November 18th, 2010
Monday, November 15, 2010 was a milestone for us.
That day was the birth of a vision God gave us while we were doing our DTS at YWAM Denver in 2004. My husband, Charles (Chad) and myself had finished our lecture phase and we were one week away from going on our outreach to China…except we did not have enough money to go. We were short about $3500.00. We had written letters to our friends and family, written letters to acquaintances, prayed, fasted, everything we could think of to do our part to raise the money for us to go and we were still short. Then one morning during worship, Peter Warren, the founder of YWAM Denver, decided to do an “African-style” offering for the few of us who needed to raise funding for outreach. He had the 100 or so people split into 2 sides of the room , so there was an isle in the middle. He told everyone there was no pressure, however, if they wanted to give, they were to dance up the center isle and put their offering in a basket that was at the front.
I remember feeling embarrassed that we needed financial help.
I remember my husband feeling confused, angry and bitter the week before…at God, at his friends for not financially supporting us in doing God’s work, at the church body.
I remember thinking, “…how times had changed.”
Five years prior, both Chad and myself had the opportunity to do a DTS (discipleship training program) before we got married.
Five years prior, Gay and Brown Cobb, Chad’s parents, were able to send several YWAM’ers on their outreach…not only on Chad’s team leaving from Denver, but from my team leaving from the YWAM Tyler base.
The Cobb’s were ALWAYS financially supporting churches, pastors, missionaries, ministries, fatherless families, orphans, widows…pretty much anyone in need. If they knew of a someone in need…they were the first to say, “…I want to help,” and they did. I could go on and on about the generosity of this couple…they truly had the gift of giving. And still do.
However, by the time Chad and I got married, and came back to YWAM to do a DTS together, financially, the Cobb’s no longer had the means to give to anyone. They were barely able to feed themselves, much less the masses…I will write more about them later and this financial situation because God told Chad that He was going to take the money away…that the money had gotten in the way of the plans He had for him.
So, here we were, in our thirties, not being able to financially provide for ourselves.
I knew that God had told us to come here. Right before Chad and I were married, The Lord told me that we were going back to YWAM. It was kind of a “curve-ball” because our plans did not include coming back to YWAM. Chad was about to graduate from SMU and he was planning on going to law school.
I remember calling Chad’s mom and saying, “Miss Gay, God told me we were going back to YWAM,” and Miss Gay responding, “Katherine, Chad is not going back to YWAM…he is passed all of that, he is going to law school.”
But I knew the sound of my Lord’s voice. We were going back to YWAM.
The last thing she said was, “Well, don’t tell Chad.” She was right…don’t tell Chad. the Lord was going to have to tell him.
We married on Thanksgiving Morning, 2003, in New Orleans. Chad was graduating from SMU in Dallas in December of 2003, so he had to return to Dallas to finish his final exams.
On the drive back to Dallas the week following our wedding, the Lord spoke to Chad…
“Chad, I want you to go back to YWAM.”
“I don’t want to go back to YWAM…I am going to law-school.”
“Chad, I want you to go back to YWAM, you have unfinished business there.”
“I don’t want to go back…I left there in shame.”
Chad was feeling shame because in 1998 during the outreach portion of his DTS, he was asked to leave the team while they were in Thailand. The facts are, in 1998, Chad was not willing to give up the lifestyle he was accustomed to. He had plenty of money to do whatever he wanted to do and this false sense of entitlement led him to be a “disruption” on the team…and that is the nice way of saying it.
“I am a God of completion. I want you to go back to YWAM.”
Eventually the conversation turned…
“Do I have to go back to Denver? Can I go to another YWAM base?”
“You have to go back to Denver.’
“Why?”
“You have unfinished business there.”
Then God said to Chad, “Chad, if you humble yourself and go back to YWAM Denver, I will opened doors for you, you never imagined.”
Several hours after this conversation between Chad and his God, I received a phone call from Chad…
“I can’t believe I am about to say this, but I think we are going back to YWAM.”
…and so, here we were, in 2004, back at YWAM Denver, in the worship center watching a community of missionaries, not one of them on a salary, each having to raise there own support to be there, DANCE up the center isle with their offerings of change and dollar bills.
I was crying…as I watched this community, caring for ones of their own.
The “have-nots” giving to the “have-nots.”
And they raised $3500.00 to send me and Chad to China.
The Lord told Chad…”The world needs to see My faithfulness and you will tell the story of My Faithfullness through media.”
When Chad stood up to thank everyone for their sacrificial giving, he repeated what the Lord had told him…
“The world needs to see what God is doing in the lives of young people as they step out in faith and are met by the Faithfullness of God…”
…and here we are, in 2010, telling God’s love story to the Millennial Generation through media.
Enjoy the journey of “JesusFreaks.” It is a gift from God.
