Belinda's website

Biography

Belinda grew up in a non-Christian home and accepted Christ at age 15 through the ministry of the Navigators. This transformation sparked her interest in music and she taught herself guitar and began to write songs.

Attending the University of Minnesota from 1973-1978, she competed on the women's volleyball team and graduated with a BAS in Education (Sports and Health). During her university years Belinda continued developing her musical talents, often performing in coffeebars and contributing to the worship teams in her church and Bible study groups.

In 1979 she completed a Bible School with Daystar Ministries and then made use of her teacher training in both primary and secondary school positions.

Belinda joined Youth With A Mission as a missionary in 1982, initially serving in Amsterdam with "Musicians For Missions" and later (1985 - present) serving as Worship Director at the YWAM-Heidebeek base. YWAM currently operates in more than 1000 locations in over 149 countries, with a staff of nearly 16,000.

In August 2003 she was ordained as an intinerant minister (Assemblies of God) via her sending church, Sojourn Campus Church.

Recently (2009) Belinda was invited to join the College of Arts and Sports faculty of YWAM's University of the Nations. The UofN offers training programs in over 300 locations and 110 nations and aims to combine traditional classroom learning with a discipleship atmosphere and practical mission-field experience.

Belinda's passion is to mentor and multiply worship leaders and teams in order to call the nations to worship God. With over 25 years of missions experience in Europe, Africa, America and Asia she travels extensively teaching on worship both from an inspirational as well as a practical aspect.

Together with the YWAM team, she produced a pioneering praise and worship series called "Muziek voor de Koning" ("Music for the King") in Holland. In addition to three albums of her own music, she has penned a book, "Gezocht: Aanbidders" ("Wanted: Worshippers") and continues to write articles, songs and a monthly devotional. Many of her songs of worship have been translated into Dutch and are sung in churches throughout the Netherlands.

Belinda currently serves on several praise & worship-related advisory boards both in Holland and in Europe, and has founded a ministry course called “Call2Worship” which trains worship leaders in different cultures. The C2W course has been established in Indonesia, Rwanda, Egypt, Romania, Holland, Finland, and more to come. Belinda teaches regularly in YWAM Discipleship Training Schools and Schools of Worship as well as speaking in churches and conferences internationally.

Calling the Nations to Worship

My aim is to reproduce the ministry of a worship leader by mentoring and equipping able ministers into the harvest fields of the world.

I believe that God is using me in other's lives to spark into flame their gifts and callings and to arouse a passion in the Church to love and worship Jesus Christ.

Worshipping God wholeheartedly, not only in church buildings but in public places, attracts lost and hungry souls to their Creator. Therefore, I am training worship leaders who will "turn the tide" in their countries through worshipping Jesus. Our praise prepares the way for a harvest of souls in the nations, calling all to worship God.

University of the Nations (UofN)

The University of the Nations was born out of Youth With A Mission (YWAM). YWAM is a highly-decentralized international movement of Christians from many denominations dedicated to presenting the person of Jesus Christ to this generation, to mobilizing as many as possible to help in the task, and to training and equipping believers for their part in fulfilling the Great Commission. As citizens of God’s kingdom, YWAM staff seek to love, worship, and obey their Lord, to love and serve His Body, the Church, and to present the whole Gospel for the whole person throughout the whole world. (more info: click on UofN seal to the right)

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My role in the UofN is as faculty for the College of Arts & Sports particularly providing supervision to our second-level training course: School of Worship. My focus is increasingly more global instead of only Holland, or regionally (Europe, Middle East and Africa). My responsibilities within the UofN continue to increase and I have a growing awareness of my "eldership" position within Youth With A Mission internationally. I am a networker at heart and each time I come alongside the staff of a School of Worship, I see how God can use simple gifts of encouragement with His wisdom to assist and equip. Essentially I can describe myself as: "a trainer of trainers"