Being Equipped to Equip - Our time in Montana
- carlenmr
- May 7, 2023
- 2 min read
Pictures: 1. On the ferry 3-4. On the train 5-6. YWAM Montana 7. Mark and E'lon outside dorm 8. April and Mark in class 9. The sequence of God's story illustrated 10-16. presentation and worship
Dear Friends and Family,
We arrived by ferry and train just 5 weeks ago and are entering our final week of our “DTS Equip” leadership class at YWAM Montana-Lakeside and have to say it has been a challenge, but completely worthwhile. We have learned so much that we have trouble knowing where to start.
Let’s see, we started with teachings on Sonship vs. Slavery and how we see our relationship with God. We also had teachings on the fear of the Lord, discipling people with difficult backgrounds, awareness of emotional triggers, secularism and how it has seeped into the church and how we as missionaries need to be careful not to disciple secularism into the mission field. We also had lessons on the Biblical view of sexuality and why so many are falling for the lies that Western culture is promoting.
The two textbooks in the class are "The Complete Book of Discipleship" by Bill Hull, published by Navpress, and "Conformed to His Image" by Ken Boa, published by Zondervan. They are excellent books that we would recommend as they challenge the Western Church's approach to Discipleship.
We are also learning how to put together a DTS and lead it. You would not believe how much work and prayer goes into the 5–6-month school. It seems like seldom a minute is wasted as everything is seen as a teachable moment.
1. April's outreach team 2. Mark's outreach team with a pastor and his family 3-5 Flathead Lake 6. a church sign in Lakeside 7-8. Ministering to Lighthouse Christian Home for the Developmentally Disabled
This past week we spent the entire time planning and working an outreach here in the Flathead valley of Montana. It was eye-opening as we could see the need for outreach even in an area that seems to have a lot of Christians. This final week will be filled with more lessons, exams, presentations and then graduation. We figure we’ll get to breathe when it is all finished.
We can see how valuable much of this information is and hope we can share it with many of you and with those back in Discovery Bay and along the Olympic Peninsula.
On Friday, May 12, we will head to Colorado for a couple weeks for a wedding and E’Lon’s graduation. For those of you living in Colorado, we would love to connect, but need to plan ahead since our time is short. Please let us know if you have free time, day or evening that we could get together.
We sent out an invitation for E'Lon's graduation reception on Sunday, May 28th from 2:00-4:00 at April's parents' house in Peyton, through Smilebox to those of you who are family and live in Colorado. Please look for it and let us know if you did not receive it. E'Lon will be sharing about her DTS in Perth, Australia and Outreach to Paris, Munich Germany and Amsterdam.
May you have the peace that only God can give,
Mark, April and E'lon
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