We’re doing something new this year, and I’m pretty stoked about it. It really has the potential to help our students seal what God does in their lives during their Mission Adventures Outreach. And while I’m excited, I’ll be honest—in order for this to work, we are all going to have to do it together. —Ed
Lindsay from YWAM San Antonio Del Mar in Tijuana, Mexico is heading up our Web Tools Initiative. She writes:
We made some really cool toosl for the All In theme this year—and we think you should use them!
If you have any friends on the Facebook or the Twitters that are under the age of 20, it’s easy to see that they use social media to express themselves, seek validation, and even form their identity. Some of this has to do with trying to get attention. You may have seen some self-portraits that were taken with a cell phone and a mirror. Or maybe you’ve seen students post polls and quizzes for their friends to tell them how funny they are. Some of these posts are certainly genuine self expressions—think not just, “Hey look at me!”, but more, “Hey, I’m living my life out in the open, and you’re welcome to participate.” But some of these posts show us that online or off, we all just wanna be liked.
So when the students come through your ministry, we are expecting God to rock their lives and change their hearts. What if they are so blown away by what God has said to them that they want to share it—even on the internet?! <gasp>! What if instead of posting out of their own insecurity, they had the opportunity to post about what God has done in their lives? Well, I’ll tell you, it would be the kind of thing that seals the work God does in their lives. Public profession of faith and of the goodness of God can be a critical part of a student’s transformation. So we’ve created a couple of awesome tools that you can use to help facilitate some public professions:
I Am All In Blog:
This is a journal where all of us YWAMers can post All In stuff for our students to read. Soon you’ll see some cool content up there… And soon, you’ll be asked to contribute something too!
Abandon _____________
This is a page where students can post what it is that Jesus is calling them to leave behind. In our theme verse, there’s a point where Jesus says, “There’s one thing you lack…” For the Rich Young Ruler, his one thing was his stuff. Jesus challenged him to walk away from it, and follow him. This page gives our students a place where they can, before God and everyone, abandon ____________. (Stay tuned. We’ll create another post with more info on how you can create an Abandon ____________ event as part of your Mission Adventures ministry.)
My All In Story
This is where students can share about what God has done in and through them during their Mission Adventures experience.
It’s All Up To You — Are You All In?
As you can see, there’s absolutely nothing on any of these pages yet. So that means it’s up to you to get it started. Create time and opportunity during your Mission Adventures ministry for students to post on these tools. Direct them to check out the additional content on the I Am All In blog. (‘Cuz you’re gonnu be really proud of what you’ve posted there, right?!)
A Word to the Reluctant: Okay, so you might be thinking, “These students already spend so much time online—shouldn’t Mission Adventures be a place for them to unplug from social media?” Well… you have a point. However, we believe you can create a healthy environment where your students can have an opportunity to utilize these tools. Let’s face it, our site is not at all like Facebook or Twitter. There’s no way for them to create accounts, form “friendships”, or gather followers. These tools are simply about publicly proclaiming God’s faithfulness. They speak to the students’ identity in the most positive way possible, because they are about sealing what God’s done.
So, what if, in one of your sessions, things are going deep with your students, and as part of your session, students can get on a designated computer/iPad and post on the Abandon ____________ or the My All In Story page? Imagine the possiblities!
So use this tool. Because it is really that cool.