I always loved Christmas. The lights, the music, the decorations and the gifts were always the culmination of the year—the big countdown—the point on the calendar where every other day found its place. So, it’s no wonder my first Christmas in missions felt off. I was on outreach in the tropics. It was sunny, hot…
"What are you going to do after high school?" At fifteen years old, I expected people would only ask me about my life's purpose when I graduated. Nope. I had two whole years of high school to go, but teachers—and strangers—started asking me "What's next?" as if it was the same as "How's the weather?".…
A taxi, a bus, a van, and two more buses—in one day we made it to the start of our two-week trek in the Himalayas. Our team of ten hiked to three villages, about 65 miles total. We visited churches and brought teachings to equip the believers, as a lot are considered nominal Christians—and never…
How do we naturally pursue a supernatural God? One we can't physically touch or see? For me, that's a question that's come to mind a lot recently. How do we have a personal relationship with someone we can't see face to face, or hear audibly? (Or at least for most of us that's…
There’s construction happening right outside our front door. The lot that we live on was subdivided, and now a house is being built on what was our front patio. I’ve had some ups and downs with that reality, as most people would. Almost every day I’ve been sitting at the kitchen table, drinking my morning…
“Just go over to the house sometime, they’d love to meet you!” Fresh to Tauranga, New Zealand, friends had raved about the YWAM Furnace community. My new university was right next door to where their current Discipleship Training School was running, and I wanted to meet them. I’d heard about DTS all my life and…
“And your outreach location will be.... New Zealand! You will be helping lead worship in the Prayer Room!” I was angry. The former Prayer Room staff had up and moved to the Middle East so they were in need of musicians, singers, and sound technicians. Did I care? No. I signed up for my specific…
It had been a dream of mine for years to teach on a Discipleship Training School, and finally, my opportunity was right in front of me! Being invited to teach the Bible Overview week on a DTS was huge. I’d just finished my School of Biblical Studies, and I was full to the brim with…
I was standing on a balcony in the middle of the Himalayas. I was disappointed. I had just spent a whole month in that nation on outreach, and it still felt like it wasn’t enough time. Not enough time to do all the things I wanted to do. Not enough time to see God move…
Name changes seemed to be everywhere. Abram became Abraham, Jacob became Israel, even Saul to Paul. We heard of churches renaming themselves, even other YWAM locations. But could it really happen to us? Could there be a name that captured our story, in all its twists and turns? And how did we even become…
