West Coast Staff Conference, August 26-28th 2006

I am writing this a little tired from our very long drive. We left the conference in Chico, CA, at about 4.30pm yesterday and drove straight through the night arriving home at just after 5am thismorning. At that time I went to bed, waking up at about 1pm - needless to say my body is a little confused!

However, our time in Chico we wonderful. The YWAM base in Chico is an old hotel with natural hot springs, so it looks pretty grand. They have a pool and some sports facilities so we were able to enjoy time in the sunshine (when we weren't in meetings!)

It was good for so many reasons for me and I think this will be the first of many entries about our time as I process this week.

Our base here in Seattle is in a stage of transition right now. We are losing a large number of staff as people leave to pursue new things, this is exciting, but leaves us without as many people to facilitate the programs we run. We now have about 15 staff (and 9 kids!) so it was a special and much needed time to reconnect with one another as we are looking to God for direction and vision for our next season as a base.

Having just the 13 of us at the conference (one family was unable to attend) meant we were able to fit into one of the bedrooms each afternoon and for an hour and a half could talk through what we were learning in the teaching times and share the things God was speaking to us. It was so special to sit together like this and I know that I feel closer to the others through that time.

I had an opportunity to share the desire that God has given for for intercession. The morning session had talked about how intercession is a core value of YWAM as a mission and how in more recent times we have lost our passion for it and have not been faithful to sit before God in the way he called us to. I know that God has been speaking to me about this for a while in regards to our base, but I have not known what to do about it and so have done nothing. I felt very convicted and shared this with my friends at our meeting. I know that God has such a huge heart for the people and city of Seattle and I know he has things he wants to share with us but we have not given Him an opportunity by simply asking.

I plan on building the topic of intercession into the coming DTS and hope to grow a crazy passion in the hearts of our students to hear God as they pray. I know God is continuing to grow this passion in me and I want to make time for it to be a part of my life and not simply something I do while a program is running.

It is a big tension here in YWAM Seattle, to make our lives sustainable. That we wouldn't be a certain way and do certain things like volunteering downtown, and praying together just during the DTS, or Mission Adventures. We want to live lives which students would come alongside during those programs, but that would be real and true to who we are throughout the year. We must model lives which are attainable, that needs to be our goal... I haven't fully finished this thought in my head, and I certainly don't have a 'how to' list, so I guess 'Watch this Space?!'