What is Your Servant in Christ Ministries all about?
A good question. Over the next few weeks I want to share with you the heart and mission of YSICM.
In this first installment, I want to share with you the birth of Your Servant in Christ Ministries, the significance of the name, and an interesting “factoid” I’m sure you never knew about the name of this ministry.
How YSICM was born.
For several years, I was the director of a ministry our of Minneapolis, Minnesota called, “Prayer Transformation Ministries. PTM was a ministry focused on Revival, and Transformation, and Intercession. These were very blessed and wonderful years of ministry. In 2009, I was asked to join the ministry of The Sentinel Group our of the Seattle, WA area. My wife and I moved to Monroe, Washington, and I was involved in a number of ways with The Sentinel Group and the message of transformation.
In 2011, my wife passed away from pancreatic cancer, and at the same time, the ministry of The Sentinel Group was hitting on very hard financial times. In December of 2011, I was invited to join the ministry of a church in Valentina, Brazil as the pastor of intercession.
I felt like the Lord was calling me to begin a ministry focused on revival and transformation, and intercession, the three subjects that have been the core of my heart and calling from the very beginning of my Christian life.
But what to call this new ministry? I absolutely did not want to call it “Steve Loopstra ministries!” But what name would God want? In those days I took many walks around a small in Monroe, Washington. In one of these walks as I was seeking to hear from the Lord regarding the name of the ministry, I truly heard Him say, “How have you always signed your letters?” Well, for many years, all my correspondence was signed as “Your servant in Christ.” I never capitalized the “S” in servant in order to not elevate the sense of being a servant.
Well, the next question was, “What do I do about a logo?” That happened to be a Wednesday, and that evening I attended a prayer meeting at one of the churches in town. That afternoon I had been thinking about the logo and picturing some kind of concept with a towel and basin reflecting Jesus serving His disciples. The first part of the prayer time, the room lights were dimmed to facilitate personal meditation. After some time, the pastor invited us to rise and prayer walk around the room. As I arose and turned to join the procession, there on a table in front of me was exactly what I had pictured in my mind! A pitcher, a candle, and a towel! I was amazed, and snapped a picture.
The next day as I was working on the logo and the new name, Your Servant in Christ Ministries, the Lord spoke something very strange to me. He said, “look at the first letter of each of the words of the name.” Really? YSICM. To my mind came what is at the heart of what this ministry is all about. “Y” “S” “I” “C” “M” — “Why Yes, I (C) See (M) Him” YSICM.
Later, I was curious whether I was understanding correctly the “Why Yes” part. When I looked up that phrase, is: ‘Why, yes’ seems to be an idiomatic expression, used to add emphasis to a response. ”
My desire is that through this ministry, whether what I write, or opportunities to speak and teach (more on this to follow), people would see the Lord in His glory, power, and splendor
That’s the heart of Your Servant In Christ Ministries… next week, I will begin sharing the mission statement of YSICM.
Your support and prayers are always appreciated as we seek to live this out.