ME

But it can’t be that simple, can it?

/ Jared Waipouri

A while back I wrote about my opinion that the key to successful fundraising as a missionary is Doing what God says. It might seem a bit simplistic to some, and totally unreachable for others. Let’s talk about it.

I realise the claim I’m making. To recommend doing what God says, I’m claiming that God speaks today. Assuming that’s true, and I’m confident it is, I’m also claiming that knowing what He’s saying and acting on it is possible. Again, I’m certain that we can know what God says AND act on His instructions in obedience.

Why am I so certain?
These are results of the finished work of Jesus Christ, dead on a cross, buried for three days, then resurrected, freeing those who put their faith in Him from the eternal death caused by sin. Jesus didn’t simply die to be our fire insurance, preventing us from burning in hell. He rose again so that we can live in relationship with a God so eternal that we struggle to comprehend His magnificence. Knowing His voice, and being free to respond to it is a vital part of that relationship.

So God SPEAKS?
To use the phrase “do what God says” is perhaps a little misleading or simplistic. Not because He does not communicate, but because for many believers who have learned to listen and obey, hearing an audible voice would be really unusual. Some people do hear God speaking to them in a voice, and I am a little envious (it would be so much more certain). But for many others, the “voice” of God is found in a quiet “nudge” in their mind. For others it can be more easily felt as a sense of rightness (or wrongness) in the gut. For others still, they read words on a page as though highlighted, and in reading them sense God talking directly. There are some who have God dreams, and others who have God visions. The point though, is that God speaks as much today as He did in the time of Isaiah or Jeremiah. The relief is we’re less likely to be stoned to death if what we thought He told us turns out to be less god and more gas.
I understand those who feel uneasy with all of this, for many people the thought of having a spiritual voice talking to them, especially if it is the creator of the universe, is terrifying, or maybe arrogant…how could I think that a omniscient God would want to talk to me, a total mess-up?! For others, they learned that God stopped speaking directly to His people after the revelation of John, so how could I be hearing Him?
I’m not a theologian, and can’t dig really deep into those things.
I can say that God does speak today through the Holy Spirit. As lovers of Jesus, we must listen.

How can I be sure I’m hearing Him?
1-When Jesus told his disciples that he was going back to heaven, He promised to send the Holy Spirit, and that when they Holy Spirit came they would experience “peace that surpasses understanding.”
As you try out listening to God, look for a sense of peace in your heart and mind. All of the world around you might be falling apart in spectacular ways, but if find that there is a feeling of “it’s okay.” That might be the peace of the Holy Spirit.
When you’re sensing God speaking or leading, it will always come with a sense of peace that isn’t necessarily logical or explainable.
2-If you’re thinking you’re hearing God speak, check your bible. The leading of God is not going to contradict God’s law and principles as found in the bible. If you think He’s leading you to murder someone, steal your neighbour’s stuff, or dishonour your parents, check your bible because I’m fairly confident it’s not God talking to you.
3-Seek Godly advice. Whenever we think God is leading us, we can expect that He will give us some sort of confirmation. Sometimes that can be a mentor saying “no, do this other thing first” other times it can be a seasoned missionary saying, “God gave me this verse for you, I think He’s in this crazy idea you have.”

As you learn to listen to His “voice” look for these three signposts: have you got peace, is it consistent with God’s biblical principles and laws, do you have a sense of confirmation from trustworthy Godly leaders around you? If you can answer “yes” to all three, you’re probably moving in the right direction. If any of those are less than a firm yes, keep praying that God will bring you more clarity.

The hardest part is obeying
This whole thing is a really simple process…hear His voice, choose to respond, OBEY.
One of the problems is that while it’s simple, this OBEY part is not easy, in fact sometimes it can be downright painful.
It can be difficult because it requires us to act outside of what might be our natural or cultural tendencies. It can be scary because we are invited to step into unknown and sometimes untested actions. It can be painful because there will be times when we are forced to choose a path which means leaving behind cherished people, routines, or places; and embracing a future which looks full of difficulty and sacrifice.
For men, especially men who have been influenced by more traditional mindsets, this can be extra painful when money is involved.
Here’s where I get personal. Going into marriage, I knew that my “job” as a husband (and later a father) would be to protect, provide, and procreate. The tension as a missionary is that being led by God means trusting Him for finances, meaning the “provide” part looks quite different to what would be considered “normal.”
On the one hand, there will be people looking at my life choices and thinking that I’m not being a good husband or father because I’m not working a job to earn money to provide a house and financial security. On the other hand, our financial security is directly tied to the relationship I have with the creator of the universe, so as long as I remain connected and obedient to His call on my life, we will be cared for. This is all well and good as words on a screen, but when your family of four is squeezed into a flood prone tiny home of 33sqm (330sqft) it’s raining heavily, and the kids are bouncing off the walls because they want to be outside, the temptation to find some paying work to buy your way out of the situation becomes very strong. In that temptation, the choice to obey God and stay there while He works on providing a new housing option is simple, but not easy. Not easy because I don’t get to control what He says, when He says it, or where He leads me. Simple because I still get to say “yes” and obey Him anyway (I wrote about this uncomfortable challenge with our beautiful home a few weeks ago).
The not-so-easy choice for us all is to take the risk of obedience, knowing that our fallible humanity might mean our hearing isn’t always spot on, and trust that the God of heaven will be faithful anyway.
The alternative choice, to feel always in control, going the way we think is best, is easier in the short term, but isn’t great for our relationship with the Jesus we’re trying to follow.
The results are fairly simply put: when we choose to respond to His leadership with obedience, He will help us to fine-tune our hearing.
If we choose to go our own way, we will feel the lingering questions of what might have been, and likely notice that His voice is more and more faint as we choose to ignore it.

What do you think? Is following God’s specific leading in your life as simple as all this?

The Special House and the Beautiful Home

/ Jared Waipouri

Recently we were asked to house sit for our friends. Their home is a comfortable 4 bedroom house with a reasonably sized living room, a distinct dining area, and a large kitchen. The master bedroom has an ensuite, and the main bathroom is a good size.

Contrast this with our house: One room does double-duty as a master and children’s bedroom, with a compact bathroom attached. The second room has an efficiently laid out but small kitchen, and the other half of the room is lounge and living space. The entire building wouldn’t exceed 35 square metres.
It is a small house.
With a 2 year old high energy toddler and a 3 month old in the home, space for sewing and craft projects is limited, not to mention cooking, playing, and relaxing. It’s probably little wonder that I was thoroughly excited when we moved into the expanse of our friends’ home. A home our daughter soon began referring to as our “Special House”.

The joy of having space was real. The ability for her to run around without being outside in the rain or in the unsecured right-next-to-the-road yard was, by itself, an amazing relief. In addition, I had a room just for me, an office. Joyce had an entire table to herself, able to leave her sewing or earring projects where they were without needing to pack them away every time she stopped work. 

The benefits were worth the extra logistics of now needing to drive half an hour to work in place of a 5 minute walk. They were even worth the obligation to feed our friends’ animals. 

But very soon the reality of what was to come hit me. Our special house was amazing, but in a few short weeks we would need to downsize back to our tiny home in the swamp. We would force ourselves back into a cramped and sometimes stifling space, in which only one of us can spread out on the kitchen table at a time. 

As a traditionally influenced family man, I felt this reality in a very clear way: I need to provide a bigger house for my family. How can I do that? Inevitably, facing the truth that our current income just barely covers increasing living costs, I felt a sense of sinking hope and rising anxiety. As a faith-based missionary working a full-time role with little room for respite from the demands of the job, I could not see what I could “do” to improve things.
It’s not that I cannot get a normal paying job to qualify us for a mortgage, nor is it about a willingness to work hard. The tension resides in the call of God on our lives to serve as missionaries freely, trusting in His sovereign provision. It is a call which means that we recognise his faithfulness, and trust Him to meet our financial and practical needs through the generosity of others as we give our time, energy, and talents to serving His Kingdom. And years ago I learned that trying to shortcut that process by dividing my time between my core “missions” work, and paid employment is not how He wants me to operate…mine is the call to do one thing, and do it with my whole heart.
So reflecting on all of this left me feeling a little powerless to “make it happen now” as I wanted to.

Around this time, my daughter found a way to better define the difference between our friends’ house where we were sleeping, and our actual house, where she, her brother, and Joyce spent the days while I worked. Our friends’ house was already the special house, and soon our house became known as our “Beautiful Home.”

God was speaking. Part loving reminder, part exhortation, part rebuke.

I should point out that since well before I began my YWAM journey, I have heard God speak, and then watched Him deliver on what He said many, many times. Each time has been as much a miracle as the last.
In fact, in the last 12 months He invited us to buy land and then miraculously provided ALL of the funds we need to do that. He has continuously shown that when we trust Him, He is found faithful.

So as we drove along, my daughter asked if we were going to our beautiful home. In that question the Lord reminded me that this beautiful home, small and cramped as it may be, is His sovereign provision. He reminded me how in 2019 my friend felt led to give me the shipping container, initiating the build of the original part of the house. God gave us all of the funds to build, furnish, and sustain it. Then in late 2020 He provided again for us to expand it in preparation for our daughter’s birth.
Yet here I was treating God’s provision with frustration, irritation, and disregard (maybe even disdain).

God used my daughter to remind me that He always gives us good gifts. Gifts like our beautiful home.
It is a beautiful home not because it is nice to look at, or has ornate furnishings, or is very large, or even very efficient. It is our beautiful home because God himself provided it, and then gave me a family to fill it up with. 

The special house was a precious time of rest for our little family, a time we could have space and comfort. But moving back to our beautiful home was a sigh of relief: small as it is, it is OUR beautiful home. It has been God’s provision for US in this season. So as He provides for new land and a new home, I know that this one will continue to be a beautiful provision for V2 Life’s staff team.

Our God does not leave us uncared for.
He cares for us.
He gives us what we need to point glory back to Him.
He always loves.
And sometimes He needs us to be uncomfortable to make sure we keep our eyes on what’s important.

What beautiful provision is He reminding you of today?

Do what God says

/ Jared Waipouri

As long term missionaries in Youth With a Mission (YWAM), we raise all of our annual financial needs through fundraising and personal relationship. That’s right, no salary package with the role, no mission board or home office making up the shortfall, no furloughs with prearranged speaking engagements.
It’s YWAM value number 10: “Faith in God for finance.” It is a controversial value, both within and outside of YWAM, and that’s because it has both great strengths and glaring weaknesses. It is a strength because it challenges each YWAMer to keep faith at the centre of what we do, not becoming complacent or comfortable in our secure salaried job; it is a weakness (to some irresponsible) in that it allows young people with a sense of God’s calling to launch themselves into the mission field “long term” with as little backing as the cash for a one way flight. In the worst case, this can be a recipe for failure and embarrassment. In the best case, God demonstrates His faithful provision in miraculous ways and His sovereign name is glorified.
Needless to say, the big task each of us face is growing and nurturing a prayer-fuelled support team who give generously, regularly, and often sacrificially. Although the field each YWAMer is in varies with calling and annual budget, the challenge to raise support is constant. When it all comes together, it keeps us in the field in a sustainable and productive way, freeing us up to do the work we’ve been called to.
Despite its vital nature for YWAMers, raising support is one of my least favourite parts of the mission; this feeling in many ways exposes a weakness in my theological understanding and my view of God’s Kingdom economy. And still, over the years as I’ve learnt to trust God and follow His leadership, I’ve seen Him grow my support team from one generous family with a new baby who gave less than 10% of my need, to a squad of dozens who pray, give, and encourage every month.
Over time, I got to a point where I had my basic living costs met. There was a little extra for “wants” and being generous beyond my tithe. I guess it started to look like I knew what I was doing when one day, one of the many young people I’ve worked with asked me for some advice on fundraising, perhaps hoping that I might give them a practical formula which guaranteed results. Initially my answer was not what they hoped for when I said:
“Do what God says.”
They looked at me wondering if I was spouting some useless cultish cliche, so I expanded.
I explained that while every one of us is called to fundraise, each of us comes from a different culture, family context, and calling. I explained that in my observation this means that God will usually have a specific strategy for us in how we communicate the need, invite, and grow the relationships we need in our support teams. Because each of us might have a unique strategy from God, that would mean that the practicalities differ too.

I shared how in my early days as YWAM staff I wanted to do “tent making” where I earned money doing car repairs to pay my bills. Fairly soon I realised that God was not blessing those efforts, and in prayer I saw that I’d chosen this from a motivation of insecurity, not to honour God. That insecurity was rooted in what is arguably a good mindset: the idea that “if I want money, I should get off my butt and earn it, not bludge off other people.” I grappled poorly with the view that if I was being faithful to God I was worthy of the wages I needed to live, and that insecurity worked overtime as I wrote newsletters with a sense of panic around my need for cash. Unsurprisingly it didn’t work, so eventually I went to God in prayer and frustration asking Him what I should do. I was late to this praying approach, but it was the best choice I could have made! I felt Him asking me to change the focus of my newsletters to a specific, intentional focus on His glory, telling the stories of what He was doing around, through, and in me. Soon after, I felt His prompting to call a specific family and ask if they would give. They said “we’ve been waiting for your call, how do we do it?”
So the primary lesson from “do what God says” is about realising His wisdom for your particular situation, and following that in fundraising. Considering that He is the owner of literally everything and has all wisdom, we can be certain that He will lead us well.
But as I explained the big view of what I was trying to say, I went further, reminding my friend that God always provides for what He calls us to do. I talked about how He provides every time, when we are where we should be, when we should be, doing what He asks us to do. In the big picture, that means that the key to effective support raising is also the key to living as a Jesus-following disciple: do what God says! The bible says that when we are obedient, He is faithful and He will provide for our needs.

A couple of pointers if this “doing what God says” thing is new to you:
1-The first place to look is in the bible, God’s word is jammed with instructions on how to live a good life which brings Him glory.
2-If you’re the kind of person that hears His voice in your heart, mind, or ears, remember: His spoken (or felt) word will not undermine His written (bible) word or His character. If you think it does, look again, and seek wise counsel.
3-A prophetic word from a person should be a confirmation of something you’re already feeling Him saying; if it’s new information, avoid taking it as fact until you have peace that He has confirmed it in some other way.
4-If you’re unsure of something, seek advice from a God-honouring leader. A trusted pastor or elder is a good start if you have a healthy church connection.

So today, if you’re trying to raise $10 for your next meal, or $100,000 for your next home, my encouragement is the same:
Do what God tells you
and trust Him to take care of the rest.

“He was my friend”

/ Jared Waipouri

It has been a year since we said good bye to Dave and I still miss him a lot…here are some thoughts I put together at the time.

A few days ago I had just arrived at work when I got a message to say that our pastor, Pastor Dave, had just experienced a massive heart attack and the paramedics were in attendance. You have to understand that Dave had prior near death experiences and often talked about how in that time the Lord had reminded him of his fragility, and God’s sovereignty over both life and death. Dave was no stranger to health challenges, so my first thought was to pray for his family. I prayed for peace and grace in a scary time.

Then I sent him a short message, I said:

“Praying for you my friend. 

“He’s God, I’m not.” One of my favourite Dave quotes.

May His peace and healing be all over you.

Much love”

A few minutes later, I was told that the paramedics had stopped their resuscitation attempts. He never read my message. He had joined our heavenly father in glory.

Dave was a pastor, called to the ministry as a young man in a dramatic way, and he gave his best to that calling. He loved people the way pastors should: being there for them in their pain, praying for them in hospital, celebrating with them in marriage and birth. He presided over countless weddings, funerals, and baby dedications. He was a lover of God and of people, and those who spoke to him even once, knew that. He taught the word of God, the love of our saviour Jesus, and the work of the Holy Spirit without compromise. He was my pastor, and I was grateful for his wisdom.

Dave was a leader. He had a remarkable ability to draw a team around him and then empower and encourage them to flourish in the potential God placed them. And those people were drawn to him, giving freely of their time and energy for the sake of service to the God of heaven, responding to the gift Jesus gave with their passion, time, and abilities. He was a leader to me, and he was easy to follow.

Dave was a visionary. When I met him, he was about to catch a call to ministry in Vanuatu as the pastor of the International Christian Church. At the time, the church was a small but dedicated group of mostly expatriate missionaries and pastors looking for Christian community and an english speaking Sunday service. Dave saw the vision of the Lord to grow that little church to reach out beyond the missionary community in Vanuatu, and minister intentionally to the not-churched expatriate community. He saw the opportunity and God’s vision to love and care for those in Vanuatu who weren’t being reached by other churches. He saw that we would need more space. He stretched to both increase the church’s giving, and to raise funds to build our own building. It was a vision far bigger than any of our individual skills, but he knew God had spoken. He challenged me often to believe God for much more than I dared.

Dave was a mentor. He was that kind of pastor who didn’t simply lead his team. He would sit with them and hear their hearts. He would speak truth in love, even when it was uncomfortable to hear. He would stand with people during their tough times, speaking life, calling out the good in people that they often couldn’t see themselves. He was a mentor to me: rebuking me when I needed it, encouraging and exhorting me to be who God called me to be. He showed the love of Jesus, showed what it was to love Jesus well, and what it looked like to love others that way.

Dave was a father and husband. He was a father to two wonderful, God honouring children who are a tribute to he and Julie’s parenting. He was a husband to one wife, Julie, who complimented him beautifully. He loved his children and wife with a passion which he was not afraid to show. His ability to recognise and honour the strengths and gifts they have was an example to those who spent time with him. Dave was a father figure to countless young men whose own fathers left gaps in their upbringing. He was a father to me, championing me when I needed it, boasting on me when he found a chance, and declaring the transition I was embarking on in important moments. He spoke fatherhood over me as I grappled with the arrival of my own daughter.

But the one thing which has repeated in my heart over and over since Dave went to be with the King?

Dave was my friend.

As a friend, Dave expressed an aspect of Jesus we rarely get to see worked out in life. When things weren’t good and I needed to share my heart, Dave showed Jesus’ heart, he listened and understood. Dave told stories to make me laugh and cry, stories which had a point. When Dave was convicted by the Lord or full of vision, when he was having a tough time, he shared his heart. Dave knew that he’d be loved and that I’d share what I could see, that I would see “Dave.” He saw Jared, and was seen by Jared.

Dave was a lot of good things, he was rightly referred to by many titles: reverend, minister, pastor, leader, visionary, father, and mentor. He was sometimes frustrating and exasperating. But on the last day of his life, amid all of the other good things, one title stood out the most to me.

Dave was my friend. I miss Dave.