Prayer Requests and Praise Reports

PRAYER REQUESTS: 1. Continued recovery of our health from COVID 2. For Anders as he gets ready to attend college in January 3. For wisdom as we raise a bunch of kids 4. For wisdom as we lead Gospel Focus Ministries. I (Tim) need to make some strategic decisions coming up 5. For all our kids personal faith in Christ to be theirs, and theirs alone 6. For wisdom on whether or not to run my Outard Apologetics School this upcmong fall again (lots go into that decision) PRAISE REPORTS: 1. Recovery from COVID and good health. Simply put...we are alive and recovering. So many have not been as fortunate 2. So many friends and family who helped us out during COVID 3. A new vehicle! 4. We will be able to continue to rent our office downtown with the new owner! Though yearly will be a rent increase, we trust the Lord will provide 5. Continued growth and impact of Gospel Focus Ministries in our city 6. YWAM Salem has begun infrastructe projects on our big capital campaign which we have been working on for years 7. Continued seeds being planted for the gospel in our city, and many salvations

Anders Graduation, COVID, Pumpkin Patches, and a New Vehicle

In September, the guys at the local EAA chapter that Anders has been a part of through him a graduation party. It was a great time and so great to hear the amazing things these old duffers said about Anders. In January, Anders will head to Eugene to start his 2 year trade school to become a certified aviation mechanic. He will commute from home, which makes me happy because that means I still have someone to do Sarah's endless list of house projects.

Fall time we managed to keep the tradition alive of going to a local pumpkin patch. As you all know, 3 weeks ago, I came down with COVID which then spread to the rest of the family. Sarah and I both had to go to the ER, and it has been almost 3 weeks and we are starting to feel better. It has been a very difficult time for us all, but by the mercy of God it looks like we are improving. We were so grteful for so many people who reached out with prayer, meals, and general support and encourgement during our time with COVID. Needless to say, we are ready to "see the world" again after being so careful the past year and a half.

A week before I came down with COVID, we purchased our new vehicle. We were blown away at the provision the Lord brought in from so many of you, and we would never in a million years think we would be able to purchase a new vehicle. As crazy as it seems, used cars cost more than new ones here in Oregon rite now, and we were able to take advantage of that. Thank you all so much who contributed to this huge need after the accident that totalled our van. Man, just writing this makes me realize how crazy an end to our summer has been!

How We Grow Our Team and Develop Mentors in Evangelism

Above is a picture of two of our local volunteers Larry and Randy. One is a retired bus driver for the city, the other is a retired Anastesiologist. I've had a lot of people ask me how our minstry works being a YWAM ministry that essentially operates seperately from the YWAM Campus we have here in Salem. The answer is quite simple...I try to center our ministry on developing local people into effective evangelists so that we can reach as many as we can in our city. Gospel Focus is very much focused on our city, though so many YWAM'ers come through an move on to other nations and areas. So, I'd like to super briefly explain how local people here become "staff volunteers" of Gospel Focus. Step one...they do our 10 week Face to Face evangelism internship. During this time, we identify if they seem to be the type of person we would like to see continue on with the minstry. Step two...after thier internship they do a 8 series training called SHARPEN, in which they learn the nuts and bolts of the ministry, why we do what we do, how we do it, etc. Step three...after sharpen, they then enter a 2-3 week shgadowing phase where they shadow our mentors, observe, take notes, and learn how we mentor peopel in evangelism. Step 4...they then enter a 4 week role reversal mentoring program where they are the mentors, and we become the mentee. After these four stages, the person then takes a Gospel Focus Exam at the end, which helps us to understand if they have gotten all the things we desried for them to get and comprehend in the initial 4 stages. After the test, they are then an official "Staff Volunteer" with Gospel Focus. Theis usual means for the average person that they can committ to one or two afternoons or mornings a week to help us out. The process seems to be working great!

DTS Students Leave...and a New Group Arrives

Above is a list of questions that our current DTS students hope to have answered during their 11 weeks doing evangelism with us on Monday afternoons. As you can see, there are a wide variety of questions that we can to help address weekly with the students. As our summer DTS is overseas on outreach, a new fall school has started and we continue to take them out every Monday afternooon to grow in their ebvangelism.

Graduating Interns

In August we graduated another amazing group of interns who completed our 10 week evangelism internship. What I love about this group it is is such a mix of people at all different stages of life, on different paths in life. From a local guy who is going to continue to work with us, to a guy going to Morocco, to a young lady who is now serving full time in Sweden with YWAM, all of them have learned how to be more effective and intentional as witnesses for Christ through our internship. This was a real fun group. I have already herd from many of them in how they are using the things they learned thorugh our internship in their daily lives. This internship continues to be an amazing resource for the churches in our city. We currently have 6 more interns doing the internship. It will be great to see them all gradute soon as well. One thing I am so excited for is the growth of our local team. We are multiplying evangelsists in our city one day at a time, and it is such a blessing to see it happen. God is so faithful!

UFO Festival

The yearly UFO Festival Outreach was amazing. Though a bit smaller scale due to COVID stuff, our team had a fantastic time. We were a group of about 15, many of who are our interns doing our evangelism internship. We saw one young couple pray to receive Christ at the festival, and had a multitude of amazing gospel conversations. In an interesting turn of events, the vendor rite next to us was actually a plam reader and tarrot card reader. Talk about spiritual warfare. We got to share the gospel with the lady, who sadly enough went to a local church and said she was a "Christian" who chooses to use other methods to help people know about Jesus. I was able to confront the false worldview in love, shared the gospel with her, and the remainder of the day our team prayed for her. Amazingly enough, she was busy reading palms the entire day. So sad to see how poeple blend ungodly things in the name of a false version of Christianity.

Prayer Requests

Pray for wisdom as Gospel Focus continues to grow. We have a lot of new plans, ideas, dreams, etc but need wisdom on timing, scheduling, and honestly, how much to take on. Pray for the health of Sarah and baby. Due date is August 26th! Pray for a safe delivery, and healthy little baby girl. Pray for a summer of peace and tranquility and that wildfires in this area would not be bad. Pray for our children, as they are all in different stages of life, have different needs, etc. Pray for the roots of faith in Christ to go deep in their hearts and minds. Pray for balance of life. Big family, busy ministry, lots of needs!:) Thank you for being partners with our family in minstry, for your faithful prayers and support!

Summer DTS and Mission Adventures

The above picture is of the Summer DTS students. Each Monday afternoon they join us for training, and then evangelism.

We recently trainined the Mission Adventures staff and over the next 5 weeks will be taking their high school students out on Tuesday afternoons to do evangelism. This summer, we are packed full with evangelism when we spread it out over the DTS, Mission Advenutres, and all the interns we have doing our Face to Face Internship. All hands on deck.

Some of our staff sharing at YWAM Salem's ministry fair about Gospel Focus.

Multiplying Mentors

These past few months have been a trendous time of growth for our ministry. We have seen new people added to our full time team and there are more who are joining. I am humbled at what the Lord continues to do. Everyone in the above picture at one time were terrified to do evangelism, now, after coming through our internship and further training in our ministry, they are all know full time mentors, equipping others to do evangelism! How exciting to see this growth.

The above picture is one of our staff members Bryant who recently completed our secondary level traingin called SHARPEN. SHARPEN is an 8 session series I developed designed to help our mentors become well grounded in the heart of Gospel Focus, our Face to Face internship, and the nuts and bolts of what it means to mentor people in evangelism. SHARPEN has been a great thing for helping our team stay unified and focused.

Getting My Book Out There

I have enjoyed seeing my new book circulate through people, churches, etc in our city. The abover picture is of a local pastor here who is using the book to encourage and inspire his staff to live a lifestyle of evangelism. It's great to have this book be a resource and encouragement to the people of our city in hearing what the Lord has done, and is doing in our ministry here in Salem.

Family News

The past few months have been busy here at the Walter home. Our eldest, Anders graudated from high school and will be attending Lane Aviation Acedemy this coming January to obtain his Aviation Mechanic Certificate. Until then, he will continue to work, and fly as much as he can to get his commercial rating and hopefully his private flgiht instructors license. Aidan had a great wrestling season, and made it to state. though he did not place, he grew by leaps and bounds this year. The other kids continue to grow, stay busy, and all are looking forward to baby sister coming the end of August. The summer for them has been spent doing things kids should do...lazying around in the day, tenting out in the yard, baking fresh baked goodies, etc...

Baby # 8 coming soon!

 

We are super excited to announce that Walter baby #8 is coming this August! We are super excited about this great news and thank the Lord for the gift of life. The family is doing great and we seem to stay pretty busy buying groceries and doing laundry! 

What will it be...boy or girl? We find out this coming Friday?

Staying busy doing Evangelism

 

My co worker Samuel and I doing "Man Overboard"

For the first time in over year, we took out the USS Repentance for outreach, and it was a great time. We continue to proclaim the gospel in all sorts of creative and crazy ways to the people of our city. God is bringing people into the kingdom, and what a blessing to be able to be a part of that great work. We also recently had our "Pulpit to Pavement" outreach with local pastors. Our group was quite a bit smaller than usual, but we still had a great time.

Pastors doing some debrief after "Pulpit to Pavement"

Kaleidescope

In January we added another component to the ministry called Kaleidoscope. Above you can read what it's all about. January we went to an Anglican church, February a Baptist church, March we had to skip because of ice storm clean up, but next week we will be visiting a Wesleyan church. These times have been so rich and beneficial for all. I look forward to doing more throughout the year.

Some of our staff having conversations with the Anglican priest about what it means to be Anglican

 

Equipping Continues...and continues...and continues....

 

Since January, we have had 8 interns come through our Face to Face evangelism internship. We presently have 5 new interns getting ready to start as well. I often feel like our updates may sound monotonous because we are always doing the same thing...evangelism...and equipping others in evangelism! So many stories to share of how the internship is impacting our city.  Not only are the internship going great, but more training and equipping is happening with all our staff as I developed a curriculum called "Sharpen", which is an 8 session training series to help our mentors become better in their mentoring of others in evangelism. So much fun, and so exciting to see more people equipping more people for evangelism!

All of our staff go through this new series I put together. It's been great!

We continue to host our monthly equipping time called the "Toolbox" the last Thursday of the month

A New Book!

 

New Book Cover

I am excited to announce the publishing of my new book. I decided to write this amidst the beginning of the COVID pandemic. It is a collection of 24 stories from the ministry, meant to inspire us all to share the gospel with others. I am real excited for this book, and hope it will be a blessing to all who read it. If you would like a copy, let me know, or you can order it off Amazon. It should be ready for publishing within a week!  

Team Changes

 

The Team Having Some Fun in the Snow

I find myself in a very interesting time with the ministry. Gospel Focus is very unique in that the staff of the ministry are a mix of full time YWAM'ers as well as local volunteers. Sometimes, there is more of one than the other. Two key staff members who have been with me for many years are moving on to other areas, and I will miss them for sure. At the same time, the Lord has brought new young staff who are eager to learn and grow. We also have a super solid group of local volunteers who serve with the ministry consistently, which is allowing us to expand and grow in many ways. Pray for our staff and that the Lord gives me wisdom how to lead. 

Ice Storm of the Century

YWAM Staff cleaning up! All Hands on Deck!

In February we had one of the worst ice storms we have ever seen here happen. The news called it the "Ice Storm of the Century". In one night, we saw devastation in our city like I have never seen. The YWAM Campus had a ton of trees fall on our property, and we are still in the process of cleaning things up. Our Ropes course on campus took a real toll as well. Thankfully, with the help of all our staff and many volunteers from our city, we are almost done with the clean up. It was a night to remember for sure. Sarah and I were with the kids at home when all of a sudden it sounded like a war broke out as tree limbs began to snap and break all through out the night. Although we had many trees fall around our house and in our neighborhood, none hit our home. Our power was only out for about 36 hours, which is amazing considering many in our city were without power for over a week!

Trees were all over the place on the YWAM Campus