Post Title. 01/16/2012
This is your new blog post. Click here and start typing, or drag in elements from the top bar. Add Comment New Year’s blessings to you! This communication has a very specific purpose. We are in need of folks who will stand with us in prayer, and, if the Lord should so lead, practical assistance! Having so recently sent out our testimony to God’s faithfulness to this ministry over the course of its existence, we find ourselves wrestling with sending out this follow-up which may seem to contradict the faith we desired to express in that communication… We in no way want to imply that God is unable or unwilling to supply, nor that our faith in Him has wavered! However, we also don’t want to let some kind of false pride keep us from letting you know the situation we find the ministry in and from asking for help from God’s people. So, with no fear in our hearts that God will fail, and in humility, we relate that the ministry is facing an urgent need financially! As this winter was coming on and heating fuel was needed, we arranged for our fuel supplier to make a modest delivery to carry us through the initial weeks of cold weather. We did this with complete confidence because we had every reason to expect a sizeable amount of funds were going to be arriving before the end of 2011. God has given us favor with the fuel company repeatedly when faced with similar challenges in the past. We always honestly share with them the financial picture of the moment and how and when we expect to have the resources to meet our obligation to them. We are thankful that God has poured out such abundant grace and has always enabled us to pay the ministry’s debts! Here is the current reality… In mid-December we were notified that the large gift we are due to receive (as part of a trust distribution) would not be coming for some (unspecified) months yet, its release having been delayed in the court system. With all the severe temperatures so far this winter we have had to go to the fuel company more than once with a request for small deliveries of fuel on “credit”. Now we find ourselves stretched beyond our ability to pay everything due monthly in a timely and God-honoring manner. The specifics: We have delayed making the January mortgage payment (there is a 15 day grace period before a penalty charge is added), as we felt that paying the property insurance monthly premium and the power bill were priorities and essential to good stewardship over the property. We also visited the fuel company and made a very small payment to show good faith and intentions. They have continued to work with us, graciously awaiting payment of a debt that is mounting… We have been praying for wisdom in how to steward the funds that do come in, while knowing that it would be disastrous to allow the power to be turned off or the ministry house to freeze up for lack of heat. We keep the thermostat set very low (52 degrees) and the hot water heater turned off in the big house, except once a week for laundry and whenever we know we are having overnight guests or a group wanting to use it for a gathering . There was a family living in it in part of October and all of November; a large one-night gathering in December; and there will be a ladies’ retreat for a 3-day weekend next month. We also personally pay a share of the power bill monthly, over and above our normal staff fees, and give love gifts to YWAM Fairbanks as we are able. The conclusion: So, we’ve prayed; we’ve given financially ourselves; we’ve stayed open to however God is presently asking us to allow the property to be used; and now we’re sharing the need! We’ve done all we know to do and humbly acknowledge that God must do the rest! Thus far, He’s always provided through His people (no money in a mouth of a fish yet, or oil supernaturally filling up the fuel tanks, though we would love to see that happen!) so that is why we share this need. In asking ourselves why our prayers for these financial needs to be met aren’t yet answered, we were reminded of the story found in Daniel 10 about the warfare that is constantly taking place in the heavenly realms. In verses 12-13, in particular, we read, “Then he said, ‘Don’t be afraid, Daniel. Since the first day you began to pray for understanding and to humble yourself before your God, your request has been heard in heaven. I have come to answer your prayer. But for twenty-one days the spirit prince of the kingdom of Persia blocked my way…’” We know that Satan is seeking to undermine our recent testimony to God’s goodness and to cast doubt on the truthfulness and dependability of His Word, in which He says, “Do not be afraid or discouraged, for the Lord will personally go ahead of you. He will be with you; He will neither fail nor abandon you.” Deuteronomy 31:8 Would you pray with us for the speedy release of the trust distribution that this ministry is blessed to be in line for and desperately needing?! If God leads you to do more, then His Name be doubly praised! May He hear and answer your every prayer in His perfect way and time! In His Grip! Ken & Barb CHRISTMAS 2011 01/16/2012
“Thou crownest the year with Thy goodness” Psalm 65:11 In reflecting on the passing of yet another year, a particular phrase kept running through Barb’s mind. That phrase was “No visible means of support”. Day after day, the words echoed in her heart, until she had to conclude that it was time to share a particular testimony of God’s goodness to the ministry of YWAM Fairbanks. A Christmas letter seems the perfect vehicle for doing just that! So, herein is a bit of a recap of the establishment of and God’s provisions for His ministry, which we will entitle “No Visible Means of Support”… No, surprise, eh? “No Visible Means of Support”... The Beginning In the fall of 1997 God brought Ken and Barb Wallace and an outstanding team of ten other committed pioneers from various countries (mostly Scandinavia) to launch the first YWAM ministry in the heart of Alaska. The story of how God put that group together is too long to relate here. Suffice to say that He did it in an awesome and “suddenly” fashion after the vision for birthing YWAM in the northernmost state had been carried by Ken and Barb for nearly five years! Upon arriving in Fairbanks the first pressing need was for a place to settle into. Several short-term solutions were opened to the team by ministries in town who had guest housing available. After a couple of weeks of everyone being crowded together into first one single apartment and then another, more permanent lodging was found in North Pole at Beaver Lake Resort, where we remained until 2002. The Beaver Lake apartment complex, owned at that time by David Ainley, a brother in the Lord, was truly an answer to prayer! As many know, every YWAMer is an unpaid volunteer, dependent upon God and His people for financial support. On established YWAM “bases” with their own property/housing YWAMers live communally, paying a small staff fee in exchange for their room and board. Taking into account our staff’s limited financial resources, Mr. Ainley generously made several apartments available to us at a discounted rate for the next few years, thus sowing significantly into the ministry’s beginnings. In addition, we were able to “lease” (for next to nothing) space i.e., classroom, kitchen and dining areas…in first one nearby church and then in the local Assembly of God for conducting all of our “group” activities. Along the way, others in the community and beyond helped out through financial gifts and donations of needed equipment for getting an office going. Yearly Discipleship schools were held, NIKO was launched, and Native ministry outreach initiated as relationships began to be built in Athabascan communities of the Interior. God so obviously was giving us favor and moving on hearts to partner with us, prayerfully and materially, in the vision! A Growing Longing As blessed and fruitful as we were becoming, still, a desire began building within our hearts to acquire a permanent home base for the ministry. We began searching all over the Interior and even beyond for the place God might have for YWAM Alaska (at that time we were calling ourselves that because there were no other YWAM ministries yet in existence in the state. All glory to God, He has raised up two additional YWAM ministry locations in the intervening years since!) As Y2K approached we wondered if our desire was possibly just a fleshly one and about to become irrelevant! So, we simply laid it before the Lord, asking Him to show us clearly what His will was in the matter. Within days He answered that prayer through the arrival of a substantial and totally unexpected financial gift designated for the purchase of a home for YWAM. Even more mind-boggling was the fact that we had no idea who may have shared our need with the non-profit foundation which sent it! For a good number of years afterward, yearly gifts of varying proportions arrived to aid the ministry with property development and outreach. All these years laterwe still do not know how we were chosen for this ongoing blessing, other than through the hand of our faithful Heavenly Father moving on the hearts of strangers to supply the ministry’s needs! Since God had confirmed that He wanted us to have a home for YWAM, our search continued for a suitable place. We jokingly have said that we looked at everything from pits to palaces, willing to settle into whatever He enabled us to purchase. But, honestly, it was no joke! We were willing but you should have seen some of those places! J As the next few years went by, having “put the word out” that we were hoping to find a property we could occupy and use for discipling, we saw additional gifts begin to come, designated for that purpose. God, through His generous and obedient people, was building a nest egg toward eventual purchase! Our Father’s House Finally, in late 2001, with a small, 2-student DTS underway and about six of us still on staff, we heard about a place for sale on 7 acres on Chena Hot Springs Rd., about 15 minutes NE of Fairbanks. As a few of us were being shown the place we had one of those “Aha!” moments. We just knew this was where God would be planting us! After consulting with our board regarding what kind of offer to make and then having our offer accepted, we were still a bit shy of the total needed for the down payment. Once again, our Heavenly Father moved on the heart of a benefactor to give us an interest-free loan for the remainder of the down payment, and He gave us favor with the bank to give us a mortgage. February 2, 2002 we moved into Our Father’s House! It’s important for you to know, at this stage of our story, that the ministry’s monthly financial flow was far from substantial and was even somewhat erratic. If we recall, we had only one regular monthly financial donor and our monthly staff fees coming in. At the time of purchase, all we were completely sure of is that we would be paying no more out in monthly loan repayments than we had been in rent monthly. They say “ignorance is bliss”, which was definitely true in our case! We certainly realized that we were stepping out in faith, but not in how great a measure that was soon going to prove true… Within six months of taking on a mortgage and the associated financial obligations (insurance, utilities, maintenance, etc.) of owning a property the ministry’s predictable monthly income shrunk drastically as most of our staff chose to depart. But this story isn’t about the relational bumps in the road that brought us to that point. Instead, it is about God’s unfailing faithfulness through thick and thin! In the nearly 10 years since we first moved onto the land there have been several DTS’s held; NIKO camps run; numerous visiting ministry teams hosted; a few individuals’ needing short-term housing served; substantial property development undertaken and accomplished; times with and without support staff; times of abasement and times of abounding; times of clarity of purpose and times of confusion and questioning our validity as a ministry; times of hopefulness and times of almost complete despair. Times when our flesh wanted to quit… Those of you closest to us are familiar with many of the details. You know that God seems to have us in a holding pattern or a period of dormancy for which we have wondered if there will ever be an end in sight… We currently have no staff, no organized programs, little income AND YET…GOD CONTINUES TO SUPPLY! In fact, GOD HAS SUPPLIED, MONTH BY MONTH, YEAR BY YEAR, EVERY STEP OF THE WAY! We may wonder why. For now, we may not see with certainty the plans He has for this place of His. But, we have come to the conclusion that He does have plans! Our part is simply to remain good stewards of that which He has entrusted into our care, preserving it and developing it for those He will be bringing forth to carry the ministry into the future. People, this place is a MIRACLE! It came into being and it still exists because God, and God alone, is the Provider and Sustainer of that which He birthed! Programs haven’t done it, and no cleverness for fundraising on our part can be claimed. All glory, honor, and praise are due only to Him for any good which has come or will come forth from this ministry! Yes! He crowns the year with His goodness, as the Scriptures declare! We had always thought of that as His crowning the conclusion of each year with His goodness… Now, we wish to proclaim, in this season in which we celebrate His Son’s birth, which opened the way for our salvation, that He crowns each day of each year with His goodness. His goodness knows no limit! It has been and continues to be our experience, and we pray that it may be yours, as well, in these increasingly troubled times! May He truly show Himself be your all in all this Christmas and to the end of your days! Merry Christmas and many, many blessings for 2012! NIKO Wilderness Leadership Training! 06/26/2011
NIKO Wilderness Leadership Training will once again be offered this August 2011. Please visit our Training page and the link there to learn more about this challenging opportunity! Dates: August 1-5, 2011 Cost: $200 (A $50 deposit is required to hold your place. Balance is due before camp commences!) Where: Participants will gather on August 1, 2011 at the YWAM Fairbanks facility at 1832 Chena Hot Springs Rd. (Mile 5.1) Starting Time: To be announced! For more information, or to request an application please telephone the YWAM Fairbanks office 907-488-2088 and ask for Barb, or send an e-mail to the attention of either: Robin Rader robinjrader@gmail.com Barb Wallace ywam@alaska.net ywamfairbanks@ywamfairbanks.com Blessing Potlatch 04/13/2009
On Saturday evening, March 21, 2009 many local Fairbanks ministries came together in the Monroe Catholic High School gym to put on a "Blessing Potlatch" for Athabascan village elders and other leaders in town for an annual business meeting. Envisioned and spearheaded by Rita Pierce, an Athabascan herself, the idea was to not only provide a great meal, but for each ministry to "adopt" one or more villages in commitment to pray for the chiefs, elders, and others in leadership.     BLESSING POTLATCH PHOTOS    Potlatch emcee, Pastor Marvin Carroll, (at left) listens as elder, Neal Charlie, of Minto, speaks to the potlatch guests.  Spring Greetings from still snowy Fairbanks!! It’s time once again to bring you up-to-speed on the events in our lives and the recent “goings-on” here at YWAM Fairbanks.       Shown below are two photos taken of presenters at the Rising Above Conference we were privileged to attend in Ft. St. John. Rather than try to describe the impacting experience we had at this gathering, we would strongly encourage you to visit the ministry's website for yourself at the following URL: http://www.risingabove.ca   God was good to also give us a few very special but completely unexpected encounters with old friends while in the Ft. St. John vicinity, as you can see from the photos below...   As we reflect back on the last several months we marvel at how God saw to it that we were precisely where we needed to be, over and over, during our seven weeks away from home. Not only did we get a much-desired, LENGTHY (for a change) visit with our loved ones, but we also were blessed by so many opportunities for re-connecting with ministry friends with whom we share a deep-heart connection and similar ministry goals. We don’t want to fail to mention an overnight stay in Kamiah, Idaho during which our dear friends, Volkhard and Marianne Graf (YWAM Kamiah directors) and their new staff couple, Mark and Michaela Garrison, ministered refreshment to our battle-weary hearts. Thank you, dear ones! It meant so much! New Office Construction Continues... 12/18/2008
 Upon the arrival of our new staff family last July, whom we moved into what was then our office, work began on contruction of a new, "trapper-style", log office.  Former office--now serving its original purpose as a two-bedroom staff house for the Rychener family.  A dear Christian brother, Charlie Bohart, brought his backhoe over and donated his time to dig the foundation!  Mission Builder, Mike Stenberg, from California, spent a month with us and was a big help to Ken in getting the foundation ready for the logs.    In August we had the awesome help of a team of adults and teens from a church in Missouri. They peeled and toted logs, helped lay them up, and helped us get the roof on--all in one week!    Work had halted for a bit as funds ran dry, but a generous love gift to install a heat source put us back on course to continue the finish work on the interior, even as winter set in in earnest!    Lord willing, we look forward to moving into our new office quarters in the springtime! A huge thanks to all who have contributed their labors, finances, and prayers to get us this far! Alaska Village Ministry 12/18/2008
 On December 3rd-5th the Wallaces and the Rycheners traveled to Minto to offer two nights of teaching to the church. Minto, an Athabascan village of several hundred, is located about a three hours drive from Fairbanks.  Janelle Rychener poses in front of a pretty sunrise over Minto Flats.     Janelle and Josh Rychener, YWAM Fairbanks staff, teach on godly communication between couples as Minto folks, Josh and Vera Weiser, listen.  Dedicated to the Lord! 11/13/2008
 Sensing that the ministry of YWAM Fairbanks is emerging from a long season of transistion, we felt it was important to re-dedicate the property to the Lord. Therefore, four of us spent an hour this afternoon walking the perimeter of the property, praying and making declarations at the northern, eastern, southern, and western points. "Stakes" attached to trees at each corner offered a summary statement from which our prayers and declarations for the future sprang forth. How awesome it is to know that our words have spiritual power to positively affect the environment in which we live! Proverbs 18:21 "Death and life are in the power of the tongue..."       |  AuthorBarb Wallace, administrator and webmaster for YWAM Fairbanks. ArchivesJanuary 2012 |
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