Youth With a Mission, or Y-Wam, a US-based Christian evangelical organization, has applied to the City for a rezoning permit for the apartment building at 1845 Napier Street. The organization wants to remove the units from the residential rental market and convert the building into a dormitory for up to 40 young people taken in to their six-month “discipleship training vocation school.”

What is the mission the youth are charged with by Y-Wam? Here is Loren Cunningham, founder of the organization: “The Bible is the most important book ever written in all of history. I can say that now, after traveling to all the nations of the world and seeing how the Bible has literally shaped the nations, and when I say shaped the nations, you can see the ones that have resisted the Bible and the ones that have accepted it and applied the truths of the Bible.”

In another recruitment video, he elaborates: “It was August 1975 and the Lord had given me that day a list of things that I had never thought about before. He said this is the way to reach America and nations for God.”

A deep and theatrically-trained voice-over explains: “In every city of the world, an unseen battle rages for dominion over God’s creation and the souls of people. This battle is fought on seven strategic fronts looming like mountains over the culture to shape and influence its destiny. Over the years the Church slowly retreated from its place of influence on these mountains leaving a void now filled with darkness. When we lose our influence, we lose the culture, and when we lose the culture, we fail to advance the kingdom of God, and now a generation stands in desperate need.

“It’s time to fight for them and take back these mountains of influence: The mountain of government, where evil is either restrained or endorsed; the mountain of education, where truths or lies about God and his creation are taught [the video at this point depicts a blonde female teacher leaning over a young black student with a blackboard in the background on which is written ‘Evolution,’ under which the words ‘Humanism,’ ‘atheism’ and ‘pro choice’ are written, but the word ‘God’ appears in a circle with a slash mark through it]; the mountain of media, where information is interpreted through the lens of good or evil; the mountain of arts and entertainment, where values and virtue are celebrated or distorted; the mountain of religion, where people worship God in spirit and in truth or settle for a religious ritual [here the video shows people meditating cross-legged]; the mountain of family, where either the blessing or the curse is passed on to successive generations; and the one mountain they all depend on, the mountain that fuels and funds all the other mountains, the mountain of business, where people build for the glory of God, or for the glory of man, where resources are consecrated for the Kingdom of God or captured for the powers of darkness.

“Those who lead this mountain control what influences our culture. The last 50 years, we’ve seen one of the most rapid moral declines in history. The culture we inherited from our forefathers is disintegrating before our eyes. What kind of world are we leaving for our children and grandchildren? As long as the business mountain is held by enemies of the Gospel, funding for the other mountains will always be constrained, and any efforts to advance the Kingdom of God will be hindered.

“Imagine God’s people reclaiming their cities and government, in the media, in the arts and entertainment, in education, in the family, in religious influence, but only limited by their imagination and not by a lack of finances. It’s possible, but first we must take back the mountain of business. God’s move to take back this mountain has already begun.”

Now back to Cunningham: “If we would use the wealth of the world to bless the world and bless it not only to distribute to the needy that which they need . . . .” he trails off, before another voice, that of Os Hillman, a “faith and work leader,” who cuts in, “When you bring economy and economic benefit to a nation or a culture, then you have influence in that culture.”

Finally, the voice over concludes: “It is time to reclaim the seven mountains and bring back the life of God back into our culture.”

We may conclude from this that Y-Wam’s choice to locate a “discipleship training vocation school” in the heart of Commercial Drive’s residential neighbourhood is part of Cunningham’s mission to take over our own local culture. Typically, a neighbourhood welcomes those who come to join the local culture and add to it. Someone who applies to move into your shared house talking of a great big battle and about taking over the culture of the household might not be the person the other residents pick for that vacant room upstairs.

Let’s see what kind of battle they have in mind. Here at the Y-Wam bookstore, featured titles include “Unstoppable Global Warming: Every 1,500 years,” with this trailer: “Supported by in-depth scientific evidence, Singer and Avery present the compelling concept that global temperatures have been rising mostly or entirely because of a natural cycle. Unstoppable Global Warming explains why we're warming, why it may not be as dangerous, and why we can't stop it anyway.”

Or how about this one, “Fortune at the Bottom of the Pyramid: Eradicating Poverty Through Profits,” described thusly: “The world's most exciting, fastest-growing new market is where you least expect it: at the bottom of the pyramid. Collectively, the world's billions of poor people have immense untapped buying power. They represent an enormous opportunity for companies who learn how to serve them. Not only can it be done, it is being done—very profitably. What's more, companies aren't just making money: by serving these markets, they're helping millions of the world's poorest people escape poverty. . . . Simply put, this book is about making a revolution: building profitable ‘bottom of the pyramid’ markets, reducing poverty, and creating an inclusive capitalism that works for ‘everyone.’"

Why “everyone” is in quotation marks there naturally furrows the brow: do they not quite mean everyone?

In an online “request for funds” posted by Y-Wam, the following is found: “As I looked at the budget for this project, I asked the Lord how we should see it met and I believe He said this: ‘When YWAMers give the first, sacrificial offering, I will move others to give too.’ You may think that you and your team can only give a very small amount, but your obedience is really important. . . . Just be obedient!. . . It is a beginning of greater battles. . . . It is a time of lining up with the Commander of the Lord’s army. . . . The key to taking all the ‘land’ that God has promised is simple, childlike obedience. . . . Simple acts of obedience lead to the greatest results.”

Some say it’s a cult. We just report the facts.

A sign is up in front of the property at 1845 Napier announcing the application for the re-zoning, but community meeting dates at City Hall have not yet been settled. Y-Wam has hired Laurie Schmidt, an expensive senior planner at Brooks and Associates, to Sheppard its re-zoning permit through the process. Schmidt is an ex-employee of the Vancouver City Planning Department. Brooks and Associates guide at least 28% of all the zoning applications processed by the City, the planning department told an associate of this newspaper.

Someone should at least speak for the loss to rental housing stock this permit seeks, something that affects “everyone,” wink, wink.