Interview Series: YWAM MINISTRIES.
INTERVIEW SERIES.
YWAM Kona MINISTRIES.
Carly Petersen: Music Collective.
What is your name, age and hometown?
Carly Petersen; 25 years, from Vancouver Canada
What DTS did you do with YWAM and what was one highlight from it?
I did my DTS here in Kona in the fall of 2011 with the Community Transformations DTS. I went on outreach to Nepal and I think one of my biggest highlights was working with Iris Ministries in Nepal; playing the Jesus film in different villages and communities, seeing people get impacted by the gospel and then praying for them and seeing healing and salvations.
What is your current ministry with YWAM?
I'm a part of the YWAM Music Collective, which is actually a pretty new ministry on our campus. The last few months all of the music and worship departments on campus have been coming together and wanting to work together and further our vision and what the Lord is saying to us. So we came together and formed the YWAM Music Collective. This is made up of all of our corporate worship. We have our Monday mornings and Thursday nights that we steward. We have our worship leaders and our musicians, and we do all of the broadcasting for the night and morning services. We also have a 24/7 prayer room that is open that I am the point person for. I help run and steward our prayer room at which we have from 1-3pm, corporate worship and intercession times with the DTS and other staff; as well as a ministry night where we minister to the heart of the Lord, minister to each other and let the Holy Spirit minister to us. And then the room is open 24/7 for students and staff to come and encounter the Lord. And then we also have our Elevated Music staff; our ministry that is all of our recording and songwriting for people who have a heart for songwriting, recording and writing music. We get to capture the sounds of YWAM Kona, sounds of the missions movement, and sounds of the Gospel, freedom and joy. We get to write the songs, produce and record them and get them out into the nations so that we can see music go farther than we can. We also have the school of worship that runs once a year which is a secondary school with YWAM. Here you can come, get trained in the heart of worship and go through biblical backing of what worship is. So we're a community of all the people in these different ministries; mostly musicians, worship leaders and singers and we have a heart to see prayer and worship multiplied into the nations, and to see the sounds of the gospel sent into the nations and to do it all in community.
How is the Lord moving in this ministry?
I'd say the biggest thing that the Lord is doing with us is causing us to come together in greater unity. This is so that we can come together in teams, collaborate in songs, and collaborate in prayer room times and worship and intercession to really open up worship and create a greater atmosphere of the Lord's presence for the staff who are here in YWAM in Kona as well as to multiply it into the nations. So as we've been forming it has been a lot of unity formation but we have also seen multiple songs written and have a couple albums and EP's that will be released in the next couple months. We have also been seeing the prayer room come up to almost the “next level”, all coming around as a community; seeing student's hearts being impacted for intercession and worship and going deep into the presence of the Lord.
Who is this targeted to; how did you feel called to this?
The YWAM Music Collective is for those who love prayer, worship, and music and want to see our gifting and talents that the Lord has given us through music used to further the Kingdom and used to inspire other believers to come to know the Lord deeper and encounter His presence. So mostly it's targeted to musicians, although people who have a big heart for intercession are welcome in it as well.
How has the Lord given you a heart for the nations?
I felt called to it because I've always loved music and worship; it's where I first encountered the love of Jesus. The Lord has called me to be a worship leader, so to be in a community that's full of worship leaders and musicians is amazing because we have a common goal to see prayer and worship multiplied: that's how I got called into it. I love being a part of YWAM because I love the nations, and the YWAM Music Collective is still very focused on the nations. We are focused on seeing prayer and worship multiplied, focused on seeing our teams sent to other bases to train and teach, as well into the nations for potential short term and long term plants.
Do you have any advice for people interested in serving the Lord through this type of ministry?
I think just to seek the Lord in what He wants to use your gifting and talents and your calling for, and if you want to be part of a community that really runs and does life together. We serve a ton, were a staff role on campus so we serve in multiple ways on base. We are teaching in DTS and running cameras and lights as well as the sound system and playing our instruments. So if you're ready to take ownership and initiative over your own growth, your instrument, as well as your walk with the Lord but with and in a group of people. Just really seek the Lord and see if that's what you want to do.
