Dressed in their finest and surrounded by family and YWAM friends from over twenty-five countries, we celebrated together with a delicious dinner ‘a la’ our lovely chef, Rosy, and her team. With full bellies, we rejoined together to watch cultural dances performed by our Brazilian and African students and listen to Michelle, the school’s leader, and Markus, base director, as they offered a charging commission to the students as they embark on their next adventure with God.

The evening’s theme was “like a tree planted by streams of water,” referencing Psalm 1.

“God is building our lives like trees and the fruitfulness doesn’t come in the first season, it is something that is built throughout our lives.

You are not done growing now that you have completed your DTS. You are now entering into another beautiful season where God will continue to help you grow.

You have an amazing life before you. If what you have been apart of here has changed you and you able to apply it to your life, you will see amazing fruit come forth in your future. We were made to bear fruit!” says base director, Markus Steffen.

School leader, Michelle, echoes saying, “Don’t ever stop being learners. We will always be disciples of God learning more and more about how to serve Him. And if you keep that humble spirit, God will use you for great things for His Kingdom.”

Watching each student walk up and receive their certificate, we are aware that this is not the end, but simply the beginning of even greater growth to come through the love these students have for our God.

“Remember,” Markus says, “you were not paid for with a little price, because God’s outstretched arms came at an enormous expense. You are not bought with silver or gold, but by the precious sacrifice of Jesus. He has shown you the greatest love you can ever experience.”

And that is truly our prayer for each student as they embark on their next adventure with God. That they may love their God with all their heart, with their entire mind, and with every ounce of their strength. And that they would love all those around them like they love themselves. All else is secondary.

We are thankful to God for bringing each student to our base and how these students have responded to His call on their lives, and for all he has done in and through their lives.

Job well done, Fall 2012 DTSers!

Togo Team

The outreach phase is a time of practical, hands-on ministry where students can live out what they have learned during lecture phase. Three DTS teams traveled to Togo, Burkina Faso and Mali, and Brazil for seven weeks. The teams, adorned in their visited country’s traditional clothing, performed a cultural dance and song, singing in the native language of that land. Students introduced themselves one by one in the language of that culture and shared story upon story of how God worked in their lives and the lives of those they encountered during their time in Togo, Burkina Faso, Mali, and Brazil.

The stories retold from the outreach teams carry a common theme: broken barriers.

The students witnessed and experienced walls come down, lives open, and cultures collide. The teams participated in evangelism and mercy ministry, partnering with established ministries along the way.

Burkina Faso & Mali Team

For the Togo team, visiting the children’s ministry in the northern village of Tamburi was a definite highlight.

“Why this particular ministry stuck out for us during outreach was because we could really see God connecting us to the culture. It was really inspiring to see how God truly can break down barriers,” says one student.

The Burkina Faso & Mali team witnessed how simple songs and dances can unite cultures, and the Brazil team grew in their understanding of community as they were united together as a team.

Brazil Team

The impact from their time serving on outreach was obvious. Thousands of people throughout these four countries heard the Gospel message, hundreds received Christ into their lives, and numerous more received practical support in the form of mosquito nets for families, care packages for prisoners, and food donations for widows.

But it doesn’t stop there.

The DTS students are also going home changed people because of their outreach experiences. Equipped and empowered to follow after God in their lives with radical and radiant faith.

Darrow Miller is co-founder of the Disciple Nations Alliance along with being a featured author and world-renowned teacher. For 26 years, Darrow served with the Christian non-profit organization Food for the Hungry International, 13 years of which he acted as Vice President. Since then, Darrow has written several publications including the books Discipling Nations: The Power of Truth to Transform Culture, Nurturing the Nations: Reclaiming the Dignity of Women for Building Healthy Cultures, and Lifework: A Biblical Theology for What You Do Every Day.

This week, Darrow helped our LTS students develop a more biblical worldview of the poor, which for many meant being pushed outside their comfort zone and having their previously-held ideas and perceptions of poverty shattered.

I sat down with Darrow while he was here to ask him some questions about God and His view of the poor.

What are you you focusing on in your teachings this week in the Leadership Training School?

“The area in which my life has come together is around worldview and poverty. So I’m teaching about having a biblical worldview and how that changes the way you interact with the poor. See, most people think that poverty exists because people don’t have the resources they need. But that is a materialistic assumption, and most Christians who have a heart for the poor think that way too. The thought is, if that is the cause, then the solution is to move resources from one place to another. So you have organizations and well-meaning church groups going into countries and giving money and resources, feeling good that they have helped the poor, but not necessarily leaving much impact.

One of the things I keep telling these students is a take on the old Chinese proverb: ‘Give a man a fish, he has food for a day, teach a man to fish and he has food for a lifetime.’ But I would argue that this proverb doesn’t go far enough. We need to teach people to think about fishing and that brings about transformation. Through our materialistic approach to helping the poor, we have taught people that transformation only happens from outsiders and their money.

For there to be any transformation there needs to be a breaking down of the strongholds in both the minds of those facilitating the change and the people who are poor. Without that mental transformation, we continue to run the risk of helping the poor in ways that are ineffective or even harmful. Ultimately, we need to change the way we look at and interact with the poor in this world and that is what I hope to communicate to the students this week.”

The LTS is designed to equip and empower the next generation of leaders. Why do you think it’s so important to develop young, Christian leaders?

“The world is going to follow some leader, so better is one who has virtue and a kingdom vision. These students are strong believers and I want to offer something that will help them understanding that God can use them to advance His Kingdom. For me, this is a heck of a lot of fun!”

What do you think is the task ahead for these young, Christian leaders as they complete the LTS and enter into ministry in Africa, Brazil, the United States, and elsewhere?

“My job is to shift paradigms. The question will be if they go back with the mind they came here with. If that happens, not much is going to change. If they go back with the strongholds of their mind destroyed and their worldview expanded, then I’ve been successful and they will find themselves walking in paths they never would have walked before.”

You worked for the Christian, non-profit organization Food for the Hungry for many years. What would you say is a Christian’s role in responding to poverty in our world?

“Christians need to be storytellers. They need to tell the story of God. But they have to think about how they are telling stories and that they view the poor through a biblical perspective, so they aren’t creating more poverty. Like I said, we need to change the way people look at fishing. It is much harder to teach people how to think about fishing than it is teaching them to fish or simply giving them fish, but that is what needs to be done and we need to be participating in that.”

What would you say is something young, enthusiastic Christians should bear in mind when wanting to serve the poor?

“One is to remain a lifelong learner. You are going to learn things through different experiences, but just because you have experience or a degree, doesn’t mean the process of learning is over. In fact, it’s just the opposite. It’s just the beginning. Two, you need to have a long-term time frame for your life. Unfortunately, most people do not have long-term time frames. That is partly our cultures to blame since it has taught us to think mostly in the present. We don’t learn from the past nor do we spend much time reflecting on it. In the same way, we don’t spend much time thinking about the future, we remain in the present, but to truly transform people and nations, you need time.”

What do you hope the students will take way from your time here this week?

“I hope that the students’ paradigm and their understanding of the poor will be shifted, which will allow them to view the world differently. Because the world is a lot bigger, and what it means to be a Christian is a lot bigger, and what it means to be a human being is a lot bigger, and what it takes to develop poor communities and nations is a lot different than what they originally may have thought.”

Thank you Darrow for your invaluable teachings this week and for expanding the way our students view God, His world, and His people throughout the nations!

This quarter we have been blessed to host many staff and students from Africa. They have travelled from all corners of the continent­ including Mali, Senegal, and Egypt, and as far as Zimbabwe and South Africa.

This morning, our African friends led us in prayer for their nations, sharing what burdens their hearts and what hopes they have for the future of their country and people.

The outline of the continent marked the floor, and the students stood inside in the location of their home country as the rest of the staff and students prayed over them and with them.

It was an intense time of prayer as the other nations represented through staff and students from Brazil, USA, Canada, Switzerland, and Australia, rallied around our African friends, fervently praying and declaring blessings over the continent.

“We thank you for this land, its beauty and its hope!”

“We declare Africa as blessed, not cursed, because you say it’s blessed!”

“We pray for the release of more Africans into the nations as missionaries. You, God, are bigger than any obstacle!”

We concluded by singing a joyous song together, spontaneous dancing erupting, which solidifies our prayer for this beautiful continent.

“Jabulani, Jabulani Africa

Sing for joy, oh Africa

The Lord your God is risen upon you

Sing for joy, oh Africa

The Lord your God is risen upon you now

Jabulani, Jabulani Africa”

Please join us in praying for the nations of Africa:

• That hope would rise in the churches and in the whole of Africa.

• That disease, famine, and poverty would not capture our hearts, but the eternal hope and joy in the Lord that Africa possesses.

• That the women of Africa would rise up and take their place in society. That God may break down barriers that prevent women from reaching their fullest potential.

• Specific prayers for a village in northern Mali that is currently under attack. Pray for protection and peace.

• May God’s Kingdom come in Africa and push out pride and unforgiveness.

• Growth of YWAM bases in Africa and that God will raise up more Africans as missionaries to reach the nations.

This week we had the privilege of hosting Edwin Fillies, leader of the Burtigny, Switzerland base. While the students of the DTS experienced Edwin’s engaging and challenging teachings all week long, the rest of our students and staff were challenged during our Thursday evening Community Meeting when he shared on the topic of “what is community and why is it important?”

So why does YWAM choose to live in community? It certainly isn’t an easy pursuit. With over twenty nations represented in the staff and students this quarter alone, creating authentic community among all is not an easy feat. But YWAM lives in such a community because it is part of the fulfillment of the Great Commission.

Edwin expanded saying that living in community is in God’s design for four reasons:

We are in community so we can experience healing. There is power when we are together, confessing our sins to one another, and praying for one another, that God heals us. There is something about being in fellowship where the healing of God is poured out. When we are vulnerable and recognize that we need others, He shows up.

We are in community so we can grow together. Proverbs 27:17, “As iron sharpens iron, so a person sharpens his friend.” In the midst of diversity, we grow. God doesn’t just want us to tolerate what is different. He wants us to embrace it! Living together in community doesn’t just mean keeping peace through toleration. God says we miss some of the greatest riches when we tolerate rather than embrace others.

He puts us in community to celebrate. When we learn then we are able to celebrate our differences around the Lord’s Table, we can share in each other’s hardships and also celebrate together our triumphs. We’re simply designed to experience fellowship and celebrate relationships.

He puts us in community so we can fulfill a mission. So that, “the recognition of the Lord’s sovereign majesty will fill the earth just as the waters fill up the sea!” (Habakkuk 2:14).

We live in community for one common reason despite culture, background, race, nationality, age, language, and gender. And that is Jesus. And that is the church. And that is why it will be both challenging and interesting to live in community.

He is what unites us.

This quarter, we have the unique privilege of hosting YWAM’s Leadership Training School (LTS). This means that Jim Stier, former YWAM president and founder and director of YWAM Brazil, is here empowering and equipping our LTS students with the skills and abilities to rise up as the next generation of leaders.

I had the chance to sit down with Jim and ask him a few questions about how he first became involved with the LTS, his vision and hope for its students, and what he senses God is doing this quarter . . .

How did you first get involved with the Leadership Training School (LTS)?

“I did the first ever LTS back in 83’ at the Kona, Hawaii base. I had started YWAM Brazil and wanted to learn how to train leaders so I could multiply more leaders in Brazil. I wanted to equip them with tools and skills to be leaders in their own country so they could bring more people to know God. So eventually, I started the LTS in Brazil and within a decade we had multiplied by a factor of ten and had a couple thousand workers throughout all the Brazil bases [50-80 operating locations]. Then in 1995 I became President of YWAM and was looking for a way to serve the whole world and I felt God leading me into Leadership Development as a way to do that. We did the LTS in Indonesia and had fantastic results and so we kept doing them all over the world.”

What is the vision of the Leadership Training School?

“The goal really is to see new ministries created, helping people around the world, and ultimate bring them to a greater understanding of who God is. We have had many past students come through the program and do amazing things. One student started an evangelism DTS in his home country of Cambodia to raise up evangelist leaders who would reach every corner of Cambodian with the Gospel message. Others have gone out and started house-church movements. Many have started YWAM bases in new locations; preschools have started amongst unreached people groups. Really we’ll know if it was a successful LTS in five years from now when we see dozens of new ministry initiatives starting up all over the world.”

Why do you love to do the LTS year after year?

“Really I love seeing the fruit that comes from the school and what students do after with what they have learned. We have actually started a Leadership Development Center in Brazil to further mentor this next generation of leaders, which opens in April 2012. There we will continue to mentor and support leaders as they continue to develop their visions and skills.”

What is unique so far about this particular group of students?

“Every school has a unique personality. I would characterize this group as being instantly united. They work well together and get along great. Its like they are already enjoying the school and each other even though it is still early in the school. I like that.”

What do you sense God doing already through this school?

“I feel like this LTS will produce some really wonderful projects. You know, we have had several prophecies that YWAM is going to increase. A lot! So we better get ready for that. We want to prepare a generation of leaders that will be able to absorb or even create that big increase. And I’ve seen it happen before in Brazil. Train a few hundred leaders and each of them trains thirty people and soon enough you have thousands! It is very important that we prepare and make way for a new generation of leaders so we are ready for what may lie ahead.”

Thank you Jim, for sharing your wisdom, passion, and your heart  for developing leaders with our students this quarter!

During our weekly time of base-wide intercessory prayer this last week, we focused specifically on praying for our teams currently on outreach in Brazil, Burkina Faso and Mali, Togo and our iCD team in South America.

The students split into small groups to pray for each team in the field, writing down words of encouragement and prayers that will be sent to the teams before their return. Afterwards, the students broke into pairs to specifically pray for each individual, again which will be sent to each person for encouragement these last weeks of outreach.

It’s a wonderful opportunity for our new students to support the students in the field despite having never met them. It is also great preparation for our current students to hear what these teams are doing in South America and Africa and many students were encouraged and energized by the time of prayer.

Victoria, a DTS student, said, “Seeing and hearing what they are doing just makes me even more excited for outreach.”

The teams have seen great things happening during their time in each location and report back many great moments and experiences.

The Brazil team has been involved in children’s ministry, the Mali and Burkina Faso group have wrapped up their time in Burkina Faso and have since traveled to Mali to begin their time of ministry there, and the Togo team continues their work at the computer center and in their surrounding communities.

The iCD team continues to be presented with opportunities to talk with young people, using their gifts to mobilize more South Americans into missions, and together the Togo and Burkina Faso teams have distributed more than one hundred mosquito nets to families in need. What a great way to practically share the Gospel!

The Brazil team even sent back a video documenting their experiences. Check it out!

Brazil Team Update

The last weeks of outreach, can be tiring, but they can also be a time when God surprises us and accomplishes amazing things. It can be a time when prayers are answered and futures are defined.

We pray that our students will be listening with open ears God’s gentle whispers regarding the next steps in their lives—whether they return to their home country, continue to serve in YWAM, or serve somewhere else in the nations.

We pray for each of them as they wrap up their ministries in their outreach location, and that God will sustain them, keep them in good health and bring them back safely to Switzerland for graduation.

We also ask you to join us in prayer for this new group of DTS students, as they will take their place on the field in just a few short months. We pray that God may prepare their hearts and minds for the journey to come.

As students start to settle into their schools’ daily schedules—busy with lectures, activities, ministry and making new friends—a rhythm is created, but only after a warm welcome from the YWAM Lausanne community! As we celebrated the New Year, we also celebrated the start of a new quarter, which means a host of new students arriving, full of excitement and anticipation . . . and, okay, maybe a few nerves as well.

To start the new quarter off right and to welcome our new students to the base, we kicked off the first week with a night of food and games.

“When students first arrive, they are filled with nervous excitement and this is a great way to get to know one another in a fun and relaxed manner,” says community life organizer, Luzanne Esmeraldo.

The students also learned about the city in which they are living. Long-term friend of YWAM, Tom Panci, came to the base to teach the students about the city of Lausanne followed by a historical tour through the old town. This was a great way for the students to become familiar with the city and have a bit of time to explore it for themselves.  Students were also able to visit the pristine Swiss Alps for a day of skiing. For many students, this was the week’s highlight and for some it was the first time on the slopes!

Finally, in true Swiss fashion, we rounded up introduction week with a traditional cheese fondue! The students were encouraged to dress in red and white in honor of the Swiss flag while feasting on Switzerland’s finest cheese and chocolate. It was a great way for students to experience a taste of Swiss culture while getting to know staff and students better.

“A lot of cheese!” was the resounding response when students were asked to recall the evening.

Kevin, from the USA, said, “I wasn’t nervous at all before coming here for the DTS. I was just excited. The base is great. My favorite part so far is when we went to the mountains to go skiing. It was gorgeous!”

Leah, from England, shared, “I was a little nervous before arriving, but I like it here. It has been a lot of fun so far and I’m learning a lot.”

“These events are great for getting people together. I love the challenge of trying to keep it fresh for both our incoming students and long-term staff. I want to very quickly make people feel like they belong here, that they are apart of our community here at YWAM Lausanne,” says Luzanne.

So it seems introduction week went off without a hitch! Students are feeling more at home on base and enjoying their time at YWAM Lausanne, all the while growing deeper in their relationships with God.