Go-Genesis.com » Spotlight

Keys to Innovation

Sindre Vaernes — Thu, 21 May 2009 07:58:50 +0000

David Hamilton, Vice President for Strategic Innovation at YWAM’s University of the Nations, carries a record of doing just that; Innovating. Having lead ministries, developed training courses that impact thousands, done ground breaking research on the role of women in ministry, and helped develop the new framework for missions, called 4k, David carries a mantle of authority to teach on this subject. Following is a summary of a message David spoke to the YWAM Lausanne community.

You would think that innovation has a very secret formula to it, but according to David it all starts with five very basic keys, and you will find they are all highly related to character, not just skill.

David says today’s youth generation will be involved in one of the largest transformation waves we have seen. The next 15-30 years will be most significant for in the history of missions. How can we best push forward what God is doing?

Look to God

Every human being has creative ability. As we link this passionately to God the Creator, we tap into unparalleled potential. New ideas that impact nations will come through revelation. Revelation comes to those that are willing and committed to seek God as well as be an answer to their own prayers. Cultivating a loving relationship with God is the foundation and as we learn to hear His voice, acquire His heart and feel His pain, we find inspiration to be an answer that brings joy and healing. The promises are many, that if we seek God we will find Him, and our service should be out of love and not obligation.

Reach Out

Passivity is not a companion of innovation. New things happen when we are looking to reach out, looking for needs around us. With more needs than we can possibly respond to it is again critical that we hear the word of the Lord. The world will know the love of God when it is demonstrated.

God is a change maker, not about the status quo. Lives, communities and nations are changed constantly, and we have an opportunity to reach out to bring God’s change through new initiatives.

Ask Questions

Without questions, no answers. Are we question askers, and if so, what kind of questions do we ask? There are simple binary questions that give simple answers. Complex questions will take it deeper and give more understanding. Asking open ended questions like what, how, why, where and when, opens up new doors. What does a discipled nation look like? What breaks God’s heart? What brings joy to God’s heart? Learn to ask questions.

Cross Borders

Moving from the familiar to the unknown where disciplines intersect creates opportunity for innovation. Crossing generational, geographical, linguistic, cultural, conceptual or vocational borders gives a new perspective and openness with the potential for entire paradigm shifts.

What are these new combinations that God desires to bring through our lives?

Press On

Perseverance and tenacity describe this last key to innovation. Abraham Lincoln said: ‘You have to work like it all depends on you and pray like it all depends on God’. Having vision without a commitment to see it fulfilled only leads to frustration.

These five keys to innovation and co-creating with God give a simple, but profound starting point. God says in Isaiah 43:19, “See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the desert and streams in the wasteland.” Let us join Him!

GENESIS Coordinator

Genesis Centre — Sat, 28 Feb 2009 10:23:21 +0000

All around the world, young, committed leaders are serving their ministry as GENESIS Coordinator. Having a trained and equipped person makes up one of the four proven pillars that sustain GENESIS at a location. Here are five main areas where the GENESIS Coordinator plays a role at a particular location:

Intercessor

When working in the ministry of GENESIS, the focus is on how to connect YWAMers and bases around the world together. It is crucial to have the heart of an intercessor because it opens our spiritual eyes to see what God is doing among us and the peoples in the nations. It also helps us understand what kind of programs will facilitate what is on His heart and how to engage the various peoples. When we pray and wait on God it gives us His bigger plan and an idea of what He wants to do and passion for the GENESIS event. The place of intercession equips us to present the vision that inspires others and it also creates great expectation that God will come through! Through intercession, God will give us His heart of compassion for people and the nations. (Is. 49)

Gatekeeper (Watchman)

Lift up your heads, O gates, And lift them up, O ancient doors, That the King of glory may come in! (Psalm 24:9)

A GENESIS Coordinator is a watchman for their location, initiating and making available content that is inspiring, faith building and appropriate. There also needs to be a great sensitivity to the Spirit of God during the events, programs and applications we do. The gatekeeper must also walk in holiness and integrity, keeping God’s standard as the measure.

Go through, go through the gates, Clear the way for the people; Build up, build up the highway, Remove the stones, lift up a standard over the peoples. (Is. 62:10)

Communicator

The GENESIS Ministry functions like a family, where we work highly relationally and where relationships are built and developed through our communication with one another.

Working in a global family with such a diversity of cultures, we need to have respect for this when we communicate. Using various forms of communication tools like email, phone, Skype, chat rooms etc. offers opportunities to connect with people in ways that serve them well.

Prior to an event the GENESIS Coordinator gives much attention to proper communication around every aspect. This helps everyone plan, prepare, test, execute and finish well. Communication during the online event keeps good program flow also in case of technical issues or changes. Every event is also appropriately closed by thanking the involved (i.e. Speakers, teachers, school leader, base director, school staff, audience, other GENESIS coordinators, etc.) and giving relevant feedback, both what went well and what can be improved.

Facilitator

The GENESIS Coordinator serves to facilitate different needs within a YWAM ministry, connecting this to the GENESIS vision. It is very important to know from leaders what God is doing in the ministry and the different schools so that they can assist and suggest opportunities to strengthen and complement their programs. At the beginning of a quarter it is necessary to share the vision and concept of GENESIS to the local community and in schools so the audience is well prepared and they know what to expect and how to participate when doing events.

GENESIS Coordinators serve to multiply and maximize what God is doing in one location so that many more can be part of it.

When doing a GENESIS event and functioning as an operator, the GENESIS coordinator looks for the best way to facilitate the program, encouraging creativity, interaction and application.

The facilitator helps speakers consider appropriate appearance, time, translation, positioning, etc. They consider lighting in the room, background for MC and audience, sound and equipment setup, seating arrangement, classroom leadership, facilitation and so forth. This brings integration and sets the stage for the content to flow and have the greatest impact.

Mediator

A GENESIS coordinator is a mediator between different nations, different people and God. We are mediating differences into unity by serving, encouraging and embracing different locations, languages and cultures. A mediator helps create understanding and serves to bring reconciliation and strengthen the united effort to move forward together. This function often takes the GENESIS coordinator outside the boundaries of a YWAM ministry, into the market place, such as business and government. Mediation builds bridges that release opportunities and potential.

An individual with a passion for the nations, for discipleship, pioneering and a heart to follow God fits well into this role. A person capable of taking initiative and bring application to the Word of God will find much fulfillment through this role of service. GENESIS continues to train young leaders around the world, both through the GENESIS School, the GENESIS Seminar as well as internships at select locations.

GENESIS Forum

Sindre Vaernes — Thu, 04 Dec 2008 10:45:09 +0000

In our pursuit of developing new ways to serve a growing community a discussion forum has been set up. There are many questions and topics that can easily be answered through a forum and through the process others also get answers to their own questions. This is a way to multiply the wisdom that exists in the many locations. One purpose is to be prepared for further development of this global family. Anyone can visit the forum, but active participants need to go through the normal way of registering. After all we desire to continue being a community of real people with faces despite the virtual collaboration. We will seek to attain a high community standard when it comes to conduct, with the intent that it can also express the Ways of God in virtual communication. Please check out the forum when you have a chance! You can find it at http://forum.go-genesis.com

A new kind of animal

David Hamilton — Sun, 21 Sep 2008 15:19:26 +0000

University of the Nations: A new kind of animal
By David Joel Hamilton; edited by Dawn Gauslin

Have you ever met someone who said to you, “I don’t believe in God!”? And when you asked that person what the characteristics were of the god they didn’t believe in, their description was so inaccurate that you replied, “I don’t believe in that God either!” Just as those people need a new understanding of what God is like, so we need a new, God given understanding of “university.”

What comes to mind when you hear the word “camel”? Humps? Knobby knees? Big lips?
What if God created a new camel, with different characteristics? What if it had no humps? And what if its lips were replaced with a long trunk? It would be strange looking and unfamiliar.

Regarding the concept of “university,” God needs a new animal for a new time–one with different infrastructures, facilities, models, systems and curriculum than those which the traditional concept of university conjures up. Things that were, will not be; things that were not, will be.

What is the purpose of the traditional university? Education. Training. To get a degree. To secure a job. To attain a position. But for what? Generally, it is for money. Education and a degree equip the person to move up the social ladder to make economic gains, especially in the developing world.

For example, Santiago, Chile has more medical doctors than they can employ and utilize. In contrast, the islands of southern Chile have no medical care and are in dire need of even the most basic medical treatments. Will the doctors of Santiago go to meet the needs of southern Chile? No, because it is not financially advantageous. Instead, they attempt to get more education to specialize in areas which will hopefully grant even more economic gain.

Some people do go to university for humanitarian or Christian causes. But what they receive from a traditional university is incomplete and lacking the proper Biblical foundations to sustain them in real life traumas such as a refugee camp or AIDS hospice.

How is U of N different than the traditional university?

1. The University of the Nations exists for a different reason. The motive is not to train people to increase in position, status or financial gain, but to touch the lives of people in need of God’s touch; not to improve our own lot in life, but to serve others in order that they might improve. The U of N exists to equip people to do the work of God, to give them “passport skills” to serve in countries they cannot enter as traditional missionaries, or to serve in arenas of society where they could not serve without the qualifying tools to do so. It is a Great Commission university, designed to multiply missionaries to be salt and light in the world for the Kingdom of God.

2. The University of the Nations is global, with more than 282 different kinds of courses offered in 51+ languages and held at 314 locations in more than 95 nations worldwide. Currently, approximately 115,000 students are registered within the global U of N system. “The world is our classroom: the Great Commission is our call.” U of N has a requirement that its graduates study on two different continents in order to help students relate to the global village of the 21st century.

The University of the Nations has not sought accreditation under any one country’s system. Because it is a truly global university, it is important that it should not come under the regulations of any nation. To comply with the accreditation requirements or restrictions of one country could bind the growth and development of the U of N in other nations. Rather, as Harvard University did, the U of N would prefer to set a new model and standard of excellence.

3. The University of the Nations is modular. Students take one three month course which concentrates within one intensive area of study rather than studying a multitude of topics all at the same time. The modular approach involves greater focus and produces an increased learning curve.

4. The University of the Nations integrates theory with practice. Students apply what they have learned in the classroom through an internship or field assignment. U of N believes in doing then teaching rather than hearing then teaching.

5. The University of the Nations utilizes visiting professors. Rather than having only an in-house faculty, the U of N benefits from the diversity and richness of inviting instructors to come directly from involvement in their field of expertise to share first-hand with students. This leads to a higher quality education with less stagnation. It is also more cost efficient, because there is a smaller resident faculty.

6. The University of the Nations is rooted within a Biblical Christian world view. A Biblical basis and perspective is the foundation stone for viewing all of life and learning.

For example, for a fine arts course, one could teach the same basic content in terms of curriculum and skills training as a traditional university, add on a chapel program once or twice a week and call it “Christian education.” But at a U of N fine arts course, students would begin by looking at God, the creator and author of all beauty. They would then study the Biblical basis and value of beauty within His economy. This might be followed by a focus on art history from a Christian perspective–how Christianity influenced the arts; how ungodly influences warped artistic expression, etc. Then, with this foundation and perspective, the teaching of practical skills could be integrated.

7. The University of the Nations focuses on seven spheres of influence within society through its seven colleges :

Family………………….College/Faculty of Counseling and Health Care
Church…………………College/Faculty of Christian Ministries
Education……………..College/Faculty of Education
Media…………………..College/Faculty of Communication
Arts……………………..College/Faculty of the Arts
Government…………..College/Faculty of Humanities and International Studies
Business……………….College/Faculty of Science and Technology

8. The University of the Nations experience starts with a Discipleship Training School, which serves as the gateway to an education through U of N and/or service in Youth With A Mission. “The Discipleship Training School (DTS) is an intensive Christian training course beginning with a 12 week lecture/teaching phase followed by a 12 week practical field assignment. The DTS is designed to encourage students in personal character development, cultivating a living relationship with God and identifying their unique individual gifts and callings in God. Cross-cultural exposure and global awareness are special emphases throughout the course, preparing the students to reach current and future generations and answer the call to ‘Go into all the world and disciple all nations’ (Matthew 28:19).”

Starting from the DTS foundation, the University of the Nations builds on the scriptural injunction in 2 Peter 1:5-8, “…make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; and to godliness, brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness, love. For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

The Great Commission must always be at the centre of the U of N:

Mark 16:15 = GO and PREACH to all INDIVIDUALS
Matt 28:19 20 = GO and DISCIPLE all NATIONS

This is the dual challenge in God’s heart. He wants us to preach to every individual and make disciples of all nations (note: it says of all nations, not just in all nations). We are to reach individuals with the Gospel so they in turn can be salt and light, shaping every sphere of society.

U of N is called to equip people to convert the individual and transform society so that “the kingdom of this world may become the Kingdom of our Lord” (Revelation 11:15). It is a tool to accomplish God’s age old dream.

Some of us succeeded in the educational systems of the world; some of us did not. Most of us were hurt through the non-Biblical values of the world’s system.

When Juan Carrasco, a Latin YWAMer working in North Africa, heard the description of the U of N as a new kind of animal “like a camel with no humps but with an added trunk,” he commented, “You know, I went for a camel ride the other day and it was very uncomfortable and awkward. How good to know that God is giving us a camel with no humps!”

University of the Nations is a new university–a multiplier for missions–where students are not squeezed into society’s mold, but they are shaped into God’s destiny for them as individuals in order to reach all of society.

COM Gathering

Genesis Centre — Sun, 21 Sep 2008 11:41:42 +0000

As the UofN College of Communication, we have had a deep desire to gather with our staff spread throughout the world. At the moment we have around 40 schools running in 19 locations scattered around the globe.

To get all the staff in one location is a tremendous challenge. So we decided to gather online from the 26th to the 28th of August, using GENESIS.

What a blessed time! We had a number of smaller working group meetings between various locations, but undoubtedly the highlight was our “plenary” sessions, where we connected up to 12 locations in 10 nations - USA, Brazil, England, Switzerland, South Africa, India, Thailand, Russia, Nigeria, Australia – representing every continent. Eight of these locations were linked via a very stable GENESIS connection. The other four were patched in via skype, with varying success.

The mission’s leadership were able to communicate fresh vision to us, and it was a very significant time for our college as we responded by making a stand for unity, and committed to supporting one another. Our deepest thanks to all who those who went the extra mile to make this technically possible, especially to the GENESIS Center, who coordinated the link!

GENESIS School

Sindre Vaernes — Sun, 21 Sep 2008 10:15:48 +0000

The GENESIS school is for those who have a desire to impact nations in new ways with today’s technology. It’s for people who have a passion for the nations and who want to learn how Biblical truth can fill the earth as the waters cover the sea. It’s also for young people who desire to grow in
leadership and Christ-like character.

You will be equipped through this school to impact nations by linking classrooms using video-conferencing and other emerging technologies. It focuses on leadership development, and understanding God’s heart for the nations. Your skills will be developed through communications workshops, presentations, and other activities. A goal will be for you to grow more into the person God created you to be. Opportunities occur during this time to step out and realize your gifts as you join together with others in unity around the world. Your personal development during this time will be the foundation for you to do new things in new ways. Join us to reach and encourage God’s people in the nations by linking them together through the latest technologies.

Course content

Genesis Vision and Concept
Leadership and Pioneering
Trans-cultural Communication
New technologies- videoconferencing, network, web development and multimedia applications
Educational principles
God’s ways in communications

Lecture phase

The 12 week lecture phase will include many activities for you to learn and grow. Course content will be given by international teachers through classroom lectures.

You will learn how to use the latest technologies through small group workshops. Character development and the application of truth will be emphasized throughout this time, and there will be opportunities to apply your learning through community life, work duties, small group discussions, assignments, book reports, and social times.

The field assignment offers an opportunity to pioneer GENESIS in a cross-cultural situation and integrate the concept into the life of a ministry. It leads you through all the stages of pioneering including intercession, sharing the vision and concept, acquiring equipment, practical installation, organizing events, leading weeks of teaching in schools, as well as training others. Field assignments will be determined during the lecture phase of the school, and you will be coached by experienced staff and supported in your learning during this time.

The date of the next school can be found here.

Go-Genesis.com » Spotlight

Keys to Innovation

Related Articles

GENESIS Coordinator

Related Articles

GENESIS Forum

Related Articles

A new kind of animal

Related Articles

COM Gathering

Related Articles

GENESIS School

Course content

Lecture phase

Related Articles