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Converge Stories Podcast

Government

Welcome to Converge where we know that you have a calling; following the crowd will not get you there, and a missional internship is the best way to discover your purpose. Hear testimonies of students, missional leaders, and donors engaged in sending a new generation of missionaries. YWAM Converge is part of Youth With A Mission, an international, multi-denominational movement of people who follow Jesus and want to know God and make him known.

Location:

United States

Description:

Welcome to Converge where we know that you have a calling; following the crowd will not get you there, and a missional internship is the best way to discover your purpose. Hear testimonies of students, missional leaders, and donors engaged in sending a new generation of missionaries. YWAM Converge is part of Youth With A Mission, an international, multi-denominational movement of people who follow Jesus and want to know God and make him known.

Language:

English

Contact:

6082391642


Episodes

Occupational Therapy Intern helps Orphans in China

8/5/2019
Sarah did two occupational therapy internships at an orphanage in China. She was working with InterVarsity Christian Fellowship as a sophomore when she learned of the internship opportunity. Sarah’s first summer included an orientation week in Upstate New York where she met the other teams heading to Kenya and Uganda. But Sarah would travel alone to China where she worked with one of our colleagues who ran an orphanage. Sarah’s mom called us concerned about her “miracle child.” Sarah had a...

Duration:00:35:46

Be an Advocate - Bevin Ginder

7/29/2019
Bevin Ginder is a mobilizer for missions, especially those who would advocate for unreached people groups to be engaged with church planting and discipleship. Bevin and I met in the mid-90's in Colorado Springs where he was serving as a Frontier Missions director in YWAM for a season. Now Bevin and his wife Judy live in Battambang, Cambodia where they are equipping missionaries to engage the unreached. He has developed a new online video course to equip and encourage an important new kind of...

Duration:00:30:29

Reconciliation and Slave Trade - Stefan Hall

7/12/2019
Stefan and Andrea Hall led a team to Ghana where they visited slave castles as an integral part of their YWAM internship experience. They chose Ghana, Africa in response to God's call to go to difficult places. Stefan and Andrea have enjoyed significant experience sharing the gospel in Tema, Ghana, and the interior regions of that country located along the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean, in the subregion of West Africa. During a season back in Richmond, VA, they began praying with me...

Duration:01:00:25

Every Christian a Trainer - Allan Carrington

7/8/2019
Allan Carrington is a YWAMer and educator. He started as a printer who was called into missions with the prophetic vision to publish good news. He was a Learning Designer at the University of Adelaide for 10 years. He is an Apple Distinguished Educator and has won two major teaching awards. He has two Masters degrees in Education and Interactive Multimedia. He now runs Designing Outcomes helping educational initiatives around the world. Allan and I met at a YWAM conference on the Amazon in...

Duration:00:49:29

Legacy of a Mentor - Tribute to Ed Sinke

6/24/2019
I have some sad news. Yesterday morning I received a call from my bother in law, Rick Allegretto. He told me Ed Sinke died in his sleep Saturday night. Ed Sinke was a member of our YWAM Converge board, a contributor to the podcast, and a YWAMer I have known for almost 34 years. For those who knew Ed, you understand the depth of our loss. Ed is one of our dearest and oldest friends. He was my mentor since both Mary and I did our YWAM Discipleship Training School in Hammonton, NJ in 1985. He...

Duration:00:57:23

Shipwrecked Medical Mission on the Amazon – Matt Acker

6/16/2019
In September 1993, I was in Manaus, Brazil at an international missions conference. One night the lights went out. As we waited for power to return, the Brazilians pulled out their flashlights and guitars. Singing and dancing ensued and I was caught up in it. Exhausted I sat down next to a tall skinny man in tattered overalls and a long beard. I learned that man was not homeless; he was Dr. Henry Kirby, a YWAM medical missionary from South Africa. He worked in a medical boat on the Amazon....

Duration:00:38:23

What kind of leaders did the SVM produce?

6/10/2019
What kind of leaders did theStudent Volunteer Movement (SVM) produce in the 20th Century? I answer that question after looking again at the foundational work done by John Wesley and Jonathan Edwards. Wesley began whittling away at denomination and parish structures. He said, "The world is my parish." He was not necessarily speaking as a missionary, but as an evangelist to the churched people. A quick review of the 19th Century, including the Haystack Prayer Meeting, the Cambridge Seven, the...

Duration:00:45:07

How Students Changed the World in the 19th Century

6/3/2019
Is College worth it? This story about how students changed the world will help you decide. This episode is part of a series of messages about the History of the University and of Student involvement in World Missions. It was in 1806 in Western Massachusetts that just five students led by Samuel Mills effectively launched the North American Missionary Enterprise through prayer and a commitment to become the answer to their own prayers. This was at the time when Timothy Dwight, President at...

Duration:00:43:41

The Vision of the Father of Modern Education - John Henry

5/24/2019
Biographers and historians have conferred the title, “Father of Modern Education,” on John Amos Comenius primarily due to his contribution to modern educational methodology. Comenius was born on March 28, 1592 in Moravia, now in the Czech Republic. Much of this Moravian theologian’s writings suggest that the overarching objective of his life and work was of greater consequence than reformed educational method. The examination of the life and works of this seventeenth-century educational...

Duration:00:44:05

History of University - John Henry

5/20/2019
This episode is different. This is the beginning of a series of messages about the history of the university, student missions movements, and the powerful influence of the university as it shapes the culture, the leadership, and the destiny of nations. I discuss the ancient history of the universities, the early prototypes of universities, as was taught by Dr. Steve Cochrane in our first School of University Ministries in Delhi, India in 2004. We cover the School of Athens and the resulting...

Duration:00:46:41

Getting Back to the Word of God – Aldrin Bogi

5/13/2019
Listen to Aldrin's personal stories of reaching people through the Scriptures, including Muslim women in college, children in slums, and leaders everywhere. You will be so impressed with my friend Aldrin Bogi and the work God has called him to do.

Duration:00:59:45

Student Conference in Cartagena – John Henry

5/6/2019
As the founder of the Student Mobilization Centre and the creator of the School of University Ministries & Missions, which has equipped leaders currently leading student ministries in over 30 countries, John Henry has been teaching YWAMers and university students that we must engage the world in response to God's call. When we 'show up' as representatives of the ways of God in every sphere of influence represented in the university, we will begin to complete the task of making disciples of...

Duration:00:43:59

Loving the Dance and the Arts – Amy Bischof

4/29/2019
Amy Bischof is a YWAMer. She was born in YWAM because her parents are YWAMers. They worked with YWAM Family Ministries in Germany. Amy is here in South Jersey after completing her Discipleship Training School in Australia. While at Byron Bay, Australia, Amy met Marybeth Clark, owner of Dance Dynamics Studios in Seaview, NJ.

Duration:00:46:05

Being a Light on Campus – Deonn McDowell

4/22/2019
Deonn McDowell has a refreshing passion for Jesus. She had a vision many years ago while on a college campus. She saw Christians on campus as little lights that were covered and their lights were not shining. It was about 1994 when I met Deonn when she was leading a mobile campus ministries group called PHOS team on the Virginia Commonwealth University campus in Richmond, VA.

Duration:00:37:37

African missions mobilizer of students and professionals – Paul Ndolo

4/15/2019
Paul hosted our interns from various American universities in 2001, which included a large one week Calling Quest seminar with over 100 students from the University of Nairobi. He joined my team with YWAM’s Student Mobilization Centre and he helped lead two Schools of University Ministries & Missions in India in 2001 and 2003. He explains how that training impacted him. He gained revelation of God’s call to every area of life, every sphere of influence.

Duration:00:42:04

How God led people to pray for every campus in the USA – Jeremy Story

4/8/2019
In February this year, a nation-wide Collegiate Day of Prayer brought together student organizations and churches across the country to adopt and pray for every campus in the USA. This gathering began about eight years ago with a gathering of young leaders of national movements on campus. Jeremy said he gathered with those friends to ask the Lord what He wanted them to do together in unity. For the first time in history, all 4600+ campuses were adopted and prayed for by collegiate...

Duration:00:52:12

Adding Value to Lives by Listening to Stories – Ryan Dutra

4/1/2019
Ryan shares how his experience producing videos helped him learn how to listen to the stories people have to tell. Ryan launched Upswing Strategies with a passion to help people grow their organizations by using data to prove what works and what does not. He is one of few Salesforce Consultants in the Salem area. Ryan helps organization leaders develop their communications strategies through data analysis and effective feedback systems.

Duration:00:47:45

Declaring God’s purposes from Columbia U. to Amazon and beyond

3/25/2019
Carol Eskaros joined our YWAM Community Health Development project on the Amazon in 1996. She was awarded the Centennial Scholarship at Columbia University. When she asked for permission to do an internship with YWAM so she could share the love of Christ with a tribal group on the Amazon, her advisor said "Yes!"

Duration:00:47:04

Be a Converge Mentor – Do Pastoral Ministry – Ed Sinke

3/18/2019
Ed Sinke, YWAMer from Tyler, TX shares his story about becoming a pastoral leader in world missions. Ed is a personal friend and a leader who has mentored me for many years. Ed and I talk about the role of the Mentor in the Converge program.

Duration:00:53:51

African Missionary of Reconciliation – Joseph Zintseme

3/11/2019
Joseph and his family came to the United States to work with African Americans who also have bitterness and anger in their story. Joseph was led by God to help African Americans discover their roots and freedom from bitterness through a ministry of reconciliation.

Duration:00:51:26