Transitional 2011

Article for CCF church newsletter.  By William Rosenberg – YWAM Missionary

I am writing this article from the road.  Current location, New York City.  I have been “on the road” for the last 7 years serving God around the world.  The journey has been full of many ups and downs.  Yet God is in the midst of every step I take, in the midst of every day I live.

TRANSITION has been the word for 2011.  I left the states early February for my annual return to New Zealand.  Yet this time I was walking into something new, something different.  I had let go of the ministry I had been a part of for 6 straight years prior to 2011, working with the Around the World in 80 Days Discipleship Training School with Youth With A Mission(YWAM).  It has been a good season of actually stopping and reflecting on what I have done and where the Lord is leading me in the future.

In early February I boarded a plane and returned to NZ.  I spent some time at my YWAM (Youth With A Mission) base on the South Island and then headed up to a town on the North Island called Taurunga.  This is where I stepped into an internship at the Taurunga House of Prayer.  I joined a handful of young adults for three months where we were immersed in the place of worship and prayer.

Each day I would rise with my three roommates, fight for the shower, spend some personal time with the Lord and then head into the House of Prayer.  Every day from 8am till noon we would be in the place of worship and prayer.  It was a tough journey of simply shutting up and BEING still in the presence of the Lord.

I think sometimes my biggest battle is with myself.  With silencing my crazy mind and resting in the place of prayer and learning about the “monastic” rhythms of life.  Stepping into this rhythm of prayer & devotion to the Lord was challenging and ultimately very refreshing.  It was a process of allowing myself to face the barrenness of my own soul and encounter the LOVE of the LORD in that place.  I stepped into this thing with my own expectations of “striving” and “personal gain” – yet the LORD wrecked me.

I was confronted with my own sin, my weakness, my “religiosity”, my “professionalism”.  I was confronted with dark areas of my heart that I had not allowed to surface for a while.  In this place I rediscovered my hunger for the Lord, I found my quiet place again.

I found myself sitting for hours longing to hear His voice, longing to know what He wants to say.  Longing for “teaching material” to take back to my discipleship context.  Over and over again HE simply said, “I LOVE YOU.”  To REST in HIS presence and BE LOVED BY HIM.  This is the key to PRAYER: being still long enough to ENCOUNTER HIS LOVE.

With a refreshed heart my transitional year took me to Kona, Hawaii where I jumped into the School of the Circuit Riders.  A five week YWAM course were I was with 300 radical young people hungry for the Lord and hungry for revival.  This was a great transition into another community centered on prayer and mission.  We studied revival and saw God begin to do it in our own hearts.

The time in Kona was followed by a two week outreach in Orange County, California.  We went to the very place where the Jesus Movement started 40 years ago.  It was great to be on the streets of my “home”, southern California, sharing the good news of Jesus.

Now, I find myself still in the midst of this transitional time, here in America.  In the big picture of things I know God is leading me, directing me, and guiding me into the next season.  I have simply been taking the next step that I see in front of me.  As a missionary, life is constantly one of faith and uncertainty.  I am certain of His LOVE and of His calling on my life, but I am uncertain of where I will be in five or ten years, and for the most part I am ok with that.  I have chosen to move forward, trusting that the footing with be there as I take the next step in my unconventional journey.

Thank you for listening.  Some of you have followed my missional journey over the past few years and some of you may have never heard of me, so thank you.  I ask for your prayers and support.

My life goal is to point people to JESUS wherever I am in the world.  Join me in this global endeavor of making disciples.  Pray with me and consider financially supporting the work that I do.  I am not paid by an organization and live by the support of people like you – the Church.

(published in October version of THE GRAPEVINE newsletter, San Diego, CA)