Merry Christmas!!

Merry Christmas from the Walter Family!  I wish I could send individual pictures of all the kids doing what they love, but I managed to find 3 of them anyway below!  Aidan continues to love to wrestle and play air soft.  Annie and Alistair are best buddies, playing together all the time.  And little Adalyn is four months old already!  Sarah is still amazing in all ways.  I married up plain and simple.  

Abby and Autumn got us in the holiday spirit with performing in the Children's Nutcracker once again!

Anders continues to aim to have his pilots license.  He hopes to do his first solo flight before he turns 17.  

Preaching and Selling My Book

For 7 weeks in a row, I preached at different churches in our city on Matthew 22:1-14.  I was tremendously grateful for these times, though it was a sacrifice for the family to have me gone every Sunday at a different church.  All the pastors of these churches gave me a platform to sell my new book, which I was very thankful for.  Im happy to say that I sold enough to get past the break even investment of the book!  Now I just need to sell more to help bring in a little extra money to go towards our new vehicle.  I have been getting great feedback from people who have read the book, so that is encouraging.  I plan to do a 2nd edition in which I will be adding 3 more chapters as I think they are needed to make the book "complete" in my over analytical author mind!  A side blessing of speaking in so many churches, is that out of it more people have become aware of Gospel Focus Ministries https://www.gospelfocusministries.com/ and have even begun to do things with us.  I truly love working alongside churches.

Vehicle Fundraiser Update

Back in March, we began a fundraiser to try and raise $20,000 for a vehicle for our growing family.  Through the generousity and donations of many, we have raised around $16,500.  I have also been taking every penny made on my book to go towards this vehicle as well.  We ask for you to continue to pray for the remaining funds needed.  Thank you so much for all who have contributed.  If you have any questions please email. I see the top of the hill!  

The Big Picture Helps

I was thinking the other day of all the small things I need to get down for the ministry, and I began to feel overwhelmed.  I began to grow frustrated as I reflected on areas we need to improve on, success' and failures, etc... Then I paused for a minute and just looked at the "Big Picture" of what God has been doing via Gospel Focus Ministries. First time I hit the streets with a Gospel Guy sign was in July of 2013.  We then planted the Gospel Guy Network in March of 2015.  We then got an office downtown in October of 2015.  During that time we began to add things to our ministry like Temple Talks, Bus evangelism, the Outward Apologetics School, the Toolbox, a Jew, Christian and Muslim Enter a Room, etc... We began to work with college students, local Christian High Schools.  This past year, we saw Gospel Guy start in Vancouver, WA and Albany, OR.  A few months ago we rebranded and came up with Gospel Focus Ministries as our umbrella name for all the various ministries we are doing.  Not only have we become a hugely influencial and well known ministry in our city, we have also become the primary ministry that YWAM Salem uses to train all of its DTS students in evangelism.  Take this amazing statistic I did the numbers on.  In the past 4 years, we have seen 250 DTS students go through YWAM Salem.  All of them have worked alongside us as we have hosted their weekly evangelism. On average, every student did 2.5 hours of evangelism with us each week, and on average in a 12 week DTS they did 10 times of outreach.  Thats 25 hours per student, times 250, and that comes out to 6,250 hours of evangelism with DTS students over the past 4 years with Gospel Focus Ministries!  This is just DTS students, not to mention people from churches, Mission Adventures Students, and us full time staff.  Thats a lot of evangelism! Thats a lot of the gospel being proclaimed!  The Big Picture does help to reflect on at times!  I share this not to gloat, but to step back and reflect on how faithful God is in His work.  Thank you all so much who pray for us, and support us in our work.  You are all in this with us!  Look what God has done and is doing! :) 

Toolbox Training Time

This past month at "The Toolbox" (our monthly training and equipping time) we looked at the Incarnation and how we can effectively discuss it with non believers. It was definately a tall order for me, as it is quite an involved subject, but I had a great time none the less, and got great feedback.  The Toolbox continues to be an effective way to provide solid Biblical training in evangelism and apologetics for our local churches. 

Toolbox at our Office downtown

Greatest Gift Outreach

December 1-18 we hosted our Greatest Gift Outreach here.  5 days a week, 5 hours a day, we were on the streets sharing the Gospel.  It was a great time, and we had quite a number of people from YWAM, and various local churches, and Christian Schools participate.  We saw 3 people give their lives to Christ, and had many seed planting conversations. One HUGE praise report was with the weather...for 2 straight weeks we had no rain at all. Just crisp clear weather that allowed for lots of people out and about which allowed for lots of conversations!

Continuing to Build Relationships via Temple Talks

The above picture is me with some of my Muslim friends from the Salem Islamic Center.  I have been taking Christian groups on our Temple Talks to these guys for a while now, and it is amazing to see how God is working.  Please pray for our Temple Talks to continue to provide platforms for open discussion, where Christians can have their beliefs challenged and put under scrutiny, and vice versa.  

A Jew, Christian, and Muslim Walk Into a Room...

On January 25th, we will finally be having our first "A Jew, Christian, and Muslim Walk into a Room" discussion on a local college campus here.  I am very excited about this and we ask your prayers!  My hope is to have it be a monthly thing, and provide an open platform in discussing spiritual things that matter.  Our first topic will be "Who is God?"  To be honest, I am definately out of my leauge as I really have no idea what I stepping into. My Rabbi friend speaks like 4 different types of Hebrew, and is a very smart guy.  The Muslim guy is the Professor of Islamic Studies from Oregon State University...and then there is me :)  I trust the Lord will have His way in these discussions.  We want it to be as layed back and relational as we can, and hope it will produce long term fruit through our discussion and interactions.

Car Accident

On Sunday, December 18th, Anders and I were on the way to one of his magic shows he was going to be performing at a local church.  On our way, we were rear ended by a lady going about 50 mph.  We were at a complete stop, and she hit us hard enough to send us in a tailspin across oncoming traffic into a ditch.  Praise the Lord there were no oncoming cars.  The real unfortunate thing, aside from the fact that we just got this vehicle 4 months ago from a friend, was that the lady who hit us has no drivers license, no insurance, and was actually in jail 10 days ago.  Worst case scenario type of thing when it comes to insurance stuff.  So we need wisdom.  We have to wait about a week to hear form the body shop, my guess is they are gonna say the repair is more than the worth of the car (its a 2000 Toyota) and then our insurance is gonna write us a check for the minimal amount.  This was a great car, and only had 124,000 on it, we bought it from a good friend.  No way can we purchase anything close to it for what we will get from the insurance company is my guess.  Anyway, all your prayers are appreciated!  

Ladies car who rear ended us.  She tried to leave the scene!  She was put in hand cuffs.

Hello from the Walter Family

Fall time is a wonderful busy season here in the Walter home.  Kids are all in school.  Anders got his drivers permit. Yikes!  He also stays busy on Saturdays with the Young Eagles Flight program. He is a little over a year into his plane build.  He loves every minute of it. Aidan just finished up flag football and will start wrestling season shortly here.  Abby and Autumn are busy getting ready for the Nutcracker in December where they both will be dancing. Annie started kindergarden, and her brother Alistair just turned 4 on Tuesday. Baby Adalynn is a gem, and is quickly approaching 3 months old.  Where has time gone?  All in all, we thank the Lord for His enduring faithfulness in all areas for our family life.  We thank Him for all of you who through your prayers and giving, enable us to continue to serve with YWAM, going on 19 years now!  Please take time to check out our ministry website for a refresher on all that we are doing, and what you are all supporting through your prayers and giving.  Here is the website https://www.gospelfocusministries.com/

From South Sudan to Salem

This is Jon. He is from South Sudan and works with us one day a week.  The rest of the week he serves in other ministries here at YWAM Salem, but I long for every Wednesday when he is with us.  Why?  Because he prays with tears. I have learned so much about the urgency to get the gospel to people from Jon.  He is a bold evangelist, not afraid to tell people the truth.  His testimony is amazing, and we are so privaledged to have so many internationals helping us with GG. 

Two Weeks Teaching in DTS

October was a busy month for me in the teaching arena.  I spoke in 2 DTS's, one in Washington and one here in Salem.  As usual, my topic for the week was evangelism.  My weeks were back to back, so that was 30 hours of teaching in 10 days...which was fulfilling but yet, exhausting.  I took Abby, Autumn, and Annie with me on my trip to Washington, and we had some greta quality time together! 

The two guys above were DTS students in a school I taught in.  One is from Mongolia, and one is from Indonesia.  Pretty cool they each bought my book and are going to try and translate them for people in their native countries!  

Ministry With University Students

God has opened up more doors of opportunity on college campuses for us.  We have now begun to go every other week to another small college nearby Lynn Benton Community College.  We are working alongside Campus Ambassadors, as we are at the other college we go to here in Salem.  The unique thing about this new one, is we actually serve alongside a group of ladies from that city who have started Gospel Guy there.  So we get to help a new GG location, as well as plug into a college ministry.  

Taking students on a Temple Talk to the Jewish Synagogue

Pulpit to Pavement

On October 23rd we had our "Pulpit to Pavement" outreach.  This day was for local pastors to come out and see what Gospel Focus Ministries is all about.  This day went great.  Pastors took huge steps of faith as for many of them it was a first time even doing evangelism like this.  We took them on the buses, we took them to do Gospel Guy, and we brought them on a Temple Talk. The day went from about 8:30-3:00 so it was a full day.  One pastor brought one of his leaders from his church who was petrified to come and do outreach. Long story short, he ended up leading a person to Christ.  Praise God for His faithfulness!  This day served 3 purposes.  Get pastors more familiar with our ministry, get pastors doing evangelism, and forging new relationships with pastors in the hope we could do more with them in the future. 

Book Launch and Preaching Circuit

On October 20th, I had my official book launch for me new book "Extra, Extra, Tell All About It".  It felt great to finally have copies in hand!  Pray that this book would be a blessing to all who read it.  My hope is to use it when I speak in YWAM schools, churches, etc.. I would ask your prayers specifically for the next 7 Sundays as I will be preaching in a different church each week.  I'm calling it the "Can I Borrow a Tie" tour!  That comes from the main text I am sharing from, which is Matthew 22:1-14.  Pray that my message glorifies Christ, and that people will by the book! :)  

A New Book!

I am very excited to announce my new book which will be inn print the beginning of October!  About a year ago, I felt compelled to begin putting much of what I teach in YWAM schools, churches, etc.. about evangelism into a book.  So, over the past year I have been chipping away at it whenever I get a free minute...which is not to often.  I really pray this book will be a blessing to all you read and will challenge Christians to get out there and share the gospel with people. If your interested in ordering copies, please let me know!  The book would make a great gift, or a great read to do for a group study.  Pray for a lot of sales as this is quite an investment, and a big step of faith!  

Introducing...Gospel Focus Ministries!

Please take time to check out our new ministry website at https://www.gospelfocusministries.com/ . We are now calling the ministry Gospel Focus Ministires.  Under that name is all the stuff we are doing.  Nothing with our ministry has changed, we just felt that a new "Umbrella" name would help us to describe better all the things that we are doing.  Please have a look!!

DTS Students off to Thailand

Just like that, 12 weeks of doing outreach every Wednesday of with our summer DTS students came to an end this week as these awesome young people head off to Greece for their outreach. In two weeks, our campus receives 40 new students for the fall DTS.  We will be doing outreach two days a week with the students. Working with our YWAM campuses DTS students is such a blessing, and it is a great opportunity to see students grow in their boldness to do evangelism.  

Vehicle Fundraiser Update

We ask for your prayers as we continue to try and raise money for a van that can fit the whole family. Driving in two vehicles has been interesting, and we look forward to when we can all go in one vehicle.  We still need to raise around $6,000 to reach our goal of $20,000.  If we don't reach it, we have been looking at the wagon above as a second option.  to those who have given and prayed for us in regards to this need thank you so much!  Please continue to pray!  

Bring on the fall time

We finished up the beautiful Oregon summer with our traditional trip to go pick peaches.  Kids had a great summer and we think even baby Adalyn, who is now a month old even enjoyed picking peaches!  School starts this next week, and before we know it the rain will come!  Anders got his drivers permit this week, and we have no idea how he grew up this fast.  

Adalyn Jane Walter

On Thursday, August 10th, at 3:40 am, Adalyn Jane decided she wanted to come into the world and meet her family!  Sarah had a very smooth delivery.  From the time we got to the hospital until baby came was about 2 1/2 hours.  Adalyn weighed 7 lbs 13 ounces and was about 21 inches long.  We came home yesterday, as they released her after 24 hours.  All is well, and the kids are super excited to hold and spoil their new baby sister.  I get 2 weeks off from work to stay at home, which I am tremendously grateful for and looking forward to.  Thank you all for your prayers for the baby,for Sarah and for our family.  We are so blessed, and give glory to God for the gift of life.  

Autumn was the first to get to hold Adalyn which made her VERY happy

Life is tough when your a baby

As always, the older kids had something special planned to welcome Adalyn to her new home

Rebranding the Gospel Guy Ministry

We have decided to rebrand the Gospel Guy ministry.  Basically, what this means is we will be giving the ministry a new name.  Nothing about the ministry will change, we just feel like the name needs to change to help us reach our goals and vision more effectively.  We also feel the name is actually at times a hindrance in the promotion of the ministry, and getting people to understand what we are about.  So, we ask your prayers as we rebrand the ministry. Stay tuned!!  

A very busy July

The past 4 weeks have flown buy. We hosted around 150 high school and college aged students through Mission Adventures, which means all of them did outreach with the Gospel Guy. So many amazing stories, so many times Jesus was glorified. sometimes, I need to pause and think how many people participate in our ministry here, sometimes it feels overwhelming, but it is always so satisfying. Lives were changed this summer.  Salvations happened, students faith were challenged, and the name of Jesus was lifted high. 

Mission adventures Students in front of the Gospel Guy Office downtown. We had around 150 students be a part of our ministry over the past month in July. 

Prom King brought to tears

The kid in the picture above was from a youth group doing mission Adventures from Lincoln, Nebraska. He was the prom king, sports hero, super popular kid in his school...you know the type. Anyway, his youth leader told our staff to be praying for him and that the Lord would break his pride that had built up over the years.  The first two days of the week were pretty standard, then Wednesday came and we took students on the bus.  I stood up and preached the gospel, and as usual I began to go form student to student to ask if they would like to share. This kid, names Isaiah said he wanted to, but was petrified.  I prayed for him, and told him there was only about 10 minutes left before we had to get off the bus. At that exact time, the bus stopped and about 10 people got on. His face turned chalk white.  As I started to talk to another guy, all of a sudden Isaiah stood up and began to speak. At first, you could tell he was struggling, and almost sounded as if he was scripting it.  then, all of a sudden, something changed, his lip began to quiver, and he began to weep as he preached. He began to tell others of how Jesus saved him, and how he no longer cared what people thought, they needed to hear the gospel.  It was a beautiful moment. A prom king brought to tears. Isaiah later in the week committed to a life in missions. God is so good. 

Training and Equipping

This past month I had the opportunity to head up to Vancouver, WA to do some training with a partner church who hits the streets every Tuesday.  It was a great time, and very encouraging to me as i see the GG ministry grow to be a blessing to other churches.  Pray for East Vancouver Community Church as they become more involved with the ministry.  All of the people above were sincere Jesus loving people who desire to become more bold in their witness. One of our "catches" is that we do not train people unless they are committed to coming out and doing outreach.  These folks are and recently went out with their pastor and had an amazing time.

Anders turns 15

On July 26th, Anders Noah turned 15.  Where in the world has the time gone?  We are very proud of him and are amazed at his giftings. He stays busy between putting on magic shows for schools, church groups, nursing homes, etc... as well as being very involved with the Little Eagles program with Experiental Aviation Association.  He is a hard worker, and is completing his ground school to get his private pilots license!  Cray to think that it is quite possible that Anders will do his first solo flight when he is 16! He is still telling us he wants to either be a missionary pilot, or some sort of engineer.  We will see!  As you see in the picture above, his little brother Alistair thinks the world of him!

Walter Vehicle Fundraiser

Thank you all who have been praying, giving, and supporting us in our Vehicle Fundraiser.  To date, we have raised $13,200.  We have been at this amount now for quite some time, and essentially it seems we have reached a plateau. Plateaus are a good thing i think.  for one, it teaches us patience.  It teaches us to depend on the Lord, and not ourselves.  It also helps keep things in perspective. If the worst of our worries is raising enough money to get a van, then we are blessed in a world where there are so many other things that could be wrong.  So, we rejoice in the "plateau seasons".  At the same time, I sure would love to see the season of raising funds for the van come to an end, after all I am human! :)  I'm all out of ideas on how to raise the remaining funds, but our God is big. We ask that you would please continue to pray for us as we try and raise the remaining $6,800 to reach our goal of $20,000.  We would like to possibly purchase a used 10 passenger Ford Transit type of van.  

Perspective Matters

Being in YWAM, it is easy to get in a routine, like anywhere.  Lately, I have been in kind of a routine rut with ministry.  We are doing great things, God is touching lives, but sometimes it is good to be reminded of how amazing the Lord is through this organization called YWAM.  As part of our base leadership, I am amazed at how MUCH is going on here at YWAM Salem.  Although my primary ministry is the Gospel Guy, i am involved in quite a bit of other areas that many times I simply don't put in our updates.  Take for example the above picture.  All the countries in green are those that we as YWAM Salem have sent teams, individuals, groups, etc...to over the past 35 years.  And actually, some of those dark nations would now be green, we just have not update it yet.  This is amazing!  thank you all for your prayers, support, and belief in our ministry here at YWAM Salem!

Summer Means Outreach

Summer time provides great outreach here in the Northwest.  Once a month we go up to Vancouver, WA to do outreach with our pastor friend Randy, pictured above. 

Melissa (girl who is leading Mission Adventures this summer) does outreach with a young man from a local church in Vancouver, WA. 

Gospel Guy Multiplying

Sometimes the best way for me to communicate what God is doing is simply by screen-shooting a correspondence with people we work with.  the above is from my good pastor friend in Vancouver , WA.  He is planting the GG ministry there with his church, and once a month I head up there to visit with him, encourage him, and do outreach with him.  He is a great guy, with a sincere heart for the lost. As you can see in the message above, he is getting people in his local church to come to training times and then hit the streets with him to do evangelism.  This is so encouraging to me, and I am excited to see him have people interested up there in his church.  Pray for Randy and the GG ministry in his church.  It's all about multiplication! I am very encouraged at our partnership with Randy and his church.  If we could only get other pastors and churches on board like Randy! One day at a time...

Building Bridges of Relationship

The above message is from a Muslim man named Mishal, who works with the local Islamic Center here in Salem.  I reached out to him and met with him, told him about our ministry, etc... It was a great time, and i was super surprised at the questions he had for me as a Christian.  I am going to be meeting with Mishal soon to discuss things like Jesus as God, the Trinity, etc...  We also will be taking our Mission Adventures teams to do Temple Talks with him.  This is another open the door the Lord has given us.  The Gospel Guy ministry continues to intentionally build bridges with non Christians in our city.  Pray for Mishal and for his salvation. 

Grandpa and Grandma Beckstrom Visit

In June Sarah's folks came out for a visit, in where we took a trip up to Olympic National Park for 5 days.Staying true to the Pacific Northwest, the weather was cold, and a bit rainy, but over all we had a wonderful time.  It is always good to see Grandpa and Grandma!  every summer, we usally meet up with Sarah's folks at a National Park in August, but since baby is due this August we took our trip a bit early.  Over the past few years we have been to Yellowstone, Glacier, Yosemite, Rocky Mountain, Grand Teton, and now Olympic National Parks.  What will next year hold?  

Annie Rose turns 6

On June 28th, our little Annie Rose turned 6 years old. She went to the trampoline park with her two friends, had cake and ice cream, and opened presents.  She is such a little princess, and is by far the wimpiest of all the kids...in a sweet little girl kind of way!  

Gospel Guy in Vancouver, WA

The above picture is of a pastor friend of mine who pastors in Vancouver, WA.  He has made the GG an ongoing ministry in his church, and we made a trip up this month to do outreach with him.  It was a great time, and so encouraging to me to see the GG being done in another city here in the Northwest. Pray for Randy, as he desires to see the GG become more a  part of his church, and more influential in the city of Vancouver!

Teaching at YWAM Yosemite

This past month I was away for a week speaking on evangelism in the DTS at YWAM Yosemite.  It was a great time, and the students were very receptive. They are getting ready to head to Thailand for their 2 month outreach. As always, many of them had never shared the Gospel with anyone, so it is a huge blessing to be able to provide that first opportunity to them. YWAM Yosemite is a base that we helped plant out of YWAM Salem, so it was so great to connect with so many familiar faces. Teaching in the DTS schools is something I enjoy tremendously.  Unfortunately I was not able to bring any of the kids this time, as usually I will try and bring one with me. Maybe next time!  

Tim behind the phones?

Being part of a big YWAM campus often requires doing all sorts of things I would not normally do. For example, this past three months have found me all day Mondays and Tuesday mornings helping out in our overwhelemed student communications department.  Basically, I make calls to prospective students for our DTS schools.  This has been great as it has forced me to look at the "Big" picture of what YWAM Salem is doing in sending hundreds of young people to the nations.  It also has humbled me as I have had to put other things Gospel Guy related on hold, to give a hand in another area.  I am nearing my end time helping out, but it has been fun.  I also got to lead a person to the Lord over the phone which was a first for  me! Praise God!

Appreciation Breakfast Summary

People from different cults, religions, etc.. at our appreciation breakfast

Our Temple Talk Appreciation Breakfast went great!  A few people had to cancel last minute, so I was a bit bummed about that, but all in all, it was a great time. I was able to share the Gospel very clearly with all of these amazing people,and it was received well. I believe this layed a very good foundation for future dialogue and relationship.  Our Temple Talks continue to be very effective at challenging Christians to get out of their bubble, talk to others of different views, and have their beliefs strengthened and challenged.  Pray for all of these amazing people that one day they would come to know Christ.