Directors Updates

We have the closing on our new property scheduled for tomorrow! God is so very good!!!

Last Thursday Darla and I met with the executives of the group that owns the property. It was a great meeting and it was clear that all in the room were working together to come up with a plan to make a closing possible. We left that meeting with an agreement that would make it possible for us to close with the money we currently have. But the board would have to vote as to whether or not to accept this agreement.

I received a call this weekend that the board unanimously agreed to accept these terms. So closing is set for tomorrow morning. What a miracle!

We plan to spend Tuesday and Wednesday dedicating the new campus to the Lord and then celebrating His greatness and provision! Then of course the work of seeking God for the funds to renovate and the intensive clean up work begins.

Thanks so much for your prayers and partnership! God has worked through over 500 of His closest friends in partnership to make this possible. Our staff alone have given nearly $150,000. Needless to say, Darla and I are humbled by all that God has done through His people. Thank you for your part!

Until all have heard,
Michael Berg
Director YWAM Orlando

Over the last week I have shared the vision presentation with 81 people that I can count. I’ve had great experiences over that time and met some wonderful people. I am so grateful for the privilege of telling the story of what God is doing and the opportunity that is before us. One situation that stands out to me is story of Jason and Ty. They are couple of young boys whose parents attended a previous meeting, and had a lemonade stand. They attended a second meeting with their parents last night and came up to me with a plastic cup filled with $8.05 that they had earned at their lemonade stand to give to the property. I’m so humbled that even children are joining in and that whole families are becoming part of the vision. Whether it is a small amount or a large, we are truly seeing God move in such powerful ways. I trust him to do what he does so well, the miraculous! We only have a little less than 2 weeks to go, until our closing on August 31st. We need to see God continue to do the miracle that he is doing. Thank you so much for your prayer and partnership with us.

Michael Berg

Today, our remaining need for the purchase of our YWAM Orlando Campus has ped below $500,000. To get the most current updates on our progress, please go to our property page on the YWAM Orlando website, which can be found at www.ywamorlando.org/property

I have a full week of meetings this week. Then on Monday, I fly to the Twin Cities area of Minnesota then to Colorado on Wednesday, and to Michigan on Thursday. Finally, I will return to Orlando on Saturday.

Please join us in prayer for fruitful meetings and for the gaps in my schedule to be filled. I´m so very grateful for your interest and partnership with us in this endeavor to develop YWAM Orlando´s mission training launch pad!

Until all have heard,
Michael & Darla

Michael and I are so excited about the future that God has planned for YWAM Orlando on this 198-acre property where this photo was taken.  We are excited to say that over 1/2 of the funds needed for closing have come in.  There is still a need to trust God for $514,969 in order to close on the property by August 31, so we´ll be hitting the road once again to tell the story of what God is doing through YWAM Orlando and about the wonderful opportunity before us.  

Thanks so much for your prayers and encouragement as we walk through this process.  Please continue to pray for health, strength, and protection over us and our kids during this time.

Until all have heard,

Darla & Michael Berg 

P.S. You can contact me at development@ywamorlando.com or call our office at (407) 273-1667

Hello from Youth With A Mission Orlando!
We are in exciting times as we work toward the August 31^st property closing date. We are so grateful that God has given us opportunity to extend our time, much like Joshua in the Old Testament when the sun stood still so that he had time to win the battle. God has extended our closing date giving us more time to continue winning our battle for the release of the funds necessary to purchase the property ($541,941 needed as of 7/19/2010). We see this as God’s provision and are so grateful!

As we are counting down the final days to closing on August 31^st we want to clearly present an accurate sense of what God has provided. When you go to our website we now have a thermometer tabulating the progress of our efforts. We will be making daily updates when we receive new donations and will include previous commitments as they are fulfilled. In the past our number reflected both the donations received and the total of future commitments, but this lead to a bit of fluctuation.  Now the number on the thermometer will reflect only the donations that have been made to date.

The other exciting thing is that over the last two weeks we have been able to make minor repairs and clean up on the property. These repairs will prevent any further damage to the existing buildings during Florida’s rainy season.

Due to the extended closing date, Darla and I will be traveling this summer to tell the story of what God has been doing and to share the extraordinary opportunity before us. If you would like to host a meeting in your home or church, please let us know as soon as possible before our schedule fills up. We would appreciate your continued prayers!

Until all have heard,

Michael Berg 

P.S. You can contact me at development@ywamorlando.com or call our office at (407) 273-1667

As you know, the closing date for our contract was June 2nd, but we still needed $550,000. We prayed for God to work a miracle, and in response, the owners gave us a 90-day extension on our contract. This means that the new closing date is August 31st. Consequently, Darla and I will be traveling extensively this summer to tell the story of what God has been doing and to share the extraordinary opportunity before us. If you would like to host a meeting in your home or church, please let us know as soon as possible before our schedule fills up. We would so appreciate your continued prayers!

Until all have heard,
Michael Berg 

Wow, what an amazing night!  At our Family Night (Our YWAM Orlando Tuesday evening service) I interrupted worship to give an update on the property.  I indicated that we need about $550,000, and that we have been praying for God´s miracle.  I indicated that this afternoon I was able to finalize an agreement with the owners of the property to give us an extension of the closing date until August 31st.  After describing some of the things God has done we went back into worship to thank Him for what He has done and worship Him for who He is.

During this time of worship a little 7 year old girl, the daughter of one of our leaders, came up and emptied her purse in my hands and said, "this is for the property."  I almost didn´t accept it, but sensed the admonition of God to accept this act of generosity.  I was over whelmed.  Darla suggested that I put the money on the altar, which I did.  To my astonishment a steady stream of people came and added their gifts to what this child did.  One person gave a car, another committed to give a guitar... the gifts totaled over $14,800.  I didn´t take up an offering, nor did I plan to, but God moved anyway!  And He led us with the radical simple obedience of a child giving all she had.

Tomorrow morning at 8:30 am I meet with the owners of the property.  The main executives that I have been dealing with have retired or came to the end of their term, and as a result new men have taken these positions.  So after attending their staff devotional time, I will then meet with these new executives and tell God´s story and how He as led us to this place. 

PLEASE PRAY for God´s will to be done in this meeting.

Thanks so much for your prayers!  Darla and I have been flooded with wonderful words of encouragement from many of our friends - these words lift us up!  We are so grateful for the treasure of friendship!

Until all have heard,
Michael & Darla


Over the weekend we saw over $60,000 come in. We now need $557,839.20 - God is clearly at work. We need to see a miracle by tomorrow which is our closing day - June 2nd!  I don´t know exactly what the Lord will do, but I do know that He will be faithful!

Some prayer points:

1. God would do a miracle by Wednesday
2. Provision of remaining $
3. Strength and grace for Michael, Darla & Team
4. Wisdom in the next steps of action

Thank you so much for your prayers & friendship!  We are tremendously grateful!

Until all have heard,
Michael & Darla

Darla & I just returned from Minnesota where we had some very fruitful meetings!  The full impact will be seen in the weeks to come.  I have been traveling and sharing the vision of YWAM Orlando and the extraordinary opportunity of the new campus property that God has put before us.  Occasionally, Darla has been able to join me, and as always, she adds strength to this endeavor.  God has been faithful, and we have several people that have said that they would give but are praying about the amount.  We are so grateful for the extraordinary generosity that we have seen, and we are trusting God for victory in this final month before closing on the property.  Please join us in prayer as we continue to trust God for His provision for this missions training campus.  For more information on the campus, go here.
 
One of the beautiful ways that we have seen the increase of God´s Kingdom here on earth is through teams from YWAM Orlando ministering His compassion to the needy.   We recently had one of our teams return from their outreach to South Africa where they were able to show compassion by building a home for several orphans. This is what an observer wrote of our team´s last days on the building site: 
 
"There are still a few minor things to be done, like a door to be hung, the floor to be poured in the old room, and a few more panes of glass to be put in. But with the team leaving today for Rustenburg, we wanted them to be able to bless the home and the people [we] have worked so hard to provide a home for... After the prayer time and presenting [a] gift [to the new homeowners], Gogo (who would be moving into the home) thanked the team and told them that before they built the home, every time it rained she [was not] able to sleep."
         
But now those sleepless nights were over! They go on to say that both parties left so blessed that it is hard to tell who was blessed more - the people who had received the act of compassion or those who were giving it! 
 
Above is one story from our recent Discipleship Training School outreach to South Africa.  The desperate need in Africa, like many other places around the world, confirms our need for a larger training campus. Such a campus will allow us to train literally thousands of missionaries formed into dynamic world-changing teams like the ones we recently sent to South Africa, Thailand, India, and Haiti.
 
In 2009 alone, we saw over 300 lives transformed as they participated in one of our programs focusing on discipleship, worship, leadership, world missions, and the study of God´s Word. This generation is hungry for the purpose and calling found in a life dedicated to Jesus! We have seen a 5-fold growth in students since 1995, but we are now limited by the lack of a campus.
 
For years, we at YWAM Orlando have been in prayer for the land and resources needed to obey God´s calling to equip this generation. Then suddenly, He provided. In a big way. He led us to 198 acres of land within the greater Orlando area, just 35 minutes from the international airport. Three years ago, this land was about to be sold for $18 million, but now we are in contract for $3.6 million. To reach our target closing date, we need to see donations totaling $1.25 million by May 31st. Not only has our staff team given over $70,000.00 personally to this cause, but we have also been engaged in a continual 24/7-prayer "relay" since January 2010. Each hour of every day, a member of our team passes the "baton" to the next. It is not the land itself that motivates us to prayer, but the potential growth of hundreds of thousands of new world changers, trained and released into the nations. Would you please join us in prayer for God´s continued provision?
 
Thank you so much for your friendship!  For those of you who partner with us in prayer and/or financial support, you are playing an absolutely vital role in transforming lives in Orlando, South Africa, China, among the Muslims, and around the world.  We are tremendously grateful!

P.S. Below are some locations in PA where Darla and I will share photos and the exciting story of YWAM Orlando and God´s leading us to the extraordinary opportunity of the property.  You are invited to join us at these locations and we would certainly appreciate your prayers for fruitful meetings.
 
Wednesday, May 19, 6:30pm at the
Hurst House Bed & Breakfast. Refreshments will be served.
                                     The Hurst House B&B
                                     154 E Farmersville Road
                                     Ephrata, PA 17522
                                     www.hursthousebandb.com
 
Friday, May 21, 6:15 p.m. for a meeting being hosted by
Bob & Nancy Eberly at Petra Christian Fellowship (Café Area).  
A BBQ meal will be served.
                                     Petra Christian Fellowship                                   
                                     565 Airport Rd                                     
                                     New Holland, PA 17557-9364

Saturday, May 22, 7:00 p.m. for a meeting being

hosted by Myron Stoltzfus at the Stoltzfus Farm Restaurant. Food will be served.
Please RSVP to development@ywamorlando.com                                                                                     
                                      Stoltzfus Farm Restaurant
                                      Gordonville, PA  17529          
                                      www.stoltzfusfarmresturant.com

Property Update

I write all of this as I fly back from Texas where I had several meetings, sharing the vision of YWAM Orlando and the extraordinary opportunity of purchasing our new campus that will allow for 10-fold growth.  As you know, we are in contract and are moving toward the closing on June 2nd.  We have seen God provide over $160,000 of the $1.25 million that we need by the end of May, and we are encouraged but know that we have a long way to go.  Darla and I will be traveling to share current life-changing stories from our ministry and explaining the details of the campus and how people can partner with us.  If you would like to have us come to your area to share with you and some of your friends, please let us know as soon as possible.

Until all have heard,
Michael Berg

The recent earthquake in Haiti is affecting three million impoverished Haitians!  The news reports coming out of Haiti, even after nearly two weeks, continue to show just how desperate the situation is.  

Local people found one YWAM rescue team and asked them to help dig out a 4-month-old baby.  When they got to the baby, she was alive but had a gash on her head.  While treating the baby, they asked the people where her parents were and were told that the baby´s mother was dead under the rubble.  The team went to dig the mother´s body out of the rubble and discovered that she was alive, although severely dehydrated.  What a miracle!

I received a call from our International Chairman´s office asking if we, YWAM Orlando, would help to organize the shipping of food, water, and supplies to St. Marc where our national director for YWAM Haiti has set up feeding centers.  As a result, we have sent two of our leaders down for a week to assess the situation and help where they can.  Another small team will then follow this advance team for two months.  Since this need in Haiti will exist for many months, we hope that we will be able to send many short-term teams to help in the spring quarter.

Thousands of people are also fleeing Haiti and crossing the border into the Dominican Republic in hopes of getting medical treatment.  Our Discipleship Training School Outreach Team is currently helping minister to some of these refugees in one of the hospitals there, but the needs of the Haitians are still overwhelming.  Go to www.ywamorlando.org for further updates.

I am excited to invite you, your family, and friends to join us December 1st at 7:00pm (tonignt!) to experience the teaching and humor of one of YWAM´s most beloved speakers, Dean Sherman.

Dean has been teaching throughout the Body of Christ worldwide for over 35 years, and he presents the truth of God’s Word with simple clarity and an anointing of authority and practicality.  

Happy Thanksgiving!
Thursday, we as a YWAM Orlando family met at about 1:00 PM for our Thanksgiving meal. At the end of the meal I told the original story of the first Thanksgiving and read a few excerpts from the book "The Light and the Glory".  After reflecting on the first Thanksgiving I listed some of the things that I was thankful for which included my family, our YWAM Orlando family, and "Ruby" Henkel our staff member who went to be with the Lord in June.  I then expressed thanks to the Lord for all that He has done in our lives as a base as we have pursued this property.  At the end of my list I said that I´m also thankful for the phone conversation I had with the property owners´ attorney, in which he said that they have signed the contract!  There was a moment of stunned silence and then the crowd erupted in a huge cheer! 

I should receive the signed copy of the contract this next week.  Starting Monday our work begins!  We have the due diligence work on the property, and we need to see God´s provision by mid-May at the closing.

Thank you so very much for your prayers - they have really made the difference!  

Until all have heard,
Michael Berg
Director, YWAM Orlando

We are very close!  We highly anticipate going to contract this week with a closing schedule in 6 months!  How exciting!

We have seen God work mightily through our students and we look forward to the Lord bringing a 10 fold growth on this new campus.  Please join us in prayer for the quick resolve of the contract details and the full establishment of this missions training campus so that we can see literally thousands of lives changed like in the true story below by a recent YWAM Orlando student named Jennifer. 

"One evening in South East Asia, "Katie", "Suzie", and I found ourselves climbing up the stairs to The Rock Cafe. As we walked through the door, the sounds of conversations, laughter, and music filled our ears. Little lights were strung around the large room filled with tables and chairs, a shiny bar with wooden stools, fancy mugs filled with coffee or sodas, acoustic guitars hanging on the walls, and even a piano (my favorite!). Suddenly, a young college student invited us to sit with her and her close friend. Though they were both local to the area, their English was almost flawless. Our conversations danced from common interests to things we found really funny to stories from when we were younger... to see such a friendship develop in just hours was simply incredible. These girls, "Elle" and "Lacy", had already found a special place in my heart. As the night progressed, I found myself in a deep conversation with Elle. As she asked questions about my life, I allowed myself to be completely transparent with her. And as I told Elle about my relationship with the Father, her eyes lit up in a way I´ve never seen before. She asked me to share more and even made herself vulnerable by sharing areas of her heart with me. And then, the most beautiful thing happened... Elle asked, "May I have this relationship with Him too? Will you show me?" With tears in my eyes and an overwhelming joy in my heart, I replied,"It would be an honor."

Jennifer graduated from YWAM Orlando´s first level of training called the Discipleship Training School. Jennifer will continue to study with YWAM focusing on the Bible in her next 9 month school and outreach.

Thank you so very much for your willingness to pray with Darla and I as well as all of us at YWAM Orlando!

 
Until all have heard,
Michael Berg
Director

As September 30th approaches (specifically tomorrow) I have been in communication on a number of the finer points of the contract such as, length of the due diligence period, who should pay the closing costs, etc.  In response to these conversations the owners are calling a special session of their board to come to agreement on the details of their counter offer to us.  They have asked for a time extension until October 15th to respond.  It seems that we are in agreement on the major points of the contract, but not in agreement on some of the key secondary points. 

Please pray for God´s leading to them as they prepare their version of a contract and for God´s wisdom and favor on us as we consider our response.  Also pray for God´s protection of the land during this deliberation. 
 
Thank you so much for your willingness to stand us at YWAM Orlando as we pursue a campus to train world changers for the King!
 
Until all have heard,
Michael Berg
Michael Berg
Director

This last month has been a whirlwind of fruitful activity and to write about it all would make for a very long letter. So in an effort to honor your time, we thought we would mention a couple of items and then let you experience the rest of our month in picture.

The group photos left are from our new staff training and our staff retreat .The photo below is Darla and I in front of a Russian Orthodox Church. To see the rest of the photos from our trip to Kiev, Ukraine CLICK HERE.

Darla and I took three other staff members with us to assist Peter Warren in leading this event. Peter was the Kiev site leader.  Taylor Maxwell was the main worship leader for the event, and I helped by facilitating the evening sessions as well as portions of the morning sessions.

While in Kiev, the car that one of the kids was driving broke down. Uponr eturn from our trip, we discovered that the engine died! Please join us in prayer for wisdom as to whether or not we should put a rebuilt engine in this car or wait until we can afford to replace it.

Until all have heard,

Michael Berg

Today I submitted the contract on the large camp that we hope to use as our new YWAM Orlando Campus.  The main points of the contract are as outlined in a conversation with the owners, but some of the finer points are being defined for the first time in this contract. 

Please pray for God´s favor with the owners and a willingness to sign the contract.
 
Thank you so much for your willingness to stand with Darla and I and all of us at YWAM Orlando as we pursue a campus to train world changers for the King!
 
Until all have heard,
Michael Berg, YWAM Orlando Director

      As you probably remember from our last communication about the property for YWAM Orlando, we sensed that we had done all that we were supposed to, in pursuit of the camp, and that we were to put it on the back burner, choosing to pursue other properties instead.  In other words, for all practical purposes, the possibility of this camp was dead to us.  Our sense was that if the Lord wanted to resurrect this camp as a possibility for us that He certainly was powerful enough to do this, and we of course would gladly follow His lead.
 
In the last two weeks, God has resurrected the possibility of purchasing this camp for our YWAM Orlando campus.  As I met with a realtor to pursue other properties, I was surprised to discover that he had a long-term and trusted relationship with the key decision makers on this camp.  In response to his meetings with the owners of this camp, they have declared their willingness to sell the property to us and are waiting for us to submit a contract.  
 
As we sought the Lord, there was a clear sense among our entire leadership and staff that we were to pursue this camp, and we are now in the process of putting together a contract.  In many ways, it´s like catching a tiger by the tail-we still need a miracle to see all this come to pass.  Thank you so much for your prayers over the last few years for the development of a YWAM Orlando campus!  Would you now join us in specific prayer for wisdom and favor as we attempt to walk through this door of opportunity?
 
Thanks too for your willingness to stand with Darla and I and all of us at YWAM Orlando as we pursue a campus to train world changers for the King!

Once again, we are so thankful for your friendship and partnership.  We know that this work has been fruitful partly due to your investment of prayer, encouragement, and support!

Yours for the King,
Michael Berg
 
Ministry Schedule
 
August 17-21            Michael teaches in our School of Ministry Development & new staff training seminar
August 24-26            Michael & Darla lead our base-wide staff training
August 27-30            Michael & Darla lead our YWAM Orlando Staff Retreat
September 3-14       Michael & Darla fly to Kiev, Ukraine, where Michael will help to lead an international YWAM conference called University of the Nations Workshop
September 16-18    Michael will teach during our staff training for all our staff who work with our school

Graduation for DTS, SOE, BLS, SOW and EQ Festival Tour will be tonight (Friday) at 7:00!  You are invited to come and hear the great reports  and be inspired! 

7:00 PM Eastern

We will be using the sancuary of  Evangel Assembly of God

5838 Hoffner Ave
Orlando, FL 32822-4898
Get directions

Base Leadership Training  
Last week, I led a Base Leadership Training seminar here at our base.  We had approximately 40 participants who received teaching from Jim Stier, YWAM´s Director of the Americas.  He taught principles for turning your "dreams" into reality.  This was a very fruitful week, and we look forward to seeing what new ministries are established through the lives of all these young leaders.

During the last week of February, we led our Southeast USA District Conference, and it turned out to be a very fruitful time of ministry into the lives of the staff and students of the 11 Youth With A Mission bases (centers) that were in attendance.  We had Winkie Pratney as the main speaker, and I invited young leaders from four of our bases, ours included, to lead in a creative prayer and worship time each morning.  Each of those prayer times was very powerful - we could sense God´s heart for nations like China and for issues like the "trafficking of women." Darla and I are confident that our prayers have had an impact!  PHOTO TO RIGHT: Michael prays for Winkie Pratney

On Friday, we had every one of the nearly 300 participants checked out and both the vehicles loaded to leave the conference center and take Winkie to his motel in Atlanta.  As we were about to get into our vehicles, alarms started going off, and we were instructed to go to the basement of  the main building at the conference center due to tornado warnings.  This delayed our trip by about an hour while a tornado touched down nearby.

 
Merry Christmas!  Our prayer is that God fills your Christmas with FAITH, HOPE, & LOVE as you spend time with family and friends and most importantly the Lord, Himself! 

As the year comes to a close we´re amazed at what God has accomplished through the work here at Youth With A Mission Orlando.  We have had 361 of students and participants and have touched 27,362 people with the love and compassion of Jesus.  Wow, what a privilege to work with God as He accomplishes so much!
 
As we look to this next year we plan to offer 11 schools (courses) as well as many short-term outreaches during the spring and summer.  We have worked diligently to rise up leaders to lead teams carrying the light and compassion of Christ to the nations and we have been thrilled to see so many young leaders raised up.
 
For example, one young man named Luke went with his youth group on a summer outreach with YWAM Orlando in the summer of 2005 to Panama.  During this trip God inspired him to serve God in missions.  As a result he attended a few of our training schools including our Basic Leadership School, which I lead.  During this school he sensed God´s direction to plant a church among the Muslims of North Africa.  He and a small team left just a few weeks ago to begin this work.  Luke, and others like him, is why we do what we do. 

What a privilege to work with the Lord, even in a small way, to accomplish His purpose in coming as a Baby on the first Christmas - to make intimate relationship between us and God possible. 

Our staff and students are continuing the 24/7 prayer for the release of our campus.  We’ve been going strong since April of this year, and are asking God what’s next.  At the beginning of this month we handed in a proposal for a 199 +/- acre campground, but we haven’t heard back from the owners.  The last few days Michael has been out looking at other properties to get a better idea of what the current property values are. With the real estate market where it is, we hope this current information may be used as a bargaining piece in the negotiations on the campground.  As always, we covet your prayers! 

Until all have heard,

Michael

Hi Everyone,
I have submitted a contract to the owners of the property with an effective date of October 6, 2008.  This of course means that if they don’t sign the contract by then that it will be void.  The election that they were waiting for happened and was totally in our favor.  Last October the owners said that they definitely wanted to sell the property and that they would negotiate from the appraised value, since then there have been many delays in their process.  So our hope is that this contract brings them to a point of decision.  Please join us in prayer for God’s will to be done.
Thank you so much for your interest and partnership in prayer!

Until all have heard,

Michael

What a privilege for Darla and I to be a part of YWAM´s Global Leadership Strategy Conference! This is the first time in history that these meetings have included base directors from the largest training bases in the world. The meetings were very fruitful as we prayed together and strategized about how to handle the flood of new missionaries coming into YWAM. As a base, we are also considering this very thing. Please continue to pray with us for the release of a campus!

Michael’s Ministry Trip to Boston

One week ago Wednesday I flew to Boston to speak at some workshops and share the base vision at a large church called Jubilee Christian Church.  Some of our former students attend this church and one has become one of the pastors.  I returned on Sunday and began our new staff training on Monday.  We were able to have Loren and Darlene Cunningham speak on “Spiritual Leadership” through a video conferencing system we have just purchased.   After they spoke I began speaking for the 6 days in the new staff training.  We have approximately 11 to 13 joining our staff team, some are still in process. 

 YWAM Global Strategy Meetings

Darla and I have been invited to participate with YWAM’s Global Strategy Meetings.  We were invited because we are a part of the President’s Gathering, which consists of the leaders from 40 training bases that meet with Loren and Darlene Cunningham twice a year.  We depart for these meetings on August 28th and return on September 13th.  Please pray with us for wisdom as we seek God for His strategies for our mission in the future.

Joshua’s Outreach Report from Arctic Russia & Scandinavia!

 Joshua had a wonderful and fruitful time of ministry in the Arctic.  They were in Norway, Sweden, Finland, and Russia.  Not only were they able to use performing arts to share the gospel, but they were also able to serve the people of Russia practically.  In the photos you will see Joshua chopping wood and digging a trench for a power line.  This was to help a Drug Rehab Center in Russia. Click Here to see those photos and more.

During Joshua’s outreach, he and his team ministered in 4 countries and 13 different cites, 9 of which were in Russia.  Conservatively they saw 32 people give their hearts to Jesus.

What a month! I had a fruitful time in the Dominican Republic speaking to our teams, and had meetings with our leaders, staff, team hosts, and youth pastors. I was able to join in with the evangelistic ministry in a very poor Haitian village. The Haitian’s flee the poverty in their home country and come into the Dominican Republic where they are considered “non-people”. In another village I was able to help construct a kitchen for a school.

Justin’s Outreach Report from South Africa!

God really blessed those of us on the South Africa Global Outreach Team with an amazing two and a half weeks of ministry. During the first half of our stay in Africa we engaged in street evangelism and prayer walks, and we also had the chance to give Bible presentations at several public schools, both in classrooms and in general assemblies.

The second week was spent mostly in a community named Avian Park. There we played for hours and hours with hordes of kids, our team doctor conducted a couple of medical clinics, we helped distribute food as part of Mama Ursula’s soup kitchen, as well as built a bigger soup kitchen to help grow her ministry.

We got to see lions and rhinos and penguins and the Cape of Good Hope and the crystal clear African night sky. We ate braai (a South African version of barbecue) and drank coffee at the Mug and Bean (a South African version of Starbucks). All of this we did while bundled up against the cool African winter and with one of the best teams I’ve ever been on.

We are very exited about the new staff that are joining us here at YWAM Orlando.  With the staff we have recently accepted we now have 76 people on staff not to mention the 24 children in our staff families.  This brings our YWAM Orlando Staff community to 100 people.  As we look at the fall schools with many students coming we could certainly use your prayers for the release of our new campus!

If you would like to join our prayer team please sign up at www.ywamorlando.org/pray

Blessings,
Michael

June 21, 2008

Hi Everyone,

The recent news on the property is that the owners have told us that they plan to make a decision to sell in August after the next county commissioner election. They hope that with the possibility of some new commissioners that they will then get permission to develop the land into a residential development. Just yesterday I discovered that one of the commissioners that is pro-residential development dropped out of the race. (This is good for our situation) Obviously we still need your prayers.

One exciting thing is that at 4:00 AM on Friday May 30th we as a YWAM Community hit our 1000th hour of continuous 24 hour 7 day a week prayer and fasting. Our purpose has been for the release of the campus, but we have also seen God work deeply in our personal and corporate lives. One of our leaders was gone for two weeks to visit some of our outreach teams and upon return she commented on how different everyone seemed. Her implication was that she sensed that we were more connected to the Lord and each other. Isn´t it just like God to accomplish many things with one activity? If you would like to join us in regular prayer, please visit www.ywamorlando.org/prayer and let us know so that we can add you to the list for communication on the
prayer time.

Thank you so much for partnering with us in prayer. Besides the prayers for release of the property and provision, please pray that we will continue steadfastly in our 24/7 prayer, especially as we move into the intense summer schedule with many outreach teams going all over the world. This means that we will have fewer staff on our Orlando Campus to fill prayer slots.

On a personal note from the Berg family:
Today Kristen´s (our 2nd child) music and worship team joins with our School of Ministry and Evangelism to begin a two month outreach throughout cities in the Eastern United States. Along with helping to lead worship for the team and local churches, the music and drama will draw crowds for the purpose of evangelism. Justin (our oldest) left on Thursday for South Africa and Joshua (our youngest) left last Wednesday for Murmansk, Russia. And on Monday I leave to teach in the Dominican Republic.

Until all have heard,
Michael and Darla Berg

Darla and I wanted to let you know that the staff and students here at YWAM Orlando have started a 24 - 7 prayer time which began Friday April 18th and will continue at least until we see the release of the campus. We are praying about the upcoming meetings that we will have with the owners of the 199-acre property. We believe that God desires to train literally thousands of missionaries in the upcoming years from this campus.

We have been negotiating the purchase of this property for 2 years and the recently planned meeting was postponed by the owners. The reason for the postponement is to allow them to approach the county one more time to see if they can sell it as a residential development, which would produce far more money for them.

Please pray that:

1. God would move on the country commissioners to declare clearly that this property was committed for ministry purposes and that they must honor this commitment
2. God would give us wisdom as we continues to negotiate
3. God would provide all the money necessary to purchase and renovate this campus

Thanks for standing with us!

Michael & Darla Berg

P.S.
We invite you to join us as a part of the Remote Prayer Team anytime.
If you would like, you can sign up for a specific date, and hour through our website: www.ywamorlando.org/prayer

We would love to hear from you if you get any scriptures or words during your time of prayer. If God shows you anything during your time of prayer, please email: prayer@ywamorlando.com

February 16, 2008

Greetings from sunny Orlando! It´s been a very busy time for me, and I guess you could say I started off the New Year with a bang!

In January I hosted the Eastern Discipleship Training School (DTS) Resource Team Meetings for a few days, hosted the Base Leadership Training seminar with Lynn Green (YWAM´s International Chairman), I taught for a week in our January DTS, and our staff and students helped serve at the very first Call2All Congress which was held locally at a large church.

Call2All

Call2All is a worldwide movement calling the church to a renewed, focused collaborative effort to complete the Great Commission. The sole purpose of the 4-day consultation was to plan, strategize, and partner for the completion of the Great Commission. This was the first of 40 congresses that will be held in different regions of the world between now and 2010. Some of the speakers for this event were Jack Hayford, Luis Palau, Loren Cunningham, James Robinson, to name just a few. Around 550 people from various organizations and churches attended this first congress.

Last week I taught in the Jacksonville Discipleship Training School and really saw new freedom in the lives of the students. Next week our Discipleship Training School and School of Ministry & Evangelism outreach teams in South Africa and USA Cities return to Orlando. On Friday we have graduation for these schools and get to hear highlights of what God did.

Thanks once again,

Yours for the Lamb, Michael

January 21, 2008

Hello from sunny Orlando! As you know, a significant part of our calling is to train leaders, so we were especially excited to host a week of leadership training here in Orlando called Base Leadership Training. Lynn Green, the international chairman of YWAM, spoke the majority of the time. We had leaders from around the US and Canada. This was an amazing time of impartation into all of our lives.

Epic Quest Reunion

Immediately on the heels of this event was the Youth Ministry reunion, in which we invite alumni from our various youth programs to come for a weekend of inspiration, reconnection with friends, and further training. My son, Joshua, was a part of the worship team, playing a guitar which was his grandfather´s. What a joyto see him use a guitar older than he is to worship and honor the Lord!

PROPERTY UDPATE

In our last letter we said that the next meeting to negotiate the price on the 180-acre piece of property was January 8th, but the owners had not obtained their appraisal, so they postponed the meeting to January 24th. Please continue to pray for wisdom and favor for us as we walk through this process. Especially join us in praying for a release of the property!

Thanks once again for your friendship and partnership!

Yours for the Lamb, Michael

October 29, 2007

We currently have 65 staff here locally and 71, if we count those on the field. This fall we have 69 students in our training programs, and when you add children and guests to the mix, we have over 150 people that we are feeding. We are currently working to build out some additional office space, and I am still in the negotiations of a large campus property. These negotiations are going far slower than we would like, but we can only go as fast as the owners and their committees are willing to go. Please continue to pray with us for God’s help as we lead this work.

We are so grateful for your partnership and friendship. You help to make this and much more possible!

Our Largest Basic Leadership School Ever

Normally we only allow this school to be attended by 4 to 6 students because it is a leadership mentoring program. This time we allowed it to grow to 15 students due to our rapid growth and the desperate need we face for small group and outreach leaders as we send teams carrying the light of the gospel to places of utter darkness, spiritually speaking. Even with 4 staff helping me I had to turn away some potential students, because I wanted to be certain that we could offer a quality leadership training program. To the left is the Basic Leadership School and below I am teaching the school.

Speaking of growth, we are in the early stages of pursuing a large property that would be ideal for our training campus here in Orlando. I have not even been able to meet with the decision makers on this property yet, due to their scheduling issues.

Please pray for God’s wisdom, favor with the owners and provision. As with so much of what God calls us to, this property is beyond our human abilities, but God is able if it’s from Him.

Dear Family & Friends,
I’m excited to finally get to write about the extraordinary experience we had at our Southeast Conference! Immediately following the conference, I became quite ill and had to cancel my trip to Richmond for the North American Leadership Conference, but now I’m finally able to go back to work although I’m still recovering from a very strong bronchial infection.

Probably the best way to describe the Southeast Conference is to start at the beginning. Normally at one of these conferences, I invite a key note speaker, and we set up workshops on various topics. But as Darla, the Southeast leaders, and I prayed, we sensed that God wanted to minister to our staff and students with a team of people made up of YWAM leaders from the Southeast bases and of a church we know in Tacoma, WA. This proved to be exactly what the conference needed. We had a team of over 30 people ministering to about 300 people at the conference and God moved in literally almost everyone at the conference.

The most encouraging part of the conference was for God to reveal to us what His individual purpose was in creating each of us. God has good thoughts toward us (Ps. 139) and to hear His specific thoughts for us was tremendously uplifting. Also, we discovered that some people had struggled silently for a long time with major problems. Some were even ready to give up on their marriage, but as we prayed, God revealed the root stronghold causing the problem and gave us insight as to how the person could literally rip it out—and they did. One couple told Darla and I that this conference saved their lives. There are so many stories that it would be impossible to tell them all, but next time we talk on the phone or in person, ask us about this conference. To see more photos of the conference check out our web site the address is below.

http://www.ywamorlando.org/blogtour/blog_Flickr.asp?CID=37&OCID=1&PID=420

In the photo to the left I am praying, blessing, and commissioning the release of a new Youth With A Mission Base in Louisville, KY. We also prayed for the release and blessing of a new base in Tampa, FL. It is always exciting to see new growth in our district

Dear Family & Friends,
As we look back over last year we are amazed at all that God has done. In 2006 we have had 565 participants trained here in Orlando. We’ve sent outreach teams to Egypt, Jordan, Russia, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Latvia, Canada, Brazil, Nicaragua, Panama, Dominican Republic and Jamaica; not to mention many cities throughout the USA. During these outreaches 440 people came to Christ. We’ve trained leaders, had our staff team grow to 67, and currently have 54 students on outreach and 29 students training here in Orlando.

We have continued to oversee renovations on the ministry houses. Right now we are holding our second School of Missions, with students planning to work in China, Turkey, and the Muslim world. Last January I led our first School of Missions and we sent our first long-term team to a Muslim Nation. We are so amazed at all that God has done. What an adventure it is to serve the Lord! And yet we hope and pray for even greater impact in 2007.

At the end of each year I spend time reflecting on the previous year to see if we’ve accomplished all that God had in mind and I also look forward to the next year asking God what His priorities are for us this year. During this season of reflection and prayerful planning, Darla and I went to Tacoma, Washington for a time of training and preparation for our Southeast Conference coming up at the end of February. This turned out to be such a refreshing and refocusing time. After our trip to Tacoma we have a fresh commitment to live our lives in a place of radical obedience to the Lord. As we prayerfully planned our schedule for the year— it was important to have God’s priorities in place. We’ve learned over the years that if we don’t schedule God’s priorities well in advance then they get pushed out of our schedules by urgent things of lesser importance.
We are so grateful for your partnership and friendship that helps to make this and much more possible.

Yours for the Lamb,
Michael Berg

Dear Family & Friends,
Hello from Norway! I just finished teaching the Youth With A Mission staff from all over Norway. “This week God has given me hope and now I know why I’m involved in YWAM!” These were the kind of statements people made throughout the week.

Mirjam (pronounced Miriam) attended a shorter version of my seminar in Norway last year. She gave testimony of how her life and the life of her family was radically changed as she applied the truths she learned. She declared that their effectiveness, as a family in our mission, was more than doubled! Needless to say I was very encouraged.

I taught every morning and afternoon and some evenings. Creagon Muldoon went with me and was able to teach on a few occasions. He was also a great help with the role playing and workshops. In addition Creagon and I met with people at virtually every meal to plan for upcoming meetings, give advice or to help process the teaching. I think I underestimated the significance of this teaching to YWAM Norway.

Sometimes I think that teaching on Support Raising is not as big a deal as the Father Heart material, but in terms of releasing missionaries, it’s very significant! It was very encouraging, but as always I’m eager to get home to Darla and the kids!

One reason I am currently visiting Norway is to see more success story’s like Mirjam’s, so that an army of YWAM missionaries can carry the light of the gospel to the world!

On left side : Michael speaks to YWAM Staff in Norway through an intrepreter

The photos above and below are of Christians from a tribe in Kamchatka, Russia. They presented their native culture at the seminar that I gave in Norway. God is beginning to move among the natives of Russia, but there are still so many tribes that have no access to the gospel!

As I look back over the last month I’m amazed at all that God has done. The East Coast Conference was very inspirational with Alejandro Rodriquez from Argentina and Trent Sheppard as the main speakers. Trent really connected with everyone, especially the under 30 crowd. He gave a real sense of significance to those of us who have given our lives to the “Epic Story” of the King of King’s as He rescues planet earth.

The N. American Council meetings were fruitful, too. It was especially good to have Jim Stier, our new Director of the Americas, join us. He worked with us to improve the protocol document for establishing new works in N. America.

Immediately after this week with the N. American Council, we began our New Staff Orientation and Training in Orlando, and in the midst of this, we started our Basic Leadership School. It was exciting to have a new group of staff and students join us!

On left side: Michael in front of a church in Norway.

For pictures from Michael´s teaching in Norway, Click Here.

Thank you so much for your friendship and prayers!

Yours for our King,

Michael Berg