2nd Semester

1/2/03, 1:21 AM

Christmas break is officially over. I can't say that I'm surprised that it went quickly: I knew it would before I even got home. So that's that. Back to Michigan in approximately 9 hours and 34 minutes, and then on to Big Bone, Kentucky (hence the above suggestion of an atlas). It's kinda southwest of Cincinatti. I KNOW I spelled that wrong, but I just can't put my finger on how. Maybe I'm just tired. Yup, I'm rambling. Once I manage an AOL access number from Big Bone, I'll update this, but until then I'm sure you'll be able to cope....somehow.... You can pray for us, though! Here's how:

-That Bring Back The Glory would go smoothly. One of our team members left the road earlier in the year, so we have another who's never done BBTG taking her place.

-That we'd quickly remember our music and sing to His glory.

-That God would be working in the hearts of the people at Big Bone Baptist and would not allow one of His children to be unchanged during this crusade.

-Travel safety, since the weather may be a little worse in the Appalachians than it would be, say, in San Antonio, where the temperature rarely even reaches the point where snow could survive...

-God would be brought glory for every thing that occurs, whether seemingly tragic or miraculous.

-Team members, who, in the next couple of months, will be faced with deciding whether or not they'll return for another year with Life Action. This decision is harder for some than for others, I think, but it's a serious one, regardless, and can cause stressin' if not saturated in prayer and godly counsel.

Thank you for your prayers and support. May the Lord bless you with showers of blessings today. Hasta...

Praying,

Nathan

1/4/03

Hello folks. I just turned on my computer. You see, I have been writing my update for this site for 30 minutes, but my computer decided to freeze just as I was putting the finishing touches on a lengthy, yet informative and enjoyable update. Why pray for patience? He teaches it to me whether I like it or not.

I'll sum up in a couple of sentences what took me a very long time to tell in the previous, completely gone update. I flew to South Bend, Indiana (15 minutes from headquarters) on Thursday. Between leaving San Antonio and arriving in South Bend, I experienced a flight cancellation, two flight changes, nearly 7 hours of layover, and three lost pieces of luggage, two which actually arrived in South Bend, just an hour and a half late, one of those two having the wheels completely broken off of it (a brand new bag, too...gotta love flying!), and the other coming in a day late (after I'd already gotten to Kentucky), on Delta Airlines (I didn't even fly Delta...I flew American Airlines and American Trans-Air). I won't tell you which airline broke my bag, but I'll give you a hint. I would not advise you using them for TRANSportation unless you like losing luggage and having it broken. Hee hee. Dah well.

I'm in Kentucky now. Some snow. Not enough for Dave to snowboard on, so he's praying for a blizzard or something close to it, I think. Nice church. About 350 people. My host family is great: an older couple, but very nice, very fun, and my host mom is a very good cook! I'm staying with Richard Vaughan, our sound-guy, this crusade. We've already gotten closer and it's been one day.

The crusade begins tomorrow, here's what to pray for:

- Grace for us for whatever God brings our way (blinding snow, spiritually blind people, or....I dunno....blindness!)

- That His name would be brought glory, and not Life Action's or any team member's name.

- That the Lord would strengthen us and our witness when we're around our host families and church members. That we would guard our words and actions.

- That our hearts would be here and not elsewhere: whether we want be at home, just don't want to be here, are thinking about the future, are still getting over the past, or are just wrestling with God. Please pray for His strength, grace, protection, peace, and JOY!

- That the hearts of the church members will be receptive. That nothing we say or do will rub them wrong and cause them not to come back.

- Finally, that we'd be in His will, and that He'd reveal His will to us as He sees fit and we'd be content with that and simply trust Him.

I appreciate all of you who visit this site. It encourages me very much. May the Lord bless you today.

Pressed, but NOT CRUSHED!

Nathan

We meet again...

It is Saturday, January 11, approximately 9:30PM as I begin this. We've been here a week, and its been quite full of surprises, actually! The town I live in is quite nicely-sized, complete with a mall and Krispy Kreme! The crusade attendance is very good, percentage-wise, and the response that I have seen has been really positive. The pastor, staff, and deacons have very quickly seen themselves as God sees them and has recognized their need for His changing: not a reaction you always see in crusades!

God has been working in good ways (when does He ever work in BAD ways?...) on our team, too. Breaking people of things they'd been holding on to, and deepening our l0ve (I'll explain, the stupid internet filter they made us put on our computers won't show words like (I'll change the spelling, or you can't see them!) gir1s, l0ve, and a myriad of other harmless words that I can't remember right now, so that's that!) for Him and each other and the people we are ministering to. Hes been showing me my half-heartedness in what I'm doing here, and teaching me to drop my pride and get into peoples lives for His sake.

Debbie Canfield (our main revivalist's wife) had some medical problems earlier this week: she was having numbness in her left arm and having trouble breathing Tuesday morning. Steve took her to the hospital and they ran some tests and decided it was NOT heart trouble (praise the Lord!) but they weren't sure what: it could be either gall-bladder or esophagus problems-they said that the symptoms she was having were actually from spasms in her esophagus, which, they said, gives the feeling of a heart attack. So, folks, if Bayer doesn't work in the middle of your heart attack, it might not be a heart attack at all! Try some antacid tablets instead! J

It snowed on Sunday! A lot, if you're a Texan or a Floridian (which Richard and I happen to be...in reverse order), but hardly at all, if you're a Michigander (which Nathan Paulus, our fellow carpooler, happens to be). I think we got a few inches: I know our car was covered pretty nicely when we went outside to go to church, and it only got heavier from then on out. Oddly, though, it stopped snowing by 10 or 11 AM, and most of the snow was melted by 12 or 1 PM! Stinkin Kentucky! It was cold today, though...never got above freezing, I don't think, although I wouldn't know for sure because the thermometer at the bank we pass in the mornings (and, subsequently, in the evenings) is ridiculously inaccurate. We are supposed to get a little snow tomorrow and Monday, but the big snow comes Thursday! YAY! I'm torn, though, because I really dont want it to keep people from coming to the services, but I really DO want it to snow a LOT!!! We'll see what happens. I'd l0ve to take some nice snow-pictures, though...

Not much else to report. I am definitely glad to be back...I l0ve what I do! But, I am exceptionally tired; not sure why. The fact that our house gets cold at night and it's warm under the blankets makes it even MORE difficult to rise in the mornings, even if it IS 7:30. You can pray for that, if you don't mind, because being tired makes it difficult to throw yourself into your tasks...something I'm struggling with already anyways. I know that other team members are feeling fatigued, too, so please pray for them too! Oh yeah! Quick health report before I sign off! My left eye had been hurting me for a week or two, like it was bruised or something, and on the bus ride from Michigan to Kentucky, I noticed that it didn't want to open like the other did whenever I woke up from sleeping (what else does one wake up from? Moving on....). On this past Wednesday, the 8^th, I woke up in the morning with a noticeably swollen left eyelid. That being the last straw, I went to a medical clinic that afternoon (you know how things always get better right before you go to the doctor? Well, that didn't completely happen this time, but it seemed to be getting better by the end of the day, and I hadn't even done anything to it yet!), and the doctor there told me I had an infected eyelid. Of all the random problems....whatever. So he gave me some sample antibiotics, and told me to take those and all my struggles would end. So I have been, and the eye's better. Now that I've officially wasted your time with this last paragraph, I'll depart, prepare for bed, and do the sleeping thing. So long, adios, do-da-loo-da-loo-poo-poo-da-loo.

In Kentucky (can you tell I'm running out of closings?),

Nathan

Saturday, January 25, 2003

Hello Aliens, (see 1 Pet. 1:1 and 1 Pet. 2:11)

So much has happened since my last update, I really don't even know where to start. Thursday, January 16, God threw a curveball at my family and me by way of the of my grandpa (my dad's dad). It was not sudden or unexpected, but still was difficult, and required me to leave Big Bone, Kentucky, and go to Missouri for the funeral, which took place on Monday the 20th (Adam's 16th birthday). The funeral was very good...I haven't been to many, and actually the last one I went to was for a non-Christian, so those are never good, but this one was; I actually learned quite a bit about my papaw that I had never known: things he did when he was younger, and things he did with my grandma. His enduring faithfulness to my grandma was emphasized (but not exaggerated..it was definitely 1 Cor. 13 love!). So it was a good time, and I got to see my family again, so that was all good. I got back to Kentucky on Tuesday evening, and we left for Florida Wednesday morning. I found out that while I was gone, God did amazing work in Big Bone Baptist Church (hoping that's not a hint of any kind...). The testimonies on that last Sunday morning were amazing, descriptive, and all about God (I haven't heard them yet, so this info is secondhand, but trust me, it's from a reliable source!). There was a monster church issue involving a former staff member, some teens, and I'm sure countless other people, and that was brought up Sunday night, and resolved...many teens got up and gave their testimonies and asked the church's forgiveness for their behavior concerning that big issue, and basically they're saying it's the closest we've seen to corporate revival at least this year, if not for a while! We left that church having seen GOD do amazing things, transforming it into a completely different, Christ-centered, God-obedient church! Praise the Lord! By the way, the crusade offering was 47 thousand dollars. Remember we only need 18, and remember that this church just went through a fairly large building campaign! Praise the Lord again! And that 47 thousand does not include the 3 thousand that was taken up as a love offering the last night of the crusade just for the team members! Praise the Lord again! So He's consistently good...we knew this already, yet He continues to prove it. We got to this church here in Florida on Friday, Jan. 24th. It's a pretty big church: it holds 1100, and the attendance, I believe, is around 1100! So I'm excited about this crusade. We moved the Bring Back The Glory production back to 4:30 on Sunday, figuring that since these people aren't revived yet, they wouldn't skip the Superbowl to go to church! Just a little "revival-humor" for ya! Actually we moved it back because we were worried that Steve would never show up if we started it in the middle of the Superbowl. More revival-humor! Ha, I'm on a roll today! Anyways, we moved it back. My host home is nice...they have a pool, pool-table, and hot tub. I'm staying here with JJ, Brad, Dave, and Richard, and it's looking to be a good time! If you could, I would appreciate you praying for me over the next couple of days...I'm having a few issues I'm dealing with...they involve other people, but they are probably mostly a result of me and the way I am, so would you please pray that God would give me the grace to deal with these things, a spirit of obedience and humility to change anything I need to change, or to ask forgiveness for things I've done. So I'd appreciate your prayers in that. Please also pray for the people in this church...our team was actually here 5 years ago, and we're back. I'm not sure why that is, but I'm sure there are just as much or more people in this church that need to hear these truths and that need to have God do a radical work in their life as there are in any other church! Lastly, pray for strength and grace for us as team members in general. Most of us are having some kind of issue right now, and it seems Satan really is attacking us a lot right now, ESPECIALLY today. Unloading days are always a little tiring and difficult, but today was crazy. Thanks! A word of exhortation and then I go...Remember today where your citizenship is! We are not OF this world, so let's not act like we are! (I think I actually just preached solely at myself right there, but that's fine!)

Good day,

Nathan Jack Bechtold

2/1/03

Had to get this done on such a monumental day! Happy February everyone! Cherish this day, because, after this one, you'll only have 27 more days that you can say it is February, 2003! Ahhhh. Well, this crusade has been no less busy than any other, and perhaps has been even more so than most of the others. JJ thought that our team was getting kinda bored (last crusade we seemed to have quite a bit of free time), so this crusade he began implementing his "boredom-elimination" plan (and that's my title for it, not his), but the problem is that we had so much stuff to do this week already that his ideas weren't really needed quite yet. The only thing we did (under the boredom-improvement plan) was a team work-out time....segregated between guys and s, of course, but that was actually fun...it just depleted quite a bit of free time. We have had two chapels to do this week: Thursday morning the children's workers did one at a Christian school, and Friday morning the singers went to the same school and did one for the middle and high-schoolers. Other random tasks have managed to give us a busy week, not that I don't enjoy it, I'm just lettin you know what's up. We're working on using our sound equipment to record a team CD (good times!), and I'm in charge of getting copyright permission for the songs we're singing, so that's another fun thing! The crusade is going pretty well. The first few nights, the turnout was quite good...it's gone down a fair amount in the past couple of days, but that's pretty normal for a crusade. We've had attendance somewhere in the 200s these last two days. Thank you for your prayers, and I ask for them even more...just that the Lord would break through barriers in people's hearts, and draw them to the services and draw them to Him (which is the important thing anyways). And PLEASE pray for our team's health! Dave is getting very sick, Jennifer is getting over being very sick, and most of us are feeling at least slightly under the weather (and what beautiful weather it is too!). I'll have a more descriptive report on what God's doing later in the week whenever we hear testimonies (it's hard to tell at this point, because we haven't heard any testimonies yet), and I'll have some pictures put on here on Monday, so don't get mad, get glad! Monday is our day off, so I'll catch up on many things that have been delayed (my host family has a cable modem, so I'll get the pictures on there very quickly, too!), and I think I'm gonna get to swim with (or at least PET, if the water's too cold for swimming) manatees...I never knew they lived in Florida rivers/canals! So if that happens, I'll for sure have pictures of that too. Enough for now, thanks for your prayers!

More than a conquerer through my Savior...

Nathan

2/9/03

     It's a rainy Sunday afternoon here in Spring Hill, Florida, and as I recline on my bed, gazing out at the dismal conditions outdoors, the idea occurs that I need to quit rambling and tell you what's happening. Today is the last day of the crusade. This one has flown by: it's been a very busy 2 weeks! The plans I wrote about on the last update basically failed: I couldn't get my host mom's cable modem to work with my computer (blasted user-names and passwords! I think they're my problem), and I didn't get to go see the wallabees, I mean manitees, like I had intended to (for more info about that little intentional type-o, call 210-651-5299 and ask for Jessica! hee hee...). Of course, neither of those have much of any, if any at all, eternal significance, which is, perhaps, why they didn't get done: God had other plans for me. On our day off we did get to go to the beach and play some volleyball and watch the sun set, which was nice (see my picture page...)! Testimonies have been very good, and if they are indicative of what God's been doing in all of the church members' lives, then I'd say the crusade has gone very well. I don't know if they do represent God's work in everyone's lives, so I won't say how well the crusade has gone, at least in those terms. God has been saving people from hatred, disobedience to their authorities, poor music choices (a young teen mentioned that and I was encouraged), and for many has simply given a refreshing surge of His spirit, not unlike a drink of cold water for one who thirsts out in the middle of a desert. So there have been good things that have happened. The crusade offering as of today is $12,000, and I'll let you know what the final count is..eventually! :) Thank you for your prayers/support/messages-through-family/emails! We have Tuesday-Saturday pretty much off, and then Sunday we begin again in Lakeland, Florida, so you can keep prayin!
     Dave and I went golfing yesterday...I shot a 120-something, but we had fun, and afterwards our host family took us (JJ, Dave, Richard, Brad, and me) to Johnny Carinos. Tomorrow we (the singers) will work on recording stuff, and then will probably tear down all our equipment. Tuesday and Wednesday will pretty much be days off, and then Thursday we'll leave and go to some retreat center for a day to just get out of here and hang out as a team. Friday we'll get to Lakeland and set up as much stuff as we can so Saturday won't be so stressful.
     God reminded me yesterday of His greatness through Psalm 8.
Psa 8:1 For the choir director; on the Gittith. A Psalm of David. O LORD, our Lord, How majestic is Your name in all the earth, Who have displayed Your splendor above the heavens!
Psa 8:2 From the mouth of infants and nursing s You have established strength Because of Your adversaries, To make the enemy and the revengeful cease.
Psa 8:3 When I consider Your heavens, the work of Your fingers, The moon and the stars, which You have ordained;
Psa 8:4 What is man that You take thought of him, And the son of man that You care for him?
Psa 8:5 Yet You have made him a little lower than God, And You crown him with glory and majesty!
Psa 8:6 You make him to rule over the works of Your hands; You have put all things under his feet,
Psa 8:7 All sheep and oxen, And also the beasts of the field,
Psa 8:8 The birds of the heavens and the fish of the sea, Whatever passes through the paths of the seas.
Psa 8:9 O LORD, our Lord, How majestic is Your name in all the earth!
     It reminded me (especially verses 3 and 4) of who creation and everything that occurs in it is really about! God forbid that I should neglect to give Him the glory due Him; the glory that His greatness demands!
See ya!
Growing in grace,
Nathan

2/19/03

It is officially 2 months until I turn 19. "The Golden Birthday," they call it. I call it my 19th birthday. I have 10 minutes until team meeting so I'll be brief (why do I always say that, and then I NEVER am?....). We are in Lakeland, Florida, at Calvary Baptist Church. The weather is warm, the church is medium-sized, the people are friendly (which is not atypical).

A few new developments in my life: I am now Chrishonda's assistant (which means I do alot of the things that she would normally do that don't directly apply to being our music director), I had a rough day yesterday, and I decided to come back to travel for another year. Don't you love it how I put three completely unrelated things together in one sentence? Yes, I plan to travel for one more year, and no, it's NOT because I simply don't wanna go to college, and no, it's NOT because we have crusades scheduled for next year in California, Arizona (I THINK), and Colorado, although those two things are nice perks! Thank you for your prayers! I'm seriously confident that this is the Lord's will for me, and I eagerly anticipate what He has in store for the next year and a half!

A few old, non-developments in my life: I'm not married, I'm not yet in Heaven, and I still speak English. No problems here (although, whenever God feels like bringin me home, I'll be fine with that)!

Must go! 3 minutes! I'll update more extensively soon and will put more pictures on soon! Adios!

Hurriedly,

Nathan

3/15/03

Yes, I know it's been so incredibly long since I updated, and for that I am terribly sorry. I have an excuse (notice how 'most everyone s excuses, yet we all still offer them? well, that's what I'm doing!). You see, services this crusade (oh yeah, by the way, I'm in Hueytown, Alabama now, at Pleasant Ridge Baptist Church) begin at 7:00pm, as compared to 6:30 services, which have been more typical of our schedule this year. Considering an over-2-hour service (Laine tends to go a little past 9), and then changing out of my ministry outfit, running book table, or taking care of any miscellaneous things that need to be done, I usually don't get home until after 10:00. This makes it difficult to fellowship with the host family, shower, take care of a few pre-bedtime rituals, and still make my 11:00 curfew, withOUT having a website to update! So there's my reason, and I've taken way too long to explain it. Oh well, now you have a little more detailed picture of my evening.

Let's see....we got here last Friday, and began services on Sunday. This is an 11-day crusade, which means we will be finishing on this coming Wednesday, and will leave Thursday morning for Justin, Texas. I'm hoping (as I'm learning to do for every crusade) that we won't make it to Justin....that revival might break out here in Hueytown in the next 4 days and we would have no desire to be anywhere but here. Hasn't happened yet, but if I didn't hope for that, then I really have no reason to be here.

CHANGE GEARS!

God has been doing a lot of work in my life lately. He's been freeing me from the attacks of Satan, mainly relating to guilt over past sins, or even current ones. The Lord is starting to really show me who I am in Him...FREE, absolutely positionally holy, and perfectly loved! It's been kinda painful at times, but definately enjoyable and SO worth it! I'm glad He's still workin on me (no, I'm not perfect yet, for all of you out there who perhaps thought otherwise....).

CHANGE GEARS

This church is good. Attendance the first few days was actually a little above average, I believe, which was encouraging. The people are friendly and in need of a marvelous work of God, as am I, and as is every other person on this planet. Please please pray for God to do something inexplicable! I'll post more details as to what has actually already done on maybe Tuesday or Wednesday, after we hear some testimonies (I love hearin testimonies!).

CHANGE GEARS

Little random facts. My host family is SO much fun! Their names are Austin, Blake, Cheryl, and David Amerson. Austin is 11, Blake is 9, and Cheryl and David are my host parents. I have had so much fun in the time I've spent with them! Austin and Blake are boys after my own heart. Austin because he reminds me of me...definitely has a first-child syndrome, from what I've seen. Blake because he reminds me of my bubs Adam! It's funny. My host mom is so fun and funny, and my host dad plays drums and is really laid-back....needless to say I love being with them! I'm definitely gonna miss them when we leave! On our way to Justin, Texas, we're going to stop in Ruston, Louisiana and stay with our host families from that crusade (or try to, at least), which is a good thing because I still have my house key from that family! Ha ha! Better give it back to 'em! Sent my laptop in to Dell on Monday, got it back Wednesday. They updated the BIOS on it (which I didn't even ask for...very kind!) and replaced a little release latch on the bottom for my left front media bay. I was pleased with their service, so I now endorse them, voluntarily. Buy Dell.

The Lord bless you for praying for me, writing to me, calling me, thinking about me, supporting me, or doing nothing! May He give you exceedingly great joy today simply in knowing His greatness! Will update again soon!

Free,

Nathan

3/22/03

Hello all. A new crusade begins tomorrow for the Blue Team. We are right now in Justin, Texas (yeah, kinda close to home! good chance to come see Nathan! hint, hint...).

From what I've gathered so far, God has been beginning to work here, and the people are, for the most part, very ready. At least, the pastor is ready, and is believing God will move greatly in these days. For example, we weren't going to set up the prayer room until Monday because it was going to be the s' dressing room on Sunday night for Bring Back The Glory, but the pastor asked if we could set it up anyways, in case God moves and people want to go to the prayer room! That is a good sign.

Please pray for God to show us His glory in a way that we can't even fathom. Pray that this would be the last crusade we do.

I won't be long-winded here. My host family is great. I'm staying with Rick this crusade. I know probably none of you know him, but that's who I'm staying with.

If you would like to pray for me, you can pray for grace in the trials God allows my way, for a sound mind that is focused on Him, and for a servant's heart and attitude all day every day!

Thanks for readin this! Have a great day!

Nathan

4/2/03

Greetings! I know it's been about seven thousand years since I've updated, but I was kinda trying to wait until the end of the second week to do it, so now I'm doin it.

The first weekend of the crusade, Mom and Jessica and the Wells and Julianna and Blake came up to see me. Good times there. The second weekend (this past weekend), the whole fam came up. More good times. I went home with them on Sunday afternoon (we only had services from 1:00-3:ish Sunday because of Texas Motor Speedway traffic), and came back here Monday night. I actually spent almost as much time driving there and back as I spent there, but it was worth it, I love bein home! My mom is here right now...she'll leave later this afternoon to go home, but it's been nice having her here, too.

The crusade's gone pretty well. We had the first night of testimonies last night. They were actually really good. People that came up talked about clearing their consciences, bitterness issues that were being resolved, submission to their husband, not being faithful in quiet time in the morning, and a strained husband-wife relationship. God was glorified, which is the purpose of those testimonies, so all was well.

I have to go right now, though, because it's 9:07, and we have a 9:30 call time, because we are washing the bus, semi, and trailers today! Fun times for us, I know! Thank you for praying, please keep it up! I'll put more on here soon, and pictures (the church has high-speed internet, so that WILL happen soon...and I'll tell you when it does!)! The Lord grant you His presence and peace today.

Running,

Nathan

I'm in Eastern Time. So if you call me (wait...nevermind) remember I'm an hour ahead. I'm on my host family's computer right now because, although they do have high-speed Internet, it won't work with my laptop because I think you have to have some software installed or something like that. What a dilemma. So I'm actually in Harlan, Kentucky, it's Saturday, April 12 (a week before my birthday....), and it's 4:15 in the afternoon. We set up our stuff today, and now I'm back home. We'll be here from yesterday (we got in yesterday evening) until next Friday, when we'll leave and head to Big Bone, Kentucky. Now, if these names sound familiar to you, that's because actually we have had crusades at both of these churches before, and now we're doing what are called "follow-up crusades." They're not as long, and we cover (I say "we"...Steve and/or Laine does...) different material. So if you want to see what it looks like where I am, go to my pictures page and click on "Harlan, KY," and just imagine everyone looking 6 months older and maybe a few different hairstyles or things. Yeah yeah. So please pray for God to work here at First Baptist Church, and I'll update more details later next week. Thanks!

Tasting and seeing His goodness,

Nathan

4/25/03 (Eight months exactly until Christmas Day!!!)
Perhaps as the travel year winds down, so does my consistency in updating this site. Or my sanity. Or perhaps both....Yes, so as I write this, we are still in Kentucky, although in a different city than we were when I last updated. BUT, if you haven't checked this site since early January, then it is, to you, as if we've always been here in Big Bone. But we haven't...we've been elsewhere. The point is, we're back in Big Bone, and have been since the evening of April 18, aka. Gretchen Reidel's birthday, aka. the day before my birthday, aka. Good Friday (the most important and exciting of those three). We went to the Good Friday service here, which was enjoyable. A man from the church dressed up as the apostle John, and talked about the events of "the past week" as if it were A.D. 33 (or whatever year it was that Jesus was crucified), and we were somewhere in Jerusalem. SO, that was good. Then, we all either were reacquainted with our former host families or met our new ones, Richard's and my case being the latter. The Resurrection Sunday service was good: we learned a new song the week prior to it and sang that. It was a really good choral arrangement of "Were You There?". (I really don't know if I just punctuated that sentence correctly. I know you're supposed to put the ending punctuation inside of the quotations, but the question mark is part of the song title [I'm pretty sure], so what do I do with the period? Do I end that sentence with a question mark and make what was supposed to be a declarative sentence into an interrogative one, or do I put both punctuation marks inside of the quotations [which would look absolutely ludicrous], or do I do it the way I did? If you have any suggestions or comments, email me!) Moving on. We've had services all this week (every night, I mean). We will not be having them on Saturday (being tomorrow, as I write this). Sunday, Lord willing, will be the last day of services. Then we plan to have two or three days of rehearsal for Bring Back The Glory (since, after this next crusade in Greenville, South Carolina, we will be having about a week off and then going on the road to do Bring Back The Glory about 4 or 5 times a week, at different churches, for 6 weeks), and, Lord willing, will leave on Friday, May 2, destination: Greenville, South Carolina. I had a birthday party yesterday. It was fun. See Spot run. Go, Spot, go. Sorry. So Chrishonda and Jennifer wanted to do a party for me, but I had told them that I think that surprise birthday parties on our team are dumb, simply because of the way they are done, and because there are like nine people on our team that have birthdays in April, so birthday parties are getting old quick. Right, so they were gonna try to plan something surprise-ish anyways, but everything they tried kept getting messed up because something else was going on when they wanted to do it. So finally, we got to go to the house of some very generous church members, and I opened a couple of gifts, and we ate cake and homemade (yummy!) ice cream, and then watched Beauty and The Beast (one of my favorite Disney movies). Tomorrow (Saturday), most of the team members are going to a baseball game, I believe it is the Reds and the Padres, compliments of that same generous family in the church. :) Thanks for your prayers, and I hope to talk to you soon! Oh yeah, I'll be home from May 23 to May 28, except I might not be there on the 26, because Passion is doing a worship conference north of Dallas called One Day (very big thing...for college-age people). Thinking about going to that.

Here's a summation of what God's been doing in my life lately, it is a quote from The Pursuit Of God by A.W. Tozer, and it perfectly describes what God has been doing in me: "The man who has struggled to purify himself and has had nothing but repeated failures will experience real relief when he stops tinkering with his soul and looks away to the perfect One. While he looks at Christ the very things he has so long been trying to do will be getting done within him. It will be God working in him to will and to do."

Now, I've taken up three hours of your day, so I will stop. May the Lord bless and guide you today.

Nathan

5/7/03

Wow, it seriously has not been since April 25 that I have updated. :) Sorry. We are now at our last scheduled crusade for the 2002-2003 travel year. The town's name, you ask? Greenville. The state? South Carolina. Yes, this is where I am. Today (as I write this) is Wednesday, the first week of this crusade.

Bring Back The Glory went well...well...it went fine, but there were a few mishaps. Joel ripped his coat and then I think Brad stepped on Rachel's dress as she was walking off the stage and ripped it. So a few burst seams, but it went fine. No speaker explosions, light failures, or exhausted maniacal team members suddenly deciding to crowd surf, so it was good (don't worry, none of those have happened as far as I know, except the light failure thing....that's happened before....oh yeah, and we had a sound problem at least once, but that wasn't because the speakers blew up).

The church is called Pleasant Grove Baptist Church. Supposedly there are about 700 or 800 that attend regularly (that's 700 or 800 people), and I heard that the church holds about 1400, although I have not counted pews and whatnot, so who knows? The turnout on Sunday was really pretty good, and even in the past two nights the attendance has been good, which is encouraging. So please pray for Pleasant Grove Baptist Church and that God would do some incredible work here in drawing His people back to Him. Thanks!

I know I haven't put pictures on here for a while, but I really do plan to put some more on when I get a chance. Workin on trying to plug into the church's high-speed network, but I'm not sure how that's going to go. We'll see

Thank you for your prayers and emails, and I hope to see/hear from you soon! I must go!

Nathan

5/19/03 (I've officially been 19 for a month!)

Ok, this is kinda weird, but as I write this, I am actually in Big Bone, Kentucky. Yeah. This is the third time we've been here in 6 months! Don't know how often that happens! Probably rarely if ever! Yup, so we're on our trek back to headquarters. We drove all day today...left Greenville, South Carolina at like 8:30 and got here at 6 or 7ish, I guess. I'm actually flying home, since we have about a week off, so I will be in San Antonio soon! I have to be back in Michigan on Wednesday, May 28, and from there we'll head out to do "one-nighters," which is basically where we go into a church, set up our stuff, do Bring Back The Glory, tear down our stuff, and leave either the next day or maybe two days later.

The crusade in Greenville (actually Fountain Inn....) ended really well, I thought. The testimonies on Sunday were very impactful...many dealing with bitterness and at least one dealing with moral issues. So that was encouraging, and I am positive that God has been dealing with His people, and I trust Him to continue to do so now that we're gone. I am SO THANKFUL to Him for allowing me to be involved in a ministry that preaches such powerful truth that God uses in amazing ways to bring His people to repentance and back into a right relationship with Him. He's so good!

We had our end-of-the-year party on Saturday (the 17th). It was really fun...we went to a Japanese steakhouse (like Beni Hana), and then went back to the church and there was a room set up with a Hawaiian motif, and we did some different things there. There were a couple of skits, we did a little gift-exchange thing, watched some videos that people had made, ate some Hawaiian-themed snacks, and so on...we had a good time, though. I really love the team God has put me on, and it's gonna be sad when some of them leave next year. But, I know God will bring people here that He has a plan for, so next year will be exciting too. On Thursday (the 15th), we got to have field trip day! Most of the team went on a tour of the BMW factory in Greenville (oh yeah, very fun), which is the only one in the world that makes the BMW Z4 Roadster and the BMW X5 SAV (Sports Activity Vehicle...yeah). SO SWEET! I took some pictures and will put them on the site. The wouldn't let us take cameras on the guided tour, so I didn't get pictures of their machines or cars being made or anything like that (which makes sense), but I did get some in the museum section. After that, we went to see the father of the founder of our ministry. His name is Del Fehesenfeld, and he is 91, I believe. So he talked to us for a little while and exhorted us and we sang for him. Then we had watermelon and left to go back to the church. It was a fun day, and really a privelege to get to see Dr. Del (as he is called by some, I guess) and listen to him. We took a picture with him that I have put on the site. Very good.

If you want to know what to pray for, pray for traveling mercies and grace in the next week or so as people go home and come back, and then after that as we drive around half of the country doing BBTG. Also pray for the family camps that are starting up next week, I believe (they might have already started up....I dunno), at our Retreat and Conference Center (aka. "camp"), and that God would use them to impact and change families for His glory and fame.

Thank you for your prayers and support! Know that the Lord is using you to bless me and others! Talk to you (or see you) soon!

Only By His Grace,

Nathan

5/29/03

Greetings from LARCC! That's Life Action Retreat and Conference Center. Aka "camp." It's great to be back: I got in on Wednesday evening after a nice day of flying from, basically, the bottom of the country to the top. The weather here is gorgeous (I know, Texas is hot, and I don't mean to rub it in, but I'm lovin it!): probably didn't even reach the 70s today...not sure, but all I know is it was a nice nice day! Of course, we washed the bus and truck and the Canfield's trailer today, making that job a little more chilly than normal, but it was still fun.

If you're wondering what our objective is here (Blue Team's, that is), I'll tell you. And if you aren't, you can skip ahead, or read anyways. We're basically just hanging out here until Saturday afternoon, when we leave to go elsewhere in Michigan to do our first one-night production of Bring Back the Glory. Tomorrow (Friday), we are supposed to rehears it some, and I assume we'll be packing and getting ready to leave again. We'll also spend some time gearing up spiritually for these next six weeks of traveling. And that's what you can pray about, if you like. The temptation will very likely be to allow fatigue, routine, and/or familiarity to take the passion and authenticity out of ministering. So if you would pray for perseverance in that, and that we would be continually filled with the Holy Spirit, that would be a blessing. Please also pray for the churches we will be going into and the people we will be ministering to. Also you can pray for safe travel and that God would be honored with our time, service, and hearts.

That's a quick glimpse of what's up now. For the next six weeks, updates will probably be very sporadic, infrequent, and possibly quite brief. So please bear with me as I try to manage time wisely, and pray for me in that. I appreciate you and your support. May the Lord bless you today.

Nathan