Discipleship Training - Korean DTS and All Generations

      We just finished experienced what Oregonian's call "Winter". It kinda felt like that cool chill you get at the grocery when shopping for produce and you think to yourself "Good thing I brought a long sleeve!". In other words unless you live in the cascades Oregon residents don't know what real winter is....what it feels like to have your face hurt in subzero Hoth climate of Maine, or to scrape a centimeter of ice off of your car windshield every morning. Yes we felt spoile
d by what even locals call an unusually nice winter!

      Our KDTS wrapped up and we've been serving alongside some really precious students who've stayed on as volunteers this spring. Yohan, the only single male student from the fall quarter KDTS has been helping in maintenance and is even praying about coming back as staff. He's got the DNA in 'em... we've had long talks over coffee about his heart for international students, particularly the Chinese studying back home in Korea. It's journeying with people like Yohan and seeing vision from the Lord realized that constantly reminds me of the responsibility to lead by the Spirit  and in step with Father, and bringing all focus back on his Son.  I think I rubbed off a little too much on him, he's been talking about international marriage ha ha :) 

     We can officially announce our local church family. Outward Church has the best coffee and donuts BY FAR, so we've been attending and more recently getting more involved with that family in downtown Salem. We've been going since November and have already made some good friends and are helping with worship. Thought I'd make it official since there was a big bidding war going on in the papers. We prayed that the Lord would lead us somewhere where we can both be family, be fed, and operate in our gifting where they're needed. We're thankful to Outward for making us feel like family and for Pastor Matt's fantastic Bible teaching. Drumming on the worship team is a blast :)

We just moved onto a great spot on campus and are still in the process of unpacking. Jubilee and Jinha have both slept straight through the night the past two nights since arriving...I don't think I've slept through the night completely since Jubilee was born and even less with Jinha. There's a peaceful
presence here. At our old apartment in the 'hood' we were just starting to build relationships with our neighbors  on either side of us, so we're gonna have to be even more intentional to love our neighbors now that we're in another 'YWAM bubble'...then again it's nice to sleep again! Please pray for us, that we'll have more opportunity to be Jesus to those around us.

What's next for the Willson Tribe is the privilege of serving as staff for the All Generations DTS this summer! The school aims to see young and old, families and singles grow and glean from one another. I've seen this school run in Kona and it's fantastic. I saw one young man in particular sign up for All Generations rather than another DTS because he didn't come from a Christian home and had never had any spiritual fathers. The discipleship opportunities are abundant. Seeing an elder generation speak into the younger with wisdom from experience, and the youngers' zeal and passion inspiring and challenging the old... it's a beautiful thing! Even in our staff of five we have a married man in his 60s, two single ladies, and a couple(us) working together. It's gonna be fun to see who the Lord brings and how He continues to sanctify our hearts both as staff and students together. So far some who have shown interested and have applied are a military family of believers, a family coming from Germany, a brave single mom and her daughter (who's Jubilee's age!) a young man from Pakistan, a woman from Nepal, and a young girl from the states to name a few. please pray for those meant to be a part of this will be supported by their families and churches to make a big step of faith in coming, and that whatever provisions or arrangements necessary will be provided in Jesus' name.


All Generations DTS Promo - YWAM Salem from YWAM Salem on Vimeo.

-The Family-
Jubilee is continuing to develop into a hyper-social friend magnet. Living on base now she has a new neighbor, a mixed racial 4 year old also named Jubalee! Jubilee loves to make up songs about Jesus and has an empathetic heart. praying for Nepal yesterday she said very matter-of-factly, "If those kids need a home they can come live with us, right? We have lot's of room!" I kinda see why Jesus said in Mark, “Truly, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven."

Jinha is growing an inch a day, and loves to laugh and snuggle. His personality is starting to show, he's a tiny me. He has a monkey stuffy named Walter that follows him everywhere. Jubilee never got into stuffed animals, would rather sneak into bed and cuddle with mom and dad. I think Jinha is more musical than Jubilee...at least he shows more of an interested in musical toys and likes to sing at a much earlier age than Jubilee did. Jinha still hates the nursery at church even after several months.

Most of Bora's work these days is translating course work for the MMBC (Methods and Models for Biblical Counseling). When she's not doing that she's preparing for leading worship on the piano. We've been spoiled rotten by one of our 2014 DTS students now volunteer who has been offering childcare both for work related events like leading worship and for dates every weekend. It's been so nice to spend so much extra exclusive time with Bora. 

Thanks to our friends and family all over the world who are holding us up in prayer and support.
-Noah Willson, Chief of the Willson Tribe 

 

Settled in Salem

   

      It’s been a really wild few months of transition for the Willson family! We’re now wrapping up lecture phase with our Korean Discipleship Training School, Jubilee just turned four, and we've settled into a great apartment that suits our needs great. Our place is just two miles away from the campus and we got a killer deal on rent, too.

      Our cross country road trip was such a great experience for the whole family. We trekked nearly 5,000 miles over three weeks and survived with a one year old and a three year old! Actually the kids were amazing….I think they were better behaved than I was, especially when I was cursing my phone and its GPS’ homicidal tendencies. It tried to strand us in Harlem during rush hour while we drove through NYC on our first day of driving. (Sure Harlem has cleaned itself up a lot…but still) The kids were fantastic, sleeping in strange hotels and houses and 8-10 hour driving days. Dada was fueled by energy drinks, coffee and cheddar cheese combos. So, so many combos.

      We visited with lots of precious friends from our ministry in YWAM throughout the years…some I haven’t seen since my DTS 9 years ago! We also visited family on the West coast. I think Jubilee’s fondest memories of the summer were all of her days swimming with Great Grandma in her pool in California. J My personal goal was to visit both IHOP and Bethel, which I achieved even if only for short visits. What God is doing in Kansas City with the growth of YWAM and influence of IHOP is really exciting. It’s funny that the Kansas City Starbucks now has Google Fiber internet….the fastest in the country…because being in the Prayer Room feels like hiving a fiber line connection with the Heavenly Father. Nerdiest possible analogy, I know. 

      Arriving in Salem was smooth and on schedule. For reals I’m a master planner*pats self on back*. Driving across the country gives a man a confidence boost if nothing else. I’m also losing hair, proof of my maturity…might be connected to the excess of combos and energy drinks, too. We’re joining a busy campus of around 50 staff from all over the World. This quarter there were four schools running simultaneously. The Fall Discipleship Training School(DTS), the Korean DTS, the Introduction to Leadership School and the Outward Apologetics Seminar. The campus also operates Salem Ropes, a huge outdoor ropes course and rock climbing wall that hosts thousands of visitors from the community each year.

      We have 11 students in our DTS, 8 single women, one single guy(nice odds!) and a family with three kids, and all from South Korea. Last month we went through three significant weeks of healing and restoration. Plumb line, Spiritual Growth and the Father Heart of God were the themes. It was a time of deep ministry and inner healing, public confession of sin and proclamations of forgiveness, and re-rooting our identities in Christ.

      Bora is the go-to translator this quarter. She translates the lectures for our DTS as well as the corporate prayer and intercession meetings and corporate worship. I have been part time with worship ministry, transportation, and watching the babies while Bora translates. It’s been extra special to bond with Jinha these past two months.

We’re still technically shopping around for a church, we’ve checked out a few different ones. We’ve gone to an Acts 29 affiliated church several times, going to check a couple more out in the weeks/months to come. We are asking the Spirit to lead us not only to a church that doesn’t necessarily ace our scorecard of theological finer points and requirements, but a community of believers where our gifting might be in great need. Please be praying for us as we continue to network in and around Salem.

      We got to spend this past weekend with some new friends in the coastal town Yachats, OR. It was an unbelievable spot, right on the ocean and totally free to people in ministry. It was so relaxing for the family and Jubilee and Jinha got to play with kiddos their age.

                        

 

                          

 

      With Jubilee turning four she has also turned into a little independent lady(read ‘toddler from hell’) This is normal, but mixed with the stress of the big transitional move she’s reverting in many ways and isn’t sleeping in her own bed any more these past couple months. We’re exhausted, but empathizing. I can’t imagine moving around as much as she does at this age, neither Bora or I experienced it, I’m officially raising an MK now. Please pray for Bora and I, that the Lord gives us wisdom to respond lovingly in the way necessary, to choose the right battles, and for energy! Please pray for little Jubilee’s heart…she just said goodbye last week to her three little friends who left for outreach and won’t be coming back. Thankfully she has some friends her age that aren’t moving any day soon.

     

      Thanks for tracking with our family. We're so grateful to have the prayers of our friends and family all over the World covering us. Your prayer is invaluable and crucial to our family. 

Lot's of Love,

-The Willsons 

           

 

                

 

    

 

                

 

The Big MOVE! Help Us Get There!

Moving To Work with YWAM Salem, OR

          For a lot of you this update is a long time coming, because admittedly I’m not the best communicator when it comes to long distance. We do have a family blog that has mostly been used for work related updates for our friends, family and supporters. Facebook has been the main way I’ve been able to keep in touch with many of you, which I’m so grateful for, especially when there has literally been an ocean between us!
          For a quick recap, my wife Bora and I have been working with Youth With A Mission (YWAM) for about 10 years. We both have a strong calling on our lives for discipleship and for equipping young people with the tools they need to go into all nations and make disciples and worshipers of Jesus. As a family we have adopted YWAM’s mission statement, to know God and to make Him known. We believe that discipleship is the calling of every Christian, regardless of the many cultural or theological differences that exist today in the global church.  Youth With A Mission is a global movement of Christians from many cultures, age groups, and Christian traditions dedicated to serving Jesus throughout the world. YWAM is made up of 18,000 full-time volunteer staff and has over 1,100 global operations in 180 countries.


^19 [a]Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, ²⁰ teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you ^[b]always, even to the end of the age.”  Matthew 28:19-20  NASB

            An oldie but a goodie, I think Jesus said it best, making the Father’s desire for deeper relationship through discipleship training clear, and further equipping His church just days later when He sent His Spirit at Pentecost.
YWAM’s University of the Nations is unique in that its learning structure is modular and community centered, with its core course being the Discipleship Training School.(DTS) Rather than take several different courses at once, a typical 12 credit course runs for three months with a three month outreach following. Students live in community as they study a single subject each week, and immediately put into practice what they’ve learned on outreach.
            So why discipleship schools? Paul wrote to the church in Ephesus about the importance of discipleship as a role that all believer’s shared.
^“11 And He gave some as apostles, and some as prophets, and some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers, ¹² for the equipping of the ^[d]saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ;”    Ephesians 4:11-12  NASB
Notice that Paul didn’t say that it was the pastor’s job to equip the saints, or the missionary, but he listed several different gifts at work today in the church, we are all included in verse eleven. Verse twelve also mentions equipping saints(that’s the church)…for service. No one is excluded. Disciples make disciples, and the way we live our lives, the way we interact with our coworkers, lead our families, we are making disciples. Our calling is to make disciples in the likeness of Jesus, disciples who will make disciples.
                Our family has been living by faith for about 10 years in the area of finances. One of YWAM’s core values is faith for finances. Of their 18,000 staff there are no salaries paid, not even for their founders Loren and Darlene Cunningham. We live off of the gracious and sacrificial gifts of our friends and family. We have a decade of awesome testimonies of God’s faithfulness for our finances, and in this season we’re needing to increase our monthly support.
                One HUGE praise report is that we’ve just this month reached our target is a minimum of $1700 a month! Our minimum was raised from $1500 to $1700 when we were informed that we needed to find off campus housing.  All of our essentials are now covered, our lodging, food, utilities, and vehicle expenses. We are hoping to reach $2000 monthly so that we can afford to accompany teams on regular outreaches as budgeting our eventual trip to Korea which is overdue.(Bora hasn’t been home in 3 years, and little Jinha has never met his Grandparents there!)  We are extending an invitation to our friends and family to partner with us on a monthly basis tohelp us raise the remaining $300 to meet this goal.
                Our second and more urgent need is for one time gifts over the next couple of weeks as we are finalizing our moving plans. We’ll be driving cross country all the way from Maine to Oregon, visiting many YWAM bases, friends and family along the way to keep costs down. We have about $1000 saved for this move, my projected budget looks to be around $2000. In addition to this big moving expense we're going to have to furnish a new apartment and also pay a security deposit that is generally one full months rent. These are the specific needs that we're asking for help with this summer as we transition or family to YWAM Salem.
             Would you prayerfully consider supporting our family financially? Would you consider taking our needs to your church, your home groups and your prayer networks?  We welcome any and all questions you might have regarding our work and our needs. Please connect with us on Facebook if we aren’t already linked, and don’t forget to follow us on our journey at thewillsontribe.blogspot.com.
                If you’ve made it this far, thank you for reading! We are preparing for a long, 60+ hour drive from coast to coast in just 12 days! There's a lot still to organize and all of the "good byes" will be difficult as we've really laid down our roots deep in Maine this last trip. We're in the process of updating our family prayer card. If you would like one for your fridge or your Bible please send me your information and we’ll send you one!

Lot’s of Love,
Noah, Bora, Jubilee (3 ½) and Jin Ha (11 months)

noahlovesjesus@gmail.com (email and paypal)
www.thewillsontribe.blogspot.com

Two Year Recap: Maine Timeline

Summer 2012

          We left Kona to visit our friends and family in Maine. It was a refreshing time to reconnect with folks and to build some new networks. Bora and I also felt a strong and new leading from the Lord for myself(Noah) to get more training. 

                   

Fall 2012

       After visiting Maine we returned to support the School of Worship in Kona. We were now staffing along a lot of amazing people who had just finished the previous SOW, and it was exciting to work with a fresh batch of worship leaders!  This quarter would wrap up our two years spent in Kona, where we had made so many wonderful memories and friends, and where Jubilee was born. 

         

2013 Winter/Spring/Summer 

The transition to living in Maine was made easier because of the wonderful support of family and friends. We remembered God’s leading for training, so I immediately began looking for work while I shopped around for a Bible College. It took over three months just to find part time retail work, but we were never in need of anything because God is always good. We plugged into a local church plant started by some good friends, as well as the occasional drum gig at nearby churches. Being in foreign missions you tend to make a lot of different relationships at a lot of different churches, and I had created a monster trying to divide my time between as many as three different churches a month! Things eventually slowed down and we became more involved in a small group at Redemption Hill.

2013 Summer/Fall

          God had opened the doors for me to study at New England Bible College, with hopes to transfer credits into the University of the Nations. This was such a good experience for me, as short as it ended up being. Our son Jinha was born the week classes started, which made for a perfect storm of business and joy. It was a challenging time of growth and work, while also a precious time of welcoming Jinha into the world!

2014 Winter/Spring to now

          After an eventful and busy end to 2013, things came to a quick halt. Over the course of 3 1/2 weeks I totaled my car, lost my job, and had to take a break from studying. Thankfully loss and frustration wasn't what marked these cold early months of 2014, but encouragement! We got to assist the first of two YWAM teams sent to be sent to Lewiston this year in January. They managed to pick one of the coldest weeks in Maine's history to visit, and that didn't stop them from sending the second team in June! It was so refreshing to spend time with our friends from Nashville. This first half of the year has also formed our next initiative with YWAM, working with a Korean DTS in Salem. God is so good to our family, Jinha is so loud and smiley and awesome....Jubilee is gorgeous, and so clever and so kind. Bora and I have enjoyed leading worship in local churches more and more lately. God get's us through difficulties, is patient and full of grace when we fail, and loves us unconditionally.

Moving Our Family to Salem, OR

Hello friends and family,

       Jinha is such an easy going guy, sometimes I forget he’s there because he behaves so well… haven’t forgotten him anywhere, yet though.  :)  Jubilee is all about princesses now...we tried hard to shield her from Disney Princesses but we failed. Disney’s marketing geniuses are a forced to be reckoned with. So far she’s only dressed Jinha up as a princess once that I’m aware of.  

• Maine Happenings

We’re excited to be re-joining our family of YWAM while I chisel away at studying. The short time I was at New England Bible College felt like an appetizer that really wet my appetite for studying the Word and awoke a passion for knowledge of God. I’m excited to cap off a two year degree through YWAM, and will continue to pray about how to develop that into a bachelors down the road.

Here in Maine we've really been so blessed to be a part of a church plant of some of our dearest friends with Redemption Hill Community. Bora and I have really been fortunate to work with some fantastic worship leaders and musicians from this church and will miss them dearly. We’ve been part of a smaller home group called a Missional Community that as of late has moved into our apartment for weekly gatherings. It’s been really essential for Bora and I to journey so closely to several families and individuals from our MC. It’s been a second family and we have really been blessed by the fellowship and the exhortation that goes on in our church family. Together we live life as a family of missional servants. Back in January during the coldest week of the year our church hosted a DTS outreach from Nashville. Outreach teams from out of state always bring fresh excitement and enthusiasm, I know our church and the Root Cellar ministry were really blessed by their coming.

My families’ ministry of Hope House that my parents founded has seen some really awesome fruit and relationships formed both with local community businesses and even with neighbors. This past Christmas Hope House distributed large gift boxes for 145 families that requested help for holiday gifts this year. It was a blessing to have a small part in arranging the boxes. It’s also been fun to see my parent’s vision for an international community garden realized. Over twenty 8’x4’ plots have been tilled and last week Jubilee and I were planting veggies alongside local Mainers, Somali and Congolese. It was a blast!

• Moving to Salem, OR 

After skyping with YWAM Salem and praying with Bora for the past couple of months we are entering into a two year commitment with YWAM Salem, OR! Our roles will be in the area of discipleship training, worship and translation. We’ll be working with their Korean Discipleship Training School starting this September, Bora’s great translating skills will be of much help for the different guest speakers and corporate gatherings on campus. I will also be serving as staff while also continuing towards a degree part-time, currently enrolled in a two year Associates of Biblical Studies with the University of the Nations. In Salem they have an excellent Chronological Bible Core Course which I’d really love to take next year,  in the off quarters I’ll be studying online.
YWAM Salem was founded over 35 years ago and currently has three active Discipleship Training Schools running. (DTS, Korean DTS and Engage DTS /social justice focus/) Salem has an outreach focus on nations including Russia, India, China, Thailand, Myanmar, Sudan, Uganda, Rwanda, Morocco and Egypt. This is in addition to their regular local outreach into Oregon, their on-site public ropes course, and Mission Adventures that mobilizes and equips teens for short term missions.   In addition to the DTS this location is an invaluable training center of the University if the Nations, offering about half a dozen secondary courses that include Biblical training, ESL and leadership training.
 

"From the first Discipleship Training School (DTS) pioneered in Sept. of 1978, we have seen remarkable growth, development of ministries, and many voluntary full-time workers who have been trained, equipped, and sent out. We have sent out teams to over sixty countries, resulting in over twenty new ministries being pioneered world-wide.  From its very beginning, God has called YWAM Salem to be a training and sending base, which continues to be what we do best. Our desire as a base is to see, not just a “select few” involved in missions, but a vast array of people. We have about 80 full-time staff and 5 volunteers at any given time. For a large part of the year, we run the NIKO program and Ropes Course Training. The Mobile Team travels to churches, schools, special events, and universities both in America and abroad sharing our passion for world missions. Most of our energy pours into running high quality schools, focusing on equipping and then releasing people into the nations."        

            Taken from their website http://www.ywamsalem.org/about-ywam-salem/

  We are honored and feel greatly privileged to be joining this community of missionaries for the next couple of years. We are excited to exercise our abilities and talents while we continue to learn and grow in a community who's core values are evangelism, training and mercy ministries. Please continue to pray for the Holy Spirit's leading of our family. Please consider taking our needs to your own church body and also please consider financially supporting us yourself!

Our family needs to have $1500 committed monthly support before joining as staff in September. We currently have 1/3 of what we need. Our extended stay in Maine meant that some past supporters were released and some discontinued in order to support other ministries with more immediate needs. Now we'll be asking individuals and churches again to begin supporting us monthly.

Our start up costs for this transition will be substantial since we'll be driving our car all the way across the country from Maine to Oregon. One time financial gifts of any size historically have been crucial for our family.

Please click here for information on how you can make a tax-deductible financial gift to our family.(tax receipts sent by request)

Update from Lewiston, Maine

             It’s been a really long time since I last updated, so before a whole year passes I decided I  better update our friends and family on what we’re up to as a family. As I write this I’m balancing a laptop on my knee with a 3 year old falling asleep on my chest…another failed attempt at toddler bed training! I’m too much of a sucker to father a gorgeous little girl, she’s gonna play me like a fiddle and get whatever she wants when she’s older. J

             We left Kona back on Christmas Eve 2012, heading for the unknown in Maine. I had a hunch that I’d study at New England Bible College, but wasn't sure about the details of where we’d live, where I’d work, where to call ‘church’. Church was the hardest decision, since the church that had commissioned me 7 years ago had now given birth to two really healthy church plants, each plant including more and more of my friends and family, the body that makes up the church.  With the exception of filling in on drums every so often at East Auburn Baptist, we've naturally gravitated towards Redemption Hill since it was founded by some of our best friends. We still make visits to several churches where we have friends and relationship, you tend to make a lot of connections when you spend 7 years campaigning for missions.  I still consider myself a member of EABC, and our fiery friends at Kingdom Life in Oakland/Waterville, but Redemption Hill is where we’re called to serve and plug in regularly. I’m such a church floozy ha ha.

                We came home right when a local factory closed, releasing 90 jobless people into the local job market, and actively applied for nearly 4 months until I was offered a part time supervisor job at the local Staples office supply store. I know I’m so blessed to have any work at all, and I’m even more grateful to have a n employer that works around my school schedule and (at the time) wife’s pregnancy.  Oh yeah, we had a kid, did I forget to mention that?

                Jinha was born….sometime in August….I don’t know.  The 31^st maybe? Were there only 30 days in August this year? Anyway he was born and he smiles more than any baby I’ve ever seen! He must think his name is Jubilee by the way he smiles all the time! He’s also chubby, which is something I prayed for. I really wanted a baby with chubby cheeks and God was faithful.  His name means ‘Truth of God’, and we know that his life will be a testament of the Gospel of Jesus, the truth of salvation for mankind.  He’s so handsome, he’s a tiny Asian Noah. He’s way bigger than Jubilee was at his age, which is good. He’ll need to help me restrain Jubilee’s boyfriends into the chair as I prep the guy for my lie detector test.

                Jubilee is three as of a few days ago. She is growing more and more beautiful, which is something that scientists assured us wasn't’ possible anymore. She is outgoing, loves her cousins and friends at RH, and loves to sing and dance. She also knows how to unlock my smartphone and load a cartoon on Netflix, which is a little scary. She is especially clingy after Jinha arrived, but she already says “I love you” to Jinha and a couple weeks ago finally gave him a kiss

Jubilee Pic

                I’m now a part time student at New England Bible College. It is so faith building and life giving for me. I had a spell of about 8 months of some of the driest and hardest personal devotions  up until I started. I think it was part re-entry, part spiritual warfare, part poor bible study habits. The courses I’m enrolled in are teaching me how to better understand the Word of God and are equipping me with tools that will be invaluable for my future, be it in full time ministry or just in my personal journey to know God more and make Him known.  I’ve received fresh eyes and enthusiasm for the scriptures and I’m able to sit at the feet of some outstanding men and women of God that serve as professors and staff at NEBC,  Finding out I’d need to pay out of pocket for my tuition, I’ve placed that charge into the Lord’s hands and He’s now provided for my first semester %100 from amazing and even some anonymous gifts . God is always good, and he can always be trusted.

                Our plan currently is simple. Learn to be satisfied  and full of thanksgiving with what we have, learn to grow as  a family in the Lord, and keep preparing by being faithful with what He’s told us to do, which is “College”. I feel a draw to help the University of the Nations continue to develop it’s Worship program. I want to see the flame that is growing in Asia keep growing and spreading, and to see communities built around worship and prayer developed and encouraged. I want that same thing for my home state of Maine! Thank you God for your grace and your Spirit! You are doing amazing things in some of the darkest places on the earth! Maine needs faith imported, needs visiting teams and long term families with a vision to see New England revived. Maine needs your prayers.  Feel free to hit us up if you want to come and visit, we’ll find a place for you!