www.forever2012.com info@forever2012.com +44 (0)1582 463322 Forever is a ministry of YWAM England & Wales and YWAM International. Registered Charity No 264078.

This May I learnt something new. God loves people. He really loves them.

Let me explain. A few weeks ago, a group of YWAMers organised by the Forever team headed into London to run a stand at the Mind Body Spirit festival for six days. The experience

blew me away. This was the second time that our team had been at the festival, offering “creation

prayer” those attending the festival – an opportunity for them to sit, receive prayer and words that God wanted to say to them. Forever is about new

initiatives and making Jesus known, so this was a perfect excuse to do both.

It was a chance for us to put our faith into action: to sit and listen, and then speak the words we felt God was saying. It wasn’t just amazing to see people so open to receive prayer, but also to see the way God’s words of truth spoke so loudly to them. Most of the time, these words were through us, but there were times when God did it Himself. “While we were praying, someone had a vision of Jesus, another lady saw a white dove

The New SeekersForthcomingDiscipleship Training School (DTS) Gatherings

The next DTS Gathering is in the Olympic venue of

London5–12 November 2011

The next DTS Gathering after that is in the Olympic venue of

Coventry17–24 March 2012

All DTSs, YWAM staff and YWAM associates welcome, for a day or the week!

For more information, contact Catherine at Catherine@forever2012.com.

in this issueThe New Seekers p1

The New Seekers cont. p2Prayer focus update p3Sports focus update p4

Newsletter

The Official YWAM Olympic OutreachIssue 9 July 2011

Mind Body Spirit is the largest spirituality festival in Europe, and provides a great opportunity to reach out to searching people. Forever Prayer Coordinator Hayley Bullen looks back on an amazing week of outreach.

continued on page 2

“A woman who came with her friend received

deliverance. All the words we had were

straight to the heart. Janice and I both had

words about a husband hurting her. It turned out that she had had

two husbands who had hurt her. She was ready to pray and release and forgive the two of them.

When she prayed, her face just shifted from

grey to pure joy.” (Einar)

Praise • Four new staff start full-

time work with Forever this month.

• The Forever team had a team away day last month, and between them raised over £5,000 for the project. That’s from ten people!

• Forever Newcastle hosts two outreach teams (one from Carlisle and one from Norway) this month.

• The planting of two new teams in London has moved much closer with the provision of accommodation.

• The DTS Gathering in Weymouth & Portland went very well (full report next month).

• Churches and church groups in 21 of the 25 London boroughs are already signed up to collaborate on outreach opportunities with Megacities, the YWAM Australia ministry partnering with us in London.

Prayer• For the new staff as they

settle in to Forever.• For Andrew as he

coordinates his outreach teams in Newcastle.

• For breakthrough in finances for the team.

• For preparations for this summer’s short-term outreaches (Get Out, Soul Survivor), and for an outpouring of the Holy Spirit on and through the participants.

• For the developments with churches in London working with Megacities.

hovering over her and some people even felt the chair vibrating …” said team member Rebecka.

The presence of God with us was also noticed by those around us. Seth was talking to a man from the Life Alignment stand, and asking him about the banners on their stand, because we were thinking of some for next year. The man said, “Don’t worry about it, you don’t need them. The aura you are giving off is much more powerful than banners.”

By the end of the outreach we had given away over 100 copies of John’s Gospel, shared and prayed with nearly 500 people, referred

hundreds of people to an Alpha course, had numerous physical healings, and seen seven people make decisions to follow Jesus.

Despite the many healings and words of knowledge, the thing

from the week that had the most impact for the team members was experiencing God’s heart for people. A simple lesson, but so powerful.

In Seth’s words: “No matter how many times I prayed for people, and got all these incredible words, in the end, I felt God saying over and over how He loved people, and wanted a relationship with them. So many great things happened, but in the end, it was simply, ‘I love you.’”

“A lady called Agatha came in. I had some

words that were really clear for her. Asked God

what He would want from her? Got the word friendship. She began weeping. I got to talk

about what friendship with God looks like. She

was Greek Orthodox, and she was blown away

that you could have a friendship with God.”

(Christine)

“Prayed for Giuseppe from the Spiritist stand. Wanted healing prayer for hay fever. We hadn’t

even started praying, and he said his nose

had cleared out. For his shoulder, got a picture of Ezekiel, going from his ankles to his knees up to his shoulders in

water. During the prayer, he felt cold all over his shoulders, and they felt

better.” (Zac)

“Yesterday we met Mary, who is a Theta healer, and we prayed

with her. Today she came back and was really thankful for the

prayer yesterday, then later in the day I invited her back for more and she came. So we prayed for

her again and had really specific words about the Lordship of

Christ and that He is the highest, to take hold of truth, to change

the path she was on. Shared about the cross and asked if she wanted to accept Jesus as Lord

and she said YES! She prayed her own prayer and accepted Jesus.”

(Helen)

“Once I walked in, I could feel the heaviness immediately. All the people we

prayed for, most of what we got was spot on. The first lady who came to us came from the Jesus Experience. She had just given her life to Christ. Felt she was at a crossroads in her life. She was trying to decide between going to the US or Africa. I got the words, ‘Return to your first love,’ which was Africa, where

she is from.” (Alli)

“Kate just came right into our booth and sat down before any of us could

tell her what it was about. When I told her, she was totally ready to

receive. I had a word about her being rejected by the Church. She said that

was totally right s– she had done an Alpha course, but quit going to church because she didn’t fit the

cookie cutter mould they were trying to put her in. I encouraged her to give it another try, but to keep searching until she found a place where people loved Jesus and accepted her as she

is.” (Lauren)

Focal pointsEach month, we will bring you the latest from some of Forever’s focus areas. On this page, Hayley Bullen looks at the Prayer focus area ...

Stories from our Olympic outreach pastPrayer was another important objective for the 2010 Winter Olympics. YWAM set up prayer stations all over the city asking people one simple question: “Can I pray for you?” As well as all the behind-the-scenes prayer being done before and during the Games, teams stood on street corners offering free prayer. They became such a well-known symbol in their red vests that one team, based at a local church, had people approaching them, asking for prayer, before the team even reached their location.

We can’t do it by ourselves, we need each other. I can’t pray every hour and every day for 365 days. But I can pray one hour a day and add my ‘brick’ to the foundation that God

wants to build.Ephesians 2:20–22 says that God

is putting us together, brick by brick, stone by stone, with Jesus as the cornerstone, building a home where He can be comfortable. I love this verse. Because it’s about God being welcome and it’s founded on Jesus and we all get to be involved.

It’s from this place that Forever is launching “brick by brick”, a YWAM 24/7 prayer initiative for the UK in 2012. The aim is to mobilise people to pray for the UK in 2012, 24 hours a day, seven days a week, with a focus on the Olympic Games outreach and on releasing the next wave of missionaries from this nation to the nations.

Watch this space!

.

This past month God has been speaking about the idea of foundations. God is not a superficial God. He doesn’t do temporary fix-it jobs. He gets right to the heart of an issue, right down to the roots and changes things at that level.

It’s been a challenge for me to wait on God for his leading with regards to prayer and Forever. With such a lot to be done, where

do you start? But with these words of foundations, God has been leading our team to a place of understanding about what it is

He wants us to be faithful in. And that is prayer. Collectively.

What would it look like if we came together in prayer? What could happen if we spent time with God, listening for His heart, speaking life and expecting transformation in the UK? What could happen if we prayed – every week, every day and every hour of 2012?

The nations are coming!

Nationalities of those who have already been involved in this Olympic season of outreach – 43 so far:

ArgentinaAustraliaBelgiumBrazil CameroonCanadaChina ColombiaCongo (Brazzaville)Czech RepublicEcuadorEgyptEnglandFranceGermanyGhanaIndiaIndonesiaItalyMalaysiaMexicoMoroccoNamibiaNetherlandsNew Zealand NigeriaNorway Papua New GuineaPhilippinesRwandaSamoaScotlandSingaporeSouth AfricaSouth KoreaSpainSwedenSwitzerlandThailandUKUSAWales Zimbabwe

www.forever2012.com info@forever2012.com +44 (0)1582 463322 Forever is a ministry of YWAM England & Wales and YWAM International. Registered Charity No 264078.

Focal points... and on this page, Dondi Carter reports on the Sports focus area.

Next month ... The Vikings are coming (and they’re bringing a ship)! Plus a report from the recent DTS Gathering in Weymouth & the Isle of Portland

It’s been great to see the impact that sport can make in a community.

We have been able to coach at various football camps and youth camps these past few months. The results have been amazing. Not only have we seen transformation in physical ability, but also in lifeskills and personal discipline

among the youth. We were able to coach at a football camp with Ambassadors in Sport and saw 14 boys accept Jesus. It was

incredible to see how sport can bring people together and then see God known through sport. Also, we were able to plan and help with the games and activities of a local youth camp with over 300 kids!

During June, we regularly visited a football cage of local youth in Portland. Many of them come

Stories from our Olympic outreach pastA YWAMer’s experience from the 1996 Atlanta Olympics shows how God can use us just by us being near to those in need: A prostitute went to one of YWAM’s staff and asked, “Can you pray for me? I can’t find anyone who wants to. I’m a prostitute, and was raped last night. I’m also four months pregnant, and my pimp wants to kill me.” She collapsed as they prayed for her, and apparently decided to become a Christian on the spot. The YWAM volunteers arranged a safe place for her, where she could eat and live.

from broken families and rough backgrounds, so we felt that all we could do was show them they are loved. We were able to love them by speaking their language of sport and showing a geniune interest in who they are and what they have been through. In the first days they were reserved and unsure about why we were there, but as we gained their trust they opened up. Each day the number of kids doubled; by the end of the week we had lots of new friends. We will return to this football cage at the end of July!

Olympic outreach snippets

Some 17,000 athletes and officials, from 206 different nations, will participate in the Games, at 31 venues across the UK.

Approximately 20,000 media employees and millions of spectators will attend the 2012 Games.

Since the 1972 Munich Games, YWAM has been successfully involved in evangelism and aid at nearly every large global sporting event. For example, we had 1,000 volunteers involved in outreach at the 1972 Munich Olympics, 3,500 in Barcelona in 1992, and 4,500 in Atlanta in 1996.

By the end of this month, there will be under a year to the opening ceremony of the 2012 Olympic Games.