Spread the word.

For those of you who are new friends, new readers, old friends and readers, or just stumbled on this post randomly... I would like to summarize YWAM, our next adventure with DTS, and how you can be a part of it all.

Brandon and I have been with YWAM for many years.  Brandon has served for 6 years, while I have been a part of YWAM for almost 4.  YWAM, or Youth With A Mission for those of you who do not know about our acronym, is a worldwide missions organization.  Over 50 years ago, God guided one man to begin a movement, and that movement has now multiplied into over 1,000 operation locations in more than 180 countries with over 18,000 people working under the YWAM name.

YWAM values...

 knowing God

making Him known

hearing God's voice

worship & intercession

being visionary

championing youth

being broad-structure and decentralized

being international and interdenominational

having a biblical worldview

teamwork

servant leadership

doing first then teaching

relationships

the individual

families in missions

depending on God for finances

hospitality

communicating with integrity.

As a missions movement, we focus on evangelism, training, and mercy ministries.

Without going into too much detail, that can summarize the general DNA of YWAM.  There are many other incredible ministries around the world, many other amazing missional organizations, and we feel so blessed to be a part of this one.

Brandon and I have a HUGE heart for the training side of YWAM.  We have put this into action by leading and working with DTS, Discipleship Training Schools.

Currently our base has a DTS running right now.  How exciting it is to see students come from all over the world hungry to be discipled.

We will be leading the next DTS, which begins in September.  The school will have 6 focuses:  photography, visual arts, performing arts, music, surfing, and skateboarding.  We are stepping out in faith and expecting that God will send us 25-30 students (that is over twice the amount of most of our past DTSes).  We are also embarking on a new venture for our base... for the first time ever YWAM Pismo Beach will be running a secondary training school:  Basic Leadership School (aka, BLS).  Brandon and I are VERY excited to see this vision come into fruition.  Our DTS will run alongside the BLS, and we are thrilled to see how the BLS will impact the DTS.

How can you get involved?  There are many, so many ways that you can get involved.  Praying for us is first and foremost.  Some of our readers support, or have supported us financially, in which we are so humbly grateful for your generosity!  But I am urging you specifically to get involved in spreading the word about YWAM, about YWAM Pismo Beach, about our DTS... about the BLS.

If you know someone who is seeking discipleship...

...someone who is passionate about photography

...visual arts

...performing arts

...music

...surfing

...skateboarding

...someone who has completed a DTS and would like further training (the BLS is for them)

...someone who has completed a DTS and feels called to full-time missions.

Tell them about the DTS.
Tell them about the BLS.
Tell them about joining staff with us.

This is how you can help be a part of YWAM.... spread the opportunity... please.  I heard of YWAM because someone shared it with me.  Brandon heard about YWAM because someone shared it with him.  Please keep us on your mind, and don't hesitate to share with someone who you think can benefit from what YWAM can offer.

Direct them to our website.
Have them call us, 805-773-YWAM.

If you have made it to this sentence, thank you for reading through details and information that might not be the most exciting thing to read.  :)  But I hope it has given you a snippet about YWAM, and about our upcoming adventures with DTS.  It is exciting to us, and we are thankful for what God has in store!

Serious.

People talk casually about death and heaven, as in when someone dies, that is where they go.
Jesus tells us that His kingdom is in heaven, and He is the King.
And Jesus conquered death.
Neither of which are casual things.
They are serious things.
We can only conquer death with the conquer Himself.
And we can only live in the Kingdom if we are under the King's lordship.
What Jesus did was in no way casual.
It was intentional.
It was powerful.
It was sacrificial.
I do not want to take anything about that casually.
I want to be intentional about my relationship with Jesus.
I want to acknowledge his power.
I want to feel the grace and mercy of His sacrifice.
Then I may know with a serious certainty what will happen when I die.
The hope we have is not a casual hope.
Hope is strong.
It is a gift.
And it was bought with a cost.
It is serious.

I always humbly hope that when someone dies, they knew of this, and understood the seriousness.
And the seriousness of it is the very reason why people need to hear.
They need to hear about death.
About the conquerer.
About the King.
About hope.