welcome january 2007 dts!

jan 2007 dts staff
Originally uploaded by I like fireflies.

This past week we welcomed in 33 new students from 8 different nations. Some have been planning on doing a DTS (Discipleship Training School) for a couple years now and some decided just recently to come join our family. Stories of God's faithfulness have been rolling off their tongues this week and anticipation is brewing for what God has in store during the next 5 1/2 months.

Patriotically, we spent the first afternoon together partaking in a good ole Aussie BBQ and Tim Tam Slams. There was also a time of worship, where we were challenged to lay everything down at the feet of Jesus.

We all gathered together as a base to welcome the new DTS and SOMM (School of Music in Missions) into our family at the beginning of the week. We spent time getting to know each other, praying for one another and general orientation details. Humility was definitely a theme during worship and God was calling us to simply come as we are.

The latter part of the week was spent together as a DTS. At the core of our faith is the Gospel, so Andrew spent time laying it out for us. We also spent time going over hearing God's voice, learning styles and identity. Joanne led us in her famous postcard exercise on hearing God's voice and God spoke significantly to many of the students, as well as the staff. It's exciting to see how God is moving already and it's only the first week.

All in all, it's been a pretty full week and I'm sure everyone will be resting well over the weekend. The DTS will have the opportunity to serve in either our Youth Street or Backstage ministries on Saturdays and we'll be looking forward to hearing how that's going over the next couple of weeks. Thank you for your prayers!