Winter Update

As winter has established its hold here in Newcastle I have had a much welcomed burst of warmth with the start of our third School of Innovative Youth Ministry (SOIYM) which I have the privilege of leading.
 
In case you were wondering what 'leading a SOIYM' means I'll give you an overview. SOIYM is a second-level school within YWAM (Youth With A Mission) this means you must first complete a DTS (Discipleship Training School). It is a six-month training course for those who desire to work with youth, this can be in youth groups, high schools, or even youth centres. The first three months are lectures, growing in our understanding of youth culture, youth trends, and effective ways to reach out, all the while actively participating in several forms of youth work. After the three months of lectures we have what is called outreach, we take all of the things we've learned into an overseas cross-cultural setting to further establish the principles gained from lectures.
Leading the school means I'm responsible for all the planning and executing that goes into actually making it run for example booking speakers, organising prayer times, scheduling, and budget.

I've been involved in running these courses since we first started three years ago but this is the first time I'm leading the school and I am incredibly excited. This year we have four students, two guys and two girls, and I have one other staff member with me. I'm looking forward to what each student will take away from this focused season of growth as well as the challenge it will be for me in leading. Our school verse is John 1:5 "The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness can never extinguish it." I love this verse because God calls us to be light in dark places, understanding youth culture can be a very dark place but because God has called us we will not be overcome, we will be victorious and we will see young peoples' lives transformed.

Please keep me and my team in your prayers.
Pray God would continue directing us in the way we should go.

Aside from prayer for the school and leading, I'd also like to ask you to pray with me for my finances. As you may be aware in my last few updates I had gotten some tragic news regarding a dear friend from Okinawa and had been fundraising for a flight back to attend the memorial service. I was able to see enough finances come in to make that possible and it really was a blessing from God to be able to be there. However, with the unexpected expenses for a flight and such I have since been a bit behind with my monthly staff fees and have yet to be able to catch up. My current need to be caught up and begin saving for outreach that begins in September is $2,000. 
Please take the time to pray about this, considering if you are able to give or even be an advocate on my behalf to see this provision come in.

I know that the work I do here in Australia and other nations of the world is exactly where I'm supposed to be but I cannot do this alone, I have a big goal to see the lives of all youth transformed, helping them find their purpose and their identity- Will you help?


If this is something you're willing to take action on please follow the link to my website for more information. 
http://www.kelcieoctober.com/partner-with-me.html 
or go directly to my paypal https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_s-xclick&hosted_button_id=CZKL3CDV3DD68