I have been meaning to post this for a long time, because I feel like it is so important, but life has been wonderfully unpredictable!

The body of Christ is made up of many beautiful and different parts, but only some seem to get noticed. This is sad!  Within the body, every joint supplies!

"...And the parts we regard as less honorable are those we clothe with the greatest care. So we carefully protect those parts that should not be seen, while the more honorable parts do not require this special care. So God has put the body together such that extra honor and care are given to those parts that have less dignity. This makes for harmony among the members, so that all the members care for each other. If one part suffers, all the parts suffer with it, and if one part is honored, all the parts are glad..." (I Corinthians 12:22-26).

Let's honor one another and encourage one another with the unique gifts God has given us! I want to hear everyone's stories! I want to rejoice with you in everything that God is doing, whether it is a heart change, a miracle, prophecy, or an answered prayer.  It is about time that the "small" stories are told! Jesus is victorious! 

Don't be intimidated by the crazy miracles, they are great, but they are only part of the picture. Jesus is to be celebrated in EVERYTHING! This includes when you step out and pray for someone and they are not healed! Stepping out in faith is not always easy or natural, but Jesus is so pleased, even when nothing happens instantaneously.

Jesus adores you and He is working in your heart and through your life! There are no comparisons! You were made uniquely and fit perfectly into the body of Christ! You don't have to try, you already fit. What is God doing? What is He speaking? I want to hear it!

Let's live life together and encourage one another to step out into this Kingdom of AMAZINGNESS! :D

As some of us in our student church community were reading scripture together this Friday, I was convicted by this scripture:  "You know that I have not hesitated to preach anything that would be helpful to you but have taught you publicly and from house to house." (Acts 20:20)  I started thinking about what it meant to go house to house and preach and encourage other house churches.  The next day I got my chance.

A friend of mine from Huntsville text me on Saturday.  I felt the Lord telling me to go see her, so Sunday afternoon I left Austin for Huntsville.  When I arrived, I was suprised to find myself at the house church she is a part of.  The house church met in the home of a SHSU student.  I was so excited to be at a completely student-led simple church gathering in Huntsville, thinking about my simple church that was meeting back in Austin!  After eating together, we began to read the word.  They had been reading through Acts.  "Perfect!", I thought.  I was beginning to realize why I had just driven 3 hours to Huntsville.  I sensed that the Lord wanted to move powerfully in that place.  I began to hear the hunger of these students and young people for the things of Acts to come alive.  I shared a few testimonies of what God was doing in Austin at UT.  They expressed a feeling that they were missing something and they were not content with just reading about the things of the church in Acts. We talked about the baptism of the Holy Spirit that is discussed all throughout Acts.   But the enemy was trying to breed skepticism and doubt.  There was much hesitation.  Suddenly, my friend began to confess sin that she had been in bondage in her entire life.  I told her about her identity as a daughter of God.  Then I told her about her authority over those lies.  I prayed over her for deliverance from these strongholds, then she too renounced these lies and for the first time believed and proclaimed the truth that she was indeed set free!  Within minutes, everyone was huddled together on their knees with their hands out to receive from God.  I began to pray for the Spirit to fill each of them.  As I prayed, the overwhelming spirit of doubt in the room was overcome by the power of God and faith.  (Later, one guy told me he was cussing me out in his head and so skeptical... then the Spirit showed me that he had the gift of healing, and as soon as I touched his hands and began to pray, he said he felt heat all over the back of his head and neck and his hands began to tingle and get hot... immediately his thoughts went from "what the @#$% is this?"  to "God, how can I please you?  God, how can I please you?  God, how can I please you?").  The Lord gave me words for each of them and I prophesied over them all... God was confirming what had just happened by speaking straight into their lives.  They were shocked  and laughing at how everything God spoke was so right on.  The guy began to pray for healing (he had never prayed for healing before.. I taught him as we went... but it was as if he had done this 100 times).  He prayed over my cold and one the girls' jaw, and my friend (who God spoke had the gift of prophecy) was getting words of wisdom from the Lord about how to pray specifically. (Btw, I woke the next morning with no sore throat, which he prayed for.) This young man kept saying how overwhelming the presence of God was in the room.  One of the girls told him she couldn't stop thinking about his father who was sick.  He knew he was supposed to drive home right then and pray over his sick father.  We all prayed over him and sent him and the girl who got the word out to go to his home.  Unbelievable!  Over the course of 3 or 4 hours, this guy went from almost a complete lack of faith to 100% belief in the power of God.  We stayed late.  I sent them greetings from our simple church in Austin and left with my friend around midnight.

A few weeks ago our brother Carl came from Arizona State University.  He encouraged our community and brought greetings from his elders there.  We got to pray over him and send him back out.  I sense that God is wanting to do this more and more!  Student church planters traveling and encouraging house churches in other towns and universities and seeing the Holy Spirit fall on them.  The army of God is being empowered!  And God is using students!

God is on the move! Each day He is making the book of Acts more and more alive and we are seeing incredible things happening on the daily; essentially, we are seeing what the bible displays as normal Christianity being lived out.  There is an entire semester worth of testimonies, testimonies of salvations, baptisms, power encounters, signs and wonders, etc.  But, I would like to share what God has done this past weekend because I feel like it encompasses much of what the Lord is doing and is going to continue to do day to day.

Friday was the last day of classes at UT.  During the week leading up to Friday, the Lord was speaking to me about preaching on campus.  The conviction was heavy.  Everytime I was on campus I would feel this deep urging in my gut to stand up on something and proclaim the Gospel and the love of God to our lost campus.  I could feel the annointing to preach, but Satan had a hold on me and was keeping me in fear.  I wrestled with the Lord all week.  Finally, Wednesday night at our nightly prayer meeting, God led my friend Grace to the story of Jericho... and we read how they unashamedly blew horns and obeyed.  The Lord convicted me and my friend Lauren as we remembered a prophecy we had recieved from a very powerful, well-known prophet we had stayed with in India in January.  The word from the Lord was specific... we were to blow a shofar (a horn) on our campus two times to the north, two times to the east, two times to the south, and two times to the west.  And where we blow the horn we were to preach the Gospel to the people and God would move.  So after a very powerful time of prayer that night, breaking off all fear, we knew what we were to do.  We asked God for a shofar and decided we would preach on campus on the last day of class (It took us a whole semester to obey this one.  Haha, praise Him for His mercy!) 

Friday morning I woke up with no voice.  I knew the enemy was trying to attack, so I prayed against it and within an hour my voice was back.  Later, God provided the shofar.  So we gathered to pray at the steps of the UT tower, taking authority over the enemy's schemes and praying for the Spirit to fall.  Then at 11:50 as students were filing out of their classes and walking across the main mall in front of the tower, we blew the shofar.  I stood on the steps and blew it loudly twice in all directions (if you ever get your hands on one of these, it's a blast!).  With the last blow, Lauren began to preach.  The Spirit gave her words to speak, and she began to proclaim the love of God... the love that is never proclaimed from the mouths of the "turn or burn" street-preachers on our campus.  A few people stopped to listen, most however kept walking with their ipod in their ears, or made a face and continued on, or even snapped a pic with their iphone as they mocked.  Then I began to preach trusting the Lord to give me words.  I too proclaimed the powerful love of Jesus and shared the testimony of my brother who had been transformed by encountering Jesus.  One guy stopped giving me several loud and genuine "Amen's!".  In the meantime, many convos were going on between our friends and students walking by.  My friend Caryn talked to one girl.  The girl told Caryn how she had heard me preaching and got angry and tried to make a quick get-away.  But she said when she heard me say something about the love of God, she turned around and came back to listen.  This girl, who was a believer, moved and convicted said, "why would be ashamed of this message?" An hour later, Bear preached powerfully, sharing his testimony and proclaiming the Kingdom of heaven is near!  My body shivered as he preached with power.  Many mocked and laughed.  But one student froze dead in his tracks and listened until Bear was done.  Afterwards, he and Bear talked for hours.  This student was hungry for more of God!  He and Bear are going to continue meeting together.

After we preached off and on for several hours, we could feel the atmosphere on the campus had changed!  We went to grab lunch in the Union where many students were gathered to eat.  There, Lauren and Courtney talked with a UT football player with a broken foot.  They told him about the power of Jesus and he agreed to let them lay hands on his boot and pray for healing.  They prayed and he said he felt heat in his foot.  With many students looking on, the football player removed his boot and walked around to test it out.  He said the pain was gone and he could now put pressure on parts of his foot he couldn't before.  Jesus healed him and many witnessed this!

Not too long after, Caryn and I stopped to pray for a woman with a brace on her knee.  She had problems with her meniscus in both knees.  We prayer for knees.  She said she also felt heat.  She began to bend her knees and move around.  "They feel a lot better!"  she said.  We prayed one more time for completion and she said they felt really good.  We told her that Jesus loves her and she was extremely touched by this encounter with God.

Later that day, a friend of ours who was around for the preaching said she wanted more of God.  She had been desiring to see God's power in her own life.  So we prayed for the Spirit to fill her, and she was empowered and set free!

The fear of man had me captive for a week, but finally God showed me what loving my peers really looked like.  This Friday the Gospel was preached/declared (accompanied by much outcasting and mocking).  Then the atmosphere changed and Jesus confirmed that is indeed alive through healing.  God is using students take back the land for the Kingdom.  The book of Acts is happening... we just have to step out in obedience and in faith and let God do His thing.

Brothers and Sisters!



Many of you have been fighting in prayer for days, weeks, months, and even years for my brother Michael.  GOD HAS HEARD OUR PRAYERSSSSS!  Last night he prayed to start his new journey with Jesus!!!!!!!!!!!!



In case you're unfamiliar with the background, let me fill you in.  My brother and I grew up hearing the Gospel of Jesus Christ in church and through my mom.  My brother heard it and went along with it but never really connected with Jesus truly I think.  My brother (18 years old, freshman at UT) has been in some of the deepest darkness I have ever seen a human being get into over the past 3 years or so.  He has been abusing many hard drugs and drinking his life away.  Depression and rage and other illnesses also have consumed him.  He's been in much trouble but this year in Austin he got in more trouble with the law.



Meanwhile, many prayer warriors and I have been fighting in prayer.  I had a prophetic dream last year that he became a believer.  A few nights after my dream, a good friend had a dream of me baptizing him in Town Lake in Austin.  Fast forward to this week, and my friend had the same exact dream again!



So, this past Monday my brother called me to tell me he had been arrested and just got out of jail.  He said it was a horrible experience and he was very depressed.  Before I could ask him if this could possbily be God's mercy, he suggested it himself.  "Could this be a sign from God?...  I've been thinking about that today."  Then he told me the reason he was calling me was to see if we could get together and do a bible study.  He hasn't read the bible in at least a year.



Last night, he came over to my house and we read John 1-3.  We got to talk about why Jesus came and why he was called the Lamb of God... just sharing the heart of the Gospel.  He asked if he could borrow a bible for himself and I gave him mine.  I wanted to ask him if he wanted to follow Jesus right there, but Holy Spirit kept saying "wait, wait." 



We hang out for a while.  As we hang in my room my bro comes across some annointing oil/balm on my desk.  (My  friend who had had the dream felt God telling her to give me this a few weeks ago)  I tell him what it is and the different reasons for anointing someone, etc. 



Later, we take some time to pray before he was going to leave.  As I prayed, I spoke the truth unapologetically saying that without Jesus we have no life, it is all darkness, etc.  I end my prayer and my bro starts praying.  (I think this is the first time I had ever heard my bro pray.)  He acknowledges that it was you, God, who had done all of this in his life to bring him to this point so that he could know the truth.  He told God that he was excited about our time reading the bible and that he felt like this evening was a first step in getting right with Him!  He gives thanksgiving to God and surrenders.



Then I share with him the prophetic dreams about him.  He is flipped out and excited after I tell him what baptism means.  I tell him he can read about it in his bible and he says he will do that and think about getting baptized soon.  Then I feel God wants me to annoint him with the oil.  I begin to pray, as a anoint him, and just declare his new identity in Christ.  I break off all the chains that had bound him his entire life.  I feel the power of God through my arm and he grabs my knee and holds on.  I pray for the Holy Spirit to fill him and to empower him.  And I pray for him to go and tell his friends about Christ. 



We both start praising God.  "Praise Jesus.  Hallelujah.  Thank you Jesus. Amen. Praise Him!"  Michael prays to God again and then we pray for his roommate and our dad to know Jesus.  After this we embrace as brothers and sisters in Christ.  We are both tripped out by the presence of God and he keeps talking about how awesome and crazy the whole moment was!



I take him back to his dorm.  He tells me "this is the way it is supposed to be".  He is still crying, and he says: "Isn't it funny how tears can be such a sign of pure happiness?"  He asks if we can play some christian music... so we rock out to "My soul sings" and "I Found a love".  He gives me a hug again and says a deep thank you when i drop him off.  I drive home weeping like I've never wept in my life.. every few seconds realizing the weight of what just happened... a decade of prayers answered!  



Thank you thank you thank you all you prayer warriors!!  Nothing is impossible for our God!!!!!!!!!!!!

This is just one more story of the way GOd is moving migthly in Austin and in families.



WE once were lost, but now we're found!

He is getting baptized this Friday in Town Lake in Austin... many from his sphere of influence will come and witness this symbol of NEW LIFE!

Praise the Lord!



Your sister,

Meghan

Back in October Jesus gave the national elder team the task of taking the vision of SCPx & Simple Church Planting to 13 cities all over the country. Our desire was to see groups of students who have heard about SCPx, & what God is doing through student/simple/campus church planting join us for a time of sharing stories, hearing the vision, & joining the movement. From Southern California all the way to Florida God has been bringing together like-minded students and mobilizers to continue to build His church through the vision of SCPx. We are excited about what God is unleashing already through these "iSCPx's", & what He will fulfill as the summer roles around into the 4-5 SCPx's that will be taking place this summer.

As Brad & I spent time in San Diego & Los Angeles for "iSCPx" God did a mighty work creating a sense of National Spiritual Family among existing student church planters in those cities.

Down in Orlando, Florida with our friends Thomas & Lian Day we joined a group of passionate students to share with them the movement that is taking place as students step out to make disciples and Baptize other students on campus.

Yesterday in Austin the past SCPx Austin grads helped facilitate a powerful time of story-telling of what God has done in the past 8 months since their time at SCPx. The room was full of excitement as we shared about SCPx coming up in August in Austin. However, they were all so pumped about what God might want to begin starting TODAY in their lives to prepare them for SCPx this summer. We ended with a time of impartation to one another through the Holy Spirit. Lies of the enemy were destroyed, the weight of performance & idolatry were melted away by the power & freedom of Jesus, & students were unleashed to pursue obedience to Jesus in His most basic command-making disciples of all nations, Baptizing them in the name of the Father, Son & Holy Spirit. Jesus, we praise you for what have done so far, and beg for MORE MORE MORE as the remaining "iSCPx's" take place in the various cities in Jesus' name. 

Here's some pics from Austin yesterday: