Ywampublishing

Each year, I buy YWAM's Personal Prayer Diary and Daily Planner. For the most part, I've been very pleased with it. But last year, I started having some concerns.

Each month, there's a writeup about a people group to pray for. Well, last July, they had an article about "racism" within the Church. However, it seemed very "woke." For instance, 1) it implied that Obama (simply because he's black) wasn't prayed for by Christians the way other Presidents have been; 2) it needlessly capitalized the word "black," while patronizingly referring to whites as "Anglos"; and 3) it made ample use of the odious term "African American." And that's not all. Basically, the whole tone of the article smacked of political correctness. Anyway, about halfway through the article, I just gave up in disgust—and that's the first time I've ever done that with an article in their diary.

And now this month, they have an article about Ukraine that portrays the vile World Economic Forum in a positive (or at least neutral) light. Here's an excerpt: "Another [Ukrainian] boy, twelve years old, shared his story at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland... Hopefully, the world leaders who heard this and other similar firsthand horror stories were shaken to the core and will take action." Gimme a break! The goal of the World Economic Forum seems to be world depopulation (and many other evil things), so the idea that they would actually care about the plight of precious Ukrainian children is unbelievably naive! Wake up, YWAM!

Anyway, I contacted YWAM through their Web form and expressed my concerns. The next day, a guy named Warren called me. While he was polite, he basically just jumped to their defense, and it was hard to get a word in with him edgewise. His main goal seemed to be to rationalize their articles, not to listen to my concerns. And he also said, "I'm sorry you feel that way," but not that he was sorry for their content! In fact, according to an article at "Psychology Today," that expression is actually a type of gaslighting (a form of verbal abuse)! From the article: "A non-apology is used to deflect, pretend to apologize, and ultimately win the disagreement by placing blame back on the individual... [The phrase] 'I'm sorry you feel that way,' [is just] '...a quick way to use the correct apology language to end an argument without having to admit fault'...The 'I'm sorry you feel that way' approach, along with avoiding an argument in lieu of admitting fault, is good old-fashioned gaslighting."

Instead, Warren should've just: 1) listened to my concerns patiently and nondefensively; 2) said something like, "I can definitely understand your concerns"; 3) apologized for any content that seemed woke or offensive; and 4) finally said something like, "We appreciate your feedback, and will work to improve."

As I said, the guy was polite, but I didn't get any indication that he took my concerns seriously or that they will actually try to change. In fact, he almost seemed to imply that I was simply overreacting, not that my concerns were actually valid, which I believe they are. I did tell him, though, that I may stop buying their diary if this stuff continues, so hopefully he has sufficient concern for YWAM's bottom line. LOL.

Anyway, I've been buying their Personal Prayer Diary for years, and have enjoyed it up till now. But with my latest concerns, while I would still recommend it, I would give it a qualified recommendation.