Sunday, September 18, 2011
Monday, September 5, 2011
Monday, August 22, 2011
Monday, August 15, 2011
Video Update
I have decided this week to do a video blog and will probably be doing these for a while, it makes for a more personal experience for all of you who are so used to reading my blogs. Enjoy!
Monday, July 25, 2011
The Glory of Breakthrough
It is already the third week of the Awaken DTS and it is honestly hard to believe things have moved this fast. I am constantly amazed each year at the growth rate of the students, it seems as though they are going deeper faster each year of DTS. During my DTS I wasn't seeing the type of growth I am already seeing this year until the seventh or eighth week of my DTS. Already the Lord has been breaking through and tearing down strongholds in the hearts of the students. We have truly been seeing Jesus becoming the Lord of their lives at a rapid rate that is commonly not experienced in a DTS so quickly. I am a little perplexed at how or why there is such acceleration upon this school but the best opinion I could give is - it is because the staff is such a hungry for God group and we are all pressing into the glory of the Lord. Leading up to the school we had leaders around the base constantly coming to us as a whole and telling us they had never seen a group of staff that were pressing so hard into seeing heaven invade earth; so if I had to attribute the acceleration of this DTS to one thing it would be the staff crave and pursue intimacy with their creator above anything else.
Our first week of speakers was staff, which was an absolute blast. I got to take a slot of 30 minutes or so and I shared on 1st Corinthians 13, speaking on God's love for us and what it looks like toward us. As Awaken (the name of our DTS) we have done a lot of pioneering on this base in the area of breaking DTS out of the box that many have put it in. One of those things was having the staff take the whole first week of teaching and use that time to bring their testimony and share it with the whole school and also to bring a short prophetic declaration about this generation. The week was amazing, it was glorious and the Holy Spirit showed up every day! The messages the staff shared on an individual day all lined up with each other, just exhibiting to me the orchestrating power of God in every circumstance of our lives. As I took time to ask students what they thought of the first week of class all I got back were raving reviews about how they felt more comfortable with the staff of their DTS. Most students that come to DTS think the staff are high and mighty with a 'holier than thou" mentality; but with our approach to the first week it broke all preconceived notions about the staff and showed the students that we are on the same level as them. This take on the first week opened almost every heart to build deep relationships with all of the staff very quickly.
The second week of this DTS we had a man by the name of Ivan Roman with us; he spoke on hearing the voice of God. Truthfully, I was expecting another average teaching on this topic and I didn't think I was going to get a lot out of it. I could almost spend the week half listening and half paying attention to the class environment. But as the week kicked off Ivan had all of our attention through his story telling methods, he began the week with telling the school several stories of his salvation and how he entered the ministry. The great thing about stories is they put everybody listening on the same level. The first day of teaching he really felt to hit on the orphan spirit, which is what has affected all of us before we realize that we've been adopted as sons and daughters of God, and then to impart, imparting is a process of laying on of hands and praying that what you have would be given to the person that you are praying for, and pray for the spirit of adoption to fill the students hearts. The reason for this is - that if you don't understand your position in the kingdom and your position as a child of the King you will tend to listen for the wrong voice when you are seeking to hear God. The rest of the week was spent teaching on hearing God's voice, prophetic ministry, baptism of the Holy Spirit, and dream interpretation. It was honestly the best teaching on hearing God's voice that I have ever had.
This week we are blessed to have the founder of our mission, Loren Cunningham. He is speaking on the foundations of missions and the first day was filled with gold nuggets of wisdom and truth. There is a high expectancy upon this week and we are so honored to have him with us.
I am still in need of approximately $5,000 toward my outreach expenses. I am leading a team this fall to Northern Ireland (more about that coming soon!). If you feel lead to give towards furthering His kingdom as this team goes forth, you can follow the link on the right hand side of my blog. As always, thank you for reading and God bless you.
Our first week of speakers was staff, which was an absolute blast. I got to take a slot of 30 minutes or so and I shared on 1st Corinthians 13, speaking on God's love for us and what it looks like toward us. As Awaken (the name of our DTS) we have done a lot of pioneering on this base in the area of breaking DTS out of the box that many have put it in. One of those things was having the staff take the whole first week of teaching and use that time to bring their testimony and share it with the whole school and also to bring a short prophetic declaration about this generation. The week was amazing, it was glorious and the Holy Spirit showed up every day! The messages the staff shared on an individual day all lined up with each other, just exhibiting to me the orchestrating power of God in every circumstance of our lives. As I took time to ask students what they thought of the first week of class all I got back were raving reviews about how they felt more comfortable with the staff of their DTS. Most students that come to DTS think the staff are high and mighty with a 'holier than thou" mentality; but with our approach to the first week it broke all preconceived notions about the staff and showed the students that we are on the same level as them. This take on the first week opened almost every heart to build deep relationships with all of the staff very quickly.
The second week of this DTS we had a man by the name of Ivan Roman with us; he spoke on hearing the voice of God. Truthfully, I was expecting another average teaching on this topic and I didn't think I was going to get a lot out of it. I could almost spend the week half listening and half paying attention to the class environment. But as the week kicked off Ivan had all of our attention through his story telling methods, he began the week with telling the school several stories of his salvation and how he entered the ministry. The great thing about stories is they put everybody listening on the same level. The first day of teaching he really felt to hit on the orphan spirit, which is what has affected all of us before we realize that we've been adopted as sons and daughters of God, and then to impart, imparting is a process of laying on of hands and praying that what you have would be given to the person that you are praying for, and pray for the spirit of adoption to fill the students hearts. The reason for this is - that if you don't understand your position in the kingdom and your position as a child of the King you will tend to listen for the wrong voice when you are seeking to hear God. The rest of the week was spent teaching on hearing God's voice, prophetic ministry, baptism of the Holy Spirit, and dream interpretation. It was honestly the best teaching on hearing God's voice that I have ever had.
This week we are blessed to have the founder of our mission, Loren Cunningham. He is speaking on the foundations of missions and the first day was filled with gold nuggets of wisdom and truth. There is a high expectancy upon this week and we are so honored to have him with us.
I am still in need of approximately $5,000 toward my outreach expenses. I am leading a team this fall to Northern Ireland (more about that coming soon!). If you feel lead to give towards furthering His kingdom as this team goes forth, you can follow the link on the right hand side of my blog. As always, thank you for reading and God bless you.
Saturday, June 18, 2011
What is DTS?
Greetings from Kona, Hawaii! It’s been awhile since I have posted a blog, so I am going to give all of those who read this blog a simple run down of what a DTS (Discipleship Training School) is, what we do and what our goal for DTS students is. A DTS is the flagship school of Youth With a Mission (YWAM). If anyone would like to be part of YWAM long term they are required to take a DTS before they can work with the mission. This may sound a little weird to some, but it is done this way so everyone who works with YWAM will be on the same page as far as beliefs and values go. DTS is a school that lasts six months. It consists of three months of lecture on topics such as the character and nature of God, hearing God's voice, and spiritual warfare, etc...; the next three months are spent on a field assignment (outreach). This is the application portion of the school where students put into practice all they have learned and seek out the lost so they can disciple them. As a staff, my role in the school is directly for the students, I take part in discipling a group of men for the lecture phase, having one on ones with them, where I take time with them and process what is going on in their lives at the current point in time. I am also blessed with the opportunity to lead an outreach team for the field assignment phase of the school.
What do we do in DTS? I have given a short summary above but I would like to dive deeper into this topic. Most people who come to DTS are either young in the Lord or sometimes they do not know the Lord yet. What we try to do through a DTS is lead people into a correct perspective of God and what his will and purpose is for their life. We do this through the teachings during the lecture phase and through the application of the teaching during the outreach portion. The school lectures are a time where speakers are brought in to teach specifically on a topic they are educated on and point students toward the correct view of Jesus, The Holy Spirit and God the Father. We see a lot of change in people during these teaching times, especially during the teaching on the Father Heart of God. During the lecture phase we have worship a few mornings a week and prayer (intercession) on the other mornings. After class students have work duties for a couple of hours and/or they have small groups or one on ones with staff. The small groups and one on ones are built into the schedule as a processing time for the students so they can talk about the lectures and anything that has arisen in their hearts concerning the topic. This is the basic layout of a DTS lecture phase, along with different odds and ends added in over the course of the three months.
I'll group the goal of DTS and what a field assignment is into this last paragraph. The field assignment of a DTS is a three month trip to a different location from the lecture phase. During this time students are going out from the base so they can put into practice what they have learned during the DTS. Sharing with others the love of Jesus and bringing others into the same revelations of God as they received during the lecture portion of DTS. It is really a time for the students to step out into their callings and to advance the Kingdom of God through showing the love of Jesus Christ; which leads me into the goal of DTS. Our goal is to graduate students who can model the same thing they have been witnessing during the DTS. We want to create a reproducible model of discipleship so that when students go home or when they go onto something else in missions they have a model to base what they do from. Our goal is not to fix people so they are all better, but to get people more intimate with their Father God, Jesus and The Holy Spirit, so they can continue to be sanctified even when they have left the DTS environment.
This is simply a short summary of what I am going to be doing for the next six months. If you would like to partner with me either in prayer or financially it would be an enormous blessing. You can contact me at Cbergus@gmail.com if you have any questions, would like to partner with me, or if you would like to know more about DTS. God Bless.
What do we do in DTS? I have given a short summary above but I would like to dive deeper into this topic. Most people who come to DTS are either young in the Lord or sometimes they do not know the Lord yet. What we try to do through a DTS is lead people into a correct perspective of God and what his will and purpose is for their life. We do this through the teachings during the lecture phase and through the application of the teaching during the outreach portion. The school lectures are a time where speakers are brought in to teach specifically on a topic they are educated on and point students toward the correct view of Jesus, The Holy Spirit and God the Father. We see a lot of change in people during these teaching times, especially during the teaching on the Father Heart of God. During the lecture phase we have worship a few mornings a week and prayer (intercession) on the other mornings. After class students have work duties for a couple of hours and/or they have small groups or one on ones with staff. The small groups and one on ones are built into the schedule as a processing time for the students so they can talk about the lectures and anything that has arisen in their hearts concerning the topic. This is the basic layout of a DTS lecture phase, along with different odds and ends added in over the course of the three months.
I'll group the goal of DTS and what a field assignment is into this last paragraph. The field assignment of a DTS is a three month trip to a different location from the lecture phase. During this time students are going out from the base so they can put into practice what they have learned during the DTS. Sharing with others the love of Jesus and bringing others into the same revelations of God as they received during the lecture portion of DTS. It is really a time for the students to step out into their callings and to advance the Kingdom of God through showing the love of Jesus Christ; which leads me into the goal of DTS. Our goal is to graduate students who can model the same thing they have been witnessing during the DTS. We want to create a reproducible model of discipleship so that when students go home or when they go onto something else in missions they have a model to base what they do from. Our goal is not to fix people so they are all better, but to get people more intimate with their Father God, Jesus and The Holy Spirit, so they can continue to be sanctified even when they have left the DTS environment.
This is simply a short summary of what I am going to be doing for the next six months. If you would like to partner with me either in prayer or financially it would be an enormous blessing. You can contact me at Cbergus@gmail.com if you have any questions, would like to partner with me, or if you would like to know more about DTS. God Bless.
Saturday, June 4, 2011
So it begins
Staff training... the road to the DTS. We have officially pulled onto the fast track highway to the Awaken DTS this summer. Starting on June first our staff group of 29 have had Jeremy West from the YWAM training base in Montana with us and will have him for another week and a half. He is sharing with us about staffing a DTS and what kind of mindset a staff needs to have as they step in to this amazing role that influences lives for years to come. He has also shared a lot about the basic principles of being a Christian and how they pertain to our role as staff.
The one thing that has impacted me the most that Jeremy has shared so far, has been how as staff, we have to remain in a stance of a disciple always. We have to continue to be teachable and never think we are above learning or in a place of knowing it all. The students we disciple this summer will always have something to share with us and just because we have been doing this thing (YWAM) longer should not mean we can't learn from those who have just entered into the radical Christian lifestyle. We've gone into what a disciple really is; they are a person who lives and shares the teaching of the one who is discipling them. As followers of Jesus, therefore, we've got to go out and share what we have learned. We must live our lives worthy of our calling and never think we can know it all, simply because He is infinite and we can constantly be learning more.
The second topic the Lord has highlighted to me out of all of the teaching we have received so far is that I am to be a person who conducts his life equal to the gravity of my calling. I can't expect to simply live my life as Christ would only at certain points, but I must always be looking at how I am living and how I can improve my actions. Out of all of this, the Lord has been highlighting to me that I must change the attitude of my mind, simply because all of my actions come from a belief system in my mind, whether correct or incorrect. I am to do my best to conduct myself as Christ would and the easiest way to find out how to do this is to read my bible and live a life in accordance with the word of God. Like Paul says in Romans, we will be transformed by the renewing of our minds, so to you all, conduct your life in accordance with the weightiness of your calling.
There is so much more on my heart and if I were to write it all it would be extremely long. If you would like me to expound on anything I have written it would be my joy and pleasure. You can email me at Cbergus@gmail.com. I enjoy hearing from you, by email or snail mail, it’s always good to hear from friends. Thank you for reading!
The one thing that has impacted me the most that Jeremy has shared so far, has been how as staff, we have to remain in a stance of a disciple always. We have to continue to be teachable and never think we are above learning or in a place of knowing it all. The students we disciple this summer will always have something to share with us and just because we have been doing this thing (YWAM) longer should not mean we can't learn from those who have just entered into the radical Christian lifestyle. We've gone into what a disciple really is; they are a person who lives and shares the teaching of the one who is discipling them. As followers of Jesus, therefore, we've got to go out and share what we have learned. We must live our lives worthy of our calling and never think we can know it all, simply because He is infinite and we can constantly be learning more.
The second topic the Lord has highlighted to me out of all of the teaching we have received so far is that I am to be a person who conducts his life equal to the gravity of my calling. I can't expect to simply live my life as Christ would only at certain points, but I must always be looking at how I am living and how I can improve my actions. Out of all of this, the Lord has been highlighting to me that I must change the attitude of my mind, simply because all of my actions come from a belief system in my mind, whether correct or incorrect. I am to do my best to conduct myself as Christ would and the easiest way to find out how to do this is to read my bible and live a life in accordance with the word of God. Like Paul says in Romans, we will be transformed by the renewing of our minds, so to you all, conduct your life in accordance with the weightiness of your calling.
There is so much more on my heart and if I were to write it all it would be extremely long. If you would like me to expound on anything I have written it would be my joy and pleasure. You can email me at Cbergus@gmail.com. I enjoy hearing from you, by email or snail mail, it’s always good to hear from friends. Thank you for reading!
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