Belinda Chaplin: Tell us a little about yourself… for instance where you did you DTS, how you met your lovely wife, Rachel, and how has fatherhood changed your life?
Yohanan Rempt: I did my DTS in Kona in 1998. It was a Korean English DTS (half South Korean students). I loved my lecture phase. I did my outreach in India and Korea. I lost about 17 kgs in India in about 3 weeks.
I knew that I wanted to work with YWAM when I was 12. My family spent a weekend with Don Stephens on the Anastasis in Victoria Canada. It was life changing. I loved seeing people from around the world living together, enjoying community, laughing, and doing it on a budget.
I have loved Europe for as long as I can remember, but one of the times I came when I was growing up, we travelled through Germany, Austria and Italy and I had Europe in my blood. My family is close to our European heritage. German was spoken in my father’s home.
Fatherhood is an absolute blast. Rachel and I are blessed daily by Ashrey’s sense of humor and passion. He is almost 9 months old now and we are enjoying every day with him. We are so honored to be his parents!
BC: As the new Chairman of CE, how do you see you role?
YR: I see myself as helping us to build and expand into the next steps regionally. This will hopefully impact how we lead and I lead. I want to help to see things get flatter in hierarchy, to see more of the grassroots released. I endeavor to be a relational leader, I love meeting people, eating together, playing games, hiking, and watching movies.
I also really want to learn how to build bridges between the countries in the region and into our neighbor regions and even further. I am a networker and like to be visionary and a am a community builder, I really want to help people grow into more of their callings, destinies and passions inside of YWAM or outside as well.
BC: Tell us more about the people working in the CE Office alongside you…
YR:Well, since you asked…
Rachel: My wife, continues to be a mom and write her novels part time. We share our parenting and other responsibilities. She is researching for her newest book right now which will take place in CE (Budapest and Romania at least). She continues to be hospitable, to speak into my life and the life of the office and to be a passionate mom and discipler. She does a lot with hospitality and teaching and one on one mentoring of women.
Heidi Kovacs: Heidi is a great addition to our team. She is learning more and more about the region. She is such a clear thinker and clear communicator. She has a passion to develop staff in our region, for training, and for teaching worldview and implicational thinking. She is also very organized and motivated. She is such a gift to us!
Jason: Jason and Tiffany just became parents for the 4th time! They welcomed Noah Elliot on the 29th of January. Such a cutie! Jason continues to coordinate the efforts into Greece and to speak practically and prophetically into the office and the region. He is also developing some initiatives to develop and support pioneering teams in the region (15 at last count.) He is a clear, implicational thinker, worshiper, a Prophetic influence, and a wise man. He is doing some great apostolic stuff. I am so enjoying having him!
Tiffany: Tiffany is relationally connected with us at the office and is very busy being a full-time mom to their 4 great kids. She is another prophetic voice for us. It is so great that she and Jason can work together in their gifts and passions. She is really sharp spiritually and a great mom.
Wolfi: participates with us in a lot of helpful ways. He brings his wisdom and discernment in such precise and specific ways. He continues to develop a global coaching network for YWAM and to train and mentor life coaches personally. He has also recently agreed to become an elder to the Central European office.
BC: What plans, visions, ideas do you have for the region?
YR: To build, expand both in numbers and in capacity, recruit more staff, to see the best ways to support and develop existing works and staff, to make a place for God’s presence to increase in this part of the world. I also hope we see YWAM started in Montenegro and Slovenia where we are not yet on the ground, and that we can see more ways to release staff from the region into missions and into other locations globally.
BC: Is there something you would like to tell everyone in the region while you have this chance?
YR:We are diverse, and have great potential to grow. I believe God continues to call us to have short accounts with each other, to value relationship and to be honest and loving and supportive to one another. It is a season of tightening where there will be less and less space for the status quo, and we cannot allow offenses to continue without reconciliation. Through reconciliation and building healthy relationships we can support each other and get ready for the growth God has for this region. This is a time of expansion and building on solid foundations. We need to get ready for that growth. It is such an honor to serve you and to understand more and more of how to do that well.
BC: Thank-you very much!