Spring 2010 Graduations

Here’s a few snap photos from last months graduation.
Congratulations HSE 1&2 – welcome to the alumni family.

HSE has over 3000 alumni serving / changing the world since 1976

hse High School Edition

HSE HSE, (the high school mini HSE) has been off to an awesome start! One week done and three to go, God is working in the students lives as they came young, but ready and thirsty for the Word and eager to see God move! To see some of the students commitment to the Lord, prior to coming to HSE is inspiring, and encouraging. When i was interviewing one of the students, he told me how he had to take the bus for an hour on sundays just to get to church, something i have to ask myself if i would be willing to do, alone, much less at the age of 14! Now we leave for Wilderness tomorrow, and with the backpacks packed, and the students ready, we cannot wait to see God’s hand in all of it, as always, in mighty ways! Let no on despise you because of your youth!

Micah T.

come celebrate what the Lord is doing in the lives of our students

Today was filled with affirmations and after that an hse alumni from 86 spoke to our hearts

HSE ALUMNI Wes Bently shared from the heart about marriage, ministry, and Far Reaching Ministries.

Click here for more info

I believe when you have that pioneering spirit of wanting to reach new tribes and people, you have to be born to want God’s word preached so deeply within your soul and with such deep conviction that nothing will break the calling of Christ in your heart. A depth that is brought from understanding the consequences when people perish without Jesus as their savior. A desire for souls won so intense that nothing will deter you from going deeper, farther in search of the lost. It is like being on a masted ship in hurricane winds when the waves are breaking over the bow. Yet, you hold on to the wheel, pointing the ship into the storm, with no thought of turning back and a fear of the Lord that is greater than any fear of the seas. You cannot surrender or retreat; to do so would mean denying who God created you to be… wes bently

go to farreachingministries.org for to continue reading this post..

Hello & welcome to open house

Well we have obviously been home for a week or so now. Getting back adjusted to life in so cal. Mike has been pouring his heart out on sunday mornings (listen to the archives – horizonsd.org) and Evan Wickham has been preaching through the book of Mark on wednesdays at Chapter & Verse.

Again, we hope to be doing more updates weekly as well as keeping you in the loop with our upcoming graduates and what God is doing in and through their lives here in San Diego.

If your around today come check out Open House – formerly known as friend day..
Our good friend and alumni – Joseph Pfeifer will be leading worship
and the founder of HSE and some friends will be sharing from the heart.

Hope to see you here.. Godspeed.

click here to buy / Listen to Joseph’s Album Good company
http://itunes.apple.com/us/album/good-company/id356304634

Horizon Brooklyn BBQ Sat.May 29 2010

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Saturday May 29 2010 was a beautiful day in Brooklyn NY, this day turned out to be a day of salvation for many children and adults who attended the church BBQ & Outreach for the community, there was plenty of food for everyone, hot dogs, bbq chicken, potato salad, chips, watermelon wow! All the fixin’s for a good ol time. The children got their faces painted, had a lot of balloon characters, jumped in the bounce house played basketball and they even got in a few swings on the three pinatas that were stuffed full with candy, Oh my what a fun time! The drama team from HSE performed a powerful skit for the audience, Tony Carigan shared his powerful testimony with the audience and gave a invitation to accept Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior, followed by Pastor John Connors as he shared from his heart with the people and thanked them for coming to the free event. Pator Roy was cooking hot dogs, Danny was eatin’ ice cream and Tony he was having fun sharing the love of Jesus. I leave you with this scripture Luke 15:7 Just so I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentence.

Ernie Villavicencio

Marlboro Outreach 2

 

Marlboro Children’s Outreach in Brooklyn, NY was so amazingly filled by
the Spirit, GOD is moving, praise HIM!
      Let me start by introducing myself I’m Jay B and GOD has placed
me in a position of being a family leader of an amazing group of
brothers &; sisters: my coleader Caroline, Shara W., Nadia, Lauren,
Phillip, Ernie & Daniel. We arrived at the out reach with the other 4 of
6 families,  as were waiting for the other two families we start
praying at the play ground, soon after all families arrived.
     The entire family started setting up with the food and chidrens
ministries leading the way. We all help out, how awesome is it when we
all work together as one family. As we set up many people start coming
out of their apartments, hearing and wondering is this really
happening? Families and lot of children came down to enjoy lots of hot
dogs, chips, face painting, fun balloon creations, praise & worship,
playing sports & on the playground but most importantly having a
kioninea fellowship with all Children of GOD.
    As soon as the outreach started the Spirit of GOD came upon the
place with laughter, joy and sharing the Love of GOD. Allow me to
share personal GOD moment experiences. The Spirit was leading me to
talk to children, hence I shared the gospel through how GOD has spoken
to me by the High 5 for JESUS. Basically, one day in class GOD spoke
to me in 5 letter words to be enable me to share HIS love. Here are
some words: JESUS, loves, cross, blood, saves, glory, honor, peace,
trust, truth, first, heart, Daddy & faith. It was definitly GOD at
work because I spoke to 5 different boys and they all accepted JESUS
as their LORD and Savior. There is one thing different I did for the
very first time is I had them sign Bibles I was giving them which I
wrote “I (their name) accepted JESUS as my LORD and SAVIOR today.”
This was amazing because they would joyfully pray that then sign it.
      The outreach was about to end so I saw a Bible lying on the
playground so I went to sit next to it just to rest then pick it up.
Little did I know, GOD was going to use me again! A little 12 year old
girl sits next to me and I greet her and immediatly I engage her with
the High 5 for JESUS. I was sharing JESUS through my hand again and in
which she was intensely looking and listening. As I continue on, I
stoped to ask her name and she replied with a sqeeking noise so I
asked her again because I was kind of confussed. I asked her to wait
because I counld not understand her so I took the Bible that was on
the playground and asked her to write her name on the front cover. She
started writing and it said deap, so I asked again because she still
didn’t make sense and she gentlly took the Bible back and corrected
the spelling of that word which was deaf. I could not believe it she
was deaf all along. Right away I asked for her name again and she
wrote Chanell. At that moment I started feeling the Holy Spirit’s
presence. I felt led to ask her if she understood everything
I said about JESUS? She replied w a huge smile and said yes. So we
continued to talk by writing back and forth. As we keep writing all of
a sudden she looks at me and places her hands in the prayer position
in front of her chin and looks at me. We look at each other w hearts
understanding and I  didn’t even ask her if she wanted to accept the
LORD in her heart, the Holy Spirit told me that she wanted JESUS in
her heart and we prayed. So as we finish praying like the boys, I
wrote down what she prayed, saying, I Chanell accept JESUS as my LORD
and SAVIOR on May 27, 2010. She signed it then looked at me and says
thank you, gives me a big hug and started crying with lots of joy, I
was so filled w the Spirit and thanked GOD for using me. GOD spoke to
my heart that moment and said thank you my son as you are my son so is
Chanell my daughter, then I was consumed w the Spirit and started to
cry but I tried to hold back. So, Chanell looked at me a second time
said thank you again w a bigger and longer hug and cried more, then
that’s when I could not hold it in anymore and cried out w rejoicing
from my heart knowing FATHER GOD loves us more than we know. Wow GOD
work through me that day to lead His children even a beautiful, young
lady and I could not contain the joy HE gave I cried the whole way
back to church because today GOD revealed HIS love to me, the boys,
Chanell and the Marlboro community in a  powerful way. Praise GOD!

Sorry for the lack of posting

We assure you, that your kids are okay. Today we had a 3:30 am wake up call and a 5 am departure to beat the city traffic out of New York City.

The past few days have been greatly documented with hundreds of great photos from our old school lomo cameras to our iPhone cameras to our expensive dslr’s. Once we get back to campus we will sort through our photos and better update our blog.

Yesterday we had a free day and many of our students subway’d from borough to borough sightseeing, sharing our faith, and sampling the cities food.
From running into evangelist from the UN who were also handing out the books of John, to sitting silent at Ground zero, to praying at the Brooklyn tabernacle, or eating new yorks best pizza at Lombardi’s – all of the students family groups grew closer to the Lord as they grew closer to eachother while spending a solid twelve hour day walking the streets of NYC.

Were off again, good bye New York, we love you, we miss you, and we hope to serve you again.

Thank you to pastor John Conner’s and the warming concregation of Horizon Christian Fellowship Brooklyn.

Godspeed.

coney island

 

Marlboro Outreach

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Today was an amazing day as God allowed the school of evangelism team to minister to children and parents at the Marlboro Housing Project with food, fun & fellowship as many children and adults received Jesus as their Lord & savior. We were told that this was the first time anyone has done a outreach at their apartments. We were so blessed just to be there and have fun with them.

Ernie & vance checking the blog

As we speak.

Some snapshots from our freetime in the church before dinner

A Great Descriptive of Brooklyn

One of the members of the church here sent us a beautiful narrative of what we have to look forward to on our nine days in New York. Hope you don’t mind me sharing this Gerry.

“Come to Brooklyn,

You will find flowers growing here among the rocks, pushing their way up between the stones of the city, and through sidewalks cracked and broken by lost ones looking for light. Groping to find the Hand stretched out, the Voice calling them to come forth.

You will see faces and names painted here, painted in the colors of many nations, drawn on the walls in many languages, embroidered on the veils of Yemen, expressed in the dark eyes of Saudia, and subdued hearts peering out to find light. Asia too spreads itself in living colors over the fields white to harvest.

Come pick flowers from the fabric of the world. Ebony faces from the Islands of the sea. Pearly white smiles but hungry hearts. The Black Hats and Beaver hats that fill Borough Park and Williamsburg, lost from the true Jerusalem. Walk among the diaspora and touch the Tribes of Israel.

Come to Brooklyn. To China towns where women with tiny feet bow still before Buddha to burn their incense. Where gurus and cults ensnare the searching and misguided. Where Mosques and Temples and Shrines to the saints who were not saints, cast shadows across the path of those needing for hope, forbidding them to see.

Come to Brooklyn. You will find children older than their years, without fathers to guide them. Mothers in need, and girls preyed upon. And in the High Rises of plenty where all seems well, drug lords count their cash and pat their weapons and look down on the masses.

Yet the Word of God is living and active! The Lord is building His church! For nestled in many a corner, beams of light shine out… out to the sea of humanity like lighthouses along the shore. Spreading beams of Hope across the Horizon. Out to the parks and boardwalks on the sandy beaches of Coney Island. Out through the neighborhoods, down alleyways and open markets.

Come to Brooklyn and write your own poem. Find the flowers and pick a bouquet of your own. Come, point their faces to the Son.”

Morning Worship

Safe!!!

As our day comes to a close, we have all arrived safely in Brooklyn. Thank you for all of your prayers for safe travels :)

Brooklyn Represent

It’s 9:40pm and two of our four vans are here at the Horizon in Brooklyn eating L&B Spumoni Pizza. We’re here safely and even had a couple alumni and team members fly out to join us for the remaining days in Brooklyn.

Stay tuned and we will keep you posted with more personal testimonies from our students and photos showing the work God is doing.

Welcome to Indy

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Here is a link to where we will be staying tonight and tomorrow.

Horizon Indianapolis

Read up on the history of how it started. It is a really beautiful property and a great testament to how great our God is.

In Kansas, Now to Horizon Indianapolis

The heavens declare the glory of the Lord and the firmament showeth His handiwork… This is my view right now.

Pray for Traveling Mercies

This is one of six semi-trucks we’ve seen tipped so far driving through middle America. Some of our fleet drove through sandstorms and strong raging winds. Godspeed HSE.

Another Message from Mike

Now in the morning, having risen a long while before daylight, He went out and departed to a solitary place; and there He prayed. And Simon and those who were with Him searched for Him. When they found Him, they said to Him, “Everyone is looking for You.” But He said to them, “Let us go into the next towns, that I may preach there also, because for this purpose I have come forth.”
Mark 1:35-39

In all four gospels, we rarely see Jesus alone. Everyone always wanted something from Him, either out of selfishness or out of faith, and He spent sunrise to sunset ministering to people. But in this passage from Mark, Simon found Jesus all by Himself, alone. “Everyone is looking for You,” he told Jesus urgently. And clearly, he wasn’t telling Jesus anything He didn’t already know. But the world could wait; prayer could not.

You see, Jesus knew the source of His strength and power was in prayer. When He was alone, did He watch television? Or play Wii? No, He prayed. Who knows how much rest our Lord got that night, but chances are it wasn’t much. He must have been exhausted after a long day prior, and still, we see Him rising up early in the morning, “a long while before daylight,” to pray.

Have you ever felt like everyone was looking for you? Like your cell phone never stops ringing, and the problems keep coming, and you don’t have a moment to yourself? May I encourage you today to take time alone… and pray. Without prayer, we are but robots going from task to task, slaves to the problems that constantly demand fixing. But there will always be tasks at hand, and there will always be problems to fix. How can we ever know God’s purpose for our lives if we don’t take time to pray? How can we become more than problem-solvers — “more than conquerors” as Romans 8:37 puts it — unless we commune with the One who is bigger than our problems? How can we but struggle from burden to burden unless we spend time in prayer? The world can wait; prayer cannot.

May I encourage you to spend time in prayer and ask Jesus to use you to start a revival in your life, in your family’s life, and in your community. No matter what you may be experiencing today, know that the Lord wants to bless you. I know that we all have pressures at home or at work that drain our souls. But just as Jesus was weary, He still made time to refresh Himself in prayer to His Father. Not only did prayer revive Him, it was His source of strength. When you are physically or emotionally weary, go to the Father in prayer — anytime — and He will refresh and strengthen your soul.

New Disciples. Vance’s Testimony: Friday, May 21.

Living in a community with other believers give me a glimpse of what it was like for the disciples. Like them, we eat, sleep, study, pray, praise, learn to lead, and learn to follow. Like them, we are discovering and developing our own uniqueness in the midst of our common goal. Though sometimes difficult, this communal environment is optimal for the death of self and the growth of love. My brothers and sisters see what I do not, both good and bad. They exhort me unto love and good deeds and I am changed by the Spirit of God through them. There is no place I would rather be than right here, right now.

Youthful Heart. Jackie F’s Testimony Pt. 2: Wednesday, May 19.

On Wednesday evening, some of us stayed here at the church for night-time service while others went with the youth group to an outreach in a park for the skater kids that skate out there.  I personally didn’t want to work with the youth because I don’t really have a heart for them.  Or at least I thought.  I honestly only wanted to go to the park to see the Columbine shooting memorial.  One of our drivers was dropping a group off at the park & then returning back to the church to pick up the youth.  So I thought, perfect I can go with him to the park, see the memorial & then catch a ride back to the church, that way I didn’t have to work with the youth.  Well when we arrived at the park the driver was told he needed to return back to the church right away.  That meant I either had to forgo viewing the memorial so I could get a ride back to the church or I had to stay at the park the whole evening with the youth.  So I stayed.  I was uncomfortable thinking about having to interact with the skaters.  They were just a bunch of rowdy punk kids to me.  God then reminded me that many years ago, I was one of those punk kids too.  Standing off to the side talking to Natalie, a 16 yr old girl comes up to us & asked if we could pray for her.  She shared that she just returned from Israel & really desires to live fully for the Lord.  But this afternoon she was with her boyfriend & was tempted sexually.  Immediately my heart broke for her, because I’ve been in her shoes time after time.  Only, no one ever reached out to me to encourage me to flee from the temptation until the damage was already done.  I shared with her my testimony & how God finally been convicted to live a pure life & why.  The whole evening God used me & my past to connect with these skater kids.  I finally felt that my shameful past of drugs, drinking, & sex was used to glorify God.  All around the park God was using HSE testimonies to minister to these kids.  You could see that progress was being made.  The walls built up against God in their hearts, are starting to fall down, slowly, but its happening.  Seeds were planted & I’m so eager to return to the park to water & plant more!  God is changing my heart towards youth & it’s awesome!

Loving Littleton. Lauren’s Testimony: Thursday, May 20.

The Lord has been using us HSE-ers in mighty and amazing ways. On Wednesday, we were sent out to be led by the spirit as to what he wanted us to do. We were given money, cleaning supplies, balloons and a lot of faith to do ministry with the community. Our group found ourselves serving at king supers for much of the day. At one point; Chrissie, Daniel and Chris Flores saw a young couple who were getting into some heavy arguments. They were screaming at each other. The entire situation yelled out for an intervention, but by the time we decided to do something, they had stormed out of the store. All we were left to do was pray. Thankfully, God is really good at getting rebounds. I prayed that the Lord would send another believer to talk to the couple. My prayer was answered when Monique ran into the couple when they had reached her part of the store with their argument. She poured compassion and understanding into the situation. Not only did she get to witness to them, but we all got to share and pray for them. How rad is that?!!!

Blessed. Jackie F’s Testimony Pt. 1: Wednesday, May 19.

God moved today.  He moves everyday, but a lot of the times I don’t notice it because of all the distractions in my life that blind me.  The first part of the day we were broken up into our families, were given $60 cash & cleaning supplies.  The only direction we received from leadership was to go out into the community we were assigned to & share to love of Jesus Christ with them in a tangible way.  My family threw around ideas of cleaning restrooms at Starbucks, paying for someone’s groceries, washing windows at the gas station, etc.  After praying for the Holy Spirit to lead us we broke off into small groups & went our separate ways on a mission to bless people.  However, most people we approached didn’t want the blessing.  Of course, we were discouraged, how can you say no to free bottles of water or free groceries?  But the Lord used this day to bless us instead.  It seemed like everywhere we went there was a Christian around wanting to bless us.  We got free lunch & coffee from the manager at McDonalds who is a Christian.  The other half of our family got free pizza, three different times we were approached by a Christian that just wanted to poured encouragement into us.  How loving is our God?  We still had money left over so we decided as a whole to bless the staff at the YMCA.  They’ve been so gracious to allow us to use their facilities to shower & workout everyday so we bought them pizza, a bouquet of roses, & picked up trash around the property.  That was the first part of the day.  God knew that our family was struggling spiritually & it was like he just wanted to use this day to show us how much he loves us and give us sweet kisses on the cheek.

Contention to Union. Nikki’s Testimony: Wednesday, May 19.

On Wednesday, two of our van families combined into one for an outreach. At first, there was a lot of disunity and frustration amongst the group. Later, we left our first location to go to an outreach at a nearby park. That same feeling of disunity was still in the air amongst us. Once we arrived at the park, clouds came and it began to rain. Everyone that was at the park left, while our group stayed and huddled under a pavilion. We all decided to pray and see what God had for us there. During the prayer, I felt the Lord tell me the reason… that we needed this time as a group to build our unity. It ended up that as it rained, we sat under the pavilion and affirmed each other and gave encouragement. After we finished, the rain let up and God had brought unity to our families. After that a van of troubled children arrived. Some of our group went to play with them in the park. Some of us even had the opportunity to pray for them. It was a day of unexpected circumstances for our group. Man makes his plans but the Lord guides his path.

A Message from Pastor Mike

Walking worthy of the Lord is something I desire to do with all my heart. I get very upset with myself if I have done something or said something that would displease the Lord. I want my whole life to be for Him and not for me. When I was in control of my life (before being born again), it was a mess, but since surrendering my heart and life to Jesus, my life has been a blessing and I am dedicated to try and please the Lord. Here’s the thing: I can’t do it alone.

As you read this, perhaps you are wondering how in the world you can walk worthy of the Lord, or be fully pleasing to Him? After all, you can get frustrated with the kids, or disappointed by your spouse; you are not perfect. But read on in today’s passage to see what comes next: “According to His glorious power.”

You see, as we walk in God’s grace and yield our lives over to the power and working of the Holy Spirit in our lives, He enables us to walk worthy, to please Him, to be fruitful, to increase in knowledge, and to be strengthened with all might. These are not things we can do for ourselves, in our own strength, but they are the byproducts of allowing His grace, power, and Spirit to work in our lives on a continual basis.

Today, may the Holy Spirit strengthen and encourage you, filling you with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding, that you may walk worthy of the Lord.

For this reason we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you, and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding; that you may walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing Him, being fruitful in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God; strengthened with all might, according to His glorious power, for all patience and longsuffering with joy; giving thanks to the Father who has qualified us to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in the light. He has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love, in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins.
Colossians 1:9-14

The Ministry. Christian’s Testimony: Wednesday, May 19

The ministry is a rough, difficult field. Frequently neglected, hardly recognized and often taken for granted. You deal with numerous problems of which you are expected to solve with a calm, cool, and joyful attitude. That is a well-rounded description of a minister. So what makes it all worth it? Let us say a man is called to that position and seeks to be obedient. Only, obedience is one thing, obedience with a willing heart is another.

So, what really does make it all worth it? What is it that keeps a minister from becoming jaded and bitter?

It is on this trip that I am beginning to realize… It is the changed lives for the kingdom. Seeing hope restored to the hopeless, love given to the undeserving, compassion to the broken that leaves the mark of love.

The people… The people are what make the ministry worth while.

Never Ready. Cody’s Poem and Testimony: Tuesday, May 18

Why is this melancholy mayhem?

A child looking for love but never finds,

Left with a robbed and weary soul.

.

Never ready for this realization.

Pain and hurt flood this soul.

Is such harsh veracity assumed false?

.

Yet among pain and sorrows of old,

You lay still and knock on this door.

“Come to Me, I am sovereign over all”.

.

Though it cannot be understood.

You wait with warm embrace,

To ease the pain and dry the tears.

.

I wrote that poem about my day yesterday.

Yesterday was a prodigious day. It was full of people who demonstrated the reality of spreading God’s Word. Many were closed to all outward communication, while others were extremely encouraged to see laborers for the kingdom. It was a melting pot of attitudes and beliefs. My family and I were passing out flyers for a festival coming up this Saturday. We were assigned to the shopping strip in Littleton. While Jess (Lewis) led half of the family one way, I led half the other. My group and I ran into a couple of boys and gave them some flyers. We had a blast talking to them about Jesus and how many “coincidences” there are when it comes to life and Christ. After the boys left, another group of children came. They were all around 13.

I was not ready for what came next. As we all broke up and spoke to the kids, Amy and myself spoke to the girl of the group. Her name was Julia, but she liked to go by Jules. She wore colorful beads around her neck and wrist, she had drawn a black heart on her hand. I was overwhelmed. As we spoke to her, the Holy Spirit told me that she had been sexually abused earlier in her life. I as well, was abused when I was a child and always knew what to look for in a child to see if they were too.

I saw the broken eye-contact, the pain in her eyes, the fearfulness of her body language, but this time was different than any other time. This time, I didn’t just know by knowledge or observation, but I knew by feeling. The Holy Spirit came down on me and I was overtaken by this feeling of pain, hopelessness, but more so compassion. A compassion that moved me to tears, one that I never felt before. I always wanted to feel the Holy Spirit in an amazing way, but I was never ready for that feeling. I felt the vulnerability of a child who’s life has been stripped from her, who’s identity is found but trying to find a person to love her, but has lost that hope. I felt that way when it happened to me. I had forgotten. Sure, I’m in HSE and serving God to the best of my gifts and abilities He has given me, but at some point in my life, I did not want that to define me as a man, so I drowned out that pain, closed that book, and buried it in my soul.

He came down to me yesterday, reopening my book, as I asked Him, why? He said “Come to Me, I am sovereign over all.” I looked to the sky and saw His amazing glory, scribed in the clouds as rays from the sun and silver linings overtook the view. After He spoke, the pain and vulnerability left me, yet a burden remained. I may not understand why this happens in our world, but I do know that God is sovereign over all and will be your strength and comfort in weakness and struggle.

As I have reflected, yesterday has become a miracle for me, I felt God’s heart in a tangible way, and have grown to understand His love more than I ever have before.