Hey everybody! Sorry it took me so long to finally post up my pictures on the web. I don’t have my own computer at work, nor do I have the software I need to be able to upload my pictures onto my blog website, so I’m sorry about that!

Here are some pics of the Keynote headquarters!



These are two awesome pictures of my new housemate Rob Griepentrog. Hahahaha. I can hear the theme song to the Wizard of Oz in the background. He’s a fellow violinist from Wisconsin who was a music education major! How cool is that? I got paired with a fellow fiddler! Very cool stuff. He’s been raising support for about two and a half years and is just a little over 75% as of today. He hopes to report to Keynote at full support before CSU, our national staff conference the last two weeks of July. Please pray for him! He’s got a good sense of humor too, as you can see below :)
My new place! 2245 East 151st Street in the Treetop community. An interesting thing my housemate told me about Indiana was that all the numbered streets are actually mile distances from downtown Indianapolis. So, I live on 151st St., which is exactly 15.1 miles from downtown Indianapolis. Weird, huh? Kinda cool when you think about it though.


This is the inside of my new humble abode! Praise God that most of it is furnished! Which means less moving for me! I’ll probably bring most of my furniture out here anyways since the lease for the place I’m living at will be up in October and Rob is definitely moving out. Plus, the bed and my clothing cabinets belong to his old housemates. So he might actually want them back eventually. It’s a simple, nice place! Praise God for providing!

Here’s the view from my window



Keynote coffeehouse



Here are some pics of the Keynote coffeehouse that happened last Sunday night! It was so awesome that I happened to get here right at the time BlueSkyNine, the band I’ll be playing with got to perform! Here are some pics from their show that took place in Keynote’s North warehouse.

Most of the people that you see in the picture are actually students. Keynote is currently running their summer projects where college students from all over the country come together to be put into bands, get training in how to be effective communicators of the gospel on stage and through the medium of music, and then rehearse with their bandmates until they go out on tour for about two and a half weeks all across the country. It’s an exciting time but it’s quite crazy too!

A lot of staff are pretty tired and stretched thin so I felt a little out of place getting thrown into the mix without getting oriented, but I’m glad that my director, John Pescio, and Denise Disarro were gracious enough to pull all the new staff aside to come together and discuss our needs and how we’re doing. That was definitely really meaningful to me and helped us adjust quite a bit. Praise God! He is taking care of me! And thanks for caring for me through your prayers!

And here’s my band BlueSkyNine tearing it up! I felt quite intimidated as I don’t have as much experience as they do being out on the road and doing an actual stretch of a tour and perfecting their songs as extensively as they do. They sounded REALLY great and very professional. I can definitely tell they spend a lot of hours and put a lot of care into perfecting their craft. Excellence in their music is definitely a value highly stressed and done well in balance with all our spiritual training, which is rare these days! Continue to pray for Keynote’s ministries and for the student’s lives to be changed as they minister on the road!


BlueSkyNine consists of: Amy Snow-guitar, Jason Burris-drums, Teresa Stone-Lead vocals, Kevin Touma-bass, and Adam Smith-Guitar and vocals. Again, I’ll be replacing Mr. Jason Burris on the skins since he will be getting married and needs to go back to raising his support with his new wife-to-be.

I’ll be posting up a little calendar with my tour schedule so that you can pray for each of the dates that we’ll be ministering and for each city that we’ll be going to. But as for now, here is where I know we’ll be:

9/6-9/10 we’ll be in the Chicago metro area ministering to several places. On 9/10 we’ll be playing a show at 8:30 at Centre College.

9/12-9/16 we’ll be in the Detroit metro area ministering to several places in the area. As for now I don’t know any specific venues but I will definitely post those up once I know. Also, you can look us up at

www.blueskynine.net

for concert schedule updates.

And here are some other pics of folks and bands from Keynote!


This is Mr. Rob Cashell looking really hot on the microphone. He’s not actually singing as you can tell. He’s really cool and actually lives in the same apartment complex that I do and drives a nice Honda bike. Sweet wheels.

Here’s a bunch of our equipment, including the students’ individual equipment that Keynote uses for their bands and tours.


Prayer Requests
1. I still have to finish my New Testament Survey, which needs to be finished by June 1st. Our final needs to actually be postmarked by that date. Pray I’ll have enough time to study and get everything done so I can hand it in on time!
2. I’ll be speaking at Long Island Alliance Church this Sunday for both the Chinese and English congregation. I’ll be giving two different messages and actually have never spoken for two services in one morning! Please pray that God will adequately prepare me and that all will go well.
3. With that said, I’ll be flying back to NY on Saturday morning and then driving back to Indiana with more of my things from home on Sunday afternoon. I plan to camp out in Pennsylvania for the night and then finish the rest of my drive to Indiana on the morning of Memorial Day. Please pray for traveling mercies! It will be a tiring trip, so I’ll need all the rest and help I can get.

And that’s about it folks! I thank you all so much for those that read my website, have been supporting me in this crazy time of transition and praying for me too! I appreciate all of you and love you!

So I'm about to go to bed and when I wake, I'll be on my way to Indiana-the Midwest, the wild blue yonder, the land unknown to me. This is it...this is it. I'm going. There's no turning back now. Once I've put my hand to the plow, there's no looking back. For those who put their hand to the plow and look back are not fit for the kingdom of God.

I'm not quite sure what to expect when I get there, except the fact that I'll be taking a whole bunch of classes and working towards my tour that'll be coming up at the end of August. I'm really just going with an open mind and open heart.

I stripped down most of my room and it's starting to look pretty barren. Thank goodness that I'll be able to come back home next weekend to grab my car. That is a HUGE relief to me. Otherwise I think I really would flip out.

Please pray for me as I've got to finish my newsletter, finish studying for my NT survey class, write some more letters and e-mails to folks and get myself settled down while in Indiana. I already have a place out there that they set up for me, which is great, and also a roomie. Pray that we get along fine.

Thanks so much to all who have been praying for me and who have been supportive. I am so thankful for each of you and couldn't have gotten here without you. Forgive me for not telling you that more often. Pray that God would bless the journey...this new, exciting journey of life. Who knows what adventures lie ahead, who knows what dangers, battles, triumphs, fears or blessings. But God has ordained all the days of my life and He has ordered my steps. Good night all. See you in a few weeks!

      So, here we are. Completely unexpected. But I am leaving this weekend! I've been trying to e-mail everyone and haven't yet had a chance to post this entry on my blog site. So, praise the Lord that I hit 100% this past weekend! And because of that, they want me out there RIGHT AWAY! Talk about sudden! As a lot of you know, I wasn't planning on flying out until July the very latest and now I'm leaving this Saturday!!! Nuts!!

      Basically, a drummer for their pop/rock group, BlueSkyNine, is getting married and needs to go back to raising support, I believe. They were worried that they might have to dissolve this new group because they didn't have a drummer. Praise the Lord that I hit 100% at the perfect time and now I can step in and replace him! An answer to prayer. Praise God!

      So it ends up that there was a purpose behind all this, of course, and that God raised up my support this quickly so that I would be placed in this group ASAP. It's scary though because I'll be touring by August!!!! TWO MONTHS AWAY!!!! CRAZY!

      But praise God I'll be able to come back from June 16th to July 3rd. They just need me to get started in training right away and it really can't wait. So now I'm getting thrown in a whole lot earlier than expected and I am NOT really ready for this at any stretch. But here God is saying, "sink or swim. throw you in." Great, huh?

      Please pray for me as I pack like a madman this week and try to get everything I need before I go. I'll be coming back memorial day weekend to speak at a church and pick up my car to drive out to Indy. I'll be flying out there for this first week with just clothes. I figure I can scope out the place first, get an inventory of what I do or don't need and then pack accordingly when I make my "official" move in July.

      Pray for me as I plunge into the journey and just go with God. I can't believe I'm being used in such a big way so quickly, but it's great and totally a dream come true. Our God truly is faithful and praise the Lord! Praise the Lord with me, brothers and sisters! Our God is here. No worries, I'll be sure to be blogging from my crazy adventures out on the road. I'll be uploading more pics. I know! My blog has been quite boring looking without any new pictures! I'm planning on selling my original digital camera for a more accessible, snap-and-shoot model. If any of you all are looking to sell a smaller, more portable digital camera, preferably Sony or Canon, please let me know!

      I will have cell phone on me out there and continue to send mail to my home address. I'll have my mom forward my mail to me. I'll have my Indy address soon which I will post on the site. Back to packing! To eternity and beyond!!!

Spiritual warfare is a topic not often dealt with by Christians in a healthy, balanced manner. So when I stumbled onto this topic while going through the brife overview study of the book of Ephesians I had to share this with you.

The author goes through each piece of the armor of God and gives the meaning of each piece. This is what the author says about the ending of this great epistle:

The closing exhortation of the Epistle deals with teh believer as a soldier. He is admonished to be strong in the Lord. He is wanred that his enemy is not physical but spiritual. He is instructed in the use of the "whole armor of God." The significance of the armor may be briefly summarized as follows:
(This is the coolest part!)

The leather belt-
rightness of heart (cf. Isa 11:5; Psalm 51:6)
The breast plate-rightness expressed (cf. Isa. 59:17)
The shoes-a ready message (cf. Rom. 10:15; 1 Peter 3:15)
The shield-a vital trust in God (cf. Ps. 18:2)
The helmet-
protection of the mind (cf. Isa. 59:17; 1 Thess. 5:8)
The sword-the Word of God (cf. Heb. 4:12)

All this is available to the believer, but it must be "taken up" and "put on."

-Paull Dunnett, An Outline of New Testament Survey (bold-type added)

Isn't that awesome? I thought it was so cool because sometimes we read about this and we're like, "o.k...I know I'm supposed to put these on, but what do they really do, and what are they there for?" Now we know!

I strongly encourage you to look up some of these passages and to continue to find out about the kind of fight we are ALL in if we profess to be followers of Christ. We can be in the battle but just sitting in our foxhole, watching the battle rage on. But if we don't get out of there, soon the fight will come to use, if you catch my drift.

Here is the passage from Isaiah 59:17 that relates to the breastplate of righteousness and the helmet of salvation. It's great.


I just find it so interesting that Paul chooses to use the idea of "putting on" these things. And that's what we really need to do if we want to be well protected and be equipped for our fight.

Furthermore, having "a ready message" as part of our armor I thought was very interesting. But it makes a lot of sense. How are to be firm in our faith when someone challenges us or asks us why we believe? How silly it would be for me to not have a ready answer for them!

As it says in 1 peter 3:15,

"always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you"

And it's interesting that we are to preach the gospel as part of being protected from the enemy. There is strength, there is a preparedness, a marked difference in the way we live and walk the Christian life when we are regularly witnessing.

Lord...I've not been doing well on that recently. Change our hearts and give us urgency to go and share with our friends, the lost we come in contact with and wherever you might want us to go. It's a hard prayer, Lord! Make it genuine and true. In Jesus' Name. Amen.

Last Saturday's rehearsal for the OneHouse praise night happening on the 14th was great. Praise God. We got to pray for the night together, share our concerns and burdens, and had a great practice. Very efficient! We missed Jasmine, our fearless leader, but nonetheless got a lot accomplished.

Funny thing happened to me in the elevator of our drummer, Ting's, apartment building when I went to go meet up with him. I pushed the button for the 12th floor where he lives and got stuck around the 7th!!

At first I thought, "o.k...somebody's trying to get on." NOPE.

Waited...
Waited......
Waited some more...
Did a set of push-ups...

"K, it's time to push the 'call' button." Praise God their maintenance people came quickly and responded to the problem right away. And thank God I had my cell on me! I might've been stuck in there for hours!

Normally I would've been super freaked out but I really need to go to the bathroom BADLY and so really couldn't concentrate on the fact I was stuck in an elevator. It sounds funny, but I was more concerned about going to the bathroom at that moment, rather than having the thought that I was temporarily trapped in an elevator. But if you were in my situation I think you'd feel the same way :)

Anyways, so finally they pried the door open and I hopped up to the 7th floor since I was stuck in-between floors. PRAISE GOD!!! I took the other elevator up to the 12th and finally met up with Ting. I said 'hi' and then first things first-BATHROOM.

Ahhh...sigh of relief. WHEW! Glad that was over with. Ting's wife was gracious enough to make me two tuna sandwiches and also some bubble tea, which was really delicious!

We sat there and had the though that it really could've been an instance of spiritual attack. I'm not trying to over-speculate or over-spiritualize but it was really strange that that happened since Ting explained to me it has never happened before, though a new elevator, and that has never happened to me in my entire life! And it was funny that it happened just as I was coming up to Ting's place to grab things before leaving for worship practice and it was the eve of the week of the praise night.

Mere circumstance of life? Sure. Something more? Could be too.

Ting also shared with me our leader, Jasmine, was experiencing a lot of spiritual attack as well as some other people. And when he mentioned that, I had to confess that before that instance I had to agree I had been struggling very much in my thought life.

We prayed again that the Holy Spirit would protect us from the evil one and the we would be strengthened in our walk. We pleaded the blood of Jesus over each one of us and asked for God to guard our hearts.

And such were some of you. But you were washed, you ere sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God -1 Cor. 6:11

Reading through the New Testament epistles for my New Testament Survey class I'm taking as part of my Crusade training has been cuasing me to "chew the cud," so to speak. Especially reading the words of Paul to the Corinthian church, for example has been revolutionary. I feel like I'm rediscovering these books for the first time again-through new eyes.

It's funny how some of us have read these books all our loves, yet a lot of the surrounding details of the letter, like occasion, place, reason, date and context, escapes us. I always knew the Corinthian church was a messed up church, but I didn't realize it was that messed up. Like MONDO problems!

The reason why we have all this practical church advice about how to deal with heretics, sexual immorality, idol worship, and how to use our gifts accordingly, is because the Corinthian church got these all wrong! There were sexually immoral people in their congregation, publicly having sexual affairs that they even boasted about to others! Talk about messed up! And here I am, at times getting frustrated with things I see in the body that aren't even CLOSE to what they were in the New Testament times.

Speaking with a brother the other week, we came upon this subject and he commented to me, "yeah...I'm not so sure I would want our church to be like the New Testament church. They were pretty messed up!"

I think we often elevate the New Testament church to "having it right" because they had the super-apostles and these amazing men of God. But we often forget about the kind of congregations they had to deal with!!! I think because they were the most anointed and set apart for this apostolic ministry, perhaps God gave them the most difficult situations to deal with so that we would have the knowledge that we have now to deal with our own church conflicts and problems.

What patience they had! This amazes me most about them and convicts me to the core. I have dealt so impatiently with people in the past...it has been a major charcter flaw of mine...if James and John were the sons of Thunder, I could very well be nicknamed a son of Zeus or Fury. O Lord...mercy. Forgive me...those who have felt the end of my impatience.

But herein lies the lesson I've been learning and how God has been opening my eyes. I should never lose patience with a believer, no matter how messed up, no matter how far gone I may think they are.

To start off his letter in 1 Corinthians, Paul reminds them of their calling, gives them a blessing and tells them how thankful he is for each one of them. He is thankful to God for the grace given to them and reminds them of His sustaining power until "the day of our Lord Jesus Christ" (1 Cor. 1:8). Paul sets up for us the precedent of how to deal with sin. And how to deal with brothers and sisters who are caught in sin.

We should first encourage, affirm the believer, and remind them of who they are in Christ. We should not ostracize, criticize, or seek to point out that particular area while ignoring the rest. Too often we're so focused on the negative, we scarcely see the Jesus in that person, and we cut them down at the roots.

Perhaps because Paul knew how much he had been forgiven of his offenses against Jesus, and murderous crimes, it stopped him from lashing out at others. He could not condemn because he knew he was not condemned for his crimes ofr persecuting Christ. May the grace of Jesus upon our lives stop us from having such fury against others. Let us be reminded of God's grace everday, everytime we look in the mirror.

Until now, I've never realized how important the book of Galatians was. This is what Paul Dunnet says about it, author of An Outline of New Testament Survey (the text material I am reading for my New Testament Survey class I'm taking as part of my training with Crusade).

No letter of the New Testament outranks Galatians in historical and theological importance.

Wow. Furthermore:

Although it is brief, it has, from the time of writing, held a vital place in the life of the Church.

Three reasons for its prominence have been suggested:
1) historically, it gives an early account of the nascent Christian Church;
2) Theologically, Galatians is the main key showing Paul's interpretation of the Christian message;
3) Religiously, the book retains abiding value as the Christian declaration of true spiritual liberty.

Basically, if we didn't have this New Testament epistle, the whole issue of Law vs. Grace would not be settled, along with the question of, can a Gentile sinner come to saving faith in Christ Jesus without first becoming a Jew and observing all the Jewish laws and customs?

What Paul tells the Galatian church in this letter is that it is only Christ's righteousness that we can depend on, and this through faith.

For if justification were through the law, then Christ died for no purpose. -Gal. 2:21

Basically, what the book of Galatians tells me is that Chris Wu and other non-Jewish people CAN receive salvation in Christ. It affirms Paul's calling and authority as an apostle of Christ and that his calling is specifically from God and not from men. He explains that there is no other gospel except the one preached to the Galatian church. And if there is anyone else, even an angel, that preaches another gospel other than the one he has given to them, he says, "let him be accursed." (Gal. 1:9) Serious stuff!

This validates Paul's ministry to the Gentiles and is basically the reason why I can believe and receive salvation in Christ. If it were not possible purely by accepting Jesus Christ's grace, we'd still be dead in our transgressions! Again, it is by grace and not by the law.

And continuing with the topic of Law vs. Grace, shortly after Galatians was written, the Jerusalem council took place, as recorded in Acts 15, where Paul and Barnabas went to join the elders and the other apostles in Jerusalem to answer the question about being circumcised in the custom of Moses.

It was from this meeting that they declared it is not necessary for Gentile believers to keep the law of Moses, but that they should

abstain from the things polluted by idols, and from sexual immorality, and from what has been strangled, and from blood. -Acts 15:20

Afterwards, the council sent out a letter to Antioch that went with Paul, Barnabas and other men from among them, Judas and Silas. The letter was to encourage the Gentile believers in exactly what was quoted before and to let them know they did not need to observe this law in order to be saved in Christ Jesus. It's no wonder why Paul wrote the letter of Galatians to the church. There had been many among them who sought to destroy their faith and put them under the law again.

As Paul says in the first chapter,

I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting him who called you in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel -Gal. 1:6

They were starting to listen to these deceivers and turning towards another gospel-one that Paul did not preach to them.

It's just amazing to see scripture come alive in a whole new different way when you study it like this. Wow...just things you never would've known unless you really study it. It has made the Word come alive and for me to realize these aren't just principles I'm reading. These are principles born out of real-life situations and real people the Apostle Paul had to deal with. Here we are in the 21st century with the luxury of reading his personal letters and reaping the personal benefits of that for the building up of our own spiritual lives!!!

May you all be encouraged to dig deeper into the Word and grasp all the riches God's Word has for you. May we apply it to our lives, making the effort to daily change, and make Christ our ultimate end and only endeavor. Lastly,

Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day.

As I ended last week at about 90% of my support raised, I was filled with so much emotion I couldn't contain it. After a great appointment Thursday morning, I went home singing in the car, doing some stupid hip-hop moves, and screaming at the top of my lungs. I was so excited to be almost done with my support. It was such an amazing feeling, I can't even describe it to you. Thank you so much for your prayers and support. I am almost there...

Along with that excitement came the sobering reality that I'm about to leave home. I'm about to leave all that is familiar behind me and go into God's mission. No more mom's cooking, no more Shogi, no more New York and great Chinese food :) I'll be moving all my furniture, probably selling half the stuff I don't need, and packing up all my childhood memories with me; leaving for good basically...

How did I come to this, I wonder? Sharing my testimony on Friday night at CT Elmhurst brought it back to the beginning. Man...how I was so messed up before I knew Christ! I'm still messed up in a lot of ways, but the work of Christ's santification has begun in me and will continue until the last day; I'm a work in progress.

Sometimes you lose sight of how great His grace is. Thinking back to how much of a sinner I was filled my heart with so much gratitude and brought me back to the days when I had childlike faith-it wasn't about ambition and calling and the complicated stuff of "doing ministry" for God. I was just in love with Him. Wrapped up in something so much bigger than me that all I could do was worship Him. Why have I lost sight of that? Lord, forgive me...renew my faith so I see you as just Savior, Lord, and best friend.

Two verses come to mind as I reflect on these things this night. The first is from Luke 9:62 about the cost of following Jesus.

No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God.

And the second is from the same passage, three verses earlier:

Follow Me

This will probably sound silly to some of you, but I am finally growing up. I'm 25, but I've never REALLY left. I've left at times, but always with home there as my base, the place I would come back to. But in the years to come I'm not so sure I'll ever be doing that again. Sure, I'll come back to visit and stay for a time, but never again in the same way...I don't think so...

The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hiddne in a field, which a man found and covered up. then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that filed. Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant in search of fine pearls, who, on finding one pearl of great value, went and sold all that he had and bought it. -Matt. 13:44-46

God's calling me to sell out. No looking back. Forward, forward I must go. I'll be packing up soon and "cleaning house." Pray I'll leave well and pray I'll leave in peace. Pray I'll leave completely and come under the full headship of my new parent, my Heavenly Father, Jesus Christ. He's always been my parent, but now He really is now that I'm leaving the nest. Night all. Thanks for being a part of my ministry. I know I can't do this without you and need the body to come together for His mission and ministry. May we continue to serve Him together for His glory.

Christ is all and in all -Col. 3:11

      Last night I got to attend the wedding of a recently made friend, who is actually my friend's godmother's daughter. Weird connection, I know! The weirder thing was bumping into someone who I haven't seen in ages! An old Binghamton buddy of mine! And also a few other nice surprises of people that I haven't seen in a while as well. Man...EVERYONE'S getting married. Another summer wedding craze is about to begin! Makes me wonder about when my time is coming... :) hehehe...but I know I'm still young. Here are some pics below!

At the Church
I was so upset that day because I got so lost getting there I made it just in time for the announcements and the benediction! arg!! Here's a backdrop shot of the church where it was held at, Centerport United Methodist Church:



The bride's father, Mr. Chang has got some crazy language skills! He made the announcement in three different languages. First English, then Chinese, and then Taiwanese! I was like, "whoa! This guy is good!"


This is the recessional after they were officially pronounced husband and wife! I was just in time for the reception. Wonderful. It's cool to be invited to the reception as well, but it's really the ceremony that's important!

Warren Ho!!! My long lost buddy! I used to serve with him on worship team back in Binghamton. Wow man, I haven't seen him in years!!! Since he graduated in 2000 to be exact. Praise God we were able to reconnect after all these years. Miss this guy. He had the greatest laugh in the world. We had some fun times together back in the day. Also got meet his special someone in his life, Winnie :) I'm happy for you man!



On to the reception!
It was held at The Thatched Cottage, just a little ways down the road from the church. Didn't look so hot on the outside, but the inside was beautiful! And here they are for the first time as Mr. and Mrs. Steve Wu! Woohoo!


Their first dance! I like this pic


Some more dancing...


As always, Taiwanese weddings would not be authentically so without having fun games. Hula hoop it is! For however long the person hula hooped was how long the couple would have to lock lips for. haha. Very funny stuff. Some embarassing moments on this one. Some people couldn't really keep it up and started rocking in hyper mode to keep the hula hoop going. To no avail, of course! haha


Cutting the cake...


These are two of my buddies, Jeff on the left, and Warren again. Jeff Wang is the friend that connected me with his godmother, Mrs. Chang, and then with Karen and Steve. They were gracious enough to invite me to their wedding even though I've only known them for a few months! Jeff's a supporter of mine as well. Love you buddy! I have this funky hair thing going on here. I think it just got messy. Maybe it was the weather?


Of course I had to get a shot with the couple. Here they are! Steve and Karen. Blessings to you both! Hope you have a great time in Italy!



     I was praying that it woudn't rain that day, but apparently God had other plans :) The wedding was still beautiful and people had fun, despite the wet weather. I think people had a genuinely good time. I felt a little out of place at times since I only knew about two or three people there, but still, I was blessed to be there. It was a privilege to share in their day and I hope that God blesses them both tremendously.