Merry Christmas from the Halseth Family!

We pray your 2012 was blessed! 

Here are a few Halseth family highlights of 2012:

Rachel Rose  is healthy and huggable. We are all still amazed how God has blessed us with this sweet girl. We absolutely adore her!  We think she understands most of what we say, while we only understand a little of what she says! She likes to re-organize drawers, unroll toilet paper, and remove anything that happens to get left on the table.  

Joshua  turned five in November.  He is incredibly affectionate and snuggly.  He is learning to smother his baby sister a little less :)  He is good at “saying it like it is.”  He took swimming lessons this summer, and can’t wait to be a Kindergartener next fall.

Abby is our sweet 2^nd grader.  Her teacher enjoys her teachable spirit.  Abby loves the outdoors and spends hours playing in the woods, and picking berries.  She pursues anything artistic, and listens to music whenever she can.  She is in dance and Awana.

Nathan is a 4^th grader and loves sports. He played traveling football, and now traveling basketball for the first time. He often reads a whole book in one sitting. Nathan is exceptionally good with Rachel Rose and he is VERY helpful to his momma!

Matt enjoys leading his Band of Brothers (Bible study group), and serving with Reign Ministries. In August, he attended a Wild at Heart men’s retreat in Colorado. He loves being an active Dad—playing sports and wrestling the kids on the living-room floor!

Jenni is getting the hang of  4 kids!  Momma was VERY thankful when Rachel started sleeping through the night.  She recently even accomplished a few projects, above and beyond basis family care needs! She loves to bike, walk, and lead a Moms Bible study.

One highlight of 2012 was Jenni’s sisters’ wedding on 9/15/12.  We all got to play a part in Tina and Brian’s wedding and loved it!   In 2013 Matt is excited to be leading the Royal Servants mission team to Scotland.  Our whole family is looking forward to traveling together with him for the 5 week mission trip next summer.  

Praying your Christmas shines brightly with many of His blessings!

Love, The Halseth Family

20 YEARS AGO... IN SCOTLAND

I recently received this exciting email from a woman in Scotland who came to Christ through Royal Servants nearly 20 years ago! What an incredible story and opportunity for next summer – 2013!

“Hi, my name is Lorne Millar and I live in Scotland. 20 years ago, when I was 14, I came to know the Lord as my Savior through Royal Servants. My sister and other friends also came to faith through the ministry carried out by this super group of young people with a heart for Jesus. So Royal Servants is very special to me and my family.

I now live in Glasgow with my husband and family. We have recently joined a new church which is in one of Glasgow’s most deprived and poverty stricken areas, Govanhill. It would no exaggeration to say that maybe 20 people could be sharing just one small apartment. This part of town is extremely diverse. With over 50 languages spoken, the majority of residents are immigrants, including Roma gypsies, Slovaks, Polish, Asians and Muslim Pakistanis. God is immensely needed in this area!

Royal Servants has been on my mind a lot lately and I felt led to inquire whether a mission to Govanhill could be a possibility? We are working hard to reach the area.  But from my personal experience I feel that Royal Servants could really impact many lives here, as you did in my own life 20 years ago…”

Wow! What an incredible opportunity to serve! In John 4:35 Jesus said, “Look, I tell you, lift up your eyes, and see that the fields are ripe for the harvest.”  How can we NOT go and help our dear friend who sees the urgent need for Christ’s Kingdom to come to her community?  What an honor to receive this request to serve.  Our hearts say, “Yes! Here we are Lord, send us!”

20 years ago, God was faithful to send a group of students that brought the gospel to a small town in Scotland. As a result of that fruit, we now have the privilege to go back and help one of those disciples impact many nations who are living in one diverse community!  After all these years, it has come full circle. We feel incredibly blessed to lead a Royal Servants team to Scotland next summer!

We remain grateful for your partnership in bringing the message of hope all over the world! 

ROYAL SERVANTS TESTIMONY

While Royal Servants students share Christ all over the globe, they also grow dramatically in their own walks with Christ. Christina recently emailed us about the long term impact of Royal Servants on her life.

“I went on a Royal Servants mission trip to Europe in the summer of 2008. I am now into my junior year of college at Seattle Pacific University. I just wanted to contact you and tell you how Royal Servants completely changed my life. I have honestly been learning things as an adult that cause me to reflect on my summer with Royal Servants and all that God taught me. I’m amazed at how much life applies to everything we learned. I will never forget that summer.”  Christina D.

REIGN MINISTRIES DEVELOPMENT TEAM

Along with my current responsibilities, I now also have a new role with Reign Ministries. In small organizations it is common for staff to wear a “number of hats” in their work responsibilities. So, in addition to my many existing roles with Royal Servants mission trips,
I will now also be helping to lead the Reign Ministries Development team. 

What is the Development team? The Reign Development team consists of six staff members working in many different roles that are associated with the Reign Ministries website, marketing, writing, graphic design, social media, alumni relations, donor relations and fund development.

As you can imagine, there is a lot here to tackle and a need for many hands to make the load light! I will be working with a team of talented staff who have specialized skills in these areas. My main role will be helping to keep us on task and moving us forward in each of these strategic and important areas of the ministry.

Also if you know of anyone who is gifted in these areas, and interested in serving in ministry with these skills, please let me know. We are always looking for new and qualified staff to serve God’s kingdom in this capacity!

REIGN STAFF FALL CONFERENCE AT CAMP LEBANON

At the end of September all the Reign Ministries staff from across the states and across the seas came together to reconnect and recharge for the coming year. All together about 30 Reign staff members, plus families attended the five day conference at Camp Lebanon just outside of St. Cloud, MN . 

Throughout the week we met together to pray, worship, and seek God. We also learned on topics such as conflict resolution, communication, and different learning styles that will serve us better as we minister together. In addition to this, we had a chance to relax, and play together as a family. We were all very blessed with the time together, and are back to work feeling rejuvenated, and refreshed!

WILD AT HEART AND A BAND OF BROTHERS

18 months ago I met with a ministry partner who had been through several “Wild at Heart Boot Camps” led by John Eldredge and Ransomed Heart Ministries in Colorado. I had read the book “Wild at Heart” several years ago. As a man the books message really resonated with me. To make a long story short, I was blessed by my ministry partner who offered to pay my way to a boot camp. In August I had the opportunity to attend the four day retreat at a ranch in the mountains of Colorado. One interesting side note is that while attending the retreat with 300 other men, I ran into a former Royal Servants student (see picture of me and Nate)! Nate is now leading a college campus ministry in AZ. What an awesome chance to reconnect!

The entire retreat experience for me was both healing and restorative for my heart and in my life. This has deeply impacted my walk with Christ and prayer life in so many ways; I can’t even begin to tell you. This experience also inspired me and another friend at home to begin a “Band of Brothers,” a group of ten men. We meet weekly for prayer, study and encouragement in the every day battles we fight.  Our “Band of Brothers” is learning to study together, build community and reach out to others in order to bring about transformation and restoration in the lives of men in our community.

FAMILY MATTERS

Nathan (10) is now a fourth grader and just finished up tackle football this fall – wow! Abby (8) is now a 2nd grader and is in dance and an art class. Joshua (4, soon to be 5) has one more year of pre-school (2 days a week) and enjoys any and all super-heroes. Rachel (19 mo.) is as sweet as can be and is toddling around and babbling her first words – she has now been home with our family for over a year – and what a blessing she has been!

Over the summer Jenni lead a new group of women through a weekly bible study of Colossians. She is now gearing up for another year of “Mom’s In-Depth,” (a community mom’s/women’s ministry she started a few years ago!) were she is leading a bible study this year on “Enhancing your Marriage.” Between sports and kids activities 3 to 5 times per week we have officially entered a new stage of parenting… kid’s activities now are on our calendar often… just the beginning of what lies ahead for the coming years!

TRAINING FOR A LIFE OF GODLINESS (At Training Camp and Beyond)

"Have nothing to do with irreverent, silly myths. Rather train yourself for godliness; for while bodily training is of some value, godliness is of value in every way, as it holds promise for the present life and also for the life to come."   1 Timothy 4:7-8

If you were to stop and think about your personal life goals, what would your list include? For most of us, our top goals would focus on financial success, healthy living, and perhaps personal happiness. But have you ever considered making “godliness” your life’s top goal?

According to scripture, “godliness” should be the most important goal in this life, and also for the life to come. If that is the case, then how does one become godly? Consider any type of success that you have achieved in your life. You may have worked hard for it, training and disciplining yourself in order to attain it. Therefore, training is how we are to develop godliness.

Students may understand the importance of training more than you would think. A students normal week is often filled with hours of training dedicated to sports, music, academics and other personal goals. But very little time (if any) is set aside in their busy schedules for training in the area of godliness. This is one of the things that makes our training camp vitally important in the lives of our students.

How we Train Students for a Life of Godliness

Before I go any further I want to make it clear that the reason we train students for godliness is NOT so they can get a big spiritual head but so that they develop a big spiritual heart for God. The goal is to bring God honor and glory through the service of our lives. Nothing else matters. That being said, here are four key ingredients we focus on to train students for the purpose of godliness. We want them to develop a:

  - Passion for God

  - Compassion for the Lost

  - Love for other Believers

  - Personal Driving Vision

Though more could be said of these key components, we believe they are the catalyst that propel students forward in order to develop a life of godliness.  Therefore we encourage students to train for and act upon these goals throughout the summer. Training Camp puts students in action as they train for godliness!  

STEADFAST AND IMMOVABLE

“Therefore, my beloved brothers and sisters, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord 

your labor is not in vain.”  1 Corinthians 15:58

Fixed, unchanging, steady, firm, loyal, constant, unyielding to pressure, solid, strong, sure, determination without wavering… I scoured the dictionary for words to deepen the meaning of this verse to me. The Apostle Paul reminds us of the type of commitment needed to serve the Lord in everything that has eternal significance. In doing so, God will
bring results to our labor that will last forever!

Recently, I was blessed with a clear example of this.  I led the 2010 Royal Servants Sierra Leone team.  This team all recently exchanged Facebook messages. Amazingly, by God’s grace, nearly half of the students on our mission team have gone on to pursue world missions and or ministry of some sort.  And equally amazing, the other half of students have remained passionate about their pursuit to follow Jesus where ever that leads them in their work, school, church and communities.

MEET DANIEL

Daniel Spelliscy was one of my team members who returned that summer and caught a vision for how God could use him in the mission field. For two years he planned and prepared for another mission team to return to Sierra Leone with his friends from Millar College of the Bible in Saskatchewan, Canada. As I write this, Daniel and his team are on the ground in Sierra Leone ministering to the poor and hurting with the love and grace of Jesus Christ! God is so faithful to continue the work he has started and bringing it towards completion (Phil 1:6)!

We feel totally privileged to be part of what God is doing in the hearts and lives of students like Daniel, and in those we seek to serve around the world. For we know that this work of the Lord is not in vain! Thanks for standing firmly by our side!

MINISTRY UPDATE

Praise God! Royal Servants Training Camp is going to be held in Wisconsin this year!  For the first time ever, students will train at the new WI site owned by our ministry.  What a huge blessing!

In order to make this possible, this spring Matt has worked many days and countless hours in Wisconsin.  Setting up the new site for 300 students to start in June is no small feat!  Our work project teams were a success and many volunteers came alongside to serve with us in April. Yet, with all that was accomplished, there is more work to do and we still need to pass State inspections. Please pray!

Due to the amount of travel to the WI training camp these past months, Matt will not be traveling internationally this summer.  Instead, Matt’s crucial role for Royal Servants in this season has been in preparing the new training camp site.   This benefits all the teams this year, and for years to come.   Not leading an international team this year allows Matt to continue staying focused on the development of  the new Training Camp and to lead the camp Barnabas Team.

In the end, we believe this was God’s plan all along.  For several reasons, the Ethiopia team has had to be postponed.  Matt is excited to once again lead the Barnabas Team this summer, and to serve all the international teams as they train to bring the Gospel around the world! 

· Pray for the remaining work to come together to complete our new Training Camp.

· Pray for wisdom for Matt as he coordinates work projects at camp and for his leadership of the Barnabas Team (This team is made up of Alumni students who come to serve all of the needs of training camp).

· Pray for God to continue to move in the hearts of students as they prepare for their Royal Servants mission trip!

RISE UP AND BUILD!!

“The God of heaven will give us success, and we his
  servants will rise up and build…”   Nehemiah 2:20

One of Matt’s primary roles over the past year has been managing the construction and development of our new missions Training Camp in Wisconsin. Every summer hundreds of student missionaries are trained, equipped, and sent out from camp on our Royal Servants mission trips across the world to share the good news of Jesus Christ!

In less than three months we will be holding Training Camp at the new land! We have our new administration building and several out-buildings up, yet there is much more for us to do to be ready for the state inspection and student arrival in June.

Matt will be coordinating work project teams in April. We are praying and asking God to raise up his people in helping us with the final push to completion. If you or someone you know want to serve God’s kingdom in a “hands-on,” practical way please contact Matt or register online. Registration deadline is April 2!

· Pray for many volunteers to rise up and help us in our final push to complete our new Training Camp.

· Pray for wisdom for Matt in coordinating work project teams and ordering materials to complete the work.

· Pray for God to protect our volunteers from injury and to have strength/joy in service!

· Pray for God to continue to move in the hearts of students and call them to serve on a Royal Servants mission trip!

MINISTRY TRIP TO LOUISVILLE, KY (LIVE 2:6 CONFERENCE)

This month I will be heading down to Louisville, Kentucky for four days to attend the final LIVE 2:6 conference. As I have mentioned in the past, the LIVE 2:6 conference is organized through Sonlife Ministries. This is a group of youth ministry professionals (from across the country) that simply come together to study the life of Jesus and to learn how to create disciple making movements as He did. 

I will be attending these training sessions at Southeast Christian Church, which is a church driven by a disciple making process, and is now one of the fastest growing churches in America.

I will be driving down and back with another pastor from MN and look forward to the fellowship we will have.  Also, I’m excited and look forward to being challenged and encouraged by my fellow ministry peers. Please pray for a safe trip and a fruitful, refreshing time.