GATHERING OF THE CHIEFS

Hey team!

It's been a year of dramatic change for us in Northland and we've got plenty to catch you up on. Thank you for all your support with prayer, finances, and friendship in general as you've checked in on us and been a huge encouragement while we've made some big calls and kept trucking along.

MOVING THE MINISTRY

The start of the year saw us make concrete decisions to move the ministry to Whangarei (a city 40 minutes north of our usual base). We had mixed feelings about the move of course. We cared a lot about how our wider Kaipara community might feel and how our staff might respond to the change, but we knew ultimately that we'd been stewarding this word from the Lord for many years and it was time to go. It meant significant changes for our staff team as the 7 with us at the time finished up and 4 new staff felt the Lord call them on board. Since then, another 3 have joined too.

We've spent the months since August's move to the city developing our new team as leaders in the mission and connecting with the community. The staff have already spoken at youth groups and churches, connected with pastors, young adult leaders, and made friends outside of the church scene too. For 12 weeks we covered a wide range of topics for intern DTS staff and had guest speakers zoom in with us, as well as a couple come in person who could make the journey up. It was a joy to introduce our new staff to these YWAM legends from around the globe and be upskilled by their expertise.

One translation for Whangarei is "the gathering of the chiefs", which feels particularly true of this team. They're leaders/chiefs in their own respects, have burning hearts for Jesus, and have enough vision to sustain a tribe. We truly love our Kaipara community and miss the family we had down there, but when the Lord says it's time to move, we move.

Here are some sweet pics at Zion over the last nearly 4 years...

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DISCIPLESHIP TRAINING SCHOOLS

Our first DTS in Whangarei is all set for February 2024 - July '24, followed by our second DTS in September '24 through to February 2025. Schools bring a lot of momentum with them, so we were careful not to rush into running anything straight away while we got to know the new city. Once we begin schools it can become a wheel that just keeps spinning on its own unless we're intentional to keep the pace the Lord sets. Barry will be co-leading the February DTS alongside one of our experienced female staff and we'll be training our new crew to lead out future schools and areas of the ministry like outreach co-ordinating, administration, and so on.

We don't have a long-term property to call home just yet in Whangarei as we feel not to rush this part of the process, but we are all set to run our February school at Parua Bay Youth Haven, which is a youth camp just 20 minutes from the city centre. The camp has a 2-story building with all that we need to host our community and a secluded beach right at the front of the property. Pretty ideal for the Outdoor Pursuits and Surf DTS. I've had the privilege of joining in with the leadership training for the staff at this camp running their own programmes and will be speaking again at an upcoming teens camp in December.

For future schools, we're praying that come the September DTS we'll have sensed the Lord's leading for where our next course will be run and how we'll house our next lot of students from then on.

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FAMILY NEWS

I (Tesh) recently attended another gathering of chiefs with our friend and soon-to-be co-staff Sini. This time it was for my first international YWAM leaders gathering hosted in Thailand with 90 nations represented by roughly 700 ywam leaders. It was incredible sitting with brothers and sisters, mothers and fathers in the mission and being refreshed with joy and determination to dig our heels in where the Lord has led us. So many stories of perseverance and holding to the word of the Lord (literally for decades) until the breakthrough comes. It was particularly pertinent in this time of pioneering as urban missions and mobilizing the younger generation of rising leaders were central themes from the front of the room, as well as when I rubbed shoulders with others.

In other exciting news, we're having another kiddo! Come March it'll be the 4 of us! We're currently living in the staff community house in Whangarei, but the first week of December will see us Gager's move into a wee rental of our own for the first time since we were newlyweds. The location is perfectly between the city and the DTS site which is a real answer to prayer as Barry commutes back and forth multiple times a day.

The last month has consisted of a fair bit of travel for us with teaching in Auckland at YWAM Te Ao Marama on Spiritual Warfare and Holy Spirit, in Queenstown at YWAM on Relationships, and then heading straight off to Fiji for staff outreach. Barry is in Fiji still, whereas Mau and I returned earlier than the rest. We look forward to sharing testimonies of their time away soon!

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PARTNER IN PRAYER

Here are some of our prayers that we'd love for you to join us in!

STAFF

• For our new staff (the ones already here and the ones still to come) to feel at home amongst the team and in this nation.

• For their financial support to be strong and a constant encouragement to them. Cultural and societal views on living by faith really impact each staff member uniquely, so if you feel like supporting a member who needs it most, let us know and we can direct you their way!

• For skilled administrative people to join the team :)

• For a deep peace with who the Lord brings to join the mission in his perfect timing (currently have 6 males and 3 females).

DTS PREPARATIONS

• Be praying for our students and staff as they prepare their hearts and practical needs for the DTS! We currently have 22 students joining us for Feb and more inquiring.

• Pray for our new location as we seek to honor the ministry typically hosted here too.

ZION BASE

• Pray for our previous location and property which we are leasing to an awesome crew who have formed a new Trust out of the community and Kaiwaka church.

• Pray for their team as they master the property and for their vision of community transformation in the wider area.

• Pray for a location of our own in Whangārei for future schools. The dream is for students and staff to live, eat, sleep, and learn in the same facility as we've experienced the major benefits of this model in YWAM at our previous base.

PERSONAL

• For our family as we prep for baby number 2 and for Barry has he prepares to lead this next DTS.

• For our new home in Onerahi. That we can be a light in the neighbourhood and build strong connections with the community. We want to truly be missionaries with the people around us.

• Since the fam is expanding, we'd love a new car! We recently forked out 4k on our current one over the span of a year as it was involved in an accident when some friends drove it and a drunk motorcyclist crashed into them. Thankfully nobody was injured, but the friends were threatened and intimidated by a few guys so insurance wouldn't cover it without their admitting fault. Northland life. We love the current car, but it's a tight fit as it is, so it's time to level up for this new guy joining us in March.

Thank you, as always, for your continual love and support. We're constantly humbled by your intentionality as friends, prayer partners and generous financial givers.

Love - The Gagers x