My Story

PERSONAL AND FAMILY HISTORY

I was born in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.  Dad was a successful juvenile delinquent specialist with the Canadian Board of Psychology and Psychiatry and mom was a Junior High French teacher.  My brother, Stephen, was born three years ahead of me and has been my best friend ever since.  When I was five years old, my parents had a dramatic encounter with God that forever changed their lives.  Dad came to a realization that, without God and his Word, psychology was a dead end.  Although it helped people manage their problems, they were never FREE from them.  He was so shaken by the truth of the Bible and how it must relate to all of human life, that my parents decided to give up their jobs, sell everything we had, give all the money to the poor and move to Switzerland. 

Switzerland was not a random choice; Dad had read some books by a Christian theologian and philosopher named Dr. Francis Schaeffer.  He thought, “If there is one person who can help me think through a Biblical approach to counseling, it must be this man.”  Dr. Schaeffer had founded a Christian center for people searching for truth called L’Abri (www.labri.org).  The serenely beautiful surroundings of the Swiss Alps provided a wonderful atmosphere for learning and discovery.  While at L'Abri, dad wrestled through humanistic philosophies and belief systems that had infested modern psychology and began to apply Biblical truth to life and learning.  Those times in L’Abri were very special for our whole family – a period of restoration and preparation for ministry.  A year later we joined a mission organization called Youth With A Mission (YWAM) and began to follow the voice of God as it led our family to more than 20 nations.  Dad shared about using God’s Word as a foundation for all of life, mom joined him in counseling people, and my brother and I drank in different cultures and languages with excitement and wonder. 

As our family experienced growth and transition, so did the mission we were with.  YWAM began to grow into a large family of ministries.  One of their focuses was to train and equip young people to effect every sphere of society: family, government, science and technology, entertainment and the arts, media, education, and religion.  To do this effectively, the University of the Nations was launched.  Now the U of N is a large international university with more than 350 campuses in over 80 nations and within the university, dad’s vision of seeing Schools of Biblical Counseling all over the world has been realized.  (www.uofn.edu)

These international experiences in my life sensitized me to the need for effective ministry regardless of the vocation or location, taught me foreign languages, and exposed me to the hunger that this world has for applicable truth.

MY FOUNDATION FOR LEARNING

I had a very broad education as God moved our family around and can say that I have experienced home schooling, private schools, and public schools!  Each of them has their own positives and negatives, but truthfully I just enjoyed the diversity.  In 1989 I went to Asbury College, in Wilmore, Kentucky, and studied Ancient Languages, Journalism, and Public Relations (www.asbury.edu).  The whole time I was in college, the Lord opened up opportunities for me to lead ministry teams that would go out on week-ends and work with youth groups, youth retreats and camps, and church revival services all over the country.  We would lead in worship, preach, and inspire young people to live for Christ in every sphere of society.  I even played on a Christian volleyball team that would travel through the tri-state prisons of Ohio, Kentucky, and Indiana – playing volleyball and sharing with the inmates about freedom in Christ!  I remember entering my first maximum-security prison in Ohio.  We didn’t know whether we should try and win or let them beat us!  As we were obedient to go where God told us to go and participate in a broad variety of ministry opportunities, I saw God do wonderful things through all the teams and began to sense the Lord’s direction for my life.  I was marked for a pattern of reaching people and inspiring them to live for God. 

After graduation from college, I was asked to serve as the Associate Minister to Students on the staff of a large Southern Baptist Church in Norfolk, Virginia (www.firstnorfolk.org).  It was such a rich experience for me; I was able to learn and understand the dynamics of church leadership, denominational ministries, and the needs for interdenominational cooperation.  As we set the youth free to do things that were on their hearts, we saw God develop new and creative ways of worshipping Him and reaching the lost.  My burden to see denominations work together to reach youth more effectively was lifted as we began to link youth ministers from various churches.  Soon a group of them gathered every month to pray for each other, offer assistance to each other, and strategically work together by pooling resources and ideas.  I learned a lot from the other ministers on staff.  Many of the youth from that time have gone on to effect people with the gospel while serving in different spheres of society.

After two years of serving on staff at the church, the Lord led me to resign in good standing, pack my bags, and leave for Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth, Texas (www.swbts.edu).  As wonderful as it was on the church staff and as comfortable as it was getting, God had more he wanted to teach me – and there is always more I want to learn about Him.  While in Seminary, God provided a job for me with Steve Hawkins Custom Homes (www.stevehawkinshomes.com).  Although I had no experience in homes, Steve had faith in me and provided an effective and fun way for me to work my way through graduate school:  designing and selling custom homes.

After graduation from Seminary, I applied for the Ph.D. program.  But before I got started, God distinctly moved on my heart to NOT do my Ph.D. at that time, rather to apply for a Discipleship Training School (DTS) with Youth With A Mission, in Kona, Hawaii (www.uofnkona.edu). 

(An aside: My parents moved to Hawaii in 1990 to continue their work with the University of the Nations’ Kona Campus, teaching marriage and family counseling, and doing marriage conferences.  God has SO blessed the work they have done.  Besides working closely with the Hawaiian community, they have been able to reach out in nations like Fiji, Cambodia, Mongolia, and South Korea.  It is so rewarding to have ring-side seats to moves of God as He restores marriages and heals broken families.  What a rewarding job they have!  Not an easy one, to be sure, but rewarding.)

God used the DTS time in my life to encourage me, enrich me, and refresh me, but he also used the time to affirm and anoint me in my ministry and calling.

MY DESIGN

I have always had a love for communication and music.  I remember preaching my first sermon to my family, at age seven.  It was on the calling of Samuel.  I had found it so amazing that a young boy could hear the voice of God.  I was determined that whatever I did, it would be led by obedience to the voice of God and His direction.  

Mom and dad were sure to encourage my brother and I in sports, music, drama and whatever else we seemed to take a liking to.  So since age five I have been involved in music.  From piano, trumpet and voice, to theory, harmony and composition, God has opened many doors to be involved in styles of music from countries all over the world.  Ministry teams that I led in college were all musical groups that combined music with testimonies of God’s character and nature.  And so I became passionate about music but at the same time, God was opening up doors to preach and I fell in love with verbal communication of the Word of God.  The first church in which I had ever preached was a Quaker Church in Ohio.  I remember being referred to as Friend Derek J 

Added to my passion for music and communicating the love of God, I began to have a strong desire to witness a move of God in Asia.  Of course, I love every country that I have been in and have really grown in my understanding of the diversity in our Creator.  Every country and culture displays how creative our God really is – and that within our diversity there is unity around our common destiny – reconciliation with God.  But Asia has always been on my heart and I believe that we are entering a special season of grace on those nations.

After my DTS, Frank Naea, the President of YWAM International, asked me to pray about moving to New Zealand and being his assistant.  From New Zealand, I was able to travel, lead worship, meet wonderful people, and see God do dramatic things through worship. 

As I reflect on how worship has changed during the last century, I believe that there are several historic reflections pointing towards worship as a weapon for evangelism and reformation.  Some of our greatest hymns in the Christian faith have come from revival periods in church history.  The most precious praise and worship choruses are written in periods of personal revival in the presence of God.  The Psalmist, David, penned his works as God was taking his people through a period of time that was crucial to the formation of their nation.  The key lies in the very surrendering of our lives to God with all that we have and are – in his presence – our spiritual act (responsibility) of worship.  As people are drawn to God and His powerful, life-changing presence, God reveals the weapons that are in our hands to destroy lies of the enemy.  Worship, the realization and expression of who God is, then becomes a weapon in the hand of the church, to slay Goliath.  As we worship and hear the heartbeat of God we discover revelation of our sin and the need for repentance, restitution, reformation, and reconciliation. 

It was in New Zealand, that God put reconciliation on my heart.

MINISTRY OF RECONCILIATION

After working with Frank Naea, I felt led to continue to pursue projects of reconciliation from Lausanne, Switzerland.  The Lausanne YWAM base has a heart for reaching Asia.  They feel that it is important to build bridges into the Asian nations.   Did you know that, as of a few months ago, when India reached the population barrier that they did, SEVENTY PERCENT of the world’s population lives in Asia?  Obviously, if we, as the church, are not actively and strategically planning to reach into Asia, then we are ignorantly missing the bulk of the world that is crying out for the gospel.

As I have continued praying, the Lord has opened up some very exciting doors in the nations of Korea and Japan.  You probably know of the recent Christian history of Korea.  In one century, the country went from being Buddhist and decidedly non-Christian, to close to 35% Christian by the year 2000.  They have the biggest churches in the world.  But if you are like I was, you know nothing about the difficulties that Korea has had, as a nation, over the last thousand years.  Did you know that Korea has been invaded 936 TIMES by other nations?  Over 300 times it was invaded by Japan, with the intent of genocide (wiping out all Koreans from the face of the earth).  Yet Korea has never invaded another nation.  Now, as the Christian nation, they hold a key to unlocking a move of God in Asia.  That key is one of humility - the forgiveness of the nations that have abused them and the repentance from the anger and bitterness - the result of long-held resentments.  I believe that God wants to do a move of reconciliation among all of our nations as we understand humility, but it is on His heart to launch a large move of reconciliation and healing from Korea.

When I was in Korea for the first time, most of the sites I went to dealt with the history of national abuse by other nations.  I visited ALL the major sites that have significance in the Japan/Korea history and prayed over the nation, that they would have the courage to forgive.  I was able to attend a huge worship service and as everyone was praying out (loudly) I was praying out things over the nation (since nobody could understand me anyway):  freedom from fear, shame, anger, bitterness, and unforgiveness.  It was a lot of fun!  There were about 30,000 people there and I was the ONLY WHITE person, so I prayed out Revelation 7:9, that we will see all nations worshipping together someday - in Korea!

A short time later, I went back to Korea and Japan with a high performance team of eight people from all over the world.  They have all been feeling a calling into the issue of reconciliation and have a heart for Korea and Japan.  We traveled together and met with the heads of the University of the Nations Prayer Center in Cheju Island, off the coast of Korea, and had a wonderful time with SungGun - the head of YWAM Korea.

The reconciliation projects have taken me to Japan as well - a wonderful country of precious people with an intricately beautiful culture that is seen in their clothes, the art, the ornate presentation of their food, and the delicate way that everything is arranged.  Everything they do is a little work of art!  As I have begun to realize the importance of the foundations of nations, I have come to understand that nations were meant to reflect an aspect of the character of God.  In the United States, God wanted to demonstrate the FREEDOM that is in Christ.  In Canada, God wanted to demonstrate the acceptance of cultures and the diversity that can be retained, even in unity.  In Japan, it is the creativity and detailed precision that is in God.  Of course the enemy would like to try and attack those nations by causing them to distort and abuse the very thing that God created to display who he is.  But God is victorious and I believe that we will see these foundations in nations restored to display and glorify God someday. 

(I've answered some questions about reconciliation you can read by clicking on  AboutReconciliation.)

Two years ago, God spoke to me that it was time to focus on the United States for two years.  As I continued to question his leading (not in a negative way, but in an exploration of understanding) I felt like there were two key reasons:  this is the most important season in American history and we still need the United States in the global church make-up.  So when Frank Naea, having served his term of the President of YWAM International, contacted me about an initiative called The Wave USA (www.thewaveusa.com) that would impact 50 states in 50 weeks, I knew I was to get involved.  

I am so grateful for all that God is doing in my life and am so grateful for people like you – who allow me to take the time to share about the goodness of God.  Let me know your story sometime.  And if you follow my calendar on my website – maybe we can get together and talk story (as we say in Hawaii).  It really is marvelous to witness the life-changing power of God in so many exciting ways.  I hope that you too, are experiencing the fullness of who He is in your everyday life.  Thanks so much for taking the time to read all of this – feel free to EmailMe any time. 

Derek