So, if you want to listen to the podcasts from our lecture times, you can go here.
I’m hoping to write more soon! Check back here for more updates!

Hello! Just another quick post about what’s going on here in Kona. We are now in the middle of a full week of Staff Training, getting ready to staff the School of the Circuit Riders which begins here next Thursday. So far there are 275 students accepted. It’s a five-week seminar focused on training leaders to first have personal breakthrough, then go to the nations with the message of the gospel, and the transformational love of Jesus. On the Circuit Riders website it says, “A generation is responding like perhaps never before in history. Confident in who Christ has called them to be and what He has given them, they go forth proclaiming freedom to the captives. Knowing the living God through deep friendship and trust in His Word, they gladly lay down their lives…” It’s such an exciting thing to be a part of! We have friends from all over coming to take this course. We know God is going to move so powerfully!

We are so privileged to get to be part of all that’s going on here this summer. Pray with us that God will even now be preparing our hearts and the hearts of those who will be joining us here. Also, running at the same time as the Circuit Riders school is a two-week camp for high-school age youth, called Infusion here in Kona. Our good friend Jake Mason is leading this camp, and we are so excited about what God is going to do through him and through this ministry. The Awaken DTS will also be going on here all summer and we are so thrilled with the way things are coming together for this school. They have an incredible staff team and will lead their students so effectively. In the past, the summer quarter here in Kona has been a lot more mellow, and has had a lot less people around, but not the case this year! We are expecting a major movement of God, and it’s exciting to be part of it.

This past week we got to announce some really fun news…next fall the two of us will be leading the Community Transformations DTS in Kona, Hawaii! This is ridiculously exciting for us to share with all of you.

Community Transformations DTS has now run four times in Kona, and Johnny and I staffed the very first one back in the fall of 2007. We also took an outreach team to South Africa, and a team from Community Transformations (“Comm Trans” as we affectionately like to call it) has been going back to the same community there every year since we went. We are truly seeing transformation there- it’s amazing.

(➣Here is a photo of some of the Gillespie family together in Kona, earlier this month. Jeff and Beth are on the far left holding their newest son, ‘Riah)

Jeff and Beth have been leading this DTS in Kona, but they are making plans to head to Cape Town, South Africa in the spring of 2011 where they will start leading Community Transformations DTS in a new location. They began thinking and praying about someone who could continue leading this unique school in Kona, and (to make a long story short) God put it on our hearts at the same time! We prayed with Jeff and Beth about it, the two of us prayed about it, and as we watched all the details come together it became clear that it was God’s direction.

Even as we will continue to serve in our current roles in Kona, our hearts are filled with expectation at what the Lord will do through this DTS! Over the last few years Jeff and Beth have led this school to be truly transformational, and the fruit of it is all over the world in the form of transformed lives transforming their communities! As we step into this role, our prayer is the that Lord will enable us to build upon their strength, and launch many more fire-filled followers of Jesus into the world, to bring the transformational message of a faithful Savior who loves the least, the last, the lost, to the very end. Join with us in praying for this, and track with us as we continue to plan and prepare for it!

We are seriously beside ourselves with excitement as we look forward to next fall. We would love to have each of you involved in this new endeavor- please, come be students in the DTS, or maybe come staff with us, pray for us as we prepare, pray for us while we lead, encourage us along the way, tell us about ministry opportunities, walk with us as we continue on in our journey and learn to lead people to the nations, etc… There are countless ways you can be involved! We need you! Tell us how you want to be connected to Community Transformations. We can’t wait to hear from you!!

With all our love,
Johnny + jenni

If you’d like to read more about what Community Transformations is all about, go to Jeff and Beth’s website and take a look around. And to find out about this DTS in Kona click here.

Johnny and I are writing to you to tell you about an opportunity we have been offered, and also to request your support. Over the summer while Johnny and I were in Asia visiting our outreach teams, we got an email from one of the leaders of the Kona YWAM base, Judy Orred, inviting us to participate in Slingshot this fall, which will be held in Townsville, Australia. The Slingshot seminar will be from October 17-November 5, and is focused on leadership development, particularly for those who are presently carrying leadership responsibility.

Currently, Johnny is one of the team who lead the entire DTS program in Kona, and I am one of a team who lead all aspects of the community life. We feel very strongly that the Lord has asked us to continue seeking out opportunities for development, and we are currently in roles that allow us to immediately apply the things we are learning. As we prayed about the possibility of going, we felt that this would be a pivotal time for us in our development, as we endeavor to put the things we learn straight to use in our roles in Kona.

We would like to ask for your prayers as we endeavor to prepare for this financially. The seminar fee is $585 per person (which covers our housing, food, seminar materials, etc…), and we anticipate a cost of approximately a $2000 in airfare per person. That is potentially a total cost of $5,170. Please join us in praying for the finances required for this exciting opportunity. We are definitely excited to trust the Lord for his provision and watch what he does as we step out in faith. We haven’t yet purchased our tickets!

If you would like to give toward the cost of our trip, you can donate through the University on the link below, and you will receive a tax-deductible receipt! Thank you for praying with us and partnering with us!

Throughout the DTS we have challenged the students with the question of how to make lasting fruit in the nations. This is actually a question that has been burning in my heart for a while – how do we really leave lasting fruit, and not just go looking for salvations, leaving behind believers with no idea how to grow.

I asked Dan Shannon to speak to our school in the last week of DTS. He spoke for just an hour over Skype, blasting us about the importance of planting simple indigenous-led expressions of church, giving us concrete ways to pursue that, and inspiring us with stories of what can happen. We were all excited and challenged, and Jenni and I were praying that the Lord would make an opportunity for our students to do this on outreach.

Needless to say, we were so blessed to visit Cambodia and find that Nate and the Cambodia team were doing just that! Nate had started a Bible discovery group, and quickly handed over leadership to a great young guy called Behab. Behab began inviting his friends, then leading them in simple Bible studies where they focused on how to obey the teachings of Jesus. While we were there youth were getting saved in the group and it was starting to grow like wildfire! It was such a privilege to witness the simplicity of the Gospel impacting the people of Cambodia in such a real way, and to see Nate and the Holy Spirit making it happen!

PS. Nate is going to be joining us on staff in Kona in the coming months! Follow his progress here.

Thailand, I love you. Let me count the ways… 1. As soon as we landed we were awestruck just by the size of the airport- an exciting event for one of our first experiences in Asia. 2. We were greeted by Mr. Panya, our wonderful Thai taxi driver who spoke very little English, but smiled a lot. 3. We have not ceased to eat delicious things since our arrival. The fruit at the “Weekend Market” is great, and the curry dishes we’ve tried have been outstanding. Yum. 4. We have the option of hot showers at the facility where we are staying (called the NRTC, the Nancy Ross Training Center, which is part of YWAM Thailand)… FYI we have not had the option of a hot shower since we left Kona, so this feels pretty luxurious. 5. You can get a legit, one-hour Thai massage for 120 Baht- that’s the same as $4 in the US. 6. God has such a heart for the people of this nation. We are thankful to get to see this corner of the world, and we are gaining new understanding about how he loves his people everywhere.

So, come experience Thailand for yourself, and you’ll be counting the ways you love this place!

Tomorrow morning we take a long bus ride to Cambodia. That is where our next team is located. We cannot wait to see them! I don’t even know if I’ll be able to sleep much tonight, because I’m that excited about seeing them. It’s such an incredible feeling to show up in the middle of some crazy place, where we’ve never been before, and be reunited with friends who are really happy to see us! We’ll get to stay with the Cambodia team for a few days, then we’ll come back to Thailand, sleep here one more night, and then fly from Bangkok to visit our next team. It’s such an unbelievable privilege to be trotting the globe, encouraging our friends, and taking part in the ministry they are all doing. We are very, very blessed indeed.

Thanks everyone for your prayers, and your hellos on Facebook. Please pray for us when you think of it! We love you and miss you all. We hope we can come to your corner of the world sometime soon!

Our team has had a great time there so far. They started their time in Bauan, Batangas, where we met them and spent our first three days. Then we travelled with them to Nasugbu, by bus, a couple hours away. Everywhere we went the people were incredibly friendly and eager to meet the “foreigners,” as they called us. Our team is doing a great job in their ministry opportunities, and people are deciding to follow Jesus. It is unreal to get to be a part of all this.

Aside from joining in on the ministry times at churches, schools, and communities, Johnny and I spent one-on-one time with every person on the team. I met with all the girls, and he met with all the guys. It was such a precious time to hear from each of them about how they’ve been doing, the ways they’ve all been growing, and to encourage them to keep doing their best. We really love what we do (Thank you Lord!).

We head to Thailand and Cambodia next…stay tuned for more updates soon! Check out more photos from the Philippines here.

Every Tuesday night we go downtown in Kona to heal the sick, pray for people, share God’s love, and preach the message of the Gospel to the people of Kona. Some nights it’s sweet and easy, some nights it’s hard. Some nights people are welcoming, some nights people scream, swear, shout, or just plain ignore us. Tonight was just another night, but the Lord has been doing things in us this week about breaking through to true faith in him, and killing off all the unbelief in our hearts.

Tonight, four people met Jesus for the first time on the streets of Kona. Four people will never be the same! There is rejoicing in heaven, and there is rejoicing here on earth!

I’m going to bed – but I just had to share that with you all. God is good, revival is coming, and there is a generation rising up like the world has never seen who will be UNASHAMED of the gospel.