Recently, a group of us from YWAM Tyler went on an outreach to Enchanted Lakes to serve with mercy ministries. We cut hair, handed out food, and provided medicine for those in need.
3 min read
Enchanted lakes is not what it seems
Topics: Outreach YWAM Tyler Urban Missions Evangelism YWAM Missions in America east texas Youth With A Mission mission adventures enchanted lakes
2 min read
Find Your Purpose with the YWAM URBAN DTS
It doesn’t take an astute observer to realize that there are many things in the world today that are not as they should be. Modern society is like a piece of shattered plexiglass; it’s still intact, but its integrity is compromised. The entire framework of our human reality is filled with cracks and fissures, all of which can and should be fixed by focusing and investing into our vertical relationship with God, which in turn smooths out our horizontal relationships with others.
Topics: Urban Missions Cities Evangelism Life-Changing YWAM DTS Poverty Making Him Known Community Hope Urban DTS Urbanization World Changer Transformation Missions in America God's Love America
3 min read
Adventures In Street Evangelism
I used to say street evangelism wasn't something I was called to do. I didn't like the way I'd seen it done or been pressured to do it. I had no interest in shouting at people on street corners, telling them they were going to hell. I also didn't enjoy awkwardly handing out cheesy tracts. Things have changed for me though. Now, I love street evangelism and find myself addicted to it! I cannot help but talk to people about Jesus and pray for people everywhere I go. I even tell people that it's what I do for fun! What changed for me then?
Topics: Missions Urban Missions Evangelism
2 min read
Can I hear God in Urban America?
Most modern day Christians would, I think, be tempted to balk and perhaps even scoff at the idea of seeking God in the middle of some of the most highly populated cities on the planet. I can’t recall any church I’ve ever been to offering a men’s retreat to Skid Row in Los Angeles, or a women's retreat to the Miracle Mile in Chicago. What we typically refer to as “God's country” are legitimately beautiful places: snow capped mountains and sandy beach sunrises. The unfortunate truth of those places is that they are often devoid of God's most beloved creation: people.
Topics: God's voice Urban Missions Cities Noise
3 min read
5 Ways to Reach an Urban Generation
The world around us is changing every day. How will we reach it with the truth of a living God? The following is written by a full time Youth With A Mission missionary whose main field is cities and the people in them.
Topics: Urban Missions Cities
2 min read
I Decided to Give God One More Chance
Repeatedly punching my steering wheel and reminding God of how expertly He had crafted my middle finger had kind of become my thing. My west-Texan-pastors-kid bubble had officially popped. My former modicum of faith had been crushed under the weight of my cynicism, self pity, and reclusiveness, and I seriously wanted to die. Needless to say, my first (and as it turned out, my only) semester of college had not gone as planned.
With the majority of my time being spent sulking in my dorm room, illegally watching indie movies, and silently screaming for attention, I felt like any purpose I may have ever felt in life had entirely wilted away. I moved back home, donned a pastel visor, and scooped about a million pounds of ice cream for eight months, saving money in the hopes of one day finding an escape from my intellectual and spiritual despair.
Out of the divinely inspired blue, an old youth pastor called me up, excitedly informing me of his need for a worship leader for his current youth group's upcoming missions trip to New Orleans. I semi-begrudgingly accepted his proposal. Any excuse to not scoop ice cream was good enough for me, even if it meant faking Christianity for a week or so.
Somewhere in the sultry swampiness of a June evening in the French Quarter, God started tugging on my heart in a way I could relate to. I saw people who needed just what I needed. Relief. Peace. Hope. Humanity longs for a way to escape the confines of their mind and to trust in something bigger than themselves and bigger than the American dream.
I came home and told my parents that I realized I could live a better life, and I decided to give God one more chance. Youth With a Mission (YWAM) New Orleans was hosting a missionary training school called the Urban Discipleship Training School (UDTS), which I had heard about while on my mission trip in New Orleans. After a few weeks of hesitating, I sent in my application and held my breath.
During the UDTS, I came to realize that Christianity wasn’t about fitting a mold. I didn’t have to look, sound, act, or talk like whatever I thought the perfect Christian looked, sounded, acted, and talked like. I learned that what God desires above all else is honest relationship with His most valued creation. Us. Me. You. Living in community, serving the broken, pushing myself to prefer others in all of my actions, and learning how to be myself in the midst of loving God...these are all things I never considered before doing the UDTS.
I never turned back. Seven years later, I’m still seeking God wholeheartedly as a missionary and staff member with the UDTS. Some days are better than others, of course, but every day I am reminded of who I was, and who I am now. The difference isn’t found in any book or song or movie or good idea; it’s found in believing that God hears me.
If He hears me, He hears you too.
