..and you are wondering where your loved ones are.
God's protection is something real and tangible - not some warm fuzzy feeling. But why do bad things happen to good people? Did God create a world prone to sickness, death and natural disasters? Are these the symptoms of what sin has done to our world? Is love worth the high cost of free will and its repercussions?
I spent most of the night (and early morning hours) making website and facebook updates on behalf of YWAM Kona to let people know what was going on here in Kona with the tsunami evacuations and safety precautions being implemented, etc. Times like these remind me that we have no time to waste… And it's been an extremely busy season for my team here in the CROWN media & technology department of YWAM Kona!
We've been sending outreaches around the world - to as many as 40 nations at a time. We are creating videos and websites for ministries and schools that are impacting lives in a major way and bringing in record traffic of potential new missionaries. New media forms are coming to life for us like e-books, live video broadcasting, iPad and iPhone apps development… Perhaps most importantly, I'm able to disciple and providing leadership to a group of creative media professionals who are 100% committed to the mission Jesus has given them: To Know God and Make Him Known.
I remain convinced more than ever that I am where God has called me to be. The results wouldn't be the same elsewhere… not because of numbers or resources that God could provide anywhere. It's because God is faithful to meet me, my family and my team as we step out in simple obedience.
Teaching and running the http://GrassRootsNews.tv/ seminar in Kona, Mar 21-25 (GrassRootsNews is an exciting online world news initiative I'm helping get started - right here at YWAM Kona... see video below)
Launching several print and video projects as well as our next iPhone/iPad app development project for YWAM Kona (shhhh it's a secret for now).
So much more to say… it'll have to wait for another day (3:30am!!). THANK YOU for your prayers and for your friendship in these tense moments of tsunami threat and in this exciting period of ministry activities. THANK YOU JESUS, that our family and greater YWAM Kona family is safe and there has been little major damage. Please pray for God's continued provision for our ministry here and if you'd like to make a gift you can do that here
Opener video from the 50th at YWAM Kona - produced by my team from YWAM Kona's CROWN Media
Actually it's been much more than a week or two of work to prepare for and hold the grand finale known as "the 50th at YWAM Kona". From the very beginning of the preparation for this years' 44 different YWAM jubilee celebration events on every inhabited continent... we knew one thing:
"IT"S NOT ABOUT US - IT'S ABOUT JESUS"
When I sat down with Loren and others to brainstorm the theme of the events surrounding YWAM's 50 year anniversary, we all wanted this to be understood and to focus on the amazing things that the Lord has in store for us and our YWAM tribe. So when "the Flame Goes Forward" came out of our discussions, I was sure that this was "it". So we've celebrated God's flame going forward in song, in videos, in dance, and in every media we know how to use (and a few we figured out along the way like ipad apps and live video mixing on VDMX). In the end we saw thousands gather physically here in Kona and virtually on webstreaming to be inspired and to give glory to the one we are celebrating... JESUS.
I've never been so challenged technically, physically, emotionally or mentally by any one event... but spiritually I felt a real peace.
It felt like I was in the eye of a great hurricaine... carried by the prayers of those who remembered me and my team. What a team I've been blessed with by the way... My brother came over from YWAM Resonate in Texas, three volunteers came to partner with us from Wycliffe in Asia and numerous staff and students have joined our "CROWN Media & Technology" team these past weeks and months. By God's grace we were able to pull together numerous media presentations and support this event through video, design and web.
This 5 day event was broadcast online to an audience of over 100 nations and the evening sessions were full of feature videos created by our team and other YWAM ministries. Even when the clouds burst at the closing of the last night the crowd was so filled with joy, we rejoiced while the rain came down. It rained so hard that it burst the tarp above the stage and threatened our AV equipment which we'd been able to cover with other tarps just in time.
I held my son Ethan high on my shoulders as the 3000 cupcakes were getting soggy and sang "Happy Birthday" with the crowd that didn't want to leave. What a moment of gratitude and joy... I'll never forget it.
So as the year comes to a close, we are looking forward to another big birthday party for which many have forgotten what the real reason is. Amid all the busyness of these past months it's so good to remember how blessed we truly are that Jesus cared enough to come and be with us despite the great price that He had to pay for coming. Now that's worth celebrating!
I wish you a wonderful Christmas and blessings in the new Year to come. Thank you for your support and prayers.
(no I didn't get to go to Mozambique yet... though it's encouraging to see one of the graphics I created being used in this video to bless this nation that I prayed for as a child with my Mom and brothers)
Serving in the area of Communications is mostly a hidden role... but there are a few perks. Few people know who put that website online or designed that magazine cover, or layed out the text for the Bible they are reading... but I know something that many don't realize. I know that people are moved by what they see and hear. They are moved when their friend or family member shares with them about this great mission that's changing the world. But almost everyone walks through the same entrance when they are joining our mission - and I'm not talking about the gateway at the entrance to YWAM Kona's University of the Nations campus. Our YWAM Kona website is a gateway from the nations - to the nations.
Every day when I sit down for lunch at th cafeteria, I see people from 40+ nations who have come here to Kona to serve God and get trained to better share His love to the nations He's sending them to.
Some have even told me that they didn't know what YWAM was and just found us online... Now, here they are having committed a big part of their lives to be a part of this mission they hadn't even heard of before seeing our website!
So I am rejoicing this week. 500+ students are arriving tomorrow and together with the 600+ staff and volunteers we are about to have the largest influx of new missionaries in Kona history. Most people don't get to see this, but I've gotten to watch the numbers go up steadily online since we launched the new website last year and have been making regular improvements & updates. As our monthly traffic has grown to between 50-70,000 unique visitors (actual people, not "hits"), I'm not surprized that the student, staff and mission builders numbers continue to rise. According to some reports we may have the largest ammount of traffick on any YWAM website.
BUT IT'S NOT ABOUT THE NUMBERS. It's about the hearts.
Hearts and lives that are getting a deep, intense experience with Jesus and taking that heart knowledge to the nations. More missionaries trained means more people that hear and see the gospel in a real way. Missions teams praying, sharing and seeing people healed, saved and changed forever.
Thank you for the role that you play in helping me help them. Your prayers and support are much appreciated in these challenging economic times. And although the YWAM campus where I serve here in Kona is training and sending out more Christian missionaries than perhaps any single location on earth... many people don't understand or recognize my role in communications as a ministry. Thank you for taking this small look at the "big picture" with me and if you do have any questions about "why Hawaii?" please read this.
