Dear Brother or Sister in Christ,
You know, that
greeting sounds so generic and doesn’t communicate half of what it should. What
I really mean when I say “Brother or Sister in Christ” is that you’re family,
and I love you whether or not I even know you well. I mean that we’re part of
something bigger, something global (cosmic even!): collectively we are God’s
chosen instrument for bringing the things of his kingdom to earth. Through our
prayers, our words, our actions, our thoughts, and even the seemingly
insignificant decisions we make every day we are charged with bringing
reconciliation, restoration, and refreshment to this conflicted, fallen, and
exhausted world of ours. So when I call you my brother or sister in Christ,
what I mean is that we’re in this together, and it’s far bigger than you or me
– but it’s what we were made for.
As my family member in
Christ and as someone who has supported me in the past (even if in the smallest
of ways), I want to begin by saying thank you. The honest truth is that there
is literally no way I would be where I am without your financial and moral support.
Your initial and sustained blessings of
prayer, friendship, and finances have perfectly placed me to receive even more
from God and pour out blessings on others as a Discipleship Training School (DTS)
staff member with YWAM in New Zealand. Your support has a ripple effect; it
doesn’t stay in one place but continues outward from where it began. So thank
you for your generosity and obedience to God!
Right now, we have come to the end of the 12-week lecture phase of this
DTS and are just beginning our outreach trip in the Philippines. So much has
happened during this first 12-week period that it’s hard to describe, but what
I do know is that students arrived with all sorts of questions, doubts,
struggles, and fears, and now they are totally different. Some even arrived
feeling quite unsure of what they thought about God, but now they are sold-out
and on fire for Him. Now how exactly
this happened is the hard part to explain. I gave my best attempt to sum up the
process in a recent blog post: “I’d say this has been a journey of claiming
truth and freedom step by step. Often, this has meant inviting the Holy Spirit
into our lives, stepping out in faith, and obeying God in a way that pushes us
outside our comfort zones. He challenges us to be more vulnerable, open, and
free in worship, prayer, and speaking, responding to God only and not fearing
what the people around us might think.” As we do this (and generally spend lots
of time seeking intimacy with God), we find that we fall in love with Jesus
more and more and become free and confident to serve him in radical ways. We
bring a willing spirit, and He does the hard work in our hearts.
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| My amazing justice team! From left: Danny (staff), Nicole, Kyle, Mishelle, Edgar, Lindsay, Christie, Amber, Paul, Me, Joshua, and Jules. |
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| What we're really like :) |
As a staff member,
though, there is some other hard work to do as well. It is our job to create an
entire culture and environment for the DTS which will help students press in to
God, honor each other, and get all they can out of this special time. It is
also no easy task to disciple the students through struggles with sin, old ways
of thinking, and issues of living in community. Again, my best stab at
expressing what this feels like comes from a blog post: “To put it concisely,
the past six weeks have been challenging, stretching, and blessed: challenging,
because being responsible for the rapidly-changing spiritual lives of a bunch
of young people (in addition to my own) is just plain hard; stretching, because
I’m constantly confronting situations I’ve never before confronted; and
blessed, because God is far better than we can imagine, because our efforts are
bearing fruit in the form of transformed lives, and because there’s so much joy
to be had in the fellowship of the Holy Spirit.”
Now, however, the time
in beautiful New Zealand has come to an end, and we have embarked on a 7-week
outreach trip. I am now in the Philippines along with my justice team of 12,
the medical team of 18, and the worship team of 5. Another 20 students and
staff are traveling to another group of islands, the nation of Vanuatu in the South
Pacific. In Manila (the sprawling capital of the Philippines), the three teams
have now come aboard the M/V Pacific Hope,
a ship which our branch of YWAM, Marine Reach Ministries, has just bought. We
will be working on the ship for two weeks, helping to spruce it up and get it
ready for the ministry it will soon be involved in. After about two weeks, we
will sail down to Mindoro Island and offload the medical and worship teams, who
will be doing a medical outreach on the island. The justice team will return to
Manila and continue living on the ship while we do ministry with the poor and
oppressed (especially exploited or at-risk women and children) in and around
the city. Near the end of May, we will return to New Zealand for a week for the
DTS graduation before the students return home.
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| The M/V Pacific Hope in Manila Harbor |
Up to that point – the end of this DTS – my life is nicely planned out
for me; the question for me was always what would happen after this DTS
finished. Well, here’s the big news: I’m
planning to return and staff one more DTS with YWAM Marine Reach before
moving on to other things. I feel certain that God has more for me here – there
is SO much to learn from leading DTSs, especially on the spiritual and
relational (“people skills”) side of things. This is an opportunity for me to
round out the technical training I’ve had with further development in these
other areas which are, to be honest, even more important. The incredible thing
about DTS staffing is that it’s essentially on-the-job training. Even as I
develop and build my own foundations I am helping transform people’s lives and
equipping them to serve others and change the world. It’s better than going to
school because the effects reach far beyond my own skills and intellect.
Finally, if those reasons aren’t good enough for you there is the practical
fact that we really need male staff members for July School, and I am
positioned to be an even more effective leader next time, having gotten the
hang of things a little bit the first time around.
Now I know what some
of you are thinking: Dan’s probably just
having a great time in New Zealand and doesn’t want to leave and get a real
job. When’s he going to grow up and be responsible? Well, to be perfectly
honest, I’ve considered the same question myself, and yet I still believe that
staying on as staff is a responsible thing to do; in fact, I believe it’s what
God has asked me to do. But believe me, I didn’t make the decision lightly to
live another five months by faith, depending on God’s provision through others’
generosity. I mean, aren’t I pushing my luck a little to do this again? Well,
no actually, because contrary to the wisdom of the world comes the old YWAM
adage which has proved true time and again for decades: “Where God guides, He provides.” God doesn’t need you or anyone else to give me money (He can and has provided
miraculously); however, He takes delight in loving relationships, supportive
communities, and generous hearts, and He loves to use people to carry out his
plans. So I do ask that you pray and consider whether God would have you give
financially. And again, thank you to all who have already contributed in that
way.
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| The entire Philippines outreach team on the Pacific Hope! |
As I said, maintaining relationships
is one of my highest priorities, although that is difficult to do from halfway
around the world (even with all of today’s technology). I will, however, be
back in the United States from June 3rd to July 4th, and during that time I’d be happy
to meet with you or chat on the phone to catch up and tell stories. In the
meantime, you can always shoot me an email and I’ll get back to you as soon as
I can (it may take a while in the Philippines). I am so, so thankful that I have
such a loving community of people supporting me on this crazy adventure that
God is taking me on. He is greater than we could ever comprehend, and I pray
the blessing of our great God on you as you follow and seek after him.
The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ
and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all (2
Corinthians 13:14)!
