2025 YWAM PITTSBURGH
Kidz Club
Since 2012, we have been running a “Kidz Club” for refugee and international youth from a community known as Prospect Park, in the neighborhood of Brentwood. Most of these youth are Nepali, Karen (a Burmese people group), and from various African nations.
Each Saturday, we start with lively worship songs and dance, then act out skits covering foundational Bible lessons, applying scripture practically to their lives. We rotate through games, crafts, and review, then provide them lunch topped off with prizes.
Most of the youth in this program have prayed with us to receive Jesus into their lives and our relationships with them have allowed deeper connections to their families. Over the years, youth aging out of the Kidz Club program have gone on to join a local church’s youth group where we also volunteer. Each year, we continue to see growth, both in numbers and in faith.
Refugees from around the world have been relocated or migrated to the Pittsburgh area. Over 10,000 Bhutanese-Nepali people call Pittsburgh their home. Thousands from nations such as Burma, Somalia, Iraq, Iran, D.R. Congo, Liberia, Sudan, Tanzania, Burundi, and Cuba reside here as well. Many of their home nations are closed to the Gospel.
Our vision is for refugees in our neighborhoods to be given the opportunity to respond to the Good News of Jesus Christ.
Kitchen
The heart behind everything we do in the kitchen is to serve and love people, making them feel at home with flavours that bring memories and comfort. We believe that delicious, good and healthy food can heal both body and soul.
My responsibilities in the kitchen throughout the week are: making meals, maintaining and cleaning the kitchen, and managing the cleaning as I learn and grow in my culinary skills.
Feeding our community of missionaries, students and guests, we continue to be able to train, send out and support missionaries into the nations, because we understand that being a missionary is a calling and requires commitment and dedication, but to persevere and to bear fruit it is essential to take care of all areas of life like eating well.
It is also a service inspired by the example of Jesus, who always shared moments of deep intimacy during meals, such as the memorable ‘Last Supper’, a defining event for all of us Christians.
Jesus, the relational Master, taught us that it's at mealtimes that we can truly experience communion. By following this example we seek to create an atmosphere of unity, where all are welcome at the Lord’s table.
Teaching DBS
Over the past year, the Lord has deepened a love in my heart for His Word and a desire to share it with others. Through His leading, I’ve come to recognize and walk in the ministerial gift of teaching—a calling I embrace with humility and passion.
The last year, I had the privilege of teaching a week of classes to our Discipleship Bible School students on the Life and Letters of the Apostle Paul. We explored all 13 of his epistles, diving into the powerful truths and foundational theology that continue to shape the Church today. It was a rich time of study and Spirit-led discussion, and I came away more convinced than ever of the relevance of Paul’s writings for our daily walk with Christ.
This year, I was invited again to teach a week on another content: The Early Church. What a joy it was to help students discover the roots of our faith, the courage of the early believers, and the movement of the Holy Spirit that birthed the Church. Teaching this topic stirred my heart deeply, reminding me that we are part of a much larger story—God’s redemptive work through the ages.
This is a testimony of God’s faithfulness and the joy of walking in the calling He has placed on my life. As I continue on this journey, I am so thankful for every opportunity to teach and for the people God brings into my path as I remain faithful to the call and sensitive to the Spirit’s leading in every opportunity He provides.
Prayer Team
At YWAM, we believe that intercessory prayer is not optional—it’s foundational. It’s how we partner with God to see His Kingdom come and His will be done on earth.
As part of the prayer team, we are honored to lead two base-wide prayer times each week, each lasting one hour.
Before these gatherings, our prayer team meets together in God’s presence, asking: “Lord, what is on Your heart for our community this week?”. During these times of listening and discernment, we seek God for the specific topics or burdens He wants us to bring before Him—whether that’s a nation, a current world event, an area of need in the body of Christ, or something within our own base.
Once the Lord reveals the prayer focus, we delegate team members to lead the upcoming sessions. Each leader then continues to seek the Holy Spirit for how to guide the community into that intercession in a way that is Spirit-sensitive, Scripture-based, and full of faith.
Our heart is not just to pray well, but to help lead the entire base into deeper intimacy with Jesus and a clearer understanding of His heart for the world.