Entry 25: What's Next?

     Merry Christmas! I am currently writing this entry from the comfort of my childhood home in Minnesota where I am to spend the next 20 days with family and friends for the holiday season. I have just Graduated from the DBS I was attending in Australia where I read through and studied the entire Bible in three months. Click to read more about DBS (Entry 22: Discipleship Bible School, Australia-10/25/23). In this entry I would like to share with you my new commitment with YWAM and where God is leading me in the next seasons of life.

S.W.A.P.

     While I was at the Byron Bay campus in Australia God really put worship and intercession on my heart. As we were reading the pentateuch, the first five books of the Bible, I saw such an important role of the high priest and the how the High Priest foreshadowed God's redemption plan of Jesus coming to be the ultimate high priest. The job of the High Priest was to represent God to the people and represent the people to God. The High Priest would intercede on behalf of the people and fill the gap between the people and God. That is what Jesus did for us on the cross and what he continues to do to this day. Through the finished work of the cross, Jesus steps in the gap of the rebels and sinners so that they may be made righteous. We are called to be like Jesus and in that, we too should intercede on the behalf of others. We should fill the gap with prayer for people and nations. 

     It was In these revelations of the High Priest that I really started receiving God's heart to intercede on behalf of others. That is why when Kevin, the base leader of YWAM Byron Bay, approached me and asked me to pioneer a School of Worship and Prayer (SWAP) it did not take much prayer before accepting the role and two year commitment. I felt God had already been speaking and moving in my life towards leading others and highlighting prayer and worship. I am so excited to be partnering with God in birthing a new school in Byron Bay alongside my co-leader Rebecca Tekly. 

     The reason there is missions and evangelism is because there is a lack of worship and prayer. One day there will be no missions but for eternity there will be worship and prayer. In SWAP we want to equip the body of Christ with the practical and spiritual abilities to lead others in genuine, Holy Spirit led, biblically sound worship and prayer. We want to help students cultivate their God given gifts as creators to reach the ends of the earth. The first character and nature that we learn about God in scripture is that he is a creator. He then goes on to tell us he created man and women, you and me, in his image. That means that we are all CREATED to CREATE and be CREATORS. Just as we are co-crucified and co-resurrected with Christ as his followers we also have the ability to co-create with God through the power of the Holy Spirit. It is in this co-creation that true eternal beauty is conceived. When we create things through our own strength and flesh they are like the flesh in that they will pass away and are fleeting, but when we create something through the power of the Holy Spirit then it lasts an eternity just as the Spirit is eternal. 

     The first official SWAP will start in September of 2024. Until then I, alongside Bec, will be praying and preparing for the school by, contacting speakers to come and teach, studying the curriculum, designating outreach locations, promoting the school, etc. I felt God put it on my heart to return to Kona to staff the School of Worship that I graduated from as a student in April before pioneering and leading the SWAP. Click to read more about SOW (Entry 21: School of Worship - 5/28/23) I will be going to Kona on the 9th of January to disciple others and starting in march I will begin staffing the SOW in Kona. The leaders in Kona are the same ones I had when I was a student and they are stoked to hear I am pioneering. In the 6 months of staffing that I will be doing in Kona they will be championing me and helping me grow in leadership. I hope to glean from them both the practical and spiritual sides of leading a school. I want to come in low and in humility in preparation for this school as well as in leading it. The very last thing I want is anything built from the foundation of pride because I know just how fast and easily that foundation would fail.

     Once the staffing in Kona has concluded I will return to Australia and prepare for the September school. The SWAP pioneering is a two year commitment, so I will be leading, sending, and discipling others in Byron Bay for the next two years. I have officially made Missions my profession and because of that I am in need of people who` would like to walk alongside me and support me prayerfully and financially. If you would like to get in touch and talk more about anything, you can contact me by Gmail: codyhockel7@gmailcom or my number 15078224011. 

Support, Prayerfully and Financially 

Prayer Requests:

• Guidance as I approach a season of leading others and pioneering a new school
• Monthly Support, both financially and prayerfully
• Unity between my Co-leader and I
• Wisdom and discernment as I cast vision and values for the School
• That I continue to keep my gaze on Jesus and not put my identity in my assignment or purpose

Financial Support:

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