YWAM Australia Collecting Donated Glasses for Papua New Guinea
In Papua New Guinea (PNG) over half a million people can have their eye sight restored simply by receiving glasses. While there is definitely need for surgery for some in PNG, most people suffering from impaired vision in the country can be helped by a donated pair of glasses.
Youth With A Mission will be touring Australia this year to raise finances and awareness of the new YWAM Australia Medical Ship, the Pacific Link, and the work that they will be doing in PNG. While on tour they will also be collecting donations of used spectacles for distribution in Papau New Guinea.
You can find out how to donate your used glasses at the YWAM Ship web-site here.
YWAM to Help Distribute Huts in Haiti
In an interesting partnership Youth With a Mission in Haiti will be helping to distribute emergency shelter to people affected by the earthquake in Haiti.
Esbenshade’s Garden Centre & Greenhouses is putting together accommodation for over 1000 homeless Haitians that will be shipped to Haiti in the coming weeks. YWAM in Haiti will be receiving and assisting with the construction of the huts when they arrive in Haiti. The huts are 14″ x 16″ and cost about $300 each, plus the cost to transport them to Haiti.
You can read more about the emergency huts, and how they will be distributed in Haiti here.
YWAM House in St. Petersburg Russia Burns Down
Yesterday saw the tragic loss of the house that has been a hub of ministry in St. Petersburg for the last number of years. The YWAM house has not only been a blessing to the YWAMers working their, but also to the kids, babushkas and other churches and organisations that they have worked with over the years.
No one was hurt in the fire, even though when the fire on the roof started a kids club ministry was being held inside. The fire department arrived 40 minutes after the call was put in, but by then it was too late to save the house.
God provided the house miraculously for the ministry that God had there. The Youth With A Mission team is confident that God will provide a new place for ministry. The team is very grateful that no one was hurt and that God still has more for them there.
They have three prayer requests during this time:
- Pray for strength and unity as a team
- Pray that God would speak and that they would have open hearts to hear
- Pray that something beautiful would be birthed out of the ashes
You can read more about the fire and the YWAM team here.
Donations to YWAM St. Petersburg
If you want to partner with YWAM in St. Petersburg, Russia and help them with the reconstruction of their ministry house please send US dollar cheques to:
YWAM Slavic Ministries
P.O. Box 4213
Salem, OR
97302
USA
Please make the cheque payable to "YWAM Slavic Ministries" and include a separate note in the envelope stating that the donation is for the "St.Petersburg fund".
International YWAMer Launches Audio Podcast
This month’s (December 2009) International YWAMer is now available in an audio podcast version as well as the e-mail and on-line version.
At the moment we are limited to an English only version of the International YWAMer Podcast. The written version of the International YWAMer is available in English, French, Spanish, Korean, Portuguese, Indonesian (Bahasa) and Russian, so we are hoping to make audio versions available also in those languages as we find fellow podcasters and translators to partner with.
You can read the latest International YWAMer, well as listen to and download the audio version from here.
I’d love any feedback that you have on it, please feel free to post them in the comments below.
I started podcasting in YWAM in mid-2003 with a video news update for our local YWAM Centre in Australia and we launched the audio version in 2005.
YWAM Montana Gets Donated a Motel
YWAM Montana, located in Lakeside, Montana, has continued to grow and was in desperate need for new staff housing. As a huge answer to prayer they were donated a 12-room motel, plus the means to move it onto the YWAM location.
The foundations are still being finished and the three building hotel should be dropped into place in the next few weeks. Other the next six months they will be getting the building up to scratch and they should be ready to be inhabited in Fall 2010.
The new accommodation should be on-line just in time for the Discipleship Training School (DTS), the School of Biblical Studies (SBS), the Titus Project and the School of Worship (SOW).
You can see more photos of them moving the hotel buildings here, and more about YWAM Montana here.
YWAM Biblical Core Course Starting in January
In January a new YWAM Biblical Core Course will be starting up at Reef to Outback, where I spent my first 11-years in YWAM and missions.
The Biblical Core Course (YWAM BCC) is a 5 1/2 month course that is broken up to be half lectures and half outreach. During lectures they’ll be covering topics like:
- How to study the Word of God
- Applying the what God says in the Bible to your life
- Preaching and Teaching
- Is the Bible still relevant today
After the lecture phase the Biblical Core Course will be heading over to Papua New Guinea again. The had a very successful outreach there last year when they ran the course and the staff are pretty excited to be heading back there again with the new school.
Jonathan Spainhour will be leading the school again this year. He just let me know this morning that another student signed up for it yesterday. He runs a great school full of practical and challenging teaching.
You can find out more about the school here.
YWAM and the C Street House in Washington DC
Back in the 1980s Youth With a Mission operated a ministry centre in Washington DC. They operated their ministry out of a rowhouse on C Street SE. When YWAM concluded its ministry activities in the city 20 years ago they transferred the house to C Street Center Inc.
For the last few months Youth With A Mission has been linked to that same house in Washington DC on C Street SE. The house has been linked with numerous Washington Political scandals, but the biggest complete was that the house was registered as being tax-exempt. The problem that people had is that the house was used as a boarding house for various political figures and should not have been operating as tax-exempt.
Unfortunately when the house was transferred to C Street Center Inc the city records were not updated. YWAM has not had anything to do with the property since they completed their ministry activity at that house in Washington DC 20 years ago.
Below is a link to the latest article about the house, and the quote regarding the ownership of the house.
Al Kamen – In the Loop: C Street house no longer fully tax-exempt – washingtonpost.com
The owner, according to tax records, remains the same, “Youth With A Mission Washington DC Inc C St. Center.” But that group says the property was transferred 20 years ago to C Street Center Inc. after YWAM concluded its activities in the city.
Update December 7, 2009 – The official real estate records for the C Street house have finally been updated to reflect the above information. The house was sold on March 21, 1990 to C Street Center, and then transferred to Fellowship Foundation Inc. on October 25, 2002. You can see the updated records on the Arlington Virginia website here.
YWAM Australia Schoolies Outreach
Like Spring break in the USA Schoolies Week in Australia is when year 12 graduates get together for about two week to party. This takes place around end of November and the beginning of December. I’ve been down to the Sunshine Coast in Queensland Australia on a Discipleship Training School outreach during schoolies week and it’s a pretty intense time. There is a lot of opportunity and need for outreach and love to be shown to these kids who are there.
Many churches and organizations in Australia get together during this time to try to make schoolies week a better time for the kids attending. YWAM regularly participates in schoolies week to help try to make a difference in these kid’s lives. Where I used to work at Reef to Outback the Discipleship Training School would run outreaches to Magnetic Island (off the coast of Townsville), quite often partnering with other church ministries and community organisations.
There are plenty of opportunities for people to participate on outreach during schoolies week. One of the busiest places in Australia for Schoolies week is the Gold Coast, in South East Queensland. About 60,000 17 and 18 year olds pack the area during this time.
You can find out more about the YWAM outreach to schoolies on the Gold Coast, and how you, your YWAM centre or church can participate, on their web-site here.
Live Interview with Lynn Green, YWAM International Chairman, on Facebook
Lynn Green, the International Chairman of Youth With A Mission, was a part of a live interview on the YWAM International Facebook page. He took the time to answer quite a few questions that had been sent in previously and were asked during the interview.
Here is a sample of some of the questions, and Lynn’s answers:
- Lynn, here is the first questions, who are you?
- A kid from Colorado who joined YWAM in 1969, got a wife, then four kids, then 6+ grandkids and became Chairman of YWAM along the way.
- What would you say to the challenge busy YWAMers in this area – rest vs drivenness?
- That is something God has been saying to me. But, to some extend it is related to seasons of life. I am now in my 60s and God is saying I must "fight to enter into rest". I have been an activist for all these years and now the passage of scripture that means so much to me is Ruth lying at the feet of Boaz and then going back to Naomi and asking "what do I do now?" She said Rest! This man will not rest until he has done all he needs to. That is what Jesus will do for me if I spend time with him.
But even in the midst of a very busy life, I have developed the habit of a good long time each morning spent in the scriptures and prayer and then prayer with my wife then with my kids around the breakfast table.
- That is something God has been saying to me. But, to some extend it is related to seasons of life. I am now in my 60s and God is saying I must "fight to enter into rest". I have been an activist for all these years and now the passage of scripture that means so much to me is Ruth lying at the feet of Boaz and then going back to Naomi and asking "what do I do now?" She said Rest! This man will not rest until he has done all he needs to. That is what Jesus will do for me if I spend time with him.
- Do you think YWAM is focussing enough in the area of assisting ministries associated with New Technology, media, Gospel presentation?
- Well, we never think we are doing enough. But Create International are fantastic in this area. I am sitting right now in a global communication team meeting and we have spent three days looking at our web presence, IT tools, where communication is likely to go in the future etc…..
- When will YWAM return to its original call to evangelize?
- You must be talking about YWAM somewhere in particular – there is an incredible amount of evangelism happening around the world! We have planted over 600 churches in 100 of the least-reached people groups. Reef to Outback in Australia is doing innovative outreach online and Impact World Tours have led tens of thousands to the Lord in the last few years!
- What advice would you give to current DTS student to encourage them? Do you even remember your DTS, Lynn?
- No I didn’t do a DTS, so I can’t remember it. But I have led a few. I didn’t do a DTS because they didn’t exist until around 1975. When I joined there was only a School of Evangelism.
The most encouraging thing I can say is keep obeying Jesus. There is no greater adventure!
- No I didn’t do a DTS, so I can’t remember it. But I have led a few. I didn’t do a DTS because they didn’t exist until around 1975. When I joined there was only a School of Evangelism.
- Lynn, perhaps a big struggle for me is understanding wisdom in Loren’s philosophy of easy on, easy off. Balance of helping people step up to commitment vs just letting them go. Your thoughts?
- Well, commitment has to be freely given. We really cannot put pressure on people to commit. It has to come from deep inner convictions. In addition, we want to bless the whole Body of Christ, so we are training people for other movements, denominations etc.
Recently God has convicted me that I must also be happy when people seem to use the YWAM platform to develop their personal ministry. That is the attitude Paul conveyed when he said he rejoiced when people preached the gospel, no matter what the motive.
- Well, commitment has to be freely given. We really cannot put pressure on people to commit. It has to come from deep inner convictions. In addition, we want to bless the whole Body of Christ, so we are training people for other movements, denominations etc.
- Where is the University of the Nations is at with accreditation…?
- We are seeking to be a force for transformation in higher education. The current accreditation system is part of what keeps it static. so we are pursuing accreditation by two means: from one institution to another. Many colleges and Universities accept U of N credits. And we are developing a new global accrediting association.
- How should YWAM prepare itself spiritually and practically for the growth towards 200.000 staff?
- We must deepen our relationship with Jesus first!
Then we have to transition from a more rigid organizational structure to a more thoroughly relational leadership network on a global basis. that is a big subject, so keep your eyes open for prayer days on the subject. I will do some leadership letters on that too.
- We must deepen our relationship with Jesus first!
- People are asking questions about the restructuring of YWAM after the last GLT. What can you say about that…?
- We are thinking less organizationally and more relationally. We are not in a rush, but know that God is giving us more insight about eldership and how it works within our body. The upcoming International YWAMer (www.internationalywamer.org) will have articles on that.
- What’s your favourite running shoes?
- I highly recommend that you have your running style analyzed by some outfit that knows what they are doing. I was giving up on running due to knee pain, then had different shoes prescribed after a video of my gate and I have been fine ever since. Asics Nimbus for me!
- What would you say to many many ‘behind the scene’ Ywam mothers who are depressed while the husbands are driven with works and meetings and are highly motivated to get the job done?
- When my wife was feeling like that, she wrote me a letter that she left in my suitcase. Basically she said she was lonely. That tore my heart out. I went back home, went through my calendar with her and cut my schedule back. I now make all scheduling decisions in prayer with her. Have all husbands read this!!!
- What are you most looking forward to in this last quarter of YWAM’s first 50 years?
- Deeper relationship with Jesus and much more evidence of the supernatural in YWAM. Deeper friendships too!
You can read the full live interview on the YWAM International Facebook page, including follow up questions and responses from people who were at the event live.
David Cunningham set to Direct C.S. Lewis ‘The Great Divorce’
C.S. Lewis’s book “The Great Divorce” is not one of the first of his books you would of as being adapted to a movie. It doesn’t have the action of the Chronicles of Narnia, but it has the drama of people and souls in limbo.
The story tells about the journey of one man on a bus travelling from Grey Town in a post-apocalyptic world to the “outskirts of heaven. From what I’ve read the movie is set to rely heavily on CGI and will present heaven in a way that you have never seen presented before in film.
The movie will be directed by David Cunningham (son of Loren and Darlene Cunningham, the founder of Youth With A Mission (YWAM)) and is set to begin filming sometime in 2010 and a release date has not yet been set.
You can read more about the movie here.
