April 30th, 2009
Stand in the Gap: The Our Generation Student Leadership Camp 2009
The Our Generation Leadership Camp is a missions trip to the world!
We believe our camp is unique, not only because it is one of the few directed toward college students for the cause of missions, but also because the world is our campus. You will spend time on the street, in the mosque, in a Buddhist temple, and many other places that will help expose you to the needs of the world! At the same time, you will get the opportunity to:
-Spend time with missionaries from around the world
-Have in depth Questions & Answer Sessions with people in ministry
-Travel to the Nations in Atlanta, GA (Islamic Mosque, Hindu Temple, Buddhist Temple, & more)
-Attend Missionary Training Classes
-Get involved in Cross-Cultural Outreach
-Taste ethnic foods from around the globe
The registration fee is $25 and the camp fee is $100, with food and board provided. The Camp will be held primarily at the Our Generation Training Center in Alpharetta, GA. However, more exciting activities are in store that involve outreach opportunities in the cities of Alpharetta and Atlanta.
This camp is for College age and high school students who are serious about serving the Lord, learning about missions, and seeking God’s will for their lives. There are places all around the world that are still waiting for the Gospel. We will be looking at our opportunity and responsibility to stand between those who have the Gospel and those who do not.
Alpharetta, GA June 15th -19th
“Stand in the Gap”
To register or learn more, visit us online at www.ogcamp.info or call us at 770-456-5881
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April 25th, 2009
Dear Pastors and Praying Friends,
What a crazy past couple of months we have had. On February the 4th the Lord gave us the privilege of coming back to Peru. Packing up is always fun and can bring out the best in a person! After tons of work, Andria finally got everything ready to go. We had 2 extra bags that we knew we were going to have to pay for. In the past that would have meant a total of $250. After arriving at Delta I found out that if we wanted to carry the extra 2 bags it was going to cost me $600. My diabetes supplies were scattered throughout all of the bags so I had no choice but to pay for the extra bags. What a blessing!
Upon arriving in Peru we had to stay in Lima for a few days to get our paperwork taken care of. We have our residence papers, so it should have been an easy renewal payment and then out of there. Of course things didn’t go as planned. Peru has decided to change their laws without telling the residents anything. You can no longer be out of the country for more than 6 months. If you are, you lose your paperwork. So to make a long story short they allowed my wife and me to keep our papers but they took the kids papers away. Because Andria and I had been here in November, it saved ours. This problem is going to cost us right at $5000 to fix. Pray that the Lord will provide for this need. My wife and I are going to try and become dual citizens which would take away all of these issues. This is going to take a while to happen but hopefully we can make it happen.
After a week we had spent all of our money on hotels and food that we planned on using to buy tickets back to Arequipa. One of the members of our church happened to be in Lima doing some business and told us that if we wouldn’t mind cramping up together with his family we could drive back to Arequipa. We ended up 6 people driving back to Arequipa in a very small Peugeot car. It is a 14 hour drive and with the kids and no car seats you can imagine what that is like! After arriving in Arequipa I got sick. I normally do not get sick but was in horrible shape for at least 1 week. I started taking some antibiotics to kill the bug and got better after about 4 days. Then at about midnight one night, I noticed spots on my body. I had swollen all over and was in major pain. I went to the doctor to find out I was having an allergic reaction to the antibiotic. I had to take some other medicine to take that away.
While doing all of this I was preaching 4 times on Sunday, doing a small group on Tuesday night at the house and then preaching on Wednesday night. Thank the Lord that things seem to be better right now. I am sorry I haven’t written a letter in a while but as you can tell things have been a little crazy. The church is doing great right now. We have 3 services on Sun. morning right now with close to 450 people attending. God has been so good to us. This month we have had quite a few financial problems but when our statements came in, it was the first month in over a half a year that the Bible College has reached its budget. It is amazing how in difficult financial times the people of God come together to show that his work is more important that our own plans. Thank you for being faithful in your giving.
We are looking forward to being in the swing of things again and watching God work in incredible ways through his church. May God continue to bless you in all that you do.
Yours for Souls,
Chris, Andria, Jacob, Hannah & Andrew
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March 31st, 2009
We are excited to announce that we have recently updated Chris’ preaching schedule. If you or your church would be interested in having him in please click the link to see his availability, preaching schedule and contact us at chrisandandria@mac.com
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August 23rd, 2008
I would like to ask you to pray for Wilber and Sujei Hallasi. They are working in Moquegua, Peru starting a church. They are supported by Operation Nehemiah, this is a group of churches and individuals in Peru that have decided to give to see their country reached with the gospel.
They are packed out in their current building, they are seeing souls saved and lives changed. One of the pastors just went to preach a revival for him and wrote me to tell me that they had right at 60 people for their first anniversary.
This week I received an email that his 18 month old son has pneumonia. Please be in prayer for him that the Lord will provide for the financial needs for him to be treated. If you would be interested in helping me with this need, please feel free to write me and let me know at gardner@uttermost.net. May God continue to bless you in all you do.
Chris Gardner
Tags: arequipa, lima, mission, moquegua, peru, south america
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August 22nd, 2008
Last week we had an interesting time in Lima. I had a 13 hour layover in the city of Lima. Lima is a huge city so I figures I would go out and pretend to be a tourist. No doubt that going around like a tourist is much better than sitting in the airport. So I went out and spent some time looking at the ocean from a mall in Lima and things of that sort.
On my way back to the airport, I had my laptop backpack. I had left everything else in the airport storage area. On the way back to the airport we were on the main road and the traffic had everything at a standstill. Then I looked up and right in front of us about 6 cars in front of us I saw 4 guys with spark plugs in their hands. We were in two lanes of traffic they had two guys working on each lane. They were walking by and busting the windows of the vehicles out and taking their bags out. As they approached my vehicle the driver rolled the windows down so that they didn’t bust them. I watched as they started to take my laptop out of the car and in a moment where all sanity left me I decided to get out and try to keep my laptop. I got out and fought, (this isn’t recomended by the way) after fighting for a bit my laptop fell from about 5 feet in the air. When I heard the thud it made my heart sink. Well after it fell to the ground the guy pulled a knife and explained to me the fact that he would leave the backpack but that he wasn’t walking away empty handed. I decided very quickly to give him the 100 bucks I had in my pocket because you could tell that this wasn’t the first time he had used a knife.
I thank the Lord that nothing worse happened and that I got to keep my laptop even though it is definitely scarred now. I got on the plane thinking thank God that I am headed out of Lima and to the safer regions of Peru. A few days after arriving in Arequipa I was told something that made me start doubting the safety of Arequipa as well.
Be in prayer for your missionaries. They go through some crazy stuff on the field.
Chris
Tags: arequipa, baptist, church, independent, lima, mission, peru
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August 21st, 2008
Well, today is my Dad’s birthday. I thank God for the parents he has given me. We live in a day and age where men of character are found few and far between. I thank God for all that I have been taught not through what he has told me but by the life he has lived. I do not know of anyone in the world that I would prefer to learn from over my Dad.
I thank God that I know him a little better than most, 33 years of seeing and following the steps of a man of integrity. Dad, thanks for all you have taught me and shown me through your life. I can never thank you enough for all that you have done. I love you, Happy Birthday.
Chris
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August 20th, 2008
Well, I had the privilege of being down in Peru for the Youth Conference this week. We had a wonderful time. It was great to see all of our friends again and to be able to be around the people that we love. We had the privilege of having Jeff Bush (missionary to Argentina) here with us. He did an INCREDIBLE job. I don’t think we could have asked anyone to come to Peru and do better than he did. I thank God for having the privilege of knowing and calling him my friend. I can only imagine all that we will see God do through his life. There was no doubt that the hand of God was on him as he preached.
We had a great time together and saw God do many wonderful things throughout the Conference. We saw over 40 souls that accepted Christ and we were told of 8 men that were called to preach. Pray with us that we will soon be able to be back in Peru living and doing the ministry he has called us to do on a daily basis.
Chris
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August 1st, 2008
Well, after attending services last night at Vision Baptist Church, my wife took me to the airport. I left to come to Peru around midnight and arrived at 6:30 am. My flight isn’t leaving until this evening so I decided to leave the airport and go to Starbucks here in Lima. Yeah, crazy mission field I know. They have free wifi so I decided to stop by and get some work done that way.
Please be praying for the Youth Conference. There are many many people coming from all sorts of crazy places. Pray that we might see many souls saved and that we would see many young men surrender to full time service.
This will be the first time in a long time that I am not at home for my birthday tomorrow. It is so amazing to be home now, the only bad feeling is knowing that I have to return to the states next Monday. Pray that the Lord would allow us to return to Peru soon. God bless in all you do.
Chris
Tags: arequipa, baptist, lima, mission, peru
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July 30th, 2008
Well, we are back home and God has given us the privilege of teaching a class at the Vision Baptist Church on Catholic Evangelism. We are having a good time and enjoying the time we get to spend together talking about reaching the over 17% of the world that is Catholic. Pray for us as we teach this class to future men and women of God that are asking God to use them on some mission field.
May God continue to bless you in all that you do for him.
Chris
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July 28th, 2008
Well, you know McDonalds has become famous for Super Sizing everything. Well they never told us that they had a super size McDonalds here in Orlando. This thing is gigantic. The sale all of the regular McD’s stuff is here, but they also have Mexican Cuisine (if you can call it that) among other things.
There are 2 stories and video games, playground etc. The truth of the matter is that I am glad I don’t live in the area. I really don’t know if the kids will ever be happy going to any other McDonalds. Hope you guys aren’t getting too bored with the posts from our vacation. Don’t worry it ends tomorrow. I am thinking about going to Milton, FL and dropping in at a friends church on Wednesday but we will see.
Chris


Tags: america, andrew, andria, baptist, chris, christian, gardner, hannah, independ, jacob, mission, peru, south
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