A blog about the faith, hope and adventures of Amy, Kim, Tristan and Lesley as they journey together as the Anchored Warriors Team!

Monday, November 26, 2012

Anchored Warriors Evening to Pray




On January 16 we want to ask you to join us in a nation-wide evening of prayer specifically for Aboriginal youth and the communities they live in.

The idea is to gather together as family, friends and as a church wherever we live and pray specifically for the next generation of Aboriginal youth. We also want to pray specifically for God to show us how better to pray and support one another as a Church body that shares the same Savior, Spirit and Father.

We believe that as we stand in unity and trusting in God's faithfulness that He will not only hear our prayers but that it will make an impact in the work that God is doing within Aboriginal communities and with Aboriginal youth across Canada.

This prayer event can look however you want it to. The main objective is to come together on the same night and pray in one Spirit - pouring out our hearts to our Creator for the next generation of Aboriginal youth and the communities they live in.
I’m excited to see what God is going to do through each and every praying heart!

I’m excited to see what God is going to do through each and every praying heart!

Attached is the poster! It would be great if you do get a group together to pray that you let me know just so we can see who was praying and from where! Also if you aren't sure on what Aboriginal communities surround where you live and would like help getting info about that please contact me!

Amy on behalf of the AW team

Prayer Evening Poster

Wednesday, October 31, 2012

Arizona Heat: Corn, tea, stories and the power of prayer.


Prayer is power.

In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans. And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for Gods people in accordance with the will of God. Romans 8:26,27











At our fundraiser in March we decided to raise money to go towards an outreach/mentoring/missions trip for the summer of 2012.  Although there were moments that felt as if nothing would actually come together to make this trip a reality, through prayer, God’s hand opening doors, and the guidance of Bev and Dan our trip became a reality!
August 17-31 Anchored Warriors did our first out of Canada trip to the Hopi Reservation in Arizona, USA. We had a total of 14 people on our trip. Tristan, Lesley, Kim, Bev and myself each had prayed about and asked a certain number of youth to come on the trip with the intention of not only an outreach but also a mentoring trip. Kim, Tristan and Lesley each had one youth and I had three wonderful girls to get to know, talk to about God and help them grow as leaders and in themselves.
Dan was our fearless driver and
mechanic as we ended up broken down more than once in our borrowed 20 passenger bus.  


Bev took on the role of cook, and nurse and she had a close friend of hers to help with the cooking who she was able to mentor on the trip.
We went down to Hopi not really having any idea what to expect as none of us had been there before other than Kim when she was 17. Our connection was Kim’s cousin Chelsea who had been running a youth ministry in Hopi for three years through Ron Hutchcraft Ministries. We arrived after three long days to an amazing facility as Chelsea had hooked us up with staying at the mission center. We had more than everything we needed for our stay there.

During the course of our week and a bit stay on the reserve we were able to learn a lot about both the Hopi culture and the power of prayer.

Some of the things we participated in during our time in Arizona were: helping Chelsea with different projects around her house such as organizing 
ministry resource storage rooms and re-graveling the driveway, making and serving supper for the youth night and interacting and spending time with the students that attended the youth ministry. 


We also attended one of Chelsea’s  youth leadership bible studies, got a tour of the reserve by a local elder who showed us his corn field and taught us all about the sacred ways the Hopi grow their corn and some of the things they believe. We took an opportunity to do a prayer walk around the local village on the reserve, hiked up a Mesa, and even visited an area covered in ancient drawings.

Our youth were also able to organize and run an outreach night for the Hopi youth. They put together a skit to perform, games to play, crafts and art to show the other youth how to do, and one of our youth 
shared her testimony to the group. It was so encouraging to see our young leaders step up and reach out to other Aboriginal youth and to have so much fun doing it too!

Every day we made time for devotionals with our youth. My time proved interesting as I had three girls while everyone else had one youth. I made a point to set aside time during the day to talk with each of my girls and pray with them. It was so encouraging to see each of them, completely different personalities, and in completely different points in their journey with God, seeking His face and trying to work through their own personal struggles and learning about being a strong leader. It was very evident that God was and is still at work in each of their lives.

Every evening we discussed a different “word of the day” of what it meant to be a good leader and what we saw in them that day. We also gave a strong focus on the importance of the youth sharing their stories and where they were in their journey with God. This was such an amazing experience as we saw each of the youth really grow and step out of their comfort zone in sharing their stories- the good and the bad- with us.

By the end of our time in Arizona one of the biggest things that our youth had learned and that we had talked about was the power of prayer. Chelsea said their team motto out there was “prayer is power” and that became our motto for the week too. I have actually never seen youth pray that much before in all my time in ministry. It was such an encouraging experience for us as leaders and I know the youth came out of it changed.

Thank you for your prayers and support to make that trip possible. Please continue praying for our youth and that God would keep turning their eyes to Him in each and every situation they face.
 

Wednesday, February 8, 2012

Momentum Leadership Retreat 2012














Momentum Leadership Retreat is an annual retreat put on by Anchored Warriors. It is a weekend for the leaders and potential leaders from the different Aboriginal communities we have been connected with to come and be challenged, encouraged and built up in their faith and understanding of God as well as in their call to leadership. This year we focused on discipleship, team building and focused on unity within and between Aboriginal communities. We were able to equip everyone who attended with resource binders that we as an Anchored Warriors team put together, which included things such as game ideas, devotion ideas, “how to’s” (read your bible, give your testimony, find out your spiritual gifts and use them etc), and as much “stuff” to help them on their journey both with God and as a leader. We also gave them a devotional book and an awesome version of the gospel of John. 

One of our main aims with this retreat is to help the leaders “go deeper” in their own personal walk with God, as many of them have a hard time in their communities because of a lack of support. We want to create a community, a family, where there is support and encouragement even if we are all spread out across Canada. This is the second retreat we have put on, and just as last year it was amazing to see God’s faithfulness at work with each and every youth and young adult that attended. We had a total of 32 people attend and the retreat was held at Camp Nakamun about 1 ½ hours north of Edmonton. The youth participated in icebreaker games, team building initiatives, we got to have two awesome sessions lead by Dan Woodard which helped us to learn about our God given team roles and how that could potentially play out in ministry. The youth loved learning about how God has wired them and one group in particular came up to us after and said that they were missing two key team roles in their youth group. This was awesome because they now know they need to pray for God to fill the gaps in their team so the ministry God has called them to can be more effective.

Along with these team building and leadership building times throughout the weekend, there was also a big focus on prayer, worship and connecting with God in a real way. The first night Amy talked about what being a Christian really means and the cost of saying yes to an all powerful God. Tristan also shared that evening about his own experience in saying yes and performed a spoken word poem that he wrote for the retreat. Saturday night was focused on having a real encounter with a living God. After we say yes to Him, we need to get to know Him, trust Him and give everything to Him. Cassie shared her heart and her own story of encountering God on her trip on the World Race. It was a powerful evening as Kim had set up many different ways and opportunities for the youth and young adults to share their hearts with God. There was a cross with post it notes to write a name on and pray for that person and surrender them to God, as well as a prayer wall and paint station where people could write or draw their worship and prayers to God. There was also a map station where you could pray for a specific country or person you know in another country and pin you prayer to the map. As well there was a station to write a sin or struggle on a rock and drop it in a water basin to symbolize God taking that sin away and it being gone. It was so amazing to see God working in the hearts of every single person that was there. People were praying for each other and singing and praising God in such a real and honest way it was overwhelming. God is so faithful. The last day Kim shared about unity and the importance of staying connected and supporting each other, as well as finding a church community or bible study to attend back home. She gave opportunity for anyone to share and then we all took communion together, prayed together and went upstairs to share lunch and say our goodbyes.

God is faithful and He continues to show His faithfulness through Anchored Warriors attempts to do what God has laid on our hearts. We are thankful for the support and encouragement we always find from both those we know and strangers. Thank you all for your prayers and encouragement! 

Hebrews 6:19a – Now we have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure.