11 Month Update

There might not be much happening at this blog but the same can not be said for Revolution Hawaii. These past 11 months we have seen God move in amazing ways as the Revolution Hawaii team faithfully lives out their lives as followers of Jesus. For your reading pleasure we have prepared an 11 month update to fill you in on whats been going on. Enjoy!

Revolution Hawaii 11 month Update

Revolution Hawaii would like to take this opportunity to share with you what has been happening during our second year.

The first semester started with 7 passionate lovers of Jesus. Let me quickly introduce them to you.

Joey Arnold from Portland, Oregon
Jessica Franklin from Homer, Alaska
Corey Gaus from Winatchee, Washington
Kealoha Irvine from Waianae, Hawaii
Martina Pound from Rita, Republic of the Marshall Islands
Jeff Walters from Roseville, California
Blake Webb form Roseville, California

They range in age from 18 to 27. They arrived Aug. 31 and returned home for Christmas Dec. 17.

The second semester began January 7 and ran through until May 31. Five of the original seven returned to complete the 07-08 year.

This year a typical week looked something like this:

Tuesday - Thursday
Tuesday through Thursday started at 6:30 AM with morning exercise. Usually the team headed to the park or beach to run/walk/swim/surf for close to an hour. At 7:30 AM they then launched into personal and team devotions wherever they happened to be exercising. The team is reading through the Bible this year. In the Old Testament they have read and journaled up through Lamentations. In the New Testament they have read up through Jude. They currently are studying Ezekiel (While in their various Summer mission locations). Devotions were scheduled for one hour and employed the S.O.A.P method. This was broken down into three 20 min. segments. The first twenty minutes were spent reading the Bible (S) Scripture of the day. The next twenty minutes were spent journaling on (O) Observations and (A) Applications gleaned from these readings. The final twenty minutes were spent sharing these gems with the team. Devotions were followed by an extended time of (P) Prayer.

After devotions and prayer there was time for a short shower and breakfast. Teaching time started at 10:00 AM and lasted until 12:00 PM. This time was used to discuss assigned readings from the Revolution Hawaii curriculum of books. This year they read through and discussed 22 books in this order:

"Fresh Wind, Fresh Fire" by Jim Cymbala
"Before You Hit the Wall" by Danny Lehmann
“Revolution” by Michael Brown
“Under the Overpass” by Mike Yankoski
“Aggressive Christianity” by Catherine Booth and Cory Harrison
"Kingdom Works" by Bart Campolo
"The Servant" by James C. Hunter
"The Case for Christ" by Lee Strobel
“Church Marketing 101” Richard Reising
“The Corner” by David Simon and Edward Burns
“Too Busy Not To Pray” by Bill Hybels
"In the Name of Jesus" by Henri Nouwen
“True Faced” by Bill Thrall, Bruce McNicol, and John Lynch
“I kissed Dating Goodbye” by Joshua Harris
“Velvet Elvis” by Rob Bell
“Insane” by Nealson Munn and David Collins
“Generation Me” by Jean Twenge
“Revolution and Renewal” by Tony Campolo
“The Irresistible Revolution” by Shane Claiborne
“Messy Spirituality” by Michael Yaconelli
“Blue Like Jazz” by Don Miller
"'I'll Fight...' Holiness at War" by Phil Wall

We have also had guest lecturers speak to us on various topics. Here was the line up this year:

Commissioner Joe Noland
Major Dave Hudson, (Monthly)
Major Sharon Hudson (Monthly)
Captain Neil Navarro – Divisional Youth Secretary, Hawaiian and Pacific Division
Captains Rob and Amy Reardon – Divisional Youth Secretary, Northwest Division
Michael Collins – Associate Pastor, Cariboo Hill Corps, B.C. (Twice)
Jim Sparks – Western Territory Youth Development and Leadership Director
Josh Cowing and Richard Brown – Western Territory Media Specialists
Lincoln Hawk – Long Beach Citadel Youth Pastor and Worship Leader
Fulton Hawk – Western Territory Youth Media Specialist

After lunch, the team would take off to their assigned neighborhoods. The Revolution Hawaii seven were split into two teams and assigned to two of the four corps on Oahu. The teams were:

Kauluwela Corps – Downtown Honolulu
Corey Gaus
Joey Arnold
Jess Franklin
Martina Pound

Waianae Outpost – Waianae Coast
Kealoha Irvine
Blake Webb (First Semester)
Jeff Walters (First Semester)

The teams attended the Corps/Outposts (Church’s) and participated as good soldiers (Church members), but they did not work for the Corps (Church). Rather, they were missionaries to that Corps (Church), and spent most of their time building relationships with the poor and marginalized in those surrounding neighborhoods. They also volunteered a few hours a day at different places. Volunteer sites included; The Boys and Girls Club, YMCA, Palama Community Rec center, Kauluwela Corps (Church) senior day care center, River of Life homeless mission and HCAP - Hawaii Community Action Program.

This year the Kauluwela team initiated a Thursday afternoon sidewalk Sunday school at a nearby low income housing project. The Divisional Youth Secretary, Captain Neil Navarro, led and trained the team in this endeavor. It was very successful as many children attended regularly and meaningful relationships were made. The team also assisted with a Friday Youth Night at the corps (church) which attracted a lot of these same children. Sunday morning Sunday School and church attendance also grew because of this ministry.

Kealoha took on the position of YPSM (Youth Pastor) for the Waianae Outpost and was heavily involved in the weekly outpost (church) activities.

The Revolution Hawaii team members made some solid relationships with people in their neighborhoods and have amazing stories to tell of God working through them. You can read some of these if you click on their names located at the right.

In the evenings the team was scheduled to help out at corps (church) activities or attend bible studies. This year the team participated in a Bible study on Tuesday night lead by the Revolution Hawaii director. The girls attended a women’s Bible study on Monday night, lead by the Kaneohe Corps Officer (Pastor). The Kauluwela team also attended a Corps Bible Study on Thursday night lead by the Corps Officer (Pastor), as well as one on Friday night lead by The Salvation Army Adult Treatment Services Chaplain. Kealoha attended a young adult Bible study on Thursday nights and lead a Bible study for the teens and youth in Waianae on Wednesday nights.

Friday
Friday was the time when cleaning, shopping and team meetings were held and support letters were written and mailed out. The directors also met with the team members for one on one mentoring. The Kauluwela team helped out with troops and youth night at the Kauluwela Corps (Church) and then some of them attended a recovery Bible study lead by The Salvation Army Adult Treatment Services Chaplain. (They were not in recovery themselves but hoped to be able to link some of their neighborhood friends into the group).

Saturday
Saturday would start with team devotions and prayer and then it was off to the assigned neighborhoods as this is when most people are home and relationships can be initiated and developed. Door to door prayer walks were encouraged. The key to this is to get a name and hopefully a prayer request or two. As the year develops, the hope is that relationships will grow as the team members continue to visit these same people. Those that were consistent with this ministry reaped the rewards as they were able to develop solid relationships with non believers.
Team dinner took place on Saturday night. This was a time for everyone to get together to debrief the week and share stories of how God worked and showed himself in their lives. Later in the evening the Revolution Hawaii team led an outreach ministry in downtown Honolulu and China Town. This took place every Saturday night with food preparation starting at 7:00 pm and outreach beginning at 9:00 pm. This was a highlight of the Revolution Hawaii experience. There are many exciting stories from their forays into the heart of this dark place. The team was able to go for souls and go for the worst. Through this they made some solid friendships with these people and were able to share the Good News. They have experienced many victories as a number of the friends they made were able to get off the streets and get their lives back on track. They credit us for this, we credit God.

Sunday
Sunday mornings the teams attended their respected Corps (Church’s). In the evenings everyone attended the Upper Room, a service that attracts young adults, for corporate worship.

Monday
Mondays were a Sabbath day for the team. They would use this time to rest and regenerate, whether that was sleeping all day or hiking to the top of a mountain.

Disciplines of the Spirit
Throughout the year the Revolution Hawaii team practices a simple lifestyle. There is no television. Computer use is limited. Most of the time they took public transportation to get around. Each week the team was provided with money for food. It equaled out to roughly the same amount as someone on welfare would receive. They had to work with their team to figure out meals, i.e. shopping, cooking cleaning. They were also given a small stipend for necessities. Other than that, they had very little spending money.

The Revolution Hawaii team was committed to scripture memorization this year and have memorized 1 Cor. 13, Matthew 5:1-12, James 1 and Ephesians 6.

One day a month was spent practicing the disciplines of meditation, solitude, and silence in a secluded location on Oahu. (Yes, it’s possible).

Other
The team helped out at various Salvation Army Hawaiian and Pacific Island divisional events including Family Camp, Kauluwela VBS, Waianae Carnival, Divisional Young Adult Retreat, Youth Councils and 24/3 prayer weekend. Blake Webb spent a weekend in Kauai Helping Larry and Joy with a youth retreat at their corps (church).

One of the exciting things the Revolution Hawaii team experienced was a week of homelessness. With only two small tents, a few clothes and $5.00 each, the team spent a week in a homeless camp on the West side of Oahu.

Revolution Hawaii was blessed to be able to attend this years Territorial Boot Camp in Southern California.

Christmas
This year the team was sent off to the outer islands to help with Christmas. Blake and Martina went to Kona, Jeff and Joey went to Hilo, and Corey and Jess went to Hanapepe. Kealoha stayed in Waianae to help the outpost. This help was very much appreciated by all Corps officers (Pastors) of the respective Corps (Church’s).

Summer Assignments
This summer 3 Revolution Hawaii team members are serving and ministering in the Republic of Marshall Islands. Jessica Franklin is on the Ebeye atoll, while Kealoha Irvine and Corey Gaus are ministering in Jabor, Jaluit. They left May 21 and return August 1.

Joey Arnold returned to The Salvation Army Camp Kuratli, located in Oregon, to help with summer camp there. Martina Pound did the same at The Salvation Army Camp Homelani, on Oahu.

The team is scheduled to return to Oahu August 1 for a week of debriefing. August 8 they will leave Oahu and head to The Salvation Army Camp Arnold in Washington for a week of ministry at the Western Youth Institute. The Revolution Hawaii year ends on the last day of this event. The team members will then head home to continue to spread this Revolution of love for God and others, building the kingdom of God and winning the world for Jesus.

Please pray for them and the revolution.