BIG NEWS FOR US!
It has been an exciting week here at YWAM Honolulu. On Tuesday at our weekly staff meeting Mike and Vivian Heath announced to our staff that they would be stepping down from leading the ministry of YWAM Honolulu and that Chris and I would step into their roles. We are very honored and humbled by this turn of events. We have loved YWAM Honolulu for many years, it has become our home and our family. We feel God has been preparing us for this role for the last few years and when the opportunity was presented to us it was not a difficult choice to make. I am sure there are many questions people have about this change of leadership so if you are one of those asking questions check out the Q & A below, hopefully I answered your questions. If I did not shoot me an email and I would love to do so. We are very much in need of your prayers and support as we take this new step on our journey.
How long have you known?
In October Chris’s parents came out for a visit. Around that time Chris’s mom Joy Solima had a prophetic prayer which prompted her to encourage us that we may be offered leadership at YWAM Honolulu. She strongly encouraged us to be prayed up and ready with an answer if that did happen. Thankfully we have learned to take her dreams seriously.
Shortly after that Mike and Vivian started processing the idea of taking a sabbatical. We knew if they did that then they would most likely be coming back to YWAM Honolulu in a different capacity. It has been our hope for a long time to see them released to pursue their passions.
Last week Nov 26-30 Danny Lehman (the Hawaiian Islands Director) was in Honolulu to share with our DTS students. As he processed with Mike and Vivian it became obvious to all of them that God was moving Mike and Vivian forward to go into a time of sabbatical. With that decision made they felt led to ask us to take on the responsibility of leading YWAM Honolulu. So the short answer to the question is...we have only known for 1 week. We have however felt the Lord preparing us for awhile and thanks to Chris’s parents we were ready to give an answer when approached with this decision.
What will Mike and Vivian do next?
Mike and Vivian have always carried a heart for long term missions. They have been church planters in Asia and have a passion for frontier missions. It has been their aim the entire time they have been at YWAM Honolulu to work connecting the local body of Christ with frontier missions. I am pleased to tell you that when they return from their 6 month sabbatical that they will be released to do this full time. Our prayer is that during their sabbatical they will find rest and refreshment the Lord as well as get energized with new vision and dreams about what is to come.
Who will lead the DTS program?
There is no one whom we feel is the obvious choice at this time to lead the entire program. That being said the DTS is very healthy and strong. We currently have an amazing team of DTS staff! We have experienced school leaders scheduled to lead the next 2 schools and Chris and I will still have the privilege of discipling the staff which has been our primary focus since taking on the DTS director role. Our staff are all very capable of running the day to day events of the school and we will continue to oversee the whole. In looking towards the future we expect God will raise up new permanent leaders for the DTS program.
Are there any new changes that you will implement immediately?
No we feel it is best to transition any major changes slowly. We truly love the staff and ministry that we are apart of and the last thing we want to do is bring insecurity to anyone as we make this transition into leadership. Of course there are many things we feel God has put on our heart but we want to work with the other staff and our leadership team to pray about the vision for the future and any changes God would call us to make.
How can you pray for us?
#1. Chris and I are coming upon our 3 year anniversary on Dec 16th. If you had told us 3 years ago in that little chapel in Las Vegas that in the next 3 years we would run 2 Bible Core Course, 3 Discipleship Training Schools, become students in the School of Missions and Evangelism and lead an outreach team to Vietnam as well as visit The Philippines, India, Thailand, Cambodia, Thailand, Nepal, China, Mexico and by our 3rd anniversary we would become the new leaders at YWAM Honolulu I would not have believed you. Pray for our young marriage as we are 2 strong personalities that have the potential to compliment each others strengths tremendously and make a great team. We are unfortunately also capable of driving one another totally nuts. Pray for us as we step into this responsibility that we would love and prefer each other, that we would grow and celebrate each others strengths and offer grace for each others weaknesses. Pray that we would walk in wisdom and humility and more than anything that we would have the courage to do what the Lord asks of us because we believe He has great plans for YWAM Honolulu!
#2. We have stepped into leadership at a time where as a base we have some major challenges ahead. It is our plan to restore 4 of our buildings in 2013. This will of course present housing and financial challenges and require a lot of flexibility and grace on everyone’s part. Housing has for a long time been a major challenge for YWAM Honolulu. We are praying about future growth and know that changes must be made. Pray for us as we seek God for direction, faith and favor for the next chapter.
#3. We are struggling with infertility. I have found out this year that I have PCOS. In short this means in is VERY difficult for us to become parents naturally. I am however making lots of dietary changes and have learned a great deal about health through this process. We are praying about our options which include seeking out infertility treatment, waiting, or looking into adoption. On a somewhat side note though still related I have felt a major pull towards foster care. We went to an informational meeting and are seeking more information about this. You can pray for wisdom, health and faith in God, we know that He is ever good!
