Southern Perspective

YWAM OXFORD - OCTOBER 2009

FROM THE DIRECTOR

We are definitely entering a new season.We’ve been through different seasons before,seasons of growth as more students have comeand new schools started, and a season of winter,in 2008, marked by a sharp decline in students.The Lord alerted us to that impending season in adramatic way. It was a day of prayer and fasting.As we all moved toward the classroom, under thewalnut trees, for an hour of prayer, specificallythemed to ask the Lord what was happening to us,the leaves on the walnut trees all fell off in a periodof five minutes, raining down upon us. There wasno wind; it was a totally calm, frosty day.It became a season of root growth with the Lordsorting out issues and searching hearts andultimately making us clean and strong for the nextseason of growth. That season saw a surge of spiritual vitality in our midst, the construction of our new premises and the emergence of two newschools: the Earthcare DTS and the Father’s LoveCrossroads DTS and the germination of a futureSchool of Basic Trade Skills.And now, we are in a new season. At our annualstaff and trustees retreat at beautiful Hanmer Springs last month, the Lord spoke to us aboutthree things: Prayer, Team Leadership and aparticular central Asian nation we prefer not topublicise too much..

Prayer

: We have almost completed the stairway toheaven! We have a big prayer room, situated inthe attic space above the new administration wingbut to make this accessible, we required theconstruction of a staircase. The intrepid clamber up a ladder! The Lord is encouraging us to makeprayer more of a priority in this season.

Team Leadership

: Susanne and I have resignedfrom overall leadership of the base, effective fromthe end of this year. This new season requires adifferent style of leadership to take the ministry intothe 10s and 20s. This will be team leadership andthere is a call for individuals to make the sacrifice,step up and be committed. As leaders and trusteeswe continue to pray that the Lord would make veryclear to us all those who are to take the baton.

Central Asia

: J.R. has been our man there for thelast year. Susanne and I plan on joining him over there by ANZAC day next year. Our heart is to seethe mobilisation of many teams to that countrywith the Good News, in an attitude of friendship,love and service. This “call” is not just personal,but a long term mission the Lord has beenspeaking to us about as a base here in Oxford andYWAM nationally.We are definitely excited and a bit nervous aboutthis new season!

INSIDE THIS ISSUE:

•

SNOWBOARDERS DTS

•

CURRENT SCHOOLS

•

SECOND LEVEL SCHOOLS

•

AROUND THE WORLD IN 80 DAYS DTS

•

STAFF PROFILES

•

BUILDING PROJECT

•

PRAYER AND STAFF NEEDS

SNOWBOARDING DTS

BY LAUREN - SNOWBOARD STAFF

I am currently staff on the Ski & Snowboarders DTS, and let me tell you that every second of beingon this base has been an amazing adventure that has not only allowed me to meet God in such aplausible way, but also a chance to meet some of my best friends that happen to have the samepassions as me, and that is to reach the “lost” culture of board sports.It is now the outreach phase of the ’09 school and the 29 epic students and 8 rad staff membersare off doing their part in God’s Kingdom as they reach out to 5 different countries with 5 differentfocuses, from Snowboard ministry in Argentina to a Skate outreach in China, our crew is keen onreaching the world with the passions that God has given them. This year was such an eye openinglecture phase, with Relationship teachings from world-renowned councilor David, to The Character and Nature of God taught in such a real way by Dalton from the International House of Prayer inTauranga. Lecture phase came to an end with an excellent meal called “Love Feast” where we gottogether and thanked God for the amazing three months He allowed us to be part of, whichtransitioned us nicely into the next phase we were about to embark on. After everyone gets back tobase after the 8-week outreach phase we will be meeting together for one more week of lecturesand the much-awaited stories from outreach! Then ending this amazing time with Graduation inmid-November, allowing everyone to go on their own way and follow after the amazing things Godis calling them to!So in closing I hope this inspires you to not only search out God more deeply for yourself but toask Him if you have any part in reaching the board sport world, and if so what that looks like for you individually. If you feel God laying it on your heart to come do a DTS, please contact us for more information.

CURRENT SCHOOLS

BACKPACKERS DTS

Our

vision

is to radically impact the

GLOBALNOMADIC YOUTH

of the world with the goodnews of

Jesus Christ

. We are called to reach outto these intrepid adventurers by way of relational(friendship) evangelism, hospitality, anddiscipleship training. We will travel alongsidethem, eat with them, live life with them, and sharethe love of God with them.

We will be their family.

We see them searching. We see thembeing transformed by the places they have seenand the people they have met along their journey.

We refuse to be bystanders.

We insist that wehave what they are searching for and we commit to sharing

THE TRUTH

with them, even if thatmeans we are cold, hungry, lonely, and road weary.

They are on the heart of God and so on our hearts too.

This is the vision of the Backpacker's DTS at YWAM Oxford. Our community's desire to be outamong the global nomadic youth of this world. We want to give students an opportunity to see howthey can take their passion for travel / the outdoors / meeting new people, and share the love of Christ with others as they experience those things. We are equipping a generation to be family andcommunity to those who are seeking.This year, 22 students and 6 staff will undergo the DTS process, allowing God to shine new truthand healing power in to their lives. By Christmas time, they will be out among the travellers of NewZealand and many other nations, bringing the knowledge of God's great gift to those who aresearching. Their outreaches consist of staying in Hostels, tramping on New Zealand's many greatwalks, being among the rock climbers of New Zealand and other countries, making food, andsimply being family.

FATHER’S LOVE CROSSROADS DTS

We are so excited as we prepare to welcome 8students to the very first Father’s Love crossroadsDTS which started Sunday 4

October. We have 5staff (all Kiwi’s – Yay!!). We sense the theme is“entering God’s rest” as we discover what it is to beGod’s sons and daughters. Derek Prince the greatteacher of this last century only encountered theFather at 80 years old after 50 years of ministry. Itsone thing to know about the Father theologically, butit is quite another to know about Him intimately as“Abba” Daddy. This is how Jesus knew Him and thisis the desire of our school. God is revealing Himself as Father to the church at this time in history.