A Thankful Heart For A Faithful God.

"I give thanks to you, O Lord my God, with my whole heart, and I will glorify your name forever." Psalm 86:12

Hello everyone! What an exciting time we’re in as we begin to transition into the holidays. I pray that this Thanksgiving you are surrounded by people you love and have the time to reflect on just how blessed we are. I know I am incredibly thankful for all that God has been to me in these last few months. I’m thankful for an amazing family, incredible friends that sharpen me, and everyone who has partnered with God all around me. Whether you’ve partnered financially, prayerfully, or as a co-laborer in sharing the good news of Jesus, I am thankful for you.

OCTOBER:

On October 6th, 2023 founder of YWAM, Loren Cunningham, passed away at the age of 88. (you can read his official obituary here) Loren was the first person in history to travel for the sake of Christ and the Great Commission to every nation on earth, all dependent countries, and more than 100 territories. In 1956, Loren was evangelizing in the Bahamas with four young men. There, God gave him a vision of waves of young people coming from every nation going to all nations. Just four years later, his vision became reality when he started Youth with a Mission. Here we are, now 63 years later, with YWAM considered one of the largest mission movements. There are over 1,200 YWAM bases all over the world, launching young missionaries into every nation. In Loren’s time, it was deemed foolish to send young, inexperienced people overseas to be ambassadors for Christ, but Loren not only made room for them, but propelled them to go. Since then, the waves have never stopped and millions have come to know Jesus as their Lord and Savior. Loren was truly a General in the missions movement: To his dying day he advocated the need for bible literacy/translation so every people group can have access to the word of God. YWAM continues to move forward with strategies received in prayer, to get the gospel and bible to everyone in their own native tongue. In his book ‘Is That Really You God?’ Loren wrote “put your dreams on the altar and they will be resurrected into something even grander.” This quote began to really resonate with me in my DTS and has continued to encourage me to put my dreams into the hands of the One who gave them to me in the first place.

Less than 24 hours after Loren Cunningham’s death, Israel was attacked by Hamas and has been in a bloody war ever since. Many of you know my heart for the Middle East and some of you may even remember the many times I attempted to go to Israel in 2020 during the covid lockdown. Hearing about the devastation involving many people breaks my heart and has truly made me want to go take the good news of Jesus to these people more than ever before. However, I have not been completely released by the Lord to go immediately, so once again I’m learning to place these dreams on the altar and believe for resurrection as the Lord breathes life into them. Instead of going in the physical, I began to pray and intercede for the nation of Israel and the people affected in all the surrounding regions. I began to catch God’s heart for these people even more and enter into partnership through petitioning. These have been precious times filled with revelation and deeper friendship with Jesus that I’ll forever hold onto. I encourage you today, if your heart is broken or you have seen the world’s absolute need for Jesus, or even YOUR absolute need for Jesus - let that bring you to your knees. God can do much more through you in the secret place of being with Him than you trying to “fix” it all in your flesh. I wonder how many times we have used the name of Jesus to rebel against Him by going prematurely, or staying when He asks us to go, when all He’s really asking of is for us to be with Him and lay everything else down on the altar.

Though there truly is great tragedy in the Middle East right now, there is also great triumph. A couple of my friends from our ‘Go Team’ at YWAMKC flew out to Lebanon in October for ministry and to build partnership for future missions there. They were there when the war began (which has not only involved Hamas in Gaza but also Hezbollah in Lebanon), but they had the peace of the Lord with them and stayed the entire duration of their scheduled time to continue ministry. When they came back, they excitedly reported “the harvest truly is ready!” There they saw what we here in the west are not seeing on the news. The people there are truly hungry for Jesus. They are seeking a living God and Jesus is revealing Himself to them. While they were on their way to Lebanon, a girl from the team that stayed back in Kansas City was in dialogue with God while in the car with her friends. She began to receive a message from God to pass onto the team headed to Lebanon. God gave her a picture of a Muslim girl wearing a yellow scarf and gave her the words that she specifically needed to hear. Immediately she texted the words and description of the girl to the team headed to Lebanon. A few days later, the team saw a girl with a yellow scarf and began to share the text message they received. She began to cry and admitted she’d been praying asking God to reveal Himself if He’s real. The ministry team pointed out that God heard her before she even called out to Him because they had received the text message before she even prayed that prayer! They shared that Jesus is the living God who saw her and has revealed Himself just as she asked Him to. She gave her life to Him right there on the spot!!

On Halloween night, my friends and I decided to go to a neighborhood and share the good news of Jesus! Even though Halloween has dark origins and, statistically, violent crimes increase drastically each year on the day, it also has a history of revival and reformation! We forget that both the Protestant Reformation and the Welsh revival were sparked from key events that occurred on October 31st. I wonder what would happen if we looked at this night from a redemptive lens? In the name of “fun” or “entertainment”, many of us have opened doors to darkness on this night. While others have chosen the other extreme of “separating”, where we have closed our doors when we could be using them as tools to reach people with Jesus. My friends and I decided we didn’t want to identify with any of these groups anymore, but we wanted to deliberately go into the darkness with the light of Jesus. We ended up partnering with our friends at Roots and taking teams into a local neighborhood. We set up a table booth in a church parking lot with lots of candy and worship flooding the atmosphere. We also had teams go house to house to conversate with the people there and share all about Jesus. This neighborhood was actually full of many immigrants that fled from countries to come here for freedom. We met many Burmese people, a family from Mexico, and one man that has always lived in America but is a Messianic Jew that speaks to orthodox Jewish people about how Jesus has already come and is coming back again. Though we did not see salvations right then and there, we believe God moved in power and that seeds were planted and will continue to be watered until He decides to bring in the increase.

NOVEMBER:

Throughout our time here, we’ve been blessed to get to spend time with the September DTS before they go on outreach. They are some of the kindest people with hungry hearts for more of Jesus. It’s been incredible seeing the drastic changes in them from when they first came in September to now. They are curious about others and go deep in their friendships. They have gifts of hospitality/service and are already stepping into roles of leadership by hosting events, dinners, and bringing the community together for fasting and intercession. They are powerhouses filled with the Holy Spirit and I am so excited for the encounters they are going to have on their outreaches to Southeast Asia and the Philippines. My heart was moved last week as I got to be at our Thursday Night Gathering and witness the DTS lead the entire campus in worship while 3 of their classmates got baptized.

I truly do have the most amazing community and thank God that He’s surrounded me with people who truly encourage me to go deep in God. My friends Bethany and Anna have walked with me throughout the leadership track with accountability, prayer, and both are extremely zealous for Jesus and what He’s doing on the earth. I am also thankful for my entire leadership school and our school leader Nick and his wife Eunjee, who have welcomed us into their home every week for dinner and fellowship. They’ve demonstrated how to host and given us the opportunity to practice hospitality by creating an atmosphere that feels like family. They were listening ears and full of wisdom and amazing stories testifying of God’s leadership and faithfulness in their lives. Each and every classmate I have is stepping into different positions of leadership both in their hometowns and here at YWAMKC. I’m confident that wherever Jesus leads them, they will continue to lead well because they have made Him their foundation and prioritize both the love and fear of God before the love or fear of anything else.

I’m sure at this point you’re asking “well, what is Jessica doing?”

Since you’ve asked, I plan to return as staff to YWAMKC in January 2024! There are many different staffing positions and every single one of them are vital pieces that help us take the gospel to our neighborhoods and the nations! Every YWAM missionary/staff must raise financial support. I am praying and searching for people who would like to partner financially with me as I will have a monthly budget of $1,200 (if you would like to see the budget breakdown please ask). If you would like to partner with me or know of anyone that would, please message me!

As I return to staff on January 12th, I will be joining Go Team! Go team’s mission is not only to go to the unreached parts of the world (10/40 window), but to mobilize young people and the body of Christ to missions! Some of the ways I can serve is by engaging with incoming students and connecting them with support/resources as they decide to follow Jesus to the nations. I will also have the opportunity to go on ministry trips domestically and abroad. Domestically I will be taking the message of Jesus and His gospel, and partnering with churches in mobilizing young people to missions! Overseas I will also have the opportunity to take the message of Jesus where He is not yet known.

Go Team also is taking teams to the frontier this summer and I will be joining them in the Middle East! These frontier trips are open to anyone 18+, if you’re interested in taking the gospel to the unreached, sign up today!!

Thank you for your continued support, I pray that this little catch up was encouraging to you and you have a blessed Thanksgiving this week!

BIG ANNOUNCEMENTS:

I finished my leadership training school
I will be in Springfield for the month of December
I am joining Go Team under YWAM KC in January 2024 and am in need of financial support (this giving will be tax deductible)
I am going to the Middle East this summer! - more details coming soon

PRAYER REQUESTS:

International House of Prayer as their community has been shaken these last couple of months. Pray strength for the intercessors and for all things done in the darkness to come to light.
Job in Springfield
Provision for missions
September DTS as they prepare to go on their outreach

Sincerely, Jessica Lawrence

The Cost of Love.

Loving the Least.