The best Skype calls.

I just want to say how much I love Skype ... obviously not because I am kind of weird techie, but because it makes me feel a little more connected to the world, which is hard to do sometimes when we are out here on a rock in the Pacific.

This week I got to have one of my favourite skype calls ... with the adorable nephew Oliver. He has just received a package from me on little sleep suits with animal feet, so his lovely mum Lucy, made my day by calling to say Hi.

Here is me chatting to the cutest little nephew and now god-son. He just smiles, laughs, talks in his way, rolls around and tries to grab my face on the tiny iphone screen. Precious times like this make me constantly thankful for family and technology. Hurrah.

Heck, I am leading a DTS!

Well after a good few years of mulling on this one, I am finally leading a DTS here in Kona, Hawaii in January 2012. To be honest I am super excited but slightly terrified too. I love Discipleship Training Schools and an honoured and excited to be leading one, but I know it will keep me on my knees in prayer and cryng out to God for wisdom and guidance. As I read the students applications and references I am blown away by the quality of young men and women that God is bringing into this DTS. I know that they are world changers, many of them are new christians, looking for solid foundations in their faith and guidance on what God wants them to do twith their lives. DTS is the foundational starting point for YWAM. Every single one of us who is part of the YWAM family around the world has done one somewhere. It is a rich time to deepen your relationship with Jesus, strengthen foundations of your christian faith and experience missions in a profound way.

My job as the school leader is to take the DTS international curriculum and create a 6-month program that allows for students to reach the purposes and outcomes intended of DTS. I decide which teaching topics I want and who to invite to share, what our schedule will look like, what the 'flavour' of our school will be, recruit the staff, promote and communicate, process student applications, answer questions, pray into outreach locations. I will be responsible for a staff team and all the students, which could number over 40.  It is a lot to think about, but a huge honour and a great time of learning and growing for me.

You can read the full info about Engage DTS here, but below is the scoop which explains the purpose and vision of this particular DTS. 

Consider coming to join me ... I AM LOOKING FOR AMAZING STAFF and maybe YOU ARE ONE OF THEM! Seriously, if you have done a DTS, what better offer do you have than coming to Kona, HAWAII for 4 months??? Get in touch to talk.

About Engage DTS

A life-changing school to engage with God, your destiny, community and the nations.

Each one of us is uniquely created by God to be world changers. He created us with purpose, gifts and calling. Do you want to come into a great place of knowing why you are alive? To be someone that makes a difference for all eternity?

We want to see you radically encounter God in deep life-changing ways – to know who he is, what his heart burns for, what he has created you for; to go deeper in a place of prayer & worship, knowing the Word, walking as a follower, friend and lover of Jesus and understanding how He wants to use you to change the world. We want to train you to be someone who is excited about what you were created for and how God wants to use you in your generation. Get trained in how to engage with issues of injustice, community transformation, sharing the gospel, preaching, being Jesus’ hands, heart and feet to those who need love, justice and compassion.

Discipleship Training School is an intense, short-term missions training opportunity set in the amazing YWAM University of the Nations Kona campus. But this is not just Bible camp in the sun. We will spend 12 weeks in Kona, Hawaii, hearing and learning from some of the mothers and fathers of the modern missions movement, as well as people God is using in radical ways around the globe. We will combine teaching lectures, small groups, one-on-ones, prayer and worship, serving the base and simple assignments with a lot of fun in a unique community. Lecture phase content will include topics such as ‘hearing God’s voice’; ‘the nature and character of God’; ‘worship, prayer and intercession’; ‘spiritual warfare’; ‘the person and power of Holy Spirit’; ‘missions, evangelism and pioneering’ and ‘knowing and communicating God’s Word’.

OUTREACH

Then we head out on a life-changing outreach adventure to the nations. You will spend 11-12 weeks in a cross-cultural environment serving those in need, sharing the gospel, extending the Kingdom of God, seeing lives impacted, and letting God transform you. You could be teaching English, running a clinic, preaching on a street corner, digging a well, playing with children in orphanages, prophesying over prostitutes or sharing your testimony with a university student. There is no limit to what God might do through your outreach team. Finally everyone returns to Kona to share stories and testimonies of what God has done and then to release you into the rest of your lives. Possible outreach locations will be in the sub-Indian continent and Central Asia.

THE CALL

The call of Engage DTS is to give you a deep foundation for your faith and relationship with God, and see you mobilized into your destiny equipped to reach your potential. We want to be a people who know we live the priority of Jesus, to “love the lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength … and love your neighbour as you love yourself”. Join Engage DTS and

ENGAGE with the fullness of GOD …From a place of prayer and intimacy – develop a dynamic  life changing prayer life, become excited as you see God answer your prayers, to see people   healed and set free. Know and studying his Word – the manual for all of life, understand it’s   power to change nations. Encounter a might God through spirit-led worship. 

ENGAGE with the fullness of what YOU were created for … Find your purpose and calling  – what burns in your heart? Discover your gifts and strengths – what do you have in your  hands that God wants to use? Become a true disciple – walk in a radical understanding of his  passionate love for you. Give all and every part of who you are. We will question what we do  with our time, mind, body and emotions.

ENGAGE in radical discipleship COMMUNITY – Be part of a wild army, rooted in God’s  presence, who sharpen one another in our faith, marked by love and purity.

ENGAGE with God’s heart for the WORLD … Gain a global perspective, learn what it takes to  reach the lost and those who don’t know Jesus, get informed about issues of injustice & that  which breaks God’s heart and how can you be part of the restoration.

ENGAGE

We want to see you equipped with a love of the Word, prayer & worship and how to lead others in these. We want to send you out to serve the nations, whether in inner-city Europe, the slums of India, war-ravaged Afghanistan or the rural mountains Kyrgyzstan equipped to meet the practical needs you will face on outreach and beyond. Engage DTS will include tracks of practical skills and communication training. We will have extended times of prayer, worship and ministry in our 24 hour prayer room and from this place of intimacy with God, get out on to the streets of our local community to share the gospel.

I am super excited about this new season of life but at the same time have days when I wonder what on earth I am doing and feel so unworthy to be in such a leadership role. But it is moments like these that push me to lean into God's sovereignty so much ... his faithfulness to me, to our students and his purposes. 

Check back in for more updates as the school draws closer and in running and please do pray for me and the whole school.

Read more details about Engage DTS here.

My heart has melted

Every now and then a boy comes along and your heart melts ... well mine has melted. His name is Oliver and he is too gorgeous. He has huge blue eyes, a smile that lights up the room and I get excited everytime I see an email with his name in it. I cross oceans to spend time with him.

Now friends before you get too excited that a miracle has occured let me present my nephew and godson ...

 This little guy arrived in March, the first son of my brother Mark & his lovely wife Lucy. Oliver Alexander has become the new obsession of the family and we all adore him. I was able to visit in April and could not get enough cuddles and aunty Jo time. It is amazing to think my brother is a DAD and that this little guy will grow to be a man with his own personality and destiny. I am around children all the time, but there is something so different about knowing this precious one and I share the same genes and we are eternally tied in relationship. I was able to spend some sweet time in our parents garden hanging out with him, praying, prophesying and talking to his spirit ... all the time he is just laying in my arms, hanging out, looking at me and I wondered 'who are you going to be little guy?'

I am heading back to the UK in September briefly to join the family to have him christened and officially take on godmother duties - which is a huge honour. I hope it means I get priority dibs in having him come visit his aunty godmother where ever I am around the world.

His mummy is great at sending out little videos of his milestones ... rolling, laughing, first time in the paddling pool, bouncing in his activity chair ... so here is one that made my day. 

What am I doing next?

Having just finished working with the 360 DTS and having had an amazing 2-month trip, lots of people are asking me "What are you doing next?" Things are still being worked out but I do know that from 7th-22nd July I will be working with a YWAM leadership event called Impartation.

Here is what our UofN Kona website says about the Impartation event ... "Loren and Darlene Cunningham, Founders of Youth With A Mission, David Hamilton, UofN Vice-President for Strategic Innovation, and others will lead us through a time of exploring the Character of God and His interplay of justice and mercy in the transformation of nations. We will look at the gospel in a holistic way, which includes not only the redemption of individuals, but the transformation of the whole of society, based on the principles of God's Word. Understanding the God-given domains of authority and spheres of societal influence will be key. Together we will uncover the Biblical foundations to build people, build communities, and build nations."

Learn more about the event by taking 3 minutes to watch this video ... 

Why dont you pray about coming to join us for a couple of weeks? Find out more and apply by clicking here.

What some of our DTS students did in Mexico

So the 360 DTS is done and dusted ... the students graduated and have mostly headed home to report back. Some have stayed here in Kona to join staff immediately and others will be heading back later in the year.

Half our DTS students headed to Mexico & the Dominican Republic for their outreach. They worked with a YWAM ministry called Home for Hope - which does just that ... helps build homes for people, to bring hope and changed lives. Our team were able to participate in house builds, did street ministry, children's programs and so much more.

Here is a video report some of the students made. We are so proud of them all.