April Update

Hey Everyone,

I wanted to share what has been happening in my life over the last 4 weeks. Back at the end of March, all the DTS’ and many others from the Brisbane Base headed to Toowoomba for Easter Fest. For those who don’t know, the City of Toowoomba puts on this huge Christian Music Festival every year over Easter Weekend. It draws in hundreds of people for a weekend of fun and music, but is also is dedicated to sharing the Easter Message and God’s truths. YWAM supplied about 150 volunteers to help make the festival happen. The Brisbane Base was there, along with YWAMers from the Gold Coast, Newcastle, and Byron Bay.  We spent the week doing practical jobs such as setting up stages and equipment, wrapping fences, putting up signs, directing the groups and families to their camping sites, cleaning, and really anything else they needed done in order to make the festival happen. Then Friday begins the amazing experience. Bands such as Reliant K, Ascend the Hill, United Pursuit, Lecrae, Demon Hunter, and heaps more come in to worship, do interviews and signings, and share their hearts. The Festival has so much to offer. We also set up our Chai Tent. It is a place for smaller groups to perform and also as a place for people to hang out and have amazing Chai tea. Easter Fest was a lot of work and the over 15 hour days were not a piece of cake. The 10pm-2am shifts and the amount of rain we had Easter Sunday also contributed to some interesting stories, but you couldn’t ignore that God was doing amazing things.

During the Festival I worked a few times in Youth Chaplaincy. It was a really cool opportunity to walk around Youth Camping and just sit and talk to young people and encourage them. There was one night were I had a night shift with some other YWAMers and we were talking to some young guys about life when two other guys came up and started talking to us. They turned out to be working on an evangelism team of Easter Fest who hit the City during the day and then talk and pray with the youth at night. They were super honest with us and asked us to pray for them, that they would have new energy and excitement for the rest of the night and then they also asked if they could pray for us. It was seriously so encouraging for me because I could just see how there are lots of people, especially young people who are fighting for the same thing as I am and who are trying to reach out and Share God.

 After Easter Fest was finished, we stayed another day to help with some tear down and clean up. After that we made our way to Byron Bay. It was Evangelism week for our DTS students. The leader of the Byron Base was our speaker. He would share in the mornings to the Students there, and then in the Afternoons and at night we would go out and actually practice what we were learning. A really cool story I want to share happened in a place Called Nimbin, about an hour out of Byron.

 Nimbin was a pretty crazy place. It is an area where Marijuana is very openly used and there is a lot of alcoholism and addiction. We went for the afternoon and set up a place in a park where we set up a sound system to perform testimonies dances and song sets. I went with two girl students to a little art Gallery next to a café on the main street. I really wanted to know more about the art and who painted them. So we asked the people of the Café and they sent them down the road past a Hemp store to a woman. She brought us back to the gallery and showed us a bigger room lined with paintings. A lot of them where really spiritually dark and the paintings of people were empty and lacking their humanity. The important facial features, like eyes, nose, mouth were faded out, not distinct. Some paintings were of bodies, but the heads would be missing. So we asked the painter what her inspiration was. It was hard for the woman to focus, but she was telling us how she didn’t know exactly what inspired her but she knew she wanted to express something, show people what she felt. It was amazing because the 3 of us girls are all artists and we know what she is trying to say. The difference is what is behind what we create. The DTS girls and I are seeking to use our gifts for God and when we create art we create life and speak identity and truth with our work. But for people who don’t know God, if they are creating a piece of artwork about death for example, they spend hours submerging themselves in those feelings and that atmosphere. No wonder so many famous artists in history have committed suicide or have gone through depression. So, we were just looking at the work and she asked us if we wanted to do some art there in the studio. I was amazed. She gave us some paper and her supplies and then she left. She didn’t feel comfortable being in the room for a long time, which I could understand because there was so much darkness there. So she left and we were able to just sit in the room and create prophetic art, worship, and pray in that place. For those of you who understand spiritual atmosphere, it was amazing how much we being there changed the place and how cool is it that this woman left us there and gave us her supplies. It was totally God working. So we were able to leave her the pictures and some notes as well. This was an amazing experience for me because when I was asked to lead the painting track on our school, I asked God to show me how to paint for Him and show me what prophetic art was. And He showed me, in Nimbin of all places. He is so good. So the rest of the week we spent time praying and talking to the People in Byron, doing free barbeques and performing in the parks. We also had some amazing times together as YWAMers. We worshiped, prayed for healing, and lots of our students stepped out in amazing ways. After the week in Byron, we packed up once again and drove to a little country town called Stanthorpe.

The Brisbane YWAM Base has started something called the Pass it on Tour. The heart behind this is running with the message of God for the next generation. What happens is that runners go from one town to the next carrying a baton. After they arrive in the next town, we set up our big white tent and after getting connected to the churches of the area, we take on a week of serving and blessing the town. Every day we would start with some work projects around the community. My team, Team Japan, Did some golf course work and also some landscaping and gardening outside a dementia facility. Then, In the afternoons we would run a holiday youth program. We would paint faces, play soccer, play music, dance, color, make balloon animals, and just give the kids something to do on their school holiday. Then every night we invite everyone back to the tent for a time of community and fellowship. We start the night with worship and then we invite speakers to share on a topic or to share what God is doing. We had a night where the local church leaders each shared about what God was doing in Stanthorpe. Then we had a pastor from Brisbane come out and share on how God is generational and also about all He has for us. Then we hosted a youth night and then a family night with free food and a Performance from some Islanders who did storytelling, island dancing, and fire twirling. It was an amazing week and I really enjoyed pouring into this small town. God showed me how in small places with lots of different churches there can be a lot of Pride and Disunity. However, that is not what God wants and seeing the churches come together in the tent and worship opened my eyes to God’s redemption. Worship is what brings us together because it is God’s spirit that is doing the work. Pastors could go to lunch together, the churches could do a prayer meeting every month, but that doesn’t always bring the Unity God intends for us. As Churches, we need to stop looking at our differences. This week really opened my eyes to how God is so perfect and pure, but when we let little things get in the way of our relationship and view of him, it creates a picture of Christ that other people around us see, but it actually isn’t even who God is. It is a false tainted Jesus. Where in my life do I overlook my own selfishness? Then people don’t see my God for who He is, but instead see how I reacted to a situation wrongly. Maybe they see that when I am with someone who believes something a little different, I try to debate or prove a point to them when really I should just share the love God has given me, which would be a testimony in itself. Or if I am fearful to tell someone about God because of my own pride, that’s not ok. So it was a growing week. We were all able to get to know our outreach teams more and see what we are strong at and what we need to work on.

So we have made our way back to base and have begun lectures again. We had a week on Holy Spirit and are now learning the meaning of allowing God to be Lord in our lives. So, God is good.

I hope this gives you a better picture of how your prayers and support are making a difference in my life, and in those around me. This isn’t easy, but God doesn’t call us to a life of Easy. Then there would be no need to trust Him. If you want to know more about how you can support me, please send me a message. Thank you again for your love, encouragement, and prayers in this time. In about 8 weeks I will be heading off to Japan for 2 months. I will be sharing more about that very soon!!!

 

Lots of Love, Lindsey Burton

YWAM Brisbane