Matt Short

With only one week left of lectures and the teams leaving for outreach nerves are tense and anxiety high. Everyone’s stoked for a change of pace but unsure of what will come of the next two months. And though for the most part I am describe my own feelings there I know that at least 80% of the school’s in the same boat.

The students are in a season of shaking right now. The past three weeks have revealed many things to them. The most obvious things are poor attitudes and spiritual struggles, however many good things have also become evident. There was a word spoken by this past week’s speaker referring to “God shakes what can be shaken, that afterwards only what is unshakable will remain” and this describes exactly what is needed among the school right now.

Last week we had a rather eccentric local pastor speak on the Holy Spirit which raddled peoples cages a bit. Nothing “crazy” or “weird” happened the entire week, even though we may have needed it, but that was more due to the reluctance of the school. Then after the last lecture on Friday Bobby, a student who’s carried a hematoma in his leg since the second week of lectures, tripped tearing the hematoma. Everyone gathered around and began to pray, but soon it became evident that this time wasn’t needed for Bobby’s sake but the school’s. The floor was opened up for people to share, confess things, and ask for forgiveness… and let me tell you, we needed it! The school needed to experience a bit of deeper unity and we found it there, being humble, being open, and straight forward with each other.

I’ll admit, I hardly knew what to do at the time, but as I’ve said before, “I am SO grateful for my staff!” I didn’t want to nor felt the need to “lead” that time. Even though I did share some things the Lord lead me to say, I mostly allowed my staff to run things. They stepped up to the plate and proved their maturity in that time, leading as they felt the Lord’s guidance.

My staff and I later met to share our feelings on what happened that afternoon and that too was a great time. We spent a good couple hours just hanging out, praying for each other, and discussing how to lead the rest of the school in this humility and unity. I LOVE IT! I am going to miss my staff GREATLY when they leave for outreach but have COMPLETE faith in them.

In conclusion, the school has one final week of lectures taught by Graeme and Sabrina Walsh on “Healing and Deliverance” then they’ll clean up the base and leave on the 20th. There are four teams: one going to Thailand, one going to Australia, and two others remaining in NZ reaching out to two different genres of backpackers. My role during these next two months is to provide the teams with pastoral help. I’ll be visiting each team at some point, but I’m not there to lead. I’ll be there to support them, challenge them, encourage them or deal with any major problems if they arise.

Please keep me in your prayers as I attempt to walk in the Lords wisdom and challenge these young adults to move by faith. I am SO grateful for your prayers. Our God has blessed me greatly with a wonderful support group. May the Lord bless you for your commitment and support of this ministry. And glory be to our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ as these twenty students take the good news into this practically unreached people group, defined by the name Global Nomadic Youth (more commonly known as Backpackers). May the Lord bless them with safe travels and grace as they speak.

Amen

Following the theme of my last post, this past week I met another man during our Friday night in Christchurch who was very open and willing to talk. Dave was a older gentleman who had grown up in Colorado, lived in Alaska for many years and now moved his family out to NZ. He said that he had been raised Catholic, born again but had recently renounced his faith. At first I went digging, finding out that he believed that he’d been wronged by leaders of a church and couldn’t believe in that faith anymore. However, soon I felt a check in my spirit that said, “SHUT UP and listen”. Everything I said and encouraged him with went in one ear and out the other so I shut up and listened. Quickly I learned that Dave was a very broken and sad man who lacked a healthy relationship with his father. At the conclusion of our conversation Dave admitted to me that he was honestly lost without his faith, and though still struggling, wanted to regain his faith in the Lord.

This became a cool testimony that I used to prove our speakers point this week. Our speaker, Mike Dodge spoke on Evangelism these past two days and outlined a few different ways we can evangelize and to some students surprise one of his points was “Being Silent”. That’s exactly what Dave needed that night, someone to be silent and lovingly listen to him as he processed why he’d given up his faith. So I shared that testimony and were able to encourage the students to be attentive to the Holy Spirit’s leading in evangelism. One day I may need to yell in someone’s face to get them to where God can speak with them, and may God give me grace on that day, but that wasn’t what Dave needed and the Lord knew that.
Last week we had Dean Sherman’s “Love, Sex and Relationships” video series for lectures which sorta dragged since there was no lecturer there to interact with, but I enjoyed facilitating and running discussion times. I was also able to liven things up with what I deemed our “Communication and Care Egg-xercise”. For the egg-xercise the students were paired off and given an egg to look after the entire week. The only stipulation was that one of the two must have their egg on them at ALL times. I wish I were a scientist because I feel like I would have recorded some very interestingly comical data about communication break downs within relationships.

The week before that Patrick Dodson taught on “Vision and Calling”. Even though I’ve heard his teaching before I feel like I’m finally in a place where I can begin to build longer term goals, where as before I don’t feel like I had the platform of experience as I do now. Patrick’s goal throughout the week is to help you discover the gifts God has created you with and then explore all the possibilities that could come from them. His lectures are INCREDIBLE and something I’d recommend anyone to look into. I’ve added his website to my blog role on the left. Click on the picture/link and it will take you to his website where you can find his materials, podcasts or get in touch with him.

The school is doing well. Outreach is approaching quickly and everyone’s getting excited. We have four teams: Thailand, Australia, and two NZ teams. One student has decided not to go on outreach which is a disappointment but I won’t burden a team with someone who doesn’t want to be there. So in the end, I’m left sad yet knowing it’s better for the sake of the team, even if it isn’t for him.

If you’ve read this far THANK YOU… this is the third time I’ve typed this update because twice my computer froze on me losing my work. God Bless and take care

-Matt Short

WOOOOOHOOOO!!! I figured out how to post pics on my blog!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Man, I wish I had more time to write these blogs! I feel like I’m HARDLY doing the Lord justice. He’s doing so many incredible things that he should be glorified for but I just can’t write them all out. My hope rests in some day sharing these stories with you all in person. But for the moment, one more:

Two Friday’s ago I was blessed to join the Friday night evangelism team that does their ministry in the Christchurch city square. It was great to be back in this setting seeing how this was the ministry I lead last year but wasn’t quite sure what to expect. The square in Christchurch is a pretty cool place. Tons of people just hang around and a couple churches come down every Friday night to do free sausage sizzles and play worship. In the Square Ministry we occasionally will have something planned such as skits, activities or other creative presentations that the students can use to share the Gospel. However, more commonly we just hang around the square and talk with people about faith, love, relationships, God, the Gospel or anything else as we feel lead. So that’s what I did.
I was just hanging out with a few of my students, throwing around a frisbee, when I noticed a kid sitting on a bench near me that had a similar bag as I do, so used that as my door and asked him about it. Nathan was a 20 year old Kiwi dude that had grown up in Auckland but had recently moved down to Christchurch because of some rough living situations at home.

And may I put the story on pause for a moment. The 2nd as well as 3rd comment he ever made to me was, “F’ off”. So let me use that as an example to say, “Don’t ever let someone’s demeanor put you off in evangelism”. By the time we were finished chatting he was glad that I had sat down with him and offered me a bear as a gesture of friendship (that I obviously couldn’t accept, but that’s beside the point).

Ok, sorry…. little bunny trail, but we’re back. Nathan was a bit hacked that I was the same age as him and traveling just as he really hoped to soon, but I was able to use that to encourage him. Referring to Nepal, where I got the bag previously mentioned, I told him that I had been seeking out God and that I’ve been blown away to discover how much he truly loves us. It was comical to hear him claim that he was “sort of an agnostic” while at the same time admit that, “there has to have been SOMETHING that created all this”. So I went on to share with him how much I was blown away by God’s love and my respect for the church members who come down every Friday night to simply love on people. And he could understand that.

Now this isn’t a salvation story but I want to encourage you all with this. Nathan would still be completely ignorant to the fact that there is a God out there who LOVES him unconditionally if it weren’t for that simple conversation. Just LOVE people, that’s what I charge you with today. LOVE is the route of EVERYONE’s calling in life. I’m terrible at it most of the time but I hope and pray that Nathan may have experienced a glimpse of God’s love for him that night.

Glory to God

Anyways, besides that things are going well. I’m SUPER busy now with Outreach teams chosen, but God is good and he’s helping me keep my head. Speaking of, two weeks ago I finalized Outreach teams. One’s going to Thailand, one to Australia and the other two are remaining in New Zealand. Sadly we don’t have an outreach coordinator at the base so that job falls on the staff members leading each team as well as myself so we’ve got quite a bit of work ahead of us. Please be praying things go smoothly and that planning is easy.

Well, I feel like that’s plenty for now. God Bless, and thank you for reading.

-Matt Short

Last night was a crucial night for the school and I feel its important for me to share it with you. To give you some background, the school is in its third week of lectures and we as staff have felt the enemy’s attack, withholding the students from receiving all that the Lord has for them the past two weeks. We feel like it’s been very difficult for many of them to engage, to hear God’s voice, and act on it. And last night I was sick of it! I wanted nothing to do with it. My spirit was raging within me and my heart was burning within me, longing to see the Holy Spirit move.

Now as we would any Wednesday night we entered into worship last night around 7:30pm. But this night my heart rate was up, as was my blood pressure probably and I couldn’t stop shaking. Not rediculously or convulsing or anything but I just shook uncontrolably with anticipation. I’d never expirienced it before and don’t know how else to explain it so we’ll leave it at that. We started with a Hillsong worship song which I felt was quite ironic because I struggle with Hillsong music. Whenever I sing they’re music I typically feel like I’m just trying so hard with my flesh and seeing no results in my spirit, so yeah, IRONIC. The next few songs weren’t much, and the whole school struggled through them as if we were climbing some never ending cliff that had little to no hand holds, but then came a new song. The song, “This is our God” I heard for the first time on staff training a few weeks ago and I asked my worship leader to learn it so we could sing it. As we stood there singing this beautiful song I couldn’t shake two words the Lord layed on my heart, “Sweet Release”.

My “sweet release”. I didn’t know what it meant but I wanted it! Something! Anything to shake the dull, dragging existence I felt stuck in at the moment. That’s when the words, “Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord Almighty” came to my heart and I sang them. I sang them with everything I had in me. I LOVE that phrase because as referred to in Revelations, the seraphim sing them night and day, NEVER ENDING, and they never grow old or become less true. Now it took a few times before others chimed in but not before long the whole room was singing this simple phrase. And as we sang with the seraphim these wonderfully uplifting yet simple words the presence of the Holy Spirit was finally released. People began pressing in, singing out what the Lord laid on their hearts and finally began worshiping Him as He deserves.

We later opened things up for ministering to one another and the students, for the most part, dove in. An hour and a half later, the Spirit was still moving, still speaking and people were (hopefully) finally beginning to understand. It was AMAZING to finally expirience such a release amongst the students and GLORY to God for all that He did last night!

Thank you all for your prayers, I greatly appreciate them!

God Bless,

-Matt

I am beginning this blog by saying that I am SO blessed to have the staff that I do! And God has blessed me with one incredible bunch of students. Please see my Photo Gallery for pictures of me and my staff as well as the school photo. You can see a larger version of the photos if you follow the link that says “View flickr photo page”. Then you can see an even larger version if you click on “All Sizes” at the top left corner of the photo.

This past week was our first week of the BDTS and I feel like the students got a lot out of it. I spoke on “Unity within the Body of Christ” while others on my staff team spoke on “Bible Studies”, “Worship”, “Intercession”, “Devotions” and “Hearing God’s Voice”. Teaching for an entire hour was slightly stretching for some of my staff but that’s good. They’re here to be stretched and challenged probably more than the students will be. I know I have been! They pushed in and delivered messages that I feel like were right on what the students needed to hear.

I have been absolutely blown away by their commitment to serving as leaders. Being that this is my first time leading a DTS its pretty obvious that there will be things that I will overlook or forget to plan, but anytime that happens I know I have my staff to fall back on. Such as, last Sunday night was our welcome BBQ for the students and I had no one scheduled to help clean up afterwards. Without even a word my staff were in there cleaning dishes and helping put away food. It’s those simple things that help me SO much! I don’t know how to express to you how much I really appreciate these guys… I wish you could meet them.

I have been very impressed by the student’s hunger for the word too. I suppose it shouldn’t be much of a surprise though. While praying for them before the school I felt like God was saying this would be a school that really dug deep into the word and pressed into his presence in worship. They have done exactly that. God has SOOOO much for these guys and I’m STOKED to have a front row seat in watching the hand of God!

A “quick” story:

At the beginning of the week my mind was cluttered with all sorts of odds and ends. No longer were the students simply pictures, they had become tangeable, touchable beings that I needed to actually do something with now, haha. And though it sounds quite strange I was rather overwhelmed by this thought. On Monday my staff and I shared our Testimonies. I kicked us off and ran through mine real quickly, missing very crucial points of my life and not really glorifying God as much as He deserves for where I am now and what I’ve been through. Afterwards I took my seat and listened in on all that my staff had to say. Almost immediately I began to be grieved by my pathetic presentation of all that God has done for me. I HAD to say something about it! After my staff had finished, I stood up before the class and apologized for giving the students probably the worst testimony that I had ever given. It SUCKED to stand there and admit my stupidity! Humbled and looking quite silly in front of a room of twenty some odd individuals that I am to lead these next five months, I knew it was right. Later I looked back on it and realized that though my testimony wasn’t used to bring him glory my humility was. That’s good enough for me seeing how that’s the most important thing to me. I pray that God uses this to help the students know that they can be open and vulnerable in this place. I am not here to judge them, but to help them grow closer to our Lord and Saviour despite their downfalls and struggles. And I am right along side them in this journey.

I pray this testimony builds your faith as well, and challenges you to be humble even though it may suck.

God Bless

-Matt Short

These past weeks have been the busiest ones I’ve ever spent here. God is SO good to keep me sane. I’ve spent the majority of my time preparing for the school which is just around the corner. The rest of my time I’ve spent training my staff and helping them begin with the work they’ll be doing.

This past week and a half my staff and I have spent living up the street from the base in a separate house, growing, learning, and studying together. I’ve really enjoyed the time I’ve gotten to spend with them and I’m excited to see how God’s going to use each one of them. I have two guys and three girls on my staff team, and there is 20 students on our school. I’m glad it’s a slightly smaller school especially with only 5 staff members. The acceptance process has been sort of ironic as well. A couple times now we’ve reached 22 or 23 students but each time a couple people back out, so it seems that 20’s a good round number to stick with.

The school begins on October 5th. We’ll have a week of administration things to do and simple short teachings like “Devotions” or “Worship” each day. The second week we jump into things with a couple over seas speakers coming to teach on Backpacker Evangelism. With that broad focus I hope the students will quickly grasp the vision of what we do on outreach and pursue it on their weekend activities. From there, on the third week we go into more intimate and deep topics such as “The Lordship of Christ” and “Father Heart of God”.

All this to say, things are flowing smoothly, though they may be stressful from time to time, God is guiding me with every step. I’ve found it slightly difficult to step right into this job without evident direction but that only helps me to rely on Him more. God is faithful through every trial and tribulation we’ll EVER face. He’s been there done that, no matter what you can imagine. And THAT’S an encouraging thought.

God Bless

YWAM Oxford Base Vision Statement
Our vision is to develop and maintain a Christian community where young men and women from many different nations can come and grow in their love for God, His work, and His world by way of short term, Bible based courses, practical cross-cultural field experiences, and hands-on leadership training.

Backpacker’s Discipleship Training School Vision Statement

Our vision is to radically impact the GLOBAL NOMADIC YOUTH of the world with the good news of Jesus Christ. We are called to reach out to these intrepid adventurers by way of relational (friendship) evangelism, hospitality, and discipleship training. We will travel alongside them, eat with them, live life with them, and share the love of God with them. We will be their family. We see them searching. We see them being transformed by the places they have seen and the people they have met along their journey. We refuse to be bystanders. We insist that we have what they are searching for and we commit to sharing THE TRUTH with them, even if that means we are cold, hungry, lonely, and road weary. They are on the heart of God and so on our hearts too.

     It’s been a full and challenging time leaving again but now I’m here and well on my way in leading. I’ve spent the past week trying to get my head around all that I need to get done for the ever approaching school. It’s quite easy for me to look at all that needs to be done and feel overwhelmed, but I’ve found my strength in the knowledge that God has appointed me for this and has given me all that I need to succeed. With every day I have to look at the tasks I can get done only for that day and expect nothing more.

     My girlfriend gave me a journal before I left and in it was this verse:

James 1:2-4 “Consider it pure joy, my brothers, when you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish it’s work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.”

And though I do not face trials and tribulations that scorn the flesh nor burden the body, I carry with me the cross that I will bare for these 7 months. I am happy to be here accomplishing the Lords work, but with each day I wake to a task beyond myself and must persever that God may be glorified.

     I feel more at home here with each and every day and am becoming more and more excited about my school. At the moment I have 3 female staff, 2 male staff and 17 students but we are expecting somwhere between 20 to 25 students. I have a board where I place they’re pictures along with their names and where they’re from. As that board begins to take shape, with more and more pictures my excitement builds. I’ve never been too good at loving strangers as Christ would have but these students are already feeling like family, even though all I’ve done is read they’re applications and seen their faces.

     Beyond that I’m really excited to be blessed with the staff I have! MAN, God is GOOD!!! I have one returning staff girl who’s stinkin funny and real good at getting people motivated. I have two staff girls that were on last years school and I KNOW they’re going to be great leaders. There’s one staff guy who was on last year that I approached on grad week to ask him to come back and he is. The other staff guy I’ve never met but have enjoyed talking with via e-mail and sounds like an incredible man after God’s heart.

     Those who are praying for me. Thank you and keep it up… I am deeply greatful. God has kept me safe and without want this entire trip. Continue to pray that God would bring staff in, it’s not TOO late. As well, continue to pray that my focus would remain set on what needs to be getting done. My memory isn’t the greatest so I work well from to do lists, however I want to make sure I’m not missing things.

Thank you and God Bless,

Your brother in Christ,

-Matt Short

As some of you may know I’ll be returning to New Zealand for another Backpacker’s Discipleship Training School (BDTS) in August. And well, if you didn’t now you do. =)

I’ll be leading this year’s Backpacker’s Discipleship Training School with hopefully somewhere near 8 staff and 30 students. I’ll be gone from August 4th to March 2nd, a total of 7 months. Even though the school doesn’t begin until October 5th I’ll be arriving two months early to schedule speakers and train the staff. The teams will go on outreach December 20th so they can spend Christmas with the first few backpackers they meet. The students will then graduate on February 20th and return home.

Working this summer as well as donations have allowed me to raise over $2,000; however, I am still in need of almost $5,000 of support for this trip. I know this is right where God wants me so I have no doubt He’ll provide. It’s actually quite a simple goal to achieve. If I were to have 25 people give only $25 a month over the 7 months (that’s only $175 total per person) almost all of my expenses would be payed for.

Expenses Breakdown

Plain Ticket= $1,868

Room and Board ($75 per week)x(22 weeks on base)= $1,725

Personal Expenses ($40 per week)x(32 weeks)= $1,280

2 Month Outreach (Approximately)= $2,800

Total=$7,673

Please prayerfully consider supporting me in this ministry.

Thank you and God Bless