Video Update From South Korea

Click the video above to watch a short update about my time in South Korea!

If you'd like to read more about my time in South Korea, feel free to click here! Below are some photos of the Korea Vision Tour.

       

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Greetings from Seoul, South Korea

Greetings from Seoul, South Korea!

As my fever was raging wild and my head feeling like it was going to explode, I laid in bed extremely sick with the flu last Friday. I got a message from my Base Director asking me how I was feeling and also asking me to pray about something. That something was going to South Korea…in less than one week!

Loren Cunningham who founded Youth With A Mission (YWAM) back in 1960 is going on a speaking tour around South Korea. He will be speaking about missions and sharing the vision of YWAM. Loren called our Base Director a few weeks ago and asked if YWAM Lausanne would like to send a small team to Korea to join him on the tour. That’s the long story short on why I’m here.

Our Team

Our team of four landed in Seoul, South Korea about 5 hours ago after a lonnnngggg flight (that I didn’t sleep on – going on 30 hours of being awake..!) God blessed me with a free flight and all of the in-country costs are taken care of! It’s an incredible blessing! I believe God has me here in Korea for a purpose. That purpose is to share my story with other young Korean’s on how God has transformed my life and how He’s using an ordinary guy like me to reach people who have never heard the Gospel before. I’m excited to see how God works in these next two weeks! You can click here to read a little more about the trip!

Please Pray

Please keep our team of four in your prayers these next two weeks while we travel to different cities and churches everyday to speak. Each one of us on the team has been sick leading up to this trip, so pray for protection over sickness, for travel mercies and for God to reveal Himself greatly to the youth of Korea!

God Bless,

Tyler Dean

Merry Christmas

Over the loud speaker at the Minneapolis International Airport, I heard the boarding call for my flight. This was the beginning of my new adventure. 2012 got off to a very quick start. I traveled across the globe to do a Leadership Training School at YWAM Lausanne in Switzerland, where I am now living and continuing my work as a missionary with YWAM. As I've reflected on 2012, I am so thankful for what God has done in my life in the past year and am excited to see where He leads me in 2013!

A few highlights from 2012

• Successfully completing a "Leadership Training School" (click here to read about this amazing school) through the University of the Nations (YWAM's Global University)
• Preaching in my home church in Minnesota on finding our hope in Christ.
• Sharing the Gospel with over 5,000 people in June during our "Regeneration Outreach" (click here to watch the video) during the Montreux Jazz Festival in Montreux, Switzerland.
• Successfully completing a "French Intensive Seminar" (click here to see photos) through the University of the Nations. At 8 hours a day for 4 weeks straight, it sure was intense!
• Leading the campus operations at YWAM Lausanne and learning from amazing leaders.

Thank you to those of you who faithfully pray for me and partner with me financially. It is such a privilege to work with our Father to raise up hundreds of people each year to carry the Light of the Gospel to the Nations of the earth, to share His hope and love! Thank you for being a part of the adventure!

I pray this Christmas season is filled with much joy, hope and love as we celebrate the birth of our Savior.

Merry Christmas,

Tyler Dean

A New Season

From Learning French to Leading Operations

In my last update, I shared how I was participating in a "French Intensive Seminar" here at YWAM Lausanne. Well, I sucessfully completed the course - whew!  It was intense to say the least. I'm glad I took on the challenge to do the seminar to get a basic foundation in French. This photo on the left is the students/staff who were involved with the French Seminar.

Just a few days after the French Seminar ended, I took on the role of leading the operations here at YWAM Lausanne. It's been going really well so far and I have been learning a lot. I feel like this is very equipping for the future as I continue in ministry. It's fun to be able to work with so many different people and to see how God is always working in peoples' lives.

Prayer Day

We recently had a "Prayer Day" (click here to read more about it) here at YWAM Lausanne on the 26th of October.  Four times per year the staff, students, guest speakers and visitors here at YWAM Lausanne all gather for a full day of prayer, worship and fasting.  We pray for various things that are happening around the world, our outreach teams that are in multiple countries, our city we live in and whatever else God puts on our hearts to pray for. It's amazing to focus an entire day to prayer. This photo above is from a prayer day. We have a gigantic world map that we walk over and pray for nations that God puts on our hearts.

One thing that I know is true:  Prayer changes things!!

~ THANK YOU ~

I'm very grateful for those of you who have partnered with me prayerfully and financially in ministry. It's amazing to see people being ignited with the Gospel, being equipped to share the Word of God and seeing young men and women who are passionately taking the Gospel to the Nations. You help to make this possible. Thank you!

God Bless,

Tyler Dean

How To Donate

Option 1 - Donate Online

a.) Go to YWAM Lausanne's Donation Website - Click Here!

b.) Follow the simple steps on how to donate.

c.) When it asks you (in "Step 4") to write an encouragement, include the text "Donation for Tyler Dean" so they know the donation is for me.

Option 2 - Donate by Check

a.) Make check payable to YWAM. DO NOT write my name anywhere on the check due to tax purposes. They will mail back your check if you write my name on it.

b.) Include a note in the envelope that says, "Donation for Tyler Dean".

c.) Then mail the check to:

YWAM Tyler

c/o Accounting Dept.

P.O. Box 3,000

Garden Valley, TX 75771-3000

For Monthly Supporters

If you would like to do a monthly automatic withdrawal through your banking account or do a automatic donation with your credit card, just let me know and I can let you know how to do one of these simple options.

I'm very grateful for those of you who have partnered with me prayerfully and financially in ministry. It's amazing to see people being ignited with the Gospel, being equipped to share the Word of God and seeing young men and women who are passionately taking the Gospel to the Nations. You help make this possible! Thank you!

-Tyler Dean

"Intense" August/September

Two weeks ago, I started a French Intensive Seminar here at YWAM Lausanne. The seminar is 4 weeks, 5 days a week, and 8+ hours a day. That's why it's called "intensive"! I'm excited to be learning French. It gets old quick when you go to the grocery store and don't know what the cashier is saying to you. Or when you feel lead to talk to someone about the Lord in the Lausanne city square and come to find out that you cannot communicate with them because you don't know their language - French.

Roughly 170 million people in the world speak French either as a first or second language. That's a lot of people! 30 contries in the world have French as their official language with several other countries speaking French as a secondary language.

Knowing French will open up many more doors for ministry, not only here in Switzerland, but around the world!

~ PRAYER REQUEST ~

Would you take a few minutes right now to pray for me that I would understand as much as possible during the French course and that I would be able to retain what I've learned. Also pray that I do not become discouraged and impatient if I understand it right away. I am starting from scratch with French so I need to be patient with myself.

Thank you for faithfully praying for me. It's much appreciated and very encouraging.

God Bless,

Tyler 

A Big Week

A Big Week!

I've had an amazing time so far since being back in Minnesota and California seeing my family and catching up with friends and also preaching! It's quickly coming to and end, though. Wednesday was a big day for me - I received my visa for Switzerland! Thank you for your prayers!! I fly back to Switzerland on June 5th to begin my work there.

Financial Update

Before going back to Switzerland, I need to raise an additional $900 (God has already provided $2,100!!). I am also trusting God to provide an additional $700 in monthly support as well. If you would like to partner with me financially and be a part of what God is doing around the world, that would be a huge blessing! Below are ways you can donate, either a special gift or monthly financial support.

A Big Switch

I am currently in the process of switching all of my financial donations from YWAM Pismo Beach to the YWAM base in Tyler, Texas. It'll be really easy to remember where to donate to me now (Tyler, TX)! So from now on, ALL donations, whether it's monthly support or a special gift, goes to YWAM Tyler in Texas. They process donations for thousands of YWAM missionaries who are overseas, so they do it very well. There are various ways to donate. Below I've explained how to go about donating, whether you want to make a special donation or monthly donation.



 

Donating By Check

Make Check Payable To:  YWAM

**DO NOT write my name ANYWHERE on the check.

Please enclose a note indicating the donation is for Tyler Dean.

Mail Check To:

YWAM Tyler

c/o Accounting Department

P.O. Box 3,000

Garden Valley, TX 75771-3000

Donating by Automatic Withdrawal, Credit Card or Bill Pay

If you would like to donate with one of these easy options, just let me know and I can let you know how to do so!

Thank you for your continued prayers and generosity! Together we can impact many people all over the world with the Gospel! Thank you!

-Tyler

HELP ME WIN A FREE FLIGHT!

Hey Friends!

This week is "National Volunteer Week" and my traveler insurance company called International Volunteer Card is running a contest for volunteers to have a chance to win a free flight! A friend of mine wrote a short essay explaining why I deserve to be nominated to win this free flight and I was recently notified from Int'l Volunteer Card that I was nominated as one of their "Top Ten Volunteers" to enter into the voting phase of the contest!

Here is where you come into play:

The voting opened this morning (Monday, April 16th). I have until Thursday, April 19th to collect as many votes as possible. Would you please take a 30 seconds to vote for me and spread the word to your friends to vote for me, too? This would be such a huge blessing to me as I travel quite often.

To vote, CLICK HERE!

Thank You and God Bless,

Tyler Dean

It's Go Time!

In just over three weeks, I will be in the air flying to Swtizerland. I've purcahsed my flight and will be leaving Minneapolis on January 3rd for my Leadership Training School (Click here to read more about the school) at YWAM Lausanne. I am so excited for this amazing opportunity! So far, God has provided $3,900 towards my school. It's been really neat to see how God has provided, especially in the area of finances. I am still in need of$2,300 in the next three weeks. Would you pray about partnering with me financially towards this Leadership Training School? You can donate online (http://www.ywampismobeach.org/donate.html) or by check (click here for instructions on how to donate by check).

I am really excited to see what the Lord has in store for me during this school. I am waiting expectantly for some awesome things to happen. It means so much to me to have a group of people that are supporting me not just with finances, but through prayer and encouragement.

Blessings & Merry Christmas,

Tyler Dean

How to Donate

If you'd like to make a donation to Tyler, there are two ways to do so.

Here is how you can donate:

~By Check~

Make check payable to:  YWAM (Do not write Tyler Dean on memo line - due to tax purposes)

*Attach a note (sticky note, piece of paper, etc.) indicating it's for Tyler Dean.

Mail Check To:

YWAM Pismo Beach

791 Price Street #119

Pismo Beach, CA 93449

**After your check is processed, you will receive a tax deductible receipt from YWAM Pismo Beach

~By Credit/Debit Card~

Go to:  http://www.ywampismobeach.org/donate.html

*Follow step-by-step directions on website.

**You do not need a PayPal account to donate online.

***After your donation is processed, you will receive a tax deductible receipt from YWAM Pismo Beach.

All donations are tax deductible and greatly apprecaited!

Life After Pismo

Life after Pismo

Just over three years ago, I came on staff here at YWAM Pismo Beach in California. Throughout the last 3+ years, I've grown so much in my walk with the Lord. I've been able to learn from so many awesome people, and the Lord has let me do so many amazing things and serve and share the Gospel with many amazing people here in America and around the world!

Well, my time in Pismo is coming to a close. The Lord is leading me on a new adventure, one I'm very excited for!

My Next Step

As you probably know, I'm going to Switzerland in January to do a Leadership Training School (LTS) at YWAM Lausanne for three months (if you haven't read about the Leadership Training School, CLICK HERE). After the LTS, I won't be going back to Pismo Beach (well, I hope to visit of course!).

I feel like the Lord has said to me that He is going to open up a door through the LTS in Switzerland for where and what He wants me to do next. Secretly, I hope the Lord leads me to move overseas to a third world country. I feel at home and love being overseas and absolutely come alive.

It would be really easy for me to just decide to go and live in a country and I'm sure it'd be amazing and the Lord would use me greatly but I don't want to jump the gun. God is in control. I'm pretty sure He knows what He's doing.  :-)  I feel like He has something very special for me at the leadership school and that some puzzle pieces will fall into place as I obey Him one step at a time.

My personality wants to make plans for after the school, to take control and organize everything but the Lord continues to remind me that He's pretty good at making things work. I'm continually giving everything up to Him and just asking Him to send me wherever He wants me and to use me however He wants to use me.

One word that keeps coming to mind as I pray about things is "pioneer". I would absolutely love to pioneer a ministry/YWAM base overseas. I often times catch myself vision casting, day dreaming and imagining what we could do to further the Gospel to people who don't know Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior.

I could go on and on about what I would love to do, what I'm passionate about, etc. But for now, I just wanted to let you know what's going on so we're on the same page.

Although I'm leaving YWAM Pismo, I am still a missionary with YWAM, but am just taking these three months to do a Leadership Training School at YWAM Lausanne to develop my giftings and leadership abilities. Therefore, this doesn't change the need for monthly financial support and special financial gifts for my ministry.

For those of you who donate financially towrads my ministry already, please continue to send your checks to YWAM Pismo Beach as you always have. They are going to continue to process and send me my support. If you have any questions regarding finances, please give me a call or shoot me an email.

With that being said, feel free to be praying for me as I am transitioning out of California to head over to Switzerland and wherever the Lord leads me after my three months in Switzerland, whether it's to Madagascar or Mississippi or anywhere in-between!

I would love to hear from you, whether you have a question, a comment or maybe you just want to chat about life. Give me a call or shoot me an email!

I love you all and am so thankful for you all. I am buckling up for the upcoming journey. I feel like God is going to take me for a fun ride!

In Christ,



Tyler Dean

Off to Switzerland!

I hope your summer has gone well thus far! My summer has been great! I apologize for such a long time in between updates. I was waiting to write once I heard back from a school that I applied to. Now that I have done that, I have exciting news to share with you!

Leadership Training School
For the past 3 1/2 years, I've wanted to do a Leadership Training School (LTS), one of YWAM's top schools. I've never had the opportunity to set aside the three months to take the course. Well, that time has come! A handful of weeks back, I applied for the next Leadership Training School, which is located at YWAM Lausanne in Switzerland. I recently heard back from them and they informed me that they've accepted me for the upcoming school in January of 2012! I am extremely excited about this opportunity to grow in my leadership giftings and to continue to learn how to lead like Jesus lead. This LTS will be a great tool for my tool belt and will really equip me for future ministry. The three month school is taught by internationally renown leaders on various topics, such as: leadership styles, integrity as a leader, faith & finances, communications, decision making, servant leadership, and a lot more.

What's my next step?
My next step in the process leading up to the LTS in January is support raising and applying for a Swiss Visa. I am starting this now because I need to raise $6,100 above and beyond my monthly financial support before the school starts. I want to ask you to prayerfully consider partnering financially with me specifically for this Leadership Training School. Setting aside this three months to grow in my leadership giftings will greatly benefit me down the road in full-time missions. If you would like to partner with me financially, there are a few different ways to go about that and there is info on the right side of this page.

Local Outreach
Our base has been doing various different outreaches in our local community. Last month, we were able to partner with a very cool gleanings ministry. Basically, after farmers finish harvesting their fruits/vegetables, they contact this ministry to come in and pick all of the leftover fruits and vegetables. We were able to help them pick artichokes, and that we did! We picked well over 2000 pounds of artichokes in 6 hours! We were able to distribute them directly to needy families in our community, to local churches and a majority of them to our local food bank. We'd like to continue to partner with this ministry as it can really bless people that need food but don't have the finances to purchase it.

RescueNet US
Communications

I've also recently started helping with some communications for RescueNet US. You may be wondering what that looks like. Well, a lot of different things to be honest. Some of the different things I've been doing recently have been spreading the word about the upcoming training course in October to YWAM bases around the United States, working on our social media, researching disasters worldwide, working on forming a team to work in the communications department, and much more.

RescueNet Training Course
During the month of October, I will be at YWAM Salem in Oregon, staffing the 2011 RescueNet US Disaster Relief School. I have been asked to teach on Disaster Preparedness so I am currently preparing my teaching. Please pray that I will be able to clearly communicate what needs to be taught and for the Lord to help me gather all of the information and resources that I need.

Personal Stuff
God has been doing a lot in my life lately. I am really growing in my intimacy with Him on a daily basis. It's been fun to spend time with God. He is teaching me how to give everything, literally everything, up to Him. He wants us to give him our struggles, difficulties and just plain old surrender to Him daily. I've been digging into the Gospel's and am currently in John. It's been awesome read about Jesus' life and all that He did, whether He's healing the sick or feeding 5,000 people.

Thank You!
Lives are changing because of your prayers and financial support so I want to thank you for that. It's such a huge blessing to me and many others around the world - thank you!

God Bless,



Tyler Dean

Amazing Footage

I am currently at a seminar in Tijuana, Mexico with Grassroots News International and I want to share with you the amazing news they are sharing from around the world, including a highlight from a rescue that was made in Japan nine days after the earthquake and tsunami. Feel free to browse around their website (I'm sure you could spend hours watching amazing videos):  http://www.grassrootsnews.tv
Enjoy....

Back To Mexico I Go

Next week, I will be going to Mexico for about six days. I will be attending a training course with Grassroots News International on journalism, field skills, camera work, mobile video editing and more at the YWAM base in Tijuana. Grassroots News International is a ministry within YWAM. It is a network of news gatherers around the world, who are committed to reporting the news as it happens, from where it happens. Content comes from the people on the ground where the news is happening. The course is designed to equip participants to gather news, and share it with the world. If you want to know more about Grassroots News International, click here!

 

I want to ask you to be praying for me throughout my time in Tijuana. Please pray that I can retain everything that is taught, for new friendships to be built, for the Lord to be glorified in all that we do and for save travels. Thank you in advanced for your prayers!

In Christ,



-Tyler Dean

What Is A "DTS"?

Since some of you may not know what a "DTS" is, I wanted to explain it to you!

A DTS is also known as a Discipleship Training School, which is Youth With A Mission's (YWAM's) main training school they offer. A DTS is a requirement for applying as YWAM staff, and serves as a prerequisite to all other training programs within YWAM. The DTS is offered at YWAM locations ALL over the world. Some schools have a special focus on particular areas of ministry or nations.

Similar to the DTS is the Crossroads Discipleship Training School (CDTS) that focuses on the needs and concerns of students over age 30, such as second-career people and families with children.

The Discipleship Training School (DTS) is designed to help you understand God more deeply, live more like Jesus and identify your unique gifts and purpose to use in missions. DTS is an intensive, residential training course which begins with an 11 or 12 week classroom/lecture phase, followed by an 8-12 week outreach phase. DTS emphasizes cross-cultural exposure and global awareness, preparing students to answer the call to "Go into all the world and make disciples of all nations" Matthew 28:19.

You may be asking, "Where can I do a DTS?"

There are 300+ locations around the world (in over 150 countries) where you could potentially do your DTS. That does not include the bases that don't run training schools. YWAM has over 1,600 bases around the world with over 22,000 full-time missionaries (I think those numbers are correct...?).

I suggest that if you are interested in doing a Discipleship Training School (DTS), that you check out YWAM's main website at: http://www.ywam.org. Here you can search by regions or specific countries in the world as well as the time of year you'd like to do yours at.

My DTS Experience

In January of 2008, I took a leap of faith and did my DTS here at YWAM Pismo Beach, where I am now a full-time missionary with YWAM.

I arrived in California on January 4, 2008, not knowing what the Lord had in store for me. I went to college for one semester in Minnesota but did not like it and didn't know what I wanted to do and I knew that there was something better for me to do. The first week of my DTS, I knew that I was in the right place!

Throughout my DTS, I got grounded in the Word and my relationship with Jesus absolutely exploded. I went to southeast Asia for my two month outreach, which was absolutely incredible.

I recommend a DTS to anyone who isn't sure what he/she wants to do or is called to do. My DTS helped me figure out what I was passionate about, what my strengths were and helped me get rooted in the Word of God.

Once again..."Go into all the world and make disciples of all nations" Matthew 28:19.

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year

Hello Friends,

Thanks for stopping by my website. I just wanted to say that I hope you had a great Christmas and have a wonderful New Year! If you'd like one of my Christmas Newsletters, give me a call, send me an email or stop me on the streets and let me know!  :-)

I also wanted to just give a reminder to you!

I am having that Coffee & Dessert Night coming up on the 9th of January at the Grand Marais Evangelical Free Church. It starts at 6:30 PM and I will be sharing about what's been going on in the past year and we'll have some coffee and nice desserts along with fellowship. I hope to see you there!

Blessings,



Tyler Dean