The other day when my grandmother asked, “Can you explain, in brief, what you do so I can tell people?” I realized that I have not given the description of the “why, where, and how” of what I do with YWAM and the Maritime Academy in a concise way. The following is a combination of what I send to prospective donors, plus some more info and vision.
Imagine…
There are families torn apart because of preventable diseases. Where diseases have been eradicated in developed countries, they can be debilitating for people in hard to reach places. Could medical professionals be available to all people no matter where they live?
Many island communities don’t have enough food to feed all members of their society. Families go without food. Could agricultural experts train indigenous people with new techniques to harvest more?
Papua New Guinea’s inner villages worship many gods. They don’t know the life that comes with Christ. Could the darkest societies be completely reached with the gospel?
Most of these forgotten people all around the world are so isolated that they are only reachable by ship.
YWAM Ships Kona has one of the twenty-seven YWAM vessels, in 2017 they:
• Reached 231 villages with the Gospel
• Served 49,997 patients with life-changing treatment
• Installed 598 water filtration systems
• Operated 3,777 surgeries
Here is a video from the work YWAM Ships Australia is doing.
Though the YWAM Ships network has twenty-seven vessels, the vision is to have forty in a few year’s time. Our vision is big, the medical missionaries are ready…
…but around the globe, there is a shortage of qualified seafarers and crew.
The Good News
The Lord led me to work with the marine-based ministries of YWAM back in 2016 and has directed me to the position of leading the initiative to see more discipleship and training programs for these ministries.
Through the Lord’s guidance, I co-founded the Youth With A Mission Maritime Academy to meet this need of more crew. The Academy equips missionaries with maritime qualifications and experience through degree programs accredited by the University of the Nations. This enables all that we do with our medical and aid vessels around the world.
We help teams and individuals cut through the noise of the maritime industry and get the training and qualifications they need to sail where the Lord is leading them. We not only look to train YWAM volunteers but are also partnering with other ministries such as Operation Mobilisation, Mercy Ships, and Hellenic Ministries to see even more people reached with life-saving care and the hope that comes from Jesus.
We have nurtured a team of twenty-two individuals (and growing) internationally that help impact nations through our programs and collaboration: five in our Coordination Team, five in our Academic Committee, five in our coaching team, and seven in our Advisory Group.
When we started in 2017, YWAM ran one course in maritime (ship) training at two locations. Now, we offer three Associates Degrees from the University of the Nations and eleven training programs at four locations… and this is just the beginning of what we have in the works!
More info about the Maritime Academy can be found at http://www.ywamma.org.
In addition to these amazing things the Lord is pulling together, there are a number of amazing prophetic words we are believing for and praying into for the future of the Maritime Academy. If you would like to join us in prayer about some of these words, here is a list of some of them:
There will be a wave of 200,000 new workers for missions coming out of America (a word for Christian missions in general).
The need for maritime training in missions will bring ministries around the world together in collaboration.
The next two to five years will be of growth, development, and recruitment, in both Academy staff and students, which will lead to further expansion in the next point.
There will be a physical Christian Maritime University campus pioneered within the next six years from the work we are doing now.
Know that with your prayers and financial support, you are a part of this mission and these victories. What has been achieved and pioneered is because of you!
Our testimonies are our biggest witness of God’s goodness in our lives, don’t forget to share them with your friends, it may just be what they need to hear to get them through their situation.
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