109+109+109=327

Hey all,

So I found out two days ago that I will once again be trekking to the Pacific coast, leading 45 high school students. It will undoubtedly be intense; however, in preparation for this upcoming session of Trac II, I have felt an overwhelming sense from the Lord that this session will be unlike any others I've done, specifically from a spiritual perspective. I really feel as if a lot of these guys that are coming (I have 12) are bringing with them many many questions, burdens, and uncertainty. Getting to the point, I ask you all, my GBC family, that you would begin to pray into the lives of these guys. My prayer is that they would be so overwhelmed by Christ that they would lay claim to the victory and the ability to overcome these things in which they are currently held captive to. Family, WE ARE OVERCOMERS in Christ. Be encouraged.

Many things have occurred since I last posted. For those of you that are familiar with the band Phillips, Craig, and Dean, Dan Dean was out here this past week with his daughter, Dani. Awesome, awesome people. I had the opportunity to get to know them very well, so that was cool.

3 weeks left and then it's back to Gassaway. I have to say that it's at times easy to fall into that mode of simply wanting to escape and go home; however, I know that the Lord is not done with me here, so I am continually grateful for the opportunity to serve at the Ranch. For those of you that miss my smiling face and for those of you that don't, the picture above is for you. I praise God for you all!

Travis

This is the Trac II guys for the first session of Second Wind here at the JH Ranch. I was beginning to feel guilty for not posting any pictures. So here is one.

God Bless...

GBC family,

I apologize that it's taken me so long to sit down and write another blog post. I believe the last one I posted was in early June and it's already July, which means that I have less than a month remaining here at the Ranch. I have come to the conclusion that it will be a bittersweet ending when the time comes. I can, without hesitation, say that I am a different person than when I came here in May. I have been stretched physically, emotionally, and spiritually since setting foot on this property, and though it's been hard at times, I wouldn't change anything. I came here with so many questions about life, about my relationship with God, about what the next step is, and ironically, the Lord has quieted my questioning. I'm not saying that my questions have been answered, nor am I saying that I no longer have them. Rather, God has taken me to a place of abiding in Him. It's a place of desperation, but paradoxically, it's a place of freedom. So before I ramble on further, praise God for His faithfulness!

Trac II Session I has just finished up. For those of you that didn't know, I, along with 3 other college students led 33 high school students 109 miles on mountain bikes to the Pacific coast. In short, it was a phenomenal trip! The Lord literally transformed these students' lives, and I'm not just talking about overcoming a physical feat. We, as a staff, emphasize the difference between living out your flesh and living out of your spirit. Jesus talks about this when he blatantly says that which is flesh is flesh and that which is spirit is spirit. It's so cool to watch God transform the lives of these students from operating out of the flesh, and learning to depend on the Lord, all the while being transformed by the renewing of their minds.

One awesome story is about this guy I had the opportunity to get to know and to minister to over the course of the two weeks. His name is Jannie (that's pronounced "Yawnie"). He's not foreign either. It's just a cool, original name. Anyways, we had a talk about surrendering and dying to yourself, in which the Lord prompted me to ask this guy, straight up, if he was ready to die to himself. Immediately, this 6'4 All-American broke down, started crying, and just hugged me. He told me that he hadn't been able to sleep or eat in the last 24 hours and that he was miserable. We literally talked for about 2 hours in which he came to the conclusion that he couldn't honestly say that he wanted the Lord, nor did he want to die to himself. The Lord is so, so good, and so faithful to us! After praying with him, I told him that I was going to fight for him and that the Lord would not loosen His grip on him.

The following night Jannie came up to me, crying, and looked directly into my eyes, and said, "Travis, I'm ready to die." He began to say how he realized the God was on his side, that he didn't have to prove to God that he was worth His love, because the fact of the matter was that God already loved him, point blank, for no reason. It was incredible! That night he surrendered his life to Christ, and we ended up baptizing him in the swimming pool at 11:00 pm.

I cannot tell you how the Lord blessed me through this entire ordeal. I have the type of personality where if I see something wrong, I want to fix it; however, God forced me to place this into His hands, to trust Him and let Him deal with it. We are foolish to think that God is unable to meet people exactly where they're at. We are also foolish to think that God is not big enough to handle the honesty of the desperate heart of an individual. Is this not walking with the Lord? When we come to God out of complete desperation for His Spirit.

Another ordeal out here, of which I am sure you have heard about, are the forest fires in northern California. There is smoke everywhere. They'll come to an end soon.

I praise God for you all. Thank you for praying for and beside me. I am grateful to be in this with you all! Praise be to the living God!

"But when their heart turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. And the Lord is the spirit, and where the spirit of the Lord is there is freedom. But we all with unveiled face are beholding and reflecting like a mirror the glory of the Lord." (II Cor. 3:16)

Travis

From Etna to Africa

First off, let me begin by thanking everyone for the comments, encouragement and prayer over the last month. You have no idea how these things propel me forward in the summer. Before I go any further in recapping this last week, I want to reiterate God's Word where it assures that "[we conquer] him (the evil one) by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of [our] testimony, for [we] love not our lives even unto death" (Rev 12:11). While this may sound extreme to some, we have got to take confidence in this, that we literally overcome the evil one by the sacrifice of Christ and our testimony, our sharing of our experience(s) of what the Lord's done and is doing. It is my prayer that this blog does just that. That every post, whether it be submitted by myself, Carrie, Amber, or anyone for that matter, be uplifting and facilitate further the undeniable conquering and overcoming of the evil one in each of our lives as well as in the body of Christ. So, in saying that, I encourage each person who views this blog to begin sharing what the Lord is doing where you are at, whether it be through a blog post or a comment on any of the posted blogs.

The first Parent-Teen/Husband-Wife program of the summer has officially come to a close today. For the sake of time I'm not going to give a detailed description of everything the Lord's done thus far, though I wish I could. However, I will share some highlights.

Though I am uncertain of his last name, I am going to tell you about a guy named Steve. He brought his son, Steven, to the Father-Son program this past week. Both are from Kenya, Africa. Little did I know that the sole purpose of their presence here was to see if JH would work in a place like Kenya. After the week was up, they both assured that in the next two years, efforts were going to be made to begin what we call an "Outback" in Kenya. Praise the Lord!

Also, this past week there was a lot of healing of relationships between parents and their teens. A verse in Malachi talks about how "he will turn the hearts of the fathers to their children and the hearts of children to their fathers," and to see it take place right before my eyes is an amazing and uncompromising thing.

I'm sorry I am at a lack of words to type right now. It's my day off, so I am kind of in "chill-mode" at the moment.

Happy Father's Day dad. Wish I could be there for it!

May we seek Your face with unwavering faith, God. May we not forsake our walk with You because we are so fixed on our work for You. May we know and believe the love that You have for us. That you are love, and if we abide in love, we abide in You. And You abide in us.

Stage Breaking...

Hey GBC family,

The first official program of the summer here at JH Ranch has come to a close. Basically, the CEO of this insurance company (Primerica) brought 500 of his associates with him to the Ranch for a "leadership retreat". Many of these associates were unbelievers. Cutting the story short, these 500 individuals had the time of their lives this past week in that the gospel was shared and lived out in front of them on a daily basis, or at least we as a staff strived to make it happen. Last night was the Life Purpose and Forgiveness talk and it was an incredible site to see around 400 of these guests storm the stage during the invitation! Literally, the wooden stage that we build every year, surrounded by hay bails, started to crack there were so many people standing on it. Praise God!

One heartbreaking and yet freeing story was shared by this 21 year-old woman. She was in tears when she described how her mother was a prostitute when she was younger, only for her life to be cut short in a tragic murder by a man she didn't know. She talked about how she struggled her entire life to come to a place of forgiveness toward her mother, how she struggled with being relational with females because of her mother's abandonment as well as with men because of her lack of trust. Last night she said was the first time she'd been able to come to a place of forgiveness, not only toward her mother, but for herself as well through Christ.

I think it's amazing how the Lord is continually bringing me and even pushing me to a place of intercession. As Christians we tend to throw this word around and equate it with prayer requests for individuals besides ourselves. However, what I'm learning is that intercession is literally seeking the success of others. To put it another way, we are the body of Christ, and if I come to the realization/perception that I am part of that body with the same goals, the same desires, then I will undoubtedly be prompted to seek the success and growth of my brothers and sisters in Christ. Their success is essentially my success, in that we are all part of this same mysterious and liberating body of Christ. Look at Jesus when He washes his disciples' feet. He served them. He desired that each one of them would have the same, intimate relationship with the Father that He had. We should do the same, not out of duty, but out of the overflow of the Spirit.

On another, more light-hearted note, one of the associates from Primerica wanted to give back to the staff in some tangible way. So, he and his wife took us all on a Wal-Mart run where each of the staff could get three necessities (i.e. toiletries, blankets, FOOD, sunglasses, medicine, FOOD, shorts, pants, sweatshirts, FOOD). That was a fun time!

I praise God for you all!

Travis

Healing and Authority

Hey everyone,

In the last 48 hours it has probably rained a total of 30 hours. It's also cold. My phone doesn't work and the pay phones are out. To tell you the truth, I wouldn't have it any other way. There are around 120 on staff here at JH and we are gathered from various states and denominations across the country. Granted, it has its challenges, but it's also exciting. It's exciting to see how the Lord is not only bringing us together and unifying the staff as a whole, but also how He's changing each one of us individually. Myself, I've never felt more free and more confident in the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. Perhaps one of the neatest things that the Lord has emphatically iterated over my life in the last week is the power of His name. Yeshuah, YHVH, Jesus Christ---all are His name. What is amazing about the name Yeshuah is that it literally means, in Hebrew, "I Am Salvation". I think this is absolutely phenomenal. Judaism denies Yeshuah as the prophesied Christ, and yet the man's name means "I Am Salvation". I love it! I have also become really good friends with a fellow staffer named Peter who is a Messianic Jew. He spent 8 months in Israel literally debating with the religious leaders there. It's so cool to hear his stories about the challenges, successes and failures that he endured through the entire experience in that the Lord used those challenges, successes and failures to increase his faith in Himself.

There are no guests here at the Ranch as of yet. Currently, my known responsibilities include being head of the Alpine Tower and Screaming Eagle, which are two of the ropes challenges offered here. Also, I serve on the pastoral team. This includes the responsibility of serving 5 of my fellow staff guys through intercession and bible study. I am excited about what the Lord is already doing here and what He is continually teaching me and bringing me into. He's stretching my mind and my faith. Thank you for all the prayers and am praying for you all as well. I am leaving you with a testimony that was shared this past week regarding a guest that attended the ranch this past year.

A man's son was found at the bottom of their swimming pool. By the time this 5 year-old boy was retrieved from the water and transported to the hospital, the doctors estimated that the boy had been submerged for at least ten minutes. It was under this assumption the the doctors declared the boy brain dead and told the parents that survival was unlikely and that if the boy did survive, he would be a vegetable for the rest of his life.

The parents didn't know what to do. Friends and family supported them through prayer and encouragement. One family friend mentioned that he'd heard about a pastor in southern Florida who raised people from the dead. Skeptical but in a corner, the parents contacted the pastor and he agreed to come in. After arriving, the pastor went into the boy's room by himself and prayed. After several minutes the pastor emerged from the room and told the parents that their boy would be well in 72 hours. Without anything or anyone else to hope in, besides the Lord and the words that this pastor spoke, the parents agreed to keep their son on life support for the next 72 hours.

Sure enough, in 72 hours, the boy was sent home from the hospital.

Months after the accident, the dad was driving his car with his son in the back seat. Without warning, the boy asked his dad the question, "Daddy, do you want to know what Jesus looks like?" The dad was taken off guard by the question, but agreed t hear the boys answer. After listening to his son's brief description, the dad responded, "Can I ask you a question? Did Jesus talk to you or say anything to you while you were with him?" The little boy looked at his dad from the back seat and said, "Yes Daddy He did. He said that I needed to go home, so I did."

***This father and son attended the Parent/Teen summer program in the summer of 2007. I hope you are in awe of our Lord after reading this, as much as I was at least. Bless you all!

JH Ranch - Take III

As most of you know, I am about to embark on my third summer out to the ranch. For those of you that are unfamiliar with JH Ranch, it is a Christian, high-adventure leadership ranch that offers various programs for both high school/middle school students as well as adults. It is my intention to keep you (my GBC family) posted as to what is taking place in Etna, California this summer and how God is working and teaching there.

To most of you, I say both "hi" and "goodbye" in that I have only been in WV for 2 1/2 weeks. New York was eye-opening to say the least. If there is one thing that I feel the Lord has been emphasizing in my life over the past few months, it has undoubtedly been His grace. I don't want these blog postings to be another cliche outlet for someone like myself to paint a "pretty picture" of the Christian life. I'm not going to lie. It's hard, and I'm not simply talking about obedience and the constant, life-long battle between right and wrong. I am referring to those dark times. Those times where you feel alone or even abandoned. Or even those times where you feel that all eyes are on you and then you fail, and yet those eyes don't shift. Or what about those times where you simply feel numb to the world, like it's passing by and while you want to make a difference in some fashion, it's not happening, so you begin to look at yourself and pinpoint all the negative characteristics or qualities about yourself, repent of your sins, and then try again hoping that you won't screw up this time around? It's a cyclical process and when you step outside of this cycle, you get frustrated.

I feel like the Christian life can be like this, and yet I don't think that it was ever meant to be. A lot of times, we adapt this "save the world" mentality where we forsake and even compromise God's power/ability to do so and replace it with a burdensome, oftentimes self-absorbed motivation to appear obedient or even "Christian" in the eyes of onlookers. I can only say this because this has been my life many times throughout the last 21 years.

My prayer for this summer is that we, as a church family, would draw ourselves near to our First Love. Oh that we would yearn for the intense and overwhelming grace that we've all tasted and seen! I pray that we, as Christians, would stop trying to prove to God that we are worthy of His love, because the fact is that we are not. Know that you are loved and desired! And may it be out of a posture of knowing that we are loved by God that we serve those around us this summer.

Thank you all for your continued prayers!
Travis

1 Week Left

The title is no lie. I absolutely have one week left here at the ranch before my mom, dad and brother come and pick me up. I cannot believe how fast these 7 1/2 weeks have gone and how much God has truly transformed my way of thinking, responding and living. It's insane to think that we as Christians believe that we can go anywhere with the expectation of serving others and remain unchanged! Last summer was definitely an eye-opener; however, this summer has truly been transformational. Hopefully I will get a chance to write on this one more time before next Thursday, but for now I will fill you in as best I can.

Jarren has been at the river for the last 6 days---thus he is probably on cloud 9 in the sense that guiding is what he's wanted to do...so praise God for that opportunity to minister! I have been working on what we like to call "Wrangler Breakfast" for the past few days. This is where fathers and their daughters (Current program: Father/Daughter) have the opportunity to horseback ride up on top of this mountain to watch the end of a sunrise and eat breakfast. However, this breakfast is no ordinary breakfast. I, along with two wranglers, fix omelets, biscuits and bacon for them over the fire. The long hours of watching The Food Network has definitely come in handy. In all seriousness it's a great opportunity to minister and serve the guests in a different way even if it requires my alarm to be set at 5:00 am every morning. When I am not doing Wrangler Breakfast, I am working the High Ropes course here at the ranch, specifically the 757. It's cool because I have had the opportunity to pray with several dads before their ascension of this 50 foot pole in which they are required to jump and grab a trapeze in mid-air.

Temperature today: 105 F

Please be in prayer for this coming week in that we will have approximately 400 high school students from around the world (specificallly Israel) come to Second Wind Session II. It will be chaos to say the least, but as God has shown me time and time again, our chaos is opportunity for God to show His power and complete control and authority. He literally brings us to a place of desperation and dependency for strength. I praise Him for that! He is faithful!

Cannot wait to come home and hear about all that God has done and is doing at GBC. I will be praying for VBS and Airborne as it is underway this coming week. Mexico is in a couple I am assuming. I am going on that trip and I don't even know the dates for it...very excited about that as well...

Blessings,
Travis

after dinner

If you are starting to read this and didn't read my first post, read it and then return to this one. Dinner was phenomenal! But onto better things...Trac II Bikes posed as a huge challenge in that not only was the length of the trip an obstacle that had to be overcome, but a 9-mile, gravel uphill was also on the agenda. The first day we set out to do 63 miles. At the end of that day my butt was pretty sore but no sweat. I think I consumed approximately 4000 calories which included 4 Snickers Bars and 7 bananas (among other things). The following morning we woke up, ate breakfast and then headed out beginning with the 9-mile uphill that everyone referred to as "Misery Hill". However, God brought to my mind the scripture "Who shall ascend the hill of the Lord? He who has clean hands and a pure heart." Ha---but what was funny about this was by mile #4 I was beginning to sarcastically question in my head: "maybe I don't have clean hands and a pure heart cause I am definitely struggling with this hill" This was really tough in that it took a total of 5 1/2 hours for our entire team to complete the 9-mile stretch. I was to the point where I was praying for God to give me a "gradual graded hill" rather than the steep one that I was currently pedaling. Through it all God showed himself strong. More than anything he taught and reemphasized that my calling is to "come and die to myself" and depend on him for absolute certainty and strength. I'm constantly amazed by His grace and perhaps one thing He has continually taught me out here is that He wants me to be absolutely convinced of his love for me just as Paul said he was convinced that "neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor death, nor anything in all creation can separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus."

Fortunately, there were only 5 "crash and burn" incidents throughout the entire trip, one of which occurred because a bear ran out in front of this tiny 15-year old girl. The Pacific coast was incredible and the Redwood Forest was gigantic.

God is teaching me:
*He is so infinitely wise and in complete control!
*Humility
*The freedom that is in Him.
*That I absolutely and undoubtedly need Him...His love is better than life!
*I'm learning what true intercession is and what it means to intercede for others.

More of what God is doing here at the ranch:
* A girl on my Trac II team who was struggling with depression and cutting herself experienced the freedom that is in Christ this week---I can't tell you how transformational the love of God is!
*We are expecting 27 Israeli students to take part in the second session of Second Wind in two weeks.
*God is restoring the hearts of children to their parents and parents to their children as is stated in Malachi.

I'm having a ball and I appreciate your prayers and mail...thanks

Travis

We welcome ya'll to the JH Ranch!

Hello GBC family! I'm pretty excited Eric Campbell set this thing up so that you can be informed about what all God is doing around the globe, particularly this summer. Jarren and I are doing well as I am sure he will contribute to this blog in the future; however, I probably see him more at home than I do out here. It's kind of bittersweet to know that my time here at the Ranch is almost expired, but the Lord has definitely taught be a lot out here this summer.

For the most part I have been working on Programs Staff at the Scott River Lodge (this is just a "hyped-up"job title that basically means I do most of the maintenance work around the lodge). This is a new addition to the JH Ranch this summer in that the Husband/Wife Programs spend their entire week off the ranch and at the Scott River Lodge. It's an amazing place and it's incredible to see God restoring and strengthening marraiges out here. In fact we as a staff have been lifting up a fellow staff member's parents who had been separated for 2 years and were currently going through a divorce. A few days ago this staff guy informed us that his older brother randomly called him the other day to inform him that his dad had come back home and that he felt the Holy Spirit literally healing their marraige! Praise God! It's times like these that God just graciously shows us how soveriegn He is!

As most of you know already (because of mom) God opened the opportunity for me to lead Trac II Bikes this past session of Second Wind, which concluded yesterday. During this program, myself and three other coaches (2 females and another male) led 39 high school students on a 109 mile bike ride to the Pacific Coast...and this is where I am goin to leave you hanging...the dinner bell just rang...I will conclude at a later time. Know that God is doing amazing things out here, in Africa, in Montana and of course at Gassaway Baptist Church and I cannot wait to hear all that is going on back home!
God Bless,
Travis