to look back at the vineyard
to reap the harvest
to gather the gold that
You have poured out
The times are changing. This spring I am wrapping up my season of missions with YWAM. These next months will be a time to pass things over to the next team, training, encouraging, and setting them up for success. To be honest, it's a bittersweet, strange in-between season. What's next isn't clear yet, I'm leaning back and trusting God's timing with revealing that. This spring is full of a heart beaming with thanksgiving.
There is still work to be done! At the end of January, we welcomed the Spring 2024 Creative & Outdoor Discipleship Training School. 31 students from a dozen different nations - 31 young people who said yes to Jesus. The next three months they will be trained and equipped to know Jesus and to make Him known in the nations. During the first week, I facilitated a creative afternoon, where each student practiced hearing God's voice and making a prophetic piece of art. For many, this was way outside of their comfort zone, but they went for it! Afterwards, I chatted with someone and they had never done something like it - the joy in their face, as they discovered a new way to spend time with Jesus, a way that they really enjoyed, was so good.
I have a new group of Fine Art students, representing 5 nations; France, Ukraine, USA, England, and the Netherlands. We will meet twice a week to practice creative and spiritual disciplines like conceptualizing, co-creating with the Holy Spirit, prophetic art, and exploring new mediums. It's a wild time discipling creatives. I am so expectant for what God is going to do through them and their art. One of the students shared a testimony of unlocking a new dimension to her relationship with Jesus, by inviting His spirit into her creative process. Come on!! Deeper intimacy with the Creator is a beautiful gift.
Another way I have been building kingdom culture is through our media communications. This Spring I will lead, develop and train our new media team. Our vision is to create high quality media content that encourages and activates young people to live their life for Jesus! We want to share stories of what God is doing and ways we can be apart of it. It's been really fun to have another creative outlet and to find a new way to multiple what God is doing. Over the years, I've learned how impactful social media can be, when we use it to honour God.
This is my fifth school I've been apart of, to some degree at least. That's around 145 people I've met, lived in community with, and walked with some more closely - within in 2.5 years. That's pretty wild. It's years filled of God's goodness, faithfulness, protection, love, and creativity! In my next update, I will share about the Fall 2023 school coming back from outreach and celebrating their graduation. More stories to come.
Peace and love
Jewell