Ethan Richard Hurst
Ethan is 14 days old today and has been with us for just over a week. We have been posting lots of photos to Facebook, but hadn’t posted any here yet so I thought I would share some of the photo love with you guys.
Ethan is doing great. He likes to take long walks on the beach eat, sleep, and poop. 
Logan and I are having the time of our lives. We spend most of our time just staring at the little guy and thanking God for the privilege of having him in our family.
Please continue to pray for Ethan’s birth-mom. We have heard from the adoption agency that she is doing well. She knows she made the right decision but it is still a very difficult thing to walk through. Pray that God gives her strength and peace.
Please also continue to pray for us as we figure out how to be parents. We also still need to raise about $4900 to pay for the adoption. Please be in prayer for this and if you would like to give you can find out how on our partner page.
Alright now for the good stuff…
The little guy has arrived
The little guy was born at 5:32 pm. He weighs 8lbs 3oz and is 20.5 inches long. Mother and son are both doing fine.
Please continue to pray for the situation with the birth father.
Also pray for the birth mom. These next few days will be a roller coaster of emotions. Pray for God’s peace to flood her heart.
Thanks for your prayers. We will keep you updated.
The baby is coming
Last night at 2:30 a.m. we got the phone call that our birth mom’s water broke. Right now she is at the hospital. Things are moving slowly and if they don’t change she will have to have a c-section.
Here are some prayer points.
1. Pray for an easy delivery so she won’t need a c-section.
2. The birth father is being served today with papers to sign away his paternal rights. Pray he signs the papers quickly.
If the father signs and the delivery goes smoothly we could bring the little guy home as early as Friday.
We will keep you posted.
A Christmas Baby
It looks like we may get a very special Christmas gift this year. For those of you who have been following our adoption journey, you know that this year has been a roller coaster of emotions. A few months ago we thought we were about to have a little guy added to our family and at the very last minute the birth-mom decided to keep her baby. It was tough to say the least, but even now we are confident that God answered our prayers to put the baby exactly where he was supposed to be even if that place wasn’t with us.
We have been on our adoption journey for a little over a year now and really have the desire to start this next phase of our lives called parenting. We still want to be a answer for a girl in a crisis pregnancy situation, but we also are aching to start a family of our own.
With a heart full of emotions brought on by the first adoption not happening, Logan prayed a short prayer to the Lord, and with longing-mother’s heart she asked for Jesus to give us a baby by Christmas. Now that prayer might sound a little funny but I believe God heard that prayer and was happy to send an answer our way. We found out recently that another girl had picked us as a family to adopt her baby and that the baby’s due date is December 25. Sometimes I think Jesus has a really good sense of humor and he really does hear our prayers. Don’t you?
Today we are about 10 days away from Christmas and our hearts are hopeful. We know that there is still the possibility that the mother could change her mind or some other circumstance could arise that might complicate things, but we have peace in our hearts that this is something God is orchestrating. We know He is answering Logan’s prayer for a Christmas baby and he is fulfilling our desire to help a girl in a crisis pregnancy situation at the same time.
Will you please stand with us in prayer over the next couple of weeks? Below are a few things you can pray for us:
- Pray for the birth mom. This will be a very trying and emotional time for her. Pray that she makes the best decision for her and for her baby.
- Pray for the baby. Pray that he continues to develop like he should and that there are no complications with the rest of the pregnancy and the delivery.
- Pray for us. We want to be ready to receive this wonderful gift.
- Pray for our finances. We still need to raise about $5000 to pay for the adoption and we will have extra monthly expenses to pay for the little guy.
If you would like to help financially with the adoption, you can find out more about giving on our partnership page.
Thank you so much for following along on our adoption journey. We will keep you posted as the events unfold.
Logan and I hope your Christmas season is blessed and filled with good things.
Testimonies from the Prayer Room
This semester we have been doing some things different when it comes to how we approach prayer in our Discipleship Training Schools and School of Worship. Typically we will break schools up into intercession groups that will meet on a weekly basis to seek the Lord together. These groups meet each week to give the Lord time to teach us how to pray. We spend time waiting on the Lord to speak to us and tell us what He wants us to pray for. It is always an awesome experience to see students learn that they can hear the voice of the Lord. Read more
Some thoughts on God’s goodness.
This past weekend, YWAM Tyler held its annual Fall Staff Kickoff. This years theme was “Pursuing the Call of God.” It was a great weekend. We had several great times of worshiping the Lord. We heard from some great men and women of God who encouraged us in the love of the Lord.
As the weekend progressed, I was overwhelmed by the goodness of God. With every song that was sung, with every testimony that was shared, with every prayer that was prayed there was one message that came through loud and clear. God loves each and everyone of us with an undying love. He is so good. His mercy is good. His judgement is good. His dealings with us are good. In everything He does or says, He is good.
I began to meditate on the goodness of God. Immediately I was reminded of this scripture in the 2nd chapter of Romans:
Or do you despise the riches of His goodness, forbearance, and longsuffering, not knowing that the goodness of God leads you to repentance?
Romans 2:4
God reveals his goodness to us because He truly does love us perfectly. This goodness, when rightly understood, should evoke in us a genuine heart of gratitude and repentance. When we see the perfection and holiness of God juxtaposed against the sinfulness of our own hearts and realize the compassion God has towards us, we should all fall to our faces and humble ourselves before Him. The fact of the matter is that every single one of us is guilty before God and deserves to be eternally separated from Him. God in His infinite mercy chose to show His goodness to us in the sacrificial life and death of His Son Jesus. In Jesus, we are extended forgiveness and redemption.
I don’t know about you, but I am more convinced than ever that God is a loving God who deserves our love. I have been asking the Holy Spirit to search my heart and help me live a life of repentance before Him. I encourage each of you to do the same thing. Ask the Lord to reveal your heart to you and trust in His goodness. If and when He reveals to you the sin that may be hidden in your heart, confess it to Him and receive the forgiveness He has offered to you in His Son.
If you haven’t accepted Jesus as your personal savior, you can do so right now. The bible tells us that if we believe that Jesus is the Son of God and that He died to save us from our sin, and confess this with our mouth we will be saved. If you would like to receive Jesus as your savior, ask God to search your heart and reveal your sin to you. When He does, confess it to Him as sin. Ask Him to save you from your sin and invite Him to be the Lord of your life. Ask Him to fill you with His Holy Spirit and give you the boldness to tell people what He has done in your life.
Let’s all commit to live lives that bring glory and honor to God. Remember each of us has the ability to bring joy to His heart.
Call2All
Logan and I are having a wonderful time at the Impartation Seminar at YWAM’s Kona Campus. We are learning so much about the faith and values the Lord looks for in leadership and the fruit that He promises to us if we will abide in Him and allow His word to abide in us. The last 3 1/2 days of the seminar will actually be combined with an international event called Call2All.
Call2All is a movement of several global missions organizations that have come together to raise up laborers to complete the great commission. We are really excited to be apart of this historic event. We are in unprecedented times, friends. We are closer now than we have ever been to seeing this divine commission to preach the gospel to all peoples and disciple every nation on the earth completed. God’s kingdom is advancing and His Spirit is divinely orchestrating unity in the body of Christ like never before. He is preparing the church for a great influx of souls that is about to take place.
Thank you for your prayers and faithful support. We are humbled to partner with you in ministry. We serve a big God with big purposes for each of us. Lets continue to seek Him and ask Him what part He wants us to play.
Hawaii Update
Logan and I are having a great time in Hawaii. We are so blessed to be able to hear teaching from Youth With A Mission’s founders, Loren and Darlene Cunningham. God truly has given them a global perspective of what He is doing in the earth.
We have spent time looking at specific ways of using the scripture as a foundation to transform culture. To do this we have been looking at 7 spheres of influence in society that shape a culture’s world view.
These 7 spheres are:
- Economics
- Family
- Government
- Religion
- Education
- Communication
- Celebration (Arts, Sports, Entertainment)
When we understand how God has designed cultures and societies to function, we know how to minister in ways that are truly effective for His kingdom and His purposes. Logan and I are soaking up as much as we can. We feel like this is a defining time in our ministry and the Lord is gripping our hearts with His truth in new ways each session.
Thanks for all your prayers and support that have made this trip possible. I will post more later, but we have to run to another session.
We made it to Hawaii
Look at that view.
Logan and I arrived in Hawaii last night at 7:49 p.m. local time. As we approached the YWAM campus fireworks were going off as the locals celebrated our nation’s independence. I was so blown away with the faithfulness of the Lord. He is the source of all true freedom and our nation owes our freedom to Him.
Over the next three weeks, Logan and I will be participating in a Great Commission Leadership event called “Impartation.” The event is hosted by YWAM and is held on the UofN Campus in Kona, Hawaii.
We are excited to be here and sit under the teaching of great men and women who have been involved in missionary work for the last 50 years. We know God is going to sharpen our leadership skills and stir the fire of His presence in our lives. Please be in prayer for us that we would receive everything the Lord wants to impart to us while we are here. My heart is full of expectation of what the Lord is going to do in our hearts.
This morning the Lord brought Isaiah 55:6 to my mind. It says, “Seek the Lord while He may be found; Call upon Him while His is near.” I felt like the Lord was giving us an invitation to seek Him with renewed zeal and I want to pass along this invitation to you. I hope you will take some time this next week and seek the Lord. Tell Him how much you love and appreciate Him. He is worth it.
For more info on the leadership event we are at click here.
Thanks so much for your prayers and support. We still need to raise about $3500 to cover the cost of this trip. If you would like to contribute please see our support page for details about how to give.
An Update on Logan’s Mom
I have a big praise report to bring you about Logan’s mom. She got the pathology reports back yesterday and she is cancer-free. Praise the Lord. She is still in the hospital recovering from the “whipple procedure” she had done last week to remove the mass on her pancreas, but this is definitely good news.
Please continue to pray for her speedy recovery and for her to be able to get good rest. Thanks again for all your prayers.
Join our email list or get the feed
Latest News from YWAM.org- Discipleship changes lives"It’s odd to think how I used to spend my Friday nights just months ago," says Pete. "I thought only of myself and how much I deserved a night of fun and relaxation." Here he tells of what his Friday nights look like now he is part of the Discipleship Training School, and what he is learning about reaching out to others with compassion. […]
- Pete lifts the curtain on DTS"Before I came to my Discipleship Training School, I wasn’t really sure what it would be like. Sure, I had some general ideas that I would be taking classes and doing outreach and living with others … but I had no idea what it would actually be like." Pete lifts the curtain on a real-life DTS - follow his journey here. […]
