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It's "Epic"
Our newest ministry initiative is called “Epic”. Every Saturday afternoon we open up our facilities to engage and interact with the youth of Mitchelton. For four hours we entertain, have fun with, hang out with, teach, feed, motivate and encourage the teens that walk on to our property. Epic is our way of reaching out into the community. It’s about letting ‘youth be youth’ and do things that they enjoy. It gives the kids a place to unwind and make some new friends. Of course, it also means that we are able to befriend these kids and hopefully show them the love of God through our actions and words. Eventually, and through other community service programs we’re doing on Saturday, we hope to minister to not only the teens but even other members of the family as well. We’ve had fun so far with just 3 weeks in and we know this ministry is only going to build from here. We’ve even had an article written about us in the local paper, how great is that!?
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Yoga Festival
What does YWAM have in common with Yoga? Chai! Yes, strange as it seems, we were called up by the coordinators of the Brisbane Yoga Festival (which was running alongside the Body, Soul and Spirit Festival) and asked if we would be willing to bring our Chai Tent down to run at their function. Well, knowing that it’s a Yoga Festival we could imagine all the different other things going on there, besides just exercising. Yoga is a huge thing amongst those who are of a New Age belief system. And so at a festival such as this you can expect anything to do with Hari Krishna, to Hindu beliefs, to the talk of your personal “Ora” or the “energy” about something. I even found a book lying around called “Karma Free Food”- a recipe book about how to cook meals which were good for your body, soul and spirit! Before we agreed to come to something that we obviously didn’t fit into, we had to explain to the organizers exactly what we do. We’re about Jesus Christ and sharing his love with others. “Great!” they said (although I really think they still had no idea what we meant). So, we went, set up our tent, and used this as an opportunity to minister to those in attendance. Our Chai Tent is basically just a place for people to come and sit back and relax. We have entertainment put on by our musicians. Of course, we serve Chai tea. In one part of the tent we had the “Prophecy Corner” where people could come and be prayed for and even receive a word of encouragement from God. Which many did! There were several individuals who went to speak with our volunteers and in the process were spoken to by God. What an opportunity! As I sat with one lady talking about life in general, we were listening to the smooth sounds of our musicians on stage. She kept saying how lovely the songs were and at times just closed her eyes to listen. And this happened with others throughout the day as well. These people were brought in by the simple sounds of the music and were ministered to by the words of the songs. I don’t even know if they understood the meaning of the words being sung, but I know many people heard the gospel that day. Whether through prayer and prophecy, through song or speaking one on one, I believe God touched some people and I pray they continue to hear more about God in the future.
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Darcie Out 'n About
I recently took a quick visit to Canberra where our central office of Institute for the Nations (IforN) is located. As a member of the Board of the IforN I have a responsibility to ensure our training courses around the country are training within the requirements that we must keep as a nationally recognized organization. This past month we had an audit in order for them check out how we’re doing to ensure we are in fact following these requirements. It was an interesting meeting as we explained our unique training strategies and missions statements, etc. To our encouragement they felt that we have been doing a good job in our training. It was a good experience for me to be a part of this process, not only for my contribution to the various topics but also to be a part of us even influencing the education and training system here in Australia! Last week also saw me doing some training with the Beach to Bush DTS. But unlike most of my classroom sessions, we were camping out near the beach (which is a part of the Beach to Bush program). So with no electricity or running water I spoke with this group about God’s intentions for us in relating to each other. This is a one of my ‘pet’ topics as I feel it is one of the greatest ways we are a witness of God on earth in how we love and relate to each other. But not only that, the area of guy/girl relationships have become such a confusing issue for Christian young people these days. My desire is to help young people find their way through their ‘searching years’ with the fear of God and holiness in their lives. I had a good time the group, and it was also nice to get out and enjoy God in nature as well!
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Gary and Rescue Net
Gary and his Rescue Net team are excited to have recently trained some new “recruits” for their team. In August, Gary went down to Sydney to be a part of the training camp put on by Rescue Net. He helped out with the teaching sessions and activities in order to train and equip these individuals for a possibility of joining this response team. The Rescue Net team is growing in size and experience. They would love to be ready for the next disaster which could occur at any point. We are in real need of sponsors for Gary for this ministry. Because of the type of activities and travel involved it can get pretty expensive. And he’d like to take a trip about twice a year. Gary needs to have at least $3000-$4000 sitting ready and waiting in case such an emergency were to take place as the team needs to fly out within 48 hours. One way we think this might be able to happen is through Business sponsorships. If you own a business or know someone who does, maybe this could be a consideration. All donations can be made tax deductible. This is a great way for the company to be involved in humanitarian aid. Let me know if you or someone you know might be interested.
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Mitchie Fete
This weekend were involved with a fair day at the local school. It’s such a great opportunity for us (YWAM) to be involved in these community programs. Many in the community still don’t know much about what we do so our involvement in these are purposed with not only getting out and supporting the community but also getting to know others. We ran our own Chai Tent with kids activities, entertainment, and a place for parents to sit and relax with a cup of Chai. Of course, we’re known for our Chai Tents and we find it a great way to mingle with people in a non-threatening environment. We were also about the place helping out with all the stalls and activities. This should be a really fun day and a great chance to interact with the local community! We were able to talk to a lot of youth and invite them to our Epic program.
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"The Production"
Our film production ministry (called “The Initiative” Production Company) has registered in their first filmmakers competition. This is such a great opportunity to interact with other like-minded people and to also produce something that offers just something more than the average short-movie. The fun/interesting thing about this film festival is that the crew are given just 48 hours to write, create, shoot and edit the film. Talk about hectic! It will be a great time for our guys to get their creative juices going, gain some experience and, not to mention, have a voice in this industry. The short film is called "The Production". We're really excited to see how well they do in the competition!
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