Blog 13: New Vision & New September DTS
DECEMBER 2025
THANK YOU:
Hi all, I am so grateful for this opportunity to update you all again. Thank you so, so much for all your prayers and support towards my team and me. Since my last update, a lot has happened;
I had a season of growing/maturing, especially in August.
I visited Canada.
I finished planning this year's September DTS.
I received a new vision for how God wants us to run the Discipleship Training Schools here.
I finished with our lecture phase here in Amsterdam.
I started Outreach in Malaysia.
Again I want to clarify I am so thankful/grateful for the opportunity you have given me to serve God in this way. This year you have enabled me to have the privilege to serve other ministries (The Send & Opwekking) and disciple/lead a school consisting of 18 students and a staff team of 4 others. You have also enabled me to grow in my own personal relationship with God, experience personal growth/healing and gave me the privilege to be able to plan a missions trip and lead a team to Malaysia.
With this update, I desire to share with you how God and I have been able to impact the lives of those around me and how God has impacted me personally. So I hope you enjoy reading this update.
A picture from my birthday when my friends surprised me with dessert! I was really happy :)
My Prayer for Us:
When writing this update, I felt to pray a prayer over us that was inspired by something that God taught me through the story of Jesus feeding the 5000 found in Mark 6:30-43, shown below, with an emphasis on Jesus' response in verse 34.
What is important to notice in this story is that before this miracle took place, Jesus was met with the unfortunate news of the death of His cousin John the Baptist. So in verse 31 Jesus’ response to this unfortunate news was to go to a more quiet space to rest with His disciples. It even mentions at the end of verse 31 that they were so busy that they didn’t even have the time to eat food.
But in verse 33 it explains that the crowds followed Jesus, and they even ran ahead to where Jesus was trying to go. What astonishes me is Jesus’ response, and it’s what I want us to focus on/think about while we read this prayer. Instead of being upset that people are interrupting His rest or His desire to grieve, He chooses to take His eyes off Himself and focus on the needs of others. I think if I were in Jesus’ position, I would have had this mentality of “Oh, I deserve this rest, or I deserve this space, so I don’t have to do this right now,” because in my opinion, He had a very valid reason to step back. Instead of this, Jesus chose compassion. He chose to look at the needs of others.
The Lord showed me that in the busyness of leading a Bible school, I had begun to let a mindset grow in my heart that said, "I deserve this rest’ or ‘I deserve this space," and because of that mindset, things that once brought me joy in serving others began to feel like tasks to check off instead of privileges. God revealed that my tiredness was coming from viewing love as a duty rather than a privilege, and in His kindness, He brought conviction and awareness of this unhealthy pattern in my life.
As I was writing this, I sensed that some of us might be feeling tired. Acts of love that once brought us joy may now feel less enjoyable or even burdensome. Because of that, I felt led to share this personal story in case anyone else has been experiencing love as just another task on a to-do list. My prayer for us reading this update is that the Lord would soften our hearts and make us more aware of His love for us and for those around us. My prayer is that God would also give us hearts that are compassion-oriented rather than task-oriented and that we would enjoy loving those around us as much as He enjoys loving others.
This is because I see that it is compassion that prevents the fruit of bitterness from growing. And it is bitterness that leads to seeing loving others as a task and no longer as a partnership or relationship with God. Because loving others well is simply joining in with what Jesus is already doing. It’s like joining our parents at work on "Take Your Kid to Work Day", except our parent is an all-powerful & perfectly loving Father, and His title is King, and His greatest joy is loving us.
“Heavenly Father, I pray that you would help us grow to have hearts that are led by compassion. I pray that you would help us to be compassion-orientated rather than task-orientated. That we would also see loving others as a privilege rather than a task. And lastly, I again pray that you would help us enjoy loving others as much as You enjoy loving us. Please give us your joy. I ask this in Jesus name, Amen. ”
Jesus Feeds the Five Thousand
30 The apostles returned to Jesus and told him all that they had done and taught. 31 And he said to them, “Come away by yourselves to a desolate place and rest a while.” For many were coming and going, and they had no leisure even to eat. 32 And they went away in the boat to a desolate place by themselves. 33 Now many saw them going and recognized them, and they ran there on foot from all the towns and got there ahead of them. 34 When he went ashore he saw a great crowd, and he had compassion on them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd. And he began to teach them many things. 35 And when it grew late, his disciples came to him and said, “This is a desolate place, and the hour is now late. 36 Send them away to go into the surrounding countryside and villages and buy themselves something to eat.” 37 But he answered them, “You give them something to eat.” And they said to him, “Shall we go and buy two hundred denarii[a] worth of bread and give it to them to eat?” 38 And he said to them, “How many loaves do you have? Go and see.” And when they had found out, they said, “Five, and two fish.” 39 Then he commanded them all to sit down in groups on the green grass. 40 So they sat down in groups, by hundreds and by fifties. 41 And taking the five loaves and the two fish, he looked up to heaven and said a blessing and broke the loaves and gave them to the disciples to set before the people. And he divided the two fish among them all. 42 And they all ate and were satisfied. 43 And they took up twelve baskets full of broken pieces and of the fish.
OVERVIEW OF CONTENTS:
Personal Update
New Vision for the DTS
September DTS, 2025
Prayer Requests
A Typical Worship Night on Base:
If you ever visit Amsterdam please let me know! I would love to have you join us in our base activities!
PERSONAL UPDATE:
I felt the need to be more personal in this update, so I wanted to include this section about how I am doing personally. As some of you guys may know, the beginning of this season was quite hard. But I am glad to say that things noticeably shifted in August when I had the privilege to meet regularly with a professional Christian counsellor. During these sessions I became more aware of my unhealthy patterns of coping/self-regulating my emotions learned from my past. During these sessions, my counselor taught me about how to break these patterns and taught me how to healthily cope and regulate my emotions. We also discussed the topic of attachment styles and taught me a lot about how I can more healthily relate with God & others.
I knew I had blind spots in the way I interacted with others, but I was surprised to discover that I also had blind spots when it came to receiving and enjoying God’s love for me. This realization was significant. I noticed that in the busyness of life, I had slowly fallen out of the habit of coming to God simply to enjoy His love and be enjoyed by Him. Have we ever thought about how much God loves spending time with us? Have we ever thought about simply setting aside time for Him to also be able to enjoy our company and also for us to enjoy His company?
Much like the lesson I mentioned earlier, the busyness of life had caused me to become more task-oriented in my approach to God instead of relationship-oriented. Yet God revealed this to me gently. He gently reminded me to come and approach Him, saying, “Father, I am ready to receive your love; I want to enjoy it. Can you please help me?” I think that somewhere in this season, I forgot that God actually enjoys loving me. When I come to Him and ask to experience His love, I am giving Him what He desires. He truly delights in loving us. Of course we should fear the Lord and approach Him with awe and reverence, but I also do not want us to overlook the importance of enjoying His love for us.
Have we ever stopped to think about how powerful it could be to regularly pray, ‘Heavenly Father, please help me become more aware of Your love for me and help me enjoy it fully today’? Imagine how much easier it would be to love like Him and obey His commandments if we learned to enjoy His love by intentionally setting aside moments in our day to receive and rest in it.
I have started this practice of enjoying His love. And I have noticed that His communication with me hasn’t changed; He still tells me, “Cliff, I love you.” But something I have noticed is that this simple sentence that I have heard over and over again has brought me more joy and satisfaction than ever before. So I invite you to try this habit and, in your own words, pray a prayer like, “Heavenly Father, can you please help me to be more aware of your love towards me and enjoy it to the fullest today?” I also encourage us to read Francis Chan’s new book, Beloved; as it talks about this process of being loved by God. I have put a link to the audiobook below.
https://open.spotify.com/show/76I2jLhn2du6zld2uyCk6d?si=ru0kAVX0TrutXfyFLr1l_g
This season, I have experienced alot of personal growth, I went through a difficult time and have since then learned alot about myself & God. I can honestly say it has been a good season, and I am so genuinely grateful for everything God has taught me in this season. If you want to hear more about how I doing personally, please feel free to reach out and ask! Also again, I highly recommend you check out Francis Chan’s new book.
UPDATED VISION FOR THE DTS:
The next thing I want to share is the updated vision God has given me for how He wants to lead the current DTS. I believe vision is important because it gives us a goal to pursue and a direction to follow. It also helps everyone understand the reason behind what we do.
My heart in sharing this vision is to help us see the direction I believe God is leading our schools and to give context for what He wants to disciple and develop in the lives of our students. This is what you are helping me cultivate in both our students and our staff. Thank you for making it possible for me to do this.
FINISH THE GREAT COMMISSION
Over the last couple months the phrase “FINISH THE GREAT COMMISSION” has been burning in my heart and repeating in my mind over and over again. As a result, I felt the heartbreak of God in new ways as He shared His pain with me. I heard Him saying to me, “Cliff, I do not enjoy seeing my sons & daughter spend eternity apart from everything good I desired for them; will you help Me get rid of this pain?”
My desire is to disciple our students into having a radical love for God and a bold passion to see the Great Commission fulfilled. In Matthew 9:37, Jesus teaches that the issue is not with the harvest but with the lack of labourers. My goal is to see students graduate as labourers who carry His heart.
Labourers who have the FAITH that the great commission can be fulfilled and that we can put an end to the pain in God’s heart
Labourers who are FULL OF BRAVERY, meaning they choose to not submit to fear but submit to God instead.
Labourers who are ALL IN FOR JESUS, meaning they have a growing understanding that God is worthy of what ever it takes to see the great commission & great commandment radically obey in our lives.
HIGH FAITH: Faith to believe that the whole world can come to know & have an active relationship with God.
I desire to see a culture of “High Faith” grow in the body of Christ. That the language of impossible would no longer be in our vocabulary. That despite not seeing it ourselves firsthand, we would genuinely believe that with God things are possible. That healing, miracles, provision, transformation, freedom, revelation, etc., are possible.
One thing I felt God specifically giving me a desire for, is to disciple others into seeing the Great Commission as the most possible task there is. That we as the body of christ would have the faith to fully believe that it is possible that the whole world can come to know God and have a relationship with Him and, as a result of this, that the whole world can experience God’s redemptive plan in every sphere of society (family, religion, education, business/economy, government, media/arts/entertainment/sports, and science).
So this is my heart & desire, to normalize high faith and bold acts of faith-filled obedience to God. I want to normalize a zeal for missions where we, the church, have this culture of asking ourselves and one another, “What nation, city, university, workplace, or family are you going to take?”. Take as in hold in prayer and take as in choose to actively pursue to see the Great Commission fulfilled in that place. God is so incredibly good, and my heart breaks at the thought of anyone having to live life and spend eternity apart from His perfect definition of “good.” And I want others to also experience this same goodness so that they too will be motivated to share God with others.
2 Peter 3:9
“The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance”.
FULL OF BRAVERY: Submission to God over submission to fear.
I desire to see a culture of bravery grow in the body of Christ. I want to disciple others to be people to be bold with their obedience and faith. I want to see people experience freedom from fear, especially fears that limit our ability to trust God and obey God. I believe that this will be done as we begin to see God rightly, meaning that we would become a people that learn to recognize lies that we believe about God and seek scripture to replace them with truth. For example, when you see how truly trustworthy/faithful God is, fears that require large steps of faith become easier to overcome. I believe that radical trust in God leads to radical action.
I want to disciple others to have a radical understanding that unlike God, fear has never loved us, fear has never cared about us and fear does not know more than God or understand more than God. Therefore, if fear never loved us, why should we submit to it? God truly loves us, and He is the most worthy of our submission. I want to disciple others to love obedience and submission to God and hate submission to fear.
[Context: This is my understanding of submission to God. I could be wrong but I believe submission to God helps us to truly experience freedom. Because it gives us the freedom to experience all that He in His perfect and all-knowing wisdom defines as good. I believe that true freedom is found in submission to God. It's where we can experience freedom from being a slave to sin.]
2 Timothy 1:7-8
“for God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control. 8 Therefore do not be ashamed of the testimony about our Lord, nor of me his prisoner, but share in suffering for the gospel by the power of God,”.
ALL IN FOR JESUS: Desire & hunger to not miss out on what the Lord has for us.
I desire to see a culture of being “All In For Jesus” grow in the body of Christ. I want our graduates to know and understand that they were purposefully created and that they each have a unique calling on their lives. I want them to see that their lives, gifts, talents, and wisdom are valuable and important to the body of Christ. I want them to know God deeply enough that they trust His definition of ‘good’ more than their own. As a result, they will trust God’s character enough to believe that He has ‘good’ plans for them, even with understanding that ‘good’ does not guarantee a life free from pain or suffering.
I want our graduates to desire a life led by God and an overflowing relationship with Him. I want them to truly see the value of life with God and to understand the worthiness of God.
I believe that if this happens it will result in our graduates living lives unashamed of the Gospel, they will walk boldly in their callings and purposes, and hunger to see God revealed to all people and every sphere of society. I want them to come to the conclusion that God is worthy of whatever it takes for them to obey the great commandment radically and see the Great Commission fulfilled through their lives. I want our graduates to be people fully committed to God and His leadership, convinced that He is worthy to lead every part of their lives.
(Context: I see that God is a loving God who will not force us to live out the purpose He has for us or force us into a life with Him. The fullness of the life He desires for us is not guaranteed, it is something to be desired and pursued. But when we lay down our right to define what a good life looks like and say, ‘Here am I, send me,’ allowing Him to be the definer of good and right, He shows up and invites us on an amazing journey of deep, intimate relationship with Him.)
Matthew 5:6
“6 Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.”.
September DTS 2026 Teaser:
During my time in Malaysia the Lord has already been giving me a more refined/updated vision for the next September DTS. At the moment it's still in its brainstorming stages, but I look forward to writing about it in the future. At the moment God is inviting me to ponder on the following question.
What do we need to know about God to completely trust His definition of good & evil?
I believe this ties to what the Lord is showing this season: radical trust leads to a radical response.
Photos From My Disposable:
SEPTEMBER DTS 2025:
Meet the School:
Next I want to begin by introducing you to the amazing students that my team and I have had the privilege to know and disciple this year. Our school had a total of 18 students representing 7 different nations. They are an incredibly fun group to meet, and I do wish you all could have had the chance to meet them and witness them falling more in love with Jesus.
(Canada, Germany, Netherlands, South Korea, Turkey, Britain, USA)
About the School:
In my last updates I talked in great detail about the content of the school to help us all better understand the content of a Discipleship Training School and how busy/full content wise they typically are. But this time I want to be more brief so that I can focus more on the impact it has made in the lives of our students. So please enjoy all of these pictures of our students and our time together as a school. Below this section I will talk more about the impact it has made on the students.
Photos from Welcome Night and the Other Schools:
Random Fun Moments with the Students:
Impact On the Students:
Our lecture phase was truly special. Similar to last year, we experienced so much of God’s goodness in this season, with unity, joy, and healing throughout the school. When we asked students to share their overall experience, many said they would love to do it again and would highly recommend it to others.
During the lecture phase, we also saw significant growth in the students’ relationships with the Lord. Many came in struggling to believe in God’s goodness, unsure they could hear God’s voice, and unsure of God’s love for them. By the end of the phase, they had become more aware of the lies they had believed about God and were able to replace them with truth. Their trust in God had deepened, and they had begun to understand that He is a good Father who loves and cares for them deeply. They grew more confident in being able to hear God’s voice and more confident in being able to receive God’s love towards them.
On outreach, I have seen them grow in compassion for those missing out on a relationship with Jesus. Their fears about what others think have diminished, and they are eager to continue sharing the Gospel, both in their outreach locations and wherever God calls them next.
Even at this stage, many students have already expressed a desire to return for second-level Bible schools, where they could spend three or nine months studying the Bible in depth, including the historical context behind each book. But I look forward to the end of outreach because I believe that they will fall so much more in love with God and that maybe even more will be willing to come back to learn more about God and His word.
Another incredible highlight from this year is that we witnessed many baptisms. As you look at the photos below, take a moment to ask God to show you the joy He experienced in these moments. Please pray that we will be able to see more people on outreach students and locals get baptised.
- BAPTISMS -
Zeke, Eden & Minhye’s Baptisms:
Outreach Location Reveal:
This year we have the privilege to send teams to the Philippines & Malaysia. Below is the video we used to reveal our outreach locations to our school and their reactions. It is so exciting to see their excitement to go make God known in the nations. Please pray that their excitement and love for the nations continues to grow.
This Year’s Outreach Reveal Video
Outreach Reveal Reactions
Whats Next?:
Over the next coming months we will be on outreach in Malaysia. We arrived in December 8th, 2025 and we will be here till February 20th, 2026. We will be working with local contacts in Penang and Kuala Lumpur and we are so excited for what the Lord will do in these cities. We will also be working with local churches, doing children ministry, serving at local homeless shelters and other things .Then our students will graduate on February 27th, 2026!!
Then during March - July I will be planning next years school whilst taking dutch classes again with the aim at passing my language exams. In July I plan to come back to Canada to connect with you all again. I am so looking forward to seeing you all. I miss you!!
Prayer Requests:
I want to thank you so much for taking the time to read about what I have been doing these last few months. I know it was a lot to read and look at, but I hope that you were encouraged by the testimonies and learnt more about what I am doing here at YWAM Amsterdam. I am excited to continue pursuing the Lord and continue helping others deepen their relationship with God. This upcoming season will also be busy for me, so I would love it if you could join me in prayer for the following points. Thank you in advance for taking the time to pray over me and our school.
Prayer Points:
Pray for God’s wisdom on how to plan the next Discipleship Training School.
Pray for health over my team and I whilst on outreach.
Pray for greater unity within our outreach team.
Pray that our team would continue to fall more in love with God and grow in our fear/reverence of God.
Pray for me to have favour to learn Dutch & pass my Dutch exams. [These exams are required by the Dutch government.] I am also trying to learn Danish so I would love favour to learn that language too please.
Pray for me that God would make way for me to get my dutch visa and take the language classes [Dutch & Danish].
Pray that our team would have a greater love for the people of Malaysia & the Philippines.
THANK YOU FOR WATCHING, READING & PRAYING!!!!!
Thank you for reading :)!!
