That was then . . . this is now: The first YMI ACTION team revisited

We sat together in a Banff hotel room on New Year’s Eve 1992, the –30°C weather transforming the town into a deep freeze. Despite the cold outside, our hearts were strangely warmed. We were 10 strangers summoned by God’s Spirit to participate in a five-month tour across Canada, sharing the Good News of the gospel through drama and mime with high school students. Most of us were barely out of high school ourselves, but we felt ready for the challenge that lay ahead of us on Youth Mission International’s very first ACTION Team. We prayed earnestly together on that December night and, under the leadership of Randy Friesen, vowed to stay strong as we “Actively Claimed Territory In Our Nation” for Christ!

Five months later, we had staged 73 performances in 26 churches, 24 schools, two Bible schools and six prisons. We even performed to a few curious onlookers at West Edmonton Mall. After travelling thousands of miles in a rented van, we discovered much about teamwork, patience, self-sacrifice and fervent prayer (especially as we drove through several fierce winter snowstorms). We saw the awesome beauty of Canada, and witnessed the diverse ways in which God works across the country.

Youth Mission Internationa’s first ACTION team, 1993

We also learned profound lessons about brokenness and sin in the lives of young people, and how the mighty, transforming power of the Father heart of God can change lives. God’s Word was a constant comfort to us: “I have looked upon my people, for their cry has reached me” (1 Samuel 9:16). It was not an easy road, but our adventures on this short-term mission project impacted us forever. Our lives and hearts were eternally altered. We felt like a radical group back then, but would the feeling remain?

Ten years later, God continues to mold and shape our lives, and the lessons learned on the ACTION Team ring in our ears. That adventure was a time of preparation. Many of us have now ventured into full-time ministry. Jon is a well-respected Canadian musician and worship leader, Dave is a church planter in Montreal, Laura is a pastor in Abbotsford, and Sharon works for Youth for Christ in Mission. Doug and Susanne are lay leaders in their Calgary church and have been involved in long-term disciple making through various avenues, including the Alpha course. Coralie is married to a youth pastor, and serves as the Women’s Ministry leader at her church in Butler, Georgia. RaeAnn is raising a beautiful family in Ontario and is active in her church’s music ministry.

Along the way, there have been heartaches and trials in our lives. We are asking some difficult questions. How do you integrate the lessons of a “mountaintop” experience like YMI into the everyday, and sometimes mundane, moments of life? How do you stay spiritually fresh and alive as a Christian leader? Can you still experience God in the midst of divorce, the death of a child, Green Card struggles, moving and uprooting, and health issues? These things have challenged us, but have also forced us to recall the many stories of God’s goodness and provision while we served on ACTION.

The same God who took us across Canada is still with us today, calling us to follow Him with our whole hearts. We will never forget the lessons of leadership the Holy Spirit taught us, nor the importance of true, honest, transparent fellowship with other believers. Coralie says it best: “Despite losing touch with almost all of the team members, I count them all among the truest compatriots in ministry I have ever known. The more I reminisce, the more I ponder the love and forgiveness that surrounded me. [I was] a brash, self-centred, spiritually immature, socially inept young woman, yet was welcomed with open arms and hearts. It was on this trip that the Lord first laid hold of my heart and soul.” This is truly the lasting legacy of the ACTION Team!

Laura Kalmar is associate pastor (children’s ministries) of Bakerview MB Church, Abbotsford.