YWAM Harpenden

Re:Engage 2008

Admin — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 08:53:04 +0000

Re:Engage 2008 is almost here. Get involved by going to www.reengage.net. You can also spread the word by clicking on the poster below and downloading a high resolution poster to print out.

Temporary Cafe!

Admin — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 10:37:02 +0000

This weekend, we are hosting over 150 young people for the football tournament!

The Oval Cafe will be opening temporarily to accommodate this group, and to begin training staff. The cafe will be open at various times between now and the grand opening, which is currently scheduled for July 1st!! This gives us time to finish updating the furniture, train staff, hang pictures on the wall, etc.

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If you are interested in serving in the cafe at any time in the future, please email Whitney at: wrandall@oval.com to arrange to join one of the staff training times. You will not be allowed to work in the cafe unless you have had the proper training.

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We are very excited at being so close to the birth of this new Oval ministry – please pray for everything to go smoothly, and if you’re around, feel free to offer your help and support to Whitney and the rest of the team!

SOW update

Admin — Tue, 27 May 2008 09:41:24 +0000

Hi, my name is Corinne Wenger, I come from Switzerland and I’m 31 years old. I’ve been here in the School of Worship for 5 weeks.

These weeks were very good, interesting, funny, exciting but also very challenging. I’m sharing my room with 3 other girls from South Korea, Colombia and the USA. Not having a lot of time where i can be alone is challenging, but I learn a lot!!! Living together is sometimes difficult, especially when there are 4 different cultures together.

The school itself is very interesting! So far we had themes like Worship Leading and Team Work, Historical and Biblical basis of Worship, Worship and Praise, Intercession and Spiritual Warfare, The Character and Lifestyle of a Worshipper. God is really challenging me in many areas. Sometimes it hurts to let things go, to change, to let God work on my heart, to see how wrong I am in certain areas…

But still I’m very glad I’m here and have time to come before God and let him change my heart, so I can become the woman he wants me to be!!!

Well I’m excited to know what God has planned for the next 7 weeks and the Outreach… Must be great things as I know God is great… ;o)

BAM News!

Admin — Wed, 21 May 2008 15:31:35 +0000

May 2008, from YWAM’s Business As Mission Resource Team

“The one who calls you is faithful and he will do it.” (I Thess. 5:24)

In December 2006, as we were meeting with some business as mission practitioners, our team felt strongly that we were to develop and run a training course that would be a bridge to the field for those seeking to get involved in business as mission. After a few months of transition, we came together in April 2007 again to seek God in the development of what is now called the Introduction to Business As Mission (iBAM) Course.

As a step of faith, after some prayer and serious discussion, we set out to run the first course at the end of January 2008. As a team we brainstormed and planned the different aspects of the course that needed to be developed. We set our sights on a high mountain trusting that the Lord would guide our path.

We developed the curriculum in partnership with experienced BAM practitioners, seasoned business professionals, lecturers and training specialists. The vision for this training is to prepare and launch individuals and teams into successful business as mission initiatives. The course is designed to take men and women with a calling to business and equip them on their journey to become cross-cultural entrepreneurs for the Kingdom of God.

A key element that the Lord put on our heart was to run this training in a place that is a central location in proximity to established business as mission initiatives. This led us to explore the possibility of running the 6 week course in Chiang Mai, Thailand. With a strong sense of confirmation we went ahead and organized to run the course in a hotel, with the hope of having 20 participants.

Now that side of things was a challenge! As good and diligent as we sought to be in communicating to advertise the course, we knew only God could bring them in. We had times when we felt quite desperate and unsure whether we would even reach 10 participants. We came together to pray a couple of times as a team specifically about this, and both times we saw a new release of people applying within the following few days. It was a real encouragement and a very humbling process.

This incredible journey resulted in a transformational 6 weeks course. The teachers were excellent, bringing profound truth from the word of God and teaching about the realities of doing Business As Mission. It was a privilege to see some of that first hand while on the field trips to China, Cambodia, Indonesia, and Northern Thailand. These trips were a catalyst for deeper understanding about the facts and reality of doing business cross culturally, done to see the Kingdom of God where it is not.

The business coaching and workshops were essential to the course. Business planning, marketing, and financial management workshops were delivered by our resident business coaches. Their availability and commitment to work one on one with participants as well as their great insight and wisdom helped many in their business planning and ‘next steps’ process.

We are thankful to God and want to testify to His faithfulness. He spoke to us about this training and He worked with us to make it a reality. We will be running the course again next year, 24th January to 7th March, 2009, in Chiang Mai, Thailand. For more information visit our website (www.businessasmission.com)

Here is some of the feedback we received about the course from participants:
“The iBAM course gave me a better understanding and through the course I got a clearer view of my business and transformational goals…… I’m better able to integrate biblical thinking into my business.”

“The iBAM course provided a variety of experienced BAM practitioners, coaches and resources in one place for a period of intensive BAM equipping.”

Cafe Coming Soon!

Admin — Fri, 16 May 2008 10:50:32 +0000

This has been an exciting week in the Cafe as Yan has been working hard to finish the bar area!

Peter also helped install the wall cabinets

Tamara and Whitney pose behind the bar.

A view from the bar area, looking out to the rest of the room.

Some future tables, glasses, mirrors, etc.

We are also very excited about the beautiful fireplace that has been generously donated to the Cafe, check out the Fireplace Transformation blog for some photos!

The coffee machines and other important equipment are on their way from California thanks to Whitney and her connections there, some who have given us a huge discount, and others who have arranged all the shipping details. We can’t wait to get the machines and start making some quality coffee!

First week of SOW!

Admin — Thu, 15 May 2008 15:50:55 +0000

Hi there! My name is Heather Brunoehler, Im 25 years old. I am in the School Of Worship 2008 in Harpenden. This has been a very interesting, exciting and a little tough first week of the School of Worship. I only had previous training in worship through a year and a half of a Worship Internship, but never left the USA. This first week and into the second week, we have been focusing on music theory and band time. It is very good and a bit of a challenge because music theory was always so hard to understand in my college years and seemed to just fly over my my head. As the week went on with our amazing teacher, Julia Berent, God revealed the depth of music to me. I can actually say that I understand 90% more than I ever have before. It was such a revelation to me, and an inspiration as well. I can’t believe how creative God is. So I hope that you understand some of my struggles, but also see how God can use them to both inspire and teach us. I am so excited to see what is next for us.

Cafe Fireplace Transformation

Admin — Thu, 15 May 2008 08:52:30 +0000

Covering up the “Sleeping Beauty Castle” tiles!

Gluing the granite pieces into place… realizing some of the measurements were a bit off!

Top piece of granite needed to be re-sized.

Colin is very happy to see all the granite fit into place!

Attempting to slide the fireplace into position…

More sizing adjustments!

Finally all put together!

Colin and Yan very pleased with the end result!

Testing the fire… yep, it works!

Our beautiful new, shiny fireplace!!!

A different side of Missions

Admin — Thu, 08 May 2008 13:44:58 +0000

I joined YWAM Harpenden as staff in November of last year to work in one of the ministry offices. In my time here so far, it has been interesting to see what life is like ‘behind the scenes’ as it were of a mission organisation that is generally regarded as on the frontline of missions. What do I see most? I see the needs that we have.
In many ways it can be very fulfilling to work here. Getting things done, seeing things happen through your ministry. But there can also be a greatly frustrating ‘hobbled’ feeling - that no matter how hard we work, if we are to realise our potential there is always more that needs to be done than we have time and people to do. We are held back by circumstances seemingly out of our control.
From where I am just now, the limiting factor isn’t that we don’t have enough people from the UK, or that we don’t have enough men, or that we don’t have enough people who are visionaries, or anything like that. It is the dearth of people that serve as accountants, receptionists, and IT workers. Those that do, are invaluable and do a sterling job.
The trouble is, these are the jobs that don’t appear to have a place in missions. People find it hard to believe that you can be a missionary accountant. And for those that do feel called, it is often hard to raise support. There is still a misconception that to be a missionary you have to go overseas; that to serve in missions means being an evangelist and so on. But they most definitely do have a place here. We cannot run our ministry’s website by ourselves. Without an accountant, our ministry and base are going to struggle to keep tabs on bills and the money supporters send us. And as our ministry, base and mission grow, these people become an even more important part in keeping things going day by day; on the days when there aren’t outreaches or big events happening just as much as the days when there are.
It is difficult to recruit people who want to serve in roles such as these. Our DTS’s focus on firing people up for mission and evangelism, and rightly so. So how and from where do these vital people come to us?
We ask God to call them to us, and trust that He will.

Peter, UK

Blackpool Outreach

Admin — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 11:30:04 +0000

We’ve just come back from our outreach in Blackpool. We had no idea whatsoever that this would be our destination until about 2 weeks before the end of the lecture phase. We were praying as a group that God would reveal to us where He wanted us to go for the last 15 days of the UK outreach, since it still looked pretty much unsorted. The answer was Blackpool.We were hosted by a church in the most needy area of Blackpool. Their hospitality and generosity were amazing! We all felt as part of a family there. During our time there we were able to pray for the city, considered to be one of the darkest places in England, and speak life onto it. We also prayed for our host church, the spheres of society and people we came across. We picked up trash on the streets, helped out at a cafe that is run by a lovely couple from the church who happened to be my hosts, and got actively involved in activities at the church such as giving testimonies and leading Bible study, Sunday School and Prayer Meeting.

The highlight of this outreach though, was, for most of us, helping out at the Hope Project. The project consists of bringing hope to the homeless people in Blackpool by providing food, clothes and assistance for them. I got in touch with many beautiful and valuable people so full of potential who have gone through lots of pain in their lives. I felt helpless and all I wanted to do was stay quiet, look them in the eyes and listen to them. We were able to pray for the original design of almost everyone there and give them words of encouragement from God. It was touching to see some people with tears in their eyes as we were telling them how precious they are to God. We also handed out leaflets about the Hope Project in 3 big blocks of flats where apparently most drug dealers and addicts are concentrated. It was quite an adventure…

I was so blown away by how much the leaders of the project care for people. There’s so much love in their eyes that, honestly, I just wanted to stay near them just to feel a bit of that love. As I watched people all excited gather around the van to get something to eat, I remembered that passage in Matthew 25 which says: “whatever you did for the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me”. I could visualise Jesus Himself queueing to receive pot-noodles, coffee, a new pair of jeans and love. A massive amount of love.

We went to Blackpool to bless that city but I reckon we ended up being the ones who were blessed the most.

Ester, Brazil

Season of Transition and Blessings

Admin — Fri, 18 Apr 2008 08:41:54 +0000

My husband Jon and I moved to the Oval just over 3 months ago to work with the DTS Centre. I must admit it was quite the experience to show up with 5 suitcases to an empty flat and a new community. We have spent some time in the UK previously, but the changes in moving here add a lot more to the mix; finding furniture, setting up a bank account, learning new jobs, living in community and finding how to “set up home” in a new country is quite the transition. There have been times of being very overwhelmed, we’re learning as we go, but we’ve also experienced many wonderful blessings along the way. It’s been amazing to see God’s provision from furniture to food to the small things that are making the Oval feel like home to us. The trees are currently blooming and there are signs of spring everywhere as we move into the next season of the year. I’m also learning to enjoy each season in life as we go through them. I’m thankful for this season of moving and transitioning, but I’m also looking forward to the upcoming seasons as well. And only God knows what He has planned in the seasons ahead!

Leah, USA