"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.
It was a huge shock to everyone around me when I decided to become a missionary in 2016. Having come out of 6 years of deep addiction before entering 3 rehabs, I was the last person you’d expect to see joining Youth With A Mission, Tyler.
I was totally living for myself. I thought I was the center of the universe back in May of 2015 before I entered my last rehab. I finally came to a point of surrender about four weeks into that program, when I felt God’s love for me for the first time. It was game-over after that! I was hooked.
Prior to that encounter, I was so consumed with myself I did not ever really love, or allow myself to be loved. Everyone and everything around me was a resource to get whatever I was looking to gain in the moment.
My self-absorbed life stifled love from every crevice and corner of my life.
[Photo: I know right? A mug shot. That's how bad my life had spun out of control.]
However, there was a moment which changed everything for me. A true encounter with God can accomplish what one hundred counseling sessions could not. Something changed when I allowed myself to be stripped before God. No mask, no presuppositions, just a real, vulnerable openness to Jesus as my Savior.
[Photo: Graduating from Shiloh Ministries after 1 year of rehab.]
After I graduated from Shiloh, I joined my first Discipleship Training School at YWAM Tyler. Youth With A Mission understands knowing God is paramount. Understanding I am His child is vital. Everything else hinges on this realization.
I believe, “you don’t really know yourself until you know Jesus.” Through my discipleship experience, I finally understood, “in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” (Romans 5:8) is a remarkably freeing statement.
While I was still self-centered, caring for no one, stealing, and lying–Jesus died for me! I love Jesus now and do my best to genuinely love the people around me, but Jesus died for the version of me who cared neither for myself, or the people around me.
Whether I am still roaming the streets with a pint of vodka in my belt strap, or I am preaching in front of thousands, Jesus’s love for me is the same! It never changes.
Knowing God, really knowing Him is what life is all about. “And this is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God, and the one whom you have sent.” (John 17:3) Each time I read this verse it chips away at the block of religion that has crusted up around me through years of never actually encountering and pursuing God for myself.
To know God, and to make Him known. This is the motto of Youth With A Mission. I love the simplicity of this, because when you boil it all down, it is what life is really all about.
Now do we just spend our time alone in a room, with a Bible and a cup of coffee? Heavens no! James says, “Show me your faith apart from your works, and I’ll show you my faith by my works.” (James 2:18). Such a confident statement that my personality appreciates!
I love being active, pursuing, and creating alongside God for His name’s sake. Prior to coming to YWAM Tyler, I thought all missionaries were old, white, married couples. I thought a missionary wife wore a bonnet (no slight to bonnet wearers!) and the husband had spent years in seminary and pastoral training. The thought of becoming a missionary wasn’t in the solar system of my thought process, but boy did that change after coming to YWAM Tyler.
My understanding of being a missionary changed when I ran into a former X-Games athlete, met men and women who had struggled with addiction, eating disorders, vanity, homosexuality, been through a divorce, and the list could go on. These people were seasoned missionaries who had been around the world several times over, impacting lives every step of the way, yet had a life transformation with Jesus!
This was me too! I was just like these people!? “But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong.” (1 Corinthians 1:27)
[Photo: Making God known took me to Korea with my Discipleship Training School.]
Out of an overflow of intimacy with a living God our life begins to move. A true faith—a living faith—has the natural outworking of good works. To Know God and Make Him Known. This really sums up how I became a missionary.
If you are ready to take the next step in your personal life of Knowing God and Making Him known, today is the day to sign up for the next training school at YWAM Tyler. We are here and ready to help you discover God's purpose for your life.
Other blogs by Anthony:
OMGosh! Are you kidding me?! After our outreach team returned from 5 long eye-opening days on the border of the US and Mexico, I heard the stories with fresh ears. Now, I'm almost crazy upset and asking, "GOD, what can we do?"
We could hardly take in what we were seeing. Fear and turmoil seemed to permeate the atmosphere when our YWAM Tyler team arrived in McAllen, Texas. We saw masses of displaced people without hope, searching for a future.
This picture was taken on the first day of my DTS five months ago. This was the day my life truly began.
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?
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.
After a week of freezing temperatures and, in some cases, no heat in homes for days, Mercy Works, our compassionate ministries department at YWAM Tyler stepped into action.
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.
In South Africa, as a child I loved to sing and I didn’t care who heard me.
Unfortunately, this didn’t last long because once I reached high school I was ridiculed for singing.
I put in my earbuds and tuned into the podcast I usually engage with on Monday mornings. Little did I know, I was about to uncover the reason for the battleground surrounding my destiny.
"It's hotter than a firecracker in here!" exclaimed Leland Paris, as he stepped into the 12' by 15' foot well house we called our prayer room.
As YWAM Tyler's base leader, he knew we desperately needed a new building to become our "House of Prayer." It was 1998 when volunteers from all over America gathered together to transform this tiny, hot, well house into a place for large groups to gather. Little did we know that soon we would have A/C, heat and bathrooms!"
