To Know God and Make Him Known

_{“Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.” Romans 12:2}

Aloha McCalls on Mission Community!

Peace

I’ve been thinking about the verse: 2 Corinthians 10:5 “We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.”

So often we don’t even realize that our thoughts are aligning with “every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God.” When was the last time you paid attention to your thoughts? How were those thoughts shaping you? Were those thoughts leading you away from your identity as a child of God? Or were they leading you towards Christ-likeness?

So often we have goals that we are working towards but without thought of how to do it or WHO we are doing it with. I think it’s good to have goals. But, if they become our idols, when we achieve our goals they will feel empty and unfulfilling. God has offered us the life that is truly life (abundant life, life to the full, fulfilling life) through Christ. The crazy part is success isn’t necessarily achieving your goals. Success, from one perspective at least, is obedience to Jesus. As I’ve obeyed God daily, goals that I had simply came to pass. This is easier said than done for sure.

The passage out of Matthew 6:33 sums it up well though. “But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.” I can wholeheartedly say, from the past 20+ years, as I’ve sought first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, I’ve seen Him bring to fruition dreams. I get to live my dream. Not because I pursued it, but because I pursued Jesus. I’ve learned to live in the present, with Jesus, and enjoy it all in a small way. I’m still growing but grateful for how God has revealed His goodness in this way.

How can you take a moment to realign to God’s thoughts today, to slow down, and enjoy being in the moment? Take your thoughts captive and make them obedient to Christ.

Thank You 🙌🏼

I simply wanted to say, from the bottom of our hearts, thank you for standing with us in our “End of the Year” giving. All of our expectations were exceeded and so many of you stood alongside us and helped to launch us well for ministry in 2025. We recognize and understand that it’s not simply our family doing this thing called “missions” but all of us, together on one team, united to see the Kingdom of God advance across the earth. What an amazing privilege to partner with Jesus, as His body, to see his plans and purposes come to pass.

Amsterdam

A couple weeks ago I had the opportunity to teach in the first School of Worship at YWAM Amsterdam. This school has been a long time coming. One of the school leaders staffed here in Kona in 2019 to learn how we run the school and bring it back to Switzerland. Since then, she helped to restart the school in Lausanne, Switzerland (I taught in that school as well) and now a brand new school in Amsterdam where her and her husband are going to be long-term. The co-school leader came to staff for us in Kona in fall of 2023 to learn as well. He is the co-base leader of YWAM Amsterdam and I also taught in his School of Worship in 2017. Out of their 10 staff, seven had either trained and staffed in SOW Kona or are still currently staffing for us in Kona but helping them this quarter. It was such a fun, full-circle moment to pour into them and the students. In true YWAM fashion, as I was flying across the world, I was praying and reading on my second flight of three. God began to speak to me about shifting my teaching. It felt vulnerable, a little nerve racking, and definitely uncomfortable. In my experience, it’s always worth it to simply obey Jesus even when it doesn’t quite make sense. The shift in my first three days of teaching was exactly what students were needing and hoping for! Had I not shifted, I wouldn’t have actually hit on some of their burning questions. I’m so glad I said yes to teaching what God was speaking instead of what I thought they might need.

Kona

I’m either crazy or just have a ton of energy. 🤣 Last week, I arrived to Kona on a Sunday afternoon (from Amsterdam) and led worship in Kona for our Monday Morning Worship, our Ohana Gathering (which has recently shifted to Monday Evenings), and teaching Songwriting for the whole week in our Bi-lingual (Korean/English) SOW here. There was so much grace from the Lord to jump straight in here. It’s also just so much fun to go in depth in teaching songwriting.

Final Remarks

May the Lord bless you and keep you. May the Lord make his face shine upon you, and be gracious to you. May the Lord lift up his countenance upon you, and may the Lord give you peace. Amen.  🙏

Grace and Peace be with you in Abundance,

-Chris, Lizzi, Kai, Laila, Rhema, Moses, and Zion ♥️-