Okay, so this post is actually from my friend Nick's blog (http://nickholding.wordpress.com). And with his permission I decided to copy it to mine. I thought it was a great summary of everything I've been doing with Circuit Riders and YWAM. I figured if any of you still had questions about what it is I'm actually a part of and who in fact are these Circuit Riders I speak of, then this would be a great thing for you to read! Hope you enjoy!
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This summer the entire Harrisburg staff left the East Coast for Hawaii to take part in a 5 week school: The School of the Circuit Riders. The “Circuit Riders?” I hear you ask, “who are they?”.
Just over 250 years ago a wild breed of men was unleashed into the wilderness of America not unlike the 12 young, zealous disciples that Jesus sent out in Matthew chapter 10. The mandate of the young riders: Take the gospel to the remote corners of the frontier.
Their message: The kingdom of God has come, repent, be baptized and follow Jesus. Their payment: A mere 60 dollars a year if anything at all. The cost: Their very lives. 50% died before reaching 33 years old. Their reward: Nothing in terms of societal success and yet everything in terms of the glory of God! These leaders lived for a cause greater than themselves, were dangerous to the enemy, and powerful in the hand of the Almighty God!
(Original circuit rider)
In a period of 45 years under the guidance of Francis Asbury and his Circuit riders the US Methodist church grew from 1,200 members to over 210,000.
The last 5 weeks have been sheer craziness. 300 people showed up from the US and all around the world. With a busy 6 day a week schedule, we were running hard and fast in every way. For 5 days a week we had lectures, prayer room, small groups and work duties.
(Kona prayer room)We also had various community outreaches, most teams did door-step evangelism, but I ended up on a team that spent our Saturday’s building an aquaponic farm. Aquaponics combines fish farming with the growing of vegetables. The fish water is pumped from the fish tanks into floating grow beds that are fertilised by the fish waste, and in turn the plants clean the water which then feeds back to the fish. The farm is for the Marshallese, a people group displaced by US atomic testing on the Marshall Islands in the Pacific. This is part of a long term outreach the Kona base has to the Marshallese with many other people going down to visit and join in with their community.
(Circuit riders class time)
This short school has been so amazing and encouraging. Our focus has been simply:
- Save the Lost.
- Revive the Saved.
- Disciple them all.
Over the course of the school this was broken down into 5 week long topics, which I highly recommend the study of:
- Simple Gospel
- 10 subjects for discipleship
- Revival History
- Missions
- Prayer
Firstly, getting back to the simplicity of the gospel has been, as it always is, a revelation. The pure facts that Jesus died for our sins and wants to be Lord of our lives led to over 80 salvation’s during the times of door knocking in Kona.
10 simple subjects of discipleship, or “The Big 10”, is a curriculum which tackles ten key topics for Christian’s to know, with the idea that as soon as someone gets saved we can take them quickly through topics such as:
Who is Jesus?; Prayer; Reading the Bible; Understanding worship; Who is the Holy Spirit?; What is Sanctification?; Hearing God’s voice; Evangelism and Fellowship.
The biggest impartation I got, is faith that God is really moving right now in a new way and that revival really is here. The school sent out 4 outreach teams, to Orange County California, Alaska, Washington D.C. and a long term community plant to Ireland. I’ll be joining up with the D.C. outreach next week as they contend in the US capital for the ending of abortion as well as raising up a house of prayer and evangelism.
O.C. Outreach
Huntington Beach, Orange County (O.C.) is where the “Jesus People” movement started in the 1970s and saw thousands of US hippies come to know Jesus. We’re really believing God is about to move in a similar way. 110 Circuit Riders have gone off to the O.C. to join 120 YWAMers from the Denver base and 500 local church workers for a massive 2 week evangelism push in the Orange County.
(Matt and Derrik street preacing in the OC)On the beach a huge, old school, revival tent has been set up. We have daytime evangelism mixed with nightly public meetings. I’m really believing for hundreds if not a few thousand to be saved as so many “wild-eyed” revivalists show up on the doorstep of the O.C. Many of whom bought one-way tickets foreseeing the outreach going a lot longer than just two weeks. What amazing commitment to the word of the Lord from people! (As I write this I just saw a report that the O.C. team has already seen 75 salvation’s!). There really is a new move of God being released!
Podcasts
I’d highly recommend for all to listen to the Circuit Riders Podcast (all the talks have been given away for free over iTunes). I’d especially recommend the talks “The Unoffendable Heart” and “Self Dethroned” by Brian Brennt. Amazing revelation!
http://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/circuit-riders/id449476756
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I completely agree with everything Nick wrote and I hope you are as excited as I am about what God is doing. I just thought that was such a clear post about what I'm a part of...compared to my mostly-scatterbrained-ramblings I tend to leave you with :)
I have 2 more weeks until I move back to Harrisburg. I'm enjoying the time I get to spend with friends and family, but I'm so excited to get back to PA as well! Currently I'm working on raising monthly support to cover the costs of my housing, food, travel, etc. for this upcoming year (and one time gifts are certainly accepted!). If you would like to partner with me in this just email me at JessicaRams@gmail.com.
Thanks again to all who are supporting me prayerfully and financially! I shall now end this ridiculously long post...but not before I let Johnny Cash say a few words about the Circuit Riders!
