Outreach Update

Video Update

Poison Ivy or Healing for the Nations?

We have been in Boston, Massachusetts for a week, and outreach has been amazing thus far! Before I get into what all we have done, I want to take a moment to give everyone some background history on Harvard University. It was founded in 1636, originally designed to train up pastors and prophets. Its original purpose is stated simply: "Let every student be plainly instructed and earnestly pressed to consider well the main end of his life is to know God and Jesus Christ which is eternal life, John 17:3, and therefore to lay Christ at the bottom, as the only foundation of all sound knowledge and learning. And seeing the Lord giveth wisdom, let everyone seriously set himself by prayer, in secret, to seek it of him."

           There is a building on campus called Emerson Hall. This building is their philosophy building, which is one of the centers of humanistic thinking and false ideologies in the country. Engraved on the top of Emerson Hall is "What is man that Thou are mindful of him?" (Psalm 8:4). I love the fact that once something is engraved, it is not easy to remove; therefore, this verse was able to remain on this building ever since its grassroots as a biblically based institution. Is this a promise of reformation? I think so.

            Recently, a prophetic word went out regarding the Ivy Leagues, specifically, that they are presently acting like poison ivy to the world with their infectious ideas. We are praying into the opposite spirit, that they will one day participate in the vision of Revelation 22:2, "On each side of the river stood the tree of life, bearing twelve crops of fruit, yielding its fruit every month. And the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations." While they are being poisoned now, we believe that one day, the leaders trained there will carry back ideas that will heal their countries with the transformational power of Jesus.

Now to informing you of our journey! While we are here, we will be partnering with YWAM Boston as well as Justice House of Prayer (JHOP). The fun part about this first location is that there are 29 of us here from our Fire and Fragrance DTS. After the first 3 weeks at Harvard, 8 will depart from the group to minister at Dartmouth while the rest of us will venture on to Yale for 2 weeks.

On Wednesday, March 9^th, my team was invited to attend a Bible Study that was being held at Harvard Law School (HLS) by one of their Christian fellowships. Our tentative plan is to go back the next couple of weeks because it was such a great opportunity to connect with and pray for the law students. To emphasize the importance of ministering to these law students consider that our current president along with 2 former presidents graduated from Harvard’s Law School, not to mention 10 Attorney Generals, 31 Senators, 21 Representatives, 15 Supreme Court Justices, and 18 Governors. I do not mean to throw these statistics at you to overwhelm you, but to show that this vision of seeing our government, nation, and world return to our foundation (a God-centered society) is a reality, not just a good thought. Revival is a Reality! Think with me for a second: someone talks to one of the Harvard students and that student gives their heart to Jesus and walks with Him wholeheartedly; a few years down the road that student could be running for Senator. If they get elected, they can begin leading that state in biblical principles. Now let’s fast-forward another few years, they are successful as a Senator so they run for the presidential office. If they get elected, our president would be a solid Christian with biblical values as their governmental blueprint. You never know if one of the students that you talk to could potentially hold an influential position in our nation’s government.

Before the bible study, Nick (my fearless leader) and Derrik (one of my fellow students), went to a local coffee shop to use the internet and find out the bus schedule. While they were there, they were able to pray for a guy who was having issues with his rotator cuff. After they prayed, the guy got down and did push-ups, something he was not able to do before they prayed.

            Yesterday, all 29 of us traveled up to Northfield, Massachusetts to visit the campus of C.S. Lewis College. This campus has a rich history including the birthplace of D.L. Moody and the location of the graves of him and his wife. It is also the birthplace of the Student Volunteer Movement. We also drove to Williamstown, MA to see the Haystack Prayer Meeting Monument at Williamstown University. This prayer meeting, held in 1806, where 5 men were gripped with the heart of God for missions, is said to be the event that birthed American foreign missions. "We can do this, if we will." - Samuel Mills (one of the leaders of the Haystack Prayer Meeting)

Yesterday morning, we had time to go do laundry at a local laundromat. While there, Nick and Joy (another fellow student) had the opportunity to lead a Jewish woman to Christ! During these past few days, we have also connected with MIT's On Campus Graduate Christian Fellowship and plan to meet with them a couple of times a week. Last night we, as a school, attended a prayer meeting with JHOP. It was amazing!

I would like to ask you as my friend to join me in prayer for the next 3 months, that God would have His way during our outreach and that He would provide for all of our needs. Also, if you feel led to partner with me financially, you can sow into this vision by clicking on the PayPal donate button on the side of this page. If you would like my address, just email me and I would be glad to give it to you!

Please email me and let me know what's going on in your life! I would love to pray for you as well.

Romans 12:2 - "Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is -- his good, pleasing and perfect will."

Very often what God first helps us towards is not the virtue itself but just this power of always trying again ~ C.S. Lewis

Hey guys, I have been in Harrisburg, PA for four months now. The time has just flown by! The Lord has been showing me what it means to truly love Him and be loved by Him. Another lesson He has taught throughout these past four months has been humbling myself and surrendering absolutely everything to Him. Looking back on the way I perceived life before I came here, compared to now is dramatically different. Just to give you a hint of the transformation Jesus has done thus far, if someone would have asked me if He still did miracles, I would have thought they were insane; now though, I've seen Him perform countless miracles. I would even suggest to you that seeing God touch people in a very real and physical way is quickly becoming more of a reality than just a dream.

After seeing the amazing miracles that God has shown us in the past four months, it makes me even more excited to go on outreach. We only have one more month of lectures before we go! On March 7th, our entire school will leave Harrisburg and head up to Boston, MA to hang out and minister to students on the Harvard campus. After the first three weeks, we will head to New Haven, CT and spend time with the Yale students. On April 11th my team of 6 will head from America over to England for the remainder of outreach. While we are in England, we will spend time ministering on their campuses, primarily Oxford and Cambridge. We believe that going to these universities is a solid strategy, since  our heart, as YWAM, is to reach the nations. These schools are central training locations for international leaders from all over the globe. Our desire is to bring prayer and worship to these campuses alongside of other campus ministries. We are all very excited to have the opportunity to meet with students and show them the love of our Father. We will be returning to Harrisburg, PA on May 21st.

I would like to ask you as my friend to join me in prayer for the next 3 1/2 months, that God would have His way during our outreach and that He would provide for all of our needs. Also, if you feel led to partner with me financially, you can sow into this vision by clicking on the PayPal donate button on the side of this page. If you would like my address, just email me and I would be glad to give it to you!

Please email me and let me know what's going on in your life! I would love to pray for you as well.

- God loves each of us as if there were only one of us.  ~St. Augustine
           - Psalm 139:17-18

Where in the world is Tyler Lister?

I am very sorry that this took so long to update. I am still getting used having a blog. Since the last time I updated this, I have arrived in Harrisburg. My parents and I made the 20-hour journey from Oklahoma City to Harrisburg from September 8th to September 10th.

Once we arrived, my parents, brother, sister-in-law, and I went to Gettysburg. The Monday before Discipleship Training School (DTS) started, my parents and I went to Washington D.C. DTS started on September 15th. We started off with some solid worship in the prayer room.
Week one, Andy Byrd spoke about Fire and Fragrance (F&F) and how it started; which was awesome. He was such a perfect person to start off our journey as F&F.

Week two, Sean Feucht spoke on Monday and Tuesday about F&F and what his role in starting it up was. Then, the rest of the week, we took part in the Father Speak conference that Life Center hosted. They brought in Che Ahn, Bill Johnson, Dave Hess, Larry Randolph, Kevin Prosch, and Leonard Jones. It's okay if those names don't sound familiar, they didn't to me either until the conference, but they were awesome.

Along with week two, we found out where we are going for our outreach. The options were the IVY Leagues, Washington D.C., Amsterdam, and England. The first month of outreach, everyone is going to be going to the IVY Leagues together, and then we are going to split up and go our separate ways for the other two months. During that whole week, we prayed about where we felt like God wants us to go. I have a major heart for England and so that is where I felt like God is leading me. I found out on Friday that I am going to………..…..drum role................

Week three, Ivan Roman spoke about our identity in God rather than our worldly identity. It was a very powerful week. He also spoke in Heirborne on Wednesday in the youth group at Life Center. Life Center’s ministry team, F&F, and Ivan all prayed over the kids. One girl who was flat footed grew arches in front of us. That was so powerful. The next day, we prayed for some people in our school to grow arches and one of our awesome staff members grew some. One girl in our school who didn’t grow arches later grew some. The testimonies were posted on facebook, some people read it, prayed for their friends, and they grew arches. The power of God is rad.

Week four, we had the Life Center staff speak. Wednesday night, our school had what was called a "Holy Spirit Party." I was unable to attend because I went to CHik-Fil-A then 3B ice cream because I was unaware that this party was going on. Once I got back and found out it was going on, I got a little bummed. Once it was finished, everyone went there separate ways to their rooms. In my friend’s room, the Holy Spirit showed up. A few other guys and I went in there and started praying and saw some really cool things happen. I saw two flashes of light in the corner where the lights weren't on (two angels). Two of my friends actually saw angels. We ended of getting so excited that we moved downstairs and started dancing and got hot, so we moved outside to cool down. When we were outside, I felt some demonic spirits beginning to surround the hotel we live at. At the same time that I felt that, two of my friends said they saw the demonic spirits in the woods behind the Howard Johnson. We began praying, giving authority back to God and God's army rushed in to shield our hotel from all evil spirits. How great is our God. On Thursday, September 15th, our school got knighted in the spirit. That was a pretty rad experience.

Week five, Corey Martin came and spoke about relationships with each other and with God. It was really cool and significant that Phase 2 from Kona arrived on October 17th, the Sunday before Corey Martin spoke. That was significant because Jeremy Bardwell, our school leader’s best friend is leading that group (that is one solid relationship). Also, my best friend from growing up is a part of phase 2, so we got reconnected. Those are two examples of the many reuniting moments that happened this week.

This weekend, we took part in a 24-hour burn. Burns typically range from 12 to 100 hours. My outreach group and I played during the 4:00 a.m. to 6:00 a.m. set. It was awesome. This weekend, I have been praying a lot about if I should do a Nazarite Vow or not. I am still praying about the guidelines for it. If you have questions about that, just email me with your questions and I would love to explain it in depth (tlister77@gmail.com).

This next week, week six, Todd McDowell is going to be in talking about the Holy Spirit/Hearing God’s voice. It is going to be intense. I can’t wait.

Oh yeah, I’M GOING TO ENGLAND!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The Beginning

I have been thinking about creating a blog for some time now. The purpose for this blog is to inform my family and friends of what has been happening in my life recently, to invite them to participate in my new life journey, and to ask for you to support me as prayer partners as I move on from here.

I attended Southern Nazarene University (SNU) in Bethany, Oklahoma this last '09-'10 school year. I played soccer for the university and was very fortunate to establish many friendships there. I was planning on returning in the fall for my sophomore year, but was really only doing it because that is what kids my age do. Also, during this last year I was trying to avoid my relationship with God. However, God has remained faithful throughout and has recently retaken a hold of my heart and has called me back for a stronger longing for His presence. More about that in a moment!

I should explain how my freshman year went first. Well, I started the year feeling like I was on top of the world because I was a starter on the soccer team, had the best group of friends, and, no offense to my parents, was on my own; out of the house. It seemed like it was going to be a great year. First semester was not too bad, but second semester took a turn for the worse. I got pretty depressed and did not want to have any social interactions. I doubted my faith, ignored my friends and schoolwork. I was becoming a mess. Whenever I was around people talking about God, the church, or anything along the lines of Christianity, I would turn and begin another conversation with someone else so I did not have to partake in the conversation.

Sometime after school ended I had a conversation with my sister-in-law, resulting in my examination of why I was depressed. I wanted to know what caused it. I narrowed it down to the lack of faith. I had no room for God. How can a life be full of joy and happiness without Him? After thinking about that for a while, I prayed for the first time in who knows how long. I also went to church for the first time this year, 2010 that is. Because of my revelation, I have decided to not go back to SNU this fall; instead, I will be going to Harrisburg, Pennsylvania to attend Youth With A Mission (YWAM). I will be in Harrisburg for five months involved in a Discipleship Training School (DTS) and then I will go out on an outreach for three months. I will either be staying here in America or going to Europe witnessing to Ivy League students and the community around them. I am very excited for this adventure. I recognize how big of a step towards a life fully submerged in the heart and will of God this will be. I cannot be more excited, but along with this excitement comes a great leap of faith, some fear, and nervousness. I humbly ask you to partner with me and support me with your prayers as I seek a deeper relationship with Him. "I (we) can do everything through Him who gives me strength (Philippians 4:13)."

"Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it."
~Matthew 10:39