Where in the World is Tori?: October Ministry Update

I’m combining the updates for September and October because it’s been so busy here that I actually missed last month! I’ve had the privilege of working on several projects around the campus that will help fulfill the call that God has for Youth With a Mission, Tyler and for me as a leader. A key component of the ministry here is the training programs, including the Discipleship Training School (DTS). I have been a part of the staff of the June 2010 DTS and in September the students completed the lecture portion of the training and were sent out on their outreach phase. The students were sent in two teams to New Mexico and California for the stateside portion of outreach and then returned to the campus for a day or two before heading out to four foreign outreach locations; Peru, South Africa, Kenya, and East Asia. Please keep the teams in your prayers as they spend time sharing about all that God is in their lives and the amazing gift of salvation that He freely offers. The teams will return in early November.

I’ve had a question going through my mind quite a bit lately about what it means to be a missionary and whether a person working in America would really be considered a missionary. I realized that I have had a distorted view, probably like many others, that to truly be a missionary a person needs to go to some far–off land to tell people about Jesus. And usually the picture includes sharing with a group of people who have possibly never heard the name of Jesus, let alone the Gospel. But then I began going back to the Bible, the source of truth. In Matthew 28:19-20, the Great Commission is to “go and make disciples of all the nations”…the “go” is to all parts of the earth, not just in church, not just to a far-off land, but “go” right where God places you. That includes into the everyday places that God calls us into, whether that is into the business world, school, across the world in a tiny village far from civilization, or even into YWAM Tyler. The “go” to me is to realize that the “mission field” is right where God has called me and placed me and is about making disciples—teaching others to follow the commands of God. It is about being trained and training others to live according to what God has spoken. So, yes, I am a missionary and each of you are too when you take the truths that God has shown you and share them with those you come into contact with each day. And my “mission field” is at Youth With a Mission. I have the responsibility and privilege of speaking into the lives of students who come here for training, who come to learn to “Know God and Make Him Known” and I get to play a part in that. It is an awesome responsibility and I am humbled that God would allow me a part in furthering His Kingdom in this way.

One of the practical projects I’ve been involved with these past six weeks was coordinating an “Extreme Makeover” week to address some of the areas on campus that were needing some TLC. This included transforming a dance studio into a classroom for our School of Worship, major repairs to another classroom, new flooring in our admissions office, updating all the student mattresses, and the biggest project, a complete makeover of the kitchen and food storage area on campus, which has not had much attention since it was built about 30+ years ago. If you’ve ever watched the show Extreme Makeover, Home Edition, that was a bit of what we experienced in the 8 days we had to complete the projects. I’ve included some pictures from the kitchen project, as well as a link to the videocast produced by our communications staff. The link to the videocast is at the bottom of this post.

I so appreciate everyone’s encouragement and support. Specific prayer points this month are:

*That I would continue to pursue God and all that He wants to reveal to me.

*Pray for the outreach teams in Peru, South Africa, Kenya, and East Asia, for safety, divine appointments, and for God to use their lives to transform those they come in contact with.

*Financial provision and that peace that I am right in the middle of where God has called me.

I would love to hear from you. My phone number is still the same, email, and snail mail are welcome too. My mailing address is Tori Hindman, YWAM Tyler, PO Box 3000, Garden Valley, TX 75771. Please also let me know what I can be praying for in your life. Until next month…

Blessings,

Tori

p.s. Please remember that any financial support is tax-deductible, checks should be made out to YWAM and DO NOT put my name anywhere on the check, but instead include a separate note designating the gift is for Tori Hindman. Checks should be mailed to YWAM Tyler, Accounting Dept, PO Box 3000, Garden Valley, TX 75771.