Hello, everyone! Here’s an update from us!
What you’ll read in this update:
- In case you didn’t know… (really exciting news!)
- School of Worship and Worship Team
- Song-writing
In Case You Didn’t Know…
We are expecting a baby this September! Abi is 19 weeks pregnant today, and we are very excited! We’ll have an ultrasound this week, so we’ll have some updated photos of baby soon.
We did make an announcement on Abi’s Facebook and Instagram, but of course we understand if not everyone keeps up with us there.
Abi’s feeling good, and we’re keeping on with business as usual with our mission assignments. We’re blessed to be in a community that supports families and is also very excited for us! We would usually go on an outreach with School of Worship in July, however, we’ll be 7 months by then, so we’re sticking around in Perth for this year. We’re excited to see some family members when this baby comes! It’s been over a year now since we’ve been back in the States with our amazing family and friends (you guys! We miss you all!).
Worship Team and School of Worship
Joel is continuing to lead our worship team on base, and we’ve recently had something very exciting happen! We’ve been using the same house speakers for many, many years now, and we were in great need of an update. Since February, we as a worship team have been holding fundraisers, and we also took up an offering from our group. Our goal was met for the finances needed! Around $10,000 AUD, actually! What a miracle. We’ve purchased the new speakers and they will hopefully be installed in our auditorium within the next month. Thanks so much to those of you who prayed for this!
Abi is still leading the School of Worship. This is a 6-month training program, running April to September every year. The first three months are lectures in Perth, and the second three months are outreach to other nations. Its purpose is to equip people to be in worship ministry in a mission context. As mentioned above, since Abi will be 7 months pregnant by the time outreach comes around, we won’t be going with them this year. The school will be going to Nepal and Indonesia and we can’t wait to tell the stories of what God does through them!
Song-Writing
We have been writing songs together as a couple, and with some people on worship team. We’ve started introducing them to the base in our corporate worship times, and we’re really enjoying it! We’ve been challenged as a worship team, but certainly as a couple as well, to write songs that center around the Great Commission. We love other types of worship songs, too, but we can see how part of our call as a mission is to send people out. Songs can be so influential, but more than that, God loves using our creative works to call people to Himself, and in this case, the mission field!
Think about Keith Green: God used his short time as a Christian (it was only 7 years from his commitment to Christ until he passed away in an accident) to influence not only his generation, but the next as well to live closely with God and to go out into the world. He was a friend of YWAM, and his music reflected God’s heart for the church to be sent out into the nations. If you’ve never listened to his music before, go have a look on YouTube. “Old-school music”, but the lyrics never get old. He was an incredible guy!
Not to say we expect to be used in the same way as Keith Green, but he’s an inspiring story of how God can use anybody He wants to to make His message known, and a reminder that God wants to use music to not only influence those who don’t know Jesus, but also those Jesus wants to use in the nations!
Prayer Points
- Pray for a continued healthy pregnancy and preparation for new baby Gayton’s arrival
- Thank God for His provision for the YWAM Perth worship team, and His continued provision for other needs as well in that ministry (a lot of our equipment is in need of upgrade, God has been preserving it well!)
- Pray for the School of Worship students (9 students and 1 child), that they would grow in every area God wants them to grow, and have many opportunities on outreach in Nepal and Indonesia (Psalm 27, Jeremiah 29:13)
- Pray for both Joel and Abi’s teaching weeks on the School of Worship (Joel will teach Song-Writing and Musicianship, May 7th-11th, and Abi will teach Prophetic Role of Worship, June 4th-8th)
- Pray for more songs from our home and our base worship team that would reflect God’s heart for the nations
Thank you so much for all your prayers and support! We cannot do what we do without you! We of course would love to hear from you as well. Let us know how you’re doing!
Many blessings,
Abi, Joel, and little baby Gayton!
abiandjoelmissions 