Engagement

It’s official, Ruth Spencer and I (Chris Young) are engaged! Now we can say that not only will we spend the rest of our lives together, but also that we will respond together to God’s call to mission. We were both already headed the same direction in life – now we can walk side by side.

Ruth and I met each other on board the M.V. Logos Hope – a ship that sails through God’s waiting world bringing knowledge through the good literature in it’s on-board bookstore, help for those in need, and the hope of the gospel of Jesus Christ to people in every port city it visits. I was the Audio/Visual team leader, Ruth was the head teacher. We successfully ignored each other for 18 months of our time, our hearts set on serving God. Ruth has a passion for seeing kids of missionaries develop into healthy adults, and I have the passion to see technology and multimedia draw people to the heart of God.

In the beginning of 2011 we were in the same group of friends, and when by circumstance all of our other friends left for two weeks, we became good friends. God fostered a healthy friendship between us in a group of four, and at the right time both our feelings developed and I invited her to start a relationship. Of course in doing so I’m sure I barely managed to string a sentence together – I was so nervous, and Ruth hadn’t really seen our friendship in that light before – but after praying about it we decided to ‘go for it’.

We spent three months together as a couple on the ship, then a month apart, then a week together, then two-and-a-half months apart, then two months together in Australia. We’ve had the fun days, the exciting days, the romantic days, the boring days, the stressful days, the hard days and the sad days – and whilst we are neither of us perfect, we believe God put us together for good reasons, some of which we have discovered, and some we have yet to see.

Last Thursday we went to see Somersby falls – because of all the rain recently the waterfalls were in full swing. And when we had gazed a while on the falls and when we were left alone I asked her to marry me. Of course she said yes. I gave her a nice ring which I almost dropped in a puddle!

Ruth will be volunteering as the educational adviser for OM international including the ship ministry – supporting and resourcing the ship’s school, advising parents entering the mission field and recruiting teachers. She will also probably teach part time in some way to keep up with the education system in the UK. I will be joining the OMNIvision team – creating prayer resources featuring the unreached peoples of the world and providing the Audio Visual coverage of evangelistic and missional events across Europe.

It’s a little strange for us to consider starting a life together when neither of us have full time employment. It would be much easier for us to both go and get jobs, but we believe that God is calling us to be a part of the worldwide mission movement, enabling others to go and tell the good news about Jesus. Sometimes I am sad that I can’t accept engagement presents or take any of my furniture or appliances with me into our new life, but we see following God’s plan and purpose for our lives as more important, and ultimately more rewarding. Of course if you would like to bless us in our marriage and our mission, monthly sponsorships of as little as $5 are what we need most. Please contact me if you feel you would like to partner with us.

Chris and Ruth

OMNIvision

In April this year I am planning to move to the UK. “but why?” you might ask. The answer has to do with where God is leading me next in his plan for me. I know I wouldn’t have experienced the wonders that I did whilst traveling on the M.V. Logos Hope if I’d ignored God’s call – and now here I am again ready to head off.

You see, since I became a Christian (in my mid teens) I have had this focus. I want to use technology to help people draw closer to God. I want to get the technology out of the way of what He is saying to the Christian, and to the everyman. Have you ever been in a church service where the words never seem to come up on time? Or the microphone is never switched on at the start? Well I have, and I’ve made those mistakes too. Ultimately while we need the microphone and the screen in a large gathering, we don’t want to think about them instead of God and his purposes.

I’ve been looking for and praying for a way that I can use this passion in a more evangelistic sense. Whilst I love ministering to the saints – I feel a pull to be involved in some way in ministries that reach out to the unsaved. I am drawn to the big evangelistic events and the christian conferences that spur young Christians on to great things for God. I want to use what God has given me to enable others to reach the masses with the good news. I want to be a part of mobilising Christians to share their faith with their fellow students, their co workers, their families and even with people in other countries.

OMNIvision is a UK based division of Operation Mobilisation – an international mission orginisation with over 6100 full time missionaries in more than 110 countries. Whilst OMNIvision’s role in the wider organisation is small and unglorified, it is vital all the same, aiming  to fulfil psalm 96:3 – “Declare his glory among the nations, his marvellous deeds among all peoples”. It’s headquarters and studio is in Carlisle – on the Border of England and Scotland. Whilst they are involved in may of these large events across Europe, their core vision is achieved by creating 5-10 minute documentary videos.

Imagine if Christians around the world were aware of what God is doing in some of the most unreached places in the world. Imagine if they knew what to pray for, how to give and where they could go. OMNIvision’s professional camera crew travel to the places where the gospel is starting to take root and capture on video what is happening. Back at the studio, editors put together a short programme that transports the regular Christian from a cell group setting to the mission field – Seeing the faces, hearing the voices of the people who need Christ’s love. They are given key points to pray for. I will be involved in maintaining the OMNItube website where the videos are available to watch and download. Helping them to reach more people. OMNIvision are keen to have a developer like myself on the team.

I will be going there mid April 2012 and initially staying for 2 years, though I could possibly stay longer. I will be a volunteer, so I will need to provide $1800 per month to cover my accommodation, food, transport, insurance, superannuation and travel home. Of course without an income I need to depend on God to provide the funds for this call, and He does that through faithful sponsors who donate monthly anything from $12 to $100 and higher. If you would like to sponsor me for this amazing call, please contact me.

An update

Isn’t it amazing how time flies? It’s been over three months since I returned to Australia and it seems like only a few weeks. January has been a busy month in a sense, and yet there hasn’t been any big moments to write about, so please allow me to share with you what God has been doing with me in January

By far the most exciting part about January is that my girlfriend Ruth has come to visit me (and for February too!). For those who don’t know, Ruth and I met on the ship and started dating three months before we left to return home. She is a primary school teacher, loves God and is committed to missions. We have enjoyed a sprinkling of sightseeing amongst the very normal days of going to work and going to church. We’ve had a lot of opportunities to share meals with people who’ve prayed for me over the two years, and if you’d like to the the same, we’d be delighted.

One of the key projects I took on when returning home was to re-build the aging grace community website to cope with our ever expanding ministry. Whilst there’s still plenty to be done, I’ve been making steady progress and can now include a screen-shot for you. I hope to launch it early next month.

OM International (based in the UK) have asked me to put together a payment gateway for them allowing people to donate to the ship ministry directly from the website. It’s quite fun playing with credit card transactions and gateways and I’m learning a lot in the process.

Whilst the AV side has eased off this month, I’ve been able to install a more permanent system for the amplifiers at Grace Wamberal so to reduce wear and tear and setup time. I’m working on documenting every part of the AV system so nobody ever needs to be confused.

I am now in the process of applying for a UK visa. I went to Sydney recently to have my fingers and face scanned, and I’ll be sending in my application form next week. Please be in prayer that the application would all go well. I have my new brochures which I’ll be handing out, and I have a confirmed monthly support target and a breakdown of the costs involved.

I’ll be sharing at Grace Wamberal on February 12th and Erina Baptist on February 19th.

Please continue to be in prayer about my wrist injury. I have something called intersection syndrome which causes pain when twisting things (say, opening a jar) and using a computer – not good for a computer programmer! Progress has been made and prayer has helped, but there is still a journey to full recovery.

The Christmas Story

Waiting for the show to start, my Dad and I were a little nervous. Everything seemed to be working, but we felt like just about anything could go wrong. Dad and I had teamed up to provide the audio coverage of The Christmas story at the Hive in Erina Fair – our local shopping centre. Local churches Erina Baptist and Green Point Baptist came together to perform the Christmas story with Mary and Joseph riding in on a donkey, shepherds with sheep and wise men riding on camels through the shops! Passing shoppers stopped to watch the kids pre-show and listen to the carols and commented that they loved the singing.

After the show, we could take a deep breath and thank God that the show went well. I also though to myself that I am really lucky to live in a country where we are allowed to put on a Christmas play about Jesus and nobody tries to stop us. I am also really thankful that churches and individuals have stuck their hand up and said ‘We want to do this’. Without them, this message would be completely absent from my favourite shopping centre and public meeting place.

As Christmas approaches rapidly I am helping with these shows – two more will happen on Thursday and Friday night at the Hive at 6pm – and I’m busy preparing Grace Wamberal’s Audio/Visual gear for the possibility of Christmas Eve inside if it rains. And as the day draws nearer and everyone around is making last minute preparations for Christmas, I too start to feel the stress. Isn’t it nice though, to go to Christian run carols events, or to events like ‘Road to Bethlehem’, to watch movies like ‘The Nativity Story’ or simply to read through Luke 1 & 2 and marvel at the miracle that happened on that first Christmas. God became man, dwelt among us – and he came to restore us to right relationship with himself. It all causes me to think – how is my relationship with Jesus right now?

God’s strength in me

“Thank you for sharing with us today, I really enjoyed listening – you spoke so well” – It’s great to receive compliments like this, but even better still it’s great to see the ways in which God has helped me to grow over the last two years – and one of those is public speaking. When I left home two years ago standing on stage was a painful experience – I would break out in a sweat and stammer over my words, looking at my notes for some sort of help. During my time on board I found myself many times being asked to stand on a stage in a church and tell people about the ship or tell them about what God has done in my life. I won’t lie, this terrified me! But I soon realised that His strength is perfect when my strength is gone, so I said to God that I would do my best but He would have to get me through it, and I managed. Now after so many experiences like this, it has become much easier to trust Him. Last night I was speaking at Erina Community Baptist Church and as it was coming time for me to speak, I felt God challenge me to not just tell people what *I* had done, but to tell them what He    had done through me. So my notes weren’t as helpful and it didn’t sound very practiced, but in the end God gave me the right words to encourage people that God doesn’t call the qualified, he qualifies the called – and also that He will reveal to us the next step at the right time, not sooner.

So after speaking at Erina and also at Green Point Christian College last Wednesday and at Grace Community Church two weeks ago, this completes my thanksgiving speaking tour. Early next year I will be visiting Churches to tell people what God has in store for me next at OMNIvision. I look forward to that.

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A week in London


Following a month in Carlisle in the north of England volunteering with OMNIvision, this week I was able to relax and spend some time with my girlfriend Ruth in London. I also had the chance to catch up with four other friends from the UK and one from Norway at a Chinese restaurant in London. Sitting at a table with a lot of friends from the ship brought back good memories of all the times we spent together and the friendships that we forged.
I am looking forward to coming home on November and catching up with everyone.

Kids club


“Wow! I can see now that you jungle animals are just as smart and clever as circus animals!” I exclaimed to the ship kids who had just performed very well in some fun games like twister, limbo, acting, dancing and singing a song.
I’ve asked God to help me to be better with kids and so lately a few opportunities have come up to have fun with the kids on the ship and with those onshore. This opportunity was called ‘kids club’. A general invite went out to the crew and I signed up with some other crew who were more experienced. The goal was to just have a fun time with the kids and to love them – no special agenda behind it.
I acted as a circus trainer and did a small skit, helped run some of the games and in general just interacted with the kids. It’s a stretch for me, but it’s actually quite fun. I thank God for answering my prayer.

Ship of peace

“We saw many naval ships on the horizon, ships going for war, but we saw very few book ships. Now we have ships bringing knowledge into our ports.”
“Such a multinational grouping for a nobel cause in itself sets a worthy illustration of global unity”
These were some of the kind words spoken by our honoured guests on arrival in Galle, Sri Lanka. Only two years after the close of a devestating civil war that spanned most of my lifetime, the people of Sri Lanka have shown that a ship with peaceful purpose is a sight for sore eyes. With over 400 crew members from more than 45 nations working together in peace (most of the time!) we are a light to the nations. How can we do it? On our own, we simply can’t. It’s too hard to work with so many different cultures on board. But with the help of the Holy Spirit we seek to honour each other and serve together in a community of believers with one goal – to serve Him.

Cancelled plans

Again, we must change our plans. We will no longer visit the port that we wanted to visit, because the ship is not ready to sail.
Twice now in our South Asian tour, we have needed to change our plans because we felt that the ship – which is undergoing heavy maintenance – is not ready to sail the high seas. Many of us were looking forward to ministry in the planned ports, but were told that we will remain where we are and extend our opening hours.
In times like this it is easy to question God. To ask ‘Are you really looking after this ministry – or have you forgotten about us?’. Sometimes it is tempting to blame others or to blame our circumstances. How could so-and-so let this happen? How can we keep our faith?
Yet each time, I have met with people who said they couldn’t come during the regular opening hours, yet they were able to come when the ship extended it’s visit. My friend Juli was away from the ship and his return flight was delayed such that he would have missed the ship if it had not stayed put. I have had great opportunities to connect with Indian people and given them tours of the ship. We can see some of the reasons for staying in India an extra week, but some reasons we will only know in heaven.
“For I know the plans I have for you” Says the Lord “Plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope” – Jer 29:11

Sabbath Week


No matter what your job is on Logos Hope – it’s hard to escape the fast pace of life onboard. Wether it is the endless crowds of customers in the book exhibition, the piles and piles of dishes to wash or in my case event after event – it begins to wear us down. This week was a very different week indeed. We called it Sabbath Week. A week set apart for the lord. We were closed to the public, so each person only worked one out of the six days doing essential tasks like cooking, cleaning, and marine operations.
Each day we had a time of worship where we opened our hearts to God. He came and renewed our spirits and restored our strength. Each day we had teaching that helped us to trust God with those things we’ve been waiting on Him for, and to renew our love for one another and the world.
I really enjoyed this time because I could spend time in God’s presence and be renewed. I saw that my friends had also given to God those things that they struggled with. I also enjoyed the time to just relax with friends and enjoyed each other’s company. One day we were able to go on a houseboat along some canals – again a truely unique experience. Another day we had a film festival where we all dressed up and watched films made by the crew. Then awards were given like at the Oscars.
I am reminded in all of this how I need to take time out of my busy life to make space for God, and to spend in fellowship with others – not just once a year, but daily – for I am too busy not to pray.