Matt Short

     So here’s everything, the short of the long of it. It may be a bit wordy but hang in there and you’ll basicly have a handle on what I’m up to right now. OK here we go…
     We’re in our fourth week of lectures, our topic being, Biblical World View. Lectures run from around 9:30 most days till 1:00 with a short brake in between. A few of the next subjects to come will be such things as Lordship of Jesus Christ, Father Heart of God, Missions, Relationships, and so on. I am a Small Group Leader, a Bible Study Leader, and an Outreach Leader. I’m in charge of Outreach preps which are on Wednesday nights, Media which I head up with another staff member, and Transportation which requires me to plan and organize vehicles for trips or events that we do. On top of these duties I do One-on-Ones with the four guys in my small group as often as possible, which turns out to be every week and a half, to check how their doing and make sure no one is getting lost.
     My small group dudes are Mark from CO, Erik from GA, David from FL, (who are all 19 years old) and Bryan from WA who’s 22. Their a cool motley crew who I have a good time with. Mark’s also on my Outreach Team and Erik’s in my Bible Study Group. We meet every Monday afternoon for a couple hours to spend time together. For small groups I check how each dudes doing and discuss the things that we’re learning in lectures. Accountability amongst us guys is huge too! For small groups I try to make things fun and not so interview-ish so we usually do something cool and then sit down and chat, like climb through tree hedges or go down to rivers to swim and screw around.
     My Outreach Team is made up of a Married couple, Joe and Regula, from Switzerland who’re both in their early 30’s; Heidie from Denmark, who’s in her early 20’s; Lucie from England, who’s 18; Cody and Mark from CO who are both 19 and I. They’re a very down to earth and fun group. We have Outreach prep meetings every Wednesday afternoon for a couple hours to plan and intercede a bit more of the trip. Outreach itself is looking like we’ll fly into New Delhi in India and remain there for a while. From New Delhi the options are limitless but we will most likely wind up in Kathmandu in Nepal. Another place that’s very likely as of right now is Darjeeling in the east of India. We should be leaving for outreach around December 29th and returning the 28th-ish of February. It should only cost me around 2,800 USD for the trip (not including travelers insurance), which is ridiculously cheap! Although I do need the majority of that money in within the next few weeks. Something in me allows me to not be worried. =) So yeah, I’m super excited.
     My Bible Study Group is comprised of 6 of us. We meet every Wednesday in the morning to study a chapter of Hebrews. We’ve been tearing the book apart and finding WAY more than any of us ever had before. I’ve found I love bible studies, meaning devotions are great, but when you bounce ideas off people and really grind things out you learn it better and get more out of each word.
     I’m doing well. Sort of overwhelmed at moments as you can tell from the busy schedule but when I sit back and look at it all, I see it easily could be worse. God has blessed me with amazing students, peers and leaders which makes this SOOOOO much more manageable. I’ve learned a ton about leadership and am beginning to discover my greatest strengths and places needing improvement. It’s different here….. where I use to be able to lead from experience, reputation, with force, and with some style of credentials now I have nothing of the sort. God has been teaching me that in ministry you lead, or serve more like, by anointing not by qualification. It’s good man, humbling and forcing me to rely on Him. Every time I’ve done so since that revelation has gone much better than I’d expected.
     Hope you got all that and might have a bit more of a handle on what I’m up to. Feel free to ask me questions. Sometimes I don’t know what people need to know…. yah know? haha
Rock on,
God Bless
 

Thank you all for your prayers. I am doing well and enjoying staffing this Backpacker’s DTS. It’s the middle of week three right now and I’m getting along well. I’ve found myself constantly on the go lately so today I’ve taken some time to get things done, such as this.  So far in lectures we’ve learned the basics of intercession and worship as well as Identity, Spiritual warfare, Integrity and Holiness. Some topics to to come are Holy Spirit, Father Heart of God, Lordship, and Relationships. I look forward to all that God has for me over these next couple months.

This past weekend I took a group of students up to Arthur’s Pass for an overnight camping trip. We backpacked in which only took about 2 and some hours to a hut. The hut had a couple staying in it and four free beds so a few people slept in that while two guys and I slept in a tent. Three guys and I hiked to the summit of the mountain the next day and it was BEAUTIFUL! It was completely snow capped and my toes were ice cubes, but it was absolutely worth it. The couple we’d met were Christians and I hope to catch up with at another time. They attend a small church in Christchurch that none of us had ever been to so I might check that out.

Over this past week the leaders have organized our outreach teams for this school. The outreaches are New Zealand, Southeast Asia, India/Nepal, and Egypt/Israel. I have been placed in charge of the outreach team to India and Nepal. This outreach will be 10 weeks long beginning late December and will cost $2,800 US, not including my travelers health insurance. Flying into New Delhi we will progressively work our way through India into Nepal doing backpacker evangelism. This will mostly be ministering to the travelers at our hostels, yet where other ministry arises I would love to jump on the opportunity. As well I hope to do some style of video journal throughout the trip. The team is comprised of 6 students: a married couple from Switzerland, a girl from Denmark, a girl from England, and two other dudes from Colorado. As more plans are made I will make updates but as of right now that’s about all I know.

I have all my expenses paid, except for the cost of this outreach. The base is asking that I get as much of this money in ASAP seeing how we need to buy our tickets. I am asking for your help in funding this ministry. I am expecting incredible things to come from this outreach and am EXTREMELY excited to see what God does. 

Please be praying for my team. Pray for opportunities, unity, and focus. As well just pray peace over me in this time of planning. Thank you 

By the way, Sorry for my photo gallery not working at the moment. i’ll be trying to get that back up and running soon.

So this weekend a few staff members and I got the opportunity to take a Wilderness First Aid course. Of course I jumped on the idea, especially since the base would be paying for it. =) So we headed up near Arthur’s Pass Saturday morning to join our class of about a dozen students for some sweet rockin first aid learnin. We had a blast, learned tons and I even got to teach a bit. During our night senario the instructors kinda threw us in the deep end, giving us some stokes but not teaching the group how to use them, haha, yeah I know AWESOME! NOT! No one else knew how to use them, so I got to enjoy training everyone on the use of stokes in the dark. I may sound sarcastic but it was actually WAY FUN. The last time I took a course like this was three years ago, so it was great to relearn CPR and all that fun first aid stuff, seeing how I’d pretty much forgotten most of it.

During Staff Training this past week we chose our work duties for the quarter. I’ve taken on: Transportation, meaning I’ll be in charge of coordinating where and when the vans will be used for activities and making sure they are ready for use; Media, which I’m teaming up with Katie on to make a school video and all that fun jazz; Outreach Prep, which will require me to prepare the students for different areas of ministry they may come across… although I don’t exactly know how that will look right now. =) I’m really excited about these though and looking forward to meeting the students.

Today was crazy because we had to sittuate all the rooms with the appropriate beds, furniture, paint and MANY other loco projects all around the base to prep for the students. I met our first student yesterday and they’ll officially begin arriving at the base tomorrow. My small group is four guys all from the states. They’re ages are all somewhere between 18 and 23 and they all seem to be WAY cool guys. The school starts this Sunday and I hear we’ll be leaving for outreach some time right after Christmas. I’m SUPER STOKED and will make sure to keep you updated on how the first week of staffing goes.

God Bless, and keep on rockin as you do

This past weekend I got the privilege of taking a team of students to a small town called Methven because the staff were on a retreat. It was for a weekly event we put on where we invite anyone we run into from the ski slopes to a church down in town where we project snowboard movies on a screen, hang out, eating food and playing pool, ping pong and foosball. It was way cool!

The school paid for me and another intern to go up snowboarding with the students Saturday where we invited people to the event. I had a great time boarding, even though I sprained my elbow at the end of the day.

That night at the church went really well. I met tons of really nice backpackers. James was one of them, who was a Christian backpacker with some CRAZY cool stories. I brought him back to the base where he spent two nights getting to know the base and students. He’s returning to England in a week and is seriously considering doing a DTS. I can’t describe to you how excellent I feel this weekend went. Sorry for not really going into detail, I feel like junk right now because I’m sick.

Thank you for all your prayers, you guys are AMAZING!

God Bless

Eph. 2:10

So apparently we are God’s workmanship, or more precisely, his poem or his creative expression of love. And He has created us to do good works, meaning to creatively express our love back to Him. In his infinite wisdom and knowledge, all of these he has prepared in advance for us. In Jer. 29:11 it states that God has these “plans” but might I suggest that instead they are thoughts, well planned out thoughts of greatness. So in the grand scheme of things it seems that God has all these thoughts about us, hopes of what we might do. He has no set mark that we must reach, nor one specific goal that we must hit. He has predestined us from before birth with opportunities, possible experiences and greatness of many fashions that we might serve and bless him, creatively loving Him back for all His greatness. This is our chance, our opportunity to take hold of what we have to somehow give God glory for all He deserves. This is not only life, but life to the full, our gift from the beginning.

I don’t know if that will matter to anyone else but it feels good to process these thoughts in text. Otherwise, as in the past, they become pent up and all stacked upon each other in my head till I begin to forget them. It’s rather frustrating.

I am extremely excited about this week. My previous leaders from my trip to Auckland in January through February are here in Oxford for the week. It has been AMAZING to get to catch up with them. I feel like a part of their family and I love them SO much for the way God has used them in my life. I just want to give glory to God for how good he is to me.

This weekend I had the privilage of leading a team of students to a small town an hour away to hold an evening outreach event, thing, or whatever you’d like to call it. Basicly, every Saturday night we have a group of people go to Methven New Life Church to set up a cool hang out kind of atmosphere that we invite people to so that we might build relationships and the church. We watch snowboard videos, have games to play like ping pong and pool, and give out free food. That night we sleep in the church, and by church, I mean abandoned building in a back allie that is being used for sunday morning services. Then Sunday morning we attended and played worship at the church. It was a great night and about a couple dozen people came. I had some awesome conversations with people and even brought on of the guys back to base here. He’s an awesome man of God who showed up that night and shared a lot of his testimony with us. He was a huge encouragement to me, telling me about many acts of faith and walking out in the anoynting of the Holy Spirit during his travels so I figured why not bring him back to the base. He’s getting along great here and is thinking of doing a DTS when he returns home to England in a week.

I’m REALLY stoked about the rockin things God has been doing, and I am SUPER thankful for all of your prayers. They are the backbone to this ministry. God Bless

Being my fourth week here I’ve really gotten to know the students of the Snowboarder’s DTS and their staff. One thing I can not get over is the amount of energy I see in these guys. This applies to around the base, messing around, living life, and most importantly in their spiritual walks with God. Never have I seen so many young people on fire for God that are just crazy! It’s a huge encouragement to me to see people who are genuine about their faith and stoked to use their talents to serve God.   

All my leaders are excellent and their faith is encouraging, but God has blessed me with two specifically incredible mentors for while I’m here. These guys have, not only made me feel welcome, but I feel are the kind of men I could trust in rebuke and can look up to for an extra push when I need it. I thank God SO much for His provision.   

My daily life is busy but simple as a base intern. I get up early, get cleaned up, have breakfast, study a bit then I’m off to my work. I am in charge of maintaining the base’s 13 vehicles, 8 bikes, and the student computers. Whether it’s basic fluid checks on the vehicles, doing minor fix-up jobs, repairing bikes or cleaning computers and running spyware scans, my time seems to easily stay filled. The base has lunch around 1 pm and then I’m back to work till dinner at 6pm. The nights and weekends I have off though there are commonly events that will fill the night up. I have gotten the opportunity to sit in on a couple lectures which the students have between breakfast and lunch, and they have been super rewarding! Three of the four men I have heard speak I met on my last trip here so it has been nice to catch up with them again. As well, Jay and Erin, the guys I interned under on my last trip, will be coming down this next week to teach on the DTS. I’m really excited to see them again! They are a great couple and have been a huge blessing in my life.  

This past weekend I got the opportunity to go to the west coast with a bunch of students where we had a great time. We stayed in a hostel in Punakaiki which is a blip of a city halfway down the west coast, absolutely beautiful though. My favorite part of the weekend was going to a cave stream. We weren’t able to climb far into it but I’m hoping to return soon with wet suits and climb through it. I’ve had such a great time taking pictures since I’ve been here, and I’ve tried to post a number of them so I hope you enjoy them.  

I wrote a book report for my internship this past week and I got an A+ which I’m pretty stoked about seeing how I don’t think I ever got an A+ on a paper in high school. I’ll probably post it on here first so you can see that, if you’d like. Hope you enjoy it, I learned quite a bit from the book.  

 My only major prayer request right now is that you would pray for my mom. She is within days of giving birth to another son and I would love you to pray protection over her, and strength through this operation. Thank you  

      Spiritual Leadership by J. Oswald Sanders has been a challenging read in many ways. It has made me re-evaluate my approach in leadership. It has opened my eyes to the significance of self-discipline in the life of a leader or anyone who is considering becoming one. It has shown me how crucial it is as a spiritual leader to remain a man who can confront and rebuke yet comfort in it’s timing. It has shook my view of what it means to be thought well of by all. Most importantly though, it will always be a valuable reference that will continue to challenge me when I struggle in leadership.

      Spiritual Leadership is a book full of “one liners”. Sanders does an excellent job in addressing issues such as integrity in ambition, leadership qualities that are essential, prayer in leadership, a leader’s responsibilities, as well as providing an adequate amount of illustrations to support each point. It can be difficult to digest, troubling when it hits home, and despite the numerous spelling and grammatical errors a good read. Here are some key points that have made an impression on my view of leadership.

      Age is something, in many cultures, that comes with respect and dignity. Subordinates are expected to never rise above such authority and will inevitably never “climb the ladder”. PRAISE GOD his kingdom is far from that circumstance! In this way I relate very easily to Timothy. The Lord has used many mighty men of the faith to discipline me and help me get to a position of leadership that otherwise I would have never received, such was the case with Paul and Timothy. Being so young in leadership, it’s encouraging to hear Paul, a man revered by every Christian, instruct Timothy by saying, “Don’t let anyone look down on you because you are young but set an example for the believers in speech, in life, in love, in faith and in purity.” (Timothy 4:12)

      The encouragement is that despite my age I can attain whatever status of leadership the Lord l desires, although it comes with a challenge as well. Living a life that speaks volumes of why I am who the Lord has made me; not proving myself to anyone, for it is not theirs to judge, but giving testimony to what is His.

“Jesus told His disciples, ‘You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you’ (John 15:16). The sovereign selection of God gives great confidence to Christian workers. We can truly say, ‘I am here neither by selection of an individual nor election of a group, but by the almighty appointment of God.’” p.22-23

My prayer in this is that I would live faithfully, holding fast to that appointment. Along with being appointed, predestined, and set apart comes responsibility and what a great blessing that is.

      Our strength in the Holy Spirit is highly tied to our ability to put faith in His will, thus it is fitting for us to spur our followers on in such a way. A spiritual leaders ability to push his followers on in faith is a crucial part of his role.

“Faith builds faith. Pessimism dismantles faith. The spiritual leader’s primary task is to build the faith of others.” p165

It is our obligation as the Lord’s servants in spiritual leadership to inspire faith, to encourage when down trodden, and bring hope in despair. Nehemiah shook with fear when he was commissioned to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem, yet his faith was fully in the Lord and that’s all he needed, faith. (Nehemiah 2:2) Others would follow, many would become discouraged, yet he had faith and with it the Lord would do great things. This was key in the Lord’s will for this land. He needed a man who would hold fast in faith and spur others on in the same. Nehemiah did just that with the full construction of the wall though the people fell into disbelief and despair many times. (Nehemiah 6:15) The Lord asks the same of us all, to have faith and turn the tides of disbelief when it sweeps over his people. This can only be done by His grace and it shall be.

      The more I am learning to step out as a leader and take responsibility the more I learn the significance of time management and self-discipline. “Spiritual Leadership” has shown me that in many cases I am daydreaming while others pray, wasting time while others work, and snoozing while others study and if all that the Lord has for me is to happen then this isn’t enough. It isn’t enough for me to allow my brothers in Christ to “return to their vomit” as if I didn’t love them as I do.

      It’s not going to cut it to make excuses for why the goal wasn’t accomplished with ample time and supplies. I won’t stand for it any longer!

“The young man of leadership caliber will work while others waste time, study while others snooze, pray while others daydream. Slothful habits are overcome whether in thought , deed, or dress. The emerging leader eats right, stands tall, and prepares himself to wage a good warfare. He will without reluctance undertake the unpleasant task that others avoid or the hidden duty that others evade because it wins no public applause. As the Spirit fills his life, he learns not to shrink from difficult situations or retreat from hard-edged people. He will kindly and courageously administer rebuke when that is called for, or he will exercise the necessary discipline when the interests of the Lord’s work demand it. He will not procrastinate, but will prefer to dispatch with the hardest tasks first.” p. 53

All I could do when I read this was mark it heavily, writing “I want this!” and pray that the Lord would teach me discipline and convict me in love when I am living otherwise. Shortcuts and beating around the bush makes one miss the fullness of the Lords blessings. Loving confrontation in Jesus Christ’s name is always met with rich blessings, and that’s nothing easy to get good at.

“If a Christian is not willing to rise early and work late, to expend greater effort in diligent study and faithful work, that person will not change a generation. Fatigue is the price of leadership. Mediocrity is the result of never getting tired.” p. 119

This is very simply put. It’ll take effort, and MUCH of it to ever become the true man or woman of God that He has called us to. Many times it has been said that we as YWAMer’s are to change this generation. When will I feel the fatigue? Have we settled for mediocrity when the Lord is looking for those who’ll expend themselves on his behalf?

      This book has left me in a state of discomfort, distraught and wishing to make changes in my habits, speech, decisions, and relationships. For that I am thankful yet it is difficult to see where to begin. No understanding nor profound revelation I have already had will bring conclusion to this book or report for me. Though, by fervent prayer and meditation on all I’ve learned, the Lord will instruct me on how to make the changes I wish to see.

So it’ll be two weeks since I got here tomorrow and God is good. He has blessed me with a wonderful staff and great friends in this place. Fellowship, community, and hospitality are extremely important in this place which has made things easy for me to adjust to new people, surroundings, and climate.

I’ve joined four other interns who are hoping to staff the backpacker’s DTS with me. They all did their DTS here last year together so I’d be quite the odd man if people weren’t so nice. Along with us doing this internship we’ve all been given roles throughout the base. My job for the next two months will be maintenance of the bikes and regular vehicle checks. I believe they’ll be giving me a few more things to do as well although those are for sure as of right now.

 I have had the opportunity to sit in on a few of the Snowboarder’s DTS lectures and God has been teaching me SO much! Last week a man named Femi came in and spoke on the Holy Spirit and he taught in a completely different angle than I’ve ever heard anyone else teach from. It was good to hear how deep and involved the Holy Spirit truly is involved in our Christian Lives.

Oxford is a wonderful little town that is tucked back near the hills and about a 45min drive to Christchurch. Many of it’s residents have small pastures with sheep, although, who doesn’t on the South island I suppose? The base is in a subdivision so it’s not like we’re completely surrounded by fields but none the less it’s nothing but around the corner you can find all sorts of farm animals. It’s about mid to late winter right now so the snows still around from time to time but not often and the evenings can get pretty cool. Since I’ve been here it’s been the warmest it’s been all winter apparently, so we get to enjoy the suns warmth during the day and big warm blankets at night. Check out my pictures in my photo gallery to view the beautiful scenery around here.

All of your prayers and encouragements are greatly appreciated. Thank you SO MUCH for making this ministry possible.

God Bless, and contact me at anytime if you have any questions.

Well, today I arrived at the Oxford, NZ YWAM base and got settled in. Oxford is absolutely BEAUTIFUL. I feel like I’ve hardly left home seeing how my mental picture of “home” has always been graced by CO’s luming Rockies and well it’s not much different here. The mountains are within hiking distance, the caps of which are glazed with fresh pouder and a cool breeze slips through the small town of Oxford. A breeze that brings the crisp expectancy of fresh snow and is highlighted by the smell of a nearby chimney’s smoke.

The highlight of my flight had to have been when a gentleman approached me in the LA airport to evangelize to me. He asked me, “If you were to die tonight, do you know where you would go?” as he handed me a tract that I knew very well. I had handed out the exact same tracts out on my DTS, so I couldn’t help but chuckle. I was actually in a bit of a run when he stopped me so I quickly stated I was a missionary on my way to New Zealand and that I had passed out that exact same tract. His face lit up as I told him to pray for me, he yelled back, seeing how I had moved a bit past him by this point, “What’s your name?!” So I told him and it wasn’t till later that I should have stopped and prayed for him in his work. I ran back but couldn’t find him, but may that man be blessed to know that I am praying for him.

God has blessed me with many great leaders at this base. Without a doubt, I will learn plenty and grow closer to him. I got to see a couple people from my last visit, Mark Parker, Ben, Ben and Natalie which made my day. It’s made it quite a bit easier to feel at home seeing how I know a few people already. In other words, I’m not constantly stuck with the basic “what’s your name?” ” and where are you from?” conversations that take forever to go anywhere interesting.

I have my own bedroom here on base which is more than I’d expected, it’s rather nice. Being just about a fourth of the size of my room at home it’d be a bit cramped if someone did live in there with me. Tomorrow will be my first full day at the base and it starts bright and early with a morning intern devotional meeting. I have no doubt I’ll sleep GREAT tonight in this cool weather. PRAISE GOD! I’ve gotten maby 4 hours of very uncomfortable sleep in the past 36+ hrs.

 Thank you for your prayers, they mean more to me than you know! May God bless you and be with you in all you do.