What does it mean to redefine yourself? I recently read an article that was printed in the Harvard review that talked about how in moving to a new job or career the need to reinvent/redefine yourself through story. I found it interesting that it isn’t so much in what we say but in how we tell the story that engages others to our cause.
Where are you at? I find that we are coming into a time to reawaken, rediscover, and reinvent not only ourselves but that which we work towards. It isn’t so much that we are radically changing who or what we are, we may be moving in a different direction but if we are to advance personally, relationally, and in what we do we have to tell the story in a new way to engage others.
If you have listened at all to Switchfoots newest album “O Gravity” this is one of the messages they are sending. We see fear in the headlines, we see uncertainty in our economy, we can’t trust the products we use, and our leaders don’t have any answers. We are like a car that has run out of gas and is trying to coast down a hill to make it to the next gas station. There isn’t anything powering our engine any longer but we are still carried forward on inertia. There isn’t anything wrong with the car; it is what we haven’t put in it that has gotten us to this place. We got so comfortable with where at that we neglected the basics. This is where we find the story of our lives, we need to do something different or maybe do what we are doing but in a new way meaning we tell the story differently. The church in the west is in this place and in many instances I believe YWAM is in this place.
The issue isn’t in radically changing the core foundational values, if anything we need to get back to those, it is in redefining ourselves as YWAM bases or ministry locations and in ourselves as YWAMers. We have tried to put systems and structure to what we are and have become comfortable in that, we have gotten institutionalized. Now for those who lived during the hippy movement of the 60’s “institutional” is a dirty word. I am not so sure that having a part of YWAM or the U of N becoming institutionalized to accomplish the goal of discipling the nations bad. But we need to be careful that YWAM doesn’t loose the anointing is has of being an apostolic “movement” primarily and an institution secondarily. What is happening now is that our “movement” in many areas has become comfortable and settled in how we do things.
During what many of us walked through in leadership in YWAM called “realignment” much of the major drift was arrested but there is much work to be done if we are to really move into a new apostolic season. I am sure there are pockets and bright spots on the horizon but as a whole, who are we? Where are you at personally?
Tom Bloomer brought a word at the last GLT meetings reaffirming the fact that we had lost 10 years and now have crossed the Jordon. For those of us who are in our early to late thirty’s, who have served in the mission less than the 20+ years that our older brothers and sisters have would beg to differ and for myself honestly disagree with the word, at least for us.
We began this journey on the other side of the Jordon waiting for the mission to catch up. I have had the privilege of working with a ministry called the Factory that was started with a vision, a passion of seeing a global awakening moving out into all the nations and into every sphere of society. This “movement” was started nearly 10 years ago and though those of us involved in the Factory are scattered all over the world the network remains. To say that for most of my time in the mission was a loss does not resonate with what I have felt nor what I have seen and have been working towards in the last 10 years.
The real issue being explored now is how do we as a whole mission which is multigenerational, multiethnic, and multi denominational movement move forward into what Jim Stier is calling the 4th wave of missions. What are we going to look like as a mission? What were taboo subjects just a few years ago like “Business as a
That is where it is at, don’t wait around for and older leader to pass things off on you, pick up your own baton, add your vision to this movement called YWAM.
Here are the lyrics from Switchfoots song Faust, Midas, and Myself.
This one’s about a dream
I had last night
How an old man tracked me home
And stepped inside
He put his foot inside the door
And gave a crooked smile
Something in his eyes
Something in his laugh
Something in his voice
That made my skin crawl off
He said, “I’ve seen you here before
I know your name.
You could have your pick
Of pretty things.
You could have it all
Everything at once.
Everything you’ve seen,
Everything you’ll need,
Everything you’ve ever had in fantasies.”
“You’ve one life,
You’ve one life.
You’ve one life left to lead.”
I woke up from my dream
As a golden man
With a girl I’ve never seen
With golden skin
I jumped up to my feet
She asked me what was wrong
I began to scream
I don’t think this is me
Is this just a dream
Or really happening?
What direction?
What direction?
I’m splitting up!
I’m splitting up!
This is my personal disaffection
What direction? What direction?
What direction now?
I looked outside the glass
At golden shores
Golden ships and masts
With golden cords
As my reflection passed
I hated what I saw
My golden eyes were dead
And a thought passed through my head
A heart that is made of gold can’t really beat at all
I wanted to wake up again
Without a touch of gold
What direction?
Death or action!
Life begins at the intersection.
I woke up as before
But the gold was gone
My wife was at the door
With her night robe on
My heart beat once or twice
And life flooded my veins
Everything had changed
My lungs had found their voice
And what was once routine
And what was once routine was now the perfect joy
You’ve one life
You’ve one life
One life left to lead
For us as YWAMers it is not in our DNA to do the same thing in same ways. Isn’t one of our sayings “new things in new ways”?
Life begins at the intersection, which road are you going to take?
