Debriefing...a powerful time.

The above picture was taken with our most recent MA group after an outreach.  In this picture, the students are debriefing their outreach.  Debrief time is always an amazing time of hearing how the Lord worked in the lives of the students, and the people they encountered.  We hold out debrief times in the Salem House of Prayer which is an amazing place.  SHOP is located in what used to be a strip club where sex trafficking was going on.  Now, today, it is a place where the Lord is being worshiped 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year!   I love being able to partner with ministries like SHOP to make our Mission Adventures trips all the more powerful for our students.

The "Gospel Guy" hits the streets of Salem!

This past week with one of our Mission Adventures groups, I hit the streets with the "Gospel Guy". I was real curious to see how it would go, and it went awesome!  I was on the corner of the busiest street in our city.  I've never done anything like this before, so I did not know what to expect.  I had reactions of all sorts.  One guy walked up to me, asked what I was doing, and we had a 30 minute conversation about the Gospel. One homeless man who has been clean from drugs for 2 years hung out with me and shared of Christ changed his life.  He had tried every recovery program known to man...none worked....until the power of Christ changed Him.  A lady spoke to me, and shared how she had been praying for a long time that our city would have a "street evangelist".  One guy yelled at me and said he was the devil!  I am so excited to continue to do the Gospel Guy each week.  Our city streets are filled with things of the world, why not stand out for the light of Christ?  Generally, people were very open and curious.  Pray for the Gospel Guy as we aim to become a center point and familiar face in our city.

Keeping cool with the "bob style" haircut and cold drinks!

Abby and Autumn are super excited for their new "bob style" haircuts they recently got.  They both say it keeps them cool in the hot sun! The below picture is of the kids at the cafe on our YWAM Salem campus.  This is one tall order for Lindy to take on!!  The kids love to get some cool drinks in the hot summer!

Anders turns 11 and celebrates in the clouds!

Anders turned 11 on the 26th.  It is crazy how time flies bye.  He still has a dream to be a pilot, and he was blessed to be able to fly in a Cesna plane!  A local farmer on whose land i duck hunt offered to take him up in the air for an hour, and boy did he love it!  What a special birthday present for AndersNoah!

Building Forts

The kids absolutely love summers here in the northwest.  The boys have been hard at work on their fort which is in the woods here on YWAM's 35 acre property.  They spent hours hauling wood, nails, and whatever else they can get their hands on.  What a great way to spend the summer for little boys!  Along with catching snakes, frogs, and crawfish, one of the other favorite hobbies of the boys is shooting the abundant amount of gophers with their pellet gun on base!    

The Gospel Guy....

Last week the Lord spoke to me in a way so clear, I was wondering if it was Him.  One of those moments when you wonder, "Is this really you God?"  It was during our weekly Commitment Service for our MA teams.  I was praying and the Lord showed me a picture of me sitting next to a sign that had the words "the Gospel Guy" on it.  I was sitting in a chair, with a thermos of coffee, and along with the sign, I had another sign which had a question written on it for people to ponder as they walked buy. People were asking me to tell them what the sign was about.  I shared the Gospel.  "I want you to do this in your city Tim." the Lord said to me.  I questioned God, "Really...isn't that a bit weird Lord?"  He clearly answered, "Will you be obedient Tim?"  So, thus is the start of the Gospel Guy.  Once a week, same time, same place, I will be organizing people to be "The Gospel Guy" in our city.  I'm hoping to see it become something I can get youth pastors involved with in the future.  The Lord told me this was not just to be me being the Gospel Guy....it is for His glory, and the ministry must be shared with others.  What I am most excited about is having the Gospel Guy become a presence in our city....someone who everyone in our city knows.."that guy who tells people about Jesus on the corner of Chemeketa and Liberty every Wednesday".  Im excited to speak to people about Jesus in our city....no strings attached. I'm excited to see what God has in store for "The Gospel Guy".  Join us in prayer as we begin The Gospel Guy soon.

The Sign Up's Begin for the Youth Pastors Olympics

The above picture is of a dry erase board in my office. Listed on it are the current youth pastors signed up for our September Youth Pastors Olympics.  Last summer we had nine signed up....this year we already have 18...and the Olympics are not until September 11th!  So excited about this!  Aside from bringing youth pastors together for a day of fun and competition, we are taking all the proceeds from the event to benefit a local charity who helps families who have lost loved ones in the war.  Please join us in praying for this upcoming event.  Lots of plans and marketing need to go in, and we are hoping to see this thing grow into one day being a youth pastor Olympics for Oregon...not just our city.  

Berry Picking and Hiking...a Walter Family tradition

Here in the Northwest we have endless outdoor opportunities.  In the summer, you can pretty much find us every weekend doing two things....picking berries and hiking.  We love berry picking with the kids, blueberries, strawberries, raspberries, blackberries, etc...you name it..if its on a bush our kids are attacking it.  The above picture is Autumn holding some fresh picked blueberries.  That particular day, we picked 36 pounds of berries in 40 minutes!!  Pays to have lots of kids when it comes to berry picking!!  We also utilize the abundance of hiking trails her in Oregon.  Sometimes we hike here in the valley, other times we hike some trails on the Cascade range, other times the Coastal range.  Its always fun, and we are so blessed to live in a place that offers so many outdoor activities for our family. The below picture we took yesterday along the trail.

Ropes Course provides great team building for Mission Adventures

The above picture is of a recent group doing some team building with our YWAM Salem ROPES course ministry, rite before they head up to the course to do some serious faith stretching! On Tuesday afternoons, from 1-5, our Mission Adventures students get the awesome experience of going on our ROPES course here.  The Ropes Course runs around 4,000 people through it every year (March-October), and we are so blessed to be able to include a few hours on the course for our MA students.  It is always a highlight of the week, and kids conquer all sorts of fears, while learning to work as a team while doing so.

Youth Pastor challenges other youth pastors to bring their students to Mission Adventures

Pastor Jon in the video above shares about his time at Mission Adventures!

Mission Adventures Participant Shares about his time with Mission Adventures

Above is a short clip of an interview with a participant we had come through Mission Adventures this week.  Here what he had to say about his time with us!

Kids Serve at Night of Nostalgia

The above picture is of Anders, Aidan, and Abby serving popcorn at our first ever "Night of Nostalgia" outdoor  movie night at YWAM Salem.  It was an absolute blast.  We showed the classic Swiss Family Robinson, and fun was had by all.  Our outdoor system can easily accommodate up to a crowd of 300 or so people, so I am anxious to use it for local youth groups at certain events we have scheduled.  The kids loved serving popcorn, and they even created their own "system of efficiency".  One cool thing was after the movie I had a little devotional with the kids about servanthood, and they all seemed to really enjoy simply serving people this night.  I look forward to lots of these opportunities in the future.  Again,Ii am so blessed to be able to involve our kids in ministry related things.  Aidan is especially excited for the next "Night of Nostalgia" since he found out we will also be serving hot dogs.  Hopefully he will serve them rather than eat them all!

Soccer Festival

This week we are helping out with our churches Soccer Festival!  Most of the kids come from homes around our church, and the majority are from Hispanic and Russian families.  This gives me a great opportunity to bring back my rusty Russian! The above picture is of me giving a Bible lesson during one of the breaks.  Since we have a gap in our busy Mission Adventures summer this week, our staff have been able to come along side a great local church ministry and serve.  It was hot out there today as temps were in the 90's!  The Soccer festival is led by a great guy in our church from Namibia.  So cool to see the nations coming here for missions!