A little update!

Hey everyone!
Sorry it's been such a long time since I've posted but I've really been busy with school.

A couple weekends ago I made a trip down to Ensanada Mexico for my missions trip that was part of my graduation requirements and I'm so glad I went!
We went to the new campus that had just opened up down there in Rosarido last semester to do some work. We dug some trenches, filled some trenches, made some path ways, basically landscaping. But it was a real blessing to know that I was a part of something that would be lasting and would really be part of educating Christians with the Word of God!

We also went into town, Ensanada, and walked around. It was really eye opening to see how blessed we are in the States. It was basically a slum area. To put it short and simple the people of the city were in need of Jesus. God was working in my heart showing me that there are needy people and that their needs go beyond the physical but to the spiritual and that last thing the world needs is more complacent Christians. People need to hear the gospel and we need to tell them! Every one back in Salt Lake knows that very well right? :)

Which reminds me I miss you all back at Calvary SLC very much! I hope you guys are all doing great and that you're keeping up the fight! :)

My classes are going well! Tons of homework. I just finished a book report for my Revelation class. And I've been doing daily summaries for my Theology class. I prepare weekly sermons for Christian ministry and share them in class and then turn them in for evaluation. For my PCS this semester I'm involved in the Youth Ministry here discipling and teaching the boys, which is great and such a blessing! My M199 I grade papers and home work in the Distance Learning department, which is great because I get to learn even more out of that! Pastoral Epistles has been so great! I have to do weekly summaries of reading from the class. Myself and the other graduates were asked to grade the oral reports of the Genesis class. And of course, Chuck Tracks! On top of all this I book reports, exams, and term papers for each class!

I will try to post again soon with pictures! sorry for not posting so often just really busy!

God bless!

miss you all very much!
Zak

Back in Cali for my last Semester!!!

Hey everyone!

I'm back at the Bible College in Murrieta for another semester. This time around I'll be working toward my graduation on December 11!! This time I didn't come alone... My fiance Brandi came for her first semester at Calvary Chapel Bible College and so far she has been blessed!

I already have my schedule all ready to go: This time around I will not be in the kitchen for my M199 service but rather I will be assisting in the Distance learning office with grading and other office needs; for my PCS Community Service I have the priveledge of being apart of one of the Youth Ministries here where I will disciple and teach Jr. and Sr. High students!!! (I'm very excited for that!!!) Of course I pick up where I left off with my Chuck Tracks (Romans - Revelation). Required classes are the Person and the work of the Holy Spirit, Leadership on the Mission field, Shepherd School (Brian Broderson), Revelation, Systematic Theology, and my last Bible elective that I chose was Pastoral Epistles. My last class that I chose as my last elective was Christian Ministry focussed on the leadership of Church. (I didn't necessariy need this class but I took it for my personal benifit) This all was a total of 21 credits.

Approaching the end.

So there are about 3 1/2 weeks left of the semester here at the Bible College and I've been working hard getting all of my papers and final progects done, and not only done but done early.

I've had to do another 6 page book report for Missions as well as an actually Newsletter as if I was on the Mission field. For Isaiah I had to do a 7 page paper on the Prophecies of the Messiah in the book of Isaiah. In Church History I had to do a 6 page report on 3 people from Foxe's Book of Martyrs; I chose John Huss, Jerome of Prague, and William Tyndale. Also for Church History I had to complete a timeline of the history of the church from Jesus Christ to now and fit each period of history in with each of the 7 churches of Revelation, which is rather interesting; I chose to do mine as a power point presentation.

I start my final block class this monday, April 28, Hebrews, and will attend it monday through Friday from 9-11 everyday till the semester ends on May 22. The instructor is well known on the campus, Liou Wing. Everybody loves him and apparently he's one of the best teachers here so I'm very excited for this class.

Well as the semester gets closer and closer to it's end I look forward to seeing everyone back home! I miss you all very much and I hope you all are doing great!

God Bless!
Zak

Back to Work

Hello everybody, it's been a while since spring break and it was great to see you all! I've been back at the Bible College for a couple weeks now and right back into the routine of studying hard! I actually have an exam in Church History tonight but I feel very prepared and that I've retained a lot from my studying. So far my favorite man that I've read about in my reading is William Tyndale, what an awesome man of faith!

William Tyndale translated portions of the Old and New Testaments into the english language so that the common people would have access to the Scriptures not just the priests. He was quoted telling a priest once, "I will make so that a farm boy behind the plow can know the Scriptures better than the Pope!" Later he was martyred by being burned at the stake. His last words were, "God open the King of England's eyes!"

I've also been blessed to have my girlfriend Brandi visiting here this week to check out the campus to see if she would like to attend here next semester (Thank you Richie and Terri!!!). As you can tell from the picture above we took the opportunity while she was here to go to the beach and spend some time just looking at God's wonderful creation! The drive there is also just beautiful and green!

Although we did have a great time Brandi did sit in on many classes including my own :) She was very blessed to experience student life here at Calvary Chapel Bible College. Her favorite class was Isaiah :)

I hope all of you are doing well and hope to hear from you all soon!

God bless

Zak

About Half Way There

Well I guess it's about that time to update for the two or three of you that actually read this lol :)

Lot's of things have been going on here at the Bible College. Last week we had the student banquet and I got all dressed up and snazy like, yea I know I'm hot lol jk.... any ways

I've been doing so much studying and home work and papers and blah blah blah that i've been a bit overwhelmed as of late but I'll get throught it. God is good.

I went to the beach the other night and it was just so amazing to look out at the distance as the waters just kept going and going and there seemed to be no end. I've always felt small and insignificant in the world in light of the stars and the universe the but standing on the beach like that really added to that. I picked up a handfull of sand and let it fall through my fingers and remembered God's Word when He said His thoughts toward me are more than the sands on the sea and that they are for my good. Then as a looked out to the waters and realized that there are parts of the ocean that man has never seen and the depths are too deep to reach I remembered that that's where God said He cast my sin, never to be found again, crushed in the abyss of the sea. God is good.

Well I get to come home in a week, for only a week, but I'm looking forward to seeing all of you. Thayk you for your prayers, texts, and emails!

See ya in a week!

Zak

Crazy Busy

So I thought I'd update those of you that check this out on occasion. Things are pretty crazy busy here as far as studying, homework, book reports, projects, serving, etc. I'm hanging in there though.

Ivan and I have dail debates now about whoes better, Batman or Robin, so that's pretty interesting. The weather is beautiful here! I've spent most of my studhying and reading time outside on the patio of the dorm!

Isaiah is a great class! Jason Cunningham, who is also the dean of men, teaches it and is definitely being used by God! Church History is fascinating. The book is great and I actually can't put it down! I start my first block class monday which is the Life of David and I'm very much looking forward to that. Later in the Semester when I'm done with David I'll be in Hebrews.

So hello to everyone back home! I love you all and miss you all very much!

God Bless

Zak

This is A.J. He's another roomate of mine, he's also a Youth Pastor here in Cali.

I descovered the recreation hall :)

I think I like this angle :) this was a couple weeks ago.

Alright, so it's been a while since I've posted. Well tons of studying and even more reading! lol. o well. Well so far my favorite class is Isaiah! It is so amazing! I love how much detail there is in the prophecies and Judgement that has so much historical background! I love it! Church History is very interesting except the book I have to read for it is soooooo thick!

God has been showing me so much over these past couple of weeks. Like His desire for my dependency on Him and for me to devote time to Him. It's been so good to just pray and listen for Him to speak. He's been helping me through the struggles of being so far away from home and everyone I love. He's reviving my passion for His word! I love it!

Please pray that I am able to overcome the home sickness that just comes so naturally from missing all of you!

Well it's time for me to get ready to go to the "old folks home" where I get the privilege of playing Bingo! Or maybe even Dominoes with the best of the best!!!! (enter eye or the tiger them song)

Hey again! It's been about a week and a half here at the Bible College now so I figured it's about time for another update. (and yea I know the picture is sideways I just wanted to see if you were paying attention or coming to this site at all lol).



So I have my M199 schedule finalized. I will be working in the kitchen as a Retreat Server every other weekend starting this week end. I work from 5:30- 11:30 on Friday, 7:30-9:45 11:30-2:00, and 5:30-8:30 on Saturday, and on Sunday 7:30-9:45, and 11:30-2:00. They are going to be some long weekends!


I also finally got my PCS (community service) finalized. I will be partnering with another student and working 2:00-4:00 on Thursdays at an assisted living home. I'm actually looking forward to helping out there!



I had my first day of my Missions class yesterday. It was pretty cool to hear from a guy whose been in the mission field for years talk about his experiences. The teacher plans on bringing in speakers like that pretty often so it should be interesting. Tonight I start my Isaiah class and I'm very much looking forward to that. It runs from 6:00 to 9:30 but I'm pretty excited for it!

For some reason the blog site is having an issue with uploading pictures so I'll try again tomorrow.

Hey again! I'ts been quite a crazy week here at CCBC. I've got my class schedule and my eight hours of service assignment. Monday my Christian Mentoring schedule should be finalized too!

I took a couple of days to go driving around the city to familiarize myself with the place and it's been pretty nice. I've spent most of my free time with my new wing-man Ivan (Ivan thinks I'm his wing-man but he's sadly mistaken, If we were the dynamic duo I would be Batman, he would be Robin. Just thought I'd clear that up.)

So my weekly schedule will be something like this: Sunday Morning Church, Sunday Night Chapel, Monday morning Practical Christian Service (the Christian Mentoring Program), Monday-Friday at 9:00-11:00 the Life of David during the second block and Hebrews during the fourth block. Tuesday 1:30 to 3:30 Missions. Wednesday 6:00-9:30 Isaiah, Thursay 7:00-9:00 Church History, Friday 11:00-12:30 Chuck Smith Lectures, Friday 5:30-11:00, and Saturday all day Retreat Server. And whenever I have the chance I have to listen to Chuck Smith MP3s and take notes also answering questions, and my homework for my classes. So I'm a pretty busy guy these days! :) But don't let that discourage you from talking to me either by comments or email or even the phone (call or text). I miss every one back in good ol SLC!

Here are some more pictures for ya!

This is the outside of my dorm.

Inside the dorm. the top bunk is mine.
My dorm is in a pretty sweet spot.

this is my wingman and room mate Ivan (I call him Ivan the terrible, he prefers Ivan the great)

Hey everybody!!!

I'm in Cali now at the Bible College! It's been a long week of registration and choosing classes and what not... I've spent the good majority of today in three different lines!!! o well. Any ways I flew in on Sunday night and got to my hotel just in time to catch the second half of the Superbowl... GO GIANTS!!! Sorry, just had to throw that in there. :)

I registered for the following classes: Isaiah, Practical Christian Service, Practical Christian Ministry, The Life of David, Hebrews, Missions, Church History, Chapel, and Chuck Smith tapes. I took a total of 21 Credits worth.

For the practical Christian Service I get the opportunity to be a mentor to a Jr. or Sr. High boy! I'm excited for this opportunity to, in a way, continue Youth Ministry here in Cali!

Here are some pictures from this first week :)

The "Lake"

My Dorm Room on the Hill Side

A view of the Sanctuary through the trees and lake.

A Wide Open Door!

My name is Zak Johnson. I have been involved in the Youth Ministry at Calvary Chapel of Salt Lake City for the past 3 years. For this past year I have been the Youth Ministry Leader at Calvary.

God has opened up a great opportunity in my life for me to draw nearer to Him and fulfill His calling on my life! Calvary Chapel SLC has been led to send me to Calvary Chapel Bible College in Murrietta California to get the education that I need for the ministry.

I leave for California Sunday, February 3, orintation begins Monday February 4, and classes begin Friday February 8.

I ask that you keep me in your prayers that I may be able to focus on what God has for me and be sensitive to His voice.

Thank You for your prayers!
Zak