What's happening in Awaken?
Lots has been happening as we have started to figure out outreach locations and praying about this summer. Speakers have been set for the weeks. Flights have been booked by the students. We have 70 students accepted right now. About 20 more ready to be accepted. And about 20 or 30 more that have started applications. We are expecting around 100 students, so this is going to be a big DTS! It's intimidating but so rad that the Lord is bringing so many people here. At first we had about 70% girls accepted and we started praying for guys to apply and God has been bringing them in! I am so excited for the students to get here. There is so much more we have to prepare but I can't wait to see how God moves in the hearts of those coming here. It is going to be incredible!
One thing that has been in the works is that a few of us staff have been meeting as a media team. Awaken is seeking to head towards media in order to start spreading stories and art about what God is doing in Kona and in the nations. What is fueling us is that media is the second biggest influence on a culture. There are so many crazy, inspiring stories happening out in the world that we hear about because we are living on a big missions base. However, there is not consistent effort by Christians to get these stories of a real God out into the world! YWAM as a whole is trying to change that with new initiatives revolving around news sites, documentaries, and websites. Not only do we want to spread stories, but we want to use art to communicate who Jesus is to the world. Drawings, paintings, poems, and photos can all display the beauty of creating with the Lord. Within Awaken we want to use the creative gifts of our staff and students to communicate to the world about the goodness and faithfulness of God not only through stories of outreach, but of what God is doing in our hearts as well. As a photographer (among other things), this is so exciting! We have so many creative people on our staff with tons of great ideas. Lot's of things are really coming together to happen in the school this year. Championing students to use their creative talents to spread the kingdom of God is going to be amazing. I can't wait to share with you all what will be coming up! Stay tuned.
Next week we start corporate staff training with the staff of other school and all the technical things of this summer. In 2 weeks we will see about 200 students set off into the nations from the schools this quarter!
I know I am heading into a really busy season and I hear from others that staffing a DTS is definitely tough, but I am so ready to jump in! I may not be fully prepared, but the Lord constantly gives me peace that it's His strength alone that I should rely on.
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