Mattie Sharing in Oaxaca

I wanted to add this post of the lead singer of "For Today", Mattie Montgomery sharing with the church in Oaxaca. It was awesome to see his heart for those people and the encouragement he gave them to carry on a vision for Christ. He also fully recognized, and appreciated the ministry they had in his own life when we all went down there thinking we were some how going to minister to them. It often happens that we receive much more of a blessing than anything we can offer these people.

Again, these guys may not "look" like your average church people but I assure you they are being used by God in a mighty way. Thank your for your continued prayers as we desire to see God reach the unreached segments of culture all over the world.

The "Thread Goes On!"

In our ministry we have been learning a lot about the "thread of relationships" and how God will keep bringing us to people with whom we are to be in relationship with to accomplish His purposes. We were able to spend a terrific evening with our friends from For Today last night in Buffalo, MN. They are still on tour and are in MN right now. It was SO good to see them. We shared such an awesome thing in Oaxaca with them that we will always remember. Well I was thinking how we were even able to come to that moment last night. And I was thinking how it goes again back to when Kris Hanson and I were working together at a group home company together and we got to chat a lot about vision for ministry. He had gotten to know Neil T. in Morris when attending school there and we were able to meet Neil because of the support we wanted to give to Kris. Well, through the years we became more involved with Neil and his ministry called Outfitters. Two years ago we felt the call to take our boys on a Mission Trip to see how other kids are living and see how God works in other countries. We found out about Casa Hogar through the relationship (thread) that Neil has with a man named Bernie Wing at Grace Life Church in Marshall, MN. (He is connected to the True Bridge churches where Neil is also connected). Bernie's church supports Casa. So we were able to visit this awesome place with our family, which was a life changing experience in itself! Well, while there we met Sarah Olla who was there as a missionary from Wisconsin working with the youth in the church connected to the orphanage. We were able to correspond and find out this awesome heart and vision they have for reaching lost kids. Well, as you know that led to us wanting to support this outreach they just held in October where For Today was a part. And through all that we come around and get to spend an evening again last night with these awesome guys and even connect with a neighbor who we have been estranged from for some various reasons. It was a huge "God Night!" Kids were saved, Kids were released from issues and prayed for. Please keep praying for these awesome young guys who are spreading God's passion all over this country.

A Very Moving Scene

This is a video from the Sunday service at the church connected to Casa Hogar (the orphanage) after the weekend of "The Righteous Anger" tour. There was hardly a dry eye in the place. The young people who the bands came to work with and minister TO were washing the feet of the band members and ministering TO them. The example of humble service was overwhelming. The effect on the hearts of the band members was obvious. Check out Nik from Saving Grace with the tattoos on his leg. This guy has come from some tough places in his life and he really loves the Lord now! Thanks again for supporting this ministry through your prayers!



(One thing I didn't mention about that week we were there was that we got to be "bunkies" with the first orphan served at Casa Hogar, Beto! He is a gentleman with blindness who now lives in Costa Rica with his wife and kids. It was incredible to spend time with him and see what a great man he has become!)

This is word from Sarah Ollah from Oaxaca. Couldn't say what she says any better

Dear "Body"...
I wanted to take a second and write to you all know that the smoke has lifted a little bit.  I will be sending to you all an official update with pictures and more in depth testimonies but here is just a taster.....
Well we were at war from start to finish and then some, almost everything that could go wrong did, the devil tried hard to take us down.  Everything from Sound equipment to permission to government grants failed us, but thanks be to the living God ,He never left us for a moment.  There were times that some of us were praying like we never prayed before.  We have our share of new battle scars,  Mercy [Sarah's and Rolan's baby girl] fell out of the bed the day of one of the shows, one of the vans borrowed to us didn't make it to a show, our bus driver got hit in the face, one of the bands coming down got into an accident on the way down and totaled their van, it started to rain  and as the the cherry on top our van died the morning of our last show and they say it needs a new motor.  And I said that last year Lord streched and strengthened our faith..THIS year was more than i could have ever imagined....every step was one of total blind faith and continues to be for us... 
I write all this not to sulk about our scars but to show them off when speaking of our incredibly GREAT God who in despite of all the odds pulled off one of the greatest victories...
We saw the gospel preached to over 5,000 young people, the seed has been sown.  Also one of the bands that had won a chance to play with the christian bands got saved and have been with us ever since making friends with our team and coming to church, learning more and getting discipled......we prayed and saw God change the weather and stop the rain 5 different times.  One kid got knocked out in the slam and a few guys prayed for him and he was totally healed of all pain...The bands who gave of their time to come and serve were all touched and encouraged in huge ways......
There are so many more awesome testimonies that we are still collecting and we can't wait to share with you all when we get back,

Please continue to pray for us as we all recieved a word that the fight would continue in the personal for all of us... And we feel it, We are seeking the Lord for our van amoung other things and we need to build our team before and after we head back....

Continue to pray for us,
God Bless,
Rolan, Sarah, Mercy and the Warriors Team

Why I Went to Oaxaca

Here is a video of Mike from the band, "For Today" speaking the first night at the "Righteous Anger" tour in Oaxaca. There were at least a couple hundred, or more, kids in attendance that night in a very public square in downtown. There were very many people milling around the park and the message and music could be heard for several blocks away. You may not be too sure about the style of music that For Today uses but I can assure you that the guys in this band are on fire for Jesus and care about reaching kids for the Lord very much. They are on tour over 300 days a year in the US and took over a week off without any type of pay and raised funds to go on this trip. (And, contrary to popular opinion, these guys aren't making tons of money anyway). Tyler and I were blessed to stay in the same room at the orphanage, Casa Hogar, with these guys and got to know them and see their hearts beyond even the "stage presence thing". We think it was a God thing big time as we will never forget them and now know more how to pray for their needs and ministry. We encourage you to pray for these young guys who are on the road so much and ministering to so many kids around our country. I will post some more pictures and videos of the weekend as I go along. (Please pray for the bands, Man of Sorrows and Saving Grace as they are on tour in the Southern US and continued prayer for Sarah and Rolan as they will be returning to the US the end of October. Also please keep praying for ongoing fruit in the hearts of the kids who were reached by this year's Warriors tour)

Oaxaca 2008

This is the first entry in our Worldwide Hope Ministries blog. Worldwide Hope is a ministry set up as part of Outfitters for Adventure in Morris, MN which is being overseen by myself, Rick, my wife Deb, Michelle and Adam Hanson who were part of our church in Cokato, and Neil and Ruth Thielke of Morris. Our goal is to assist in meeting the needs of people with disabilities, the disadvantaged and the disconnected around the world as we are able. We have a fund set aside to facilitate meeting needs in these areas as they are presented to us, but are actively seeking people to partner with us as we seek to be part of the heart of God in coming alongside the most vulnerable and Spiritually hungry people in the world.

This year it was Rick and Tyler's privilege to be part of an awesome adventure to Oaxaca for just a few days to visit a friend and her husband that we met last time we were in Mexico and be part of their incredible outreach to the unreached youth of that area. I must warn you that the things I will be posting here about that trip are "on the front lines of ministry" and may not be what you are used to seeing being used for reaching people for Christ, but I assure you that the heart and soul of everyone used by God in the days I was there was genuinely focused on the eternal need of every kid in Oaxaca. In fact, what I saw in ministry and Spiritual warfare was beyond what I have ever seen. We saw God working mightily in some very incredible ways. We want to thank you all do much for your prayers, thoughts and support as we undertook this awesome journey into the world. I will be posting pictures and videos very soon. But wanted to get this blog up and going to really let you know how much we appreciate all your support. God is doing great things around the world and I can't wait to tell you more!