Wes and Danielle Chapman have been full‑time YWAM missionaries for five years. In 2002 they each came from very different backgrounds to receive training at YWAM Tyler, where they met, fell in love, and married.

Danielle’s story, as she recalls, begins “approximately 72 hours after her YWAM parents said, ‘I do.’”

I can’t remember a time when I was not a missionary. I came into the world in the converted garage of a maternity home my parents were running. The next few years were spent living with more pregnant teens than most toddlers have the joy of encountering. At the age of three I waved goodbye to my big-bellied buddies and we moved to Hawaii where my dad went to a YWAM counseling school.

Later the family moved to work with YWAM New Orleans. It was there that Danielle fell in love with dancing. Her love of dance followed her to YWAM Tyler, where the family came to serve when she was 13. She was discipled by the YWAM Tyler Performing Arts Department during her teenage years, so it was no surprise that after completing her basic training schools she attended the School of Performing Arts.

I feel called to use the arts in ministry, and doing the School of Performing Arts has been such a blessing and a tool box for all that God has called Wes and me to do. I believe that the arts are a vital part in seeing the world evangelized and I want to be a part of that.

Wes’s passion, on the other hand, was soccer. His love of soccer and his love for his family made his life seemingly perfect. But things changed dramatically when he was 16. His grandmother died suddenly and soon after, his grandfather was diagnosed with cancer and died in Wes’s senior year of high school. Not long after that, a soccer injury knocked him out of the game for the rest of the season, ruining his chances at a scholarship for college.

All this made me question God. I didn’t trust Him. I spent that whole year running from Him towards whatever I could find: girls, alcohol, and friends. But God wouldn’t leave me alone. My youth pastor nagged me into going on a mission trip to Thailand and Cambodia. This would become the trip that rocked my world, sending me on a journey with God. It was amazing and so hard, giving up everything and only having God. The next summer I went to Brazil with my church and worked with the YWAM campus at Belo Horizonte. This is where God began to plant His dream in my heart for me to be in missions.

After serving on staff with YWAM Tyler for a year, Wes and Danielle joined a YWAM mobile ministry team and traveled across the United States with a desire to challenge people.

And the cool thing is we did! Our team did multimedia productions involving theater, film, music, and dance. Every night after the production, goodie-goodies, cutters, businessmen, addicts, pastors, and rejects gathered at the altar wanting and needing something more. So, with our hands so empty and our hearts full, we gave them the only thing we had to offer: the love of Jesus.

Not only did their mobile team get to challenge and disciple young people on the road but also at the YWAM Tyler campus through Take Action, the annual youth event for teens. They currently serve on the leadership team for Take Action and have recently been touring with the event as it has expanded to more locations.

Summing up their life in missions, they are both in awe of what God has done, and continues to do, in and through them.

We are blown away by how God has used us. When hearts are wounded, barricaded, or perhaps bored, He provides a healing balm, a secret passageway, and a fresh perspective. We can’t believe that God has chosen us to partner with Him in this way. It has been amazing to see God restore us, and at the same time use us to restore others.