YWAM Pismo Beach Structure

I thought it would be helpful, in my blog post this week, to explain the structure of the base and talk a little about the staff.

Currently, we have thirteen staff at YWAM Pismo:

Will
Lori
Brandon
Kirsten
Lauren
Natasha
Jaque
Cat
Cody
Tyler
Stephanie
Paulina
ME!

Base Ministry:  Our base has 15 departments (also called committees or ministries) that help it run.  These departments cover all the basic needs of the base: physical, financial, communications, administrative, spiritual, etc.  For instance, we need people to make sure we have paper clips, that checks are processed, that the toilet gets cleaned, that bills are paid, that people know about our base, and that we are doing the things we are called to do!  We share these responsibilities by serving within these departments.  Everybody serves in at least three, everybody facilitates at least one.  Some people also have personal ministries, which I can tell more about later.  We try to get all our work done, both for the base and personal ministries, during our work hours.  This just helps to keep us accountable for how we spend our time and also keeps our lives relevant to the culture in which we live.  A little story from yesterday will be a good example of how we all "wear different hats" and how that works together:

Lauren and Cat are both part of our Outreach Department and were going to the store to buy supplies.  I was with them on their errand because I had an errand of my own.  While we were out, I needed to take an hour from our work day for a last-minute appointment.  Lauren is on Guidance Committee (which is like the human resources department) and Cat, being in the Administrative department, is the person who is responsible for tracking time off and time away from base.  They were exactly the people I needed to communicate with!  They put on their administrative hats for a moment, we talked about the business side of what needed to be covered.  It was such a blessing!  Then they put on their supportive ministry friend hats and prayed with me.  Another amazing blessing.

The departments I am on are:

Hospitality
Intercession, Worship, and Spiritual Warfare
Outreach
Staff Development

People also have personal ministries and the base hosts two schools.  I can talk more about those another day.  I  hope this gives you a more clear glimpse into my life at YWAM Pismo Beach.

Forgiveness

This week during our silence and solitude time, which we have once a month, I spent a couple hours contemplating the work of the cross.  I remembered a teaching on the difference between mercy and grace. 

GRACE = God DOES give us what we DON'T deserve.

MERCY = God DOESN'T give us what we DO deserve.

Mercy and grace are the work of the cross within an individual's life, but I have been thinking more and more about the corporate work of the cross.  I know what it means that Jesus paid the price for my sin, but what does it mean to me that He paid for my neighbor's sin?  If He was able to fulfill God's justice through His sacrifice, to pay the debt I owed to God, can't He also pay to me the debt of injury from my neighbor's sin against me?  To forgive is to acknowledge my neighbor owes me and to release him from that debt, but then I bear the cost of his debt.  But the work of Jesus on the cross means that *I* do not have to bear that cost...Jesus can.  


Maybe a simple example with money will help.  Let's say that Joe owes me $50.  If I forgive him that $50, I'm still short $50.  So then I bear the cost.  But if someone, say, Jesus, gives me $50, then he bears the cost.  Jesus died so that we can love one another truly, free from sin, selfishness, and self-protection.  


So many in this world have endured abuses that can never be repaid to them, the cost of which they cannot bear.  When we go continually to people to collect a debt they can never repay, we come up empty and wounded.  When we step with holy confidence out of the debt they cannot pay and turn to Jesus, we find the life they could not give.  

Prophetic Painting

I have actually been doing "prophetic art" for years without realizing it.  God will speak in my heart, "Draw what you see." and when the picture is done, He will speak to me through the art I just made.  The process is like prayer, and the final product speaks something in God's heart that I need to know.  The last several weeks God has been speaking to me through color and texture.  I will try to get a better picture for the February Scrapbook, but I thought I would post the one I made tonight.  I called the file name "fire cocoon".  :-)  I could tell you what it means, but it's way more fun to hear what everyone else says first.

Delight

I would like to take a moment and clarify some things from last weeks post.

I still work for YWAM.  I have made a two year commitment here, and they have made a two year commitment to me. 

Stepping down from the DTS was in no way disciplinary.  Stephanie, the school leader, sat down with me and through tears said, basically, "What God is doing in your life is more important than my ministry.  I want you to take a break and focus on Him."  It goes down in history as one of the singularly most loving moments of my life, as Stephanie and the rest of the staff had to step up in the places where I had been serving.  They laid down their lives for me, which the Bible tells us is the test of love, that you would lay down your life for your friends.

If I am slightly vague about what God is doing in my life, it is because I don't really understand.  I posted a few of the themes that come up repetitively, consistently, across lots of different groups of friends.  It's okay not to understand completely.  Part of the reason I don't understand is because He is doing in me something I have not seen, heard, or imagined, and this is good.

When I'm not being swept off my feet by a passionate loving God who wants all of me, I am working (with Him) on my other base ministries. 

• Staff Development  This is basically "continuing education" for the staff on the base here.  You can see why, since these people have sacrificed so that I can seek the Lord on a deeper level, I would want to sow back into them by arranging speakers, finding sermons, and arranging workshops so that they too can grow in the Lord.I am facilitator. 
•  House Representative This is a new role for me, but we all take turns.  Remember that the governing structure of our base is a flat leadership structure.  Well, instead of trying to get 13 people together once a week, we have a meeting as a house, and then the house representative goes to meet with the other house representatives at the Operations Meeting.  Confused?  Draw yourself a diagram.  It will make more sense.  Anyway, being the House Rep helps me understand the process better...and believe me...I have lots of questions.
• In-reach Since we just moved into this house last November, it has taken a lot of work to get our in-reach going.  We have taken time to pray, and currently we are inviting individual families over.  When I was working the DTS, it was almost impossible to devote any time to in-reach.  Now that I have had a couple weeks to process, my ideas and excitement is building.

I'm sure I will do more as time goes on, but at the moment, since my assignment is to "be still", I am trying to be faithful to that.

Thank you for praying for me this week.  It was a hard week, but it has ended extremely well.  Thursday I got to talk to several lovely people, and today, Saturday, I spent at a prophetic painting workshop hosted by Oasis Church.  I really love the Holy Spirit.