YWAM BISHOP
School of Outdoor Adventure Re-creation
Creating Renewed Life in the Wild Places
With the right knowledge & tools, a leader can take broken hearts into the wilderness and use the right mix of outdoor challenges, biblical teachings, and risk managing practices to help those hearts sift through their inner challenges and find healing and new life. There are few ministry approaches as exhilarating and inspiring as guiding groups into God's awe filled mountains, forests, & deserts of this planet, but likewise as potentially miserable & even dangerous. The School of Outdoor Adventure Re-creation (SOAR), run in 2021 out of YWAM Yosemite by Sea & Summit Expeditions of YWAM Bishop, CA, is designed to give budding and longtime outdoor enthusiasts a solid introduction & education in multiple outdoor adventure sports while instilling leadership, ministry, & solid risk management skills. If you need to build a foundation in professional, outdoor leadership to share the love & healing power of Jesus in the wild places of this world, take a leap off the edge and SOAR!
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Prerequisites
A current Wilderness First Responder (WFR), comparable or higher wilderness emergency medicine certificate is required before the course. The WFR is typically a 5 to 8 day course offered across North America, and we recommend checking with WMA, NOLS, or SOLO for course locations & schedules.
The SOAR is a University of the Nations secondary school; therefore, you must have successfully completed your YWAM DTS or CDTS to do this school. If you haven't done your DTS yet, we will be running one the fall of 2024
Focus Outdoor Skills:
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Backpacking, camp skills, wilderness navigation
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Vertical rope skills for multiple settings, including rock climbing, rappelling, glacier, Tyrolean traverse, rescue & more
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Alpine travel, snow travel, & mountaineering
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Desert travel & canyoneering
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Creating a "Risk Management Worldview"
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Growth games & portable low rope game activities
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Gear, food & water management logistics
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Adapting SOAR skills to remote, international travel for outreach teams
Focus Ministry Skills:
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Leadership skills for group management, guiding, & non-directive approach
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Philosophy of outdoor experiential education & trip programming
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Developing teams, healing relationships, working with troubled youth & adults
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Approaches to evangelism, discipleship & adapting the outdoors to YWAM schools
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Focus Admin Skills:
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Running an outdoor adventure program & staff oversight
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Commercial permitting in parks & forests for non-profits
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Insurance & Civil Liability
Lecture & Internship Phases Intermingled
The three months of SOAR training intermixes 8 weeks of classroom & practical experiences, which we call the "Lecture Phase," with 5 weeks of our "Internship/Outreach Phase" where the SOAR student has the opportunity to be a guide on our courses, using their newly developed skills in the outdoors with actual clients. You can't learn to be an experiential educator without learning experientially yourself. By layering these two phases, the SOAR student can put to practice recently learned skills, and then continue to learn & integrate new outdoor & ministry skills while simultaneously gaining experience as an outdoor leader.
The End Product
Becoming a professional, highly capable & wise outdoor adventure guide takes years of practice & experience, and after three months of SOAR training this journey will have only just begun; HOWEVER, for over 20 years the SOAR has taken individuals & programs with a vision to change lives in the outdoors and given them a SOLID foundation from which to start or continue. Our goal is to prepare you to safely & effectively heal & change lives, not end them! Take the time to do things right by joining us...
Course Dates: In 2025 (Exact Dates TBA)
Course Fees: TBA ($5000+or-) Includes Tuition, Room, Board, & Travel during course
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Equipment: Upon acceptance into SOAR, you will be given a packing list of personal equipment & clothing you will be responsible for bringing and/or purchasing. Some equipment will be provided.
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To Apply:
1. Click below and fill out the Online Application
2. Click below to pay the $25 Application Fee
3. For References, follow the instructions below
Instruction For References: You will need two references: one from a non-YWAM pastor/spiritual leader & one from a YWAM leader/mentor. Please send them an email explaining your school & requesting them to click the following link and fill out the reference: