then lectures start at 8. Lectures are amazing and there are some amazing speakers lined up. Lectures usually end around noon and then we have the rest of the day to be free and do quite time, our daily chores around the base and house, or go to the beach or wakeboard park or anything else we desire. We all have been given a one on one leader to go to when we just want to chat and mine is a guy named Jay who is a real salt of the earth guy and our friendship is already getting really strong. Every week we have one night of worship and one of community outreach. Today we were given options on our outreach location that we go to in late march and tomorrow we find out which one we are on. God is really moving in our group and in my life. One thing our base is really seeking is the voice of God nd our leaders are really urging us to have as much quite time with God as possible.

I have already started to "go on dates with God" when i get a chance. What i mean by this is ever since i can remember i have spent s much time thinking and stressing and messing with girls and going on dates with them. but i feel God is telling me to take a break from girls completely now and instead i have been chatting with him instead of calling girls and going on dates with him instead of with girls.

I keeping hearing some news back home that breaks my heart like what happened in haiti and lso what happened with lane kiffin in knoxville..... Anyway i miss everyone back home but no wories because im having the time of my life here....

in christ

Andrew thetford

Takeoff!!!

2010-01-07T15:03:00.000-08:00

So....... here we go. Today I'm off to the land down under. It's finally here and to be honest it still hasnt set in. Im wondering if i really need to even be scared or nervous because in a reality i have a very good lifelong friend going with me, you might call him the holy ghost or the spirit of God. im praying for his comfort as i go where he has called me to go. So many people are asking me why YWAM? why australia? why why why??? And my honest answer to those questions is i have no clue except that God wants me to go. I have never felt so sure about anything in my life, this is what im supposed to do! And I wish i had just a glimpse of what all God is going to do while im gone but its like christmas and hes the parent keeping all the gifts hidden until the greatest possible time to open them.

Right now in the Nashville airport it is snowing pretty hard and when i land there will be sun, beaches, and lots of heat. God is putting me in a place that is 100 percent out of my element for a purpose there is a purpose behind all of what is happening and going to occur.

These next 5 1/2 months will be the time of my life and im going to soak of every second of it. Thank you to all who are praying for me and supporting me, i truly am blessed

Bing... Now Boarding... here we go.... see ya in june

In his name,

Andrew Thetford

Getting Prepared

2009-08-20T14:09:00.000-07:00

To everyone viewing this, this will be my official blog when i go to Australia on Jan. 7th. Feel free to check it at anytime when im gone to see what all is going on while im there.
In Christ,
Andrew Thetford