Somehow, on my to do list, updating my blog always  is near the bottom, but because I love you, and because I know you guys care about me (you have viewed my blog over 1500 times over the last year) I MUST update even in the busyness. I want to first let you know how the past semester was. The discipleship course was a blessing for me personally and also for the people attending, we got to in two semesters go through Matthew, Romans, 1st John, Ephesians, Revelation, Acts, Nehemiah, 1&2 samuel, and 1st timothy. The students grew so much but I learned a hard lesson, I bit off too big a bite, I was teaching at the bible college and the discipleship course, Wednesday nights church service, friday night young adults, and sunday mornings. I had committed myself to 13 teachings a week… WOOPS! haha… God used it though. There is a wise mexican saying that says he who grabs much grips little… God used it none the less as a wonderful experience for me and all the people who sat in my teachings, it was a fun time.

But now the discipleship is no longer going to be going on, mainly because God has moved me into something different, Many of you know that my father has had a history of severe headaches. Time and time again, as it seems that he has found the remedy, he is well for a few months and then the head aches come back, and now the are back stronger than ever. I beg for your prayers for his recovery, he has been unable to teach since early april and we are uncertain when he will be able to teach again. We have come to the conclusion that if he is not well within the next few weeks that he will take a 6 month to a year sabbatical. Because of his headaches he has been pretty much sidelined from ministry and God has placed me in his stead… scary… haha. I have been teaching for almost three months now and I am amazed that there are still people coming through those doors.

I heard a quote from Mark Driscoll concerning being young in ministry he said that he feels like he has constantly felt like he has to match his character to his responsibilities. Man I can relate! I know God is my sufficiency, and he is my all, and right now it is more blatant than ever that he is graceful. But please pray that my lack of experience would not be an obstacle in leading this church. Pray that the love I have for God and for this church would be reflected in the studying I do, the tone I use and the words I say. I would love it if Horizonte was known for the love it has, primarily in the pulpit. This calling is scary, I feel like Jeremiah saying, God are sure you want me in leadership? But he is confirming it.

God is great. He is gracious, kind and good. Other things that are going on is that we started going through proverbs with the young adults, we finished the book of John and also a 9 week series on the Holy Spirit. It was a lot of fun. pray for that group. It is honestly the most mature young group I have ever lead or seen. It is truly a blessing. Also next semester I have been given the opportunity to teach 1st peter and acts at the bible college. I love teaching there, God has given me a lot of grace in the eyes of the students and staff there. It is a wonderful family that i am proud to be a part of.

I LONG for your prayer. You are a huge part of my life and I love you. Thank you for taking the time to read.

Here is a teaching I did a few weeks ago on Ephesians. http://www.cchorizonte.org/49_Efes/Efesios2010_en/Eph3.14.html

God bless!
Jonathan

God is doing a radical work here in mexico, so many lives changed, so many families restored to unity, and most amazingly so many young people’s passion for Jesus ignited. It is so exciting to be a part of God’s wonderful work in mexico and His plan for mexico.

The biggest thing on the radar for me right now is that I have the privilege of leading a missions trip for the Calvary Chapel Bible College out here. We are planning on doing a missionary road trip with the vision of tangibly communicating the love of God the north western part of mexico through practical and substantial acts of service to the churches and community, purposeful outreaching with the churches to the communities, and by allowing our loving and unified relationships the inspire the churches and the community to a deeper more meaningful relationship with Jesus Christ. We will be going to the cities of Valle de las Palmas, Hermosillo, Bahia Kino, and Mexicali doing everything from painting youth-rooms to cleaning businesses to doing youth seminars. We will visit orphanages, hospitals, parks, old folks homes, churches, with the sole purpose of comunicating the love Jesus has so powerfully and tangibly that the people we minister to have a genuine, intimate and close encounter with their ever-loving savior Jesus.

And God has given you and I an opportunity like never before to be involved in what he is doing around the world financially, And it my it is my encouragement to you to prayerfully consider sponsoring a student to go on this trip. I have never asked any money and I assure you that none of the money donated will go to me or the staff but will allow the students and interns to go. If you would like to financially contribute you can hit the donate now button below. But wether you chip in financially or not, I hope and desire one thing from you more than anything and that is your prayer.

If you want to support the trip you can follow this link and hit the donate now button…

www.techonamission.com

I love you guys! God bless!

Jonathan

Yet, I don’t feel like my relationship with Brooke was a failure, on the contrary, I feel like it was a victory and a success. The ideal product of any relationship would be 1. to draw closer to Jesus 2. to love one another. Brooke was, has been, and will continue to be a huge blessing to my life. The conversations we had, the things we did, the love we shared all motivated me to deepen my relationship with Jesus, I learned so much by studying brooke, the way she conducted herself, the way she loved others, the way she served so hard, it was all so encouraging. 

Also we love each other, but I have realized that just because there was deep affection, complementing personalities and a wonderful friendship there is more to marriage than that. Just because I love her, just because she is a wonderful person doesn’t mean she should be my wife. The bible says “how can two walk together unless they are agreed.” Brooke is a wonderful person, but we were, and are heading in very different directions with our lives, not that one is better than the other. Its just different. 

In conclusion my relationship with Brooke was both wonderful and amazing, I thank God so much for her life. It was a very hard decision to stop pursuing her, but I know that it was right. I don’t think our relationship failed, I just think that God has someone different for us, and so by stepping away we are actually going to be most fruitful. So until that Girl that is so radical that she throws my life course into a completely different and more glorious direction (marriage) comes my way, I am single and I love it. Part of me wants to be a bachelor to the rapture (bachla to da rapcha!) but it doesn’t really seem plausible… But who knows maybe, being single is pretty dang cool. 

So yeah that is why my facebook relationship status says I am single, because I am not pursuing a girl at the time being… I’ll let you guys know if that changes… 

In other stuff.. the bible college semester started, I am teaching two classes, romans and acts… so far it has been so powerful… we have only done one study and we have all been challenged to our core… Also the discipleship course start tomorrow… the 4 that came took it last semester are coming back plus there are going to be between 8 or 9 new “disciples” this semester so it is very exciting… it’ll be a really powerful time… Our lives are going to change for an eternity… pretty exciting huh? 

Pray for endurance for this semester… My dad will be gone three weeks in february so I have the privilege to teach sundays and wednesdays as well… But i do need your prayers… Pray that the spirit would saturate every part of my being…

I love you guys!

God gives and God takes away, blessed be the name of the Lord.- Both the giving of the Lord and the taking of the Lord should inspire a deep sense of gratitude and adoration. If God takes away its a beautiful opportunity to take your praise to a deeper level.

But I have come to a rock solid conclusion, God is faithful. Though in every way this year has had the biggest obstacles, this year has had the greatest victories in my life. I can say with full confidence that I am more than a conquerer through christ jesus. I can say with deep, heart-felt conviction that if God is for me who can be against me. I can truly say, God is all i need, and God is all I want. I can say that i am satisfied in him, that I am fulfilled by him, that I am in love with him. 

Its almost strange that in the midst of the deepest hurt I also have tho most sincere happiness. In spite of the worst pain I have the deepest purpose. Even through tears the greatest triumphs. God is good. He is so good, he only does great a mighty things, and it is beyond me how he would choose me to be part of his Glorious purpose. 

This last year was rad. I had the privilege if seeing God touch thousands of hearts, Inspire hundreds of people to change, and even see dozens of people have their eternities changed from everlasting death to everlasting life. 

These last 6 weeks since the last update have been great, I finally bought my house (kind of… over the next ten years will be buying it ) I have had a great time with my friends here in Ensenada. truly taking my relationships to the next level. going beyond friends and becoming family, going beyond peers and becoming co-loborers. It has been great.

I got the opportunity to share at HSE again which was amazing… I Love the program and I am excited to see how God uses it in this new season. I also got to go to the graduation and graduation party and it was super good to see my son in the faith (adam) graduate. 

Another cool thing i got to do in december was teach a series on heaven and hell. It was SOOOO eye opening for me! I am so glad I am not going to sizzle like a sausage on a barbeque grill for all eternity and in turn I am going to spend an eternity ingesting Gods grandeur! 

We finished the semester for the discipleship on fire, these guys are so passionate and so hungry. pray for them as they spend their time away from the discipleship as they are working and traveling… I am preparing for the next semester with a new batch of disciples and still working with the old crew, we will be studying romans, matthew, acts, Nehemiah, genesis, and REVELATION. you heard it right, revelation! I am SOOOOOOOOOO excited to teach revelation next semester, the prep for it already has begun to change my life so i cant wait to go deeper with it.

Other cool things that are going on is I am going to teach two classes at the bible college next semester, Acts and Romans. It is really cool because I am going to spend two whole days a week with them and so it will be a great opportunity to deepen my relationships with the students.

Also about deepening relationships with the bible college students I have the privilege of leading the missions trip next semester. It is going to be very similar to the Love out loud tours that HSE does. We are packing into a bus and loving everyone we see in such a radical way that the northern part of mexico will never be the same. 

A cool praise report is that i have two interns this next semester helping me. Please pray that i could be a good leader for them!

God is doing so many great things and 2010 promises to be the best year in the history of man kind. so I hope your heart is prepared to intake as much of Gods crazy awesome plan for your life!

Family, keep me in your prayers as i keep you in mine.

-Jonathan

Last update I had I talked about a trip that i was about to take my discipleship team on. It was a wilderness experience where they could distance themselves from the distractions of the world and genuinely engage God at a level that they had never dreamed possible. we spent a week on the beach with no agenda except to love one another, study Ephesians, and be with the Lord. and God used that powerfully, the week was packed full of deep revelations, heartfelt worship, meaningful conversations, and just plain ole guy fun, eating freshly picked and boiled mussels and playing football… it was a wonderful time to grow in our love for God and for one another. (what more could you want out of a trip?) if you want to see pictures of the trip here is the link to the facebook photo album

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=42847&id=1245750026

One of the cool things i got to do this last month was to teach at the horizon school of evangelism. I don’t know what they were thinking but they gave me and hour and twenty minutes to pick on the students. it was really cool because I had come in to share twice before that semester so had already existing relationships and it was a great time to learn and understand what biblical transitions should look like in life.

Another cool thing is I GOT A DOG!!!! daphne is her name shes a little boxer pup

God has blessed me with alot of opportunities lately to reach out beyond my home church and be an impact on other cities and places. I had the opportunity to share a few Sundays ago at Calvary Chapel Pomona Gardens. It was a powerful time and it showed because when the invitation was given to come forward for prayer about a third of the congregation wanted to engage God with their problems and no one felt the need to rush out the back door to catch up on their sunday football…  

God has been stretching in such a beautiful way, its funny because even though I get paid to do what i do it doesn’t feel like a job, It is my passion. like skateboarding no one pays me or asks me to skate, i do it because it is a passion of mine, in a way greater way teaching and preaching is a part of who i am it is what i would do anyways and it is such a privilege to be able to live off the gospel…

speaking of teaching the discipleship group is coming up on the end of their semester, we are almost done with 1st john, 1st timothy, nehemiah, half of romans and half of matthew… I am looking forward to the second semester with them and also new disciples for the new semester. I am SOOO stoked for next semester because i am going to go through revelation with them. It will be powerful…

among other stuff that has happened over the last 6 weeks are: I finished teaching 1st john to the staff and now we are studying 1st timothy which has been a blast, I got to help out at a womens conference at murrietta and it was actually an eye-opening experience to see what the average middle-aged woman is concerned about. also I got invited to do a question and answer lunch in which people wrote down questions and we got to answer them over a nice lunch time, its kind of cool, i give them spiritual food and they give me physical food. worth it!

Upcoming stuff is 
     the end of the semester so finishing up books
     christmas time!
     I am teaching a two week series on heaven and hell 
     planning for 2010, we are looking to have a huge city wide youth conference.
     friday night young adult group has been growing and we are looking to implement a more slick and relevant style to what we do

God is doing so much… Thank you for laboring with me in prayer. I am so desperately in need of your prayers… I do ask that you pray for a stateside coordinator for me, with the growing relationships/responsibility ratio i would love help keeping connections in the states and also to spread the word of what God is doing… And also if i have a stateside coordinator i might try to raise support so i don’t have to take a salary from the church and that way we can free up the position for another mexican to devote their life to the gospel, wouldn’t that be cool? so let me know if you would like to be my stateside coordinator!

Love you guys! spread the word about Jesus! 

Then the thing after that was the my great buddy marty got married to his amazing fiancee jacqui, I had the opportunity to share in their special day and it was a life changing experience to see two people that are so close to me have their hearts forever unified before my own eyes… their wedding was perfect.

After Marty’s wedding i came back here and continued with my daily chores at the church, there is a daily prayer group that meets every morning at church and they approached me and asked if we could start a bible study for them. So once a week after prayer a group of us are studying through first John, and out of all the groups that I’m involved in this group has the most insight which has been a real privilege to lead.

The church also had its independence day outreach in which i shaved my facial hair into a mustache and rocked a sombrero… good times!

I had the opportunity to go the horizon huddle and it was such a blessing to worship with, study with, and learn from some of the people i admire the most in the entire world… it was such a breath of fresh air.

Marty, Mike dub and Kai lead a young adults group at horizon north county called the orchard, if you live in san diego you should check it out they meet thursdays at 7, 630 for food (free food!!!) they have a wonderful group there and they gave me the opportunity to teach one of their meetings and it was an amazing blessing to be with them!

After that i had a few days off and i got to skate and finish filming and editing a little skate montage for the church, we are going to film my testimony and put it at the end of the video but here is the clip, enjoy!

Also another wonderful praise report is that my good friend amaris is living in ensenada now, ama and i were part of the same ministry team in england and it has been amazing having her around and having her teach at the school of discipleship.

Speaking of which, I am taking “the disciples” to a week trip next monday to a secluded beach to study ephesians… it will be a mix between wilderness and nehemiah (if you went to HSE you know what i mean) no deodorant, no ipods, no showers, only true love. and we will study all day every day for five days and they will have a solo experience… it will be and AMAZING time so keep that in prayer.

I do have a prayer request that is a bit personal, sometimes i feel inadequate to be leading people that are two or three times my age, so pray for boldness, but more than that for a deeper level of dependancy on God. Thank you guys! love you!

          The young adult group is amazing, it has been such a powerful time as we have been going through the gospel of John. today is John chapter two, Jesus provides the drinks and then cleanses the temple… hmm… interesting.

          The discipleship group is starting next week, and preparations for it have been amazing, i cannot wait to go through romans, 1 john, 1 timothy, and matthew with them… their lives will be radically changed and so will mine.

         God has been so good to me, i seriously have never had so much peace in my life… even though i am constantly busy i feel like i am constantly at rest with my circumstances… God is amazing, I am blessed far beyond my ability to receive… its just pouring into me and i cannot contain it!

keep the work in your prayers… pray that i would be spirit let because flesh led ministry is stupid.

Love you guys!!!!

Act 20:22  And see, now I go bound in the spirit to Jerusalem, not knowing the things that will happen to me there,Act 20:23  except that the Holy Spirit testifies in every city, saying that chains and tribulations await me.Act 20:24  But none of these things move me; nor do I count my life dear to myself, so that I may finish my race with joy, and the ministry which I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the gospel of the grace of God.

Paul understood that he had hardships ahead, he understood that his life was in danger but he did not allow the severety of his cercumstances to cause his faith to waiver.

He says “so that I might finish my race with joy…” paul is facing severe difficulty and he says that he is going to have joy through it.. this is glorious… you can go through anything even to the point of death and have joy. And you might say “what about all the hurt and pain you talked about earlier?”… I have come to know that in life being sad, being hurt is inevitable… God allows that so we can look forward to heaven. Being sad is understandable… being sad a lot of times is nessesary, but it is a crime for a Christian to not be joyful. God has given you so much. You are forgiven! That is enough reason to be eternally joyful! You are accepted… you have been redeemed, you are being sanctified… you are a child of God… God loves you! You have millions of reasons to be joyfull… and yes you will be sad… but God allows it so you can look forward to heaven, so being sad is in a sense a blessing.

Jesus said “in this world you will have afflictions but be of good cheer I have over come the world… pain is not the antonym of joy, Sadness is not the opposite of peace. Jesus was a man that understood joy, he healed the sick, raised the dead, changed water into wine but he was also a man acquainted with grief… he was a man of sorrows. He wept, he hurt…  but what I want you to know is that it is possible to have a peace which surpasses understanding, a joy that supersedes circumstances, hope that does not disappoint, a relationship with God as father, my sins are washed away… I cannot argue with the facts… God is so real, Jesus is so real. God loves me so much…

There are reasons to rejoice! There are reasons to finish our race with joy!

I want to get to the point where like Job I can say Job 13:15  Though He slay me, yet will I trust Him. 

I want to be to the point where regardless of how painful or uncomfortable a circumstance can get i can say “I TRUST YOU FATHER” 

I don’t need more strength to endure, I don’t need a more ambitious will to motivate me, I don’t need more favorable circumstances to comfort me, I need a divine, spirit-given level of trust. That I can say like david, “YEA! though I walk trough the valley of the shadow of death I WILL FEAR NO EVIL, for you are with me, your rod and your staff they comfort me.”

I have come to realize that there are different levels of trust with God, trusting God in the good seasons is cake. its like riding a marry-go-round. But trusting God when you are faced with a mountain of pain, with a gully of risk, with the weight of uncertainty, feels more like riding a roller coaster for the first time. nerve wrecking, yet exciting, fun, yet it makes you feel like throwing up.

But one thing i know, that he is a faithful father and you cannot fall out of his will… even if when you see the trails ahead it makes you feel sick to your stomach and weak in your knees you know that he is preparing you to experience his love in a deeper level than you ever thought possible.

Every commandment from God is not a rule to keep you from doing evil, but a boundary to ensure you experience him in the deepest, purest, unadulterated form.

trust… such a deep word. 

Psa 5:11  But let all those rejoice who put their trust in You; Let them ever shout for joy, because You defend them; Let those also who love Your name Be joyful in You. 

Psa 56:3  Whenever I am afraid, I will trust in You.