- Matthew 24:14 (NIV)
We got up at 4:45 in the morning, packed our stuff into the
trailer, squished into two 12-passenger vans and left our base in Ozark,
Arkansas. Our destination? Cincinnati, Ohio, 12 hours away. What was in Ohio? Finish
the Task Conference, A conference put on by YWAM centered on fulfilling The
Great Commission and how to go about doing that. With hundreds of students and
staff from about ten different YWAM bases across the nation, it was a good
time. The conference was held at White Oak Christian Church, with the different
bases staying in different locations. Most YWAM bases were staying on gym or
sanctuary floors in churches, while others were lucky enough to be able to stay
in some apartments owned by other churches; we were among the lucky ones. We
were spoiled with two rooms, each with four triple bunks and a living room for
sleeping in, along with a shower.
Our daily schedule would be getting up at 6:30, leave the
apartment at 7 to make it to breakfast at the church at 7:30. Our first meeting
was at 8:30 which consisted of worship (amazing worship I should add),
intercession of various kinds for different specific missions, and a teaching
by Dan Baumann. Dan is an author and missionary, most famous for his time in
Iran when he was imprisoned for 9 weeks, which was written about in his book, Imprisoned
in Iran. This would go until 12:30 when we would have lunch, followed by
either breakout sessions or a community outreach at 2:00. The breakout sessions
were hour-long classes where we were taught about various things pertaining to
missions, with two of these on Monday and two on Wednesday. The four that I
went to were about Church Planting Movements, Universalism, Muslim Culture, and
one was an open panel of missionaries that we were able to question and talk
with. On Tuesday during this time we had a time to just spend with our base and
process what we had been learning thus far, because by that time we had already
felt piled on with information. And on Thursday, we had Community Outreach. For
my specific outreach, I went with a group of people to a church and helped them
with what they needed. My specific job included picking up pieces of logs so
they could be cut, and using a chainsaw to slice up larger logs. This time went
on until dinner at 5:30, followed by our evening meeting at 7:00. The evening
meeting followed a similar itinerary as the morning meeting did, except with a
different speaker, this being Danny Lehmann, a well-known Christian author.
This evening meeting would go until 9:00-9:30, when we would return to the
apartment and go to bed. It was a packed schedule, but it was full of good
stuff, good fellowship, and good times.
It’s difficult to give a summary of what was taught to us
this week since we had several speakers going over many different topics, but
the best summary I could give would be sampling restating the title of the
conference. Finish the Task. There are so many people out there who have never
heard the gospel, either because their society prohibits it or because no
missionaries have made the effort to bring it to them. Either way, we need to
do something about it. This does not mean, however, that we are all to storm
the airports and head for the isolated, the hidden, the dangerous, and the
forsaken with no training, no knowledge of the area, and, perhaps worst of all,
no calling. The message definitely struck a few heart chords as I felt for
these people who had never had the privilege of knowing Jesus and having a
relationship with Him. I felt particularly stronger towards people in the Himalayas
after they showed us a video (shown here) of some of the unreached people
living up there. I’ve started to feel strongly that the people in the Himalayas
will be a part of my future, I’m not sure exactly how, but I know God will
show me. Other various things I learned are shown below:
- God is both task- and people-oriented
- The Great Commission is a command to be obeyed
- If you want to be fruitful, just stay connected to Jesus and the fruit will take care of itself. If you focus on being fruitful, however, you will not have much luck
- Our passion is not solely based on emotion, it is based on what Jesus did on the cross and who God is. Although our emotions may vary constantly, our passion should be continually growing
- We are to be like a thermostat, not a thermometer (change the people around you, don't be changed by them)
- When it comes to showing people Christ, it is better to win a friendship than win an argument
After the week spent in Cincinnati, we left Friday morning
for Manchester, Kentucky, the City of Hope. It received this title back in 2004. Before then, the town and surrounding county had been
controlled completely by drugs, particularly painkillers as it was called the “Painkiller
county of America.” The police were corrupt, officials were as well, and there
were dealers everywhere. One particular dealer was so successful that he would
make an average of $5 million a year. The average cost it would be for people
to live the drug lifestyle here in Manchester was $60,000+ a year, where the
average income was $12,000, so along with the drugs came stealing and even
killings. One person was dying a week because of drug-related problems.
Finally, people began to react and want to put a stop to it. So all the pastors
from the area met together and talked and prayed intensely about their town’s
situation, so they organized a march. Thousands of church-goers gathered and
marched for a mile and a half to the park to have a rally against the drug
problem in their town. The impact was tremendous. After that, arrests increased
by 300% and the amount of deaths related to drugs are virtually non-existent.
That march was 8 years ago, and the town of Manchester knows that it is still
not perfect and still has some giants to conquer, but they are a city of hope
and will be able to take on those giants with God’s help.
We visited this church and talked to some of the pastors
that were in charge of the march and rally and the passion they had for their
city was very apparent as they could not stop talking about the amazing things
God had being doing in their city and how much grace was given to them. They
told us about a Christian rehab center about 16 miles from the town that they
had started a while back called Chad’s Hope (shown below). This rehab wasn’t
for specifically men with drug problems or alcoholic problems or what have you,
but basically men with problems in general, problems that needed the grace of
God to be solved for good. The amazing thing about Chad’s Hope is that it
received $2.5 million from the government to be established. As far as I know,
it is the only totally Christian organization receiving any assistance from the
government; a true work of God. We visited Chad’s Hope and talked to and prayed
for the men currently taking part in the program. These men told us
heartbreaking stories, but really focused their testimonies on God making them
new men. Go God.
This week also gave an ample supply of confirmation towards
God wanting me to be a pastor. One thought that had been circling through my
head was how I have always thought of myself as a poor public speaker and poor
at explaining things. While my friends disagreed with me on that point, they
also pointed out that even if it were the case, that hadn’t stopped God from
appointing others who felt the same way. It’s how God rolls. One significant
experience I had this week happened during the last worship session of the
conference. I had been having a frustrating time throughout the week trying to
participate in worship. Throughout the whole DTS I had been able to worship
without problem of feeling like I was actually worshipping God, but for some
reason I hadn’t been feeling the fire inside of me strongly at all in the
beginning of the week. On Thursday morning I had finally realized I was letting
many distractions get to me and my mind was wondering a lot when I should have
been keeping my gaze focused on God, and I felt awful about it. I apologized to
God and asked for forgiveness repeatedly during the worship. That evening,
during the worship, I felt the fire come back and I couldn’t help but kneel
while worshipping. As I was kneeling, a random girl came up to me and started
praying for me, that I would be a powerful light for God and repeated the
phrase, “Forgiven, Mighty Warrior.” I knew she was talking about God forgiving
me for my lack of focus. She also told me how God had been telling her to pray
for me, and she said that if I start kneeling, then she’d start praying for me.
Sure enough, I started kneeling. After she had finished praying, one of the
students from my DTS prayed for me as well. She, too, prayed that I be a
powerful light and that I would be mighty. What’s more is that when I finally
got back to the base in Ozark, I had some mail from my mother, one piece of
which was from her bible study. This particular bible study was from the night
before I had heard the call from God, and the first thing it mentioned was how
God is raising “mighty warriors.” The redundancy of these words is not a
coincidence; I am fully aware and I love how God is making all of this known
to me.
There are many other instances that point towards me being a pastor in
the future, and it’s getting to the point now where I cannot deny God’s
participation in showing me what He has planned for me. No matter how scared I
may be and no matter how much I may not want it to happen I cannot ignore how
many signs God has given me, and I cannot help but get excited that He is
showing me my place in His kingdom and the mission He has given me to bring Him
glory wherever I go. I’m excited as I’m noticing these signs more and more and
I can’t wait for the next one to be brought to me. This life is an exciting
life, and I’m blessed by the grace of God to be able to live it.
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