The Hannekens

This simple statement melted my heart.  A few years ago, we were at a prayer service and one of our friends asked me, “what do you want” and without hesitation I said, “I just want to be a mom to my girls”.  At the time it was just Gloria and Bryce with us and we were busy.  Too busy.  Every night seemed to fill up and I was feeling weary.  We were extremely blessed to be surrounded by friends and family who were more than willing to spend time with our sweet girls, but I was beginning to feel family time falling  further down the priority list.  When Kenzi came roaring into our lives, I knew things HAD to change.  And while we’re no longer on the frontlines of full time-local church-youth ministry, we are still busy, but in a great way.  Some days are filled with laundry, dishes and other menial tasks, but I have to remember that I’m teaching the girls essential life skills. There are other days where we laugh, draw, sing and dance.  I cherish the freedom we have in our lives now, not just freedom with our time, but freedom to follow Jesus as He leads.  As much as we love children’s programs like AWANA and Sunday morning kid’s church, we also love bringing our girls into worship to sing and dance with us.  We love teaching our girls to read and count, but we also love teaching them how to love people like Jesus.  This is evidenced as we go and serve the homeless each month.  Gloria & Bryce love passing out forks, napkins, desserts, and offering their prayers.  I never thought God would call me to motherhood, but He did and I can’t imagine doing anything else.  Take a minute today and ask earnestly, what is God calling YOU to do?  Let us know if we can pray for you, and keep us posted on what God is doing in your lives.

There’s something about gliding at 30,000 feet that makes me want to write a blog.  Our family just finished a 6 day stint in Maryland and it was chock full of adventure.  We saw 11 different groups of people in a short time.  These included a reunion with our friend Bryce Avary of The Rocket Summer, testifying to over 400 people about all that God did in India, several dozen MD steamed crabs, and a parking citation for backing in to a parking space.

As we approach 1 year of serving with YouthHOPE (on July 15^th), we have set out to reflect on all that God has done.  He has been ever so faithful and Karena is going to write about our family, and I’m going to write here about ministry.

1.  This year God has given me the privilege of doing a short term project in Myanmar (December) and another in India (May).  In addition, He’s allowed me to impact multiple youth groups in Lee County, FL.  On most Thursday nights I can be found getting to know high schoolers at our home church, Crosspoint.  On Wednesday nights, I preach as often as possible at any youth group that will have me, as well as building relationships with several college students in the area.  Recently, we were visiting one of our spiritual mothers, Mrs. Stefini and she said that God gave her a word for me that He saw me as a “pastor to youth pastors.”  What an honor to represent Jesus this way.
2. God allowed us to bring the first ever Hunger Strike Challenge to SW, FL.  Crosspoint youth raised enough funds to sponsor 6 youth from Mozambique for a year.  Students’ lives were changed as they fasted for 24 hours, walked 5 miles to tote back water and pressed in to God’s presence in many different forms of worship. Three other youth groups have followed suit and booked a Hunger Strike Challenge for later this Fall.
3. Speaking of the Hunger Strike challenge, it’s been such a blessing to continue to partner with our friends in ministry.  We have enjoyed staying in contact with the Willets and are bringing their band to Florida in Fall 2012 for a 11-stop-tour.   In addition, we recently had Jimmy & Amber Akers, our dear friends from Clermont, come down to our CGO and minister for the pre-field-internship orientation.  They continue to bless us and challenge us to “do small things with GREAT LOVE.”
4. In as much as we are supported by friends, family and churches, partnership development has been very important to us this year.  God has taught us so much about walking in faith and how to communicate with our partners.  Sometimes He has us blog, other times it’s facebook appropriate.  Some stories are reserved for newsletters and sometimes He just tells us to call people and tell His testimonies over the phone.  We just want to be obedient to testify because His Word says that “He who is faithful in little will be given much.”  He has surely made good on His promise and given us many things to “shout from the rooftops.”
5. I (Justin) spent 6 months of 2012 working on my Master’s research.  I studied Global Youth Ministry, specifically the key factors that contribute to US youth ministers’ involvement in working with youth globally.  I specifically appreciated how well my boss and friend, Aaron, helped me out and encouraged me that my research added value to what we do at YouthHOPE.  Then in May 2012, I got to finish my degree while being a practitioner of that which I studied.

Thank you for your support.  We love you all.

–  With a humble heart, Justin.

It has been 1 year since my first day of serving in the office at YouthHOPE.  Since July 15^th, 2011, God has been working on my faith, theology, missiology and more.  As I reflect on how faithful He has been, I’d love to share with you some of what He has been sharing with me.

Most recently, God put it on my heart to start a Scripture project. This project does not have a name, and is something I have been doing apart from my work at YouthHOPE.  I am creating an Excel spreadsheet for each book of the New Testament and listing out each of the verses, row by row.  Did you know the Gospel of Matthew has 1,072 verses?  For each verse, I am recording:

• Notes of what God has taught me in the past 13 years
• Cross references
• Key words

I realize this project will take several years, but by God’s grace, I will complete the New Testament.  This is intended to be a legacy for my daughters, friends, and those that He allows me to disciple.

Next, God has put it on my heart to create videos that challenge the Church.  Through this process, I have heard from Him on several topics, all the while needing to “remove the plank” from my own eye.  The things that He has pressed on me to address to the Church are all things that He is addressing with me in my own life.  My first video is called Numbers.  It can be viewed here.  My next video will come out in the next month, Lord willing.  God used former-students on facebook to encourage me to record some “video sermons” as a means to get me to see that He is calling me to this.  I value your prayers as many will be offended at what they hear and see.  I find comfort, however in the words of 1 Cor. 1:23-24 “…we preach Christ crucified, to the Jews a stumbling block, and to the Greeks foolishness, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.”

Third, we have been having Bible studies on campus for the past 10 months.  We have called friends to gather and unify around the Word of God each Tuesday night.  God has allowed us to explore topics such as:  Heaven, rest, spiritual gifts, purity, soul vs. spirit, and honor.  We have studied the book of Ruth in its entirety over a period of 1 month and several other expository studies as well.  I continue to teach devotions for the mission each Monday morning that I am in town.  It has truly been a blessing to gather around the Word of God and to be taught by the Spirit with like-minded folks.

Fourth, in the past year, God has taught me a lot about worship, honor, and spiritual gifts.  For the first time in our lives, we can surely identify our spiritual gifts and have been growing in their operation for sure.  Here’s mine:

Primary:  teaching, pastor, knowledge, missionary.

Secondary:  giving voluntary poverty and leading worship.

If you want to know what gifts Karena has, feel free to ask her.  She was surely excited by what God has revealed to her.

As I look back at the past year, there are dozens of people who have greatly impacted our lives and affected my theology.   I could not possibly mention everyone here, but a few people come to mind. People like Jeremy Willet & Jimmy Akers have held me accountable to the call that God has on my life.  Brothers: Gary Hanneken, Fred McHargue, Bruce Schreiber and Sir Robert Burbridge have been spiritual fathers to me.  Mrs. Stefini Greer has been our prayer warrior.  God has allowed me to pour in to our spiritual sons Christian Cole, Eric Broome and others.  He has given us new spiritual daughters like Taylor Masters.  He has given me great friends.  Just one year ago I did not know Brad Zachritz or Sean McIntosh and I consider them to be some of my best friends today.  I am blessed to work with brothers like Aaron Arnold and Kyle Duncan.  God has used Adam & Beth Hunt in ways we cannot describe with words and they truly are family to us.  Lastly, we get to serve and plug in to a healthy church that is reaching the lost in SW, FL.  To God be the glory.