So in this update we wanted to take some time to share more about what I (Jordan) do at YWAM Mazatlan, and how God has brought long term vision to new places. Through our Media and Communications team I’ve been able to be a part of a movement on our base that has doubled the amount of missionaries being trained and sent out all over the world!
Me working with Ywam Mazatlan’s media team on my DTS in 2007.
It was 10 years ago on my Discipleship Training School (DTS) missions trip in Mexico that God began to speak to me more about how I could use my gifts and talents on the mission field. While in Mazatlan I was able to help out their media team and was even invited to share with the team about creating videos. God was developing my vision… to record what is going on in the kingdom of God, share it with others, and invite them to be a part of completing the Great Commission. I also felt that God wanted to use me to travel and train others to do the same.
Fast forward 8 years, I was now on staff in Mazatlan, given the role to re-look at how we do communications as a base, with a major focus on growing the DTS missionary training program. Now, about 2 years later, as a team, we have been able to see our student and staff numbers more than double!
Year after year our DTS student numbers sat around no more than 50/year and our base staff numbers around 30. In 2016 we trained and sent out 114 missionaries through the DTS program and in January 2017 we now have 64 staff members, all able to better reach and serve our city and the nations.
Our current January DTS with 47 Students is our 7th record breaking school in a row. To put that in perspective that’s 4 times as many DTS students as January 2015!
And then I ended up in Texas! I had the great privilege of being invited to run a “Mobilization Sprint” at the YWAM Tyler base last month. What does that mean? Basically I was able to take all the new things that we’ve learned over the past few years in Mazatlan and work along side YWAM Tyler’s team, doing training, consulting, strategizing, and implementing a plan for growth. About half way through the week it hit me how I was doing exactly what I felt God was calling me to 10 years earlier, not only with media but communications as a whole. The week was a huge success and I’ve been invited back to continue training them in February, with the goal of seeing long-term missions growth for them as well.
Me and a couple of the guys from the team in Tyler setting goals on the whiteboard .
I’m so excited to be part of the vision of growing communications in YWAM globally (for more on this click here ; also a special thanks to my brother Daniel for helping make this all possible). More than this, I’m excited about what it could mean to see DTS numbers double not only on our base but bases all over the world; all working together to complete the Great Commission!
To finish up, I feel so honored that God is using my passions and talents, combined with prayer and the generous support from friends and family, to see more and more missionaries preaching the gospel all over the world!
Thank you so much for reading, praying, loving, and supporting us. God is moving in awesome ways and we are honored to be a part of it together with you!
With love from Mexico,
Jordan, Kendra, & Elouisa