Is a Gap Year Right for You?

Need some help discovering if taking a Gap Year is the right thing for you? In this blog, we tackle a few key issues to help you make this decision with confidence.

2020 is the Year of the Bible

My heart was deeply moved the first time I heard there was a detailed plan and strategy for every person on the planet to have a Bible in their language.

What would it take to get the most important book of all time, into the hands of all people? In every dialect? Talk about a big, hairy, gutsy goal! Well, I'm learning we are living in an unprecedented time in history where that very goal is about to happen.

If you've been thinking of taking a semester off or even a year between high school and college or college and career, you are not alone. Taking a gap year is a hot topic, and since we've talked to students from all over the world who've chosen to do YWAM for their gap experience, we want to help you plan your gap year the right way.

YWAM Tyler's very own The Dream Committee has just released their first debut song, "Traded," and we just couldn't wait to share it with you. I had the opportunity to sit down with Stephanie and Josh of the band and ask them some thoughts about this new song and how the band is doing. You'll want to give this a listen after hearing the heart behind the tune.

So you've been thinking about a Discipleship Training School (DTS), but you're still on the fence with jumping in and doing it. Hey, I get it. There's a lot to think about and huge transitions to consider when carving out space and time to get to know God better. 

We all have a story to tell. Some of our stories have just begun, and others are starting to come to their final chapter. In most narratives there is a conflict, climax, and of course a hero. Whose the hero of your story? 

Standing with 75,000 people in L.A. at the Azusa Now gathering in 2016 profoundly impacted my life. Our team attended the event during our YWAM Tyler school outreach trip, and it was incredible to see that many people gathered together to lift up the name of Jesus. 

I drove the bus all through the night to Chicago for a week of city outreach with one of YWAM Tyler’s training schools. I thought I was just a bus driver, but God had some things to teach me about Urban America.

 The first time I heard about a Gap Year was when my son graduated high school and decided jumping into college wasn't on his agenda. Since then I've talked with a whole bunch of students wanting to take a Gap Year and many who already did it.

Taking a Gap Year or even a Gap Semester isn't a new concept, but for some it's daunting and feels downright allusive. I just talked with a sophmore college student recently who said, "I've always wanted to do something like this, but I didn't think I really could." 

Giving thoughtful attention to your life goals and present situation can open unique opportunities you may not have realized. 

I sat down in the living room after tuning the dial on our television set to the number my Dad requested. Before remote controls you actually had to get up and dial turn the selector to the station you desired. The picture showed a man standing on a platform with literally hundreds of thousands of people listening to what he was talking about. I was only five years old. The man speaking on the TV was Billy Graham.

Sitting in a small circle with others from my DTS team, I was beginning to get a little uncomfortable. We were asked to sit quietly and “hear” from God about something we were to do and somewhere to go for our outreach. I was a little nervous.