Our Highlights - Fire & Fragrance DTS

It was only three months, but God crammed so much in there that it'll be hard to sum up all that happened.  But we thought we would share at least one story each to keep it short and simple...as usual, Jon's is actually short! And I actually learned in journalism how to keep things short and simple! Go figure...  

"For me (Tami), one of my highlights was discipling an 18-year old girl from the States. Just thinking about her makes my heart leap. For privacy sake, we'll call her Carrie. Students that come into a DTS (Discipleship Training School) have usually grown up in the church. Very rarely will you meet students who have just been saved or haven't made a commitment to Christ at all.

Carrie had just been saved for about a year before DTS but rough life circumstances made it hard for her to really discover the God she'd given her life to. Since she can remember, her father's always been an alcoholic and in her teenage years became very dependent on her because everyone else in her family turned their backs on him. So supporting her dad in every way was a way of life. Thankfully she has a loving mother and loving sisters, but the pain from her broken relationship with her father led her down a path of heavy partying, drinking and using drugs. Not only that, but physically, she's suffered from severe back problems since around 14yrs old.

After a recommendation from someone, she decided to spend her "gap year" doing a DTS. Fresh out of a heavy partying lifestyle, she had the courage to step onto a plane and head to Hawaii for the unknown that awaited her. So in starting to disciple her, I really had no idea of where to start. Surprisingly, despite her past and current situation, she was really tender-hearted and open to learning about this God, so I was relieved!  I'd see her everyday but each week we'd spend intentional time together, and I was always excited for what God did in those times.

In the beginning of the school, she took small steps like learning how to believe in herself and learning simple values like not stealing. As she got set free from things like self-hatred and depression, she learned how to listen to God's voice instead of the enemy's and the most important thing, she was getting a true heart revelation of how much God intimately loves her and has been beside her all along!!  Her heart was becoming softened and her mind was being so renewed on the truth that she was quickly being transformed ("the truth sets us free").

In the safe community around her, she had awesome times of prayer, deliverance, healing and anointed teaching. God's grace was so tangible in her life.  Like I've rarely met anyone with such hunger for healing, freedom and desire to grow in God - and I saw the real fruit that came from it. If there was a before and after picture of this girl, they would look like two very different people!! Like a black girl and a white girl, it's that serious!!!

By the end of DTS, she was praying for other girls in her room and seeing them get freed from things, she was praying for friends back home and even dreaming with God for her future.  She's now on outreach in a muslim nation, sharing the love of God through discipling muslims, loving on gypsy children and training native Christians there on leadership!!!

I love seeing miraculous signs and wonders, but there's no greater miracle than watching someone come into an authentic, intimate relationship with their Creator, God...everytime it happens, I'm just so thankful and humbled to be a part of His story. And it's to this end that we're so devoted and committed to seeing Jesus receive the reward of His suffering - tami

"Just in praying about what to share I felt like the Lord wanted me to share an area that I grew in.  And if you really know me, this is an area which I really need some growth!  ADMINISTRATION.  I haven't always been the most administratively savvy person but in working with YWAM, I've had the opportunity of planning outreaches (3 month missions trips), taking care of finances and planning events. Isn't it funny that we could go our whole lives thinking we are terrible at something, then God pushes us into it and it turns out it wasn't actually as bad as we thought. So it turns out I can be very administrative and I've found I love organizing and strategizing and now as we are now leading a school ourselves, I'm so thankful for how God's prepared me for it." - Jon

Tidbits of Truth

I took lotsa notes from our school and the following are snippets from these notes that I chose from our speakers that encouraged me, shook me to the core and continue to challenge me. Oh, and if you wanna hear their full message, the teachings from our school are available for FREE in itunes, just look up 'Fire and Fragrance" and the podcasts will pop up. Bon appetite!

"To the degree we are aware of God's extravagant love is the degree to

which we can extravagantly love Him back."

"Rest means truly being able to trust in our Father, where we're

 free from inhibition, fears, insecurities, rejection...true intimacy leads to rest."

"God is equivalent to a 3-grade school girl! Study Zephaniah 3:17 and see how He runs,

dances, shouts, sings and overwhelms us with His love - this is our Father!!"

- Andy Byrd, Week 1 - God's Love

"Where you're meant to be the greatest in life is where the Enemy tries to hit you the hardest."

"We are defined by the voice we listen to...so who's voice are you listening to?"

"Reading the bible without the lens of the Holy Spirit is like watching a
3D movie without the special glasses."

"Worship is giving back to God what He first gave us...love and adoration."


"I never understood why we raised our hands in worship until one day
my son ran to me with his hands raised saying, 'up daddy!'"

"The greatest sin is the suspicion that God is not good."

- Jonathan David Helser, Week 2 - Holy Spirit

"Ministry is meant to be fun because He is fun! Leadership

centred on the presence of God releases His nature, where we drip with the character of God...

when ministry is done in Him, it's effortless!!"

- Melissa Helser, in our staff meeting

"We should be confident in our friendship with God, not confident in our giftings."

"Failing isn't optional, but necessary for growth when your practicing hearing God's voice."

"No amount of anointing can outlive what bad character can destroy."

- Amy Sollars, Week 2 - Holy Spirit

"Don't put your faith in the acts of God,
put your faith in the God that acts."

"When you give up your right for marriage, you are laying down your right to choose

and allowing God to make the best choice for you."

"Everything is gone in an instant at the doorstep of death,
except for being in Christ."

- Loren Cunningham, Week 3

"We don't have much time on this earth! How much are we investing in 
others, how much are we valuing what God's given us

and entrusted to us to make disciples...

not just converts, but true disciples of Jesus?"

"Discipleship is a method of multiplication, not addition...be fruitful and multiply!"

Christie Brennt, Women's Group

 "Truth is the description of reality as God has declared it."

"People get so puffed up on being focused on truth, fighting for their doctrines instead of being focused on God Himself!"


Tom Osterhuse, Week 5 - Biblical Worldview

"Reptentance isn't just people turning from sin, but it's going
 towards God's original intentions for you."

"Restoration isn't about making bad people good, it's about God taking

the fallenness of man and exalting them back to Him."

"God didn't give you a hint of Heaven, He put Heaven in you and you in Heaven!"

"God's perfect, but He's not a perfectionist."

"If two of us are identical, one of us is unnecssary, just be you!"

"Sin doesn't change God, it changes you!"

"The church thinks cramming information into people is transformation."

Steve Thompson, Week 6 - Identity & Kingdom Life

"We shouldn't study the bible, the bible and Spirit should be studying us...
we read the bible not to learn but that our world is
radically altered and transformed because of it!"

"Unless you're transformed by the bible yourself, you'll just be passing on information

to other people."

Mark Harringshaw, How To Study the Bible session

"Our own will will mess us up, that's why Holy Spirit has to guide us."

"If Satan reminds you of your past, you remind him of his past!"

Emmanuel Ziga - Week 7, Supernatural Living

"Learning another language is building a relationship
(with those in the culture your working in)."

"If church planting wasn't messy, most of the New Testament
wouldn't have been written!"

"Pray, because when you pray, God gives you strategy on what to do. Or

else you'll be spending a lot of time, energy and resources
on things that aren't even from God!"

"Human beings are experts at building traditions around the Word and then fighting

for their traditions."

"Take a risk and meet people who are hard and unkind, have mercy

on them to know they don't have the power of the Holy Spirit to be kind like us."

Erik Fish & Dr. Pam - Week 8, Church Planting

 "We're meant to live out of fascination, not obligation."

Sean Feucht, Week 9 - Intercession

"The enemy has done all he can to make prayer and intercession the most

boring part of Christianity, producing lethargy and complacency...
and he succeeded!"

"What if we actually believed that when we hear the Father's heart

for others and pray it out, that Heaven moves and Hell shakes!?!"

"God is looking for a people who, in the midst of fog, will believe His word no matter what."

"Truth is for us to discover, not to try and change to our preferences!"

"The bible isn't a piece of art to be subjective to our perspective, it's a pillar

to our lives meant to be interpreted by Holy Spirit!"

Andy Byrd, Week 9 - Intercession

"Life is discovering how good God is!"

"Be free from needing to be used by God and be abandoned to our lover Jesus!"

"We're not people who struggle with sin and love God, but we're lovers

of God who sometimes struggle with sin."

"In times of injustice, can we look away and look to God to

understand His heart for the situation?"

Dan Bauman, Final Week

"You are the gospel! If you don't carry the good news, you don't

have the good news to share!"

"The next age belongs to innovators, not imitators!"

"Be deeply practical and deeply prayerful."

"Without God, we cannot. Without us, God will not. He's waiting for

our engagement and our mobilization!"

"Without prayer, we're just marketing Jesus."

"Too many people think prayer is God saying amen to our desires,

but it's us saying amen to His desires!"

"Be honest with your frustrations to unanswered prayers. 50% of David's

psalms were laments."

"There's people who don't see breakthrough cause they stop

one prayer too soon!"

"Prayer isn't about techniques or formulas, it's about Him!"

Pete Greig of 24/7 Prayer, Final Week