first two weeks back...

An update written 8 October 2011 – Arvada, Colorado

It was really sad to say goodbye (again), and a really long flight (33 hours), but God is so faithful and it is SO good to be back here again. It really does feel like home in many ways!

So there are 4 schools running this quarter at YWAM Denver: a Musicians DTS, Young People’s DTS, School of Social Justice (which I did last year) and School of Ministry Development (which I am doing now). There are over 100 students this quarter, so it’s pretty busy!

The first week was really full of getting to know people and settling in. Praise God, I have had absolutely no jet lag and have been sleeping pretty solidly from 11pm-7am every night! Previously, the first week has been hard as I only fell asleep around 3am and then had to get up early. God is so good! There are 30 students in my school, which is the sum of all my previous schools! Our director is Mark Davies – an amazing man of God who is a great leader and inspiration.

It has been amazing to see how all the students are diving straight in. Worship times have been so Spirit filled, with people relinquishing things, strongholds being broken and lives being changed – and it’s only week 2! During worship last Wednesday, they said they felt like God wanted to break strongholds that have been in people’s lives for a long time, so I thought about the fear and insecurities that have previously had a huge hold in my life. As I thought about it, I didn’t have that heart-beating feeling when you know you need to go forward – I just had a huge sense of peace. And then I realised that God was confirming to me that those things are over and done with in my life. Praise God! I knew I had been through a process over the last 2 years of breaking them down, but to know that they are gone is SO freeing!

Last Friday, we had our normal Kingdom Night, where we went into downtown Denver to love people and worship Jesus on the streets. At first, I just sat and sang along with the guy playing guitar, then stood up and watched for people who stopped to see what was going on. This one guy came over, and asked if the packets we had were to give out (they had toothpaste, water, etc in them), so I gave him one. He also noticed the Bibles we had there, and asked for one of those two, and pointed to a specific one he wanted, because he used to have one like it. It turned out he was homeless, and couldn’t get a job because his ID had been stolen, and was trying to get a new one, but they couldn’t find his birth certificate either. So I prayed for him, and he left. Shortly afterwards, a 22 year old woman (Toni), came up and was watching what was going on. I started up a conversation with her, and it turned out that in the last couple of months, a really close neighbour, her mom, uncle and cousin had all died. So she had a lot of pain, anger, questions and frustration at God and the world. I got to just listen to her, and also share how I dealt with my close friend Claire’s death two years ago, and my grandpa’s death four years ago. Earlier in the conversation, I offered to pray for her, and she declined. Later on, some other people were praying for someone else, and she said prayer actually sounded pretty good, ‘cause her family could use all the help they could get. She used to go to church etc with her mom, but now she’s mad at God for taking her away. She said she wouldn’t normally have stopped, but for some reason, tonight she did. After we prayed for her, she said she felt better. Please keep praying for her – that she will slow down and give God listening time to answer all the questions she’s asking Him, and that she would be open to experience the amazing love and comfort of our God.

Last Saturday, we watched a documentary by Exodus Cry called Nefarious, which is about human trafficking. Flip, hardcore! Almost every one was in tears, but there is also so much hope in Jesus! We had a time of praying for each other and interceding for this issue afterwards, which was so beautiful, because our tears bless God’s heart so much. It was glorious. Yes, there is great evil in this world, but our God is greater and His love is more powerful! Please take a few minutes to watch the trailer at http://nefariousdocumentary.com/. Awareness is one of the ways that we can stop this atrocity.

Right after that, some of us were sitting around in the lobby of the base with a guitar or two and singing, and more people joined, and it turned into a spontaneous, powerful time of worshipping our God together for who He is. He is so glorious! It was so beautiful, seeing the students gathering together, and freely worshiping our God. This kind of stuff normally happens around week 9, and it’s only week 2! So please be praying for more of God! He has something huge planned for this quarter and all these students. It’s so exciting, and I am so blessed to be able to be back here for this time!

This last week’s teaching was on discovering your strengths, and living and treating others from that perspective – building them up in what they are naturally good and teaching from that perspective, instead of trying to make them into someone they aren’t naturally.

The entire community is heading down to the Colorado Springs base to meet with other bases for what is called the Acts 1 Conference, where we meet together, pray and seek the Lord. I am so excited to see what God is going do and say. Please be praying that we will be united in heart, and that we would be expectant and open to let God be Himself.

In faith, hope and love,

Janine

how I ended up in Denver... again...

For those of you who don’t remember, YWAM (Youth With A Mission) is an international, inter-denominations, non-profit Christian missionary organisation. Their focus is to know God and make Him known, through training, mercy ministries and evangelism. They train and equip people to grown in relationship with God and to love and serve others.

YWAM Denver is in Colorado in the United States. What I love most about them is their focus on worship and leadership training. Last year, I was there for almost a year. I did my Discipleship Training School (DTS), which is the basic entrance program into YWAM. It is a 3 months lecture and training, with topics like the Father heart of God, relationships, spiritual warfare, evangelism, Holy Spirit, followed by a 2 month outreach where you put everything into practise. I went to Thailand, where we loved the unloved in a rural Burmese refugee village, in the slums of Bangkok and the bars of Phuket.

After that, I did a secondary school of Biblical Foundations (SBF), where I was equipped to study the Bible, through reading it chronologically, and studying church history, and other study tools. After that, I did a school of Social Justice (SSJ) which was focused on knowing and seeing God’s heart in and despite the justice issues all over the world. We looked at things like human trafficking, modern-day slavery, refugees, poverty, community development and Aids. Off of that school, I went on another 2 month outreach to Brazil where we worked with an orphanage and with local community ministries.

So last year was pretty busy, with 3 schools and 2 outreaches with YWAM so far. Through that time, God brought me out of the bondage of believing lies and fear of so many things, and brought me into truth, joy, freedom and life! I have seen God do incredible things in and through me, and my life will never be the same.

I came home in February this year, and the first few months were really hard, but as I settled down and got involved, I’ve seen so much of how I’ve grown and how God is preparing me. It was amazing to get involved in ministry at home - worship, KFC (kids program), Gap (youth program), HBC (winter kids holiday club), Mthatha (winter outreach/missions trip), Alpha course and a Beth Moore Bible study. I’ve also been tutoring and did some Teaching English as a Foreign Language (TEFL) training. I also dabbled in cooking, art and guitar. It was amazing to be able to do what I’d been doing overseas, at home, and to see God very much at work there too.

Also been able to help with everything after my mom’s operation – totally God!

I’ve been learning so much about faith and trusting God with everything, every day. It’s been amazing to look back and see how much I’ve grown in the last year and a half, and get excited about where God is leading me next!

So now I’m doing the School of Ministry Development here at YWAM Denver. (See http://www.ywamdenver.org/training/school-of-ministry-development/ for details). Throughout last year, whenever I was deciding what to do next, this school kept on coming up, but it was never quite right.

I have felt and many people have prophesied ‘the nations’ over me, so I’m pretty sure I’ll go all over the place throughout my life. I was thinking about this a lot in Brazil, and one time I was casually thinking ‘how the heck do I go to all the nations??’ and a simple phrase popped straight into my mind, right as I thought that: ‘A bridge to the nations’, which happens to be YWAM Denver’s slogan. I cracked up laughing. God has such a great sense of humour!

So I kind of knew I’d be doing this school sometime, or at least going back to Denver. The question was when. I came home in February, and nearly left in April to do this school, but God said wait. So I waited. And when I asked Him if I could go in September, He finally said yes! I am so glad I did! One of the things God said, was that if I couldn’t find and choose joy at home, I wouldn’t be able to in other places. If I couldn’t be satisfied with where I was, I would not be satisfied with where I was going. God taught me so much during me time at home – patients and trusting Him being quite a hot topic!

So it’s been a long time coming! I’ve wanted to do this school for a while, but never really felt ready to do it yet. Looking back, I totally wasn’t! I feel so much more ready for this school now, and so free to just go with what God is saying and where He’s leading me, without worrying.

One of the things I’ve noticed is that I love helping people and pouring out into their lives some of what has been poured into mine. I long to see a generation rise up that is passionately in love with their God and who will go out and change the world, and I want to be a part of equipping them to do so. I want to see revival come to this world again, and will do anything and everything I can for God to bring His Kingdom.

At Cape Town United one Friday night (a city wide youth gathering), the speaker spoke about how God is looking for people who are willing to say ‘yes’ to God, trusting that He has the ‘how’ figured out. That it my heart’s cry.

I know I’m going on some pretty sweet adventures with God, and I am so willing to go anywhere He leads. Regardless of any ‘cost’ to myself, cause He gave it all for me already. I want to see “His Kingdom come and will be done on the earth as it is in heaven”, through loving God passionately and loving others radically. All of this, so that the Lamb may receive the reward for His suffering. I don’t want my will, but God’s to be done – whatever that looks like, that He would have His way.

A few months ago, a group of young people gathered in Hawaii for what they called the school of the Circuit Riders. See this link for the promo video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CdzPAhKQPgI. Every time I watch it, my heart starts beating with excitement – cause that is my heart! I don’t know what it will look like, but I’m so willing to trust God and find out! ‘I will go, send me!’

It is always such a blessing knowing I have family and friends praying for me and supporting me while I’m away. Pinelands Baptist is my family and community, and has a special place in my heart.

I booked my flights using frequent flyer miles, and the missions committee have set aside an amount to contribute towards the school costs. I have been working and tutoring to make money for this school too. A couple of weeks before I was due to leave, I was chatting to God about stuff, and told Him that I don’t want to try to say the right thing to try to manipulate Him to provide the money. I don’t need to do that, cause He’s a loving Father who is my provider, and I can trust Him. So I told Him, I need money. That’s it. I’m doing what I can. It’s in Your hands to do the rest. The next day, I find out that someone offered to pay the rest of my expenses. Yeah, I was in a mild state of shock, awe and delight! Without me even having to ask people directly, God prompted and provided.

The thing I need most at the moment, is prayer. It is SO incredibly powerful! Stuff changes and moves when we pray. I don’t understand fully how or why, but it does. So heck, I’ll pray! I won’t let the one or two times when things don’t happen how I expect deter me from praying and missing out on the millions of other times when God just shows up!

Here’s what you can be praying for:

The leadership of the school and base and the students – for an openness, willingness and courage to surrender, learn, struggle, grow and dream with God.

A continued outpouring of God’s love and Spirit.

Revival and awakening in the church and all the earth.

Please be praying for these things – not just here in Denver, but for all people, all over the world. 

Thank you all SO much for all your support, encouragement and interest in my life. God is doing some big things, and I am so excited to be involved in what He is doing internationally at the moment.

In faith, hope and love,

Janine