I sent out a letter recently. I hope most of you received it. It was mainly concerned with the fact that I am rejoining YWAM and am now on staff here, in Honolulu. I am a leader in a school called "Discipleship Training School"(DTS) I have begun to give young people a chance to encounter God and Missions in a whole new light. I originally attended this school back in September 2003 and it radically changed the course of my life.
The school first, and foremost, showed me what it was like to have a relationship with God. My relationship with God went from believing in Him, because I was afraid to go to hell, to starting to understand that God not only had grace for me to save me from eternal judgment, but that He also had a plan and purpose for my life. I also learned that being a Christian meant more than praying a saving prayer. It also meant that God desired for me to serve Him with my life. I learned that God was completely in love with the each person that He created to live in this World and wanted to have a relationship with each person to the point that they would desire to give up their own lives to live out the calling that He had planned for each of them. His purpose is, and will continue to be, to see all nations, tribes, and tongues give Him glory. That is what my purpose will be for as long as I live, by the Grace of God.
The most important thing I learned in my DTS is that God is interactive. Praying is not just upward, it is a two way communication between God and each of us. I learned that I can hear from Him and that He wants to speak to me. This was vital for my relationship with Him. I wanted something real and authentic and God, speaking to me, was the most real thing that I continue to experience with Him. Anyway, needless to say, I had a great time in my DTS.
Now I have the chance to see God work in students’ to give them a heart for “ The Nations”, to help them understand that God loves them and that He has a plan for their lives, if they surrender to Him. The change is many times quite rapid and over a short period of time. DTS is great because it creates a culture of seeking God. I feel that the Church is supposed to look a little like a DTS, not just here, in Hawaii but that Christians all over the world should be living in community, seeking God together discipling each other, and reaching out to the world together.
My weekly schedule is packed here in Honolulu:
1. We lead a lot of different outreaches from the base; one is to the homeless on Waikiki, the other is to the homeless in another part of Honolulu. I lead an outreach to the University Of Hawaii campus which is right in our back yard. Just in the last few weeks about 15 students from our school have gone around the campus, praying and hearing from God. He gives us “words” that is special knowledge (i.e. for the people they meet on campus). It’s amazing to see how God speaks to people and ministers to them. People often give a bad name to street evangelism, but I am here to say that God uses it. He wants to speak to people right now in their lives, where they’re at and we are seeing our students experience that revelation. We have ministered to a bunch of people and I expect the outreach to get even more fruitful. God wants to meet with people. God wants to use people to bring Him glory. We do get rejected sometimes, but most of the time it is cool to see how God speaks and, if we obey, what God does through us. We are going to start working with Campus Crusade for Christ, which is very exciting.
2. The thing I am most excited about is going back to China. I am leading a team with a girl named Tiffany. We have a team of ten; four girls and six guys. I will be going to a city in the south for a month and then a city in the north for a month. (If any of you would like more details on what locations please email me, for security reasons, I am not going to put city names and dates.) I am so excited to show people China and hopefully God will speak to them and give them a heart for this nation. We will be working in pre-schools, English clubs, orphanages, and with college students. Our main goal is to bless the long term staff there. We know that blessing them is what will have the greatest impact on the cities in which we work. We have to prepare songs, skits, dances, and English lessons. We are also in the midst of applying for our visas, buying plane tickets, and making arrangements with contacts in China. So we are very busy.
3. I am responsible for meeting with all of the guys on my team each week in a group and individually, seeing how they are doing, keeping them accountable, and making sure they are getting their work done. It is really amazing to see the changes that are made weekly with the guys on my team. Through these young men I am reminded that God is faithful to meet with us, if we surrender and seek his face.
4. I lead worship here a lot. Last Sunday I led at a local church called Christ Fellowship and I led at our Thursday night meeting at the YWAM base. God has given me a gift to lead and I am trying to develop it during this season of my life.
5. We have lectures Monday through Friday. They are lectures on YWAM’s principles, anything from hearing God’s voice, to evangelism, to spiritual gifts to….. This weeks lecture is on the Holy Spirit so this is always challenging for people no matter what background they come from. So pray for us as we read through the bible, and try to understand what it says about the Holy Spirit!
There is so much more that I would like to say, but this update is long enough. I am super busy all the time but am thankful for this chance to stay in contact with everyone.
I miss everyone back in Maryland, dearly. Thank you all for being there for me while I was home. I have the greatest group of friends in the world!
Dan
Prayer Points:
Pray for my team going to China just that the holy spirit would go ahead of us and prepare the way. That God would use us in a mighty way.
Pray that God would provide all the money we need. It's due this friday.
Pray for continued break through with the students that God would continue to mold their character through the school and give them a firm foundation to build on for the rest of their lives.
Pray that my leadership ability would grow even further.
Pray for our local outreach that God would grow it and make it effective.
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