This is a link to the audio of the second interview. Click here to download it.

Last week, Voice of the Martyrs Australia launched its new youth initiative, Thirteen Three. It’s inspired by Hebrews 13.3 which says “Remember the Lord’s people who are in jail…don’t forget those who are suffering”. Our vision is to equip Australian youth to support persecuted Christians.

Check out our new website at www.thirteenthree.org.au

Since our launch, I’ve been busy promoting this new ministry in preparation for our BOUND WITH THEM Youth Event. On Monday, I had a Radio interview with 106.5 Rhema FM on the Sunshine Coast.

Here is the audio.

I had another interview today with the Vision Radio Network. I’ll put the audio for that online as soon as I get it.

In the meantime, connect with Thirteen Three through facebook and twitter and get connected with our BOUND WITH THEM CAMPAIGN.

Justin Taylor at Between Two Worlds comments:

I’ve been in touch with the folks from Cornerstone Community Church, and the videos are being pulled until their accuracy can be verified.

The question is not, as one commenter thought, about whether or not we doubt that severe persecution is occurring in India or in other parts of the world. The question is whether or not the footage in these videos is depicting Christians being persecuted for their faith. If it’s not, we don’t want to show it, as doing so knowingly would be both misleading and manipulative.

I apologize for my contribution to any confusion. I hope this doesn’t distract from the fact that such persecution is real and terrible, requiring prayers for our brothers and sisters. Again, I commend to you Voice of the Martyrs for ways to get involved and informed.

Please continue to remember our persecuted brothers and sisters as if you were bound with them.

Hebrews 13.3

How do you respond to this?

“So do not be ashamed to testify about our Lord, or ashamed of me his prisoner. But join with me in suffering for the gospel, by the power of God” – 2 Timothy 1:8

Click here to watch the unedited footage of this terrible persecution in Orrisa.

Please click through to inexpressible and glorious if you cannot see the video.

If you’ve been watching the Winter Olympics then you’ve probably heard of Apolo Ohno – the short track speed skating champion from the US. This five minute documentary from TIME shows how intensely this guy trains for his sport. I train with some guys on Mondays for our own Monday Morning Mayhem, but it’s nothing compared to this.

Check it out!

‘…physical training is of some value, but godliness has value for all things…’

Thanks Take Your Vitamin Z.

Last Friday, I spoke at a combined youth event at Casula in south-west Sydney. The event was called Elevate and it was awesome. There were a number of youth groups there, over 100 youth and I had the privilege of speaking to them from God’s Word. I spoke from 2 Corinthians 4:7-18 – ‘following Jesus is not safe’. I used the testimonies of persecuted Christians from Vietnam and Colombia to illustrate the points below. There was a lot of enthusiasm from the event and I received good feedback. I’d love you to have a listen for yourself:

Following Jesus is Not Safe

SUFFERING SHOULD NOT TAKE US BY SURPRISE

DEATH IS NOT THE END, SO DO NOT LOSE HEART

DEATH IS NOT THE END, SO RISK EVERYTHING

Thank you to everyone who was praying for this event and for me. I trust that God is answering your prayers in the lives of the youth who were there on the night.

I’m speaking at Elevate tomorrow night at 1930. Elevate is a youth event that started in 2008 in Liverpool and grew steadily through 2009. It’s about youth groups getting together as the body of Christ to hear God’s Word taught and to declare the praises of King Jesus. I’m super excited to have the opportunity to speak to hundreds of youth from God’s Word and to challenge them to risk everything for the gospel.

In preparation, I’ve been spending time in 2 Corinthians. It’s one of my favourite books. I particularly love what Paul says about the place of weakness and suffering in the Christian life. I’m speaking from 2 Corinthians 4:7-18 with a particular focus on suffering and the resurrection. Here is my outline:

SUFFERING SHOULDN’T SURPRISE US

DEATH ISN’T THE END, SO DO NOT LOSE HEART

DEATH ISN’T THE END, SO RISK EVERYTHING

I’ll post the audio up here after the event. But for the time being, I value your prayers and support.

Check out this two powerful videos from Desiring God and Lecrae about not wasting your life. I’ve found them both really challenging as I’ve been preparing to speak at a youth event in Liverpool tomorrow.

What do you think?

Don’t Waste Your Life.

Always great stuff from Tim Chester.

Mission as Identity
For many people mission has become an event. We have guest services. Evangelistic courses. Street preaching. Youth programmes. There’s nothing wrong with these things. But mission is more than a slot into our schedules. It is an identity and a lifestyle. Mission is about living all of life, ordinary life, with gospel intentionality.

Missional Communities
We are called to be missional communities – not lone evangelists. Our love for one another reveals our gospel identity. The world will know that Jesus is the Son of God sent by God to be Saviour of the world through the community life of believers (John 17:20-23).

Scattered communities of light
We are not be like a lighthouse, occasionally sending a beam of light across the city. We are to be communities of light and hope and love in a dark and broken world at street level, on the street corner.

Read the whole thing here.

If you haven’t picked up in previous posts – this is what we’re trying to do at LiVE in 2010. It’s a big challenge, but we’re trusting that as we keep our eyes focused on Jesus, that our lives and our community will be shaped by his gospel and his mission, and that by God’s mercy we might win some.

LiVE: going deep into the Word. building gospel community. overflowing in creative service.

We have recognized the massive challenge that we face at LiVE (the young adults community at Factory Night Church) to be missional. We need a radical mindshift to see that we are the agents of mission in our communities. In 2010, we hope to see real relationships built with people in the community as we seek to love and serve the Blue Mountains.

One practical thing that we are doing in Term One is having a Pub Team. When we meet every Wednesday we are going to commission a team of young adults to go to the local pub to build relationships with people and look for opportunities to communicate the gospel in our community. We are really excited about this opportunity and praying that God will be at work through us in powerful ways as we seek to make him known in Springwood.

I guess we want to see the transformation that is highlighted in the above video happen in our lives and church – moving away from events and comsumer church, to being trained for mission in our own community, building relationships in the community, seeking to serve and love our neighbours and share our lives and God’s mercy with them, all in the hope that through us God might save some.

This is really pretty scary stuff. It means we’re all going to be pushed right out of our comfort zones and be forced to ask “what risks am I willing to take for the gospel?” Please pray for us as we seek to be a community who is committed to serving God, one another and our community.