What does it look like today?

Here are four stories. Four young adults acting on the Gospel message. This is hearing and doing. 

Makayla Maves

Makayla is from a small town in Colorado. After graduating a year early from high school, before heading to college, she felt called to seek God's word for a year and see what He had to say about her future. Below is what life at HLI (Heroic Leadership Institute) looks like. 

"A day in HLI is never the same from the next. It’s amazing because it really teaches you to hold everything loosely, with an oven hand. Plans change, we do something else and we make it work. But an average day starts out with announcements at 8:45, followed by examen for one hour. An examen is a form of spiritual exercise the Jesuits used to do. You start your day by spending time with Jesus for an hour every morning. These examen look completely different, some are art based, some nature based and all are biblically based.

​After this, we have class for two hours, sometimes we have guest speakers, sometimes we watch the Vineyard Institute course classes, and sometimes we are on trips throughout the mid west visiting other churches. But these class times also vary every week, ranging from compassion, justice and kingdom theology, to a budgeting class. And just like everything else thus far, the afternoons change as well.

Throughout the week we have grocery shopping and meal planning, a physical activity time, bible class where we dive deeper into what we are reading as homework, serving and leading at the youth group here, serving with facilities, stream times (mine is missions and church planting-during this time we meet with different pastors who teach us the nitty and gritty of church planting), and evangelism.

Intertwined in these things are serving at conferences, attending conferences, putting on a service at a nursing home and homework. Our homework usually includes reading different books of the Bible and an extra book or assignment. Some of the books we’ve read are...
Heroic Leadership by Chris Lowney 
The Reason for God by Timothy Keller 
Both-And by Rich Nathan 
Foreign to Familiar by Lanier
Along with multiple others!

The educational part of HLI is so useful and practical, it’s all things that are helping me and pushing me forward into the rest of my life. Pulling me closer to Jesus and helping me understand some of life’s really hard questions. And also, learning about myself, learning how I operate, how God made me to be. It’s teaching us that we are never-ending learners, all of us are learning all the time."

Bailey Drake

This is Bailey. She was spirit filled after her first DTS (Discipleship Training). 

Last week, Bailey headed out to New Zealand to join the Youth With A Mission base called "Furnace" for a month. She will stay there staffing as support crew for about a month until she moves to her next assignment. 

Just a short distance from the base in New Zealand is another base in Fiji where Bailey will join another team for three months as they serve the people there. Many of the people she will be serving in Fiji are women that are vulnerable to human trafficking. Because Fiji is such a large tourist destination, it is also a hub for prostitution. As a woman, Bailey has been burdened for the women trapped in the bondage of sex slavery. 

From early June through August, Bailey will then join up with a team that will be touring Europe. This time will be a very unique and spirit led journey as they ask God daily for provision, direction and leading. They will be hosted by different YWAM bases during their travels, as well as join them on some of their ministries. Other days, the team will allow the spirit to direct their path as they seek other ministry opportunities along the way. 

The base in New Zealand, currently known as "Furnace" has a huge focus on The Holy Spirit. They teach and train how to listen and hear God. Bailey was drawn to this team because their entire outreach will be guided by listening to God. The will move when he says move, they will go when he says go. It will be a daily practice and discipline of obedience to his leading.

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Beyond the European leg, Bailey is committing to long term missions. She doesn't know what the future has in store yet, but she knows that it will involve her willingness to go wherever God leads her. To follow Bailey or partner with her, please connect though clicking here.

Charlie VanMeter

Charlie VanMeter is in Australia at the YWAM SunCoast base attending SBS (School of Biblical Studies).

SBS is a nine month commitment to study the Bible in depth. It is a course that is supported/Credits accepted by Gordon Conwell Seminary and a Liberty University. You may wonder how Charlie was led to this course. Below is what he shared...

"When I was in France attending my Discipleship Training School, the base wanted us to get a taste of second level schools. The one that they put together for us was the School of Biblical Studies. It was very small compared to the full course, but we met two days a week to attend a very basic version of what the SBS actually is. Ever since I took that class, I fell in love with it. We attacked the Bible as if we were lawyers looking into an investigation."

"In this school, we  are spending nine months, approximately 50-60 hours a week (not including class time) digging into the Bible. We will have gone through the Bible 5-6 times throughout our studies. We survey each book discovering the big picture, then begin digging into the details, paragraph by paragraph."

"These last few years I have seen God move in so many different ways, and he has confirmed to me his faithfulness through my obedience. He has truly shown me in times of doubt, that when he calls me, he will equip me. As my community of friends, family, and church, I rely on your involvement not just through finances (although that is critical) but also through prayer, encouragement, communication, affirmation, etc.. The list goes on. You guys have such a huge role in what I do and I am so thankful for every single one of you."  
-Charlie VanMeter
 
To learn more about Charlie, to support him and/or join his mailing list, click here. ​​

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Chloe Burch

Chloe is from Orlando. She is 20 years old and is shockingly focused and determined for God. Below is an update she sent me on Saturday March 2.

"Hello everyone! I just wanted to send you all an update about life here in the Middle East. It has been almost 2 months of living here! It is exciting and God is moving in big ways, but with that comes some challenges. 

In the last week I have moved from the team house in the village we were living, to one of the long-term couples homes in the neighboring village. There have been a lot of hindrances to ministry in the last 2 months and God has made a way for me to be able to do the things that he spoken. This local family has been so wonderful and blessed me with a free place to stay as well as letting me use their car so that public transportation isn’t an issue as a single woman. ​

God spoke that if there wasn’t a way to continue to live in the team house that he would provide another way, and he has done exactly that!!  I am now working with YWAM frontier missions and coming under that umbrella rather than the team that I was working with before. 

Another huge blessing is the English program that we have been working on starting for the orphan population in one of the camps, is now up and running!!

God has continued to ask me to be generous and host people and welcome people and use the resources that he has blessed me with to bless others. While this might seem slightly scary being on a fundraised missionary salary, God has continued to abundantly provide. He has provided through friends, through family, and even through people that I don’t even know.

Every time God asks me to bless someone or to do something for a local family the doors of ministry swing wide open. I have been able to learn more Arabic as well as trying to learn a little of the local language spoken here, and God has given so much grace in that and I feel like I have learned so much more than I could have in this time!

I would love if you would partner with me in prayer for a few things, I have noticed in the last week or two with building connections with local families who are either Muslim or another local religion, there has been a spiritual battle happening and I often feel tired and depressed when in their homes. That weariness leaves when I leave and I realize how it was affecting me during my time in their home. The Bible tells us that we do not wrestle against flesh and blood and I know that that is what is happening. I would love if you would partner with me in praying for strength and being a light in the middle of the darkness without the darkness overcoming the light.

God has also spoken about making a long-term commitment here starting in August, and as of now I’m thinking that will be for 4 to 5 years. I am now making preparations for coming back after doing the dinners in Greece during Ramadan that I had previously mentioned as well as taking a trip home! I would love your prayers for wisdom and discernment in that process and continual provision for the things that need to happen before that commitment starts.

I am so thankful for all of you who support financially, in prayer, and just in being a friend. You all mean so much to me! I can’t wait to see yout faces and make those connections this summer when I return home for a little while. I will let you know when I know the dates that I will be home. 

​...in response to my telling her Charlie was in town for a conference and that we ran into many young missionaries:

"It’s so cool seeing how many people are doing huge things all over! This week I met with several super high up government leaders about the work were doing here in the camps and I’m just amazed at how God has allowed me to be involved in the super serious work happening here and at the same time get to do the relationship side of things and sit with families, and I have to remind myself I’m only 20... 5 days until I’m 21, so maybe people won’t gasp when I tell them how old I am!"


To learn more about Chloe and/or support her or join her mailing list (we highly suggest) click here.
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