So…what’s next…?We graduated…from the Ambassadors’ Academy!Oh, wait…you thought Daniel graduated from seminary and I graduated from my college classes? Not yet, but hopefully I did draw in your attention to this special blog on the Ambassadors’ Academy!! This academy wasn’t a strictly academic course for some kind of missionary qualification, rather a training, fellowship, and practical on the ground training in street evangelism with one of our favorite ministries: Living Waters! Though this was only a quick, weekend experience, this academy impacted us SO much, we felt the need to use an entire blog to explain just a few highlights of our trip. But first, a little more about who we are…Living Waters style: Missions above Australia from Australia!My husband Daniel was born and raised in Australia! He came to America to pursue missionary training to the unreached people groups of Papua New Guinea. Though we want to share the Gospel wherever we are with whoever we can, the deep needs of Papua New Guinea are constantly on our minds, because in our American culture, we have solid churches and the Bible in our language, but in Papua New Guinea, they have nothing. Daniel frequently comments that, even in California (like the pic above), America has so many Australian trees! On top of that, Huntington Beach even has Australian aloe! Why? America tends to like things from other countries that break the American norm with their accents, interesting facts, etc. I will explain more about why that relates to the academy later, but right now I want to make the point that having a global focus is so important to the mission of the church! So, that’s why we’re studying hard (see any other blog for more info), and like the globe from Living Waters ministry above, we want to share the Gospel to everyone that we can, regardless of where we are or where those people are from. One more important note about us… Taliah!This is our daughter, Taliah! She is such a delight to be around! I don’t think we would have ever found this amazing park in California without her! Words can’t express how much joy there is in sharing the Gospel with her! But now, it’s time to hear all about the academy!! Group pictures of our teams!The big picture is my favorite group picture of our team. Our team leader, Tony Ramsek, was an incredible leader who served and led us with humility, wisdom, and genuine kindness. Everyone else on our team, including Gina, who helped with the ladies specifically, displayed amazing love for each other and strong evangelistic passion! We definitely have made strong friendships that will last in this lifetime, and (Lord willing), in eternity! As for the smaller pictures, the top three and middle two show my team when I did this academy last time (2019) as a single college student. The bottom middle picture was actually the first picture my now husband ever saw of me…and he wasn’t even sure which person was me! On that note, it’s important to note that Emily (the one on the right) is now one of my closest friends to this day, three years later. I’m so thankful for her friendship!! With that said, Living Waters has had a huge impact on our relationship (not to mention our salvation testimonies); I can’t say we would be married right now if it wasn’t for their outstanding ministry! The rest of the photos show the team we just had, and I can’t wait to catch up with all of them more! Emeal Zwayne.Also known as “E.Z.”, Emeal Zwayne is the president of Living Waters. Here are some highlights Daniel and I had of his message from our notes: 1. The text was Mark 6:30-34. Christ was moved with compassion at a large crowd. He is the Shepherd; unbelievers were left without a Shepherd, and that should move us to compassion. 2. The worst thing a Christian can have is to have no burden. When you grow cold, you lack compassion and gentleness. Pray to have a burden for the lost!!!! 3. Americans tend to live in a giant, Christian bubble (this isn’t good)… We as Christian do Christian things frequently, but can fail to be ambassadors for Christ in the midst of the activities. Notice the hilarious “popped out eyes” in the middle picture below. Here’s a link to one of our favorite messages he has preached: Living Waters Love at its Best: www.livingwaters.com/love-best-2/ Oscar Navarro.1. Acts 17 was the text: how did the early church evangelize? 2. Discipleship evangelism (John 13:35): discipleship and evangelism are two sides of the same coin. 3. “Let it go”, from Disney’s Frozen is an example of the faulty, anti-god thinking of the world. It says “no right, no wrong…” 4. Preach victoriously!! Christ has already won the battle at the cross!! I included some additional pictures of the academy below. Mark Spence.1. Exodus 20 gives the Ten Commandments. Our preaching and teaching needs to have a clear law/Gospel distinctive. 2. Mark went through the Ten Commandments, making his message SO convicting and helpful. Have you always put God first in your affections? 3. “You don’t invite Him as Lord”; “You escape God by running to God”. Check out this link below based on the middle picture: Side note: Isn’t that an amazing truck?? Pastor Philip De Courcy.1. As the pastor of Kindred Community Church (where the conference was held), Pastor Phillip gave an amazing session on Acts 8:28-40 with the pastoral encouragement to tell someone about the Gospel. As a Masters’ Seminary grad born in Ireland, his connections with churches, awesome accent, and outstanding passion for evangelism and world missions inspired and encouraged us greatly! He spoke about a mentor of his who encouraged him (and Alistair Begg) to share the Gospel every day. 2. He encouraged us to be “superspreaders” of the Gospel. He led by example by explaining well the importance of church leadership sharing the Gospel and encouraging their church members to do the same. 3. He spoke of being deeply concerned with the salvation of lost souls: “every person this side of Heaven should be concerned about everyone this side of Hell”. E.Z., Mark, and others from Living Waters attend his church, and he fully supports and loves them, which was SO encouraging. His humility was so evident, you could tell how much the guys at Living Waters truly love and submit to his leadership - truly inspiring! Here’s a link to his ministry: KTT.org: www.ktt.org/about/philip-de-courcy On the lower left picture, you can see some evangelism role play, which was SO fun! Role play with my husband was honestly like the honeymoon we never had (due to covid). We couldn’t imagine being blessed with a better trip; so thankful for our time together! On the lower right picture, you can see a live podcast panel. They included some interesting live Q & A, and they had Pastor Philip in on the show with them, which was SO cool! It was exciting to see them displaying the importance of the local church in evangelism…and they had a very insightful discussion with Pastor Philip regarding the role of the evangelist in the church. Please see the podcast!! LIVING WATERS PODCAST link: www.livingwaters.com/podcast/ Ray Comfort.We could say SO much about Ray Comfort, but I’ll stick with a few quick highlights: 1. He was born with ten toes on one foot…that’s why I didn’t include his feet in the pic… Just kidding! But he uses this as an analogy of how we should always be ready to share the Gospel using the Law, the Ten Commandments, to bring the knowledge of sin and to magnify Christ. 2. He spoke of the great joy of sharing the Gospel (just do it). His text was Acts 28:23, and he spoke of man’s will to live and the conscience. 3. He frequently shares the Gospel with his dog, Sam (see the lower right picture), as a springboard for sharing his faith. Also, hilarious slides (see the “pope yes”) and biblically sound teaching. Living Waters Headquarters!!!!YAY! So much I could say, but I’ll stick to some basic explanations: First row: Kirk Cameron and Ray Comfort on display; the Living Waters studio; the Ten Commandments! Second row: an AMAZINGLY fun evengelism tool (you try to press “yes” with a magnetic pole and it pulls you to “no”); my precious Evidence Bible from their ministry on their studio table; my amazing husband Daniel with my Bible at the studio! Third row: Daniel sitting in the studio; a huge dinosaur head from Answers in Genesis; a Living Waters sign! Fourth row: the Living Waters store pictures, including some tracts, a scary button I wouldn’t dare to touch, and some display items you should check out closely! Very bottom: Ray with his dog: Sam (Taliah’s favorite)! YAY! Park break!We had so much fun hanging out with Taliah during this trip as well. It’s so fun to see her growing and loving new things, and it was exciting to put evangelism into practice at parks during the encouragement of Living Waters! Last time we were in California, Taliah was so young; now it’s amazing to start having more of a connection with her through her growth! She loves swings! BUT I HAVEN’T EVEN TOLD YOU THE BEST PART YET!! Practice for the best part…Here is some practice we did for open-air evangelism. The biggest picture shows Tony Ramsek, our team leader, leading by example in loving, humble, open-air preaching practice. THEN, you can see some gospel conversation role play below (middle picture), and MY FAVORITE PERSON EVER PRACTICING OPEN AIR PREACHING!! He did SO well! I’m SO proud of him. Here’s a link to his practicing: Daniel’s Practice Open-Air link: youtube.com/playlist?list=PLqumN3lIcj9pO0lFgvqWRf_HYZlQY3Xri BUT, that’s STILL not the best part…I’ll lead in to that while you check out Answers in Genesis: Answers in Genesis link: answersingenesis.org/ Evangelism!!!!Wow. SOOO much I could share. Here’s the super nutshell version: First, we listened to the guys from Living Waters open-air. Then, we found our own spot and our team broke up into smaller teams to go out and share the Gospel on Huntington Beach. Some highlights include my teammate (Gina) and I sharing the Gospel to a messianic Jew named Elvis (who was going on about bizarre things) and his friend, Orlando. I specifically went through the Law and the Gospel with Orlando, trying to personalize the truth of the Gospel for him, because he seemed to think that the things of God were for people like Elvis (the Jew, not the singer…), not for him. He had broken God’s Law (lying, stealing, etc.), and knew he needed a Savior to save him from Hell, but he was kind of apathetic towards the things of God at the same time. Because he didn’t seem too humble, I didn’t share too much of the Gospel with him, but he clearly already knew of the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, the God-man. Also on the beach was a false prophet we have seen before, and a dude with a “turn or burn” cape. We were so encouraged to be able to share the true Gospel and glorify Christ regardless of what other influences were out there, regardless of the response. God is always glorified in the proper preaching of His Word! Finally, the last person to note was the F* Biden guy. He was very interesting, saying he was planning to show others Christ with magic tricks. THE BEST PARTOkay, whatever you’re doing, please stop it now and watch this link. MY HUSBAND OPEN-AIR PREACHED!!!! He did SO amazing and I’m SO proud of him!! I can’t thank Living Waters enough for this great opportunity. Not to brag too much on my husband, but he literally drew a MASSIVE crowd in a matter of a few minutes. I heard people calling him cute (I watched out for them because he’s mine…haha…) and saw people stopping because of his loving, humble, compelling delivery. I have been so proud of my husband so many times in our marriage, but this trumps them all. I can’t believe every day that I married someone so godly, Christ-centered, and biblically mature. My eyes fill with tears of joy and gratitude to God just thinking about him. You HAVE to see this: Daniel’s Open Air at Huntington Beach: youtube.com/playlist?list=PLqumN3lIcj9od_1e2BafRzEc05GFflEVu Bonus, Daniel’s Stop-Light Preaching: youtu.be/Zyu938WCVD8 Daniel was able to do this preaching with Steve Sanchez, a hilarious, outgoing guy Daniel used to enjoy listening to on Way of the Master radio a long time ago, so that was pretty special for Daniel! And if you NEED to watch more, here’s a link to ALL his open air preaching: Daniel’s Open Air Preaching link: youtube.com/playlist?list=PLqumN3lIcj9pHHVRbiv2UYNIhuyTVqV5X Congrats!The academy ended with a sad good-bye, but with hope for the future! The director of the academy, Miguel Esparza, along with E.Z. and Mark, all gave encouraging endings to a remarkable weekend. One of Daniel’s major highlights was the amazing hospitality shown by the guys the last day. They truly displayed that they are there for us and they want to serve us. We were so blessed all weekend; it was SO hard to leave! But I can’t end the blog there… Taliah comparison!Though the academy was over, we still had one more day left in California: church at Pastor Phillip’s church! That Sunday, I dressed Taliah in an outfit she wore last time we were in California - over a year ago (it was SUPER big last time). It was so fun to see the comparison! Taliah was actually in a Living Water’s video from our time there last year, so I’ll link to it here: I can’t believe how much she has grown!! Church!Wow, look at that missions wall! Church at Kindred Community was absolutely amazing. Pastor Philip was in Ephesians 2, and when he preached through verse 21 it was specifically convicting. He talked through how we are a temple of the Lord, and how the presence of God in us as Christians is more amazing than the Jewish Holy of Holies, which used to be the only place where the presence of God was found. It was a beautiful campus, and Taliah especially liked to look at the water while we had amazing fellowship with new friends from Living Waters. The fellowship through-out the academy was so amazing, it felt like a glimpse of Heaven. It’s hard to think of a time of fellowship that has been so rich and Christ-centered, which made it hard to leave. I also included here a short article by Mark Spence’s sweet, humble, hospitable wife: Laura Spence (used with permission). Please consider reading it, especially if you’re a mom. It was very impactful and convicting for me. How could I end without this verse…? A Living Waters theme verse: Mark 16:15!We want to take the command of Jesus seriously and go out into all the world and preach the Gospel to every creature, including the unreached, bible-less people of Papua New Guinea.
Unlike the American people, these individuals are begging for missionaries, yet they die and face the wrath of God without a chance to hear the Gospel every day. Will you consider learning more about our ministry, praying for us…or going yourself? The need is great and there may not be a tomorrow. Any donations go to help us with current studies. FinisTerre link: www.finisterremission.org/
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AuthorsDaniel and Sarah Bruce desire to be missionaries to the unreached peoples of the world. Daniel is from Australia and Sarah is from Detroit, MI. They reside in Phoenix, AZ, where they are members at Shepherd's House Bible Church in Chandler, AZ. Archives
March 2024
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