As most of you know, we work with Youth With A Mission Brisbane (YWAM), having been here since the late 90s. YWAM internationally is one of the largest mission movements in the world. Here in Brisbane, we are all about:

● Equipping the Christian youth people to be influences in their society

● Sharing Biblical truths and the gospel to young people and families within our local community

● Blessing and resourcing Queensland rural communities

● Pioneering new ministries

At YWAM Brisbane, we do this through:

1. Running training schools: Discipleship Training School, Basic Leadership School, and Bible Core Course

2. Cafe ministry for our local area, a ministry of hospitality, and a place of connection

3. Cooperation with local schools to participate in lunch programs, religious education, discussion groups, personal development programs, Bible studies, worship gatherings, art projects, and other programs

4. Worship and prayer ministries

5. Serving and resourcing local and rural churches, specifically in the area of youth ministries

6. Supporting local and rural community projects through kids and youth events, church activities, and other community-focused projects

All of this is for the purposes of strengthening, discipling, and enabling Christians, and sharing the gospel with those who don’t yet know God.

Our personal roles within YWAM are often called “Backbone” ministries. These are departments that support all other ministries through various operational activities, so they have what they need to do what they do.

What does Gary do?

Officially, Gary’s roles are IT Manager and Vehicle Coordinator. Additionally, he also has other random errands he does, as he has a general working knowledge of many areas of the Base.

IT MANAGER – ENABLING YWAMers to WORK and COMMUNICATE

As IT Manager, he takes care of networking, Wi-Fi, security, software, hardware, etc., for any computer needs. We have 45 staff members here, plus 20+ students on campus at any given time. He often troubleshoots people’s personal computer/laptop issues as well. Of course, the IT department really keeps a place functioning. Without it, we wouldn’t be able to do much of our ministry.

VEHICLE COORDINATOR – TRANSPORTING THE GOSPEL MESSAGE

It would be amazing if we were all like Philip, who God transported from one location to another (Acts 8). It would definitely save us a lot of time and money! But without this teleportation miracle, we need a Vehicle Coordinator. Gary manages the use, maintenance, and stewardship of the 7 vehicles owned by YWAM Brisbane. This involves:

- taking them in for inspections (in QLD, this has to be done every 6 months)

- training and approving drivers for the vehicles

- administrating insurance and registrations

- arranging maintenance and repairs

- administrating the vehicle use for our various ministries and outreaches

Our YWAM vehicles are what get us around to the ministry opportunities we are involved in. YWAM Brisbane vehicles travel tens of thousands of kilometres each year, taking our teams to dozens of towns and ministry opportunities. Without Gary managing these things, I think we’d be running around like chickens with our heads cut off (or, at least more than what we already do!)

What does Darcie do?

TRAINING AND TEACHING – EQUIPPING KINGDOM WORKERS

I run a 1- and 2-week-long staff training course for those involved in training our DTS. This happens at least twice per year. I work with new leaders to teach them to effectively train and evaluate the growth of the trainees they work with.

TRAINING COORDINATOR – MAKING DISCIPLES

As the training administrator, I oversee the 4 courses we run at YWAM Brisbane, with varying levels of involvement. This involves things like:

- Assisting course leaders with setting up the Courses and course administration

- registration of Courses and enrollment of students

- understanding of and ensuring that we are following the curriculum, outcomes, policies, and procedures

BASE ADMINISTRATOR – FACILITATING THE MINISTRY AND WORKERS

This generally is just looking after the smooth (or at least somewhat smooth) running of the centre. I look after some of the personnel management with the allocation of roles and responsibilities, and sometimes this includes training in those areas, as well as rosters and orientation.

I also handle visa services for our volunteers. About 80% of our volunteers are from overseas, so I help them navigate their various visa procedures.

NATIONAL ROLES – SERVING YWAM MINISTRIES IN AUSTRALIA

A national role is one that assists the other YWAM Bases around Australia (there are 21 in total).

Compliance Team - In Australia, YWAM registers our courses to be accredited by the government. To do this, we have lots of legislation to comply with, so I try to understand these and create policies and procedures that work for us within YWAM. I am then able to give instruction and training in these areas, connecting ministries with the legal requirements and resources they need. I also often assist with visa and immigration questions from other YWAM centres.

Our Hope.

So these roles are not typically what one would first think of when they hear the term “missionary,” but this is where we feel God can best use us with the gifts we have at this time. We hope that through our various strengths and skills, we can contribute to lives being changed and communities impacted on a bigger scale. We believe that God wants to impact people’s lives in a very definite and changing way. YWAM Brisbane is doing that in a very real way, and we know that through our service, we at YWAM Brisbane can do this even more strategically.

Gary and Darcie de la Porte 

Youth With A Mission Brisbane 

www.garyanddarcie.com 

www.ywambrisbane.com 

Youth With A Mission Brisbane
Attn: Gary and Darcie de la Porte 

671 Samford Road

Mitchelton QLD 4053

Australia