It was about 24 years ago, when I saw this sign for the first time at the base entrance.
I was a broken, pregnant teen from New York who found myself in Texas in a maternity home my aunt found that was part of some "weird Christian thing" called YWAM.
Little did I know that this place would become home for me.
"My mom pimped me out when I was about 6 years old." - Street girl.
"Wow, we got an education on the streets of Houston! The school of hard knocks." - Kim Dale, who with her husband Martin, direct Youth With A Mission Houston.
"Oh my gosh, THESE are the prostitutes! I didn't even recognize them!"
"I had this revelation one day as I was listening to the kids at our Street Church share their stories. I thought they looked somewhat typical. Just young people running around with backpacks on their backs, except most of them were homeless. We'd see drag queens standing on the street corners in stilettos and short skirts, but the street kids sure didn't fit the stereotype of a prostitute." - Kim Dale
After several treks down to the US/MX border, Kyra's first hand stories and experiences are hard to ignore. It's time to focus on the real issues and ask God to show us how to engage.
Young people from all over the world flock here to YWAM Tyler for discipleship and to discover their God-given passions. Our friend, Matthew Nocas, was one of those youths. Riding a specially modified adventure motorcycle, he brings awareness to human trafficking and finding unreached people groups across the globe.
A YWAM outreach definitely opens your eyes to what's happening in the world around you. We love taking students on two month outreaches as part of their Discipleship Training School. It's in moments on busy downtown streets, a remote dusty village, on a crowded college campus, where God shows his love for the world.
I was texting with a student on who is currently on outreach and decided to blog our conversation here for you to read. When God opens our eyes, there's just no going back.
