Ian and Deborah Matchett

Emily McPherson–DTS Story

2011-05-03T09:23:00.001+01:00

DTS was a life-changing experience for me. Everyday I had new things pouring into me whether it was a new idea from a speaker, words and pictures from God or encouraging prayers from people at the base. It was a season of constant growth for me, building me up with scripture and truth and giving me a heavenly perspective of myself and the world around me. I realized how much more God has for me as His anointed daughter and humble servant. My time at Seamill also gave me a greater passion for reaching out and sharing the freedom and love I have experienced in the past six months with others. DTS has been a pivotal season in my faith journey and I'm so excited to see where God leads me as I continue to trust in Him!

Sarah Simpson–DTS story

2011-05-03T09:10:00.001+01:00

I have tried to put my experience at DTS into words; I have tried to explain it to my friends, to my family. But each time, I come away feeling as if I have not done it justice.

Before DTS, I felt stuck. I had so much fear about my future, fear about making the wrong decisions and such confusion about my faith and what I believed. There was a stronghold of fear of man in my life, but I did not recognize it.

During my DTS, each week, God chipped away at a different part of my heart, a different part of my life. At least once a week, I was on the floor in tears. It was not easy, it was not painless, but it was worth it. He broke away the strongholds of fear; He broke away the strongholds of insecurity. He took me into His arms and reminded me every single day of His immense love for ME.

It was by far the most challenging six months of my life thus far. I was stretched to measures that I didn’t know I could go to. My beliefs were pulled into question and I was challenged to find out for myself what I believed. Jesus was there the whole time, holding me up when I had no strength to stand on my own.

If I could take one thing away from these six months, it is truth. And the fact that no matter what happens, no matter how I feel or what others may tell me, there is truth. And God’s truth always remains. Discovering His truth about me and about my life made a huge impact on me. It changed the way I want to live my life… the way I am living my life. I have a new identity and that identity is rooted in Jesus Christ. I suppose the question now is “what’s next?” truth is, I still don’t know. But I am not afraid anymore. I am on an adventure with my Savior. :P

Sarah Simpson
USA

Beca Haight - DTS Story

2011-04-28T16:40:00.005+01:00

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Ian's note:

Beca was one of 4 staff on the DTS, and it was her first staffing experience. She knew nothing about us(Ian and Deborah) or much about Ola and Alayna so it was a huge step of faith for her, and I saw her exercise her faith every day! She was a joy to work with and had a major impact on the DTS trainees.

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At the beginning of the DTS I really had no idea what I was getting myself in for. I knew that it

would be a teaching and stretching time but didn’t realise the extent of it. At the beginning I asked God for some words about what this next season would be. He told me I would see healings, abundance of gifts, and that it would be a time of learning trust.

Well I did experience all of these! One of the healings was to a Muslim woman in Turkey, where her unborn child was healed and the others were with the students where three experienced deep emotional healing during outreach. As a school we saw the money for outreach raised in one day and there was even extra, and as for the trust I am still learning (I believe it is a life-long lesson) but I definitely grew in that area, especially during outreach. During that time there were many moments where I didn't know where I would find the strength to go on or that I had nothing to give to the trainees (i.e. they would be having a hard time and I had no wisdom to offer) but God is amazing and when I was totally dry of wisdom and strength he was so faithful and gave me everything I need for that moment. He is strong when we are weak!

During this time I experienced what living life to the fullest in Christ is and learnt what it meant. God gives each of us specific gifts and helps us use them. I discovered that if I use these gifts for God I am full of joy, satisfaction, confidence, etc.; basically I am full of life! The Lord did a lot of things in my life in 6 months (more than I expected, but doesn’t God always blow our expectations out of the water?) and I am so grateful for every hard and joyous moment!

Beca Haight

Canada

There's No Place Like Home by Gordon MacDonald

2011-04-28T10:43:00.004+01:00

This is a book that my parents read when my brother and I were small, and I could recognise a lot of their approach to parenting as I read it. Gordon MacDonald has written several books and I have found them to be stuffed full of wisdom and insight. He is very careful to only write about things that he is living out. He shares stories, both of his successes and his learning moments and helps us think about intentionality in how we steward our family.

Loving our Kids on Purpose by Danny Silk

2011-04-28T10:11:00.005+01:00

This book is a must read for any parent or discipler. It is very thought provoking and challenges our whole approach to training our children for freedom, giving them tools to make good choices. It is not a book that gives an A, B, C approach to parenting, but one that encourages us to look at the reasons behind what we say and do, and to make sure that we are controlling the one person we can control - ourself! We have watched the dvd series and are listening to the mp3s of it too!

http://lovingonpurpose.com/

Maddie Adams - DTS story

2011-04-27T11:48:00.002+01:00

Hey there! My name is Maddie Adams and I was a trainee on the October 2010 Discipleship Training School. I am one of those people who can say DTS changed my life. When I arrived in Scotland, I was full of fear and doubt and misunderstanding, but I knew that I had six months of loneliness to get through, so I may as well press on as hard as I could (Phil 3:14). Over the course of lecture phase day after day God had me lay myself down at the cross and just come into a deeper place of intimacy and trust with him. From not being able to trust God, He led me to a place where I found that I could lay my worldly life at the cross and I was reborn into the living relationship with God that I was desiring with all my heart.

During the course of DTS I had a choice, and the choice was to either want the more of God, or stay lukewarm the way I was. I chose to go after God with everything I had, and I saw the miraculous, I dreamed dreams, I saw spiritual things and that was only because I stayed so close to God and refused to let go. He spoke something very clear to me when I was on outreach and it was the word "beloved" but He told me that I needed to let myself "be-loved" by Him and since that day I have been learning to rest in my Father knowing that He loves me and He is closer than I can imagine.

During DTS I was picked up and all the worldly desires were shaken out of me, and now at the other side I can see the glory of God working through my life and how now I want to be serving Him for the rest of my life.

Jeff McNelly - Story from DTS

2011-04-27T11:39:00.005+01:00

DTS for me was the place and time in my life where I REALLY met God for the first time. It was the place where I got to know Him as someone not something. He grew me and I'm better for it. It was the place where I made my first real friends. The place where I quit looking around at what others were doing and focused on me and God. It was the place where I fell in love with the Father. It was the best 6 months of my life and I would not trade it for anything.

-Jeff McNelly, age 18, USA

Mandy Hinkle - Story from DTS

2011-04-26T16:40:00.004+01:00

Growing up, I had a negative view of alcohol and people who abused alcohol. My heart was calloused to the brokenness that was found inside of these bars and I felt my lack of sympathy was justified. They were a lost cause and they knew what they were doing; deliberately drinking their life away. This past New Years Eve, my heart was radically challenged. I went with our team of 18 into Saltcoats (a nearby party city) to do pub ministry with the expectation that God was going to do something totally amazing in the streets. Fear was following me around as I watched people stumbling around on the dark streets. Lord, how will you use me tonight? I don’t know anything about this sort of lifestyle. I’m terrified of what could happen and I don’t know what I could possible bring to these people who can’t even think straight. Shortly after that prayer left my heart, a drunken couple was kicked out of the club a few of us were standing in front of. The boyfriend was roughly pushing his girlfriend back and forth in this small circle of people that formed. Stumbling she would fall and get up fall and get pushed into people when we entered the circle. Immediately, she was thrust into our arms and embraced. Weeping, this young girl was receiving the Fathers over whelming love. In that moment my heart was being transformed. Instead of disapproving thoughts being sown into this child of God, my best prayers were being poured into her as I held her. During those few seconds, a lifetime of judgment was being wiped away. I no longer see these young people as foolish, but children made in the image of God. I no longer judge their lifestyle, but pray for them to encounter Jesus. My prayer from that evening was to see God do something amazing in the streets. My prayer was answered, but in more ways than I expected. God did something amazing in my heart that night, as well as used me to show his love to one of his daughters.

Mandy Hinkle
California USA
18 years

I grew up as an only child in a Christian family that is very involved with our church. After graduating high school in 2010, I knew God had more for me than just community college. I had a desire to be discipled and to go into the world and make Jesus know. It turns out that YWAM and I were a perfect match! I hope to bring the kingdom to the business world someday by changing the way that business works and I believe that God has some pretty amazing ideas that He wants to see happen in the near future!

Oct DTS 2010

2011-04-06T19:26:00.001+01:00

Oct DTS 2010, a set on Flickr.

A selection of photos from the YWAM Seamill Oct 2010 DTS. A wonderful bunch of people who let God do amazing things in and through them because He loves them!

Time away

2011-01-27T16:10:00.001+00:00

Life is full of journeys, from the usual commute to the grueling distances we do once in a while.

I have just returned from a decent sized jaunt which saw me leave family for a week. Big cost, and I won't know if it was truly worth it until eternity but one thing it did was help me realise the extent of our task. God has whole world that needs to know how much he loves them, and in some places a staggering ignorance reigns.

Christianity might be increasing the world over but we have not reached the finish line yet. are you open to hearing God direct your steps to a new place? He needs us everywhere.

Ian

Who do you live for?

2010-07-09T10:06:00.006+01:00

Here is a few thoughts on what it means to give up your rights:
//note: This is one aspect of giving up rights, there are plenty more to think about, like what are my rights, how do I give them up, why should I give them up etc. This is just a start.

Who do we give them to?

Exodus 21v2-6
If you buy a Hebrew servant, he is to serve you for 6 years. But in the seventh year, he shall go free, without paying anything. If he comes alone, he is to free alone; but if he has a wife when he comes, she is to go with him. If his master givers him a wife and she bears him sons or daughters, the woman and her children shall belong to her master, and only the man shall go free. Bit if the servant declares, “I lover my master and my wife and children and do not want to go free”, then his master must take him before the judges. He shall take him to the door or the doorpost and pierce his ear with an awl. Then he will be his servant for life.

Deuteronomy 15v12-18
If a fellow Hebrew, a man or a woman, sells himself to you and serves you six years, in the seventh year you must let him go free. And when you release him, do not send him away empty-handed. Supply him liberally from your flock, your threshing floor and your winepress. Give to him as the Lord your God has blessed you. Remember that you were slaves in Egypt and the Lord your God redeemed you. That is why I give you this command today. But if your servant says to you, “I do not want to leave you” because he loves you and your family and is well off with you, then take an awl and push it through his ear lobe into the door and he will become you servant for life. Do the same for you maidservant. Do not consider it a hardship to set your servant free, because his service to you has been worth twice as much as that of a hired hand. And the Lord your God will bless you in everything you do.

In Moses law after 6 years of being a slave a Hebrew was set free. They had paid their way and were now legitimate citizens again, free. What more could they ask for? To be bound in slavery for a set time, no matter what the cost of pay back, and have full rights restored to them again? However they were given the option of giving themselves back to their master for the rest of their lives. Giving up the freedom they were entitled to and devoting themselves to their master. If they chose this the master would take them to his front door and take an awl, a small sharp metal spike or hammer, and pierce their ear to the door. This symbolised the ownership to the master. Then they took a ring and put it through the slaves ear to symbolise the covenant the slave has made to his master.
What would make someone do this? Why was it a benefit to the slave to give himself to his master like this? Does it make sense to willingly sell yourself into slavery again, this time with NO WAY OUT?

You can get to know someone very well in 6 years. Especially when they have no obligation as to how they treat you. If you were a slave you were someone who had no rights. You had to do what you were told or you were beaten, simple as that. Also you were in slavery because you had a debt to pay that you couldn't pay with money so you had to sell yourself in order to pay it off. Therefore you were literally owned by your master. No longer free to make your own choices or do your own things. As Jesus says in Luke 17v7-9:
'Suppose one of you has a servant ploughing or looking after the sheep. Will he say to the servant when he comes in from the field, “Come along now and sit down to eat”? Wont he rather say, “Prepare my supper, get yourself ready and wait on me while I eat and drink after that you may eat and drink”? Will he thank the servant because he did what he was told to do? So you also, when you have done everything you were told to do should say “We are unworthy servants: we have only done our duty.”'

Here Jesus sums up what it means to be a slave, your priority is your master, what his needs are and what he wants you to do. So why would you willingly give yourself to this lifestyle, with NO WAY of getting out again, if you didn't have to?

Who is our master?
This is the most important question we can ever ask. It defines who we are and how we live. There are a few answers to it and sometimes we can't even answer it fully ourselves. Here are a few ideas:

Ourselves – we are our own masters if we do things purely for ourself. This is the default human condition, right the way from Adam and Eve when she saw the fruit and made the decision she wanted it for herself. How can we tell if this is our condition?

The enemy – sometimes called possession or oppression, this is where we are owned by the enemy and controlled by him. How does this happen? By selling yourself to him, every act that aligns your life with his gives him more authority in your life. It can get to the point where you are mostly controlled by him, like the man with a legion of demons, however God's grace is always more powerful that all the enemy's strength and there is a way out.

The world – This world has systems in place that want you to be controlled by them. We have different cultural mindsets, western vs eastern being one extreme example. There are also differences between areas in a country, countries themselves, continents etc. There are mentalities too like consumerism where we are driven to place our value in what we can own or buy. Communism where the collective is more important that the individual and so on. The world wants to take our gaze and place it firmly on itself.

God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit – Looking at the Godhead we see who our Master should be. God is the template for masters on earth as well as reality for all of us living today. He demands our all. He also shows how to live under submission to Him, through the earthly life of Jesus and teaches us how to live it out today through the prompting and leading of the Holy Spirit. Getting to know God through study, meditation, communion and conversation with Him brings us to the place where our rights don't matter any more.

Only His do.

Ch-ch-ch-changes

2010-07-07T16:01:00.003+01:00

Plenty of changes coming up in our lives, as detailed here in our latest newsletter

I am currently planning big style for CLAN Gathering, I am part of the leadership for the Young Adults and I want to make sure I can know for sure(well as sure as you can) what God wants to do through the delegates of the week. We are trusting in Him with total faith for a breakthrough year. It will be a lot of fun to partner with God in a variety of ways, from prayer ministry, leading times, introducing speakers, having fun and don't for get the fudge donuts!

We have some great people in to speak to us this year. Our morning Bible study will be led by Andy Hall, seminars from Jackie Pullinger, Alan Scott, Kenny Borthwick, Caroline Crombie and a few from our own team(wonderful people, all of them... Sarah Bell, Gillian Turkington and James Renwick, who is co-leading the week with me).

So thats CLAN, but whats after that?

Well glad you asked.

We are moving down to the west coast again, where Deborah and I met actually, to be part of leading a YWAM DTS. It will be a big shift for us in every area of life. We have been in Aberdeen for 3 1/2 years now, and it is home. We love it here, the people, the work, friends, life. All of it is dear to our hearts. So why leave? Well it is primarily to give us a bit of a change. We have felt the need for some refreshment and re-strengthening for a while, and were looking into going away for a break somewhere. But God presented this to us and we have jumped at it, we will find out soon if it was too quick and we should have looked before we leaped! Seriously though we trust God in his planning for us, that His will is the best for us and our growing family.

More soon, details are coming together for the school. It will be a good one!

Ian

Saying goodbye

2010-05-20T16:20:00.007+01:00

So the Texan and Swedish teams have left Aberdeen. 18 wonderful people with a heart for God and the determination to either fly half way round the world or drive for 2000miles just to get to us!

Swedes
Yup, 2000 miles, thats what the trip counter on the Swedish car(a Saab, naturally) said as they entered Aberdeen! Well ok it said 3000km, but makes more sense to me to say miles. Thanks to wonderful islands like Iceland and their natural wonders the plane originally planned for the Swedes was grounded, so the ferry awaited to get here, and the tunnel on the way home.

They were a team of 5 from a Bible school program and were inspired to come to Scotland by Rick Hayes from Clan Gathering and North Atlantic Dreams when he taught the Streams course, the Art of Hearing God. They helped out at a few conferences with Rick, two in Edinburgh and one in Inverness, which they all pointed to as a big highlight for them.

With us they worked primarily with Westhill Episcopal Church, and Rev Ian Ferguson and Dave Webster. There is a lot of great things happening there, like Street Cafe on a friday night, prayer ministry and prayer visitation cards delivered throughout Westhill. There is also their youth gatherings which are ministering to a very broken but much loved generation.

The Swedish lot got stuck in very well and were a blessing wherever they went. They did all they were asked of and more! From delivering flyers to handing out leaflets for Healing Rooms, taking youth groups, leading Bible studies and taking part in the church service, sharing, leading worship and doing a drama! They even went above and beyond and jumped in the North Sea!

Texans
It always horrified the non-Texans when they were called "the Texan team", so on the record they weren't all Texan... there were a few Canadians, few from around the States and a couple of South Koreans!

This team was from a YWAM Tyler DTS, and were in Scotland for 5 weeks. They partnered mainly with two churches in the town centre, Mission Action that meets in the BB hall beside the YMCA and New Life International, Leadside Road. Both these congregations were a HUGE blessing to the team, and I hope and trust the team were to them too. They also partnered with a few local ministries including: Bethany Christian Trust(The Haven), the Lighthouse drop in project, Choices, Souled Out, Somebody Cares and Siloam to name a few. They also came with a very powerful drama depicting what Jesus has done for us which they did a few times including on George Street behind John Lewis!

Crystal did a fantastic job at managing most of their time, inputting into their daily rhythm and various prayer projects that they set out on. It was a very trying time for us all physically but also a reminder to us why we love DTS, with its focus on whole life discipleship, leaving nothing out and believing that God has a way for us to live holistically and in complete reverence and submission to Him as our loving Father and Friend. Everything is included in that, from how to pray for someone, to daily disciplines right down to how to scrub a pot and how much time to spend on Facebook! God is good and cares about big picture and minute details!

Our Team
We are now in post team mode, which is recovery! However we are not passive in it and are looking to do things that build in strength and bring refreshment, not just turn off our brains and check out. More and more God is highlighting to me what it means to give up my rights, in all areas and live from a place of obedience and in a love relationship with Him.

We are also travelling! Crystal is off to Dublin for a bit, we are off to Belfast for a week! Really looking forward to catching up with everyone I can and enjoying my mums cooking!

It has been a very intense few months, well year in fact, or could you say 3 years?? All in all we are pretty exhausted physically and spiritually so we are seeking God as to how He says we should live and what we should do to build in life and energy again. IT is a strange but good process, more about giving up of my rights again!

More soon.

Ian

A Story of God's Provision

2010-03-31T13:23:00.004+01:00

Our car, a suzuki Liana of Top Gear fame, has been a wonderful car. It has taken us to Northern Ireland, Wales and England as well as all over Scotland. Since Hannah was born on the 7th of August last year it has been full to capacity as the two car seats left no space for anyone else. Our team also expanded the day Hannah was born as Crystal arrived in Aberdeen the very same day! (We actually saw her on our way home from the hospital!) Once the dust had settled we began to ask God for a bigger car (7 seater) so that we could travel as a team, and so that we could accommodate visiting grandparents too. We started prayerfully researching about 6 months ago, but nothing came of it. We were also keen to pass on the blessing of our car to someone else, and were asking that God would make it possible for us to give away our car somehow in the process. We prayed on and off and then a few weeks ago Ian felt that we were to ask God again for something specific. This was in the context of asking for something of God as a sign of a deep relationship with Him - humanly we would only ask for something of a friend or someone we feel close to, not an acquaintance. So we asked, and the next day we were offered money for a car!! Thank you God! After that we started seriously looking again and were a bit bamboozled with the options. Then, on Saturday we went to another garage to look at a vw and came across a Toyota Corolla Verso. We had seen some of these on-line but they were totally out of our price range, and we knew that they have fantastic reviews. It was in great condition, and it was in our price range to the extent that we could give away our car! In fact the price that we were able to negotiate came in almost exactly on budget!! God has provided amazingly for us, and in the process He has enabled us to partner with Him to be His provision to someone else too. What an amazing God that He wants to work with us in this process even though He doesn't need to. Everyone is a winner!!

Home Front

2010-02-26T10:47:00.004+00:00

We are currently working on a YWAM Aberdeen weekly rhythm(cool word for schedule...) and for Friday mornings it is home front. Thinking about what this means, in essence it is time for us to intentionally focus on our friends and supporters from home. Building into our relationships that keep us in missions. It can be a distraction as we have to stop what we are doing to tell people about what we are doing! But the value is that we honour and communicate our appreciation to all those who are investing in us through thought, prayer and finances.

So if you support us in any way(prayer, finance, emotional etc.), this one is for YOU!

It is a privilege to live and work in Aberdeen, one we do not take for granted. It is because of the incredible generosity and obedience of some amazing people that we can do this. And I thank GOD for you all.

Aberdeen is a city with an abundance of natural resource. There has always been a major money making industry here because of its God given properties, from paper to fishing to oil(sorry... energy... Aberdeen is moving from the "Oil capitol of Europe" to the "Energy capitol of Europe", sounds greener I think...). So the fact that people from Northern Ireland, the rest of Scotland, England, Texas and Colorado help us stay here is actually counter cultural(in many ways) and counteracting the spiritual dynamic of self dependence in the city. It is not wrong for Aberdeen to have so much resource and to use it, it is God given, but it is wrong for that resource to become a dependence mostly because God is reduced to a margin and not His rightful place as Lord.

In the words of a fantastic song(sung over and over by Zoe at the minute...) Our God is a great big GOD! And we would do well to increase Him in our lives.

Thank you for supporting us in all ways and helping to increase our view and vision of God.

Ian

A life lived in growing awareness of how big and loving God is.

Spending time

2010-02-16T15:54:00.000+00:00

Reflections on how I spend my time are very convicting. Plenty of "stuff", not much quality, that's my assessment anyway. As a team we are being challenged to spend more quality time with God in prayer and see Him increase our productivity! Sounds an interesting concept with a few daunting/exciting implications.

First up I will not be as in control as I am with the outcomes. Surely this is a good thing, but hard to let go of in my heart. God results need the release of mans hands.

Second it means I will not feel as productive, no matter what the reality is. I enjoying doing. It is rewarding to work hard and finish a task. However a few of the jobs I have done recently have made it clear to me that even the most practical of jobs has a huge spiritual impact. I have been frustrated and worked hours on a project onlyto stop, pray, and find the answer fall onto my lap!

So I guess I am asking the question: when is less more?

Answers on a postcard(or blog comment...)

Ian

Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless device

ducks on ice

2010-02-07T15:47:00.001+00:00

ducks on ice
Originally uploaded by ianmatchettphotos

Enjoying my Christmas present, a Nikon D50 D-SLR. Lots of scope for fun.

Here we have some ducks walking on ice in Beveridge Park, Kirkaldy.

Flickr

2010-02-07T15:39:00.001+00:00

This is a test post from , a fancy photo sharing thing.

Thoughts on journeys

2009-12-07T22:42:00.001+00:00

We have just arrived back after a trip to Livingston, about 2 1/2hrs away, and am pondering what is it about journeys that God uses to teach us stuff?

The purpose of our trip was mostly a YWAM Scotland Christmas party on saturday. Plenty of people enjoying great food and games! It is fantastic to be able to celebrate the entry of Jesus into flesh in so many ways! God was so generous to us with His Son, only right that we remember it and talk about it in such festive ways.

Of course we didn't just travel to the party and back home again, we also helped put up the tree at the Bathgates house and enjoyed a service at Kings church Motherwell, Deb's home church. So we have racked up plenty of miles in 4 days, which is why I am pondering. Mostly I am glad I live now and can do all these miles by car! But also strangely overwhelmed that you can drive so far in a country and not make it to the top. In good old Northern Ireland you would be in the sea!

Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless device

Time and opportunity

2009-10-11T12:14:00.001+01:00

Sometimes you have the time, sometimes you have to make it.

This is a making time season of life. There are so many things I want to do, from consolidation of YWAM Aberdeen vision to family focus and plenty of exercise!

YWAM Aberdeen is in a healthy place, none of us have what it takes to make anything happen! Plenty of ideas are bounding around, and God is speaking lots of cool stuff for the future, but it is all so out of our grasp that it is impossible without Jesus. I spent a week @ YWAM Harpenden learning from Lynn Green, YWAMs current international Chairman. He gave lots of logical well thought out principles and poured wisdom into us for the week, and still found the majority of his time to say "but seek the Lord", or "see what God is saying", or my favourite "I don't know, go ask God...". How often do you hear that from one of the senior leaders!? Outstanding.

So I have lots of ammunition now to take back to Aberdeen, and the feeling that none of it is any good without a living breathing relationship and dependence on our loving Lord Jesus. Bring it on!

Family time is such an important thing, time to connect and have fun, to relate and discuss, as well as show affection and communicate love. It is not the time it takes to do the dishes and change nappies and other such chores, which all need done, often before quality time can be taken. That is what our holiday in Wales is primarily about, QT! At the half way point we are feeling tired but rested at the same time, making sure we intentionally put more things in our week that will rest us and not simply revert back to TV.

Exercise is a funny one, so hard to keep doing but very needed for our bodies to behave the way they were intended. It would have been so much easier if we were designed to sit in chairs most of the day and the odd occasion of walking was enough to get us fit, unfortunately or fortunately we need a bit more than that! I am learning that a trail for me is to keep exercising, and if I am faithful in it I will not only be fit but have perseverance, and physically be mature and lack nothing. If I don't have this perseverance I will not be totally physically mature and need all sorts of extra help to fill the needs my body can't fill by itself.

So lots of time that I need to make and things I need to do!

Blessings all
Ian
Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless device

Back in Aberdeen!

2009-06-23T10:03:00.003+01:00

Hey All,

We have had quite a few weeks of travel, nothing major or mad but good chunk of miles racked up and a lot of great people in some great places!

We spent some time a few weeks ago in Strathdon where we have some CLAN Gathering planning meetings, for the Young Adults program. This was fantastic, the team we have is outstanding, plenty of really spiritually deep people, with lots of ideas we can bring to the Young Adults this year!

The weekend after that for me and Zoe was spent in Belfast being spoiled by my parents and catching up with mainly close family.

The weekend just gone has been spent in West Kilbride and Livingston! We arrived in West Kilbride on Thursday last week to spend a couple of days meeting with YWAM peeps to catch up relationally as well as talk strategy and vision with our line leader, Dave Ausdahl. And then there was a YWAM Scotland BBQ!! Around 80 - 90 people were there, as was a bouncy castle and lots of food!! Great times!

Sunday was then the Almond Vineyard, and a hog roast! Warning, hog link not for faint hearted or vegitarian... Again lots of food and lots of good people, and another bouncy castle!! This one wasn't for adults tho... :(

So we are now all back in Aberdeen!

This week we have lots of meetings, including the pastors/ministry leaders lunch, various friends and collegues as well as hopefully an American girl called Sarah who has a real heart for Aberdeen, God inspire her to bring her gifts to this city! Oh and we also have a Scottish Sarah(Bell) staying with us as she progresses towards moving to Aberdeen to work in Dyce High School.

As usual lots on the go, need to get back to work on www.northatlanticdreams.net, and www.secure.clangathering.org.uk, and a bit on another soon to become visible site!! Oh it is a lot of fun!!!

God is good and He is the one who inspires!!!!

Praise Him.
Ian

Time spent at home

2009-06-14T08:25:00.001+01:00

Zoe and I have been enjoying a couple of days in Belfast, home
cooking, trip to the zoo, lots of time with "nani" and "nanda"! Today
we are off to my home church, St. Mary's. Looking forward to seeing
everyone again and Zoe being made a fuss over!

It is very easy to come back to a place so familiar and slip into who
you were when you were last there. The expectations of everyone is
that you are the same person, which is very reasonable! However with
God we are always being transformed more into His likeness(if we allow
Him) and so this time I am back I am a different person than before
and it takes a concious choice to live that out. Thus was most
highlighted after DTS with YWAM, but no less true every time I come
home.

What's great about God is that He loves to test us, with the point of
showing us how much we have changed!

Praise Him!

Ian

24/7 prayer in Aberdeen round up

2009-06-02T16:54:00.001+01:00

www.247prayeraberdeen.org

Sun day 31st May ended 2 weeks of 24/7 prayer in Aberdeen, well it was proposed as 24/7 prayer, ended up being day prayer! In partnership with Graham Black of the Siloam Trust we felt that God was asking us to create a prayer room in the town centre and offer it as a service to the Church, with the aim being a prayer community.

The room itself was very well received, plenty of people met with God, lots were blown away by a new way to pray, and a Muslim lady and a guy who didn't know Jesus walked in to find out more! The guy came back a second time and gave himself to the Lord! Praise Jesus!

A word from another room user,

I've managed along to the prayer room for two short stints and have loved every precious minute of it.
I came with a view to praying for our church (Aberdeen Vineyard) which has a healing service on Pentecost Sunday and I REALLY want to see God move there. But, as so often with God, He has given me so much more.
I started each session using the Scriptorium to focus myself on God. And as I got to each passage - I just happened to be copying two of my favourite passages - Psalm 18 and Isaiah 40 - each talking of the restoring power of God.
I finished each session with worship - when the sense of the presence of God was almost overwhelming. The prayer room is indeed a sacred space - Holy ground!
On Friday after I had prayed for our service - I just knew, once again - it's all about Him - it's all about Jesus and only through what He has done. And that He would have done it even if it was only for me. The prodigal came home (see Homecoming space)
I drove home along the beach and was blessed with an amazing sunset and I just had to take my worship onto the beach. I was singing along with my i-pod and dancing on the beach. I must have looked crazy!
It has been a long, long time since I have had such joy in the presence of the Lord.

This is what it is all about, creating space for people to come before God, whether they know Him or not! Trusting Him for the good things He wants to bring out of it.

As we reflect on the fortnight we will take away many positives from it, and look to God to see what the next step on the journey is. He wants a vibrant bunch of crazy people seeking Him at any hour of the day, believing Him for miracles we haven't dreamed of and seeing thousands coming to know the King of kings!

A taste of what God wants to do can be heard in this encouragement we received on the website:

Just want to thank you for this opportunity. I have really met with God during the time I've been at the prayer room. Particular this morning as I came a bit discouraged about the news of the the church of Scotland minister. As I prayed for Aberdeen, God reminded me of a dead city (Famagusta) that I had seen during my holiday to cyprus. It was heartbreaking to see no life, nothing just empty buildings that once bubbled with life. As I prayed it was like I was looking at Aberdeen. I began to see small pockets of light visible in various parts of the city. As i prayed I then see runners like those during the olympics with torches in there hands. They were going through the city lighting fires- fire lighters. Then as I prayed more into this I seen a river of like Gold lava running between the fires connecting them.

Prayer is the spark, fuelled by the power of God.

After this I no longer felt discouraged and realised that God has a much bigger plan for this city and there is a continued call for us to keep on praying in partnership with the Holy Spirit and we will see men and women of God, old and young rise up and make a difference!
So I want to encourage you with this just as i was and am, that our prayers are making a difference and not to give up even when it sometimes looks is if darkness is prevailing.
Mandy

We thank God that he met with people that came in and used the room, it is His faithfulness that meant we were honoured with His presence.

Onwards to the next thing then!
Ian

National events

2009-05-21T08:01:00.001+01:00

During our time in Germany one of the things highlighted was the
importance of the larger gatherings. It was in axiom form during the
conference as the encouragement and life we found in the larger group
was amazing.

So today I go to a smaller, larger group called NLF(national
leadership forum) and tomorrow we all go to a ywam scotland staff day,
all in Stanley house, Paisley. We are expecting God to strengthen and
encourage us as well as heat and be a part of the larger YWAM picture
in the nation.

On another note, the prayer room, 247prayeraberdeen.org is going well,
even if it hasn't been received quite as well as we hoped. God is
using the room though, with plenty of testimonies of encounters with
Him filtering through. Praise Jesus!

Till next time,
Ian

--
--
Ian Matchett

YWAM Aberdeen
86 Newburgh Crescent
Aberdeen
AB22 8SU

Home phone : 01224 821702
Mobile : 07742 261961

www.ianmatchett.co.uk
www.iananddeborah.com

ianajmatchett@gmail.com

Youth With A Mission Scotland | Tel: 01294 829 400
9 Glenbryde Road | Fax: 01294 829312
West Kilbride KA23 9NJ | www.ywamscotland.org

Youth With A Mission Limited is registered in Scotland
Registered Company No. 77148, Registered Charity No. SCO13315
The Seamill Centre, 9 Glenbryde Road, West Kilbride, KA23 9NJ

Opening of the prayer room

2009-05-18T00:30:00.001+01:00

So I am in the prayer room at the minute enjoying the presence of the
Lord! Tonight has been wonderful, we arrived at 5.20pm with Graham and
Hazel Black already here. A bit of set up, a bit of tidying and some
dinner before a car full(four) of intercessors arrived! They came from
Seamill YWAM base and are here until wed. Before we knew it 8pm
arrived and it was time to kick things off! A spot of worship and
prayer, led by Graham, with Communion followed by an open prayer time
with the 10 or so people that were there.

Then back home, dropping off a couple of the other YWAMers at their
host homes, before turning round and coming back in again!!! I have
the 11pm to 1am slot tonight, with the YWAM team taking the 1am to 7am
slots.... Gotta be God or there will be lots of nods!!!

This prayer room isn't just for people to look at and enjoy, it is a
space carved out of the centre of this city for God to do what He
wants. For Him to inspire and direct prayers to allow His hand to move
in this wonderful city, and for us to see Aberdeen declare the glory
of our God.

May Aberdeen be famous for being the City of Praise!!! (Msg Isa 62:6-7)