You have heard the stories in the Bible. In Genesis, God said to Abram, “Go…”. In Matthew, Jesus calls Simon (Peter) and Andrew and says to them, “Follow me…”. In John, Jesus speaks to the people saying that he is the light of the world and once again invites them to follow him. But these are the stories of people long ago. I grew up thinking the reality of these things happening again is so far-fetched and unforeseen. Is that really how God works today?

Family Discipleship and missions changed our Lives

Our family has always wanted to serve the Lord in radical ways, and we have been involved in many different kinds of ministry⏤including short-term missions.

We felt the Lord pulling on our hearts to do something different with our lives. We visited my daughter who serves as a missionary with YWAM in Idaho. Her Discipleship Training School was the start of her journey in missions.

We wondered, “God, could we do something like this as a family?”

Our Marriages Matter to God and Others. 

We recently had the opportunity to publicly encourage the missionary marriages on our campus. Why? You may ask… why do missionaries need to be encouraged in their marriages?

Committing Our Family to Following Jesus

My pathway into missions started at the age of 14 when I moved to Budapest, Hungary with my parents so they could fulfill their dream of overseas ministry.  

WHAT MY MOM THINKS OF ME BEING A MISSIONARy

Ever wonder what your parents might say if you decide to become a missionary? Aimee interviewed her mom about her  experience, and you might just find some encouragement to overcome your fear of stepping into what God's calling you to do. 

God said "Go", I said "No" 

What if God asked you to go? To leave everything⎼your house, job, friends and family to follow him into the unknown? What would you say? Well, I can tell you what I said, "NO!"

Plans Have Suddenly Changed, But Don’t Panic

My family and I were happy about our next missions adventure.  We had an incredible experience in Brazil, several months earlier, as part of our YWAM Tyler training school outreach.  Now we were preparing for ministry in Turkey and Spain.  Little did we know a viral storm was brewing that would very suddenly, change our plans.

Enter the COVID-19 crisis.

EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT THE FAMILY DTS

What if you could spend the best years with your children discovering God's purpose for your family? If you could do something amazing with your entire family, and you knew you couldn't fail, what would you try?

Taking a step toward a family discipleship program is not only possible, it could be the best decision for your family's destiny.

Josh Barnes and his wife Faraday came to YWAM Tyler, Texas, for the Family DTS. They came with five kids in tow: three boys⎼12, 11, and 9 and two girls⎼7 and 4. Living in community, diving into their relationship with Jesus, and growing stronger as a family was just the beginning of their experience.

It's surreal, this thing called YWAM!

We just finished pioneering the first Family DTS here at YWAM Tyler. It had its challenges, but when you get 22 parents and 43 children together, God's stirring something amazing up! 12 families graduated, and are being sent out into the world forever changed for the better! Some sold their homes, gave up jobs, and said goodbye to friends, not knowing what was to come in DTS.

Seven years ago, our family found ourselves living life the only way we knew how. We owned a business, worked really hard, lived in the home of our dreams, and were very involved in our local church. However, like many Americans, we had tons of debt, and the job was literally killing me.

“Are you insane?” is what you may be thinking, and I do have to confess that we’ve felt that ourselves as we look to the future. To give a little background, our last three years have been some of the most challenging and rewarding times of our lives. We’ve walked through joy, grief, hopelessness, and anticipation. After serving two years in Jordan, we returned to America in  May 2015