YWAM Pittsburgh in Colombia -Update 2

Visiting the Orphanage in Subachoque, Colombia

One subject seems to be a reoccurring theme with our team here in Colombia.  That is building the kingdom of God!  So what does this look like? What does it mean? And how can we be more affective with it!?

Our team in Downtown Bogotá

As our team reads through the book of Acts every day, we get a greater look at how the early church operated by the Kingdom of God!  To define “the kingdom of God” easily, it is this: the domain of God’s heart. These early church leaders were obedient to their call, for example, baptizing, boldly preaching the word, and following the lead of the Holy Spirit in their lives!
 
Our team here Colombia has been regularly discussing this subject, and even moving in ways, to build up the kingdom of God.  I think back to a couple nights ago, when Diego and I got to talk to two male prostitutes in a park near downtown Bogotá.  They were ashamed of what they chose to do to support their family, but by following the lead of the Holy Spirit; we had the chance to speak life, and encouragement, even while they were trapped in their sin, and hurting and broken!  It was so amazing just to have the chance to pray with and for them!

Mari with Nicole at the Orphanage ¨Planeta Amor¨

God has been giving us some extremely awesome opportunities to work in building His kingdom while we have been here!  We visited an orphanage with thirty children, who were all AIDS positive.  The way the children run around, play, and just generally love, you would never believe that they had AIDS.  These kids were lively and just wanted to be around the visitors!  I forgot to mention that it was the first time that it was not Paola, Mari, Diego, and I by ourselves.  We actually acquired a team of about 12 to 15 volunteers in total!  The kids had so many people to play with, so many games to play, and plenty of food to eat!  Paola and the group at “Rocka Aventura” (Rock Adventure) youth group invented games to play, and even had dramas for kids that they performed!  It was a time of fun, but also a time where many kids came to Christ!



Today, we got to work with a camp called “Kings Kids,” a kid’s ministry affiliated with YWAM here in Bogotá, and we visited a community named “Ciudad Bolivar” (City of Bolivar).  Kings Kids is running a camp for kids age 8 to 18 that would like to share their faith through the arts, and through testimony!  Many from the neighborhood came out, and there were so many kids!  We as a team, got to share the love of Christ, and many kids came to know Jesus today!
 
To sum up the trip so far there have been 109 decisions for Christ, and we have seen the kingdom of God being impacted every day!  We have been having so many opportunities to strengthen the Body of Christ here in Bogotá, as well as reach out to many who don’t know His love!

-Christian Cole

YWAM Pittsburgh in Colombia -Update 1

Well, we made it! We arrived safely to Bogotá on December 1, at 9:30 pm. We were immediately welcomed by our host families with a kiss on the cheek and a smile that could melt the coldest of hearts. We were very excited to finally be here that we were up for hours talking and laughing with our families.
 
Our first morning in Colombia was spent preparing ourselves for our time here. We exchanged American dollars for Colombian Pesos and, of course, had a cup of delicious 100% Colombian coffee!

Bogotá, Colombia

In the afternoon we arrived at the church we are working with, El Pacto. El Pacto is a nondenominational church that has an amazing passion for God. At the church, the youth group was preparing for an outreach in a neighborhood in Bogota they have never been to before. After spending time in prayer, we got on the bus and drove to Suba, Bogotá. Once we arrived, we were greeted with some discouraging news: the flyers advertising the show we were to perform that night had all been torn down and thrown away. We were momentarily discouraged but God used the situation for His glory! For ten minutes, we went out into the neighborhood and invited everyone we saw to attend our show. When it came time for our show to start, we did not have even enough chairs for everyone who had come!

Drama Team and Christian Perfoming ¨Clincher¨

 
El Pacto’s drama and dance team, which is made up of its youth group and the leaders, preformed many of their dramas and three of their dances. The dramas showed us what Christ did for us as well as what it means to have a relationship with him. All that the team did brought glory to God. Our team leader, Diego Colmenares, then preached to all those who were gathered. The crowd was greatly impacted by the team and 12 individuals gave their life to Jesus! It was an incredible way to begin our time here in Colombia.

Paola from Bogotá with Colombian kids at the outreach place with El Pacto Church

Praying and witnessing the homeless

So far, we have continued to work with the church. Today, we are going to go out on the streets and bring the Word of God to people. We want to bless them by random acts of service as well as handing out treats to children. We are excited to bring Gods Kingdom to earth!

Please continue to prayer for us, that we continue to be obedient to whatever God tells us, and for protection as we go out on the streets.
 
Goodnight and Good Luck,

-Mari Bauman

Campus Ministry Team

How much do you know about the college and university system? Think about it. We all know that it is the choice of most graduating seniors in the U.S., and we know that higher education is vital today to get a decent job. But it is so much more than that. It is more then that because high education is an institution that is designed by God.

The Ivy League schools, Harvard, Yale, Brown… All of these and more schools were founded with a Christian base. That is one of the reasons YWAM Pittsburgh’s University Ministry team is so honored to be working for God on the campuses of Pittsburgh. We dream to bring the colleges and universities in Pittsburgh back to the base.
 
There are many ministry teams that are already on the universities and we are teaming up with them, serving them in anyway we can. Currently, we are primarily working with CRU (Campus Crusades for Christ) on the University of Pittsburgh Campus.

Each week, our Campus Ministry Team spends time on the campus praying and doing different methods of evangelism. One type of evangelism that we use is called Solarium, an evangelism tool that CRU designed and uses. Solarium is a set of 50 cards with pictures on them that spark a spiritual conversation. We have found this to be an effective way to reach the University of Pittsburgh.
 
We are excited about what God is doing and will be doing on Pittsburgh campus’ and we will continue to keep you undated as we continue to minister to the University of Pittsburgh. Please keep the university in your prayers.
 
Goodnight and Good luck,
 
-Mari Bauman

The Hill District Weekly Outreach

In my last update I divulged some information on the Hill District, a neighborhood in Pittsburgh where the DTS along with some staff do outreach.

The land of The Hill District first belonged to the grandson of William Penn until he sold it to General Adamson Tannerhill for $2 0 a plot. Thomas Mellon then bought an expanse of the land and sold it for quite a profit. This began The Hill’s development as a community. Nowadays the Hill is predominantly an African-American community.

  

Twice a week YWAM Staff members Bill Kuncher, Doug Tunney, and myself, along with DTS students Alexa Short and Ethan Cieply. Ethan works primarily with the middle school students. Here is what he has to say about his time at The Hill thus far.

  

“On every Tuesday and Thursday, myself and a few others go to The Hill District as tutors in the Josh Gibson program. At first I was overwhelmed with all the wild kids, but since I have been begun to get to know them, and they got to know me, things have been going smoothly.

It’s truly rewarding to be able to spend time with the kids and help them with their homework. The children really became attracted to us because for 2 hours everyday we show them love and attention, whereas many of them feel neglected at home. Just by the way we carry ourselves when we go there I know that God is shining through us for all the kids to see. One man that works with us there asked me if we were Christians and I told him that we were, and he said he could tell just by the way we carry ourselves. This truly encouraged me and showed me just how important our presence is there.

My hope is that as we continue to go there and build relationships, that the children would see something different in us, and the way we carry ourselves and be drawn to us, and ultimately accept Christ into their hearts.”

  

We are truly excited to see what how God works through us as we continue to pour into these kids. We would truly appreciate your prayers.

Anyway, that’s all for now!

Goodnight and Good Luck,

-Mari Bauman

We've moved!

 We are now located at: 40 Pius St, Pittsburgh, PA 15203

We have officially moved to the city! May all the glory go to God! It really is quite an incredible story, though unfortunately, it is a bit long. But take my word for it, this building is a miracle. “What building?” you ask? Let me tell you!

A massive monastery was built in 1897. The care of the monastery, now known as the Burning Bush House of Prayer (BBHOP), was passed down for over a century, and is now in the hands of two incredible servants of the Lord, Mike and Tina W.  For months, YWAM Pittsburgh and BBHOP sought after the Lord until He brought us to a conclusion: YWAM Pittsburgh and BBHOP were to merge together to form two separate, but whole, communities. Soon after, many of the YWAM Pittsburgh staff members moved to the 3rd floor of the BBHOP. We are very excited and blessed beyond measure by our new building and our new friends.

We are also two weeks into our Fall 2011 DTS! The DTS is focused on sports ministry. Many times a week, some staff and students go play basketball at the same court. Relationships have already been formed, and we look forward to watching God work in the lives of our new friends.

Our view of the city

The DTS along with some staff are volunteering at the Hill District of Pittsburgh. There, we tutor elementary and middle school aged children, eat with them, and then play a game. The children are very open and are in desperate need of Christ’s love. Will you please pray for us as we build relationships with these children?

Some of the other areas of ministry we are going to be working in are fashion, college and universities, refugees, and South Side of Pittsburgh. We are so blessed to be in the location that we are. Not only do we have a beautiful view of the city, but this location makes many doors available to us we share the love of Christ.

Be blessed!


Goodnight and Good Luck,

- Mari Bauman

Neighborhoods,

Nations
& the Next Generation





“What is the city
but the people?” 
William Shakespeare 

View of Pittsburgh from the West End Overlook

Since YWAM Pittsburgh was founded in 2001, we have seen God do many incredible things. We can share story after story of how God has brought thousands to himself. Stories of the man in Africa who was blind and now can see, or the woman in Peru who was lame and now walks. From Israel to Fiji, Mongolia to Liberia its been humbling to see him provide for each group with the words to say, the locals to work alongside and the money to get there. The sights have been amazing to see ...we've been to the Taj Mahal, Christ the Redeemer, The Great Wall, and Machu Pichu just to name a few. However, the sights, food, and all the souvenirs aren't really why we go. We go because these distant lands hold the ultimate creation... people.

Over the past year God has been calling us to move into the city limits of Pittsburgh. For years we have been so blessed to be in a beautiful, serene environment in Belle Vernon that easily makes prayer and worship inspiring. However, we were challenged to not just go on outreach but to live on outreach in our city. So, a small team moved into the west-end of the city in March. We rehabbed a house that had seen better days with hopes that it would be a foretelling of a spiritual rebirth of many of our neighbors and city dwellers. In just a few months God has already been providing opportunities for us to engage with people and represent Christ. No one would accuse the west-end of Pittsburgh of being picturesque ….as one lady from a Suburban church put it, “I've never been over there but I've heard of it on the news.” However, God shows us the beauty everyday in the redeemable heart of a fatherless child, lonely addict, and lost socialite. He is rebuilding our city heart by heart. We are so excited to be a part of it.


Doug Tunney
YWAM Pittsburgh
Base Director


Go here for more information on our city team.

all photos copyright by Sophia R. Haynes

DTS UNITED in Peru: Update 3

New Believers are Becoming Disciples!

Watch a new "on the street" video update here! 

We are in Jesus Maria [a district just south of center Lima] for our second week in a row working with the same church that God has so beautifully connected us with.

Last week as the pastors were asking me about YWAM and Joshua Generation they asked me if I could do any evangelism teaching with them. Last night, I taught them the wordless book for about 3 hours. 25 people were trained (almost the whole church) and of course I invited them to come and do evangelism with us.

Our days have been consisting of intercession for the day outside of the university just around the corner.  At 12:30 the school lets out for an hour and a half where we have been leading people to Jesus... and making disciples. My goal for the team is to do a bible study of at least one chapter in the bible with the students that they have connected with. Everyday we are bringing more students back to the house for lunch and to spend more time with them and share about Jesus. In the afternoon we go to a market near a park and return to the school around 5:30 when the second set of students is finishing for the day. We normally share until about 8pm. For the 3rd day in a row, one of the students, Jhon, has had lunch with us and he also has been helping us share with us to others about Jesus. He brought a friend with him today... not just for the food. The DTSers are challenging him to read the Bible and to grow.

Yesterday a girl named Jennifer came with us as well. She is Catholic and believes in the Virgin of Carmen. That has led to interesting conversations but she is very open... she still helped us translate though. She is close to actually having a relationship with Jesus. Another guy, named Brian, is still exploring about God but we talk with him every time we are at the school. He came to the church Bible study on Monday, and last night he was here with a friend of his for the wordless book training. I believe that he is already making his decision and is really doing what he can to go deeper in God.

The students have become our friends and have also connected with us via Facebook. We have been doing followup with them in person and through Facebook. 

Yesterday, God was speaking to me personally to follow up on a young man that I led to Jesus on Sunday at the park. His big issue that was keeping him from giving his life to Jesus was that he didn't think that he could put God above his girlfriend. I explained that Jesus needs to be first in our lives. I felt strongly that he was relying on his girlfriend and but he needed to rely on Jesus... the only one who will never leave him or forsake him.

After an hour and a half, he was ready to give his life to Jesus!


I had his email address so I wrote to him that I was praying for him. About 20 minutes later he responded to my letter telling me, "thank you for praying with me and for me". His girlfriend had just broke up with him and he needed the encouragement. I wrote him back with Psalms 121 and told him to keep trusting in Jesus.

Also some of the students from the University have been asking us if they can hang out with us other times as well... we always say YES.


I really feel that God has opened the door to make disciples here in Jesus Maria!

JMat
DTS Director