The Last Post Before Outreach

If the title didn't clue you in, this will be my last post before outreach. I won't be bringing my laptop with, so I probably won't be doing any blog updates in the 7 weeks I'm there.

HOWEVER, I have made a Mail Chimp e-mail list, which will allow me to send out mass e-mail updates to specific groups. If you would like to be added to an e-mail update list, send me your e-mail address on Facebook or e-mail me at christopherpaulhickey@yahoo.com (because of some weird Yahoo policy, the first update I send may show up as spam and you'll have to un-spam it or something, according to Mail Chimp's website). The updates will be shorter than my average blog post, and may just be a prayer request, or a short story of something cool I saw or did, or something I recently learned. I'll still have this blog for a bigger update every once and awhile though.

Now that that's out of the way: We leave for Nigeria this Wednesday (tomorrow). As I write this, it is less than 48 hours away. I've paid off all my outreach fees, the visas arrived yesterday, and I'm mostly packed. I am at this point extremely excited and ready to leave ASAP!!!

I spent all yesterday deep cleaning the kitchen (wiping and scrubbing every surface, organizing pots and pans and oils, cleaning after dinner) as one part of our massive "Leave the building looking better than we found it" movement. It was actually pretty fun, even if it was suuuuuuper grimy. The building is looking pretty spick and span, but we're finishing the last few projects today.

It's starting to feel kind of empty around here. Quite a few people who were living here are not going on outreach. Some are going to college, some back home to work for awhile before their next big move in ministry, and some aren't sure what's next. But it seems every day someone else leaves. That's another reason I can't wait to leave for outreach...this unusually quite building is a constant reminder that the lecture phase is over, and people are moving on.

I really don't have a lot of time to add much more, other than some prayer requests. On every outreach team, mine included, we still have some students who don't have all their money yet. Some are still trusting God for thousands of dollars (although not everyone is leaving this Wednesday, some teams don't leave till Saturday). Please pray for God to release those finances for those who are still in need. Prayers of thanksgiving would also be appreciated for our visas finally arriving and for the money that has come in already would be appreciated. And lastly, one of my outreach team members, Glori, is headed back home to Tanzania today with her sister Asifiwe. It was cheaper for them to go home for a few days and then get flights within continent to their respective outreach locations (plus they wanted to see their family again before their next big adventure). Please pray for safe travels for them, and that all the money they need would arrive in time for them to join us on outreach.

Other than that, please just continue to pray that the hand of the Lord would be over our whole team as we travel about a country that none of us know much about, and we prepare to carry the intense responsibility of teaching God's word to hundreds of people! I'm sooooo excited!!!

If I had more time, I'd go on and talk about the last few weeks of the school. However, I will say this: We made it! We read through the whole Bible in 4 months. None of us are experts, obviously, and each teaching left us with more questions about the book than we had beforehand. However, I think that's kind of the point. They wanted to make us into life long learners, and they succeeded. I want to keep studying the Bible and continue to learn all I can from it's pages.

I have learned so much already, but it's just a sliver of what each of the 66 books has to offer. And now I'm ready to go share what I have learned with others, who will in turn share it with others, who will in turn change their nations! That's the beauty of Word.

God's Blessings,

Chris

URGENT PRAYER REQUEST: Battle With Us For Our Nigeria Outreach

Hello all! This is not a full update. We just had an outreach team meeting, and I just wanted to share some of what came out of it and ask for prayer regarding our preparation process for outreach.

Basically, we are still applying for our Nigerian visas, and the process has been much, much more complicated and upsetting than it needed to be. There has been a ton of communication error, dropped calls, unclear instructions, that sort of thing.

Also, while none of us have all of our money yet, we have multiple team members who have been seriously struggling financially, and who feel like there is something God is wanting to show them or reveal to them before He releases funds to them, but that they are unable to see clearly what that thing is He is trying to show. They feel like it is being obscured from them somehow, and there's a lot of frustration.

After talking and praying through the situation, we felt as a team that there was a lot of spiritual warfare going on surrounding this outreach. It seems like the enemy is trying really hard to end this outreach before it even begins, because this is a pioneering outreach. No team from our base has ever been to Nigeria. We don't know what to expect, but we do know that when we do go, we'll be laying the groundwork for future BSN teams, either from here or other partner bases of ours.

That scares the enemy a lot, because Nigeria is already in the midst of a huge revival, and in the ten days we're going to be there we have the potential to change THOUSANDS of lives, not just ourselves, but also through the people we will be teaching, who will pass on our Biblical instruction and disciple other new believers, who will in turn disciple others, and so on and so forth.

Basically, we could start another huge wave of Biblical discipleship that goes on for generations.

We're really excited. There's so much potential here. We're running a program that is so influential and useful for changing nations, there's certain countries who have had high up government officials ask YWAM for BELT training for themselves. So the fact that we'll be running the first seminar in Nigeria of many is really exciting, but also a TON of responsibility, and the enemy knows that, and is trying to frustrate us and get us to quit before we make a beachhead in that nation.

So I'm turning to you for prayer. I'm asking that you'll partner with us and pray for a few specific things. Here we go...

- Prayer for finances: All 8 of us in total need about 28,400 dollars for the whole outreach (as well as some that are still paying off lecture fees). Also, many of us have plans immediately following this outreach that will require funds as well, so we'll need those finances now or very soon. On top of that, we'll need to pay for the visas in the next few days, and the plane tickets shortly afterwards. Please pray for that specific amount of 28,400, as well as a more general prayer of future provision for the stuff after the BSN.

- Prayer for confidence: We talked about how we don't have doubts at all that God can and wants to provide for us, but that many of us are for some reason still worrying, which we realized probably has something to do with the enemy sowing seeds of doubt and worry. Many of us have been feeling discouraged and that is not a good place to be in when you're about to pioneer a new ministry. Please pray against any condemning words from the enemy against us, and that God will fill us with confidence and assurance and peace about what we're about to do.

- Prayer for unity: As I've shared before, we are the most diverse team on the school, not only in terms of race and nationality, but of personalities as well. In a high pressure environment, like our outreach will be, it is easy for personalities to clash and for cultural sensibilities to be offended. Please pray against disunity and that we'll be able to love each other, and the people we're teaching, well.

Hopefully I'll be able to put out a bigger update on how classes are going soon. For now I can say we've been going through the Epistles the past few weeks, and it's been REALLY amazing. My theology has been challenged in a lot of ways, and while I haven't made any radical changes, studying the original intent of why Paul wrote Romans or 1 Corinthians has forced me to rethink why I believe what I believe, and if certain verses I've always read as one thing can really mean that, if that makes sense.

Sorry if that's a bit rambling. Like I said, a proper update will hopefully come sometime next week, as my family is coming to visit me this weekend, and the rest of my free time will be going to preparing for a teaching on 2 Peter next Tuesday (the outline is due on this Friday, and yet here I sit writing this update).

Okay, that should be good. Again, prayer for those specific things. Also, for my finances in particular, I have 1500 dollars in my outreach fund here, as well as 500 dollars that was recently pledged to me that should be coming in soon. Praise Jesus! So I will soon have near to half of the 4200 I'll need for outreach.

Thank you so much for reading and praying, and as always, please feel free to contact me on Facebook or e-mail me at christopherpaulhickey@yahoo.com (although I don't check my e-mail very often...Facebook is a MUCH better way to contact me) if you have any questions or encouragements to share.

God's Blessings,

Chris

Halfway Through June

I meant to do a halfway through the school post, but time gets away from me. Sorry.

Here's my outreach team!!!

 From left to right: Arne, P.D. (aka Dad), David (his hair is black now), Yours Truly

Amy (aka Mom), Allie, Kissy, and Glori. We are the largest, as well as the most ethnically and culturally diverse team on the school. David is Chinese-American, Kissy is Korean and black, Allie is from England, and Glori is from Tanzania.

We are a little more then halfway through the school. We have finished reading the entire Old Testament, and in between the Old and New Testaments we had a few days of cross-cultural training and outreach preparation, and a very long but informative day on the Jewish Intertestamental history, with a focus on the Maccabean (Hasmonean) period, and the Roman period.

We read 1 Maccabees 1-10, and it was AWESOME. I'm a little sad it's not in the Protestant Bible's. While I understand it doesn't fit some people's requirements for what qualifies as the inspired word of God, you can clearly see God moving to protect Israel again and again, and you can't really understand the average Jew's worldview in the New Testament if you don't know that part of history. Most people, upon realizing Jesus was claiming to be the Messiah, would have assumed He'd be the next Judas Maccabeus, except without the whole dying in battle thing. 

There's a lot more in 1 Maccabees, and I would assume 2 Maccabees (which tells the same overall story from a less zealous perspective, or so I'm told) that adds to the New Testament story. I would highly recommend finding an Apocryphal Bible and reading that middle chunk that young Protestant children are told to stay away from because it's from the Catholic version of the Bible and therefore isn't really the Bible. 

It's still history, and while some of the other books are slightly less believable (I'm looking at you, "Bel and the Dragon"), they are all still important Jewish texts, and will add to your understanding of the Jewish mindset at the time of Jesus.

Class time!

Let's see, what else have I done the past few months...oh yeah, prophet study! We were all assigned a minor prophet to study in depth and eventually give a 30 minute teaching on. I was assigned Habakkuk. At first it seemed a daunting task. The longest speech I'd ever given was 10 minutes back in Speech class senior year of high school, plus Habakkuk is only 3 chapters, that's a whole 10 minutes per chapter! However, I quickly discovered it was going to be difficult to summarize what I wanted to say in just 30 minutes (it was ONLY 10 minutes per chapter).

My original outline was 4 pages long, and had literally everything I could possibly find about the book of Habakkuk. There's probably enough information on that thing to give a 2 to 3 HOUR teaching on the book if I had enough time to prepare. Seriously, if you haven't recently (or ever) read that tiny, short, funny sounding book sitting snugly between Nahum and Zephaniah, go do so now. I fell in love with it. 

We also went camping! Our cross cultural training week was supposed to be during our camping trip, but we ended up leaving 2 days early because there was a storm that destroyed half our tents. However, the Friday - Monday that we were there was a ton of fun! I got the worst sunburn of my life (I could not even reach my own shoulders the next day to apply my own Aloe Vera, I had to get friends to put it on me because it was so painful) for spending to much time shirtless on the beach on a sunny Saturday, but it was worth it, because we had a ton of fun.

Credit for Camping Photo's goes to my dear friend Laura, who photographs everything now that she has a smart phone for the first time. We've all been there Laura, it's okay. 

 Lunch around the campfire!

 Worship around the campfire!

 Class under the pavilion at the beach! A few hours later we'd see THE storm role in, wait for it to pass, and then head back to camp to find everything busted. We headed home that same afternoon.

The "WeatherMaster" got mastered by the weather. 

The Tuesday after we came back (we were still supposed to be camping) was declared The First Annual Madison BSN Ugly Day, as a way to continue the fun and games in spite of having to come home early. I will share a class photo here. 

WARNING: MAY CAUSE GAGGING AND/OR WEEPING. VIEW AT YOUR OWN RISK. VIEWER DISCRETION IS ADVISED. 

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Here you go

Pretty bad, huh?

Our winner was Meagan, the girl on the far right next to me. She clipped off some of her own hair and glued it to her armpit as an added affect. The runner up was Noah, on the far left, who throughout the day continually splashed water on his crotch, rubbed charcoal on his face, and waxed his beard, so he'd look more feral. 

You can't tell in this picture, but I actually shaved off half my mustache and drew in a new curly one with eyeliner. After the competition was over, I shaved off my whole mustache and sideburns, and a few days later my whole beard. I am now (relatively) clean shaven. 

Just this past weekend we did a fundraiser/local outreach at the Madison farmers market by the capitol building. We made a ton of homemade Arnold Palmer Ice Tea (Ice Tea and Lemonade mixed), and handed out free cups to thirsty passers by. We all made Facebook events and asked for people to pledge a certain amount of money per cup (we put a limit on handing out 1000 cups). Some of my friends made over 2000 dollars in one afternoon handing out free lemonade! 

 Some of our lovely servers!

Meagan was on fire. I think she must have handed out half of our cups by herself!

I didn't get any pledges per cup, but I did get a few people asking how they could donate in other ways, and besides, it was a lot of fun and we got to bless a lot of people, so it was super worth it! I got to chat with some homeless people and it made me miss San Francisco :') Plus I think I may have signed up for a local philosophy club while talking to these two older guys about what I was doing. They had some kind of a sheet, and I put my email on it to get back in contact with them. We'll see.

That's all for now. As always, thanks so much for reading and please consider donating towards my outreach with either the GoFundMe button on the side of the blog, or by contacting me on Facebook or email (christopherpaulhickey@yahoo.com). Our outreach budget is being finalized, and with tickets it's looking to be between 4000-4500 dollars, and we leave in a month and a half. I have at least a thousand dollars in donations already, and little bit helps! Thanks again!

God's Blessings,

Chris

Where Am I Going For Outreach?

First things first: I am going to Nigeria and Tanzania!

Now that that's out of the way, here's everything else that's been going on.

The past month has been jam packed with Biblical knowledge and spiritual goodness. After our week on hermeneutics, we dove in to Genesis for a week, which was the longest we've spent on a book since then. Job, Exodus, and Leviticus were the next week (Job is thought to have lived at the time of Abraham, which is why we did that one so out of order), and after was a week on Numbers and Deuteronomy.  We then did Joshua, Judges, Ruth, and First and Second Samuel. That's right, we did a book a day (kind of: Ruth we did in one class period because of time constraints). And this past week was spent all on 1 and 2 Kings.

On our own we've also read through Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of Solomon, Isaiah, and most of Psalms. We read through each book ahead of the time we study it in class so we have time to figure out what we don't understand about the book and are ready to ask questions and be engaged in class.

A big part of how we do our studying is with our reading groups. We all have groups of four students that read through our daily Bible assignments together. There's usually an hour and a half to two hours worth of reading. We have these cool Bibles that have God's text in red, the narrator in black, the main character of each story in green, and all the supporting characters in blue. So we each pick a part and read it as a narrative, instead of a wall of text. It's been fascinating, especially for the more story oriented books like Joshua, Judges, or 1 and 2 Samuel. We try to have fun and do interesting voices (we tried to rap a couple of the Psalms as well), and we often get sidetracked talking about the motivations of the characters. It makes it feel so much more real and understandable when you do it like this, and I'm enjoying it immensely.

My daily schedule goes like this. Shower, breakfast, class, break, class, lunch, class, reading group, homework, dinner, dinner cleanup, finish homework, and if I have time I socialize a bit before going to bed. So the only reason I am having time to post this update is because I have a long weekend and I am sitting in a coffee shop. I actually started writing this update almost 3 weeks ago, but I kept getting sidetracked.

So...Africa! Long story short is they revealed a few weeks ago that for outreach we'd be splitting in to 4 teams. They would all be going to different places in Tanzania for the second half of outreach, but there were 3 different countries and 4 different locations for the first half. Two teams would be going to two different villages in The Democratic Republic of Congo - DRC - and doing teaching seminars. 1 team would be going to Swaziland to do a different seminar. And then the last team would be going to Nigeria.

Nigeria instantly stood out to me. For one, they speak English there. Another thing is that our ministry will mostly be in big cities (I have had a heart for city ministry since my DTS in San Francisco). There was lots of other things that seemed cool, but the last one I'll mention here is that we'll be heading a revival (at the time I just knew we were participating, but I recently found out we'll be the main speakers). After much prayer, and some trusted individuals confirming to me that Nigeria would be an excellent fit, I declared to my leaders that I would be going to Nigeria.

So that's exciting.

The estimated cost for the outreach is looking like four to five thousand dollars. It isn't finalized yet because the teams were just decided a few weeks ago, but I will try to keep everyone updated on here or at least on Facebook.

I want to express my immense gratitude to everyone who has supported me thus far with money or with prayer. I've been having an amazing time, and I wouldn't be able to be here without you.

Thank you, and God's Blessings

Chris

I AM SO BUSY

I AM SO BUSY

Seriously though, this BSN thing is nuts. They have to keep reminding us that, yes, it is a college course, because we constantly have homework.

Let me back up.

This place is really nice. We're in the middle of a bunch of farmland about 20 minutes outside of Madison at the TC (Training Center...YWAM loves their acronyms), and while it is beautiful and relaxing, it also makes me feel very isolated, especially in comparison to my DTS. In San Francisco, I was in the heart of the city. It was impossible to get away from people. Here? The only people are the people I live with, and if I need to get away, I have headphones and a big backyard with a nice swing.

The city of Madison is gorgeous. I've gone in a few times now. The first full day here, the Saturday before Easter, we all bused in to town to do a bit of a photo scavenger hunt and to see the YWAM Madison downtown base (they have an acronym for that too, but I can't remember what it is). I also went downtown to State Street, which is between the UW campus and the capitol, to watch the NCAA championship match. It was raining and the streets were packed with drunk college students. It was a wild night right up until the saddening end (GO BADGERS!).

But about the school: We will be going through the whole Bible once in 4 months. However, the first week of teaching was all about worldviews. We learned about the lenses with which people (including ourselves) see everything in life, and how those can affect, specifically, their understanding or approach to the Bible. This week is all about exegesis and hermeneutics, e.i. how to study the Bible in it's original context and then how to apply what we learn from that to our lives in modern times.

When I said I was SO BUSY, it was because I had just gotten assigned a word study on Timothy and Ephesus. So all last evening I was using a concordance to find and list every time Timothy is mentioned in the Bible (far more than I thought) and any time the city of Ephesus or the Ephesians are mentioned. The goal was to get a better understanding of Paul and Timothy's relationship, and since 1 and 2 Timothy are addressed to Timothy while he's in Ephesus, we also wanted to learn about the state of the church there.

It took awhile.

We've been told to expect at least 3 hours of homework due the next day each night, with week long assignments that will take a bit longer. After this week, we'll be going chronologically through the whole Bible. I'm a little apprehensive, but extremely excited.

Prayers for focus and self control would be greatly appreciated. This is my very first college level course (not counting Psych 101 and American History 101 my senior year of high school, which were pretty easy), and if I'm honest with myself I never developed a great work ethic high school. I have a hard time sitting for hours at a time pouring over one topic. As much as this will be a time of gaining knowledge, it will also, hopefully, be a time of character building.

Well, I should go now. We have a relatively light workload tonight - we are trying to find a one sentence summary of the purpose Paul had for writing 1 Timothy, and then finding half a dozen major points and summarizing how they relate to said purpose - and I want to take advantage of that by getting it out of the way now so I can relax and socialize a bit after dinner. My guess is it'll only take me a little over and hour.

As always, please share this link and the link to my GoFundMe (on the left side of the page!). Outreach locations won't be decided for awhile, so I'm not sure exactly how much I'll need, but I'd guess at least a thousand more dollars, especially when I have to find plane tickets.

The focus is still on The DR Congo and Tanzania (we have two students and one staff from Tanzania who want to start up a BSN in their country when they finish this school!), but because we have so many people, Uganda is another place I heard we might be going. I will update on here the moment I find out where I'm going!

Okay, that seems like a pretty good first update! Thank you all so much for your interest and support!

God's Blessings,
Chris