Marriage of the Arts DTS-It's just the beginning...

Hey its been a while since I wrote here, but for good reason! Its only been 2 weeks since MOTA started but already it is reshaping what a DTS should look like. From the opening night we put the students into a ramshackle refugee camp scenario. This involved them sleeping outside, being confined to a small area and only using a small bit of plastic to build their tents. The heart behind this excercise was to encourage the students to drop their pretenses, learn to be flexible and adaptable, and to get back to basics. Through the days they were in the camp we also educated them on the realities of life for the 43 million people in the world that are classified as refugees or internally displaced people. This experience was eye opening to so many of the students as they sought God's heart for people and got to know one another very quickly.

The first week of teaching was by Mike Oman who is amazing! The staff had the honor of having him train us for a week beforehand and so we knew a little bit of what the students were getting themselves into. He spoke on 'The Father Heart of God" and his authenticity and compassion affected many students deeply. It was an emotional roller coaster of a first week.

Week 2 was an anomally for YWAM Herrnhut as both DTS's currently running were unable to find suitable speakers. The leaders decided to have a 'faith week' which for the first 2 days involved the students listening to some of the amazing stories people at the base had to share. On Wednesday we threw the classroom format out the window and decided that if students were to learn about faith then they should do so with the one they believe in. We divided them into groups of 4 or 5 and challenged them to a 3 day faith walk with only a euro each.

Predictably this concept was overwhelming to many of them but they all rose to the challenge with 120 students and 20 staff leaving Herrnhut via any means necessary. The purpose of this challenge was to go out into the world, to bless others however we could and to use art and to glorify God in everything. What happened was an incredible outpouring of God's love and provision as he provided above and beyond for his children. Many of us had to sleep in parks,  many more still were blessed with beds and hot food but most importantly all of us had the tremendous opportunity to talk to, pray for and bless people right across the region. It was amazing to come back on Saturday and to see beaming faces and to hear the stories of God's faithfulness in all areas. In the coming days I will post more of their stories and photos.

Along with the regular work of staffing a DTS a group of us are heading up a magazine as a follow up to the ATOM magazine from earlier this year. Please pray as it gets underway that we would be able to use this medium as an effective way to get the stories of God's goodness out to those that need to hear it.