Ministry Details

Well, here at YWAM Kyiv, we plan on changing the world over the next 5 months (and beyond). We now have some details on how we're going to do that, and I wanted to update you guys.

 

Our local outreach begins tomorrow. As great as the teaching has been, and as much as it is growing me, I am really excited to get out and start doing stuff. Tomorrow, we have an opportunity to serve at a local English Club at a church in the area. While I'm not completely sure of the set up (we're learning as we go), I do know that we will be watching movies and discussing movies every other week, and the other week will be more straight discussion. They asked for as many English speakers as possible, so most of the people who speak English, with a few exceptions, will be attending this outreach. We will also have a team serving with Key Of Hope, which is a ministry for orphans. I have become pretty familiar with this group over the two trips I've taken, and it is an amazing ministry. They really make a difference, and I have met people involved and you can see the difference they're making.

The third outreach we will be taking part in is a new experience for everyone. We will be ministering to the prostitutes. The original plan was for us to split up into 3 separate teams for all 3 outreaches. However, several people on the team felt uncomfortable with that plan (myself included), as we want to get started doing ministry together right now, and keep growing together. So along with our two separate outreaches, we will be coming together every other week to participate in this ministry together. This is exciting. We have a real chance to make a difference here. It's a big issue in the Ukraine. All 3 of these ministries can make an immediate impact. Even though we don't leave for outreach until December 1st, the time for serving is now.

God is giving our team so much blessing. I'd say the mood after them telling us what our ministry areas would be was "Let's go now." And a lot of team members actually said that. We may have only been in this school for close to two weeks, but we are ready to go out.

While we are focused on our local outreaches, obviously the end result of this school will be going to Moldova and Romania to practice what we're learning, so that's always going to be a focus. It was reiterated today that our main focus will be human trafficking. But for the first time today, the way we are going to deal with this issue was presented to us, and the best word to describe it is diverse.

When we think about fixing human trafficking, we immediately think about slavery and the victims. Which is a huge part of human trafficking, don't get me wrong. And we will be dealing with that. But what we really want to accomplish is go after the heart of human trafficking.

Slavery and the victims who have been rescued are just a part of human trafficking. What are some of the main reasons for trafficking? Bad family situations. Orphans. Kids aging out of orphanages and needing money. Bad economy. Boys become slaves or pimps. Girls become prostitutes, or pimps themselves if they realize there's money to be made. So we're not JUST going to after the slavery and victims aspect. We're going to go after everything.

We're going to be teaching family values and trying to instill it in the culture of the people we come into contact with. We're going to be working with orphan ministries, and transition homes. We are going to create jobs for people. And we are going to fight corruption.

We are going to deal with a wide scope of issues, and all of these issues are part of the heart of the issue of human trafficking. We don't want to just deal with the end result. We want to go after the whole process.

We are going to attack human trafficking. Along the way, we're going to come against a lot of issues.

Oh, and we plan on getting a few people saved too.

Well, now we have some details, so I'm going to say it again. Please pray. It makes a difference. You can help us here. God is going to do big things so come alongside us.

It starts tomorrow!

First Week

 Well, it's been a crazy 9 days. I'm honestly shocked it's already been that long. God has already done so much and we're just getting started.

After 30 hours of traveling, I arrived in Kyiv at 1 in the morning. Though I was exhausted at the time, I was super excited to find out that we would be staying in the boathouse on the property. It's not on land, but I'm living on a boat for 3 months. C'mon. That's pretty cool.

We had orientation and getting to know each other for the first couple days. Our team is made up of 11 students. Even with a few language barriers, we still are growing close as a team. Everyone on this team is really great, and I'm so blessed to have this opportunity to form these relationships.

We did have a bad sickness go around our team. It was a 24 hour stomach flu that caused a lot of discomfort. Every single American got it. We now are dealing with colds as well. We need prayer for this. Please stand with us here. This is probably not an accident that God is starting to do things and we're ready to change the world and all of the sudden we get hit with sickness. Please come against this with us!

This week we had a full week of teaching on the "Character and Nature of God." It was incredible. We had a local pastor come in and he really pushed us out of our comfort zone. Which for a group of people just getting to know each other was a stretch, but it's YWAM-they do that. It got emotional at times, but God no doubt moved this past week. There was a specific time when a simple exercise that is supposed to take 10 minutes and break the ice turned into an hour of God just absolutely moving and bringing healing and encouragement. The next day we had a group presentation that was supposed to take 10 minutes. Three hours later, God had flipped the plans. Unfortunately, I missed that one because I was in bed with the stomach flu, but it was a great week.

At night, we entertain ourselves with a favorite movie, a good TV show, or a card game. It can get intense at times, but we have a lot of fun and it creates a lot of stories.

On Saturday we went to downtown Kyiv. I love that city so much. Every time I go there, I just love it more. It is so incredible, and there's just something about it that really draws me.

This week we will be having a full week of teaching on "The Father Heart Of God." God will move. He already is. We are going to change the world through this school, our outreach, and our impact beyond this school. Please continue to pray for us guys. It really means a lot.

Thanks!:)

Time to go

Well the year long wait is over.....I leave for Kyiv at 1:30 today:)

I am sad to leave, but ready to go. I know God is calling me to this, and while there may be challenges, I'm ready for this. It's so crazy to think back 3 years ago to when I was first getting involved with YWAM Orlando, and heading to the Dominican Republic as a 15 year old kid, and now I'm leaving to YWAM Kyiv for my DTS. I'm so grateful for YWAM Orlando, and all the people that helped me get here, and to my family for helping make who I am.

I do have a prayer request. The airline I'm flying with, Lufthansa, is on strike. I already had to change flights once, and there is a chance the strike could continue through the weekend, and my plans could get changed again. I already have a 14 hour layover in Frankfurt, so PLEASE pray that everything goes smoothly and nothing gets changed!:)

Well I leave at 1:30 PM. Assuming everything goes according to plan, I have a short flight to Washington, where I'll have a short layover, then a long flight to Frankfurt, then a 14 hour layover, and then a short flight to Kyiv. I'll end up travelling for close to 30 hours, and I'll be arriving at Kyiv at 1:30 in the morning. Not an ideal situation, but God is still awesome, so it will work out:)

I will update the blog as much as possible while there, although there may be times where I'm not able. Please pray for me. I can't overstate how important that is to me. If you would like to support me, you can visit my GoFundMe page at  http://www.gofundme.com/130ajw?pc=fb_cr. And also, go "Like" my Facebook page, Josh's DTS With YWAM Kyiv, Ukraine, at  http://www.facebook.com/joshukrainedts. I'll be posting a lot of updates from there:)

Well, it's time. The next time I update this blog I will be in Ukraine. Thank you for the prayer, encouragement, and support you guys have given me.

See you in February, and I'll keep you updated on this amazing trip:)

The Heart Of Missions

 "Declare His glory among all the nations, His marvelous works among all the peoples" (Psalm 96:3) 

"Go into all the world and proclaim the Gospel to the whole creation" (Mark 16:15)"...and that repentance and forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in all nations, beginning from Jerusalem" (Luke 24:47)

"I will say to the north, Give up, and to the south, Do not withhold; bring my sons from afar and my daughters from the end of the earth, everyone who is called by my name, whom I created for my glory, whom I formed and made." (Isiah 43:6-7). 

"And this Gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come" (Matthew 24:14) 

All Christians are called to live a lifestyle of missions.

To be clear there is a difference between foreign missions and the overall call to missions. I believe that all Christians are called to be involved in both. The difference is, that I don't believe every Christian is called to do foreign missions. But I do believe that every Christian is called to do missions.

Doing missions isn't just about actions. It's a lifestyle. It's understanding the heart of missions and making it part of who you are, part of everything you do. When we become Christians, there's responsibilities that come with it. We don't always like to accept that. It's a complicated thing, because it's true that our faith has no strings attached. But at the same time, God gave us a job to do 2000 years ago, and our responsibility hasn't gone away. This is why I'm going across the world to share Jesus.

So what is the call to missions? What is the heart behind missions?

"A group of people taking part in such an assignment." That's the definition for the word missions. I believe the call to missions is to obey the assignment that God gave us, which is to represent the Gospel at all times and make His name famous. Representing the Gospel can be done by handing a cold water to someone who needs it. It can be done by proclaiming the Gospel to people who have never heard it. It can be done by building a relationship with someone who is hurting. 

The key is that there's a difference between representing justice, and proclaiming the Gospel. If we are truly being a representation of the Gospel, Jesus will come out in everything we do. If we truly embrace a missions lifestyle, presenting the Gospel will become part of who we are. If we are just representing justice, we will have no impact. Our goal isn't to make good people, it's to make people realize that everyone is broken and everyone needs Jesus.

Missions is finding out what God is calling you to do, and having the faith to do it. "For I, the Lord your God, hold your right hand; it is I who say to you, "Fear not, I am the one who helps you" (Isiah 41:14). The awesome thing about missions is that we don't have to figure it out on our own. God has called us all to missions. There's no doubt about that. But He's also called us to different things within the call to missions. There's a niche for all of us. But here's one of the most important part of missions. We have to be willing to hear God's voice. We all have strengths in certain areas, and God will use that. He gives us those strengths for a reason. But what about when he calls us to do things out of our comfort zone? What if the niche God has for us, isn't the niche we decide is for us? What if we're called to build relationships that aren't in our selfish best interests? What if we're called to cut out some relax time for ministry time?

What if God is calling us to go out to the nations to live a lifestyle of missions?

This is where the call to foreign missions comes in. Foreign missions is one of those calls that are within the overall call to missions. I would say that all Christians are called to play a part in foreign missions. It's the Great Commission. "Go therefore, and make disciples of all the nations..." (Matthew 28:19).  And I would also agree with the old Keith Green quote: "If you don't have a definite call to stay here, you are called to go." The end goal is to present the Gospel to every person on earth. The reality is that if we live in a place where the Gospel has been presented, we have a responsibility to go out and make His name famous in the places that it hasn't. However, I am definitely not saying that every person should go. Because I do believe strongly that God calls some people to stay, and some people to go. I think the call to foreign missions is presented in Acts 13:2-3: "While they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, "Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them." Then after fasting and praying they laid their hands on them and sent them off." He had specifically called Barnabas and Saul to do foreign missions. But the people that were told to stay, were also told to send the people out.

If we're not called to do foreign missions, we are still called to support it. It is a biblical principal to support missions by giving financial support, but there are other just as important ways. The end of  verse 3 is a call to foreign missions in itself: "...they laid their hands on them and sent them off." John Piper puts it perfectly: "Go, send, or disobey." Prayer is a powerful thing that we neglect. A lot. Missions are a spiritual battle. I can't overstate how important I think prayer is. I think praying for foreign missionaries in another country is a huge deal. I think praying for other countries is a huge deal. God told us to. Another way, that kind of goes along with the praying, is being aware. Do we know what's going on with the church in other nations? Are we paying attention to the issues? We're all part of the missions scene, including foreign missions. We should be aware of what we're working with.

Now, just to clarify, I'm not saying I believe one is better than the other. God calls some people to go, He calls some people to stay. Wherever we live needs Jesus too. The church itself still needs Jesus. What I'm saying is, all Christians have a responsibility towards foreign missions. And that all Christians have to be willing to step out of their comfort zone. I believe there's a lot of people staying simply because they are afraid to go. On the flip side, I believe there's people going because they are afraid to stay. Sometimes we decide what call to missions God has for us and we miss the whole "hearing God's voice" thing, which is the key to it all.

Missions is doing what God is calling you to do right now. I leave for the Ukraine on Friday. I'm beyond excited because I know God's going to use me and my team. But something God challenged me in about a month ago was not to wait for what He's calling me to do in the future for Him to use me and for me to start growing. God has called me to go to Ukraine on Friday. I still have 5 days here. I'm not going to sit back for these next 5 days and not let God use me, and God using me dosen't end when this DTS is over. This is something God has called me to do within my overall call to missions. Sometimes we miss what God is doing with us in missions right now, because we're too focused on ways that we think (think being the key word there) He's going to use us in the future when He decides to. Even if it's something that we really feel strongly He's called us to, He'll take care of the timing. But just because God is calling us to something in the future, dosen't free us up of our responsibility with missions, which is a constant thing.

Something missions can't be: An experience we're looking for to make us feel good. It can't be about you getting us getting our spiritual high. It's about representing the Gospel and serving other people. This trip isn't just an experience for me. I started feeling like I was going to a new level with God a month ago, and I'm still feeling that way. Everything I learn, every area that I grow in, won't be just about the trip for me. It's a balance, because I want to be focused on the DTS, but the DTS is 6 months long. God's going to use me after that. Am I focusing on applying those lessons just for the trip, or am I trying to take everything God speaks to me and make it part of who I am?

Too often, we pass up our responsibility to missions by trying to say that "we're not called to that." After all, that's for the people that are risking their lives and willing to die for their faith. Well, here's the thing. Something, most Christians would agree on is that we're supposed to strive to be like Jesus. Obviously, we'll never reach that level, but that's the goal. This is also not one of those debatable issues. "whoever says he abides in Him ought to walk in the same way in which He walked." So....who was the first missionary?

Jesus.

And the most foreign missionary of all time in fact. Heaven to earth is a long ways. But what did Jesus do? He presented the Gospel. He was selfless. He sacrificed. Jesus came to save us, but he also came to set an example for how to be missionaries of God. At the same time as He was preparing to die, he was leaving a blueprint for what our responsibility would be after He died. We don't have to look at other humans to see a good example of missions. There was one perfect missionary, and luckily we get to study up on what He did.

To embrace the lifestyle of missions, we have to embrace the heart of missions. What is the heart of missions? This is something God has been speaking to me on recently. There's so many different ways to say it. It's easy to sound religious when talking about the heart of missions, and it's easy to make it sound complicated. But I think the heart of missions is really simple. I think the heart of missions is Isiah 6:8:

"And I heard the voice of the Lord saying, "Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?" Then I said, "Here am I! Send me."

The heart of missions is obedience.

Of all the words we will say in missions, the most important one is yes. When God calls us, we go. It should be that simple. The problem is, that there's the calling we want, and there's the calling that God has for us. But the core of missions, what the true heart behind it is, is an obedient lifestyle and doing what God tells us to do when He tells us to do it. This is what God has commanded us to do. Jesus did it. It's our job. We have a battle to fight.

I become more passionate about missions every day. It's a challenge, and yet it's so awesome at the same time. Everyone has a place in missions, it's just a matter of hearing God's voice.

I'm still young and learning. I don't understand everything yet. But God is speaking to me. Or more accurately, I'm actually listening to God right now. And I wanted to try to put it down in writing.

"For "everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved." How then will they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in Him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, "How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!" (Romans 10:14-15).

To live the call of missions we have to embrace the heart of missions.