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3 min read

Trusting God To Make A Way

By Tyler Tom on 8 Sep 2023

Sometimes the best thing a leader can do is tell you to seek Jesus for yourself. In reality, as Christians, we should all be trying our best to seek Him first. Kaleigh Seliskar helped disciple students while serving SSTs this summer. Listen as she shares an encouraging testimony of how God increased her faith through a student. 
 
Over this summer, I had the honor of working with YWAM Tyler’s teen summer camp called SST.  During this time, I had many roles. One of them included guiding and encouraging three teenagers to prepare a teaching. They would have the opportunity to share their teaching at a Vacation Bible School (VBS) they would help with during their outreach in Houston.
 
One of the students, "Josh", was preparing a teaching on Moses and the Red Sea. He came to me on the last day of preparation and said to me “Kaleigh, I want to give an altar call at the end of my teaching but I don’t know how to do that. Can you help me?” I asked him to pray about it and then come to me later and we could talk about how to do it.  He never come back, so I assumed that he either decided to skip it all together, or that he went to another leader and talked about it. 
 
The next week we were in Houston and Josh gave his teaching on the final day of VBS. The kids in the group were engaged the whole time, and consumed by what Josh had to say.  Towards the end of his teaching, he began looking around the stage like he was missing something. At this point, I was pretty confused because his teaching appeared to be going as planned and he hadn’t missed anything. Suddenly, he stopped looking around the stage and seemed very excited and he did something that the other leaders and I had not expected. He asked the kids in the VBS if they wanted to accept Jesus, and if they did to raise their hand. Twelve of the nineteen kids responded immediately.
 
 
 
Josh ran to the side of the stage and pulled two cases of water to the center of the stage, got back on the mic and said, “If you just raised your hand, come onto the stage and walk between these cases of water like the Israelites did through the Red Sea to show everyone that you are going to follow Jesus.”  All twelve of those kids got up and ran to the stage to declare their dedication to follow Jesus.
 
 As a staff member for these SST students, I was so impressed with Josh's creativity and on-the-spot thinking. This is just one of the few ways that the teenagers in the SST were able to impact the people of Houston.  Not only did they touch the people of Houston but I was also personally affected by them. At times I felt that I was too young or just didn't have enough experience to share my faith. The SST students blew those thoughts away. Their fearlessness and resilience showed me that age has nothing to do with my ability to talk about Jesus.
 

Did it ever occur to you that when you were all grown up the next generation would look up to you? It doesn't matter what you think you are capable of, God can and will use those with willing hearts to fulfill His plans. If you open yourself up and follow wherever the Lord may lead, He will amaze you every time. Seek Him first and He will always be there to help you.

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Topics: Trust Knowing God Making Him Known Discipleship Opportunities Freedom Faith Teenagers SST Leadership Youth With A Mission ministry youth Red Sea
5 min read

My Journey to Know Jesus at YWAM

By Tyler Tom on 25 Jun 2021

Finding Jesus Changed My Life Forever

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.

Topics: Healing YWAM Tyler Purpose Knowing God Life-Changing YWAM DTS Value Identity Journey Freedom YWAM Faith Inspiration Get to Know God Redeem SST Transformation Overcoming discipleship sex trafficking human trafficking trafficking DTS
3 min read

One Dream God Didn't Let Me Forget

By Allison Bice on 16 Oct 2020

ONE DREAM GOD DIDN'T LET ME FORGET

In 2013, I attended a Season of Service and Training (SST), a summer camp for teens at YWAM Tyler. One afternoon, we teamed up with multiple staff members to help with their different roles on the campus.

Some of us helped in the kitchen, some in the Ag-Tech training area and some of us in the Hospitality department. 😳

Topics: Training School YWAM Tyler Missions Direction Obedience YWAM DTS Missionary Missionary Life Hearing God's Voice Redirection Missionary Training Teenagers SST plans ywam staff
2 min read

I'm 15 and I am a Missionary!

By Audrey Fish on 2 Aug 2019

Have you ever entered an event or season of life with a certain expectation and left it with the complete opposite result of that former belief? 

Topics: YWAM Tyler Missionary Missionary Life YWAM Missionary Training SST World Changer Deeper with God
3 min read

Love Conquers Fear | Lives at Risk

By Audrey Fish on 21 Aug 2018

The searing heat is awful, and my dry throat longs for water; unfortunately, I left my water bottle in the van. It’s Friday morning; two days before I am to go home. The Texas sun is relentlessly beating down on me. Each step I take makes my glasses slide further down my nose, and my feet ache. Sweat beads start to pool on my skin, causing the dust to stick to me. The piercing honks of the passing cars startle me. I really wish I was anywhere else but here. Yet up ahead, I see my friends turn around and start another lap. If they can keep walking, I can too.

Topics: YWAM Tyler Overcoming Fear Love Abortion Lives at Risk SST
2 min read

Courageous Women

What does it take to become a courageous individual? William Booth, the founder of the Salvation Army, observed that...

3 min read

Building Foundations

How do you increase your faith? Former student Sarah Horan shares her heart on how God revealed His truth to her during...

2 min read

Missions Changed Me

From as far back as my junior high school, I remember struggling to find happiness. I felt like I didn’t fit in and...

2 min read

Unexpected Friendships

When we follow God, sometimes we have our own expectations of what God will do through us. This can sometimes cause us...
2 min read

Miracles in the Classroom

What does a young person chasing after God's heart look like? Christian Heritage School desires to fan the flame of the...

4 min read

Cross-Cultural Christmastime

Have you ever wondered how Christmas is celebrated around the world? We asked four of our YWAM Tyler missionaries to...

3 min read

My Stepmom Thinks YWAM Rocks

Have you ever been curious about going to a Discipleship Training School but don't know what to expect? In a recent...

2 min read

Marked by God

Can you imagine God sending someone from another country to see you? While in Thailand, Jess Reminger encounters a man...

2 min read

The Day I Thanked God For Losing My Job

One morning I sat in the classroom during my training school with YWAM, and I was crying, thanking God for the loss of...

2 min read

Sharing The Gospel Isn't Complicated

God has been doing amazing things with our DTS team on outreach in Thailand. As the team has made themselves available,...

2 min read

How DTS Changed My Child

Before I left for my Discipleship Training School, my family really had no idea what YWAM was. If your family...
2 min read

Laying Down My Rights

I was sitting in my DTS classroom, my head wrapped in thoughts of a family circumstance that was happening. We had...