Preparing for GROWTH

Early this winter, as a friend and PLU mentor, Dan Murry was prayer walking the PLU campus, he was looking up through a band of trees, now leaves fallen and thin. His gaze was drawn to how he could peer through the trees into upper campus, when the Lord spoke to Him: This winter was going to be a season at PLU of increased vision and REVELATION. The Lord impressed upon Dan's heart that as spring approaches and new leaves begin to grow, we at PLU and Ignite can expect to see a season of GROWTH.

I am utterly amazed watching students encounter and receive personal revelation of God's heart for the campus. Let me tell you one amazing story of students walking out in the supernatural power of God:

One of our students, John was hanging out with his atheist friend Steve who was having relationship problems (very common problem in a college setting). The Lord spoke to John and told him to pray for Steve, which he did. The next day Steve came up to John and said, "Dude! Whatever that thing was that you did yesterday (referring to prayer), can you do it again? Because it worked!" John rejoiced in the power of God and explained to him, "Wow, that's awesome! But it wasn't some special ritual I performed, it was the power of God supernaturally working in your life through our prayers." (Not the actual names of students involved).

Today, as you can imagine, Steve has a huge heart for John and is continuing to build a relationship with Steve and pray with him. I have the privilege of helping John learn how to walk with not yet-Christians and lead them to Jesus. This is an amazing story in the making! The Holy Spirit has been preparing Steve's heart and I truly believe we will get to be a part of seeing him come into a relationship with Jesus! Students are believing for something greater in their lives and those around them. They really believe God speaks to them and are walking out supernaturally all over campus. This is just the beginning! As students get revelation of God's zeal and love, they become unstoppable. It's exhilarating to see the Holy Spirit at work in these students; there is never a boring day at PLU!

On a personal note, Hillary, Mikaiah, and I are standing firm on the home front as we prepare for baby girl number two! Hillary is 20 weeks pregnant and is happy to have more energy than in the first few months. It's obviously a unique experience to us to have one on the way AND take care of our lively and beautiful two year old running around :) We know their are plenty of parents who can relate! We could really use your prayers as the Lord prepares our family for growth in this time. Also, with a leap of faith and a lot of grace, Hillary officially quit working at Starbucks about 6 months ago, to devote herself to being a full-time wife and mom, and now has the ability to mentor several girl college students as well! She LOVES staying home!! In January, the Lord spoke clearly to me about getting my household in order-maybe the Lord was delivering a New Years resolution? I have a strong sense that this word comes with a firm warning-the Lord wasn't suggesting this to me, but commanding me to lead and tidy up any loose ends in my household and ministry. As the Lord continues to increase the ministry of Ignite and our family, we ask for your prayers that our family would continue to flourish and never be sacrificed on the alter of opportunities in ministry.

Daily we can sense the favor and grace of God in our lives. This is a very exciting time! As we step out in faith and continue to see PLU transformed, we strongly believe that God is going to stir many of your hearts to partner with us financially and in prayer to allow us to continue this work on campus full-time. Please take some time to consider partnering with us more intentionally. To continually see PLU transformed, we need all hands on deck.

Finally, please pray for us, as we prepare to take a team of 18 to Haiti again this year from March 23-April 1st. Check out more about this mission trip at www.missiontohaiti.blogspot.com

Thank you for your love and support!

Dan and Hillary

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FULLNESS OF GOD

What a start!

Wow! PLU has been in session for 15 days and God has done so much. Every year the freshman class has an identity of their own. I was asking the student orientation guides and RA's "So what is this freshman class like?" The word I kept hearing was OPEN. As a pastor this is one of the best things you can hear. God can do ANYTHING with an open heart. You can know the bible inside and out, but if you're not open the Holy Spirit cannot take you deeper. God can work with an open heart, but so can the enemy. Our prayer is that God would speak to them and take them deeper with Him in this crucial window of college. I've shared this statistic before but the exciting and sobering reality is that 90% of students are open to the gospel coming in their freshman year and by spring semester of their senior year that percentage quickly shrinks to 3%.  We are urgent to see this class filled with the knowledge of God right away. Once students get a taste of the fullness of God they will be ruined for anything else.

Launching our first gathering 15 days ago, I had no idea what to expect, I never do. It is always exciting. Let me set the stage for you. Its a Tuesday night at 9pm, the first day of class. 150+ students are packed into the Cave, a small club venue on the bottom floor of the university center. Half the students are new with a whole grab bag of church or non-church backgrounds intermixed with a bunch of on fire, passionate returning students creating an explosive and quite unpredictable atmosphere.What I saw was amazing. Instead of experiencing tons of awkward, skid-dish, tentative interactions with new students I saw a family loving each other and worshiping God unabashedly. I saw strangers hugging each other as if they were long lost friends. Today, 3 gatherings in, nothing has changed, other than the students being more stressed :) But stress can be good, because it leads people to desperation, and instead of turning to worldly comforts many are bringing their stress to Jesus and watching Him give them strength and a testimony that cannot be refuted.

God is on the move! Tuesday night is just one indicator. If that was not enough to prove it to you, We have more students going deeper and committing quicker to small groups. Involvement is great, because, if done right it can lead people to meaningful and life changing relationships with God and others. But students are encountering God at new levels too. And to share all the testimonies would take longer than this post will allow. So stay tuned as we unroll exciting testimonies as we see PLU and all its intricate facets transform into the design God created for them.

It is true, I am officially a decade older than this freshman class and my ability to blend in has become almost obsolete. But, that is not my destiny, to blend in, Its to praise God from the rooftops and lead a generation into wholehearted abandonment to Jesus. As Hillary and I continue to press into the call God has for our lives, I ask that you lift us up in prayer. We are more confident in the power of God and anointing on our lives to lead this generation than ever before. This hour in history is crucial, and we sense the urgency of God. The enemy is raging and will do everything in his power to try and destroy the work of God at PLU. This does not scare us, but we do have a healthy awareness of the enemy's schemes and I must wake up each morning with the deceleration that Satan has been defeated and the Holy Spirit desires to breakthrough the campus of PLU. I will not lie, its a battle out there, and it is heavier than ever. We cannot passively continue on business as usual, just providing good programs and social environments for students. We must go deeper, and we need your prayers to continue to press to the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.

I will close this way, We are praying for the fullness of God on campus. Ephesians 3:13-21 has become a crucial prayer for us. Paul prayed this prayer for the Church of Ephesus so that they would not lose heart and be filled with all the fullness of God. I ask that you would join us and contend for the fullness of God in the hearts of students, faculty and staff and for the entire institution of PLU!


Thank you!
Dan Donohoue

REMEMBER

12 years and 3 campus leaders later hundreds of graduates of PLU are radically serving Jesus today! On August 14th from 3-6pm we will gather at PLU in the Cave to celebrate 12 years of ministry to PLU. Our goal with this Reunion is to rekindle God's passion for PLU in your heart. Our goal is to connect you deeper to what God is doing and give you more meaningful opportunities to partner with Ignite. Kaj and Jannelle Martin, Chad and Michelle Johnson, and Dan and Hillary Donohoue will share their heart and memories. We will worship together with a worship team compiled of leaders through the years of Ignite and upper room ministry. We will share a family meal together as we re connect with old friends and celebrate what God has done at PLU. You don't want to miss this! Come and remember God's faithfulness to PLU and hear the vision the Lord is giving for Ignite and PLU in the years ahead.

The theme of this reunion is REMEMBER. As Israel would take time to REMEMBER their history and the faithfulness of God throughout all generations, we too should take time to REMEMBER. My favorite account of this principle comes from the book of Joshua Chapter 4.

20 And those twelve stones which they took out of the Jordan, Joshua set up in Gilgal.
21 Then he spoke to the children of Israel, saying: "When your children ask their fathers in time to come, saying,`What are these stones?'
22 "then you shall let your children know, saying,`Israel crossed over this Jordan on dry land';
23 "for the LORD your God dried up the waters of the Jordan before you until you had crossed over, as the LORD your God did to the Red Sea, which He dried up before us until we had crossed over,
24 "that all the peoples of the earth may know the hand of the LORD, that it is mighty, that you may fear the LORD your God forever." (Jos 4:20-24 NKJ)

Israel set up twelve stones as a memorial to REMIND them that God is faithful and "that all the peoples of the earth may know the hand of the Lord, that it is mighty, that you may fear the Lord your God forever"

On this year, twelve years after God started this ministry at PLU we will gather people from each of the years as a memorial to REMEMBER the great moves of God through this ministry at PLU and ultimately REMEMBER that God was faithful, God is faithful now and hat God will always be faithful to the end, in your life, in your family, on this earth, to the Church, and at PLU.

Thank you everyone for your support! If you are interested in attending this Reunion please RSVP here: http://t.co/mOK7jwW

Haiti Mission Update

So, first things first, we've been back for nearly a week and I've yet to make a post about it. Things have been busy, busy, and they aren't slowing down any time soon. Still, I feel like the worst blogger in the world.

So to make up for it, I figured I'd say a little something now about how I feel about the trip and follow it up soon with a more detailed account of what we actually did the rest of the week after Emily's last post!

As you are all aware, there is great need in Haiti right now for hope. As a team, our goal was to in some small way bring hope to the people of Haiti through simple acts of service which would point to Christ who sent us. And so we undertook a lot of projects around the church complex, which either Emily or I will explain more  a forthcoming post. But one of the words that kept coming back to mind as we were serving there was Restoration. Restoration of a country that had been through disaster after disaster. Restoration of a people who have been broken and beaten down time and time again. Our short term missions team got to see a glimpse of this restoration happening through the long term work being done their by Foursquare Church as they've poured out into the church leaders there, who have in turn poured out into the rest of the community. And simply put, it was one of the most inspiring, God-filled sights I've ever seen.

The people there have an inexplicable strength of spirit which is evident in the way they do everything - from worshiping God to simply giving a firm handshake. Despite the overwhelming circumstances they face, all the people we met looked to the future with optimism and confidence that things were going to get better. Most of the people we interacted with on a regular basis were church members, and so it should be no surprise that the foundation for their outlook on life was a hope in Jesus Christ. These people were so solid in their faith that half the time it felt like they were ministering to us instead of the other way around. And in the way that they looked to the future I was able to see the restoration that God is working in that country - a restoration that begins with his children simply coming together and proclaiming that He is God and He is in control, and a restoration that will not cease until God has claimed the entire nation for His Kingdom. That's what I believe anyways. That's the kind of confidence that I was filled with because of my experiences in Haiti.

Remember - we serve a God who took His people out of their slavery in Egypt, was with them while they were lost in the desolate wastelands where they toiled for forty years, and led them back out through the other side and into the promised land. What great things will He then do with the people of Haiti, the poorest nation on this earth? What great things will He do in our own nation, which is itself so poor in its own right? I don't know, but I believe that complete, unreserved restoration is the desire of His heart for all His people. I believe we saw a little bit of it in Haiti in our brief visit. I believe we'll see more of it in the days to come.

- David

Haiti - 17 more days!!

Haiti!

I realize that we haven't updated you on the mission trip to Haiti ten of our students are going on. During an Ignite summer internship in 2010, the Lord burdened Dan Donohoue and some of the inters to draft a mission trip to Haiti over Spring Break 2011. Now eight months later, we are only 17 days away from flying out to Haiti for our first international mission trip.

In the last eight months, we have secured sponsorship and covering from Foursquare Relief and Compassion and am partnering with Puget Sound Christian Center in Tacoma, WA. in sending out a team of 13 young adults to Port-Au-Prince, Haiti April 1 - 10, 2011. Dan Donohoue, team leader, will be working with missionary guides, Chad and Jordyn Isenhart (from PSCC), to lead and serve with a total of 10 college students - myself included :) .

Our purpose: we will travel to Port-Au-Prince, Haiti for ten days to partner with Foursquare Relief and Compassion's efforts in Haiti. We plan to provide a worship and music seminar to the local schools, orphanages and churches connected through the Foursquare Base Camp. We plan to supply and distribute water purifiers and hygiene kits and also aid in trash clean up of local streets and minor construction. Most importantly, we hope to build relationships and offer hope and encouragement to anyone the team encounters.

We have been so blessed to be trained and taught by teachers and pastors from all over the Tacoma area. On top of this, the Lord has financially provided for us above and beyond what we expected and now, are able to give towards building an orphanage in Haiti that we hope to be able to return to each year and continue to partner with the local churches in its efforts and ministry of Jesus. Please keep us in your prayers as well as stay updated with us as we venture out to become world changers for Jesus.

Here is our team's blog to help stay updated: http://missiontohaiti.blogspot.com/

LOVE LOVE LOVE,

Diana

Testimony from January

As a leader of Ignite, I wanted to share my testimony of breakthrough that came from our month of prayer and fasting in January. This is only one of the many testimonies from our students in January.

(I shared this on my personal blog on Jan. 24th)...
..............................................
This last year has been filled with great times of encounter and hardship for me. A few weeks ago, I've realized that I was so tired of feeling that I was running on a low tank of gas and just awaiting the next pocket of encounter and joy God was going to grant me. I wanted more and I wanted it to last. There were many external circumstances that mirrored my past in 2010, especially in the last month and a half, each thing became a huge wave that just pulled me under. I would get back up but another wave would come toppling over me again, and I was just a little short of drowning.

A week ago, the Lord allowed one more wave to come and I collapsed. I was overwhelmed. It was unreal how quick I was consumed with taunts of the enemy yet, God was right there. I cried out that I couldn't do this alone and that I needed God to invade my life and lift me from the deep waters. It's weird because there were days and weeks that I felt great and on top of the mountain with God (read my posts, you'll see!), but for every good day there were four or five days that made me feel like I was on an emotional roller coaster.

Last Monday - God revealed that there were three lies that I was believing in and that it was finally time to deal with them. It's taken a whole year to finally have these surface to the top. Then, He said that I needed to repent for believing in those lies, speak truth over myself, and bless all of those involved. After doing so, I didn't feel any different and decided to take a shower. Within ten minutes or so, I realized that the feelings of defeat, pain, confusion, and depression were gone! I didn't feel like I was drowning or being toppled over and over again, I felt and knew that I was breathing fully again, my spirit was taking in large gulps of air! :) The only way I can explain is that I feel so alive! It's like I was given a surfboard and the boldness to go and take on the waves!

Now that its been a week of walking in the new sense of freedom and LIFE, I wanted to share with you that I still am in the same state, I even had a couple things happened this week that I thought for sure the enemy was going to take me down and bring back the tsunami - but it didn't have the same disastrous effect on me. I was saddened a bit but then, stood firmly on God's truth for me and moved forward!

Love Love Love,

Diana

Luke 21:12 -13 “But before all these things, they will lay their hands on you and will persecute you, delivering you to the synagogues and prisons, bringing you before kings and governors for My name’s sake.“It will lead to an opportunity for your testimony."

Is. 40: 31 "Yet those who wait for the Lord will gain new strength; They will mount up with wings like eagles, they will run and not get tired, they will walk and not become weary."

Rom. 8: 18 "For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed to us."

BAM!

Here is a photo from Ignite this past Tuesday... As students showed up hungry for an encounter with God and for the Holy Spirit to reveal to us who He is, the Lord anointed our worship with a sweet aroma that filled the cave. Students began to pray for one another and boldly commit to living lives set apart for the only one worthy, Jesus.

So excited to see what more God does this month as we pray and fast for more of Him!