On January 10th, we wished our dear friend/summer intern Alex Powell well as he set out on a new adventure with YWAM (Youth With A Mission). Alex will be spending the next 3 months going through DTS (Discipleship Training School) in Honolulu, Hawaii before heading to Asia for 2 1/2 months of outreach. It has been such a joy working with Alex over the past year. We are excited to see him boldly step out in faith and into this next phase of life. We are confident God will use this time to grow Alex even more closer to Him and the call HE has upon his life. God bless you Alex, we love you and will miss you! Thank you for your heart to serve.
Here is the letter Alex wrote to his family and friends in regards to is new adventure with YWAM (Youth With A Mission). In it he shares how he worked with GTD over the summer.
Here is letter Alex wrote to his family and friends in regards to is new adventure with YWAM (Youth With A Mission). In it he shares how he worked with GTD over the summer.
***Special Note***
Keep in mind after reading this, all of Alex's funds have been raised....P.J. (Praise Jesus)!
To My Family and Friends,
I have been accepted to Youth With A Mission Discipleship Training School in Honolulu, Hawaii. God is so good and He has made it clear to me that he has called me to go YWAM in this season of my life. I feel so blessed knowing this is where Jesus wants me and I am so excited for the opportunity to grow deeper in my relationship with Jesus and share His love with others.
So here's a little background on how this all came to be. I was interning with an adventure ministry called Going the Distance for a couple months this past summer. During that time I was given the opportunity to share my testimony with the different groups, lead devotions in the morning, and share what God was showing me in scripture. I felt that God was putting it on my heart to attend a Christian College and pursue a degree in ministry. I shared this with a friend, the founder of the adventure ministry, Doug Garner as well as some other group leaders that attended the camp. They agreed and they encouraged me to pursue it. When I got back home from the summer I was given the opportunity by head football coach, Blake Engelhardt, to help coach football at Keswick Christian School. Back in high school, Blake was my bible teacher my junior year and I was his teacher's aide my senior year. When I rededicated my life back to the Lord my junior year Blake was there with me and was there to love on me, encourage me, and lead me in prayer. He has been a mentor in my life that I trust a lot. One day after practice he told me about YWAM and its two step format of discipleship training and then going out into the mission field. He told me how he thought this would be a perfect fit for me right now. After Blake told me about YWAM, I went home and excitedly researched it. Once I learned more about it I fell in love with what YWAM does. It was all I could think about for the next couple of days. I wasn’t sure at first if this was me being excited about it or God giving me a passion to do this. So I spent the next two weeks praying about it. I told my parents, close friends and my college pastor about it and they all thought this would be an amazing opportunity. I felt they were confirming what God was doing in me.
I will be attending the winter session of Discipleship Training School (DTS) beginning on January 14, 2016 and will graduate June 19, 2016. DTS is divided into two phases. The first phase is the lecture phase which is 3 months of full time learning with some courses offering college credit. In this phase I will be going through times of lecture, worship, intercessory prayer, evangelism, daily personal quiet times, community outreach, etc. This intensive training will prepare me for what to expect and how to respond in the second phase, the outreach phase, which is about 2 ½ months. Outreach is a time when I can give myself to the needy, the desperate, the broken and the lost. It is my chance to see God use me in new ways and watch Him be faithful. I don’t know exactly what I will be doing but it could consist of trekking through villages preaching the gospel, teaching English, preaching in local churches, taking care of widows and orphans, praying for the sick to be healed, working on clean water projects or helping re-build a community after a natural disaster, to name a few. It's exciting because I do not know what country I will be serving in until just before I leave! I believe after this experience I will have a deeper understanding of the passions God has put on my heart, and what he has in store for my life.
I am asking for your support both prayerfully and financially. I know this calling will not be possible without prayer. Financially I need to raise approximately $8,000.00 so I can be a part of this amazing opportunity. I truly appreciate any donation you are able to make. Please keep me in your prayers as I know I cannot move without the power of God and the help of His Church.
In His Service,
Alex Powell
