happenings....

We left it a few weeks (partially because we had a break, and then because we got busy). We are both going really well and are continuing to learn so much.

I have been thinking about Mt 16 where Peter proclaims that Jesus is the Messiah. How is it that so many people missed it? Jesus constantly referred to Himself as the Son of Man, taught with such insight and authority that people were amazed, healed multitudes, stilled storms, fed 9000 people on 2 occasions and yet they thought He was John the Baptist, Elijah, Jeremiah or....

Is it possible that they missed it because they knew of His family of origin? Is it possible that it's because they came to their own conclusions??

Peter got it - actually he "got it" straight from the Father... - this is a principle that God has been speaking to me about. The idea that if I come to my own conclusions about the people around me I will probably "sell them short". I don't want to ever look at a person around me and think anything of them that Father God isn't thinking of them!

The question "who do you say I am?" now resounds throughout my head consistently throughout the day. I must answer with insight from the Father and not simply by relying on my own observations, feelings etc.

I must because I want to see them enter into and fulfill all the plans that Father has for them. I want to call those plans out and encourage them to take the risks. I want Jesus to get His full reward, and the church to be strengthened from their "being".

I wonder if the hardest part aspect of gaining the Father's perspective is actually in regards to ourselves. Until we can answer this question about the Father's perspective in regards to ourselves we will probably find it hard to do with others. Perhaps you can join with me asking Father each morning who He says I am.

On a different note, Louise and I were invited onto a ministry trip in a couple of weeks. It's quite possibly the biggest honor that we could have imagined at this point. We will be going to Europe with a small team being led by Kris and Kathy V (definitely Louise's biggest hero's). We are really excited about being asked to go, and about going...lol.

We have been meeting with the team going to Ohio as well and asking God for His thoughts and heart for the area - the whole team is really excited about the time that we will get to spend there. There are plans for some 20 students to move there after school finishes to do their 3rd year there. The church there has a goal of establishing 100 local churches of at least 100 people each across the city. Lou wrote about it in a previous blog with some links to what they are doing so feel free to go back through them to check it out.

On a more personal level, I received a prophetic word before Christmas that Jesus wanted to take me fishing... I kinda laughed with my friend who gave it to me and I felt as though I should go out the next week. I had a great time and caught some of my best fish ever. Then on boxing day or something like that a different mate rings me and says that he got a fully paid guided trip for 2 people given to him as a Christmas present and would i join him...we went out last week and had a blast. check the link below (dated Jan 10).

http://lowersactrout.com/fishing_reports

We caught lots of fish, but more importantly i learnt on a deeper level just how much God loves my hobbies and interests and how He actually wants me to enjoy them. I get really overwhelmed by the way that He shows such interest, delight and joy in our everyday activities and not just the "spiritual" - actually I really feel like He is showing me that the dividing of things into "spiritual" and not, is wrong - anyway that might be a post for another time.

love always

Shane n Lou

Transformation...

So the question for this time is 'how are we, the Church going to bring transformation to the people, cities and nations around us?' What does it look like when earth looks like heaven, when the government of earth looks like the government in heaven, when the kingdom comes on earth through you and me - The Church? How do we 'bring it'? What are we going to do with our responsibility and our part?

I think about this often...

Maybe you have part of the solution...

Maybe we first need to get a good handle of what heaven really looks like, how the government system works there and how things are run...

Maybe we need to get a better understanding of how God runs His kingdom to learn how we can partner with Him to see the kingdoms of this world become the kingdom of our God...

What does it look like???

Some things I've been thinking about are how to begin at the most basic level - and for me it means I need to be personally undergoing transformation before I can 'bring it'! And for me that looks like being transformed as I hang out with God in His presence. Seeing what He's like gives me a grace to change. 'Behold and Become'.

At a macro level I've been thinking of the concept of 'discipling nations' (as opposed to people in nations) - what does it look like to transform a nation? I've been thinking about how every nation has a unique identity and a unique destiny - that each can 'bring something' to the rest of the world. Somehow there needs to be some leaders who create a government that allow the people in the country to reach their full potential and their own unique identity and destiny. This would look like a governing system that allows people to thrive, flourish and be able to access resources to live in abundance...

For instance - what if Africa's unique identity was as the continent with the greatest resources in the world and their destiny was to release wealth to the nations? What would it take to make that a reality? Leadership that allows the people to fulfill their potential - to have opportunity to release it! Don't you think it's strange that Africa has the most natural resources in the world and they seem to be the 'poorest' people. I also think that righteous leadership doesn't necessarily look like the president being a Christian - look at King Neb. and Pharoah - their nations prospered because of people like Joseph and Daniel - men with the favour of God and open doors for influence.... So what is the identity of Australia? America? and what's our part to play in bringing kingdom transformation?

So there's what I think the micro and macro level look like at this stage but what about all the bits in between?

To be continued...

___________________________________________________________________

In March, Shane and I are going on a missions/ministry trip to Cleveland Ohio to work with a church (Bethel Cleveland) who's mission is to bring transformation to the city they live in. There's various strategies they are implementing - specific help and outreach to the poorest neighbourhoods, serving the community, getting involved with local businesses and also equipping people to be excellent in their spheres of work and influence. We will be specifically involved in strategic planning on our trip, with planning for the planting of 100 churches in Cleveland and also involved in the local Bethel school's equipping and deployment program and the city's business summit.

If you would like to see a short video on some of the ways the church is doing this, click on the link http://www.bethelcleveland.com/its-time-video

If you feel you would like to partner with us financially for the mission trip or our ministry in general please give to (Australian) ANZ account 012834 509263962 (Shane and Louise Mandl)

or into our USA school account via www.ibssm.org (click on 'give to BSSM' and type one of our names in).

Thanks for your friendship, your interest in us and what we're up to, for your support and any prayers you've backed us up with :)

Love Louise (and Shane)

Texas....The land of the BIG...

A few days after Lou got back from her trip (read below if you don't know what I am talking about), I headed out for a fish in the middle of town. I was having a great time in the water and just enjoying God's creation.

I had a couple of fish on and lost them both...some things just wont surprise you though will they...lol

it was getting close to the time I had to go and I decided I would turn around and fish the other 'run of water' with a dry fly. A few moments later right before my eyes every color imaginable could be seen (yes I can hear some of you laughing...Shane the color blind guy able to see every imaginable color...). I reached for my phone and was torn between the idea of trying to capture what I was seeing and just enjoying it!!!

This is literally right in the middle of town and I was in the middle of the river taking this photo.

About 36 hours later I was on a plane for Texas, traveling with some friends to a conference and then some local churches. The staff leading the trip are brilliant guys who are really aware of God's presence being with them everywhere they go. The see some of the most crazy miracles I have ever heard of or dared to believe for. I had been really looking forward to the trip and was a little surprised when I felt God say that the greatest work I would see over the week would be what He would do in me...

I got to Sacramento Airport and realized I had grabbed Lou's documents not mine...but somehow I seemed to walk right on through (yes still through the scanners etc, but people in front and behind me were checked for extra documentation etc - Yay God...).

After a long day we arrived at our host home and were greeted by this little fella. Yes a little taste of Australiana... He squawked and shrieked like he was part of thousand strong choir perched in the Gum outside our last place in Taree!

The guy in the picture is my mate Thomas - he's a legend and challenges me way beyond my comfort zone - plus he is just good fun.

Thomas led myself and four other students the next day to a ministry school where we took a class. We gave some prophetic words, and called out some words of knowledge and saw deaf ears open up...(a goal on my "to do list"), knees, backs, shoulders, ankles and more get healed....I think it was the best day these students had experienced in a while...hahahaha

The conference was crazy! God really moved amongst all of us and there was a really deep awe and freedom - I can't say I have ever really experienced anything like it before. God showed me how I valued my dignity more than just doing whatever He was saying for me to do - AKA - fear of man... (and I thought I had dealt with that...) - needless to say that we buried that fear - If you aren't sitting you might want to...I danced!!! (and painted my face, but the dancing was hardest....lol).

The other students on the trip were so great. Every discussion was full of life and I gained insights, perspectives and an appreciation for characteristics that ordinarily I would have blown off as "un-desirable". You guys were so much fun and have totally been used by God to grow me - Thanks.

Throughout the conference we saw people grow closer to God and we also had lots of chances to minister to people in the prophetic and for healing. It was lots of fun.

We broke into smaller groups for the Sunday services and Joaquin (on the Left), helped a church to really grapple with God's presence and move to a place of even greater hunger for Him. He is a really anointed guy and I learnt heaps just from being there.

The evening service was a massive celebration of God and His goodness. Hearts were set free and healed. Physical problems bowed to the name of Jesus as more deafness fled, the ability to smell returned, allergies left and pain disappeared! I am starting to dream about what the "all" in "all things are possible" might look like...hahaha - what would you like to see happen???

The picture above is Joaquin and Josh getting excited by LUNCH... we enjoyed some of the best meat Texas has to offer - Thanks Jeff.

As we were saying goodbye to some of our new friends I felt a strange little sensation in my left ankle...hahaha - i have had this before....but this was different. I felt like I was getting a word of knowledge (like a special insight from the LORD), about a problem that someone in their family had. I asked if someone in their family had a current problem with their left ankle and I was told that their Auntie had just damaged her left ankle and achilles tendon. I said that they should call her the next day because God wanted to heal her. This was the very late hours of Sunday night.

Monday we travelled home and on Tuesday I went to class like normal. When I checked my facebook during a break at school (yes it really was during a break), I had a message on my fb wall saying that the auntie had been totally healed, was struck with JOY and came home with a beaming....

I am having soooo much fun learning and growing...I am really excited for the plans that God has for Lou and I - sometimes I wish I could have a little sneak peak....hahahaha.

We love you all heaps - Shane (and Lou)

Hawaii Trip

I have been back for a week from my trip to Hawaii which was better than I ever expected!

In case you were wondering, the treasure hunt went really well! I led a team of 5 out to the streets and we found our ‘treasures’ and every one of them was interested and wanted prayer. I approached a young guy sitting down and said that I felt he was highlighted and that God led me to come and chat with him. I asked him if he wanted prayer and he said ‘Yes I would. This is the most perfect timing you could ever have had! Do you talk to everyone like this?’ He wanted prayer as he just had an interview for a job on a movie stage and was anxiously awaiting the outcome. The others in the team then had some words of knowledge and prophetic words for him and he was so excited he kept on saying ‘you would not believe how perfect your timing is’ and as soon as we finished speaking with him he

said he wanted to ring his dad to tell him about how amazing the time had been and to tell him about us and what had happened! I love seeing God rock people’s world us!

At the conference we had the opportunity to give prophetic words after

Kris Vallotton spoke in the sessions which was a real privilege! We even got to have lunch with

him and spend over 3 hours chatting to him and asking him questions! I felt a real increase in discernment and it was fun to start to see the gifts and callings that people carried!
I felt like there were some key relationships that were made there – it seemed as if God wanted me to meet a few particular

people who I think I will remain in contact with and it will be interesting to see where they fit in the big scheme of things in the future! God is very strategic and sneaky I have found!

I felt very strongly in my spirit as I was driving around that I would be back there in the future involved in ministry somehow. Who knows how long away – but I must say I’m excited! It’s an amazing place! It was great to swim in the ocean with turtles, watch the sun set at Waikiki beach and also see the stunning mountains!

Thank you so much to those who were praying for me :)

LOUISE'S FIRST EVER BLOG....YAY

IT’s a MIRACLE!...... yes Louise is finally writing a blog – yes it’s her here!! I’ve joined the blogster gang!

I got inspired 2 nights ago and thought I’d put a bit of what’s on the inside on the outside – even though that is a bit scary as I think maybe the whole cyber world can get access to it!

Lately I’ve been thinking ....thinking.... thinking

What does it take to cross the chicken line? What does it take to step out and take risk when you know you have something to give away to someone who needs it but they are a complete stranger and you don’t know how they will take you? The other day I was at a petrol station and a lady was walking around in pain and I could tell she had back pain and I felt compassion and love toward her. I knew I could go and pray for her and get rid of that pain and I knew she would be all the more happier to be pain free but all of a sudden that chicken line popped up in front of me. I knew that when Jesus had compassion it moved him but I seemed to be feeling compassion and stuck in one spot! I can do it, I can do it I thought! But did I walk over to her? No I did not!

The next stop on the road about a half hour later was for lunch and God drew my attention to a picture on the wall “We can do it!” Well I definitely couldn’t do it on my own. Holy Spirit – you’re going to have to push me along here!

Ok so I set myself a goal – at least 3 times this year I am going to go on street outreach teams or the homeless street ministry to push myself across the chicken line. Ok Holy Spirit ‘We can do it” so I decided to go on the outreach team yesterday. So I rock up at the meeting place at church, waiting, anticipating, excitement building…. 30mins later no one had turned up. I suppose it wasn’t going to happen this day! Well – maybe next time the chicken line will be crossed!

So anyway, in 4 hours time I will be getting up from my alarm and making my way down to San Fran airport to catch a plane to Honolulu for what I thought was serving at the School of the Prophets conference which is basically giving people prophetic words. But what do you know – the first thing we are doing, first day we arrive is teaching the locals how to do street evangelism ‘treasure hunts’. Yeah…. Wonderful!! Definitely should be training and equipping in this area already. We’ll see if being thrown in the deep end does it for me…. Will keep you posted…

Ministry Trips, books and more...

(I was taking a walk with the idea of sitting and reading somewhere and looked up - clearly I thought it was worthy of capturing). All the other pictures are from our Anniversary down in San Diego.

Hello again,

So I said that we would be more regular with our updates... but... enough with the excuses, forgive me and read on...lol

We have my younger sister Bec and a friend from Sth Africa living with us this year which has been great. We met Lizanne through a mutual friend and she totally fits with us all - I kept on asking Lou when she was going to advertise the extra room and she kept saying that God had said wait... as time went by I became a little nervous and then Lou's faith was well rewarded. From "left-field" God connected us with Lizanne. We sent a few emails back n forth and we picked her up the from the airport the day she started school - and she went!

We are absolutely loving second year. The class size is significantly smaller and much more intimate. We have continued to make many new friends and have gone even deeper with those that we connected to last year.

This year we spend much more time breaking into electives and intentionally learning and growing in those areas that really interest us. I am doing one elective on Kingdom finances, another on student development (think life coaching), and another on deploying people to utilse their gifts in areas that they are passionate about (in and out of the 4 walls of the church).

Lou is doing one on inner healing, preaching, and another which we couldn't really summerize and the title of which doesn't really give that great an idea... actually I have already forgotten what it is...lol

We have read a few books already and they are coming at us really fast - I got 2 new ones last week. Each one has been really good. I have always found church history a slow subject...but the book I just finished made it fairly easy to digest.

Lou's younger brother Chris, is in Holland at the moment - he was asked to lead worship at a conference over there. He gets back late this week. It's been really nice to have him and Bec around.

We went on a ministry trip to Oregon and then Washington a few weeks back. It was an amazing time. We saw so many people get healed from physical and emotional problems. One guy badly injured his ankle 35 years ago in a ski racing accident and he lived in pain every day. He stood up and moved around with absolutely no pain at all.

We went on the trip thinking that we would really get to bless a lot of people (and we did), but upon our return we were talking about how so many people had blessed us. People were genuinely thankful for our visit and the ministry that we did. We received many encouraging words.

In October, Lou and I celebrated our 10 wedding anniversary. We went to San Diego and thanks to American Express had free accommodation for 5 nights. We walked the city, the foreshore, ate out at cafe's and restaurants and generally just had a really nice time away together. The picture on the right is of a killer whale at Sea World.

We both have some ministry trips coming up. Lou will be going to Honolulu in a few weeks time. It's a fantastic opportunity and God got her onto the team in a "back-door" way. She had been praying some weeks earlier and God had said to her that she would get to go, but then when the team was selected she wasn't on it as she had already travelled with Kris V. (the staff member that the team would be traveling with). She remained confident that she would be going and simply said that if someone couldn't go she would still like to. She was told that there were many people before her and that she really wouldn't be going. Well like the story above where she remained full of faith...she got an email just last week saying she was now on the team... once again she jumped around the room...lol

I am going on a trip to Palestine, Texas in the beginning of December with some guys who see the most amazing miracles and regularly! I can't wait. I am also hoping to be on a team to Sth America early in the new year.

Both of us felt led to apply to go to Cleveland for our mission trip and we were both accepted. We connected with the senior pastor a few days after we found out that we were on the team and we are really excited by what they are doing in Cleveland and how we will get to participate.

At this stage we are unsure of what next year (post June), will look like for us. When we know we will pass it on. What we do know is that our finances will not cover a third year (from a natural perspective). We would like to be here and are checking out some possibilities of how that might be able to happen.

Thanks once again for all your love,

Shane and Lou

School has started

Hey everyone,

we have been back at school now for just over 2 weeks and we are thoroughly loving it. We came home after the first few days and knew that we are entering into a really special season in our lives. We eagerly anticipate each day and are really taking our time processing all that we are hearing, seeing and experiencing.

We have spent some time with some of our Aussie friends over the last few weeks deliberately doing stuff which "feels" wrong in Australia - we have talked about our own strengths, and dreams. We have shared our hopes and even risked sharing some of our weaknesses (though this seems to easy for our culture). I make mention of this because it was generally really hard for us to say anything good about ourselves - I really feel like this is a monkey (demonic spirit), that we have to get off of our backs - we will never step into being all that God has called into if we are too worried about seeming arrogant to actually state our strengths.

Bill reasonably often says "I can't afford to think anything of myself that God doesn't think" - I never really understood how powerful this comment is. The other day I (shane), was sitting with a friend and they asked me what I thought my biggest constraint was. I suddenly remembered a time when I was 18 and training and I was essentially told that I was too young to contribute to a particular conversation - my biggest constraint...is probably that I didn't really think I could contribute anything still (I'm still not old enough, or wise enough, or smart enough etc etc) - this question helped me to see a lie that I have been believing for far to long. I decided to operate in direct opposition to the lie - wow, it's been amazing!

Lou and I have applied

to be a part of several ministry trips and it seems as though we will be going to Oregon late in October. There are heaps of others that we are looking at as well.

I have done some preliminary training to be a 'coach' which is really exciting. I really like the philosphy behind coaching. It really drawers out the abilities that are within a person - it teaches and empowers at the same time - I really enjoy it.

On other fronts, Lou's parents have returned back to Oz, and her brother is all set up at the place he is living at. The picture on the Left is of Lou with Chris, at an ice-cream place in town. My sister is renting one of our spare rooms and a boarder (Lizanne), is renting our other spare room.

We are currently doing a marriage course "Love after Marriage" - it's been soooo good. We think we have always had an amazing marriage (and we have), and that's really because of me...lol - Nah we decided before we even got married that we would always try to have a marriage that was growing stronger and part of that meant that we would do stuff to actively improve our marriage. It's been lot's of fun and we have found the material to be really great. I think the course is available in audio and DVD with manuals etc - if anyone is interested I totally recommend it.

I went fishing the other day and finally caught some fish - actually it was heaps of fun and really refreshing. I was with a mate in the most pristine place and I just marveled at the splendor of God's handiwork - especially the one's on the end of my line...lol (below is some proof that i actually did catch something....lol).

Anyway this is just another brief update - keep your eyes out though because the updates will start coming thick and fast...

Please feel free to ask us any questions you might have and to let us know what is happening for you - it's always lots of fun to know what's happening back home.

love us