Staff Training

Staff training has begun and since last Monday the 22nd, we have been talking about everything having to do with a Discipleship Training School.  I have been emphasizing that the job of the staff is to create an environment in which the students can experience God.  Everything we do has an effect on the DTS environment and it is important to know that we have one of the largest influences on someone's life for 5 months.  Also, we have talked about how to assess students during the course using a specific criteria made up by YWAM.  Since we are not a school in the typical sense, we do not use these to grade but rather to see where the students are at in their DTS experience.  I can say that it is really amazing to watch as the students change over the course of 5 months because they are knowing God.

We have come to Byron Bay for the weekend which is a few hours south of the Sunshine Coast.  It is known in Australia for being a hippie surf town.  I must say that is an accurate description because we went through town yesterday and spent some time eating snags (hotdogs to us Americans) at the local park.  We are spending the weekend getting to know each other better.  We have brought with us a board with all of the students pictures and names so that we can learn their names and faces before we actually meet them.  We also have a pastor and a the base director from here in Byron Bay talking to us about leadership.  It is an exciting time and we are all thrilled to be here.  If you would like to pray for the students as they start arriving later next week and for the staff that we will be well prepared.  

The countdown begins

These past few weeks have been flying by as I have been looking forward to the DTS starting here in a little over two weeks.  Currently, I am spending time at the YWAM offices trying to keep up on emails, scheduling people to come in, and organizing the first several weeks of staff training and the DTS.  It seems like a lot of work and it has been, but I definitely feel that things have fallen together so nicely for this next season.  

I have also gotten to spend some time with a few of my fellow staff members.  I get to work daily with my friend Ashlee who did a DTS with me in Jan 2007 here on the Sunshine Coast.  Her boyfriend Jeremy just left recently to go to Indonesia for six months where he wants to plant a YWAM base in the future and is living in the culture and learning the language to work towards his goal.  I have also gotten to know a guy named David who flew in to Australia from Nigeria only a few days ago.  His English is better than mine and I have learned so much about Africa from him also.  He plans on working here in the 10/20 ministry which works in the public schools with the chaplains to minister to kids between the ages of 10 and 20 on the Sunshine Coast.  One of the things I love about YWAM is that I have gotten to meet and become friends with people from all over the world.  Never would I have thought I would be getting to know such people.  

Keep me in your prayers as I am responsible for a lot that happens here at the base over the next few weeks and am working towards staff training starting on June 22nd.  Also, my girlfriend Brittany will be arriving very soon from the states and I am wanting her first few weeks to be a smooth transition into Australia.  I appreciate all of you and look forward to hearing from you.

Fare Dinkum

For those of you who don't know, "fare dinkum" is an Australian slang term meaning, "seriously" or "no joke".  I've been trying to add it to my vocabulary but it's been difficult.  I also found out some others that you might enjoy:

Bogan: Is the equivalent of a "Red neck" in the states.  Usually they wear short shorts and love their beat up cars.  They also wear a tank top and wear socks with sandals.  More often than not, they also have a mullet.

Esky: Is the name used for a beverage cooler as in "eskimo box".  Kiwis in New Zealand call it a "chilly bin".

Arvo: It is used in place of the word "afternoon", as in "we are going this arvo."

This past week has been a blur.  I have been spending a lot of time at the offices trying to come up with schedules and writing emails.  In a couple weeks on the 22nd of June, we start staff training.  It is a key part of the DTS and helps all the staff get ready for the next 5 months.  As part of our training we will be taking a retreat in Byron Bay a few hours south of here.  We have a couple of great speakers lined up to talk about leadership.  After staff training, is orientation week with the new students of the July DTS.  For the next two weeks I will spending a lot of time in the office working on all of this.  Please pray for wisdom and patience to get it all done.  

Thank you to all of you who continue to pray and support me while I am over here.  Sometimes I have to tell myself, "I am in Australia working as a volunteer and I have more than I need."  I look forward to hearing from you.

Finished in Newcastle...Back to the Sunny Coast

So I have now completed the 1st portion of the Certificate IV Phase 1 course on training and assessment in Australia.  In order to get the certificate, I must complete several more requirement while I am staffing the DTS starting July 6th.  It's "on the job" training.  

One thing I have certainly learned here in this course is that it is very necessary and helpful to have taken the course.  Before it started I was skeptical on why it had to be done and just wanted to be able to staff without any hassle of taking a two week course.  However, the course taught me so much about YWAM and gave me an appreciation for the criteria we have set up for our students.  If we didn't have high standards, then we could easily settle for a mediocre experience.  I think God is teaching me that it is important to push the students and myself for the very best.  Another thing I learned is that assessing students according to the criteria helps us to address one thing at a time instead of trying to help the students figure everything out at once, which is impossible.  This course heavily relies on teaching through experience and that is the very best way.  

So today I am flying back to the Sunshine Coast and will have about 3 weeks to work on everything for the upcoming school.  There is lots and lots to talk about and figure out, but I am looking forward to it.  Also, my girlfriend Brittany will be coming out near the end of June to attend the school as well.  I am very excited about the next season and the new school coming up.  Please keep me in your prayers as I have many responsibilities and only a short time.  Thank you so much also, for all the encouragement when I was home.  I was so glad to hear that there are many who read the blogs and enjoy them.  I will try and update once a week...

Back in Australia

So I have successfully made it back to Australia and have been here for about a week now.  However, I am not back yet on the Sunshine Coast where I live and work.  I am in Newcastle, Australia for a 2 week course called Cert IV.  It is a course for DTS staff in order to offer the best possible training for students doing a DTS in Australia.  For those of you who are still fuzzy on what YWAM is and does I found a mission statement in some of the materials I have familiarizing myself with for this course.  It reads:

"Youth With A Mission (YWAM) is an international movement of Christians from many denominations dedicated to presenting Jesus personally to this generation, to mobilizing as many as possible to help in this task, and to the training and equipping of believers for their part in fulfilling the Great Commission.  As citizens of God's kingdom, we are called to love, worship, and obey our Lord, to love and serve His Body, the Church, and to present the whole Gospel for the whole person throughout the whole world."  I thought this was a clear description of what YWAM is and why I am a part of it.  

This week has been very busy with working through this course.  We spend a lot of time practicing what we have been taught in pretend situations.  It has been fun getting to know staff from other bases here in Australia also.  Fortunately, we also have time during the weekend to sightsee.  On Sunday we are going into Sydney which is a few hours drive from here in Newcastle.  We plan on going to a Hillsong church there for an evening service.  This course will last until the 29th of May and then I will be traveling back to the Sunshine Coast to prepare for the school starting in July.

Leaving home for the third time was very difficult and probably the hardest thing about coming back here.  I miss all of you at home, especially my family.  I am praying for you and think about you daily.  Thank you so much for all of your prayers and support.  I am excited for this next season of DTS.  

Back to Oz

So the time has come to go back again to Australia.  The time here in Arizona has gone by so fast.  I am so glad that I got to see many of you while I have been back and spend some time with you.  It has been such a blessings to be able to come back, have a place to live and work, and spend time with friends and family.  Thank you to everyone who has supported me both through prayer and financially.  It means the world and would not be possible without you.  I am leaving Thursday the 14th and will fly out of L.A. at 11:30 pm.   

When I get back to Australia on the 16th, I will be attending a 2 week certification class in Newcastle, Australia (near Sydney) that helps me to assess students among other things because YWAM is an accredited operation.  After that, I will fly back to Brisbane and drive to the Sunshine Coast!  I will have roughly 3 weeks before we start staff training for the July DTS staff.  During those 3 weeks I will be working on organizing the training as well as working on talks for it.  Also, I will be working on talks for the "week of prayer" which I will be speaking on.  I am nervous about speaking, but I am gaining more appreciation for prayer as I have been reading about it and practicing it.  I hope to be hearing from all of you again as I update the blogs regularly.     

While back in the U.S....

I felt compelled to write about what I have been doing since I've been in the U.S.  There have been lots of opportunities to meet up with family and friends and I have been taking advantage of those times.  I was also blessed to learn that I can pick up shifts at my old job working in the group home with 12-17 year old boys.  Also, I have been working on a video from our outreach that I will be giving to the outreach team and to supporters.  The video has been a long process as I am wanting it to be done well and used in churches for presentations.  

It has been hard to be back in the states again and usually is after a DTS experience.  But I am so glad to have some great support from friends and family.  I am hoping to be able to see everyone at least once while I am back.  

I will be leaving again for Australia on May 14th as I have a training to attend in Newcastle, Australia for 2 weeks.  I am very excited to get to staff another school and I also have a friend here from Tucson who will be doing a DTS.  Her name is Brittany and she is very excited to go and also has grandparents who live in Brisbane.  Part of my job this school will be recruiting staff and I am in need of female staff.  Most of the schools that start in July have a majority of girls and it seems that there is a lack of female staff.  I am hopeful that I will get some soon. 

Thanks for all of your prayers and support and I hope to see all of you during my time back here:)