• In parts of June, we’re in the USA.
• Between 4 – 20 July, we’ll be in Galway, helping facilitate Creideamh, a festival involving teams from around the world (totaling about 100-200 people) for creative outreach simultaneous to an arts and a film festival in the city. This gig was organised with Tine and connects with local parishes. Check it out at the Creideamh website.
• Preparing for the DTSs next year.

What’s on for the rest of YWAM Ireland (visit the ywamireland.org website for more info):

• A venue at the Summer Madness festival in early July, titled the Yak Shak. Check out the website for more info and a schedule of events.
• An outreach to Israel and the Palestinian Territories 23 July – 6 August
• And of course everything else that normally happens year round (and whatever else we forgot)…

The theme of the YWAM venue was entitled “The Sacred and the Secular” and meant to address this idea that we consider some activities holier than others, though we are really meant to engage with God in any activity we pursue. So our space was set up for prayer and for fun – with a prayer tent for the nations, stations of the Cross, art gallery and space and paints for artistic expression, as well as table football (fooseball), pool tables, table tennis, video games and a lounge area.

About 5,000 visitors come each year to the festival, most of the young people, either on their own or with a group, at a variety of stages in their faith walk.

The goals of our venue, in this light, were:
• To promote YWAM and information about our organization internationally. As young people ourselves, we want to illustrate to possibilities for youth in missions.
• Along with that, to promote short-term missions opportunities to young people or church groups, specifically in regards to a trip we’re taking for two weeks to Israel and Palestine this fall, and especially a series of short-term missions trips we want to bring Northern Irish on in 2010 to South Africa when that country hosts the football World Cup. We feel short-term missions opportunities can be a key element to encouraging young people into missional futures.
• To be a safe place for young people at the festival to explore their faith. We realize that many youth come with a group or with friends and may not have much of a faith of their own. Conversely, some come alone or are not natural parts of their group, and the festive atmosphere actually serves to alienate them. We sent out prayer pairs to engage these kids and offer them a safe place for conversation and prayer and sharing amongst us.

Two nights, we also showcased a programme called “Around the World in 80 Minutes” with stories and acts from around the globe (most from YWAM staff and students, but also from other groups). The aim was to engage the above goals, as well as give a message to the youth to not be afraid to use their gifts and passions to impact the world and to serve God.

Anyways, check out our Summer Madness 2008 playlist on YouTube, or just check out the embeded player below. The video includes clips of Irish dance and drum, a staff member and his hip-hop, capoeira, hip-hop dancing, and more. Also, some Summer Madness 2008 pictures are posted in the gallery.

Related links
-Summer Madness website
-Info on the YWAM Ireland trip to Israel and Palestine

Last week, the January DTS finished their three-month Lecture Phase, and today, two teams of seven (six students and one staff each) are leaving for two months of outreach: one team to India, and one around Ireland. They will return at the beginning of July for a week of debrief before their DTS officially ends.

The Ireland team is lead by Sharayah Prowse (of Canada) who will also be working closely with some YWAM staff in Belfast. For a majority of their outreach, the team will be in Belfast, living on the Shankill in the YWAM Belfast offices, working across sectarian divides in largely working class communities. During the weeks, they will be working with the Forgiveness Programme, bringing workshops on forgiveness to youth of all ages in segregated neighborhoods and schools, and helping out in a YWAM outreach cafe on the Shankill Road. The team will also be doing youth outreach in Kesh, Co. Fermanagh, as well as outreach in conjunction with Summer Madness (Ireland’s biggest Christian youth festival) in Belfast and the Urban Soul street outreach in Dublin.

The India team is lead by Francis Khamanra (of Sierra Leone), who will be teaming up with a variety of YWAM and non-YWAM ministry contacts across India. They will arrive tomorrow in New Delhi, where they will meet up with a DTS team from Belfast for a week and orient themselves to a new environment, before heading off to Calcutta for two weeks. In Calcutta, the team are ministering in local churches, as well as participating in outreaches to homeless, widows, and orphans. Similarly, they will also work in local churches in Varanasi, where they will be for three weeks, also offering practical assistance to local missionaries and helping with evangelism in surrounding villages. The team will also be working with colleagues in Greater Norda.

Our desire for these next two months is not only that these teams, through partnership with long-term contacts, will be able to impact their nations for Jesus, but furthermore, that the participants in these outreaches will be changed to live long-term missional lives. The purpose of a DTS is not a one-off fulfill-my-commitment-to-Jesus time of missions service, but rather a time to lay foundations for a life of dedication to the Great Commission. Having spent three months in lectures and Christian community, only applying that time of learning to the needs of a world that ‘groans’ for a new existence (Rom. 8:22) will make it more than just personal theory. We pray that this experience will be transformational for all that are involved.

Related blog content:

• Renee and I will be visiting the team for two weeks while they are in Varanasi. Read about our pastoral visit plans.
• Pictures from the final days of this DTS’s Lecture Phase are available in our photo gallery.